this book had two stories, the day before atsushi’s entrance exam and how the agency was founded.

i absolutely adored the latter, it’s so sweet seeing fukazawa going from adamantly claiming he’d never work with anyone to slowly caring more and more about ranpo: the creation of the ada is a testament to that.
mellowdreamer's profile picture

mellowdreamer's review

5.0
adventurous mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

✨ranpo✨
sobbingivy's profile picture

sobbingivy's review

5.0
adventurous lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Loveable characters: Yes

My rating might be biased, but I've given up on trying to find the "right" rating (and changing it 7 times in prpgress).

I don't really know what to say, other than I liked the book. It was no life-changing masterpiece, but it was still very enjoyable.

I watched the anime beforehand, and while I understood the story fine enough then, the book cleared up some stuff for me. (Might also be because I binge watched the entire anime in a few days & probably idn't give the episodes my full attention..)

fedekanejbrainrot's profile picture

fedekanejbrainrot's review

5.0
emotional sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I LOVE HIM I LOVE HIM I LOVE HIM
adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I wanted to read this on the back of the first few episodes of season 4 and it was SO WORTH IT. The first story was a surprise I didn't realise it would be there but it was funny to see the preparation that went into Astushi's entrance exam (I love his exam). The way Dazai can never be out manipulated. It's made me more aware of Tanizaki too I'm convinced he's actually insane. But he's great. It was nice seeing Kenji briefly I love that guy. 

Onto the main story - it was amazing. It was interesting and amazing seeing Fukuzawa's inner thoughts when it came to ranpo which made me laugh more than once. It's also interesting to see that he is always unsure about things, maybe he's like this in the present day too. I love how it said that this was also a story of parenting and it makes sense. They've always had this father son bond which I love!! It was just cute things like ranpo getting tired and Fukuzawa carrying him on his back. Anyways, it was so nice to see Oda again and my heart hurt for him because, well I was just wondering how different everything would be if he had been taken in aswell as Ranpo 😭 anyways, its also interesting to see the deal with Ranpo's parents expanded on because it gives more context as to why Ranpo thinks everything is confusing and he struggles. But anyways, it was a really good light novel the first I've read. There will definitely be more! 
fengxin's profile picture

fengxin's review

4.0
adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

chillae's review

5.0
adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
_jello_'s profile picture

_jello_'s review

5.0
adventurous dark emotional funny sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: N/A
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: N/A
adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I loved this light novel so much. It was really interesting getting to see more of ranpo and fukuzawas relationship and how the Ada came to be. I also loved the first part about atsushis entrance exam. 

The anime did not do this light novel justice.