I first heard of this book at the J-Novel Panel at Anime Expo last year. What caught my attention the most during the announcement was that the titular short story started as a Love-Live fanfiction. I started reading the novel when the J-Novel club released different parts of the three short stories weekly before the full book came out. Before I began reading the weekly releases, I thought the stories were going to scream "moe" and filled with the kind of stuff I saw in some sci-fi anime with cute characters.

Wow, I was wrong about my predictions for this story collection. The stories were anything but ordinary sci-fi. Each story was bizarre but in a good way. My favorite mash-up in the story was the Evo Gals one which combined evolution with gacha games. Surprisingly both of those things mix well. Reading about the idol activities done in the title story was macabre but somewhat funny to those who don't mind dark humor. Reading about space whale mating and using the whale's body as a spaceship in Dark Seiyuu was amusing.

The author and the translator both do an excellent job of maintaining the right balance of describing objects and the characters' actions without being too convoluted. The way the destruction of the Earth in Dark Seiyuu when gravity ceases was vivid and took my breath away. So was the brain removal procedure featured in Last and First Idol. I can feel my eyeballs and brain popping out of my head.

After I finished reading the first time, I purchased the ebook version to read again. Reading the stories the second time made me appreciate the stories more since I gain a better grasp of the scientific terms mentioned in the stories. Even when I reread the book, I still feel the wonder I've experienced the first time.

I highly recommend buying this book and reading it multiple times.

I'm on the fence about what rating should I give to this title. Even though the score I put down is three stars, a 3.5 rating is more accurate.

This alternate version is the first time I checked out this story, so I can't compare how it is to the original text. The first part of the story was enjoyable, and I was hooked from the opening scene in the first chapter. But during the second part, the pacing dragged to a slow pace, and many characters showed up, and that made it hard to keep track of who's doing something or not. Fortunately, the story improved during the final parts of the book; sadly the third part was short compared to the second part. So, I couldn't enjoy it to the fullest.

I loved the cast's performance and made it kind of easy to keep track of the characters. I enjoyed the author's parts because I enjoy seeing glimpses of behind the scene stuff that inspires the work to be what it is.

I'm thinking of checking out the original version of the book to compare with this version. I hope re-reading the story would help me enjoy it more than the first time.

This was a heart-warming yet sad story. I thought this story would be slow to read, but I'm surprised how fast I completed the book. I liked how the story handles a couple of serious topics without being too dreary or too blah. The way it was approached reminds me of Caitlin Doughty's Ask A Mortician web videos. The message of the book shows death as something that happens (with or without warning) and it's sad and it's also okay to not feel okay and cry your heart out. Another important message was living your life to fullest doesn't mean doing anything extravagant, it means to do the things you enjoy even if it's simple like eating at a ramen stand. One another important lesson the book has is to talk about your feelings or worries to your loved ones before it's too late. I felt the story did an excellent job of providing those messages without being a super sentimental after school special.

I really loved Sakura and her sense of humor. I admit a few of her comments made me smile. The main character also seems like a fun person to hang out with (Bookstore trip? Yes, please.) I admit Kyoko was a hard character to sympathize at first, but she eventually grew on me.

I highly recommend this book.