The anime honestly felt harder than 24. I had no trouble following the plot, but there was a ton of… nobility vocab (if that’s a thing) that I didn’t know. I let a lot of it go by (the kanji on the subs was usually enough for me to get the gist), and I figure I can grab it in the manga if I’m still coming across it there and having trouble.
Yeah, I’m familiar with what you’re talking about; it’s like a specific subset of politeness grammar-wise and vocab referring to specific ranks and positions in court? That stuff’s ended up just about being my bread and butter since a lot of what I’ve been gravitating to recently has included it.
Totally a thing. Aristocratic vocab (and speech patterns) is such a pain when you’re unfamiliar with it. A lot of it also falls under “ok to just have the gyst”… Like 公爵、伯爵、侯爵、子爵、etc - I have no clue what the diff is btwn count, earl, marquis, viscount, etc is (no matter how many times I look it up) - but I get who’s who in the story, and what their general power/influence level is
Like @eefara I’m finally getting comfortable with it, cuz I seem to have stumbled into reading more of it
Yeah, although the overwrought keigo I can usually understand ok. Could I use the right kind of speech to talk about myself vs someone socially above me? No universe. Can I follow what they’re saying and understand the broad strokes of the social relationships? Sure. And I’m willing to give that a pass
I also don’t know this in English (just like military ranks) so I’m usually fine noticing people’s (very obvious) hierarchical interactions and calling it good.
I’ve been in a mood lately. I’d say that I haven’t been doing all that much, except that I’m watching at least an episode a day of anime, reading somewhere between half and hour to an hour of something in Japanese, am caught
up on my jpdb deck, have been poking around in Dragon Quest, and started watching some streamers on YouTube. I think I’m doing fine. But I’ve also been jumping around in a bunch of books, trying to find something that is both a good level and holds my interest.
I think in the new year I’m also going to focus on bringing my comfortable manga reading level up to 25 or so. Right now I can do 25 but I need to be really invested in the story else it’s a slog.
I am pretty happy about watching some game streams though. I can sink hours into watching streams in English. I really only have a few people I watch (and most of them are people who I know from some other content who also stream), and instead of finding more English language streamers that I can stand, I think it’d be a better move to find some Japanese streamers instead.
Anyway, it’s cold and dark and I rarely see the sun anymore (even on sunny days, which are rare, we only have 8 hours of daylight right now ), and I’m not going to worry that sometimes all I want to do is be a couch goblin and watch game streams. Esp if some of those are in Japanese.
Media updates!
Am I going to keep up with media updates? Am I just going to drop them like I did last year? Who knows!
Continuing with my get a natively level for magical girls shows that don’t have one yet project (I’m just learning about this now too, lol) , I started 魔法の天使クリィミーマミ S1 | L30?? this week. I mostly was curious how far I could go back in time and find something enjoyable and that still felt magical girl-y. So far this feels plenty magical girl-y, although from what I can tell it’s setting up more of the idol magical girl show than a superhero one. I actually haven’t really dipped my toes into that side of the genre, so one from pretty close to the beginning is probably a good place to start. I also love the late 70s/early 80s retro anime style I could do without all the gratuitous upskirt shots of the literal child though, thx.
I decided to give ニートくノ一となぜか同棲はじめました S1 | L30?? a try as a seasonal since they are 15 minute episodes and I have a few of the manga that I got for free at some point. On paper it feels like I could get into it (NEET kunoichi who doesn’t want to leave the house and just play video games all the time couldn’t possibly imagine why this strikes a chord with me). The boring male lead is so far pretty secondary to the plot (also a plus), but so far it’s pretty mid. I’ll probably keep with it for a few eps and see if any of the new characters that get introduced make it any better, but if not, I’ll probably drop it.
I’ve been watching a few 実況プレイ, one for ゼルダの伝説 神々のトライフォース2 (A Link Between Worlds) and 逆転裁判. The Zelda streamer is really easy to understand but is a little boring. The 逆転裁判 is more emphatic (maybe a little bit too much, lol), but he does read all of the text (non-negotiable for me with a 実況プレイ) and I can follow almost all of his commentary around the game.
I want to start poking around for a VN to start since it’s one of my goals this year to finish one. I don’t want to commit myself to a 100+ hour one right off the bat, but outside of that I really don’t know what I’m looking for. I’ve seen a few people say that it’s a way to get into reading harder things, and since I’m trying to get into N2 books this year, that feels like a good place to spend some time.
Started ネコぱら - Catboys Paradise which is both free and short. (I think eefara had originally mentioned it either in the Video Game or BL topics, so thank you for the head’s up!)
Getting my texthooker set up was a lot easier than last time (I don’t know if the last VN I tried was just more finnicky or if doing it once before made it easier…), but I got everything set up within 10 mins this time. So yay!
The OG release of the game was; they eventually released it officially. I’m not sure how it was reworked/added to from initial release to final, sadly.
), and I’m not going to worry that sometimes all I want to do is be a couch goblin and watch game streams. Esp if some of those are in Japanese.
