Ascendance of a Bookworm (2024)

Ascendance of a Bookworm (本好きの下剋上 ～司書になるためには手段を選んでいられません～, Honzuki no Gekokujō: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan o Erandeiraremasen, Ascendance of a Bookworm: I'll Stop at Nothing to Become a Librarian) is a Japanese fantasy light novel series written by Miya Kazuki and illustrated by You Shiina. It was serialized online from September 2013 to March 2017 on the user-generated novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō. It was later acquired by TO Books, who has published thirty-one volumes since January 2015.

A manga adaptation of the first part with art by Suzuka was serialized online via Niconico Seiga website from October 2015 to July 2018. It was collected in seven tankōbon volumes by TO Books. Both the light novel and manga are published in English by J-Novel Club. An anime television series adaptation produced by Ajia-do Animation Works aired the first part from October to December 2019, and the second part aired from April to June 2020. A two-part OVA episode released in March 2020. A third season aired from April to June 2022. A fourth season produced by Wit Studio has been announced.

Synopsis[]

Urano Motosu's lifelong dream to become a librarian comes true. Luck is not on her side, however, as a plethora of books falls on her during an earthquake. On the verge of death, she begs God to be reborn surrounded by nothing but books.

Her wish is fulfilled, albeit not how she expected: Urano is reincarnated as Myne—a sickly five-year-old child with an ardent desire to read—in another world where the upper class controls knowledge, and only the privileged have access to written works. As a commoner, Myne is distraught that she will never be able to find what she is yearning for.

To obtain books, Myne decides she should make them herself. Currently, she is but a kid thrust into an unknown place—but nothing will not stop Myne from achieving her goal.

List of Published Books[]

Light Novels[]

Ascendance of a Bookworm was originally published by Miya Kazuki as a free-to-read web novel on Shōsetsuka ni Narō in 2013 until it was acquired by TO Books which published the first volume in print in their TO Bunko imprint with illustrations by You Shiina in January 2015. As of August 2022, the series will have accumulated over 30 volumes, divided into five parts. The light novel is published in English by J-Novel Club. In May 2019, J-Novel Club released the first official English translation of Part 1 volume 1.

Manga[]

A manga adaptation was published by TO Books and follows similar format as the novels. Part 1, subtitled If there aren't any books, I'll just have to make some! (本がないなら作ればいい!, Hon ga nainara tsukureba ī!), was illustrated by Suzuka, serialized in Comic Corona from October 2015 to July 2018, and was compiled into a total of seven volumes.

Suzuka continued to illustrate Part 2 subtitled I'll even join the temple to read books! (本のためなら巫女になる！, Hon no tamenara miko ni naru!) which began serialization in Comic Corona on September 24, 2018 and currently has a total of eight volumes.

Part 3 subtitled Let's spread books through the duchy! (領地に本を広げよう！, Ryōchi ni hon o hirogeyou!) is illustrated by Ryo Namino and began serialization in Comic Corona despite Part 1 still being ongoing at the time. Part 3 currently has six volumes.

Part 4 is illustrated by Hikaru Katsuki and began serialization on December 24, 2020 also in Comic Corona and currently has a total of five volumes. The manga adaptation is also published in English by J-Novel Club.

Character[]

She is the second daughter of Gunther, a soldier in the downtown area of ​​Ehrenfest, and Eva, who works at a dyeing workshop. She has straight blue hair and golden eyes. Smaller than other children of the same age. She is very sickly and suffers from a mysterious fever (later identified as "devouring"). After Reino Motosu's memory was revived, she was puzzled by the filthiness of the downtown area, but gradually adapted to her environment. She is a troublemaker and often causes trouble because she acts without thinking when she is obsessed with books. As her life as Mine grows, she also grows fonder of her family as Mine.

Since there are no books in the environment surrounding me, I aspire to make books. Since the paper (parchment) needed to create books is extremely expensive, she attempts to make papyrus, clay tablets, wooden strips, and bamboo strips based on his knowledge of his previous life with the help of Lutz, but fails. With the help of Benno, she succeeded in developing paper (close to Japanese paper in terms of manufacturing method) from plants.

When it became known to those involved in the temple that she was eating, she began working as an apprentice to the temple as a blue shrine maiden Even after she entered the temple, she worked hard to establish printing techniques such as ink and stencil printing while involving people in the temple and artisans in the downtown area. She uses her previous life's knowledge in many ways, such as funding the development of printing technology and selling recipes for sweets and hair ornaments to merchants to earn the necessary expenses for the temple. She makes a lot of money from the goods she sells to Benno, and she owns a good amount of money. She serves as the head of the orphanage and earns the trust of her children through her initiative.

Mine fought back against the aristocrats of other territories who attacked her, but Mine decided to become an adopted daughter of the feudal lord (Ehrenfest family) to protect her family, who would be executed as a commoner if she were a commoner. After Mine being adopted by Ferdinand a former High Priest of the Ehrenfest temple to became his guardian, Mine change her name to Rozemyne a name fit for a noble. Since short names don't look good among nobles, she was named after her birth mother and Mine.

The setting is the daughter of Karstedt and the deceased third wife, Rosemary. She was entrusted to the temple to avoid unnecessary conflicts with Rozemyne, who has abundant magical power, but she was just a commoner, wondering what the former temple head, who did not know the circumstances, misunderstood. That's what I was talking about. Rozemyne, who was worried about the devastation of the orphanage, built a workshop and gave the orphans a job so that they could be independent, and Gilvester, who saw the orphans working hard at a young age, was struck by the work of her workshop. He found a new industry in the territory, but was attacked by nobles from other territories targeting her with abundant magical power. To give and protect her position, she decided to adopt Rozemyne as her daughter. A year has passed since she received her baptism as Mine, but since she is baptized as a real child of Karsted, when she becomes Rose Mine, she is 7 years old before the baptism (originally 8 years). Also, in order not to rekindle the conflict between Karstedt's second wife and third wife's family, her birth mother was not made public, and she was baptized as the daughter of her first wife, Elvira, and immediately became the adopted daughter of the lord and was announced.

After being adopted by the lord, she serves concurrently as the head of the temple, head of the orphanage, and head of the workshop. She was attacked after Charlotte's baptismal ceremony, and in order to rescue Charlotte, she was kidnapped and forced to drink poison. In order to remove the cause of her slow growth by eating, she will be soaked in Jureve, but she is also affected by the poison, and she falls asleep for two years. At first she was in a position to follow Wilfried, who became her brother-in-law, and Charlotte, who became her sister-in-law, but when she woke up after two years, she was on the side of being followed. To was Ferdinand's surprise, the deal with her invention increased the budget spent on the nursery while she slept.

Thanks to being trained by Ferdinand in a short period of time from waking up to entering the House of Lords, I understand everything I learned at the House of Lords, but there are also dangerous aspects such as mistaking the response as an aristocrat, and I am at the center of some trouble. She doesn't know the parents listening to the report have their heads up. In his third year and above, she is taking the lord candidate course and the civilian course to become a librarian. When she was three years old, she received forty-three blessings, and his blessings began to overflow. She can turn Stap into a sacred tool, and her will be able to focus on the central temple, such as performing a successful regeneration ceremony alone. Two divine tools can be used at the same time so that the knight can divide the stap into a sword and a shield. If you don't adjust the amount of magical power you handle, it will turn the magic stone into gold powder, and even if you receive blessings after receiving divine protection, it won't decrease and the control will be lax. She also knows the contents of Angelica's knight course in order to improve her grades, and Rufen requests that she take the knight course, but she refuses because she does not have the physical strength. She maintained the best results for three consecutive years, but in the fourth year, Egrantine regretted that she could not become the best due to a certain event.

In social relations, there is no problem with knowledge enough to pass the first time in class, but when it comes to actual situations, there are many problems such as fainting when books are involved, and doing acts that are considered disrespectful to the royal family without realizing it. On the other hand, it is said that the royal family has no malice or interest in the act of being disrespectful to the royal family, for better or worse. Since Rozemyne began to do so, she did not cut off the relationship, and combined with his own insight, the result was that he fulfilled the royal family's heartfelt wishes, and on the contrary, they deepened their friendship. By making full use of its magical power and the knowledge gained from the scriptures and Ferdinand, it has revived obsolete rituals and reaffirmed its value to the surroundings, which has influenced Jurgenschmidt as a whole. In joint research with Dunkelferger, the announcement on obtaining the protection of the gods attracted attention and ranked first, resulting in a review of the importance of obtaining protection.

Engagement with Wilfried at the age of one year at the life of Gilvester at the suggestion of Ferdinand. She was recognized as a very good property not only by the lower territories, but also by the higher territories such as Krasselburg and Dunkelfelger, and if there was no engagement, there would be pressure from the upper territories. The first wife of Resty Laut and Aub Dunkelferger points out that Rozemyne is not suitable for Ehrenfest.

During the two years of sleeping in Jureve, rumors spread as "Saint of Ehrenfest" and became famous. This is a Rosemine statue that was created from a conveniently compiled story in order to convincingly explain to the aristocrats when Rosemine was adopted by her lord. However, most of her beautiful tales are not lies, but are accompanied by her ability and achievements.

In the fifth part, it is found that Rozemyne's body has stopped growing at a young age due to Airvermin's judgment, and is forced to grow according to her age with the protection of Anwachs, the God of Growth. As a result, her face, which had been round like a child, changed its contours to a slightly slimmer shape, and her lovely features changed to a beautiful beauty. It has flexibility on her body is tinged with feminine softness, but with an air of incompleteness, she possesses the ephemeral beauty peculiar to girls who are about to reach adulthood. If someone who doesn't know what's inside sees her, even if she's called a saint or a goddess, she's an isolated beauty who won't even suspect the slightest bit of suspicion. In addition, because she was dyed with Ferdinand's magical power many times for treatment, she has the same magical power as Ferdinand, so that the gods who recognize individuals with magical power cannot distinguish them from each other, and the Book of Mestionola that was given to them is also the original. From one, it is also found that Rozemyne's and Ferdinand's are divided into 6:4 to 7:3. During the exchange in the Garden of Beginnings, she had the Goddess of wisdom, Mestionora, temporarily descend on him, and other gods poured out divine power, so she became known as the "Goddess Incarnation" in the city, and it will be treated as a nobleman who is higher than the royal family and has the right to elect Zent and give Glutrice Height.

Finally, she took office as the official Aub of Ahrensbach and changed the territory name from the knowledge of his previous life to Alexandria. She proceeds with the library city construction plan. Rozemyne also becomes engaged to Ferdinand and finally becomes his real family. Rozemyne insists that she is not concerned about Ferdinand, but when she looks from her side, she seems to be in love so much that she says, "What are you talking about?" Also, because she left Ehrenfest, the contract magic that had once broken her family was invalidated as out of range, and the once severed family ties were restored.

Abilities[]

"I will never give up, no matter what. Forget all that about me being a normal girl. I'm going to become the weirdest, strangest girl who ever lived!"

― Rozemyne to Ferdinand in Part 3 Volume 3 Chapter 5: A Class for Kids

Because of the protection of Anwachs, the God of Growth to Rozemyne's body it given a natural beauty (Anecdote of Goddess Beauty) of a night sky is curled up, and her appearance, which was only visible when she was about to enter the aristocracy, has changed to a figure that is appropriate for her age. The face, which had been round like a child, changed its contours to a slightly slimmer shape, and the charming features changed to a radiant beauty. Her fingertips stretched out smoothly, without the roundness of a child, but with suppleness. Her body is tinged with feminine softness, but it has an air of incompleteness, a unique ephemeral beauty that only girls who have reached adulthood possess.

If someone who didn't know what was inside looked at her, she would probably believe her even if she was called a saint or a goddess. It looks like it will be a model of the goddess statue made in the art workshop. Her slender, grown-up body draws feminine curves despite being delicate. The whiteness of her skin, which is not exposed to the sun, the beautiful hair that looks like the night sky, and the golden eyes that look like the moon are the same as before, but the atmosphere is so different that I can't believe it's the same. She is as tall as Turi's eyes, and her hair reaches her waist. Her golden eyes haven't changed, but they've become more sexy, and the strange sex appeal in her facial expressions and gestures has come to the fore. No matter where you touch it, it feels soft and your skin is smooth and pleasant to the touch.

• Blessings: Rozemyne has shown great proficiency with a variety of blessings, and can invoke multiple gods at once. She occasionally gives blessings unintentionally by praying and by singing religious songs. She successfully improvised a blessing that did not follow the exact wording of an established prayer.
• Enhancement Magic: In order to compensate for her muscle atrophy resulted from prolonged hibernation in Jureve, Rozemyne learned enhancement magic with the help of Ferdinand's magic tools. By practicing with Bonifatius, she eventually became proficient enough to selectively enhance part of her body.
• Highbeast: Rozemyne's highbeast Lessy is designed to be drivable. She can increase or decrease its size at will, allowing her to carry several passengers and their luggage together when necessary. She's also protected from most external harm when she is inside. It is modeled after a Red Panda, but also bears a resemblance to the foul-smelling and vicious grun.
• Mana Affinities: Rozemyne possesses all seven elemental affinities, a rare occurrence normally found only in royalty and in archduke candidates of greater duchies.
• Divine Protections: Rozemyne obtained divine protections from 43 deities, including all 7 primary gods, which lowers her mana consumption for spells and brewing to about 40% of what it was before the ritual. To avoid standing out too much, however, she keeps this a secret. Two of the subordinate gods she has protections from are Chaosfliehe and Verbergen.
  • Officially, Ehrenfest declared that she obtained 21 divine protections. While her family and a few trusted individuals are aware that this number is a lie and that she has considerably more divine protections than this, only the princes Sigiswald and Anastasius are privy to the exact number.
• Mana Capacity: Rozemyne has an extremely high mana capacity, even by archduke candidate standards. At the young age of 7, she has already surpassed every other noble in Ehrenfest - including the Aub - except for Ferdinand. None of her peers came close when she enrolled in the Royal Academy.
  • Because Rozemyne was dyed with Ferdinand's magical power many times for treatment, she has the same magical power as Ferdinand, so that the gods who recognize individuals with magical power cannot distinguish them from each other, and the Book of Mestionola that was given to them is also the original. From one, it is also found that Rozemyne's and Ferdinand's are divided into 6:4 to 7:3. During the exchange in the Garden of Beginnings, she had the Goddess of wisdom, Mestionora, temporarily descend on him, and other gods poured out divine power, so she became known as the "Goddess Incarnation".
• Magecraft: Due to her own extensive reading and brewing practices under Ferdinand's strict guidance, Rozemyne's knowledge and skills in magic circles and potion brewing far exceed her peers. Her cooking experiences as a commoner also gives her a significant advantage in ingredients preparation, especially when compared against fellow nobles that never did any manual labor in their life thus far.
• Divine Instrument Manifestation: Rozemyne is able to morph her schtappe into all the Divine Instruments of the primary seven gods and Verfuhremeer's Staff.
• Multiple Schtappe Manifestation: Rozemyne is able to manifest multiple copies of her schtappe at once and even sustain two schtappe morphed into Divine Instruments at the same time.

Despite her dislike of it, Rozemyne is actually decently skilled in embroidery for someone her age. Rozemyne is very skilled in anything to do with language. She is able to easily read several ancient dialects that even other high-ranking nobles can barely decipher, thanks of being her bookworm. Thus, she's also very good at taking complicated texts and abridging them into simpler language suited for a specific target audience. An example of this is her series of children's bibles. Because being reincarnated and keep his knowledge of his past life, Rozemyne is very good at math. Her method of doing written arithmetic makes her unique in Ehrenfest, where most people use an abacus. She can also calculate large numbers in her head well enough to put even some merchants to shame. Due to Ferdinand's and Rosina's extensive training, Rozemyne's skill in playing harspiel is way above her peers. She has a good ear for music and near-perfect pitch, allowing her to recreate many of the songs she heard as Urano.

Thus, Rozemyne is very perceptive in people's moods (Natural Insight) and true desires during social interactions, allowing her to win people over. However, she often acts on impulse without proper consideration of the surroundings and the consequences of her action, which frequently ends up causing troubles on an unprecedented scale. Thanks to her experience as an apprentice merchant and also her experience at working in company in her past life, Rozemyne is a very skilled negotiator, capable of getting terms in her favor even when negotiating against people with higher authority. She's also good in motivating people to act in her bidding.

While not being a combatant herself, Rozemyne is capable of coming up with unconventional battle tactics on the fly to win against overwhelming odds, as shown during the treasure-stealing ditter match with Dunkelfelger. In both the temple orphanage and the children's playroom in the Archduke's Castle, Rozemyne demonstrated great skill in teaching others and organizing study schedules. She is also a fast learner, able to keep up with Ferdinand’s demanding expectations.

Criticism[]

The critic Kazufumi Iida found that the book depicts the power of books that can change the difference in views of books depending on the era and the structure of power. I appreciate it. In addition, she talks about his love for books through the medium of web novels, and points out that there is something unique about readers reading them online criticize.

Furthermore, regarding the era of the work, she says, "Because we are in an era where texts are read and written with digital data, books with scents and textures are considered valuable even in the world of imagination."

TV Anime[]

An anime television series adaptation was announced on March 7, 2019. The series is animated by Ajia-do Animation Works and directed by Mitsuru Hongo, with Mariko Kunisawa handling series composition, Yoshiaki Yanagida and Toshihisa Kaiya designing the characters, and Michiru composing the series' music.

The first part ran for 14 episodes, which aired from October 3 to December 26, 2019, on ABC, Tokyo MX, Wowow, and BS Fuji, and covers Part 1: Daughter of a Soldier of the light novel. Sumire Morohoshi performed the series' opening theme song "Mashiro" (真っ白), while Megumi Nakajima performed the series' ending theme song "Kamikazari no Tenshi" (髪飾りの天使). A two-part OVA series (numbered collectively as episode 14.5, both airing on March 9, 2020) consisted of two parts titled "Eustachius's Incognito Operation Downtown" and "Visiting Missus Corinna".

Staff (SEASON 1)[]

The second part ran for 12 episodes, which aired from April 5 to June 21, 2020, and covers Volumes 1 and 2 of Part 2: Apprentice Shrine Maiden of the light novel. Sumire Morohoshi also performed the second part's opening theme song "Tsumujikaze" (旋風) (Commotion), while Minori Suzuki performs the ending theme "Ephemera wo Atsumete".

Staff (SEASON 2)[]

The production of a third season was announced on July 12, 2020, which ran for 10 episodes and aired from April 12 to June 14, 2022 on ytv, and covers Volumes 3 and 4 of Part 2: Apprentice Shrine Maiden of the light novel. Nao Tōyama performed the third season's opening theme song "Ano Hi no Kotoba" (あの日のことば), while Maaya Sakamoto performed the ending theme song "Kotoba ni Dekinai" (言葉にできない).

Staff (SEASON 3)[]

Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen 3rd Season was released on Blu-ray on June 8, 2022 and on DVD from April 20, 2022 to June 8, 2022.

A fourth season by Wit Studio covering Part 3: Adopted Daughter of an Archduke of the light novel was announced on December 6, 2023.

Crunchyroll licensed the series and has partnered with Sentai Filmworks for distribution in North America.

Style[]

In this work, the characters' names and proper nouns are German style.

The author, who was originally raising children, started writing novels because his own child was in kindergarten and she had more time to spare. The author became interested in the derivative works of games that he discovered while reading web novels. She thought of multiple plots for the content, and was worried about which one to choose, but in the end, this work was completed by putting those plots together under the theme of "books and libraries."

Other[]

Six fan-books were published by TO Books and released on (Honzuki no Gekokujō Fanbook 1) December 20, 2016, (Honzuki no Gekokujō Fanbook 2) December 9, 2017, (Honzuki no Gekokujō Fanbook 3) November 10, 2018, (Honzuki no Gekokujō Fanbook 34) November 9, 2019, (Honzuki no Gekokujō Fanbook 5) November 10, 2020, and (Honzuki no Gekokujō Fanbook 6) November 10, 2021. TO Books also published seven Drama CDs released on (Honzuki no Gekokujō CD 1) September 9, 2017, (Honzuki no Gekokujō CD 2) June 9, 2018, (Honzuki no Gekokujō CD 3) June 10, 2019, (Honzuki no Gekokujō CD 4) December 10, 2019, (Honzuki no Gekokujō CD 5) September 10, 2020, (Honzuki no Gekokujō CD 6) August 10, 2021, and (Honzuki no Gekokujō CD 7) April 9, 2022.

Reception[]

The series has sold over 8 million copies across physical and digital sales combined as of October 31, 2022. The series ranked fifth in 2017, first in 2018 and 2019, second in 2020 and 2021, and third in 2022 in Takarajimasha's annual light novel guide book Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!, in the tankōbon category.

The 2nd season of anime was nominated for "Best Fantasy" in 2021's Crunchyroll Anime Awards.

External Links[]

• Ascendance of a Bookworm ─ Web novel at Shōsetsuka ni Narō (in Japanese)
• Ascendance of a Bookworm ─ Light Novel Official Website (in Japanese)
• Ascendance of a Bookworm PART 1 ─ Manga Official Website (in Japanese)
• Ascendance of a Bookworm PART 2 ─ Manga Official Website (in Japanese)
• Ascendance of a Bookworm PART 3 ─ Manga Official Website (in Japanese)
• Ascendance of a Bookworm PART 4 ─ Manga Official Website (in Japanese)
• TV Anime "Ascendance of a Bookworm" Official Website
• TV Anime "Ascendance of a Bookworm S1" Official Website | Anisata | Asahi Broadcasting Television
• TV Anime "Ascendance of a Bookworm S1" Official Website | Anisata | Asahi Broadcasting Television
• TV Anime "Ascendance of a Bookworm Series" Official (@anime_booklove) - Twitter
• Ascendance of a Bookworm ─ Wikipedia JP
• Ascendance of a Bookworm ─ Wikipedia EN

See Also[]

• Otoko nara Ikkokuichijou no Aruji wo Mezasanakya ne, Another light novel series with the same Illustrator.

Trivia[]

to be added.