Hon nara Uru hodo - Furuhonya Juugatsudou to Sono Kyaku - Vol. 1 Ch. 6 - Goodbye, Mariko Aoki

[MangaDex]

 

[BluWacky]

To explain the reference to The Name of the Rose in this chapter requires spoilers, so here you go:

Spoiler: Major spoilers for "The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco

Eco's novel is a (very intellectual) murder mystery story, where the central device around which the murders swirl ends up being a secret library and a book within it that the monks in the story would literally kill for or in fact be killed by. Great, very famous, novel!

Congratulations to Hon Nara... for winning basically every manga award going over the past few months! It's a great little series, obviously, although given how many of these awards are voted for by people who at least vestigially work in the traditional publishing sphere and book shops it's hardly a surprise that something that's a love letter to their work should be so popular.

 

[QT765]

I mean I would also be sad seeing books being displayed as art when you have attachments to those books

 

[Mitsu13]

Seeing that "art" really hurts. It made me even more angry that he really did trick him.

 

[Goyal99Raj]

thank you

 

[nakuto]

Another great chapter—thank you so much for the fantastic translation work!

 

[77BLc9JwJGpLVARkamJx]

Damn, the uni kid at least should have some decency to tell the old dude how the books gonna be used and not gloat about him getting (some of) it for free like that.

 

[yun1que]

 

[loresx]

Well, it’s a bit of a conflict for me to see that artwork on display after finding out that he tricked that guy into buying those books cheaply, and at the same time I get that he sold them and so the customer can do whatever they want with the product they bought, but all that backstory really made me angry—at least, the part about the art student. But I loved finding out how he got the bookstore. I love this manga; every chapter surprises me. Thanks for translating!

 

[useless]

Yup, that student was a douchebag. This kind of artwork can be interesting, but this was exploiting a kind old guy.
Thanks for the chapter as always~

 

[skeletom_]

Thanks for the great translation

 

[jgomez4]

Thank you so much for translating and editing this, I just discovered the series and fell in love with it.
The artwork and writing is really amazing. Now i get why it has won so many prizes recently.

 

[SUPER7X]

Congratulations to Hon Nara... for winning basically every manga award going over the past few months! It's a great little series, obviously, although given how many of these awards are voted for by people who at least vestigially work in the traditional publishing sphere and book shops it's hardly a surprise that something that's a love letter to their work should be so popular.

It really did win everything.

Awards:

• Da Vinci BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025
• 1st in the Men's Division of This Manga Is Amazing! 2026
• 1st of the Publishers' Comic Staff Recommended Comics 2026
• Manga Taishou 2026 Grand Prize
• 30th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Manga Grand Prize (2026)

Did I miss anything?

 

[illmoron13]

Thank you for translating this series! I found out about this series on Wikipedia page of the Tezuka Award. Also, your notes of translation is so insightful.

 

[lowarctic]

dudes being dudes guys being pals booksellers selling books

 

[jiraiyasama3310]

This...stung a lot.

 

[Gatelian]

That situation with the college kid may come off as cruel and make us feel sad but in a way that's basically how it is: Young people take advantage of adults to push themselves forward, in an attempt to make their lives easier they trample over feelings and relationships thus creating regrets for their future. The cycle never ends, it's human nature.
In contrast, adults are capable of throwing everything away to pursue peace of mind... Quitting your job to make your life harder for a chance of happiness or allowing someone to make their own choices while walking your own path and minding your own business is very mature and hard to do, at least in my opinion.

I hope we can get to read more of this charming manga, thank you very much for translating BluWacky