Been a bit bored while reading マリア様がみてる 28 フレームオブマインド | L29 so I started paying attention to Kindle’s time till end of chapter stat. Then it got me curious to see what it actually is. So I timed 5 pages, and got approx .38 pgs/min (22.8 pgs/hr)… Which is actually slightly on the slower side of where I was back in books 5-6. So if that’s generally accurate, it should take me about 11 hrs to finish the book. Kindle says I’m at 46% with 7 hrs left - which seems a bit slower than my projection, but makes sense bc b4 this chapter (which I’m more into), I was reading a bit slower and had a lot of interruptions.
I’ve been struggling a bit with interest in the side stories volume vs the main story. So based on @Makochou101 's summaries for vol 28, I’ll probably finish the Eriko story, and Kanako’s, and then start book 30 - while reading the rest of 28 whenever I’m in the mood.
I did spend a lot of time with jpdb this time around, and that’s definitely helped reduce lookups a lot! I’ll probably do less for 30, but I do wanna make sure to keep doing some SRS regardless, so my general vocab keeps increasing
Started watching 美少女戦士セーラームーン | L24 again. It’s a lot easier than back in June when I last watched it - tho I’ve been mostly hitting the more 日常 episodes so far. But still it feels more automatic/intuitive than before. Rei’s my fav character so far - and I especially enjoy her arguing with Usagi. Also the characters are so enjoyably dumb and ridiculous. And ルナ is wonderful of course
Doing fine with マリア様がみてる 31 マーガレットにリボン | L29 which is side stories, but so far just the main cast. It’s like all the things you’ve wanted to see portrayed along the way. After this I’ll (probably) finish up マリア様がみてる 28 フレームオブマインド | L29 so I won’t have that hanging over me anymore.
Dipped my feet into お釈迦様もみてる 紅か白か | L28?? - it seems probably slightly tougher than マリみて. I’m thinking of reading it in publishing order with マリみて, especially since there’s at least one more volume of side stories… But I should probably wait till after, and read more of 乙女の港 (実業之日本社文庫 - 少女の友コレクション) | L33?? first
Yayyy!! It’s been a while since I’ve been an 暁 or an ルナ… So I figured it was a good time for a change. Well this is actually my first ルナ pfp… I wonder if I’ll find another someday
Everytime I hear her name in the show I’m like “yes? you’re talking to me? what’s up?”
I have to say - I’ve enjoyed a decent amount of the “filler” eps, but it’s nice watching them out of order. I think if I had to watch in order I’d feel fairly frustrated
Some filler episodes are great. Some are very obviously low quality to pad out the season. But if you want to know what’s going to happen next in the plot they are very frustrating.
One of my favorite episodes (or at least one of my favorite sight gags) is in a filler episode of Stars So it’s not so much that I actively don’t like the filler, it’s just that there’s a LOT of it, and I watched the first twoish seasons of the dub a lot when it was on TV and don’t have a lot of patience left for that filler
Finished vol 31, and 25% through 32 - not super crazy about it yet. (I held off on 28, cuz I got sick of short stories).
花物語 上 | L39 - got through 1 more story. My reading speed picked up from the horrifyingly slow 6 pgs/hr to the incredibly fast 7.8 pgs per hr
I might go back to just using the physical book during lessons. I feel kinda rude looking things up in the dictionary right away when my teacher’s right there. And also, I’m losing the benefit of having someone explain the words to me in Japanese, when I do that. Otoh I wouldn’t have finished the story this week if it had been sans-Kindle (bc I would have asked a lot more questions)… but maybe that’s not such a huge deal? Occasionally it’s useful when the 読み方 is still ambiguous, or it’s just a really uncommon word.
I really enjoyed this week’s story though, and did have a few “I just barely remembered that word cuz I saw it in マリみて” moments. It does make me think about my longer term reading goals… which so far has been like ソードアート・オンライン | L33 (comfortably) & 薬屋のひとりごと 1 | L38 … but I’d love to find, and get comfortable with, more stuff that has beautiful imagery and stuff like this. I’ll be curious to see how much of that I will/won’t find in Class S literature, as I slowly read more of that. I do feel like I’m starting to get better with the ultra-long sentences now, so that’s nice!
Edit: One thing that occurs to me is that like 花物語 is substantially harder/less accessible (for me) than 薬屋のひとりごと should be - particularly b/c 薬屋 has a jpdb deck, an official translation, and an anime I’ve seen. So maybe I should consider retrying 薬屋 sooner rather than later…
Anyway back to マリみて, so I eventually can read something else
Most of that felt easy enough, with 乙女の港 being the really challenging one, basically due to kanji. 4-6 lookups per page is typical, but one page I got up to 13 even. Unlike マリみて most of it is either new or not very familiar kanji & vocab, so it feels a lot more frustrating. マリみて is mostly just me double-checking readings.
Speaking of マリみて I’m done with the main story now (but still have 4.5 volumes left). I know 34 is a bunch of side stories, and I’m not quite sure what the deal w/ 35-36 is… but it’s very tempting to pick up お釈迦様もみてる | L29 or otherwise read the remaining volumes at a more relaxed pace… let’s see how 34 goes tho.
I managed to get a copy of 白い部屋のふたり 山岸凉子作品集3 | L24?? and the language looks pretty easy (not to mention everything has furigana), so that should be a quick read. リボンの騎士 上巻 | L26 is also on my list to get to soon
Otherwise I’ve had a pretty decent time with 美少女戦士セーラームーン | L24 and started S2 now. I’ve been doing okay w/ 薬屋のひとりごと | L34 considering I haven’t been stopping for lookups - which makes me think I should stop being afraid of trying わたしの幸せな結婚 S1 | L30
I got more 吉屋信子 novels, and while I won’t get to any of them anytime soon I’m definitely excited to give them an eventual try
Been translating more マリみて reviews in lessons, and while it’s still really difficult at times, it does seem like I’m getting a bit better at it
Gave up on 花物語 上 | L39 due to difficulty (one Kindle pg had 27 lookups!!), and starting 薬屋のひとりごと 1 | L38 in lessons next week. Tbh I feel like I could do it on my own at this point, but I remember last time I had a lot of trouble with comprehension. So it will probly be useful to be able to ask my teacher questions. So glad the jpdb deck is there!
Finished Yurihime March, and did a lot better with most of the comics, besides the annoying fantasy ones.
白い部屋のふたり 山岸凉子作品集3 | L24?? is going okay, haven’t gotten far in yet. リボンの騎士 上巻 | L26 is somewhat challenging, particularly b/c the edition I’m using is lighter on the kanji (tho I also have the digital, so I check it when I’m having difficulty). I’m not that into the story yet.
乙女の港 | L34 is going decently as well. Apparently it came out to L34 after my & @Azusa 's gradings. Which is encouraging, b/c it’s hard in the “takes me a while to get through” way, but not hard in the “I feel completely overwhelmed by this” way. It really makes me curious to eventually try SAO again, and see how hard that feels… but so many things I’m planning to read in the meantime.
Rn my priority is finsh 乙女の港, and then お釈迦様もみてる | L29 (9 vols left, and similar to マリみて). Plus w/e Class S club votes in. After that, I might like to pick up 声優ラジオのウラオモテ #06 夕陽とやすみは大きくなりたい? | L28 as a break. Those will definitely be easier to read now! It’s so hard to decide tho, cuz I’m really in more of a novels mood lately, but those take longer (manga = 45-90 min per volume, unless there’s tons of panels per page. LN = 9-10 hrs or so, depending on difficulty)
Started that flowers playthrough again. It feels pretty good… definitely harder reading on my own tho (which I will eventually do)
I added it… And then my reviews count went up to like 526 I’ve gotten it down to 433 now tho
And then I went and started a new book: カヌレ スール百合アンソロジー | L24?? . It’s easy tho, and the chapters are like 10-20 pgs, so I’m just reading a chapter at a time, when I’m in the mood. Will be funny if Class S club ends up voting for it
So it’s not so much that I actively don’t like the filler, it’s just that there’s a LOT of it, and I watched the first twoish seasons of the dub a lot when it was on TV and don’t have a lot of patience left for that filler 
I’ve gotten it down to 433 now tho