I assumed only one could transform into one person but…I suppose it ended up hardly mattering? I still feel like I missed something , maybe those brotehrs will show up again? But also wasn’t one of them at the end of vol 8 shouting halloween ?
I agree with your thoughts on power and denji.
The old man and that guy were both puppets of santa claus or like hosts I guess? I’m ocnfused as well but effectively they were all “her” I think.
I wonder if quanxi is really dead as we saw her as only a head before and she was fine. I also wonder what her other majin gfs are. I didn’t expect halloween-chan to be space. I assumed she was just…halloween.
overall my least favroite arc so far which isn’t to say I disliked it but there just were too many moving parts.
Goals update
Finish おジャ魔女どれみ → On episode 36 I really need to get into habbit of watching more anime I think, as I don’t have any other listening source
Finish part 1 / first 11 volumes of Chainsawman → reading vol 9
kanji reviews are on track as usual.
Been reading more 奇譚ルーム and I’ll probably finish this week.
This volume blew my mind. I knew some spoilers, but I never expected it to go down this way. Honestly I feel like I need to reread it, not because it was confusing but because I need to process it all. But after that ending I started vol 10 right away instead.
I think two things struck me most, first the pages and pages upon names. Seeing mass destruction in battle shounen isn’t new even in chainsawman, but the amount of names really sells the scale and that it impacted actual humans, much better.
2nd was that the battle that has been built up for ages against the gun devil was mostly an emotional one, half of it you see as a snowball fight.
I also really loved the slower chapters at the start with aki power and denji just being the worlds weirdest found family.
I don’t know, this volume was so strong but also a gut punch, and considering the future devils words, it won’t get better.
I can’t wait to see all of this animated.
year end goals:
Finish おジャ魔女どれみ → On episode 41, I’m not always in the mood for it, but I did start a couple of other shows so I should get some listening in even if I don’t reach this goal.
Finish part 1 / first 11 volumes of Chainsawman → reading vol 10
other…
wanikani deck: started level 31. I was going to stay at 30 but I got bored and there is still two weeks left.
I finished 奇譚ルーム. I meant to read something else but while reading a preview of また、同じ夢を見ていた I got intrigued enough to decide that it will be my next read instead.
I’ve been tracking how much time I spend on jp starting this week and it has been consistently over 1 hour daily
Same. I finished it yesterday and haven’t really been able to form thoughts about it besides “damn” I’m thinking I actually want to show it to my partner (who speaks zero Japanese, but we did watch the anime together) because I really want to talk to more people about it
This was, somehow, some of the most effective storytelling that I’ve seen in manga ever. Like if we had seen all of those dead bodies it’s like “meh” but instead seeing the names like that it’s somehow more “real”. Also the fact that it all happened in something like 3 seconds.
That was also so good. Especially the movements chosen when it would jump from one reality to the other. I think it both made it easier to read but also not at the same time, since it tied Denji back to Aki’s family who was the whole reason he started this in the first place.
Also: Makima is terrifying.
I haven’t started #10 yet, but I probably will today. I had to give this one a bit of time before I moved on, haha.
I finished volume 10 and started 11 I couldn’t stop, I think at this point I’ll write my thoughts when I’m done since it’s not clear to me which was in which volume. I agree with everything you said about 9.
I used to be not a big manga fan, I mostly started reading for jp practice but chainsaw man together with chi no wadachi opened my eyes to the storytelling potential of it.
I wish I could talk to more people about it but my friends are either anime only, or read the manga too long ago now (or just not interested in the series)
I’ve been reading more また、同じ夢を見ていた. I also picked up the audiobook, I listen to sections I already read. Reading about %5 a day seems pretty easily doable. Which would mean I’d finish another book this year if I keep it up. Which in turn makes me think maybe I should set my book goal higher for 2025.
Though in all likelihood I won’t finish it this year after all since I am going to get real busy soon.
I also started 意味がわかるとゾクゾクする超短編小説 54字の物語, I feel like it’s probably rated too high difficulty wise. It feels easier than the other 同じ夢 or 奇譚ルーム. Actually 同じ夢 might feel easier than 奇譚ルーム but I think that’s more because I am getting used to reading, as when I think about it the sentence structures in the latter are defintiely easier and it’s mostly dialogue.
Althoguh after those two there aren’t many books I’m interested in in lower levels, so I will probably keep the goal low still.
reading more また、同じ夢を見ていた, I’m happy with how much my reading “stamina” improved, unless this is an illusion because of the simplicity of the book (even though I still feel like objectively 奇譚ルーム was simpler…).
I checked some other books I meant to read but are harder to see if this skill is an illusion or not but I quickly grew annoyed with unfamiliar words and kanji. I think I will have to read a bit more in the mid 20 range yet (unsurprising).
Options for books really open up at 30 so I feel like my choices are limited. But I might read 明日の世界で星は煌めく with the beginners LN club (even thoguh I didn’t vote on their poll) and marimite with the class-S club if it wins.
Oh and I finished chainsaw man! I need some time to think about it further, but I loved it. I want to read the light novel before part 2, but that’s level 32
I have about 5 eps of doremi left so I guess I’ll be hitting that goal after all.
I started a few manga.
極主夫道 I had dropped at vol 2 but I finished it after all. I don’t dislike this series but I feel like it’s samey and gets old fast. I might read a volume every now and then though. The art and the artists skill for comedic timing is amazing.
とつくにの少女 I had looked forward to this manga for a while. It’s interesting so far but I’m not too invested, I’m almost done with the first volume. I’ll continue this.
魔法騎士レイアース I ran the manga through mokuro for the book club but never ended up reading it. I’m not a big clamp fan so this was kind of impulsive. I like the art but story seems pretty generic so far. Since it’s short, I’ll finish it unless something really turns me off it.
You’re definitely welcome to participate in both! It looks super likely マリみて will be the winner… In which case I’ll be running 2 book clubs for a book I’m not reading (since these are both recent reads for me)
Ditto on the nice art + underwhelming story… but you probably saw my grumpy reviews already
What other CLAMP stuff have you read btw? Curious to see how the rest of Tokyo Babylon goes, but I’m getting the feeling they may be hit or miss for me, depending on the work
not much. I only completed chobits anime (my opinion is similarly to rayearth that I really like the robot designs but don’t care for anything else) and read a bit of the manga, and I watched a decent chunk of ccs anime. I also tried to get into some of their other stuff like xxxholic but bounced off it, but that was years ago. And I decided they’re simply not for me. But I’m willing to give them another try as it has been so long.
Yesterday was the only day in the past 2 weeks I didn’t read. I was busy but I probably could have made some time, I just didn’t feel it at all whenever I picked my tablet up to read. Oh well, it happens.
Read a bit of marimite and also some manga today. Wrote a review for わがままちえちゃん because I was the one who added it to the site, so it has no other ratings or reviews. Oh I also finished レイアース first volume a day or two ago and started the 2nd today. My opinion on it is the same as last time I wrote. And lastly started ぜんぶ壊して地獄で愛して…
I also ran some stuff through mokuro and I’m excited to get to them, I’m developing quite the backlog… また、同じ夢を見ていた will have to wait a bit, I think I’ll put it on hold until I’m caught up with where I am in the audiobook as well.
I read two chapters so far. I was recommended this manga specifically months ago, I was waiting for it to accumulate more chapters. Not far in but I do like it. I read your review afterwards and even just with 2 chapters I already had the same thought of the bully character being a bit too capable (how did she figure out mc had the exact thought to break the picture frame?). But it’s not bothering me too much.
I think I will be dropping both レイアース and とつくにの少女. I’m half way through the second volume of both, but I keep finding myself thinking “I wish I could be done with this so i can read xyz”. I feel bad aboutとつくにの少女 especially because the premise is so interesting, but the art is hard to follow for me. I checked the anime adaptation and I like the atmosphere in that, so I think I will watch that (I’m aware the anime is apparently quite different, and only a fraction of the story, but that’s fine). For レイアース truly the only appeal for me is the art, and I just feel no interest at all in the story. I might as well just flip through it like a picture book and get more enjoyment.
On the other hand I finished the first volume of ぜんぶ壊して and really enjoyed it. I also started 遊戯王GX manga which I meant to read for years as I love the anime. So having manga I feel much more positive about made the decision to drop the other two easier.
Oh and lastly, I have only one episode left of どれみ. I will probably finish it today or tomorrow, so my last two goals for 2024 are done!
(oh I also tried スケバン刑事, but it was a bit above my comfort zone, and not sure I want to commit to a long series that’s hard on me rn. The volumes are unusually long)
If I was at least getting a lot of use out of them learning wise, I might be compelled to continue, but rayearth is simple besides the katakana stuff, and とつくにの少女 is hard for me to understand because of the art, regardless of the japanese.
My previous icon was Miyu from 吸血姫 美夕 which I watched more than 10 years ago, and didn’t love exactly, but I really love the design of the mc. I actually was thinking of picking up the manga. The manga has many versions but the originals don’t seem to be available digitally. While trying to find those I found that many of the earlier series were in fact fan translated very recently, so I might make an exception and read english fan translations for those, as my current situation (space and newly changed import laws) make getting a bunch of manga physically impossible.
Anyway all this to say I changed to Power because it is a better expression of a character I like than something I watched ages ago
Lastly, not jp related but I’ve been switching to anilist from myanimelist and if anyone else uses it you can add me AniList (I thought of this because I use the same power icon there)
I’m not sure if it’s a fit for your level, but let me just drop A Night of Promises and Blood | L30?? here. It’s like the only one German book I consumed in the last decade or so (the audio book, which has three narrators). And I can’t recommend it to anyone on the internet because it’s German only (event though setting and characters are all American). But you seem to understand some German and are currently reading a manga about lesbian vampires, so I think you might appreciate it.
(Unfortunately we Germans seem to limit our entertainment to Krimi and maybe comedy. If there is fantasy, it has to be weirdly meta, as if to excuse the fantasy elements. I don’t even know of any other German urban fantasy. Although I probably can’t appreciate German literature enough on grounds of being a hipster who is too cool to read in his native language).
First of, thank you for the rec. I will check it out. Unless it’s something that requires specialized knowledge, any level of German is fine for me (at worst it’s simply kind of tiring to read, which doesn’t really stop me from reading just makes it take longer). For german I had decided to only read books I already own, that were left to me by family. But since I don’t get recommendations often in german and it sounds interesting I will try this one out. (edited to add: if anyone is interested, the whole series is officially on spotify as an audiobook)
Btw I also don’t read in my native language, I mostly read in English which is unfortunate as English books here are 10x expensive.
Just finished as well (and I got in under the wire of "finish in 2024"). I don’t know how he pulled a (relatively) happy end out of that situation, but man, wow.
I also am going to sit with it for a while. I’ve also been eyeing the LN and wondering if I could do it with jpdb pre-study or if I’m better off coming back to it later. The only level 32 book I’ve read before had an audiobook to help me along in it and it was still rough.
But wow, I am constantly impressed by how good this series is and how it has twists and turns that I just never expect. Anyway, thanks for helping me along to get this far in the series. Let me know when you start thinking about reading more and maybe I’ll come along for the ride.
I really need to get into habbit of watching more anime I think, as I don’t have any other listening source
I’m thinking I actually want to show it to my partner (who speaks zero Japanese, but we did watch the anime together) because I really want to talk to more people about it 
