When I saw this new shojo manga series by Natsu Hyuuga, author of the Apothecary Diaries, was getting an English translation I squeed!

In this world gods are basically people with superpowers, and there are enough of them that there are special schools to help harness your powers. Nagi ends up at such a school, only no one (including her!) knows what her power is or why she has been sent there!

Volume one gives us a great intro to all of Nagi’s schoolmates, her family, and a mysterious god who manages to show up exactly when Nagi needs him (future love interest maybe?!)

This was an entertaining read and I can not wait to continue the series!

Natsu Hyuuga (author of The Apothecary Diaries) always does a really good job of very quickly establishing characters so they can move on to plot stuff with enough of a basis to build on. Nagi is a doer who’s already written herself off as “no one special” except it’s proven over and over again that she’s competent in non-magical and non-specialist tasks. We’ve also got a solid cast of characters in the first volume.

Plot-wise, it’s pretty light, but since this is only the first volume and the characters are well-defined, I’d say this is a solid start to the series!

Oh my gosh, I loved it and I can't wait for the new chapters! The story is very promising and the art style is so cute <3

The first volume is more of an introduction, so we'll se how it goes from now on.

I'd like to send my thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing a free pdf version of this manga in exchange for an honest review.

In Nagi’s Japan, people with special powers can become gods if they train in god school. They then serve in family shrines and bring prosperity to their neighbourhood. Nagi’s family shrine hasn’t had a god since her grandmother, who was their god, died, and their village is slowly going to ruin. Her older brother could be a god, but he’s a shut-in and won’t attend the god school. He only appears as a plush toy he’s possessing, speaking in Nagi’s mind.

One day, another family’s potential god, a little boy, goes missing, and Nagi happens to find him. But a malevolent spirit is trying to hide him, and she needs to fight mentally for them to escape, something she’s learned in order to keep her brother out of her mind. A god notices this, and days later, she finds herself enrolled in the god school.

She doesn’t have an auspicious start. Others have studied there since they were children and she knows nothing. No one knows what her power might be, and no matter how much the teachers try, nothing manifests. But she’s not helpless and she has her moments. And she makes friends. That comes in handy when their year is sent on a field trip to survive on the mountains. The volume ends in the middle of the trip.

This was a nice start for a series aimed at younger end of YA readers, but a bit hasty and confusing. There’s a light novel too and the artist mentions in the afterword that they had to leave a lot out, and maybe that shows. There’s no romance yet—Nagi is in junior high—although the young god has potential for romantic interest. But it was a fun read and the art was good. I’d read more.

The original story is by the author of The Apothecary Diaries, but this is nothing like that. The vibe is different, lighter and there are no mysteries, and the story is aimed at younger readers. Artist is different.

I thought this was really compelling. I had fun reading this, and I enjoyed the concept and the characters. I really liked the art style as well, though there were some minor issues with the translations but nothing enough to pull me out of the story. Really fun and I am excited for more!

Recommended readers: high schoolers, Apothecary diaries. mythology fans, cozy readers (at least this first book.)

Display ideas: fantasy high school, paired with non-fiction book on Shintoism, athletic lead characters,

Overall I liked this manga, and I recomend that any fan of apothecary diaries currently waiting for the next edition in that series to try this.

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC of this new series!

I got really excited about this when I saw that the author was Natsu Hyuuga. Apothecary Diaries is currently one of my favorite series. This first volume was a lot of fun and the series has a lot of potential. I'm not sure it can be compared very much to Apothecary Diaries. It has a pretty different vibe. Although I feel like Tsukuyomi is going to end up pretty similar to Jinshi.

I love how feisty the main character is. She's a lot of fun. The side characters are also great and I'm looking forward to getting to know them more.

The main character is a young girl just trying to survive in a world where those with powers are considered gods. After her grandmother, the temple’s god, passes away, the temple is left in need of a new one. One day, after rescuing a missing boy, something unexpected happens, and she finds herself enrolled in a school she never believed she belonged to. If she has powers, she has no idea what they are.

The artwork in this story is beautifully done and complements the narrative perfectly.

This was a good introduction to a manga. There were some minor grammatical errors that wasn't translated properly, but didn't detract from the story. I will be reading the light novel to this as well and can't wait for the next volume.

Thank you to NetGalley and Yen Press for the e-arc!

I am a fan of Natsu Hyuuga's work with Apothecary Diaries and I was excited when I saw they had a new series. The Failure at God School follows the journey of Nagi, a high schooler living in a world where gods and Himiko exist. While in search of a god, she is recruited into God school to hone her powers. I think this story starts off very promising but halfway through it fizzles out. I liked Nagi as a character but she was not carrying the story compared to the side characters. I also felt there were some time jumps that made it hard for me to keep up with the plot itself. I can say this may be a problem that only affects me so definitely still give it a chance if you like the synopsis or the author.