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Regarding Saeki Sayaka is a spin-off novel of Bloom Into You, in, you guessed it, Saeki Sayaka's point of view.

Hitoma Iruma, the author of Adachi to Shimamura (another popular yuri work), takes the wheel in writing while Nakatani Nio illustrates.

I didn't plan on reading this series. The writing switched from manga to light novel, which can easily mess up the flow and feel revolving a character. As this spin-off is made to expand Sayaka's side of the story, the world-building of fairly normal people could crumble down at a moment's notice, let alone the fact that this is written by a completely different author. But ... my worries turned to dust after a mere few pages.

Taking the form of first-person perspective, we dive into Sayaka's head as an elementary schooler. We come to understand how hard-working she is as well as her demeanor. Her attitude during her younger years should reflect on why she acted the way she did during high school years and, well, Hitoma hit the nail on the head. How he displayed her tolerance, seriousness, bit of arrogance, and overall thought process was not something that worsened the reading experience. It's more likely that you'll get caught off guard by how well Hitoma could present Sayaka's opinions in a way that suits her character. Many writers fail to get into a character's head and voice their thoughts, making characters feel sloppy and inconsistent. But Sayaka's point of view is truly well done. The way she acted never contradicted what was shown in the manga throughout all three light novels.

Setting aside Sayaka, how were all the other characters carried out? To summarize how well the other characters were written in four words: It was well done.

Since you're planning to read the Saeki Sayaka light novels, then I'm assuming you've finished the Bloom Into You manga.

[Spoilers]

Sayaka's past and future were briefly mentioned in the manga. Her interaction with a girl in a pool is the first in this story, unmentioned in the manga. That one girl who only appeared for a couple dozen pages had her energetic and childish qualities distinctly highlighted. Whether Sayaka realized it or not, this was the start. The start of a rollercoaster of emotions. Just in this short start can I already grasp how characters will be handled. With care and emotions. If elementary schoolers can be written so well, then it would certainly be impressive with characters who have a different set of beliefs. Yuzuki Chie is Sayaka's next encounter. A person who pursues the idea of love instead of actually loving her significant other. But Sayaka fell in love with the other person, not the concept itself, leading the story into a spiral of Sayaka learning to accept and overcome as time shifts Yuzuki's ideals.

What I found most displeasing is not volume 2, but volume 3. Volume 2 was great as expected. It gave us insight into Sayaka's relationship with Nanami Touko, her interactions, and how she views and loves Touko in her first year. If there's anything to complain about, then I would say how offsetting this volume felt. It did its job perfectly, but since we're looking through the lens of what technically is a side character, the volume felt oddly stagnant. We don't get to better know the person Sayaka fell in love with at all, since it's already done in the main work. We only get to know what Sayaka knows, but since Touko and her are so emotionally distant, Sayaka might as well be a viewer or a bystander who can never close in such distance. This is most likely what the novel was trying to emphasize, but it nonetheless carries a strangely different feel to the story than I'm used to. Nevertheless, volume 2 served its purpose with its never-failing careful consideration of portraying characters. It's the bridge to volume 3, Sayaka's future.

There are two main things I can mention regarding volume 3. The first is how Sayaka has already matured. She's not growing and changing in the same way she did in the first two volumes. This volume is solely on her pursuit of love and finding happiness. This brings me to the second point.

At this time, I feel like the author doesn't want to stray away too much from the original story. It's in the same way how fanfiction writers don't want to mess with the plot too much. Was he afraid of changing the tone of the story by a notch? It would've been much better if certain disputes were resolved. Perhaps the confrontation with Yuzuki be changed? Perhaps the conversation with Touko be expanded on? There are many ways I can't come up with to make volume 3 have a broader scope. But it decides to focus on Sayaka falling in love yet again. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad thing at all. Though the execution fell short of my high expectations. Great, but not a 10/10. It was forced. Sayaka falling in love with someone is a given, but the way she fell in love lacks the chemistry of previous occurrences. It's as if she could've fallen in love with anyone on the street given time. Sure, in real life you don't need any particular reason to love someone, but remember that this is a story. She slowly came to love Yuzuki while her attraction to Touko came with a bang. With Haru? Apparently it's because Haru is loud and energetic.

Haru- The girl Sayaka ends up with. How they act are vastly different, but they end up together anyway. Whatever energy Haru has is the quality Sayaka lacked throughout her childhood. But the line of love is undistinctive, as Sayaka isn't much different than how she was portrayed during her high school years. She changed as a person if she can come to love someone so vastly different, but her characterization now is lacking in the sense that we can't differentiate her from the person who loved Touko and the person who loves Haru. All there really was in volume 3 is interactions with Haru, written in a still captivating way. This is an ending that wants her to be happy, and that's all there is to it.

Overall, I rate this light novel series a 9/10. Although the execution for the last volume could be better, Sayaka's journey of love is something I can accept. I enjoyed it dearly, this take in love.

A Wild Censor Bug Has Appeared!
Fwish! Fwish!
Swooo~sh
Oh no! It has taken the sexual desire of some human beings! What will our main character do!?
POW!!!
And with that one punch, ladies and gentleman, the censor bug is gone and our hero is now naked in the middle of town.
---
The story won't get any different from my little synopsis right up there. How could it? Based on the character list alone, Enjou Retto, one of the protagonists, has quite a harem. Revealed in the first episode, Retto has a complicated history with his first love, Hoshino Kirara. Because of incidents in the past involving censor bugs, Kirara avoids ... boys. And Retto, her childhood friend, is not an exception.

Anyone that has a somewhat lewd brain could probably come up with the story line. The animation has its inconsistencies, but all in all, the ecchi in this anime is fairly emphasized. But let me just tell you, for those who want to know, that the animation is censored, unlike the manga. (Don't worry though, there will be an uncensored version)

I can't say much about the sound quality, but the characters have tropes they follow. Right off the bat, we can tell that Kirara has a tsundere-ish side, and Retto is your average harem protagonist. There's nothing too eye-catching that I would like to say, but if you're planning to watch a blooming romance where all the characters get naked on the streets because of their erotic energy, then this is the anime for you.

Aah~ Another day, another isekai reincarnation manga. Mainstream as can be, but I just so happen to like the cliches. Although I gave this manga a 7/10, it's definitely not for everyone. If you don't like isekai tropes, this is not recommended.

Story- 7/10
Reincarnating after death with a special skill, Ain, our protagonist, waits for a plot to be made. From the cliche "accidentally proposing to a girl" and being op because he puts in effort, to the "oops I'm a prince now". As ordinary as the story is, I have a bias towards such tropes, so pardon me on that.

Art- 7/10
Straightforward, adequate, and does ... its job. It's nothing too extraordinary, but better than what most can do (meaning me).

Characters- 6/10
The protagonist isn't a naive idiot that wants to hide his powers for everything he does, that in itself is worth a few points. Other than the protagonist, everyone else suffices as a character following a specific trope, with some exceptions here and there.

Enjoyment- 8/10
As mentioned above, I have a bias towards reincarnation as a child manga, so, if you're any normal, then this manga will probably be a 5-7/10. (As of 11 chapters in)

Overall- 7/10
Just by reading the synopsis of this title, you'd already get the gist of the plot. It's exactly what you'd expect of an isekai. It's easy to read and understand (this one, at least), with its ups and downs as well as the protagonist having a mother complex. All in all, you can waste some time with this, like everything else you do for enjoyment =)

- This Review Contains Minor Spoilers -

Tower of God - the tower you climb to reach the top. 7/10; let me evaluate.

Bam has never seen the light of day before, trapped in a cave not knowing what his past is. One day, a girl named Rachel comes down and acts as Bam's "light". They spent time together, Rachel teaches Bam what she knows, and all goes well until it doesn't. As expected. All the happiness those two shared with each other comes to a stop. It has to. There has to be some plot.

Rachel got in the tower, leaving Bam behind, but Bam miraculously gets ... into the tower as well. Pretty cliche plot, huh? Not to mention the fast pacing of the show compared to its source material and other anime.

As a Webtoon reader, I'll be as unbiased as possible and review this anime based on the anime content that has been shown.

When we are thrown into the world of the tower, we have as much knowledge as Bam does - practically none. I'm sorry sir, but I don't know anymore than the person blindfolded and deaf at the back of the room. I don't even know the basics. How many floors does the tower have? What the hell are Princesses of Jahad? Who is Rachel and why do we care about her so much?

Most might come to think that our obvious questions come from bad storytelling, but it doesn't. First things first, the art is unique and distinguishable from other anime, although it took a while for me to get used to. Second thing's second, the storytelling is genius. Or at least, has a different approach than from one might expect. It doesn't give us knowledge that all of the other regulars know. As stated, we know as much as Bam. An ant on the bottom of a mountain. We must climb to learn. Climb to understand.

Each character's background is quite unknown to the viewer, besides some hints here and there to explain actions. Because Bam doesn't know, we have no rights to know either. This type of storytelling sorts out all the impatient viewers from the very beginning, and starts to make sense to the patient ones as we watch. Although there's so much more of the story we have not unravelled, this is only the first season. But let's not base the first season's score off of anticipation for the upcoming seasons.

Bam makes friends as well as enemies. The story building only just begins. We only get to know so much of the plot. Our shallow understanding of the tower creates questions to solve as we grow closer to each character episode by episode.

The tower has a vast amount of knowledge that isn't uncovered. We don't know anything, but we will continue to learn as Bam and the other characters continue to grow. One step at a time, one concept at a time.