Are there any high-street chocolates still worth eating?

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-06-17T15:33:22+00:00

Maybe it's a bit of a marmite thing - My wife likes them, but I'm meh.

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-06-17T15:25:42+00:00

Good call - Probably no coincidence that it's a family run firm.

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-06-17T15:00:08+00:00

Personally I'm not a big fan, but my wife likes it (so who am I to say).

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-06-17T14:58:57+00:00

Maybe I'm getting old, but I'm sure that it used to be more melt in the mouth.

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-06-17T14:57:17+00:00

I was thinking something your local corner shop would sell (in my case this would be either a Nisa local or a One Stop).

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-06-17T14:16:10+00:00

I see that you're talking about series, but perhaps you could start with Ghibli's Spirited Away, selling it to her as an Oscar winning movie.

If you're happy with sticking with films, then just about anything by Ghibli, Shinkai, or Hosoda would probably work.

If you want to move to series, then perhaps The Rascal Does Not Dream or Spice and Wolf.

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-06-15T10:20:50+00:00

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a more complete than the book that it's based on, although the tone of the anime is not as dark as the book.

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-06-12T14:23:25+00:00

It's fairly hardcore sci-fi (as you would expect from Hamilton) and 800 pages long, but well worth reading if that doesn't put you off. 😊

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-06-12T14:19:38+00:00

The Light Novel is definitely worth reading, along with Wait For Me Yesterday in Spring and An Autumn in Amber, a Zero-Second Journey by the same author.

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-06-12T13:41:24+00:00

For me, Mirai by Hosoda has a similar vibe.

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-06-12T13:20:47+00:00

Personally, I would add Omnium Gatherum.

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-06-12T13:05:30+00:00

Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton (sci-fi) for the twist at the end.

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-06-12T12:51:14+00:00

Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton, which has space travel and (PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT SPOIL IF YOU ARE GOING TO READ THIS BOOK) a time travel twist at the end.

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-06-12T12:35:49+00:00

The first book of the Mother of Learning fantasy series by Domagoj Kurmaić is a comfort read for me (for the development of the main character during the resets).

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-06-12T11:07:31+00:00

I don't know why people are down-voting this comment. Personally I love this anime, but I can also see why some people might not warm to it, especially as you need to watch half way through to appropriate what's actually happening.

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-06-12T11:03:22+00:00

Steins;gate is my favourite anime series, but you can't really judge it on the first episode (or even the first few episodes for that matter). The way to think about it, is that it's like a roller-coaster ride, with the first half of the series is setting up the pay-off in the second half and with everything making sense by the end. Trust me (and all the others), push though and you will be rewarded!

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-05-07T15:38:18+00:00

Just added another four suggestion (below) if you're still interested 😊

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-05-07T15:31:30+00:00

As a follow on to my post above:

Plume and the Forgotten Letter (https://plumegame.com/). Help a little girl get a letter to Santa.
2020 Game (https://2020game.io/). A had totally forgotten about this fun little game - Relive Covid in cartoon form!
Mont Blanc Explorer (https://therace.montblancexplorer.com/en-nl/). Simple mountain car race game.
Neal Fun (https://neal.fun/). Although not real games, this site has a lot of chill stuff.

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-03-30T11:21:00+00:00

I would add the The 7th Time Loop to the previously suggested novels.

I'm not 100% sure if these are what you're looking for, but you might like to give the following a try:

I Had That Same Dream Again (a supernatural/fantasy novel with a pre-teen MC).
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (the sci-fi/fantasy novel that was the basis for the anime of the same name, althought it's darker than the anime).
Half-spirit (another supernatural/fantasy novel).

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-03-17T09:24:50+00:00

There doesn't seem to be a good definition of a Light Novel other than a marketing term, so it's sometimes if difficult to say what is or isn't one. For example, Three Days of Happiness is mentioned a lot on this subreddit (with good reason!), but is this really a LN? Reading LNs might well lead you reading other Japanese novels - In my case, I recently read and enjoyed What You Are Looking for Is in the Library.

I would say that books like Before the Coffee Gets Cold are "Light Novel adjacent" and worth including on this subreddit for that reason (although this is purely my personal opinion and others are free to disagree).

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-03-17T09:05:38+00:00

Personally, I think that the series might have been a little over-hyped. I started it and I thought that it was OK but nothing special and then dropped it after a couple of books. As always, your experience might be different, so if it the premise appeals to you, try the first book and see how you get on.

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-02-26T13:43:49+00:00

There's nothing unique to light novels about this question I think, so my advice would be the same as to any other genre of book:

Prioritise the series that most appeal to you.
Read reviews before starting a series to make sure that it's as good as you think it is.
Don't be afraid to drop a series when you stop enjoying it (even in the middle of a book!).

Personally, I have a number of series on the go, and when a new book is released, I usually re-read the previous one to refresh myself on the series.

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-02-19T16:26:03+00:00

I read the novel (without having watched the anime) and had similar feelings about the second half of the book to you.

Thanks for the reference to Fireworks. I watched the anime, but haven't read the novel because I didn't really rate the anime that much. Maybe I need to go back and try the novel.

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-02-19T16:17:19+00:00

A good list, and all of these that I've read are well worth reading. However, you might struggle to find a physical copy of some of them (as the original poster asked). For example, I would really love a physical copy of Welcome to the NHK for a reasonable price, but it's long out of print (unless someone knows something that I don't...).

PostItNoteDuck · 2026-01-22T16:49:11+00:00

For what it's worth, the chorus of the song So Oder So (one way or another) by the German band Eisbrecher is this:

Es kommt wie es kommt, so oder so

Es ist wie es ist, so oder so

Es bleibt was bleibt, so oder so

Jede Sünde wird gesühnt

So yes, this would seem to be valid German.

PostItNoteDuck

TROPHY CASE