Yeah, I just tried some, and I can see where it can help. Otoh my goal with this isn’t super neat handwriting (that’s just a bonus)… So I’ll hold off for now.
Edit: in an odd way, it’s actually sort of better for me to write slightly sloppier rn, since the out of box handwriting in manga is usually not very neat anyway
I tend to pick up a bunch of the notebooks for elementary school kids when I’m in Japan and use those if and when I’m in the mood to write.
Ahh I just use a kanji sheet generator and print them. I’ve never been to Japan, and if I do ever go, it won’t be anytime soon. I’m also really pessimistic about the prospect for gender reasons, but that’s 別の話
２０２４年１月２０日
Watched the rest of 後宮の烏 S1 | L31 liked it overall, but didn’t think it was as well executed as it could have been, and I was very underwhelmed by the ending (a “there’s probably not going to be another season” sort of ending). Given that I don’t feel super emotionally invested, I’ve decided to drop the LN for now. The difficulty to enjoyment ratio isn’t fulfilling enough at this point, and now that I’ve started doing Fate/Grand Order in Japanese (watching various YouTube playthroughs of the story parts, including a Hololive V-Tuber who enunciates very clearly!), I’d rather save the energy for that (plus 薬屋のひとりごと and ログ・ホライズン). I might come back to it when my reading level is better though.
FGO has a Samurai Remnant collaboration right now, which is set in the 江戸 Edo period. One of the characters’ names as 雪 pronounced as せつ at the end of her name… so that’s a nice little transferable knowledge thing. Otherwise, the event language is harder than normal FGO, but still easier than the Fate/Stay Night VN (which I’ve tried and quit multiple times lol).
Still debating dropping 本好きの下剋上, but telling myself I don’t need to make a concrete decision about it. If/when I feel like reading it, I will. Plenty to do in the meantime!
This is kinda genius. Are you watching before you play or after?
After, bc I’m trying to rush through as fast as I can, so my servants won’t be so weak (which I’m really not used to), and I’ll be closer to where I am in the NA versions (was endgame until recent expansions). If my JP was better, I would take my time with the story, but as it is the playthrough videos themselves are hours long. Maybe at some point I’ll try to keep them more in sync tho, bc the gameplay gets pretty redundant
It’s basically the game/VN equivalent of an audiobook (tho with not necessarily pro narration). I’m just grateful there’s people who’ve made the playthroughs!
Switched from 薬屋のひとりごと to Fate/Stay Night ep 0 for the intensive/hardcore dictation method. I’m 14:1625:20 into a 47:40 min EP (tho minus the ED it’s probably like 45). So far most of the scenes have been either Rin talking to herself, or school chatting, so it’s been on the easier side. Just got to Rin’s summoning chant tho (it is bizarre). I wrote it all out and listened, but didn’t go deep for that part, bc it’s very archaic vocab.
I keep considering only writing things out when I don’t automatically understand, but so far I’ve stuck to writing everything out anyway. Also can’t imagine how long this would take if I was shadowing too. I do plan to watch the entire episode again one I’m done, if I’m not totally burnt on it by then! Edit: maybe I’ll try shadowing it on the rewatch… Or maybe it’s better to just move on to episode 1
Got up to 30:35, and decided to rewatch the episode up to then. This approach definitely helped a lot. Parts that had totally new words were still iffy, but I’d say overall I fully got 75% of what was being said. Also now I’m writing all the kana & some kanji from memory.
I finally finished FGO Samurai Remnant event. I basically skimmed or skipped most story parts with very iffy comprehension. Now I’ve got some extremely powered up servants, and the battles will be mindless for a long while. So I think I’ll try to stay up to date with the story more, as I play.
Starting from the Rome/Septum arc: https://www.youtube.com/live/Qs7dwMA8QOs?si=LXEc9i6b_V6XOvp7 . I’ll probably write any text I can’t automatically read, as I go (maybe just when I feel like it?). There’s a ton of repeated vocab, so even the obscure words will be helpful. It will be more annoying than doing the anime episodes, (since I can’t just 1-click to Jisho), but still tolerable>. Actually I’ll be here till next year, if I do that… I’ll leave the dictation for the anime 
Also, not sure how far it goes, but I found game script files: GitHub - Renari/Fate-Grand-Order-Translation
I finished it!!! And excitedly started ep 1!! I had to force myself to stop tho, since it’s 4am, and I have work in the morning.
This ep should be easier, since there’s an OP & ED, and 3/4 of it is school/home conversation. The only 魔術 stuff comes in at towards end, iirc
2024年1月28日
I’m going through FSN ep 1 w/ the dictation method. 22分 so far… So another 23 min-ish of play time to go. I’m honestly pretty addicted to doing this, and now I’m behind in full my weeklies 
(no rush tho ). After I finish this episode, I want to do an ep of either Frieren or Bocchi. Frieren generally has less dialogue, so is probably the better pick.
I am absolutely not doing this in a committed manner, but: I found a relatively comfortable way to read through FSN novel: play on PC, while having the web novel version open on my phone. So I can easily toggle languages, use the dictionary, or check the translation! Maybe I’ll add my tablet in, to save the toggling… tho 3 devices might be too distracting. Yup, tablet was a good idea!
Anyway, it’s a lot easier than last time… Not to say it’s easy, but it doesn’t feel like every sentence is a struggle. I’m in the middle of the (super long) Prologue, part 2/3. So a lot of it overlaps with anime ep I finished.
In a way, I think a visual novel like this is actually an ideal method of reading for me, bc things are broken into very small chunks. I often feel overwhelmed by length and lack of break points, when reading novels, so this is a great way to deal with that. (Some JP authors in particular seem to hate chapters)
I want to try writing out the text as I play, eventually. But for now, I’m limiting that to the anime episodes!
また、同じ夢を見ていた has started. I have kinda mixed feels, bc I’d rather be using the time for anime dictation, but I’m running the club, and it’s still good light reading anyway. I’m really glad it’s easy level, so I don’t have to feel too stressed about it.
I am enjoying the discussion so far, at least
２０２４年０１月３０日 - Selective dictation is empowering!
I finished Fate/Stay Night ep 1 dictation… now I’m doing 弱キャラ友崎くん 2nd Stage | L23 ep 3, but only sentences with unfamiliar or weak words (which is still a lot of them lol), or where I don’t quite get the meaning. It’s much more n+1 level for me. I’m glad I wrote out everything with the Fate eps. That’s given me a really helpful foundation. I think it will be more productive to be a bit selective. In any case, I already feel an improvement in my listening comprehension, though I definitely have to very actively listen. I can even read most of what I wrote… the some of the readings for new vocab words didn’t stick yet. I’m 7:49 into it so far, and rewatched that portion, and got 95% of it without checking the subs!
I’m considering doing the selective dictation thing w/ all new anime eps for a while. While it can be a lot of energy, it’s also a lot of fun. And honestly, I feel like I’m half-cheating when I go through stuff like 薬屋のひとりごと and toggle the EN subs so much. Not b/c there’s something wrong with toggling subs, but b/c I’m somewhat using it as a crutch, and short circuiting the learning process. Sometimes you just want to get through the episode, and that’s fine… but I feel like it’s not very effective. Like, if I were to rewatch an episode, I’m not sure my comprehension would fare much better the 2nd time around.
That said, 薬屋 in particular has a lot of highly specific vocab that’s どうでもいい for me… so maybe I shouldn’t worry about it w/ that show, or just only focus on grammar. Something like Frieren might be a better pick, since there’s less dialogue, and fantasy vocab is more familiar/accessible to me than apothecary and imperial court vocab. In any case, I’ve still got the Tomozaki-kun ep to finish before I consider one of these. And maybe it’s not something that really needs a formal decision anyway.
On a whim, I decided to write out a few game mechanic terms, ability descriptions, servant profile passages, etc, from FGO. I think it will be cool to slowly go through that stuff, so I can understand it more fluently in-game (usually I can work it out with some effort).
Very slowly working through the FGO Septum (Rome) playthrough, though I’m already like halfway through Okeanos in-game . I’ve been so focused on dictation w/ anime eps thing, that I haven’t done much here. I’m torn between doing dictation for the playthrough, but also wanting to finish the story sometime this year (even without writing or stopping, there’s still 5ish hrs of playtime left to the Rome arc); it’s helpful writing things out though… まあな it’s not like I need to commit in some way… if I feel like doing it in the moment, I’ll do it.
I still haven’t made any new progress on https://learnnatively.com/book/2c1e37ec2e/ … I’m on the edge of being motivated enough to actually do it… maybe I’ll try before I go to sleep tonight
I made it through week 1’s portion! I’m so glad the reading level is easy, and that the main character is actually fun so far, since I have to keep up for the book club. Anyway it doesn’t feel like a slog, the same way that 本好きの下剋上 and 後宮の烏 did… So yay (not knocking either of those, it’s just nice to have something easy I can extensively read-listen to.
２０２４年０２月１日 - 運命
Following the dictation + FGO line of thought, I started watching マンガで分かる！Fate/Grand Order | L30?? . Initially it lined up with the manga, but after the first segment, it’s out of order, so I had to pause it, and stick with reading for now.
Sometimes it makes sense. Sometimes I’m like "how on earth did they get from A to D?? The original is slightly spicier/funnier than the localization (nothing major tho). I’ve been reading the compiled manga for simplicity, but the web version (scroll down a bit) has actual game mechanic explanations. I’ll read those eventually.
reading with 3 devices (PC, phone, and tablet) is working great! I’m in the middle of day 3 of the prologue. Lancer portion left. I paused at the section where it started info dumping on 結界 (Bounded Fields).
I randomly rewatched all of Carnival Phantasm | L27, audio only (couldn’t find subs). My comprehension was so-so. It would be great for dictation, since they’re 10ish min episodes, if only I could find subs. Oh well… maybe next time I watch it, I’ll be able to understand it better?
I started adding any and all Type Moon content to the site, and working on a list annotating all it… It’s a huge time sink, and I feel like this is going to take me months to finish… if I don’t run out of steam. Anyway, it’s been taking away from time I could be spending on actual Japanese learning… so I’m gonna try to limit it to 1-2 new things a day.
I have to travel for work next week… so giving thought to what I can/should work on. I’ll probably bring my tablet at least (laptop is staying home tho). Not sure how much free time I’ll even have
２０２４年０２月４日
Meant to post this prior to my work trip, but guess I never finished… anyway…
Did a few episodes with the “only write the parts you don’t immediately get” method. It’s soooo much faster, and I think more efficient for my goals.
One fun moment with F/SN ep 6 was recognizing 概念（がいねん）in the sentence 英霊という概念そのものを退ける結界か (えいれいというがいねんそのものをしりぞけるか it’s a bounded field that repels the very concept of heroic spirits). In FGO, craft essences (which you attach to servants) are called 概念礼装（がいねんれいそう）, so I knew it from that. Surprisingly, so far FGO has had pretty little overlap with F/SN in terms of vocabulary.
とにかく、so far I’ve done the dictation thing with:
Considering either F/SN 7, Frieren 21, or Tomozaki 4 next… I think I’ll give Frieren a try, since it’s new. F/SN would be the most optimized, but I don’t wanna burn myself out on it, considering I’m reading the VN and also watched an ep of the DEEN anime the other day.
I’ve noticed my reading outloud pace is getting progressively smoother in lessons lately, which is really exciting. Idk whether it just coincides with the dictation stuff, or whether that’s actively been helping, but either way, it’s nice. My conversational abilities still suck tho… but that makes sense, since I barely converse.
Thinking about my upcoming work trip (面倒くさい), I won’t have my laptop… so I think I’ll work on FGO Septum Arc, and maybe listen to some of the Miku Real Japanese shadowing lessons again… or maybe just the exercises… idk. I just always feel so frustrated by my conversational abilities in lessons. So it would be nice to improve. Will definitely be downloading a lot of manga & books before I leave for the airport, so I’ll at least have options. Update: this passed already, and I basically just read two TSF ラブコメ series and didn’t get anything else done… more on that in the next post tho
２０２４年０２月１１日 - Just one week reset everything 
So I got almost nothing done during my work trip… just managed to read all of ボクガール (series) | L22 and ぜんぶきみの性 (series) | L21, which are both TSF ラブコメ series. ボクガール is more ecchi/shounen kinda vibe, and kinda reminded me of らんま1/2 (series) | L23. I had some issues with it, but it was a fun ride most of the time. ぜんぶきみの性 was a bit more serious, and some of it hit too close to home, which hampered my enjoyment a bit.
They got me curious to read/watch らんま1/2, which I last read/watched in high school. I really loved it back then, and am reading digitally rn, but decided to order a full physical set with the original covers. I’ll probably be somewhere around vol 10-13 by the time they arrive. So that’s still over half the series I’ll use the physical volumes for (and I can see myself rereading this again in a few years).
I’m really enjoying it more than the other 2 series - in part b/c Ranma’s gender swapping is just taken as a given, and isn’t like a big identity thing to explore. It’s just another part of the story. Also the story never feels male gaze-y (I guess cuz it’s a shoujou), despite Ranma frequently being topless.
The language is proving pretty challenging… like the expressions, and the way they phrase things is just very different than other things I’ve read, and it’s very implicit/context-dependent a lot of the time. Having just finished the last 3 series I read (mostly) without translation, it’s been disappointing to have to get back to checking it so often with this series… but that also means I’m acquiring new language/comprehension, so it’s not so bad.
Watching the anime alongside it has been interesting. On one hand, there’s a ton the anime does really well, in terms of bringing it to life. Otoh there’s so many details they change, or things they fill out or expand unnecessarily, that leave me scratching my head. It’s definitely really helpful for comprehension, and the story hasn’t really diverged yet… but it’s also kinda frustrating to watch so close to reading the manga, b/c I prefer more straight adaptations usually. I think it’s good reinforcement though. The anime as 161 episodes, so I’m definitely not committing to finishing it!!
I haven’t felt motivated to do the dictation thing recently (I’m only finally feeling back to normal, post-work trip), but at the very least, I’m still doing the following no-subs (except toggling to check, if I don’t get something):
I tried doing an episode of 葬送のフリーレン S1 | L29 without subs, but had to toggle constantly. Frieren and Ranma would be good to do dictation with, but I also don’t want to get too bogged down, since I’m already behind on other shows. Idk… will see how I feel when I go to watch, I guess.
I haven’t had motivation to do much Fate related lately (another thing the work trip killed 
), though I did read a few pgs of マンガで分かる! Fate/Grand Order 1 | L24?? since I actually have the physical books now!!
This was the first Japanese manga set I got! I still have only read a few issues though. Mostly because in the beginning the text and the furigana was so small that I had trouble reading, but now that I am more advanced I think I will get back to it. The anime was also the first (and only) anime I partly watched in Japanese (I stopped at some point) and I think it’s really good just because it is so easy to follow.
I dip in and out of Ranma every few months. I really like Takahashi Rumiko’s sense of humor (I also really like Inuyasha and Urusei Yatsura). I don’t know if I’ll ever make it through all of Ranma (or Inuyasha for that matter ) but I do enjoy it when I read/watch.
Which version did you get? These covers, the reprints? The 2-in-1s? I went back and forth so much over which to get
They’re pretty much normal size for manga / I’ve seen worse. Also there’s almost no out of box text besides SFX, which really helps. So I’m sure you’ll be fine.
Mmm it’s hard for me to judge, cuz I remember a lot of it from when I was a kid. But I guess you always have the gyst of what’s going on, even if you can’t tell what was said. There’s a lot of different voice acting styles in it, which makes for an interesting challenge.
I mostly do too, tho I wish she wrote Akane less unreasonably sometimes. But overall, I find her humor lands really well.
I never read Inuyasha, but watched a lot as a kid, and from what I remember, it’s the worst offender of forever stalling “will they, won’t they”, and “nothing ever happens” melodrama*. So I’m very hesitant to look at it, but if I ever do check it out, it will probly be the manga. The anime OST is stunningly beautiful tho.
*Well besides DBZ, but that’s totally of my radar anyway 
Where are you up to in Ranma? I just got through the Shampoo volume (vol 4)
not forever, though.As you probably know that there is a continuation where they have a daughter (もろは). All of the other pairs have children, too.
You’re referring to Yashahime? I did discover it on Crunchyroll, and tried watching, but wasn’t in the mood. Just added the manga to Natively tho. If you’ve read/watched, what did you think vs the original?
In any case 56 vols/161 episodes is pretty extreme for me (my longest series is 暁のヨナ at 42+ volumes, and even that only takes till the mid-20s
Tho somehow Dragonball managed 42 vols/429 eps (2 series), which makes the Inuyasha anime seem brisk in comparison
