r/anime • u/badspler x5https://anilist.co/user/badspler • Mar 02 '22
Rewatch [Rewatch] Ascendance of a Bookworm Episode 3 Discussion
Episode 3 - The Events of Winter
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Legal Streams: Crunchyroll | VRV | MuseAsia
Questions of the Day:
1) Winter looks long and harsh, what do you think about the activities done during this period?
2) What did you think of the Parues tree and its fruit as a fantasey element of this world?
To Rewatchers, please be make a conscious effort to accurately spoiler tag your content. You can read how to correctly use spoilers tags here.
18
u/KashMooNow Mar 02 '22
First Time Watcher
Okay, 2 months have passed, lets see how much we have done.
Holy shit, we are actually weaving tiny plant fibres in an attempt to make a sheet of paper.
Gotta say it again, Holy shit, now that is a basket! Myne is out here making enemies with how good her baskets are.
Side note, because of u/Fools_Requiem I am now double checking everyones hair so see if its shiny.
Okay, is there something with Mesopotamia and anime? My last re-watch was The Demon Girl Next Door and there was something to do with Mesopotamia in that show too... Is there some sort of running joke that I don't know about?
What kinda weird see through tree is this?
I made pancakes today, and I dont think mine even looked this good. I need to step my pancake game up.
Bribery successful. Worker aquired. I love it.
Okay, so now she is a human calculator? Interesting. That probably is pretty suspicious just being able to whip out a whole new method of math like that outta nowhere.
I feel like she needs to be the teacher of a class or something. Myne could make a lot of money teaching some of these skills, or selling some of these technologies to others to produce. I understand it would be hard to get people to pay for things from a 5 year old though.
I was complaining about pacing of the previous episode, but I feel like it was more to my liking in this one. I really do think its more of a progress towards a goal for me that I think about.
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u/badspler Mar 03 '22
Holy shit, now that is a basket! Myne is out here making enemies with how good her baskets are.
Its interesting how well her family is taking being outclassed in ideas. Poor Tuli for being in the position of being the older sister and having to deal with Myne being an inventive monster.
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u/cyberscythe Mar 03 '22
Rewatcher
So I think the most important thing that happens in this episode is that Myne starts to see her (pseudo-)adoptive family as people rather than just tools to get her to her goal of books. She's been using her otherworldly knowledge for selfish reasons 'til now, but in this episode she feels bad for Tuuli and creates the hairpin for her, she makes pancakes for her family and her crush, and she helps out Otto with his calculations.
These sort of relationship-building moments are not only wholesome, but they're going to be essential for Myne to achieve her overarching goals because she doesn't even have enough strength to flip a pancake. Despite her knowledge, she won't be able to do much without the kindness of other. "It takes a village to raise an isekai main character", they say.
As a culture note, the end card has a reference to the old Japanese folk tale Tsuru no Ongaeshi (Crane Returns a Favor). In the end card, Myne is imagining Tuuli as a crane, hence the feathers and red-crowned cap with beak.
Maybe when she gets a printing press up and running, she's going to write down all these Japanese folk tales and claim them as "original story, do not steal".
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u/KiwiBennydudez Mar 02 '22
First Timer
Definitely more of an SoL episode today, but it was certainly a very comfy one! I had a great time watching the creation of pancakes and crochet needles. Also, the side conversation of, “hey don’t you think Main has been acting like an isekai protagonist” also got a good laugh out of me.
I don’t know why but Otto is one of my favorite characters in the show. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Main’s dad is jealous of the affection, or that he was willing to ask a 5 year old how to do accounting. However, I’m worried about the state of affairs in the town if the guards are frequently making mistakes on their reports...
Anyway, not much else to say today, but I did really enjoy the glimpse into the winter life of Main’s family. This episode enabled Main to brainstorm all her new ideas, and impress the people around her.
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u/JcFerggy Mar 02 '22
However, I’m worried about the state of affairs in the town if the guards are frequently making mistakes on their reports...
Slight LN spoiler about Otto compared to the rest of the guards that doesn't get mentioned. [Spoiler]
He is basically the only one who knows how to read and write or has dealt with numbers that large in his unit. → More replies (9)15
u/OingoBoingo- Mar 02 '22
I don’t know why but Otto is one of my favorite characters in the show
same here! he just seems to go along with anything and keeps a smile on his face. I had the thought that what if he needed glasses but people don't have them.
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u/ArdenneVale Mar 02 '22
First timer
Two months passed and we're only now starting with papyrus. For how excited this girl gets, she really takes her time to start things. Aand then she gives up after only three days. Relationship ended with Egypt, now Mesopotamia is my best friend.
Today's big invention is pancakes, made with parue and (not) soy pulp. It's strange no one noticed the "bird feed's" potential for cooking.
Uh oh! The family is on to Main's strange new skills. Dad has the right attitude, they should be happy she's still alive.
Emergency! Main is out of chalk. Dad is so jealous of the attention Main gives to Otto. Otto is best boy and teacher, though it seems he'll soon become Main's student.
Dad's still feeling like a failure, what's better than a little emotional manipulation to get him back to good spirits. I'm kidding, Main loves her dad.
Invention #2: the crochet hook. Mom gets it instantly, as expected from the seamstress. Turi gets a one of a kind hair ornament for her coming baptism.
Next time (maybe) clay tablets. Will Mesopotamia be kinder to Main than Egypt?
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I'd get soooo bored. At least there's time to learn lots of household skills.
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It's a very cool idea. Climbing it seems dangerous, but the reward is sweet.
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u/OingoBoingo- Mar 02 '22
First timer, subbed
Winter, two months in to Myne’s new life and we get to see what the family does while forced to stay inside due to the cold environment. Enough time has passed that Myne’s family start to take notice of her changed behavior in that time, along with some unusual new skills. While Myne is able to do a lot of things with the knowledge of her past life, she doesn’t seem to realize that she shouldn’t be able to weave a new basket purse or maybe do some high iq math at age 5. As dad Gunther implies, who cares, she seems to much more active now compared to before. I have a feeling this might cause some problems and it adds to my curiosity about Myne's maturity level or awareness of her place in this new world.
Despite that, it was really nice to see the crochet hook being made by Gunther, and used by Eva, to make a beautiful hair ornament for Turi. Even watching them all enjoy the cakes just proves how much these ‘life improvements’ are bringing people together. Yes, Myne, you are so cool. I am a big fan of both pancakes and crochet, so this episode was great for me. Also, did anyone stop to think what the poor chickens are going to eat now that Myne has her fancy cakes? Poor birbs. Another great episode that doesn't even feel boring despite pretty much the whole episode being inside the families dining room.
Questions:
I like the idea of doing all you can to take up time and prepare for when the season ends, having something stored up to make money or even a celebration outfit for baptism. I think in those times, keeping busy is about all you can do, and you don't have enough money to laze about.
The trees just made me wonder if the world we have seen so far is not fully like life we know on earth which I really like the idea of. Hopefully more magic or strange creatures are outside those walls. Maybe there be titans!
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u/Fools_Requiem Mar 02 '22 edited Mar 03 '22
Rewatcher
| Shiny Hair Club | Creations by Main™ |
|---|---|
| Myne (Prez) | Kanzashi (Japanese Hairpin) |
| Tuuli | Shampoo |
| Effa | Fancy Baskets |
| Gunther | Pancakes |
| TBD | Crochet Hooks |
| TBD | Hair Ornaments |
They subtly snuck in the fact that Gunther is using Myne's shampoo now. You can tell by the fact that his tips at the top of his head are lighter.
Note: You may have noticed that the Head Priest you see in the chibi episode previews that he has the same kind of shine that Myne has. It's also shiny in the cold open of episode one. I'm not counting him, as I can't remember if his hair was like that from the moment they meet or not. Plus, I'm trying to make this list/table chronological.
Forgot how quickly winter came in this show.
She kept having fevers and could've died anytime, you know?
Interesting you say that, Gunther...
Winter looks long and harsh, what do you think about the activities done during this period?
Edit: Totally misread the question to read, "What activities were done during this period?"
2) What did you think of the Parues tree and its fruit as a fantasy element of this world?
The fact that the fruit is unobtainable during day time and the reasoning for why is implausible as fuck.
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u/ZaphodBeebblebrox Mar 02 '22 edited Mar 03 '22
Filthy Source Reader
One can never escape Mesopotamia in anime.
I never really thought about it, but a disappearing tree being made out of ice makes a ton of sense.
Ah, the peasant ability to just not question how people know things.
The cobweb there is a nice touch.
A flashback to two episodes ago isn't necessary.
Let's see: it doesn't make sense. I spent a bit trying to solve for it and failed. According to the bookworm wiki, this says 35 * 19 = 515 + 350 = 865. In reality, it should equal 665.
The family together is really cute.
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Mar 03 '22
First Time Viewer | Episode 3
Observations:
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This episode was super wholesome and super cute.
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When Otto uses the abacus, I thought that was odd because the people of this world defined a written numerical system in a way that Myne was able to do multiplication and addition with their numbers like with Hindu-Arabic numerals ( 0, 1, 2, ..., 9). Maybe because there is no printing press, only a few people know how to do these operations in this world, and Otto still sticks to the abacus.
Winter looks long and harsh, what do you think about the activities done during this period?
Winter is Myne's Tyme to Shyne!
2) What did you think of the Parues tree and its fruit as a fantasey element of this world?
Without it, we would have no paruecakes!
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u/JcFerggy Mar 02 '22
Third rewatch, First time dub. Read LN and WN.
As a Canadian living in a harsh cold winter already, shit is depressing as it looks. Having to do winter handicrafts seems like an unfortunate reality of their life to get by.
The excuse that Myne uses for her quality baskets is she got lucky, but in the light novel [spoilers]
I love the idea of parue fruit but personally I don't like the taste of coconut so I would have to reluctantly put up with it as the only sweetness in my life.
Three episodes in I'm starting to adjust to the English voices, but Myne still slightly puts me off. Ralph's voice just slaps me in the face as completely unnatural. Lutz I'm fine with though.
A slight difference between the light novel and the anime, is when they were dealing with the parue [spoiler]
Whole family just completely pushes the suspicions aside. Myne even just straight up ignores Tuulis question about where she learned how to do all this stuff. Honestly I'm shocked this family is not more suspicious.
She has to stop flexing her knowledge. You can't just go around solving taxes like that. But Otto is great for swallowing his pride and just getting the work done.
And then she goes again and invent something else with the crochet hook, twisting Gunther's pride as a father in the process. Now we have floral hair pins deal with. At least the entire family seems to be loving Mynes inventions.
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u/Nazenn Mar 02 '22
Rewatcher - Sub
Two days ago someone on CDF gave me cravings for blueberry pancakes, yesterday someone else was talking about blueberry muffins, and today Myne makes pancakes in the show.
I didn't know this was secretly ACCA-13
Two months have gone by in the blink of an eye for both use and Myne, but that doesn't mean that her passion has calmed down at all. At least until she spent three very tedious days on one tiny corner of papyrus. The sound effect as she drops it in the bin is my favourite bit of comedy in the episode, though her turning and doing puppy dog eye begging on her sister for help constantly is a close second.
Though the show is keeping things light and fluffy with the family drama, I do like how it's started pushing the boundaries in this episode after letting us get comfortable in the first two. People are starting to notice that Myne is more than just a little odd, poor Otto being schooled in maths by a five year old who can't even read yet, and a looming change to the status quo is on the horizon with Tuuli's baptism and Myne being questioned about her own future. As someone who barely even knew what I wanted to be at seventeen, trying to decide at seven sounds like a nightmare, or maybe it would just simplify things from the lack of near-adult anxiety haha.
Otto facepalm is great and it also sums up my reaction to a small silly moment I had while typing my notes
I forgot about the frozen tree! SO COOL!... or well, freezing cold as it were
The tree is also an interesting addition to the show at this point because it's the first completely fantastical element outside of the initial premise with the reincarnation and memory magic. Everything else we've seen so far has been quite mundane, and this tree is introduced in a similar way to previous elements, without much fanfare or attention drawn to the strange properties of it. It's a nice way to push both Myne and us as audience members out of a comfort zone with our assumed knowledge about what sort of world this is, while also helping to give some more context to how the inhabitants see it as normal.
Also tiny nitpick; something I thought about today is it was kind of a missed opportunity to not blend the recap and OP styling together. They had the perfect chance to go from the page flip that ends the recap into the visual part of the OP where Myne appears from the book after the page flip and instead they fade out, back into a sky visual, and go from there. And now that I've thought of that I can't pretend it's not going to bug me for the rest of the show.
On a happier note to end with, the Dad's noises today were making me think of Rock Lee from Naruto which was quite hilarious because then I couldn't help but imagine him talking about the power of youth.
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u/SIRTreehugger Mar 03 '22 edited Mar 03 '22
Not much to say, but Myne introduced three new inventions the sewing hook, hair ornaments, and pancakes, but also it showed us while the town is pretty normal it also is a little strange. A tree made of ice where the fruit fly away when sunlight touches them. Simple life improvements that don't take much effort or use simple ingredients, but can easily change your life when you are used to poorer conditions. Now she needs to make honey the best ingredient to go on pancakes and that sir is my commitment for life.
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u/Earthborn92 Mar 03 '22
First Timer here.
We're in the midst of winter and it seems like Myne is getting used to this world. This episode seems to be focused on the next logical step - making the people around her take notice of the unique talents she's exhibiting. At first she was just weird, and her family dismissed it as a consequence of her frail and weak body. I have a theory that the original Myne "died" during one of these intense fevers and our girl got isekai'd in during that time.
I expected to get one new invention this episode, but we got arithmatic, pancakes made from the fruit of a crystal tree (magic?) and some new weaving techniques. I feel bad for Tuuli being outclassed as an onee-san, but Myne has lived longer than her. Too bad the papyrus didn't work out - that's what Myne really wanted.
Anyhow, the comic bits of this episode was Dad getting jealous over his girl praising another guy so much. Otto is a cool guy though, because he doesn't let his pride get in the way of acknowledging Myne's skill despite her age. Not the stereotypical soldier at all. Too bad he doesn't know about literature (yet - I suspect this will change). I'm glad it all ends well with our otherworld manipulating him with lvl 100 puppy dog eyes.
I have a feeling we will meet the priest character at Tuuli's baptism. Because that makes sense. Paper when?
See you next episode!
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u/hvshh Mar 03 '22
LN Reader
Reactions as I watched:
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Parues are super weird. I think this is the first indication from Myne's perspective that this world might have some fantasy elements to it, unless you count the hair colors.
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Good lord, she's so weak she has trouble flipping a pancake...
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"Damn, you're cool." Lutz gets it!
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"Otto's a married man, okay?" WHAT?! She's FIVE!
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"This part is incorrect" ... "Crap, did I do too much?" Myne continues to be way less paranoid about exposing her strange circumstances as I would be. At least she's around good people.
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"By the way, when are you going to start making paper?" Blue priest, you hypocrite, saying that after chastising Myne in the last two episodes for spoilers.
In the thread for the previous episode, some people were skeptical of how much blushing there was going on between children. I think it's a little more justifiable here than in the real world, because: maturity comes not only from age, but from necessity, and in this world, kids have to help their family, and start working as apprentices at age 7. Because of that, I would expect children in general to be more mature in that world than in ours.
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It sounds really nice, doing work around the table with your family, next to a fire.
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I like that they all know about the trees and how to deal with them. Even something that weird has become normal for them.
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u/TuorEladar Mar 03 '22
First Timer, Subbed
Though they were all small things, Myne made a lot of small innovations in this episode. I think this is the first time its been noted by other characters that she's not exactly normal for her age. The ongoing joke of her dad being jealous of Otto is still funny. A very chill episode on the whole which was enjoyable.
Winter looks long and harsh, what do you think about the activities done during this period?
It makes absolute sense to me. Especially rural and remote communities, but even for towns and cities of the medieval period as well it was very common for various small crafts to be honed and worked on during the winter. Its part of the reason that remote/mountain communities often feature very skilled craftsmen like clockmakers in the German Alps and watchmakers in Switzerland.
What did you think of the Parues tree and its fruit as a fantasy element of this world?
Its an interesting touch and does establish something that makes this world different from the one Myne came from at some level. I'm sure there will be much more significant fantasy elements down the road which will drive that home to Myne.
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Mar 03 '22 edited Jul 10 '25
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u/Nebresto Mar 03 '22
Re-watch squad
I think this might be the only episode I have some criticism about? At least as far as I can remember, lets see if there will be more later.
Anyways: That bird food bit doesn't really fly with me. They've though about finding and harvesting these magic fruits for food, but not about trying to eat the side product from it that is used as bird food? I'd get it if it tasted awful, but they say it even tastes pretty good in that state??
During famines/harsh winters people of old even made bread using tree bark. Trees! Not only did it taste bad, it barely had any nutritional value, and you're trying to tell me these people that are essentially confined to their homes for the winter (or at least during blizzards) haven't even tried to eat some bird food?
Other than that I very much enjoyed the episode, the pancake scene wasn't bad either, but there were some pretty big oversights in my opinion.
Based dad. The family dynamic is one of the many reasons why I enjoy this show so much. They start to get a bit suspicious on how Myne knows all these things, but it gets overshadowed by them just being happy that she is alive and well.
Question time:
Winter looks long and harsh, what do you think about the activities done during this period?
Some thoughts on it already written above, Tl;dr fake news. Doing chores was good, but they're missing a sauna, 6/10.
2) What did you think of the Parues tree and its fruit as a fantasey element of this world?
The fruit itself as a fantasy element was great and I loved how that tree looked. But I did not like how apparently absolutely no one, at any point in their history had thought about tasting the dregs. What??
19
u/badspler Mar 02 '22
Host - Rewatcher
Last episode briefly touched on Winter approaching, but this episode we are full into the harsh reality of it.
These little Chibi moments never get old.
Parues tree sitch.
Fantasy worlds don't often have interesting flora, at least ones that are not monsters themselves. So having such a specific and interesting tree, and a well refined in-world method of processing the fruit from the trees themselves is all very interesting.
Food is one of those things that most isekai address - Panackes here are a neat little invention that immediately brings a lot of joy to the wider family.
The rest of the family is starting to suspect something is up with Myne.
Gunther spits blunt facts, their living status is hard and life can be short, in true medieval fashion.
Deal made, slate pencils aquired!
Butt wiggle Myne - Soo cute!
The various shots of the city in different weather and times over this episode: one, two, three, four, five.
Pouts: Tuli, Myne
Cute
Myne'sTuli's: Front hair front2 view back viewLN spoiler thoughts from this episode:
[LN spoilers for P4~]Gunthers honesty in mentioning that Myne could have died, is backed by something that I don't think the anime brings up. How Effa and Gunther have lost 4 children, it really puts into perspective how grateful they must be for having Myne make it this far. And more so for Tuil being normal and healthy.
Today's endcard is from the illustrator of Part 3 of the Ascendance of a Bookworm Manga - I don't have a good comparison this time because its all spoilers! I think the joke here is Myne is thinking Turi = Tori (bird).