This is actually very well written; well the translation isn't perfect, but it's above-average and the plot itself is incredible. Very intriguing. The second best Japanese Light Novel I have ever read. 6/5

Never did I think I'd read anything quite like this. And never did I imagine I would like it.

A very well written story. The tragedy tag is apt and this story offers the cathartic experience as we slowly see the truth behind everything. The relationships are the central part of the story. It's also the social structure of bullies and the bullied that are shown quite well in the story. The final chapters made me cry and the feelings hit me all at once.

I really enjoyed reading this light novel. It's short but it is the perfect length. Highly recommended

This light novel was well written. The whole idea about bullying and being bullied made me think about my school days and while the ending didn't fit my expectation, I feel that we as the readers learned a lesson from the tragic events.

A well written psychological story. The acceptance and denial of the society is beautifully portraid in this novel through the human power test.

At first, I thought it will be a somewhat better than average story, but as I read closer and closer to the finale, it started like a volcano eruption and didn't stop till the finale. The biggest theme in this story, in my opinion, is human relations and how they can force you to do something that you didn't even want to do. I recommend giving it a try as isn't that big of a novel. I guarantee that all of you if will not like it, at least you... more>> will find something that piques your interest.

P.S : Sorry for my English, I am not native speaker, and if someone will read my review, have a nice day :3 <<less

One of the best written stuff I have read in a while. This deserves the "Award-winning work" tag. This was amazing. For those who don't really know what this is about, I'll give a short description of this Masterpiece

It starts with a regular middle school that had a bullying incident, where 4 people were bullied by one person, and one ending up committing su*cide. But the mystery is that the actual bullying stopped months ago, and the su*cide had come out of nowhere. The su*cide victim left a will saying... more>> that Taku Sugawara is the devil and nobody should believe his words, but he has been monitored for months and there is no proof that he has interacted with the su*cide victim at all. Trying to find out the truth, the sister of the su*cide victim goes out to try and find out why. This light novel is filled with mystery, and it goes quite deeply into the complexity of human relationships. In some parts, similar to Oregairu <<less

" A twisted relationship between bully and his victim."

That's what I think after reading the ending of this novel.

A really good light novel, short, simple, yet intriguing and easy to feel related to its characters.

... more>> It's also rare to find novel that talk about friendship among students from the side that most people rarely want to admit or freely discuss.

As someone who had a hard time to build friendship at school, this story give me a new perspective to reflect.

If you are a teacher or a parents, I recommended you to read this novel at least once. <<less

3 Stars

Overall

Well, that was an experience. Not sure what to say. I only came across this because it has the award-winning tag on novelupdates and I wanted to know about the mystery of it all. After reading it, uhhhh, maybe the themes were too high-level for me to understand lol. And for the majority of the story, especially Taku’s part for all chapters except his last chapter, I felt annoyed reading it because I wanted to follow the pov of the investigator, not him. The premise of the story was... more>> that 4 students were bullied by 1 student. Taku, the most popular of the four, committed su*cide and left a will not to believe anything Taku said. All the chapters in Taku’s pov are hard to understand. In the way that they say/act one thing, then the response is something else and I’m lost. Even now, after the end, I don't think the weird flow is due to the writing, not part of the plot. Everyone is talking about the twists but I don't feel oooh so THAT happened or anything. Because I felt too confused the whole way to when the twists were revealed, I just went oh. Okay. Lol. Eh, not impressed. The adults were all weird. The principal seems in his own head and has some mental issues to really believe in this absurd grading system. The mom sounds batsh*t insane after the death. So not only are the middle school kids alrd in their own world, even the adults are floating somewhere. The whole story feels like it is not real and is just a make-believe world when I was expecting something super serious, profound and intellectual because of the heavy topics. I just feel that they tried too hard.

Sigh, I think it would have been much better as an anime or something. They can hype up the mystery and suspense and make the emotions more intense with audio planning.

Writing/Translation

The translation I read is from Hellping. The translation is hosted on the novelupdates forum lol. The translation is kinda okay. There are some mistakes, especially in the last few chapters. Lots of, he told me, when it should be, he told him.

As for the writing, I couldn't take half of it too seriously because in Taku’s pov, he kept using chuunibyou words so seriously that I couldn't take him seriously. He's in this situation but he keeps using the words "revolution" and "my happiness" as if it's something important that people should be paying attention to.

My Created Lists (I include my rating and review in the list itself XD)

• All Novels I've Read Sorted By Rating - Where I ranked every single novel I read on novelupdates.
• Heartwarming or Feel Good or Wholesome Stories I Liked - As stated haha

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Posting a review a year later, I forgot most of it, but I remember it being really well written with nice twists. I do not regret reading it, it's short anyway.

Very boring, no significant payoff. Skip this one.