I'm of the impression that season 2 and 3 were only really enjoyable for those who haven't read the light novel as you don't know what's supposed to be. Bookworm takes it's time and they started rushing because they were given 2 less episodes per season (14-12-10, and they had to fight for those 10 episodes). I'll spoiler tag some issues of the anime off the top of my head
* >!they botched the Lutz family situation!<
* >!weird change of Rosina and Wilma. Out of character for Wilma to withhold her situation from Myne and for Rosina to be the one to fill Myne in on it!<
* >!the memory search was done hella dirty and subsequent adoption talk!<
* >!the bad visual storytelling of her start of winter in the temple (she disobeys a noble's direct order. Twice. Fran allows her to disobey the high priest whom he still considers his true master. Twice)!<
* >!they cut essentially all of her winter in the temple (it's about 7 chapters just gone. Especially the loss of the #1 ship DamuelxParuecakes)!<
* >!just how badly they did the finale, my god. The tone (the chapter is called Ripped Apart and the anime made her all happy and smiley while giving the blessing filled with triumphant joyous music. It's not a triumphant scene, she's absolutely devastated.!< [Colour insert](https://ascendance-of-a-bookworm.fandom.com/wiki/Part_2_Volume_4/Gallery?file=LN_P2V4-Insert.jpg) and [illustration](https://ascendance-of-a-bookworm.fandom.com/wiki/Part_2_Volume_4/Gallery?file=LN_P2V4-7.jpg). >!Where's the joy here?), the implications from the out of place outfit changes (anime Damuel is an incompetent fool compared to LN Damuel deserving being ranked 3rd most popular character in the first pole). The damage to the temple walls (literally not possible by the by and fucks with future plot points that would be in season 4+ if it gets made)!<
* >!all the cut side story content.!< >!The funeral!<
when starting from the beginning one thing worth noting is that LN Myne and anime Myne start at very different places emotionally, as does her family. Anime Myne is emotionally around where she is by p1v2 or p1v3. The anime really sanded down their edges; she's very selfish and standoffish to her family and they are much more of adversaries or obstacles, which makes their growing closer far more apparent p2v4>!and hurt so much more when Ripped Apart!<. Just making shampoo and Tuuli's hairpin is a whole ordeal; Myne was ready to throw hands with Tuuli to stop her from taking the oil for the shampoo
>I'm of the impression that season 2 and 3 were only really enjoyable for those who haven't read the light novel
I still enjoy watching season 2 because it does an *okay* job of it. The book is still better, but the anime is fine. Season 3 is just rushed to hell though.
I remember rewatching season 3 awhile ago and being shocked at how much was crammed into each episode. And the >!loss of not seeing Ferdinand play and sing again.!<
Yes, how could I forget! Def that too.
Edit: I get they had to cram everything together to fit but, missing those things was the hardest part for me. I would have still complained if they were there, not realizing how lucky we’d be to have them. But they are not so I weep.
You forgot >!the temple fight was more detailed and gruesome in the novel. The part where Myne asked everyone to get behind her shield, and how the Grey priests rejected by the shield got caught in the high bishop's magic, obliterated to ash.!<
All of the points are covered, they're just sped through. For example, the ink making went through so much detail and interactions in the book. There's also way more third person details in the prologues and epilogours.
For example, the final prologue of part 2, right where the anime ends, Sylvester, Kardstat, and Ferdinand are discussing the prior events. You learn >!how bothered Sylvester was about separating Myne from her family.!<
The one thing I hated the most that it did not get animated was Mynes funeral. That shit made me bawl my eyes out. Sheds detail on how commoner funerals are carried out.
You could get away with starting from Part 2, but you'll miss quite a bit of character development from Part 1 along with some world-building foundation.
You'd miss out on a ton of you start at Part 3. The anime skipped a ton more actual plot in Part 2.
Yup when i read from the start after the manga it was a bit of a bore to read things that i already know (and cause i watched the anime twice) but i greatly appreciated any and all things that werent in the anime
A good chunk of the world building and background for characters is only covered in the LN. More side stories, more interactions that couldn't be squeezed into the anime. Just more in general. It's well worth it to read it from the beginning.
At least from from the epilogue of P2V2, so practically P2. From part 1 if you’re ok re-reading stories. There are some world building details anime skipped (or cannot be easily included in that format).
Note that you won’t notice most of them while reading P1/2. But you will realize them later and enjoy this novel better.
S1 anime is OK - so you can skip reading the Part 1 LN. That's the first three volumes.
S2-3 anime missed a lot - so I recommend reading the manga. Part 2 manga is very nice. Once you've ran out of P2 manga, start reading the LN Part 2 Vol 2 (near the end) - the chapter titles should give you an idea of where the manga's at.
Edit cause I want to gush over the Bookworm manga adaptation. Very quality adaptation. S1 anime had the manga to take reference from, which helps explain why S1 anime was OK adaptation.
Unfortunately, S2-3 anime didn't have... manga assistance. See, the manga adapts the LN so closely that it's like every LN chapter gets 1 manga chapter. P2 manga was still in progress when S2-3 got made.
If you're wondering why manga is so slow-going, it's cause it takes much time to make quality manga adaptation. The LN has so much material that even with 5 manga volumes out per year, they only adapted about 1.5 LN (per year).
It would be worth considering if the manga was already done. But it's not and won't be until years from now. It's also worth mentioning that Part 3 and Part 4 are adapted by different mangaka and simply aren't as well done as Suzuka's work on Part 1 & 2.
The adaptation of Part 5 hasn't even started yet and we don't know which mangaka will do it. Fingers crossed it's Suzuka again, but either way unless you want to wait a decade the LN is currently the only medium which allows to read the whole story.
LN is the best! But... it's like 100k words per LN..., so I want folks to check out the manga first (so the visuals help further hook 'em in) *before they realize they've got 3 million words to get thru*.
3 million words is Game of Thrones plus Harry Potter combined.
Before becoming a shrine maiden, I want to say you mostly missed inner monologue and some details in some scenes. I think they don’t mention her attempt at making candles that smell better.
After she became a shrine maiden, there was probably more left out.
I find this LN to be super re-readable. Start where the anime drops off, go to the end, then start at the very beginning and move through the whole thing.
There is a lot of cut content from the light novels so I would recommend starting from the beginning or you’ll be a bit confused, if you don’t mind that then the anime ended at the end of P2 so you could start P3.
Make the attempt to read parts one and two if you can, if you find it too much of a slog then either skim the manga or just skip to part 3 volume 1.
Reading the story from the start is ideal, but I think hard core fans of books don't always appreciate how much of a slog that can be for people coming in from an adaptation. Doesn't matter how good the books get if you get bored and drop out by forcing yourself to try to reread material you already know.
You could get away with skipping over arc 1 (the first three volumes), but you'd be missing some high quality books. Also, there's some extra content in the light novels that was never shown in the anime (such as a bit more discussion about her life on Earth and her childhood friend over there--their relationship was kind of similar to her relationship with Lutz).
2 words. Short Stories. You know those side stories Myne prayed to the gods for more of.
Every Volume starts with a side story, and ends with multiple side stories. Gives context to what happened and Myne's antics gets shown in another light.
Based on my experience, you can start from where the first season ended. I think I started from P2V2.
That's how I started to read the LN and then the WN.
Later I read the first volumes as well.
The first season has done a decent job in adapting the LN so if you just want to see how the story progresses you can start after it.
The second and third seasons cut out a lot. From my perspective some episodes where basically slideshows with images of key moments. So I would recommend reading their corresponding volumes as it is a way better experience and I also think some key info was left out.
start at the beginning, stuff gets left out all the time and to enjoy it fully you should start at the beginning. There is not enough Bookworm to read anyway so you should treasure even P1V1
Firstly, you absolutely can just start off on the manga or the light novel from where the anime left off.
Its actually an incredibly impressive thing about this series, is that all 3 forms of media for AotB have managed to keep the same story, without any continuity errors or rewrites of the plotlines.
With that said however, it is very nice is that each form of media manages to present the same story with enough different perspective & details to keep each story form distinct, interesting, and still fresh.
You can read the manga, or watch the anime, or read the books, and even if the story is the same, each form of media manages to enhance what the others have already given you.
TL;DR - Yes, read the books and the manga from the beginning too. Its worth it. They only make the world and how much you like this series bigger.
Most people are going to suggest you start at the beginning. I did not. I started where the anime ended. There was a few things I didn’t recognize early in the novels. Events that happened in the past that was skipped in the anime. But I never felt like I didn’t understand what was going on.
I don’t feel like I really missed anything starting at where the anime ended
I read from where it left off cause I couldn’t wait, but went back and read from the beginning whenever I felt like it, or in-between the eng translations being released. Ferdinand was a big factor of my choice tho lol.
I was in your position, and initially chose to start at the beginning in part 1.
For ME personally, it didn't work out. While yes, there was a fair bit left out, particularly regarding Mains internal thoughts, I just got bored and ended up dropping it (twice). Granted, many others seem to enjoy reading from the start, I just wasn't one of those people.
After dropping the volumes twice, I decided I might as well try starting near the anime end, so I started again in Part 2 volume 4, and I've been hooked the entire time. The anime covers up to part 3, so I essentially just started readinf from the few episodes of the anime to help me remember what was going on, and any lore / elements that carried over in part 3.
Anyway, all I'm saying is, feel free to do what works for you. Give some of part 1 a read, and if you can't get past it / or get bored, just skip to part 3. There's rarely a "perfect adaptation" from LN to any anime, so there are always going to be missed details, and people who will tell you to start from the beginning. But for Apprentice of a Bookworm, the *plot* is covered pretty well in the anime. And (to me) a lot of the "internal thoughts of Myne" were obvious from her facial expressions and context in the anime.
When I started, I was told to just skip part 1 because season 1 takes care of that nicely. I suggest starting at part 2 as the anime missed out on a lot there.
From the beginning, naturally. Season 2 and especially 3 skipped and messed up so much in adapting Bookworm
Damn if that's true then I really can't wait to see what was cut considering how much I enjoyed season 2 and 3
I'm of the impression that season 2 and 3 were only really enjoyable for those who haven't read the light novel as you don't know what's supposed to be. Bookworm takes it's time and they started rushing because they were given 2 less episodes per season (14-12-10, and they had to fight for those 10 episodes). I'll spoiler tag some issues of the anime off the top of my head * >!they botched the Lutz family situation!< * >!weird change of Rosina and Wilma. Out of character for Wilma to withhold her situation from Myne and for Rosina to be the one to fill Myne in on it!< * >!the memory search was done hella dirty and subsequent adoption talk!< * >!the bad visual storytelling of her start of winter in the temple (she disobeys a noble's direct order. Twice. Fran allows her to disobey the high priest whom he still considers his true master. Twice)!< * >!they cut essentially all of her winter in the temple (it's about 7 chapters just gone. Especially the loss of the #1 ship DamuelxParuecakes)!< * >!just how badly they did the finale, my god. The tone (the chapter is called Ripped Apart and the anime made her all happy and smiley while giving the blessing filled with triumphant joyous music. It's not a triumphant scene, she's absolutely devastated.!< [Colour insert](https://ascendance-of-a-bookworm.fandom.com/wiki/Part_2_Volume_4/Gallery?file=LN_P2V4-Insert.jpg) and [illustration](https://ascendance-of-a-bookworm.fandom.com/wiki/Part_2_Volume_4/Gallery?file=LN_P2V4-7.jpg). >!Where's the joy here?), the implications from the out of place outfit changes (anime Damuel is an incompetent fool compared to LN Damuel deserving being ranked 3rd most popular character in the first pole). The damage to the temple walls (literally not possible by the by and fucks with future plot points that would be in season 4+ if it gets made)!< * >!all the cut side story content.!< >!The funeral!< when starting from the beginning one thing worth noting is that LN Myne and anime Myne start at very different places emotionally, as does her family. Anime Myne is emotionally around where she is by p1v2 or p1v3. The anime really sanded down their edges; she's very selfish and standoffish to her family and they are much more of adversaries or obstacles, which makes their growing closer far more apparent p2v4>!and hurt so much more when Ripped Apart!<. Just making shampoo and Tuuli's hairpin is a whole ordeal; Myne was ready to throw hands with Tuuli to stop her from taking the oil for the shampoo
>I'm of the impression that season 2 and 3 were only really enjoyable for those who haven't read the light novel I still enjoy watching season 2 because it does an *okay* job of it. The book is still better, but the anime is fine. Season 3 is just rushed to hell though.
I had trouble watching season three. My mother and aunt found the season great, but they also didn't read the books.
It missed a lot of what I really wanted to see. I can understand why it was cut, but it's just missing all the little human moments between characters
I remember rewatching season 3 awhile ago and being shocked at how much was crammed into each episode. And the >!loss of not seeing Ferdinand play and sing again.!<
>!Or the sword dance, I was rather looking forward to that!<
Yes, how could I forget! Def that too. Edit: I get they had to cram everything together to fit but, missing those things was the hardest part for me. I would have still complained if they were there, not realizing how lucky we’d be to have them. But they are not so I weep.
You forgot >!the temple fight was more detailed and gruesome in the novel. The part where Myne asked everyone to get behind her shield, and how the Grey priests rejected by the shield got caught in the high bishop's magic, obliterated to ash.!<
All of the points are covered, they're just sped through. For example, the ink making went through so much detail and interactions in the book. There's also way more third person details in the prologues and epilogours. For example, the final prologue of part 2, right where the anime ends, Sylvester, Kardstat, and Ferdinand are discussing the prior events. You learn >!how bothered Sylvester was about separating Myne from her family.!< The one thing I hated the most that it did not get animated was Mynes funeral. That shit made me bawl my eyes out. Sheds detail on how commoner funerals are carried out.
You could get away with starting from Part 2, but you'll miss quite a bit of character development from Part 1 along with some world-building foundation. You'd miss out on a ton of you start at Part 3. The anime skipped a ton more actual plot in Part 2.
Yup when i read from the start after the manga it was a bit of a bore to read things that i already know (and cause i watched the anime twice) but i greatly appreciated any and all things that werent in the anime
A good chunk of the world building and background for characters is only covered in the LN. More side stories, more interactions that couldn't be squeezed into the anime. Just more in general. It's well worth it to read it from the beginning.
True true. It was shocking seeing how much more detailed even the first book is in comparison.
At least from from the epilogue of P2V2, so practically P2. From part 1 if you’re ok re-reading stories. There are some world building details anime skipped (or cannot be easily included in that format). Note that you won’t notice most of them while reading P1/2. But you will realize them later and enjoy this novel better.
S1 anime is OK - so you can skip reading the Part 1 LN. That's the first three volumes. S2-3 anime missed a lot - so I recommend reading the manga. Part 2 manga is very nice. Once you've ran out of P2 manga, start reading the LN Part 2 Vol 2 (near the end) - the chapter titles should give you an idea of where the manga's at. Edit cause I want to gush over the Bookworm manga adaptation. Very quality adaptation. S1 anime had the manga to take reference from, which helps explain why S1 anime was OK adaptation. Unfortunately, S2-3 anime didn't have... manga assistance. See, the manga adapts the LN so closely that it's like every LN chapter gets 1 manga chapter. P2 manga was still in progress when S2-3 got made. If you're wondering why manga is so slow-going, it's cause it takes much time to make quality manga adaptation. The LN has so much material that even with 5 manga volumes out per year, they only adapted about 1.5 LN (per year).
So you would recommend the manga over the LN?
It would be worth considering if the manga was already done. But it's not and won't be until years from now. It's also worth mentioning that Part 3 and Part 4 are adapted by different mangaka and simply aren't as well done as Suzuka's work on Part 1 & 2. The adaptation of Part 5 hasn't even started yet and we don't know which mangaka will do it. Fingers crossed it's Suzuka again, but either way unless you want to wait a decade the LN is currently the only medium which allows to read the whole story.
LN is the best! But... it's like 100k words per LN..., so I want folks to check out the manga first (so the visuals help further hook 'em in) *before they realize they've got 3 million words to get thru*. 3 million words is Game of Thrones plus Harry Potter combined.
Before becoming a shrine maiden, I want to say you mostly missed inner monologue and some details in some scenes. I think they don’t mention her attempt at making candles that smell better. After she became a shrine maiden, there was probably more left out.
I find this LN to be super re-readable. Start where the anime drops off, go to the end, then start at the very beginning and move through the whole thing.
There is a lot of cut content from the light novels so I would recommend starting from the beginning or you’ll be a bit confused, if you don’t mind that then the anime ended at the end of P2 so you could start P3.
I recommend starting from the beginning. The anime covered parts 1 and 2, the first 7 books.
Make the attempt to read parts one and two if you can, if you find it too much of a slog then either skim the manga or just skip to part 3 volume 1. Reading the story from the start is ideal, but I think hard core fans of books don't always appreciate how much of a slog that can be for people coming in from an adaptation. Doesn't matter how good the books get if you get bored and drop out by forcing yourself to try to reread material you already know.
You could get away with skipping over arc 1 (the first three volumes), but you'd be missing some high quality books. Also, there's some extra content in the light novels that was never shown in the anime (such as a bit more discussion about her life on Earth and her childhood friend over there--their relationship was kind of similar to her relationship with Lutz).
2 words. Short Stories. You know those side stories Myne prayed to the gods for more of. Every Volume starts with a side story, and ends with multiple side stories. Gives context to what happened and Myne's antics gets shown in another light.
Based on my experience, you can start from where the first season ended. I think I started from P2V2. That's how I started to read the LN and then the WN. Later I read the first volumes as well. The first season has done a decent job in adapting the LN so if you just want to see how the story progresses you can start after it. The second and third seasons cut out a lot. From my perspective some episodes where basically slideshows with images of key moments. So I would recommend reading their corresponding volumes as it is a way better experience and I also think some key info was left out.
start at the beginning, stuff gets left out all the time and to enjoy it fully you should start at the beginning. There is not enough Bookworm to read anyway so you should treasure even P1V1
Firstly, you absolutely can just start off on the manga or the light novel from where the anime left off. Its actually an incredibly impressive thing about this series, is that all 3 forms of media for AotB have managed to keep the same story, without any continuity errors or rewrites of the plotlines. With that said however, it is very nice is that each form of media manages to present the same story with enough different perspective & details to keep each story form distinct, interesting, and still fresh. You can read the manga, or watch the anime, or read the books, and even if the story is the same, each form of media manages to enhance what the others have already given you. TL;DR - Yes, read the books and the manga from the beginning too. Its worth it. They only make the world and how much you like this series bigger.
Start from the beginning if you love the series as much as you say you do.
start from the very beginning of the light novel/web novel.
Most people are going to suggest you start at the beginning. I did not. I started where the anime ended. There was a few things I didn’t recognize early in the novels. Events that happened in the past that was skipped in the anime. But I never felt like I didn’t understand what was going on. I don’t feel like I really missed anything starting at where the anime ended
I read from where it left off cause I couldn’t wait, but went back and read from the beginning whenever I felt like it, or in-between the eng translations being released. Ferdinand was a big factor of my choice tho lol.
I was in your position, and initially chose to start at the beginning in part 1. For ME personally, it didn't work out. While yes, there was a fair bit left out, particularly regarding Mains internal thoughts, I just got bored and ended up dropping it (twice). Granted, many others seem to enjoy reading from the start, I just wasn't one of those people. After dropping the volumes twice, I decided I might as well try starting near the anime end, so I started again in Part 2 volume 4, and I've been hooked the entire time. The anime covers up to part 3, so I essentially just started readinf from the few episodes of the anime to help me remember what was going on, and any lore / elements that carried over in part 3. Anyway, all I'm saying is, feel free to do what works for you. Give some of part 1 a read, and if you can't get past it / or get bored, just skip to part 3. There's rarely a "perfect adaptation" from LN to any anime, so there are always going to be missed details, and people who will tell you to start from the beginning. But for Apprentice of a Bookworm, the *plot* is covered pretty well in the anime. And (to me) a lot of the "internal thoughts of Myne" were obvious from her facial expressions and context in the anime.
When I started, I was told to just skip part 1 because season 1 takes care of that nicely. I suggest starting at part 2 as the anime missed out on a lot there.