After the debut with Penguin Summer, Shining Rose Media, one of Indonesian Publishing Company, finally released another Japanese light novel titles. One of them is Candid (きゃんでぃっど), a one shot light novel writen by Yasumi Obata which originally published in 2012 by Ichijinsha. I'm more interested with that other than their other title, Leena's World Map (星図詠のリーナ; Seizuyomi no Leena), because the series is mainly talks about photography.
In the story, Tamaki Morimura, a freshman, is finally reunited with her close friend Otowa Hinatsu after 3 years. Knowing Tamaki loves photography, Otowa suddenly want to become a photographer. The reason is unknown, but thanks to Tamaki, she's doing it anyway. Then, they encounters Sumire Jyuumonji, a beautiful girl and their classmate that is very cold towards everyone and turns out hate to be photographed. Otowa desperately want to photograph her, but she always reject it. And then, one day in a school green house when Tamaki want to photo some flowers, she's being approach by Sumire and reveals that she actually wants to get close with them. Thus the life of the girls and their friends through the lens begins.
First up, my first impression with this series. As I mention before, I read this because it mainly talks about photography in the story as I actually like photography. It pretty much like Tamayura, but with different approach. And then, when I first look at the colored illustration, I thought it looks very similar to Tamayura or it feels like one. Then, it turns out that the illustrator is actually the same as the character designer of Tamayura. Wow, that's surprising. I mean, I like Tamayura and I never thought that I actually bought something that comes from something that I like. To prove it, you can compare the characters in the images below.
Some of Candid illustration
Tamayura: More Aggresive anime visual
As for the story, it has a typical slice of life story as the story are told day by day. Of course it has a goal in the story, because it's a novel. Since it's about photography, it also has some explanation to it, so you will know what are they talking about. Then, to amuse readers, it also has a joke in pretty much all over the story to make it more comedic. There is also some interesting thing in this light novel, it actually mentioned Indonesia and Jakarta, and it's not only mentioned once. The character development is good and feels natural. And talking about that, it actually has some shoujo ai (girls love) elements in it, like when Tamaki teases Saaya in hospitality room or when Sumire asking Tamaki in green house with their face so close that the narration says that they can feel their breaths. It even has an illustration that is very shoujo ai-esque (picture below). It's not a shoujo ai story though, it only has it.
Despite that, this is not a shoujo ai or even yuri. You have been warned!
Then, it has problems that all solved in the story, which is a good thing. And of course, they serve them with a joke to make you don't feel bored with it. But, halfway through the story, it seems that the author kinda rushed to finished the story. That can be seen specially when it reach the climax, it has a good emotion on it, in which become pretty weird considering the story right after it. On that part, Sumire is angry and slaps Otowa, making Tamaki angry and then attacks Sumire. After that, everything become calm all the sudden. That's weird because, where all the emotions gone to? Even by adding a funny story after that, it doesn't even make the story better. And I also kinda feel sorry to Tamaki because as the main character in the story, she didn't achieve what she set in the story, which is take a photo of Sumire. What she did is helping Otowa and Sumire, and that's about it. And she still happy with it, although the author didn't mention that. It makes the ending kinda bitter somehow.
Finally, the book. First of all, like Penguin Summer, it has a nice look from the outside, making it look like a Japanese light novel. As for the book itself, it is not as good as I hope. The colored one is nice, but the rest isn't. Most of the page are printed not on the same position as the others, and most of the illustration page are making a print mark to the other page. And things getting worse as I talk about the words in the book. It's still understandable, but it is very messy. There are lots of typo, several incorrect words, and also some misinterpretation in the narration. There are also some wrong caption and even a caption error. And the bind of the book is also kinda fragile. To put it simple, it's not really a nice book to read.
So, the conclusion. It has a good story, although it also has couple of flaws in it, but still entertaining thanks to the photography knowledge in the story, the character development and some sense of humour. The only big issue is the book, which is horrible. If you only care about reading the story, then it's not a problem. But, if you also consider the book quality like me, you better think again and be careful.
Score: 7/10
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