Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki, Vol. 8

Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki Light Novel #8

by Yuki Yaku

LEVELING UP DOESN’T SOLVE EVERY PROBLEM.

The school festival is over, and so is winter break. Tomozaki has reached a major milestone, but now there’s a new hurdle in his plans for the future. Of course, Hinami’s training is still ongoing, and between an offline meeting with other Atafami players, a visit to Tama-chan’s house, and his budding relationship with Kikuchi, the new semester is looking to be fuller than ever—and more challenging, too!

Genres: Light Novel

233 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 18, 2019

Reviews

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

3½ stars. A decent entry. I'm rounding up because the series as a whole is fantastic. I felt this one spent an excessive amount of time playing Atafami. Yes, I get that Tomozaki is an exceptional player and it was obviously setting up things to come. But the matches and technical details of the game (and I've been playing video games since PONG so I consider myself a gamer) -- was too much. It really derailed the story.

And of course the issues with Tomozaki always being so busy.... SPOILERS! Going to the meetups, the amount of time he spends with and talking to Mimimi rather than his girlfirend, not to mention his other friends. I think you should be able to keep your friends when you get a GF/BF. By all means... but you should include them, or at least carve out time for them... and when talking about important things in your life maybe include them instead of someone else.


Kinda saw the end coming.... I hope Tomozaki can figure it out.

Here's to waiting for book 9!

[H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm. I enjoyed it overall, but there were some scenes that felt a bit cringe or slower or overly convenient. For example, Hinami's task for Tomozaki is to take a group of 4 to a location. He does this when Tama says her family owns a bakery, and he suggests they go there...but it's such a convenient thing that they run a bakery in a first place, plus the convenience that Mimimi brought herself AND Takei over to fill the numbers. I would've much preferred him deciding a location of his own whim and recruiting members of his own whim, instead of happening upon them.

Then the drama with Kikuchi and Tomozaki accidentally ignoring her, plus her reading the message of Rena chan offering sex to Kikuchi - I don't dislike the drama, but I also think it's something that can be readily solved with some discussion and honesty, and I just don't think it's that big a deal.

The biggest pet peeve of mine though was how in depth it went into Atafami and its mechanics, like shield/dodge/tilts/i-frames for invincibility, etc. I think it went too in depth and wasn't as interesting to me. Keep in mind I played a LOT of Super Smash Bros. as a child, and Atafami is very clearly based on Smash ish, so I'm familiar with these terms and fighting game strategy. But it made it not as fun to read, since I like reading for its human-to-human drama/romance more than the technical video game moments/jargon.

That said, there were some scenes in the book I liked, such as Tomozaki walking and chatting with Mimimi, or Tomozaki taking Aoi to a meetup and the two being in the finals of a tournament, and I do like the new goal of establishing a consistent group. I also do enjoy Tomozaki struggling with his newfound first relationship, as well as how he fends off Rena who comes onto him.

I'm going to stick with the series and do look forward to more, but there were other scenes I also did not enjoy as much, such as the Tama chan bakery scene not being as interesting. For example, I find it hard to believe her best friend Mimimi never heard or found out about it. I also do find some moments like Tomozaki talking about life and solving problems/challenges to be a bit cringe/overdramatic - I feel the novel tries to paint him smarter than he actually is or act like his statements/discoveries are really thought provoking or smart discoveries when they aren't THAT clever (of wanting to be a pro gamer/how to approach life, etc).

But anyway, it's still an enjoyable series, and I think I did enjoy it overall. Didn't love it enough to binge read it consistently, but it engrossed me enough that I think it was a good read, and for now, I plan to read volume 8.5 and 9 and so on in the future. Overall, decent or good enough ish.

[Sebastián · Rating 4 out of 5]

Putos nervios en todo el volumen por la relación Tomozaki-kikuchi, te amo Tomozaki pero no te pases de sonso, dios el final me dejó de nervios

[Nehemiah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aoi gives hell to Fumiya