Finished 青い花 and Inuyasha (1 month, 9 days)… also Frieren, Tomozaki, and Kusuriya animes! Now I’m just down to Yubisaki (still not really feeling motivated) & Bocchi
Tomozaki: I’m considering pausing Tomozaki after book 2, b/c I do kinda wanna understand some things better. The things I care about most are in vols 6-7 (including 6.5) it seems (stuff that the recent season handled poorly with Mimimi, but moreso Fuuka). But in general, I dislike not understanding things… Otoh, there’s a lot I do understand, and I can follow the reading speed perfectly well.
堀さんと宮村くん: is really interesting… the last time I tried to read the webcomic (like a year ago?) it was practically indecipherable, b/c it’s all handwriting. This time around I can read a good amount of it, but my reading speed is noticeably slower (it actually makes my normal speed feel fast lol). It’s really interesting comparing it against the adaptation. The adaptation really fills things out a lot (in a good way), and also reorders (and drops) some things to maintain a more linear story (the web comic is a 4-koma gag manga). I can definitely see why it’s more popular than the manga adaptation, in Japan.
I’m not planning to read past vol 1 right now, but considering the use of color, and that I’m enjoying them, I may buy the physical ones. I know there’s some parts of the webcomic that are darker, so I’m curious to see how the more toxic elements of Hori & Miyamura’s relationship are handled, and whether or not I get sick of it in the same way I got burnt out of the main series… which it’s a little making me want to finally finish.
五等分の花嫁: I still have to look some things up, but it’s a natural read this time around… I should probably time myself with one or two of the volumes. Also the full color is just sooooo beautiful… I really could stare at these things all day
Reading/checking out serialized manga in magazines is pretty cool! I’m jealous of ppl in Japan who can just buy them at the store. At least the digital versions are cheap (or occasionally free), but it’s not the same as getting to read it at magazine size… either way, it’s cool getting to see the various series each publisher has
I completed the first week’s reading for NHKにようこそ! | L32 and was surpised it felt much easier than I was expecting, and my reading speed wasn’t as slow as I was expecting. There’s still plenty of lookups, but not like SAO, and they’re either words I’ve seen before or things I could half-guess from context. The vibe is really different than anything else I’ve read, but I’m optimistic this might be the first book club book I actually finish!
I’m reading digitally for now, but when the physical version gets here, I might try writing out unfamiliar vocab and/or using my 電子辞書 with it
堀さんと宮村くん
I finished 堀さんと宮村くん 1 | L26, and really like it. It’s nice returning to the more wholesome days in the story, and oddly I find it easier to get in the flow with than the main series. “Get in the flow” wrt reading and understanding, and identifying context and speaker. For some reason with the main series, I tend to read but not really get what I’m reading… I’m perplexed by why, and I kinda want to start vol 1 to try to overcome that.
I ended up starting the next volume (reading it on the website), and am enjoying it so far. One thing that’s cool is the web version has random notes from the author. In any case, it’s really good practice for reading handwriting. I also decided to order the physical editions (even tho I’m over budget) b/c I really like things with color. It’s kind of annoying to read digitally anyway, due to device size. I still feel conflicted about it tho, b/c I know there’s going to be upsetting stuff later on (the manga adaptation often makes light of Hori’s domestic violence/abuse and the unhealthy/toxic parts of her and Miyamura’s relationship).
Finishing vol 1 of 堀さんと宮村くん inspired me to finally finish ホリミヤ 16, which I put down back in September, bc I was burnt out. It was a bit disorienting, bc I’d forgotten a lot of context and characters, but also a lot of it was familiar b/c of the anime. I started ホリミヤ 17, just for the sake of completing things, but so far it’s boring… I was really hoping to see more Souta-Yuuna too, after vol 16.
英雄伝説VI 空の軌跡 playthrough
Now that my currently watching is dying down, I might get back to the 英雄伝説 空の軌跡 playthrough I was watching. I also might play the game, but I have the PC version with no voices (and it’s not patchable the way the EN versions are)… maybe I should just stick w/ playing 五等分の花嫁 tho… but 空の軌跡 is cool… I also started one of the Ys games, which I really like the vibe of!
Though probably I should use the time to job search instead
Just finished らんま1/2 20 | L23, and I guess all that Inuyasha reading really paid off. There’s some parts I have to check, but by and large I can just read it now. I’m also reading it a lot faster than before, I think… which is good b/c I’m having trouble getting into it… especially with having read Inuyasha, and 堀さんと宮村くん (I like both of those much better). Maybe that’s good tho… I can read it extensively, with less emotional connection. I’m not trying to binge read them, just picking up a volume whenever I feel like it.
Read more of ぼっち・ざ・ろっく! 2 | L28 in my lesson, and a lot more quickly than usual (.58 pgs/min vs .26 pgs/min). I think I may have gotten a bit lucky with the content (mostly knowing the words), but still I’m a bit getting closer to reading without pauses. Otoh compared to my reading speed w/ Inuyasha, it’s way slow… but that also has much less text per page, in general.
Getting things in order for job searching is definitely starting to cut into reading time a bit, and I’ve also been playing a bit of Smash Bros and Stardew Valley to counter the stress. Stardew is actually pretty cool for language learning, and feels less overwhelming than it used to. The fact that the wiki has english and japanese versions is great
ホリミヤ 16 | L24 - took a while to get my bearings again. Still felt like a chore, except the parts with Souta-Yuna
らんま1/2 20 | L23 - decent, but still feels a bit like a chore
Reflections on specific series
ツバサ -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-: Feels so much easier now, after having read Inuyasha! That said, some parts are still really challenging to understand b/c of grammar and speech style - so I have to read it a lot more closely than Inuyasha. Otoh, a lot of the panels are large action panels with less dialogue, so in some ways it feels easier/faster. I’m looking forward to getting through all 28 volumes… I think my reading time is still 1-1.5 hrs, but they feel like they go by very quickly. Also the art is so beautiful!! Maybe I’ll plan to read ×××HOLiC | L25 after this. At some point I want to check out other CLAMP series too… カードキャプターさくら | L22 would be the easy choice after this, but it might be better to pick something unfamiliar.
堀さんと宮村くん: Finished vol 2. Physical copies arrived! The scanlation I’ve been checking stops in the middle of this book (ch25), so I’ve been thinking about asking to do it in lessons… But I don’t particularly want to stop Bocchi or Watamote… so I’m torn. Tho w/ Watamote, I know there’s good scanlations out there, at least. A lot of the time I can get the handwriting, but sometimes it’s totally unrecognizable. I think I’ll probly ask to do it w/ T-sensei tho.
ボクガール: I’m on vol 10/11 now, and in general I know probly 85-90% of the words in any volume, but sometimes not the readings (which I don’t usually bother looking up). I can read at a pretty decent pace (haven’t timed it) as well. So glad I can skip/skim certain parts, since it’s a reread. Not sure if I’ll ever reread the series after this
SAO Unital Ring: is surprisingly in my comfort zone now (with lots of new vocab), so that’s exciting. It hasn’t reached the really excellent parts yet… but I’m looking forward to it getting there.
僕の心のヤバイやつ: I watched the anime | L22, it was cute and ok (tho the S2 kinda drags). I had to watch most of it without subs, and I found it harder to follow than I was expecting… which is disappointing. I decided to give the manga a try, to help reinforce things, but it’s not holding my interest (I think I’m bored of slice of life/romcoms in general rn)
弱キャラ友崎くん Lv.2: I’ve only got 3hr 57 min left, but it’s kind of dragging for me, so I haven’t been that consistent with it. I’ll probably wait a while before starting vol 3. It’s not at a particularly interesting part of the story yet, but also, I’d like to wait till my comprehension is better, since there’s still too many unknown words (I’d guess I’m at 85-90% rn, which for a manga is OK, but for a LN is annoying). The narration is excellent, but also I miss having separate voice actors, from the anime.
Magazines and budget
It’s been fun keeping up with series in 少年ジャンプ and 少年エース. I’ll probably get the next 花とゆめ volumes w/ 暁のヨナ as well. It’s also interesting flipping through to see the different series in them. I feel conflicted about the fact that it’s basically double-buying, since I know I’ll buy the next ルリドラゴン and アオのハコ volumes when they come out. Thankfully 少年エース is only monthly, so it’s not that much damage to my wallet. I do wish I could get the physical volumes tho… I mean I technically could, but I don’t think it’s worth the wait, or the space… though considering the prices I see them for on eBay, I could resell them for a reasonable amount.
I’m otherwise making myself read stuff I already own, or can read via Tachiyomi and Kindle Unlimited, to compensate for all the physical manga I’ve been buying. In any case, I’m still going to have to cut back on that next month, which is OK, since I’m only at 27% of physical books I’ve used so far, and plenty of the ones I own are good “near-future reads” (アオのハコ、ツバサ、xxxHolic、五等分の花嫁、ぼっち・ざ・ろっく、ルリドラゴン堀さんと宮村くん, etc)… so it’s not like I have any shortage of stuff I’d enjoy reading!
The suruga-ya order I’ve been so impatiently awaiting finally came in! So I’ve switched to reading the physical book for NHKにようこそ and 弱キャラ友崎くん 2. Also inspired me to start up on ソードアート・オンライン3 フェアリィ・ダンス | L33 - which I gave the prologue a try. It went pretty well… a lot missed readings, but I got most of the meaning, and could piece together a lot of the word-meanings from context, without stopping for too many lookups. Most importantly though, it didn’t feel like a struggle to read. I don’t know if I’ll stick with it, but I’d like to. SAO and Tsubasa feel so much more engaging / speak to me more deeply than anything else I’ve been reading recently.
I’ve been debating whether to try reading Tomozaki-kun less extensively, but honestly it’s hard to get myself to pause the track. I think I’ll stick with extensive for the rest of this volume, and then take a break before continuing the series. Particularly if I’m gonna do SAO 3, not to mention 薬屋のひとりごと 2 | L38 starts next week, so I think I’d like to lock my LNs in as: SAO 3, Kusuriya, and NHK (assuming I don’t drop that). 3.5 hrs left, tho this chapter is apparently 1.5 of them (why do JP LN authors write such long chapters??)
NHK is physically cumbersome to read… the book is larger and heavier, and the cover is thicker and stiffer than usual. It’s still nice to read a physical book, but it’s a little annoying. Also lookups are sooooo much more disruptive, though it makes me be much more conscious about trying to remember new words. I’m not stopping for/fretting over readings. I think I’ll leave learning/reinforcing readings to audiobooks and books with furigana. That seems a lot more productive.
Started とんがり帽子のアトリエ 1 | L26, which seems like it will be a healthy challenge, tho I may drop it. Decided to drop 堀さんと宮村くん 3 | L26 for now. I think I will hold off on it, until I can do it in lessons
２０２４年０４月０９日
I decided to start doing Bunpro again, since it’s more useful than scrolling Facebook, and will probly help my reading. Can also shadow along to the audio if I feel like it, tho that’s less my focus rn.
Currently doing:
N3 Grammar deck
オノマトペ deck
N3 Reading Passages (which uses the grammar and vocab from their corresponding decks)
Trying not to do too many lessons at once, so I don’t get overwhelmed
Randomly gave 月姫 (web version) a try, after flipping through Type Moon エース and discovering that 戸松遥 voices one of the characters (in the remake), and got through the prologue. Along with yomichan, I can totally read - and mostly comprehend it. It’s a million times easier than F/SN. This is exciting… but also dangerous, cuz it’s a really long game lol (60 hrs playtime, not considering my reading speed). I really might actually play through it though at this rate… tho nbd if not.
Also I read that 真月譚 月姫 | L34?? manga is really good (Nasu himself praises it really highly), so I started reading it (and ordered a set - so I’ll have to read the whole thing now!). I dropped it back in Feb 2023, but it’s a lot easier now - a few lookups per page, and easy to understand; no furigana, so I’m trying not to get too caught up on forgotten readings (only checking if I see the same word multiple times). Also found a JP-EN playthrough of the remake that I might watch through as well. Apparently the stories are pretty different… so I’m considering holding off until I’ve reread the VN or finished the manga.
Anyway not that I needed to start another thing, but here I am lol… I’ll probly drop Tomo-chan & Witch Hat Atelier to compensate at this rate (trying not to drop NHK for at least another week or two lol… I do hope I actually get into that story though, otherwise it’s gonna be frustrating that I bought the book)
NHKにようこそ: Managed to keep up w/ it for a 2nd week. It’s definitely challenging, not necessarily in the ways I expected. Still waiting for the story to actually start… but interested, and reading easily enough, not to drop it.
ツバサ: is generally going well… I’m on volume 1416. The first few pages (of vol 14) really had me scratching my head (I had to check the translation & reread them), but in general it’s been pretty smooth sailing. I didn’t check translation at all for the last volume and a half if I keep up 2 vols a day (which seems very possible), I’ll be done with the series in 6 days.
月姫: is going pretty well. I’m not checking translation for it at all (haven’t even looked for it). A bit over halfway through volume 1, and the physical copies should get here by Monday (along w/ やがて君になる ). It will be really nice to read from those, b/c my tablet size and resolution are really a pain for this manga.
弱キャラ友崎くん 2: Definitely going to finish this over the weekend, so it’s out of the way when 薬屋のひとりごと 2 starts. Depending how hard that is, I might drop SAO 3… or drop Kusuriya lol… but I’ll jump off that bridge when I get there
Trying to power through what’s left of Tomozaki 2 (79 pgs, 1.5 hrs). I slowly worked up the audiobook speed to 1.5x, and noticed that a lot of the stuff I’m missing is stuff I’d miss at a slower speed anyway. If I didn’t want it to be done before Monday, I’d stay at the normal speed to absorb better/have more time to process tho.
Once that’s done, I’m gonna try to get through as many Tsubasa volumes this weekend as I can… Should be able to fit at least 6 in. I’m trying not to get too far with 月姫, cuz I wanna wait for the physical volumes
I started - and am surprised to find myself liking - この素晴らしい世界に祝福を！ S1 | L29 . Not the greatest show I’ve watched, but 結構面白い. My favorite character is Darkness, cuz of the whole masochist thing.
I finished Tomozaki 2, and am tempted to start book 3 bc I remembered that the story is way more interesting and involves more characters. But for now I’m gonna try reading some more of SAO 3. It will be nice to come back to Tomozaki 3 when my language skills are a bit better.
Got a few more pages into SAO 3. My reading speed is pretty slow, and I’m looking things up more than the prologue, but I’m really enjoying that there’s both Kazuto and Suguaha’s perspectives. I’ve decided this is gonna be my one intensive read book (tho if I hit boring or info dump sections, I don’t mind skimming those). I’m gonna take my time with it, look everything up, and really absorb things.
To that end, I installed mokuro on my comp, and am gonna try reading it with Yomichan whenever that finishes… Tho I’d like to use the physical book as much as possible too. Mokuro’s processing speed is almost as bad as my reading speed RN tho
60% through SAO 3. Been switching btwn computer (Yomichan) and physical book. I prefer reading physical, but the ease of lookups makes an immense difference. It’s really nice having Kazuto, Suguha, and Asuna’s inner monologues - especially the latter two, it adds so much to their character.
The number of lookups are is intense, but the sentences are mostly easy! I’d say about 95% of them I don’t have to think twice about (tho I did check the translation for 2-3, and I imagine there’s a few minor things I’ve gotten wrong). Otoh there’s a ton of repeat vocab, so this is really great vocab acquisition/reinforcement.
It feels nice reading SAO again, both b/c it’s SAO but also because I haven’t read something where the characters, plot, and setting, have some real depth to them in a long while. Maybe it’s also just a matter of manga vs LN. Either way, it’s making me want to be pickier about my reading selections. (Buying physical manga has also had this effect… like I don’t feel compelled to grab every little thing free or discounted manga/LN anymore).
I haven’t been skimming anything (and mostly haven’t felt the need to), tho I probably will next time around (I routinely skip all the Sugou sections when I watch the anime). I will probly take a break before SAO 4, cuz I wanna finish ツバサ.
薬屋のひとりごと 2 - so hard!!
Yup, this is definitely really intense. In addition to all the lookups, the language is really weird, and the grammar is tricky. I’m so glad this first week was only 10 pgs (next wk is 17 iirc). Not far enough in to evaluate the enjoyment vs effort factor, but discussing some of the text in the weekly thread has been nice.
NHKにようこそ - another one bites the dust
Edit: I finished chapter 3 and decided to drop it (that’s 4/5 for book clubs now ). Felt very similar to how I felt watching Evangelion. Instead of running it through mokuro, I just used google lens on the entire page at once & c/p’d into Akebi, which actually is kinda more convenient anyway. I’m gonna try that w/ SAO 3.
Manga:
真月譚 月姫
I’m 25% through volume 2. While there’s a decent amount of lookups, it feels like a pretty easy read overall, so it’s my go to when I’m drained, or can’t easily read physical manga (like late night in bed). Really looking forward to the physicals arriving (probly mid-next week), so it’s OK that I’ve been getting through it kinda slow.
ツバサ
Still in the middle of vol 18. I’ll probly get back to this once I finish SAO 3.
やがて君になる physicals finally came. I read through a bit of ch 1, and it was mostly easy to understand. Really nice seeing the physical versions
Hoping to finish ぼっち 2 and わたモテ 2 in my next lessons
I kinda wish I hadn’t discovered buying digital manga magazines… Just got all of this year’s 百合姫 that are out so far, bc I wanted to stay current on ささこい. Thankfully there’s two other series in there I’m already reading (one I’m current on, and the other it kinda doesn’t matter), and it seems like I’ll be into some of the others, so it’s at least worth the price… But I’m already way over budget on manga (might just not order any physical ones next month ).
If it turns out I like a lot of the comics, maybe it would be worth getting future physical ones, but then I’d be lagging behind (tho still ahead of the 単行本 releases). It would really be more pragmatic to wait for the 単行本, but there’s something exciting about reading the chapters as they come out too.
I just found out vol 6 of クラスで2番目に可愛い女の子と友だちになった | L26 comes out next month too. So I have to decide about getting those… Do I just get digital vol 6, buy all the physical, but just vol 6 physical? Maybe I’ll try rereading some of vol 5 to see how the vocab feels. Update: I read through a few pgs and the vocab is relatively easy - mostly forgotten readings. I think I’ll get all 6, if I make an order next month. Can definitely see myself rereading them.
Whelp, only got through 10 pgs in Bocchi 2 this lesson… some sections are much trickier than others. Just 14-15 pgs left. It’s in the part right after the anime finishes, and it’s really enjoyable. While I thought I had read the rest of the manga (whatever was out) a few years ago, I have absolutely zero memory of it - so I’m really looking forward to seeing where it goes!
Otherwise, I’m frustrated by my conversational ability as always. Sometimes I give up a bit too easily - but also I don’t really wanna waste lesson reading time with fumbling to put together basic sentences. Ironically, half of what throws me off when reading is English words in katakana, tho I’m getting better at pronouncing acronyms like SNS in Japanese-style (えすえぬえす). It still takes conscious thought not to just say it like English tho.
One thing I’ve noticed is that my tendency to use English more in my other lesson started leaking into this one. I’m kinda thinking of asking my other teacher if he can explain things in JP more, cuz I think it’s one of the more beneficial points of doing lessons, which I can’t get outside of lessons.
My brain also refuses to say loan words correctly, and I recall a Korean learner saying they had the same issue with loan words in Korean. Something about knowing it’s borrowed from your own language, or could be, seems to be a blocker. I actually do better with the chopped up slangy katakana like ドットキャン than I do with words like リクルーター
I often think it’s not fair because English is usually pretty amenable to people pronouncing loan words in their original accent, but many other languages are varying degrees of not ok with it. Japanese I’ve found is one of the less ok with it to the point that if you pronounce words like in English people sometimes won’t know what you mean.
For the more common words I honestly just memorize the Japanese pronunciation as a completely different word from the English one and that helps a bit…
It’s less of a blocker for me, and more that my brain just takes the automatic shortcut to “thing I know”.
Though I do run into stuff like スマブラ (smash bros) or ブラコン, where my brain wants Bro = ブロ and コン = Con (like in con artist), or New York vs ニューヨーク.
May vary regionally, but my perception is actually the opposite of this. I think this is cultural more than linguistic anyway. Also maybe more acceptable for more recent loanwords?
Ohhh cool. I wouldn’t have guessed it even if you’d spelled it right, but now I know why the dictionary didn’t either
And mine says last minute, 11th hour for 土壇場, which apparently originally meant “platform made of dirt used to perform executions (decapitations) in the Edo period”
if I keep up 2 vols a day (which seems very possible), I’ll be done with the series in 6 days.
). Felt very similar to how I felt watching Evangelion. Instead of running it through mokuro, I just used google lens on the entire page at once & c/p’d into Akebi, which actually is kinda more convenient anyway. I’m gonna try that w/ SAO 3.
).
ドタキャン