#those are better 'second things' for people who watched S1 and liked Homra or Sarumi best

[ridiasfangirlings]

if you had to introduce someone to k project with the intention of getting them into the series, where would you tell them to start from? im honestly torn between LSW, the side:red novel or MOR

Honestly? The first season of the anime. It’s uneven but it does a good job introducing the world and the main cast, and it’s a good jumping off point to get into the other side materials based on which characters a person is most drawn to. The issue that I think comes up when you start with the side materials is they don’t all do as much to explain the larger ‘world’ of the series because it’s assumed the reader already knows about the basic Slate and Kings thing, most of that is just given a quick ‘as you well know’ nod. Season one can definitely be confusing (I think it holds up much better on second watch when you know what to look for and can see some of the more subtle stuff they’re doing) but it does at least make most of the worldbuilding stuff pretty clear. LSW I think is probably the weakest of the ones you mentioned on this point, it pretty much assumes anyone reading knows what kind of setting this is and mostly just nods at the parts that are relevant for the story, which could be troublesome for a new person going in blind.

MOR has a better sense of worldbuilding but I think still has a general ‘feeling’ of assumed knowledge, to me that one feels very much like a companion series that won’t hold up as well on its own (it also spoils the whole thing with Totsuka’s death in the final chapters, I feel like it works better reading this one after you’ve seen season one so the end scene of episode one with Colorless hits better). I also think MOR doesn’t work as well as a jumping in point because the early chapters are focused almost entirely on minor characters who barely have any lines in the series proper, I think starting with that one would give someone an incorrect idea of what/who the series is about — even DOB would technically be better here because its focus is a bit more narrowed, Awashima gets a chapter early on and Fushimi remains a consistent focus throughout and he’s at least more of a main character than the alphabet squad are. I also feel like the emotional heft of the last couple chapters doesn’t work as well if you aren’t already attached to these characters, I think it’s just stronger when there’s already a base to work from. 

Side Red I think would actually be a good entry point outside of the anime though, the main drawback probably being that as a novel it might be seen as less accessible than the anime. Actually if we were going for ‘best entry point besides the anime’ my pick would probably be read Side Red and then watch the Seven Stories Side Blue. Side Red I think works really well as a prologue to the series, it brings in the worldbuilding elements and hints at future developments without outright spoiling them and gives good characterization to the Homra top three as well as Anna, Yata and Fushimi, all of whom are main characters, and it brings in things like the state of Mikoto’s Sword and the previous S4. Side Blue then makes a good prologue of the ‘other side,’ though I think the anime actually manages to do better than the novel on this one. Side Blue was written very early in the game and I think it shows, I feel like Munakata is written more manipulative and antagonistic than he is in the rest of the series and the novel has the same issue as MOR where it spends a lot of time with Hidaka and co., who then go on to not really matter all that much in the anime proper. The Seven Stories adaptation narrows that focus more around Munakata, smooths out some of the characterization issues without completely softening them, adds some flashbacks for additional world building and hints at the wider picture with the Greens at the end. If we’re not starting with the anime I would probably say start with Side Red and Blue and then go into season one, and then from there choose where to go next based on which characters caught the viewer’s eye the most.