Fun idea! I look forward to seeing where this goes!
7 Likes
Nice idea! Perhaps I should do part of this as well to redo some boxes which I had filled by forcing myself to read some short stories that I didn’t really want to read and didn’t enjoy those in the end. And there are still boxes that I don’t know how to fill without forcing myself to read something that I know I won’t like.
8 Likes
Did you number them from 0 by the way?
I’ll probably try something like that once I am done with my current one!
6 Likes
Filled another slot of my bingo card
Cover with favorite color for 君と綴るうたかた | L22.
Volume 1 of this series was a bit of a bumpy start, with some developments that felt a bit forced. However, despite my initial impression, I slowly started discovering that the author was planning things a lot more carefully and meticulously than I had thought.
Halfway through volume 2 things start getting really interesting and by volume 3 all the slow build up and character development takes off. Volumes 4-6 are a tale of an amazingly emotional journey that was really hard to put down.
I loved how the author crafted these characters with a lot of love and care. Despite having mostly bland backgrounds, a lot of effort was placed in drawing the characters and their expressions that deliver as strongly as the words they say.
I also enjoyed quite a bit how the manga focuses very strongly on the main characters. Many Yuri manga I read tend to introduce and follow around several couples, which in itself is not a bad thing, but this often means that the main couple doesn’t get as developed as a good romance deserves.
This has become one of my favorite yuri manga of all time.
I particularly love the cover art for volume 2, that has some very nice tones of blue with water reflections that give it various shades, which is my I picked this manga for the Favorite Color spot.
13 Likes
Updated Non-human Protagonist book.
Book Titles and Links
1. Title has number
2. New genre to me
野ばら Tadoku illustrated version
I think that this version is a bit better than the original because there are pictures. But story wise, it’s set in a boring place with two ppl who were also probably bored to death there if not for each other.
3. Language related
Pimsleur Japanese Level 1
This link is for Lesson 1 to 5 only but I’ve completed Level 1, Lesson 1 to 30 and all reading lessons. I think this series is one of the best for self-studying.
4. Was recommended to me
5. Features cats
6. Character with disabilities
7. Favorite color cover
小学館ジュニア文庫 名探偵コナン 灰原哀セレクション 裏切りの代償
This book has 3 stories and includes the story about how Haibara Ai first met Conan and friends.
8. Main character is retired age or older
イベンチュア-KURUSHIMA BOOK-
Short manga to complete this bingo square. The story turned out better than expected.
9. Past book club
10. From someone’s card
チーズスイートホーム（１）
This is enjoyable because Chi’s so cute.
11. Unknown premise
名探偵コナン 絶海の探偵
I’m currently addicted to Detective Conan novels. I like that it has furigana for all kanji. Good series for intermediate level learners.
12. Non-human protagonist
小学館ジュニア文庫 女優猫あなご
Heart-warming and touching story of Anago, her friends, caretaker and co-actors.
13. Free
14. New topic to me
劇場版アニメ名探偵コナン から紅の恋歌
Someone mentioned that this book is about Karuta so I decided to read it because I’m curious about the game.
15. 2nd volume of series
16. Science fiction
学年別ドラえもん名作選一年生~六年生 ためし読み特別版
I used to like Doraemon translated manga when I was young. The stories in this free book are new to me. Or I might have forgotten the stories I’ve read. 
17. Set outside of Japan
18. Seeking Recommendations Thread
19. Curious title
20. One-word title
野ばら
Boring book. Definitely not my cup of tea.
21. Keep hearing about
名探偵コナン から紅の恋歌
I was curious about Karuta and I heard that Detective Conan novels are suitable for intermediate learners. Since it was my first time reading Japanese novels, I bought both the manga and novel versions for several titles just in case I can’t understand the story from the novel versions only.
22. Where I’ve lived before
23. No review on Natively
劇場版アニメ名探偵コナン 絶海の探偵
I prefer the novel version compared to this manga.
24. New Natively level to me
指輪
Another short story to fill up the bingo square. It’s the highest level I’ve tried before and I need to use a translator to understand some parts of the story. Did not enjoy reading it at all.
25. Read a book and consume adaptation
15 Likes
First bingo for me!
Thanks to 走ることについて語るときに僕の語ること… which I didn’t really enjoy, happy to move on!
Completed list so far
1 - Cover is primarily composed of your favorite color:
→ BLUE!! とんがり帽子のアトリエ 6 with the IMC (Jan 4th)
2 - 2nd volume of a series:
→ ダンジョン飯 2巻 with the IMC (Jan 4th)
3 - Book you keep hearing about but haven’t read yet:
→ 容疑者Xの献身, previous ABC (Jan 5th)
4 - Read the next book in a series you have started:
→ スーパーの裏でヤニ吸うふたり 4, Read volume 1 with the BBC in March 2023 (almost two years ago!), it was hard. Feels easier now! (though still doesn’t feel easy! manga is hard) (Jan 7th)
5 - Has cats 
→ おじさまと猫 1, has a Book Club on WK (Jan 8th)
6 - Read a book that doesn’t have any ratings/gradings/reviews on Natively :
→ 南くんの恋人 got it as a gift, I am apparently the first one to read it (Jan 8th)
7 - Read a book someone else thought you would like
→ セロ弾きのゴーシュ, children book, got it as a gift. I found it WAY harder than its grading, some sentences were very long and full of kana and very hard to parse. (Jan 11th)
8 - Read something you can read for free
→ 桜の樹の下には Short story, read it for free on Aozora, found it here:
🎄 2024 Aozora Short Story and Essay Advent ⛄ (Jan 11th)
9 - Read a book at a Natively level you haven’t covered yet:
→ Candidates were: below level 14, level 18, level 22, level 24, level 28, level 32, level 34, above level 35. Looked at my backlog and settled for 怪人二十面相 level 28. How can you not want to read it after reading this post from javerend? And it did not disappoint, I really enjoyed reading it (Jan 19th)
10 - Read something with a one-word title
→ orange, previous BC on WK. Not gonna lie, was pretty happy with myself when I decided to read this one for the one-word title haha. Had this book in my backlog for a long time, as it was being read here on WK forums at the time where I was actively studying Japanese and kept seeing the threads popping up. Thought I would just read the first volume but I enjoyed it, plus now I’m hooked and need to know what happens next! So I am planning on finishing the series before starting on the next Bingo case (it’s only 7 volumes) (Jan 22nd)
11 - Read something that has won an award
→ 世界から猫が消えたなら, has a thread on WK, keep seeing this one popping up and was wondering what it was about.
What a book. I didn’t know anything about it when I started it, expect that it’s quite popular (or at least that it’s been read a lot, I can see now that not all the comments are positive). “wow this book is pretty funny”, “wow this book is pretty sad”, I don’t know which one fits best but this book gives a lot of food for thought. Especially touching if you are mourning / thinking about your own mortality. (Feb 10th)
12 - The title includes a number
→ 3月のライオン: Read the first volume. Not sure how much I like it yet, I think I will read at least two more volumes to see if I want to read the whole series. I found it pretty hard language wise! (Feb 14th)
13 - Finish a series
→ ラブひな: The square says “Finish a series” but I made it to “Start and finish a series” 
I’ve read all 14 volumes in January and February!
I wanted to finish a series that I hadn’t started yet and that was completed, and this one was already in my backlog due to being one of the few manga I read in my youth. I didn’t want to binge it and read that only (would have probably gotten sick of it very fast), so I just read one chapter between whatever else I was reading. Technically I even started+finished Orange first as it was while reading Love Hina, but still wanted to keep this one for my bingo square.
While ecchi humour is not usually my favourite, this manga is a bit special to me because it’s one of the few that I had read in my youth, basically while I’m reading I completely forget that I’m not 14 anymore haha (懐かしいですね). So I had a lot of fun revisiting it (well, up to a point. didn’t enjoy that much the last 5 volumes or so). The ecchi-part is not as often as I remembered thankfully, there were sweet and funny moments too. And funny how it made me realize that I know a lot more now about the culture in Japan now, so many things must have flown right over my head at the time, to just name a few: the legend of 浦島 太郎, or about ホワイトデー, what’s a 浪人, 七夕, etc etc. Maybe I also enjoyed reading it now because it’s a level of difficulty where I’m really comfortable now, so it felt a lot like actually reading and not deciphering for a change! But finally it’s done now, and happy to be moving on! (Feb 15th)
14 - Read something with a title that sounds curious to you
→ 走ることについて語るときに僕の語ること: I enjoy running myself a lot so was very curious to know Murakami’s take on it.
…Don’t really know what to say now that I’ve finished the book. Don’t want to say something bad about Murakami (how would I dare), but I guess I did find the book pretty boring. It’s basically a guy who enjoys running as a hobby who talks about how he got into it and tells about his (albeit impressive) performances. I mean, if it wasn’t for Murakami, I’m not sure I would have liked to read more than 200 pages about that. But it was Murakami, so I guess it’s nice to get some insights into his life and his personality, and of course any Japanese practice is nice. But for my next pick I might try to find something where I feel more engaged in the story, maybe non-fiction is just not my type 
(Mar 9th)
To do, not sorted 11/25:
- Something from someone else’s bingo card
- Read a book about a topic you previously didn’t know about
- Past book club choice
- Main character is retirement age or older
- Read a book with a non-human protagonist
- Ask what you read next in the Seeking Recommendations Thread
- Released the year you were born
- A genre you don’t usually read
- Read the book that has been in your 積読/TBR pile the longest: that would have to be NANA! Since it didn’t get picked by the IMC, I will start an unofficial book club for it beginning of March.
- Read a debut (an author’s first book, whether they’ve written more or not)
- Read the latest book you bought
21 Likes
New update! Now that I’ve officially finished 本好きの下剋上~司書になるためには手段を選んでいられません~第一部「兵士の娘2」 | L31, so I can officially check the “recc’d to me” box, courtesy of @Naphthalene. 
Not sure what’ll be next; I’m pretty proud of having four boxes checked off two months in.
20 Likes
I decided 禁じられた遊び ふたたび | L28 fit for ‘non-human protagonist’ although I guess technically she’s an antagonist 
But the chances of me reading anything else with non-human main characters this year is pretty low so I’m going with it
17 Likes
Finished with アンソーシャル ディスタンス (新潮文庫 か 54-5) | L32 and used it towards my “no ratings” square. Still no bingos yet, but I am getting close in the far left column! 
Past reads
Disability - 死者の奢り・飼育 | L41
Keep hearing about - ツミデミック | L31
Book + Adaptation - 海がきこえる | L27
2nd volume of a series - 海がきこえるII アイがあるから (徳間文庫 トクマの特選!) | L27
One-word title - 自滅 | L27
19 Likes
Finished 泣きたい、私は猫をかぶる for “Features a cat/s” prompt:
Took me just over a month to read but some days I’ve only read a few pages, especially after reaching a certain point. I know the story which helped a bit with knowing what was going on but mostly read this extensively.
Previously completed squares:
Now I need to decide what to read next. I have the other choices tagged but I’m thinking my ambition was a little too much since only 3 of the 10 left have furigana so I will need to keep those for reading at work unless I decide to read something else in between and only read the bingo reads at home (can’t look up readings or meaning at all while at my desk and I hate wasting half my break trying to look up words and having to stop after a few sentences).
Rest of my bingo list for anyone interested:
坊っちゃん - one word title
本を守ろうとする猫の話 - favourite colour cover
君を守ろうとする猫の話 - 2nd volume of a series
また、同じ夢を見ていた - past book club
竜のかわいい七つの子 - Curious title
水属性の魔法使い - unknown premise
Zoo 2 - Title includes a number
雪の森 - Natively - no ratings
自閉症の僕が跳びはねる理由 - Character with disability (non fiction)
本好き - book + adaptation (audiobook and series)
Only note is I plan to read 本好き last so I can then carry on reading the series next year as my main series.
15 Likes
Oh, I just started this movie this morning on a whim!
6 Likes
Honey Lemon Soda is currently free to read on Bookwalker, I could have also used it for title sounds curious, but unknown premise is a harder square for me to fill so I used it there.
14 Likes
Update! I got a second bingo, thanks to stealing grabbing 海がきこえる from @bungakushoujo’s card.
New stuff:
SF: 星界の紋章〈2〉ささやかな戦い | L40
Someone else’s card: 海がきこえる | L27
Previous entries
- Was rec’d to me: 星界の紋章〈1〉帝国の王女 | L40
- New topic to me: なぜ働いていると本が読めなくなるのか | L35
- Favorite color: 貝に続く場所にて | L42
- New level: 幼女戦記 1 Deus lo vult | L43 (That saves me the trouble of considering whether I count it as a “new level” or not)
- Past book club: 神様たちのお伊勢参り | L26
- Book+adaptation: 魔導具師ダリヤはうつむかない ~今日から自由な職人ライフ~ 1 | L29 + 魔導具師ダリヤはうつむかない ~Dahliya Wilts No More~1 | L25
- Non-human protagonist: ICO-霧の城- 上 | L30??
- Title I am curious about: 闇祓 | L29
- Language related: 日本人の心がわかる日本語 | L25
- Uncommon genre (as far as I am concerned): 源氏物語 1 | L41
- 2nd volume: 追放悪役令嬢の旦那様2 | L27
- Unknown premise: 追放悪役令嬢の旦那様 | L27
- No review/grading/rating: 双子王子の継母になりまして嫌われ悪女ですが、そんなことより義息子たちが可愛すぎて困ります~ ベリーズファンタジー | L29
I could get another bingo with “character with disability” or らせん (from the seeking rec’s thread)
I have something for “keep hearing about it” and “released year decade of birth”. No idea for the rest (or “character with disability” for that matter)
19 Likes
You didn’t ask, but for the “character with disability” you might be interested in one of these:
The first three are short-to-medium story collections, and in each book one of the stories features a character with a disability, while the last two are novels (they have been read in WK book clubs so maybe you know them already).
I can highly recommend them all (ok at least to the extent that I’ve read them )
9 Likes
Thanks! I have already read 献灯使 and 博士 (with the BC even) and enjoyed them both (although the first one is an example of why I don’t like short stories; things stop exactly when I get invested in them). 妊娠カレンダー is already in my wishlist, so maybe that? Although, if it’s a short stories collection, I’m less interested. あん may work then.
7 Likes
Finished one bingo square:
- Favorite color cover - 幻獣調査員 - 7.9 look-ups/page, 2.8% zero look-up pages, currently L33; so it’s just barely easier than 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱. The author surprised me with the end of the book, twice, and I ended up actually liking the book.
Restarted one bingo square and re-shuffled an old read:
- 2nd volume of series - 続 恐怖のむかし遊び - I read volume #1 last summer and liked it very much. As it seems, I managed to get the last new version of volume #2 that Amazon had. I especially like the cover girl
, even if I think that I don’t want to meet her. It’s a collection of four ghost stories for elementary school kids. - so I reshuffled ふたごの魔法つかいと女神の星 from that square to Unknown premise. I think a book that uses an old Greek legend I didn’t know or forgot about is a better fit for this square.
16 Likes
I’ve added in one more!
New Topic - 店長がバカすぎて | L31
Somewhat a new topic, in terms of learning a lot about the publishing/book store world
Past picks
Title includes a number - サード・キッチン (河出文庫 し 31-1) | L31
Unusual Genre to me - しまなみ誰そ彼 1 | L25
One word title - 伊藤潤二傑作集 1 富江 上 | L25
Character of retired (age!) - 三世代探偵団 次の扉に棲む死神 | L24
No Reviews - ぬるい毒 | L35
Past book club - 木洩れ日に泳ぐ魚 | L32
18 Likes
#2 Cover is primarily composed of your favorite color / From someone else’s board: とんがり帽子のアトリエ 6 | L27
Hehe, I stole the book and the prompt! I’ve been pretty excited about this prompt idea for a while now. 
previous squares
Free square: とんがり帽子のアトリエ 5 | L27
#1 Read a book and consume the adaptation/Join a book club: ひとりぼっちの○○生活 1 | L21
@Naphthalene I considered the “free” square to be square “zero” I guess. So that’s why my numbers only go up to 24.
Ooh, I was in that club! But I never read past the end of volume … 5, I think? The end of the main story. If you want company on the last couple volumes let me know.
15 Likes
Thanks for the offer, I’ve already read them though! Wasn’t really necessary to continue beyond Volume 5 in my opinion, but could be nice for you as an excuse to revisit it as it’s been a while. One of the volume is basically a cross over with a series I haven’t read, and the other one… I don’t even remember…
3 Likes
