Same, the Japanese badge wouldn’t mean much to me and I probably wouldn’t use it, but it’s not a big deal.
An English badge I wouldn’t mind though!
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Well, on a different topic, I finally read a book this year (that’s not manga), so it’s time to start recording my bingos. I need to make a board first, though, but I’m lazy.
So, anyway, I finished ツミデミック | L32, a book that fits a few prompts (didn’t know anything about it, won a prize, etc) but I think I will go with “22. I forgot I bought this”.
Last month, as I was reordering my shelves in an attempt to get more space (and decide what to sell) I found the book in there. I didn’t remember buying it; I don’t even remember adding it to my wishlist here (yet I did, last February apparently). I did buy a bunch of books at BookOff around that time last year, though, scrolling through my wishlist for inspiration, so that’s most likely when I got it. (Technically, there are two more books that I didn’t remember buying, so I can still move it to another slot if need be).
I did read a few pages of it last month, but figured out it was not matching my last standing prompt (“set outside Japan”) so I immediately stopped. I reread that part to make sure I read all of it this year 
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In other news, it seems that the poll has dried up, so I am closing it.
Since people have chosen to go with a generic set of badges, I have gone with the proposal from @mitrac
I also went ahead an granted the English versions to @ddochii and @monace. They actually got the Japanese version as well, because I scripted those and didn’t feel like making an exception for that.
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Thanks for doing all that!!
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First square filled of the year! 
O1 Science fiction - きまぐれロボット | L21 (The Capricious Robot)
Started off with something with a confirmed low-ish level, to work towards my goal of figuring out where I am comfortable within Natively’s system. This book seems pretty widely read, so I’m more willing to trust the grading on it than the only other 2 prose books I’ve read with set levels (between which the one that’s objectively significantly easier is currently graded a level higher ), and I think it gave me a good idea about how much effort it takes for me to read a ~L21 chapter book. Glad I picked it!
This is a short (very short) story collection, mostly about scientists making wacky inventions. I’m not really sure I’d call the genre ‘science fiction’, but it is technically fiction about science, with lots of stuff about robots and space ships and whatnot 
I don’t like short stories as a medium, but these ones were at least cute enough to keep me engaged and were good reading practice.
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First 3 squares completed. 6 volumes so far and just under target for the moment (3-4 volumes per week is the target to get them all read within the year):
(f) = Furigana available
Next read is the only non fiction one in here - マンガでたのしくわかる！空手 1 volume (f)
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First two from me
| B | I | N | G | O |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Science Fiction | Someone’s card | Historical fiction | Won an award | Added to Natively |
| Mythical creature | Book Club | Nonmodern period | ____ New Author ____ 愛してる (角川文庫 さ 24-2) | L32 | Published in 2026 |
| Past club | MC hidden identity | Prettiest book | ____ Going in Blind ____ https://learnnatively.com/book/3dc9194507/ | Grapevine |
| Ghost(s) | Unseen lifeform | Natively Virgin | Title doubletake | Fantasy |
愛してる was the first 鷺沢 萠 I had read, and it was enjoyable - I will read more at some point.
国境の南、太陽の西 apart from knowing it was Murakami I knew nothing about it. Vibey, as I always find Murakami, but equally I found the protagonist pretty annoying & self-centred. Enjoyed the ending a lot though, after thinking about it for a bit.
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Three more books, three more bingo prompts. At this rate I’ll end up expanding my bingo board eventually, but we’ll see, I can never tell how the year will go anyway.
For Italian, I’ve officially moved on from graded readers into real books! With my first Italian book being Novecento : un monologo, very fitting for the unusual genre prompt because it’s first of all a play, but also a monologue, and I don’t think I’ve ever read a full monologue actually. Not the most interesting book overall, but it had some parts that I liked, and it was satisfying to read nonetheless. Next we move on to Il fascismo eterno by Umberto Eco for the nonficiton prompt. I will definitely be reading Il nome della rosa soon, but first I wanted to start with this essay, with themes that are very important to understand where our society is heading currently.
Next is Spanish! With a book I’d been wanting to read for a while, Rimas y leyendas, by Gustavo Aldolfo Bécquer. I had actually read his poems, maybe not all of them but some, at some point, but it was nice to revisit them. The short stories I’m a bit more split on, some were nice, some I disliked, but overall I’m glad I read this. The poetry prompt seems the most fitting, and it is half poems after all, not to mention, even the leyendas tend to have some bits of poems in them.
Past squares
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Korean No reviews no gradings: 연어 | L30??
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Korean Fantasy: 나 혼자만 레벨업 3
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French TBR: Le village des sourds
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Korean Reread: 죽이고 싶은 아이 | L25
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Spanish TBR #1: LA OTRA ORILLA FG (FORMATO GRANDE) | L42
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Italian Unusual genre: Novencento : un monologo
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Italian Nonfiction: Il fascismo eterno
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Spanish Poetry: Rimas y leyendas
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Just completed マンガでたのしくわかる！空手 1 (f) - non fiction. Basically a pretty in-depth instructional manga for Karate. Read it because I wanted to brush up on my knowledge of the names of blocks, kicks and punches as well as the stances as it’s been a while since I attended classes and wasn’t sure how accurate my memory was (pretty accurate apparently except with the stance names as those were in English, which I can now understand why).
Next up:
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Finished my first book!
It is 月とアマリリス | L28 and it deserves a spot as the most beautiful book in my TBR 
On top of that, I cannot remember for the life of me why I bought it so it could go into that section as well. But I’m sure I’ll find more books that I forgot about, so it’s in a good spot as it is.
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My first entry for the year is Silent Witch Volume 2
Took me 30 hours to read, it’s a good but hard series! I intend to read a lot more of the series this year.
I changed a prompt on my card. Book I forgot I owned → Recommended to me
Because I check what books I have after every book I read so I don’t really forgot them, and because I got recommended quite the list of books last year and I want to read some of them while still playing bingo.
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First book of the year fulfills the prompt Cats and Dogs!
| B | I | N | G | O |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Past club | Finish a series | Cats and Dogs: 魔女犬ボンボン ナコと運命のこいぬ | L22 | Title doubletake | Fantasy |
| Dropped | Meta | Nonfiction | About language | Non-modern |
| One word title | Someone’s card | Reread | SF | Unseen lifeform |
| Pretty | Ghost(s) | Mythological | New author | Multiple contributors |
| Queer | Final Boss | Natively Unreviewed | MC hidden identity | Award |
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That was a quick one! Finished my second book, ぼくは満員電車で原爆を浴びた: 11歳の少年が生きぬいたヒロシマ | L17
It could also go into Nonfiction, so maybe I’ll move it later if I find another contender for the “No ratings etc.” slot
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Wow that looks like an interesting read! Thanks for sharing 
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Finished in Jan:
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Ghosts 見える子ちゃん | L23 (vol3, vol4, vol5 + vol6, vol7). Despite my deep dislike of unsettling horrors, I will continue the series.
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Past book club choice - 本好きの下剋上 第二部 神殿の巫女見習い2 | L30 I enjoyed immensely reading the two Junior Bunko volumes in one month (I finished the bonus stories one in December to start this one fair and square). Proud of myself. Now two more volumes to catch up, and then casually convince everyone to finish Part 2 before the new season starts. Easy
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New to me author ルリドラゴン | L23 (3 planned volumes done + 4th vol)
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Fantasy: スレイヤーズ 1 | L34 - super light read and a short one to boot. Got like 10 more volumes in the series to keep reading while listening to the audiobook. Sad it’s not Hayashibara Megumi reading, but it’s relatively high tempo and a good way to get me used to faster reads.
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First bingo update for me! 
I finished 王と夜啼鳥 FLESH & BLOOD外伝3 | L33 last night, and it’s definitely going in my “Prettiest cover” square. 
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Natively 2026
| B | I | N | G | O |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MC hidden identity | Someone’s card | Historical fiction | New author | Added to Natively |
| Mythical creature | Title doubletake | Nonmodern period | TBR limbo | Published in 2026 |
| Past club | Science fiction | Prettiest book | Cat(s) | Grapevine |
| Ghost(s) | Fantasy:  Frieren 8 |
Finish a series | TBR forgotten | Unseen lifeform:  灼熱の砂漠を脱出せよ |
| Going in Blind | Natively virgin | Book Club | Dropped in 2025 | Won an award |
January update
- Fantasy: Frieren 8
- Unseen lifeform: たったひとりのサバイバル・ゲーム! 灼熱の砂漠を脱出せよ | L21 Survival Escape from the Desert. I’ve never seen a camel in real life!
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The next quick book is done! 光のうつしえ 廣島 ヒロシマ 広島 | L26 It is another Hiroshima book, this time 25 years after the bombing, and reflects on the lives of those who passed away and those who survived, wrapped in a story. It is also geared towards children, but older ones, and it does not explain as much, so it was perfect for me to have first read ぼくは満員電車で原爆を浴びた: 11歳の少年が生きぬいたヒロシマ | L17.
As today’s book was without gradings as well, I moved the previous one to non-fiction as I had already anticipated.
Feels like it’s already time to think about my first bingo 
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January Update
Has Cats: https://learnnatively.com/book/599111c352/ An extremely obvious choice for this one, but this manga is so cute. I love Fukumaru and Kanda. 
Book I Meant to Read in 2025: 黒魔女さんが通る!! チョコ、デビューするの巻 | L25 I tried reading this last year, but it was beyond my abilities at the time. But I read it without trouble now.
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Bingo Update:
修学旅行で仲良くないグループに入りました was a great start to the year. It’s the most enjoyable light novel I’ve read so far. The plot is basic, but the characters are likeable. It being low level enough for me to read it without much difficulty was probably the biggest factor though. I didn’t plan to read the sequel, but now I think reading the second one at the end of the year might be a nice way to come full circle.
I don’t plan to put it on my bingo, but my bonus manga for the month was マーメイド♡プリンス(1). It’s a totally absurd manga surprisingly written by the same author as Happy of the End. It was definitely an effective way to reset the brain for something harder.
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