# 🐕 わんわん探偵団 🕵️‍♂️ Home Thread - Doggy Detectives! **URL:** \ **Category:** Book Clubs\ **Created:** [February 17, 2020, 10:53am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E6%8E%A2%E5%81%B5%E5%9B%A3-home-thread-doggy-detectives/42029 "2020-02-17T10:53:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Radish8](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/radish8/32/206088_2.png) [@Radish8](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Radish8)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2020, 10:53am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E6%8E%A2%E5%81%B5%E5%9B%A3-home-thread-doggy-detectives/42029/1 "2020-02-17T10:53:40Z")
The 🐕 books are the first in the わんにゃん探偵団 series, and we’re going to be reading volume one. So this is the perfect place to start 😉 ![Doggy%20Detectives](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/original/4X/6/2/c/62cee5865d766acc38b2c9346ac8ac238c8760b6.jpeg) [わんにゃん探偵団 Book Club](https://community.wanikani.com/t/x/42003) For an idea of the difficulty, go to the [BookWalker listing](https://bookwalker.jp/de39b833f0-ee80-4631-a1a0-5b327b788f3f/) and click on the image for a preview. As a club we’ll be putting together a vocabulary list as we go and answering each other’s questions, and we’ll read just a few pages each week. * * * ## Schedule & Discussion Thread Links We will take a one-week break between each of the three stories. | Week         | Start Date     | Chapter                   | Page Numbers    | Page Count | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Week 1](https://community.wanikani.com/t/x/42955) | April 6th | Story 1 - Case | 6 - 10 | 4 | | [Week 2](https://community.wanikani.com/t/x/43098) | April 13th | Story 1 - Case | 12 - 17 | 4 | | [Week 3](https://community.wanikani.com/t/x/43204) | April 20th | Story 1 - Case | 18 - 22 | 4 | | [Week 4](https://community.wanikani.com/t/x/43338) | April 27th | Story 1 - Case | 23 - 28 | 5 | | [Week 5](https://community.wanikani.com/t/x/43509) | May 4th | Story 1 - Case | 29 - 34 | 5 | | [Week 6](https://community.wanikani.com/t/x/43666) | May 11th | Story 1 - Solution | 36 - 41 | 6 | | [Week 7](https://community.wanikani.com/t/x/43819) | May 18th | Story 1 - Solution | 42 - 49 | 7 | | - | May 25th | BREAK! 🐕 | - | - | | [Week 8](https://community.wanikani.com/t/x/44112) | June 1st | Story 2 - Case | 52 - 56 | 5 | | [Week 9](https://community.wanikani.com/t/x/44236) | June 8th | Story 2 - Case | 57 - 61 | 5 | | [Week 10](https://community.wanikani.com/t/x/44359) | June 15th | Story 2 - Case | 63 - 67 | 5 | | [Week 11](https://community.wanikani.com/t/x/44488) | June 22nd | Story 2 - Case | 68 - 72 | 5 | | [Week 12](https://community.wanikani.com/t/x/44617) | June 29th | Story 2 - Solution | 74 - 80 | 6 | | [Week 13](https://community.wanikani.com/t/x/44744) | July 6th | Story 2 - Solution | 81 - 87 | 6 | | [Week 14](https://community.wanikani.com/t/x/44862) | July 13th | Story 2 - Solution | 88 - 94 | 6 | | [Week 15](https://community.wanikani.com/t/x/44966) | July 20th | Story 2 - Solution | 96 - 103 | 6 | | - | July 27th | BREAK! 🐕 | - | - | | [Week 16](https://community.wanikani.com/t/x/45199) | August 3rd | Story 3 - Case | 106 - 113 | 6 | | [Week 17](https://community.wanikani.com/t/x/45295) | August 10th | Story 3 - Case | 114 - 120 | 6 | | [Week 18](https://community.wanikani.com/t/x/45435) | August 17th | Story 3 - Case | 121 - 128 | 7 | | [Week 19](https://community.wanikani.com/t/x/45559) | August 24th | Story 3 - Solution | 130 - 137 | 6 | | [Week 20](https://community.wanikani.com/t/x/45682) | August 31st | Story 3 - Solution | 138 - 145 | 6 | ## Vocabulary Sheet > **[Doggy Detectives 1](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YDydfCr7MXBYO-3BcvPvIFp83oXQdB1K87Xde7bSaOY/edit#gid=1685002629)** > > This Sheet is private ## Book Club Members _Poll ([view on site](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E6%8E%A2%E5%81%B5%E5%9B%A3-home-thread-doggy-detectives/42029/1))_ ## Buying the Book Physical | [CDJapan](http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/NEODAI-63228) | [Amazon JP](https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4035305103/) eBook | [BookWalker](https://bookwalker.jp/de39b833f0-ee80-4631-a1a0-5b327b788f3f/) | [Kobo](https://www.kobo.com/jp/en/ebook/s1wULccihTKLv9MJGcT_ag) | [Kindle](https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B018U8JUM2/) * * * ---
**Author:** ![Rowena](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/rowena/32/302571_2.png) [@Rowena](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Rowena)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2020, 11:16am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E6%8E%A2%E5%81%B5%E5%9B%A3-home-thread-doggy-detectives/42029/2 "2020-02-17T11:16:39Z")
Thanks so much for setting up the reading schedule so early, and for the lower page-count per week - this looks eminently doable 🐕 ---
**Author:** ![Belthazar](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/belthazar/32/4469_2.png) [@Belthazar](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Belthazar)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2020, 11:18am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E6%8E%A2%E5%81%B5%E5%9B%A3-home-thread-doggy-detectives/42029/3 "2020-02-17T11:18:35Z")
I’m guessing there’ll be approximately as many dogs as Kitty Detectives had kitties. 😛 Not that I’m planning on reading this. Dogs, ya know? ---
**Author:** ![Radish8](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/radish8/32/206088_2.png) [@Radish8](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Radish8)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2020, 11:46am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E6%8E%A2%E5%81%B5%E5%9B%A3-home-thread-doggy-detectives/42029/4 "2020-02-17T11:46:50Z")
I’ll have you know that I skimmed through the first story and a dog appeared to be a key player in investigating the case! ---
**Author:** ![Chaly](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/chaly/32/820899_2.png) [@Chaly](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Chaly)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2020, 11:58am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E6%8E%A2%E5%81%B5%E5%9B%A3-home-thread-doggy-detectives/42029/5 "2020-02-17T11:58:50Z")
This sounds so awesome:0 What do you think, what WK level will be needed approximately (i know you can always look up things and there is no boundary but still…)? It doesn’t look like too much, but then again I don’t really know enough to assess. (“reach lvl x before april so you can participate” is a really good type of goal i you think about it xD) ---
**Author:** ![fray](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/fray/32/225755_2.png) [@fray](https://community.wanikani.com/u/fray)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2020, 11:59am UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E6%8E%A2%E5%81%B5%E5%9B%A3-home-thread-doggy-detectives/42029/6 "2020-02-17T11:59:40Z")
> [@Radish8](#): > > The text is about 50% more dense than Kitty Detectives 2 (yes, I counted), hence the apparently slower reading pace. If we maintain the following schedule, we’ll finish early September. Oh… well I guess there goes my plan finishing it with the book club before I head off to Japan 😐 _takes a look inside the book for the first time_ Hmmm… I don’t notice that much of a difference but yeah, maybe a bit more text dense. So I think the “slower reading pace” is warranted (and of course always a plus for new readers or busy people!) But hey, I’m pleasently surpised by the artwork! Just judging from the covers, I thought, I might not like it as much as the artwork in the kitty books but it’s really beautiful and cute! Edit: Too bad that the even the black/white artworks seem to be actually colored ones turned black & white ☹ now I would love to see them in color! ---
**Author:** ![Radish8](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/radish8/32/206088_2.png) [@Radish8](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Radish8)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2020, 12:12pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E6%8E%A2%E5%81%B5%E5%9B%A3-home-thread-doggy-detectives/42029/7 "2020-02-17T12:12:53Z")
To be somewhat unhelpful, your grammar knowledge is more important than WaniKani level 🙂 this book doesn’t use too many kanji, and where it does there will be furigana so you can still look words up easily. The kanji it does use probably don’t align particularly nicely with WaniKani level either 😅 that said, better kanji recognition will definitely increase your comprehension speed, so learning as many as possible isn’t a bad idea. What kind of grammar knowledge do you have? > [@frayderike](#): > > I don’t notice that much of a difference but yeah, maybe a bit more text dense. I did a comparison across seven pages, and it’s a surprising difference. The standard page has more text, but there also aren’t really any of those pages we got in Kitty Detectives which just had one or two sentences on - those really helped to lighten the overall weekly load, I think. I agonised a lot over the pace 😅 so I’d definitely appreciate feedback as we go. It’s possible people will be able to manage more dense pages better than they can manage _lots_ of pages… But then again each page might feel more like a mountain. ---
**Author:** ![Chaly](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/chaly/32/820899_2.png) [@Chaly](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Chaly)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2020, 1:02pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E6%8E%A2%E5%81%B5%E5%9B%A3-home-thread-doggy-detectives/42029/8 "2020-02-17T13:02:43Z")
> [@Radish8](#): > > What kind of grammar knowledge do you have? I’m just choosing a grammar book right now, so… close to zero, if we count random youtube knowledge (ok embarassing xD) ---
**Author:** ![Rowena](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/rowena/32/302571_2.png) [@Rowena](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Rowena)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2020, 1:14pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E6%8E%A2%E5%81%B5%E5%9B%A3-home-thread-doggy-detectives/42029/9 "2020-02-17T13:14:28Z")
If you follow the Amazon link in the OP, you can have a look at some of the pages to get an idea of difficulty. An understanding of basic sentence structure and particle use would be a minimum for this to not be a version of purgatory, I would say. ---
**Author:** ![Chaly](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/chaly/32/820899_2.png) [@Chaly](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Chaly)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2020, 1:18pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E6%8E%A2%E5%81%B5%E5%9B%A3-home-thread-doggy-detectives/42029/10 "2020-02-17T13:18:25Z")
Reasonable. I was talking more about vocabulary and kanji though, since that’s pretty much what WK levels are more or less tied to. ---
**Author:** ![Rowena](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/rowena/32/302571_2.png) [@Rowena](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Rowena)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2020, 1:28pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E6%8E%A2%E5%81%B5%E5%9B%A3-home-thread-doggy-detectives/42029/11 "2020-02-17T13:28:09Z")
I’ll refer you back to Radish8’s comments then, adding that WK vocab is aimed at reinforcing the kanji, not as being the most common vocab in daily use. That said, since the reading schedule stretches over 24 weeks (including breaks) you will probably progress a fair bit in WK as we go. I know there were several pages in the last book where I thought, ‘Hey, I just learned that kanji / kanji-combo yesterday!’ ---
**Author:** ![fray](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/fray/32/225755_2.png) [@fray](https://community.wanikani.com/u/fray)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2020, 1:29pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E6%8E%A2%E5%81%B5%E5%9B%A3-home-thread-doggy-detectives/42029/12 "2020-02-17T13:29:07Z")
If it’s your first time reading a book in Japanese and you don’t have much grammar knowledge yet, I’d rather recommend [the book the absolute beginner book club is currently reading](https://community.wanikani.com/t/now-reading-part-1-%E3%81%AA%E3%81%9C%EF%BC%9F%E3%81%A9%E3%81%86%E3%81%97%E3%81%A6%EF%BC%9F%E7%A7%91%E5%AD%A6%E3%81%AE%E3%81%8A%E8%A9%B1-absolute-beginner-bookclub/40790). I think the grammar is simpler compared to the Kitty books (and I’d assume the Doggie books are similar). It’s geared at 2nd year elementary school kids and according to [this chart](https://www.wkstats.com/#charts.joyo) you’ll probably know all kanji in there by level 18 and more than 50% by level 6. Btw, for vocab, the book clubs usually provide a handy vocab sheet. . ---
**Author:** ![Radish8](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/radish8/32/206088_2.png) [@Radish8](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Radish8)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2020, 1:33pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E6%8E%A2%E5%81%B5%E5%9B%A3-home-thread-doggy-detectives/42029/13 "2020-02-17T13:33:13Z")
Oi, stop stealing my readers 😉 @Chaly, I don’t have a good sense of how different grammar resources compare, but I’d say that if you’d finished Genki 1 you’d have a reasonably comfortable time. There would be plenty of new grammar constructions to ask about, but you’d have basic sentences down. Does anyone who read Kitty Detectives have a good metric for how much grammar they knew / how difficult it was? ---
**Author:** ![Rowena](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/rowena/32/302571_2.png) [@Rowena](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Rowena)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2020, 1:33pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E6%8E%A2%E5%81%B5%E5%9B%A3-home-thread-doggy-detectives/42029/14 "2020-02-17T13:33:24Z")
Oh, speaking of vocab and vocab sheets, I read again today that Kitsun has / is going to have the capacity to collaborate on making decks; @Radish8 - do you know if this is possible yet? It would be good to take the vocab from the sheets each week and add them to an SRS deck… ---
**Author:** ![Radish8](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/radish8/32/206088_2.png) [@Radish8](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Radish8)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2020, 1:35pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E6%8E%A2%E5%81%B5%E5%9B%A3-home-thread-doggy-detectives/42029/15 "2020-02-17T13:35:15Z")
Oooooooops, sorry, I totally said I was gonna make one for Kitty Detectives 😱 I pared my SRS use down hugely this year, so I haven’t been keeping up with Kitsun, but I’m happy to investigate and look at setting one up at least. ---
**Author:** ![Rowena](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/rowena/32/302571_2.png) [@Rowena](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Rowena)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2020, 1:36pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E6%8E%A2%E5%81%B5%E5%9B%A3-home-thread-doggy-detectives/42029/16 "2020-02-17T13:36:10Z")
My Japanese learning has been less-than-systematic, but I would agree that finishing Genki I or equivalent would make your reading more enjoyable/ less of a struggle. ---
**Author:** ![Rowena](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/rowena/32/302571_2.png) [@Rowena](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Rowena)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2020, 1:38pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E6%8E%A2%E5%81%B5%E5%9B%A3-home-thread-doggy-detectives/42029/17 "2020-02-17T13:38:15Z")
My emphasis here was on the fact that it said COLLABORATIVE - it wouldn’t have to fall on one person’s shoulders. As long as we are clear on format, then we could each do some (weekly rota, or some such). ---
**Author:** ![fray](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/fray/32/225755_2.png) [@fray](https://community.wanikani.com/u/fray)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2020, 1:43pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E6%8E%A2%E5%81%B5%E5%9B%A3-home-thread-doggy-detectives/42029/18 "2020-02-17T13:43:50Z")
> [@Rowena](#): > > ‘Hey, I just learned that kanji / kanji-combo yesterday!’ “Hey, I’m sure I’ve learned that kanji-combo before and whoops, I forgot what it means. 😫” ---
**Author:** ![Rowena](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/rowena/32/302571_2.png) [@Rowena](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Rowena)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2020, 1:49pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E6%8E%A2%E5%81%B5%E5%9B%A3-home-thread-doggy-detectives/42029/19 "2020-02-17T13:49:04Z")
‘But thanks to this book club, it’s been reinforced and now I’ll remember it!’ ---
**Author:** ![Octorine](https://cdck-file-uploads-global.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wanikanicommunity/original/3X/f/d/fd4c154120954695f788402f3bcf4e616499bc2d.png) [@Octorine](https://community.wanikani.com/u/Octorine)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2020, 2:44pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E6%8E%A2%E5%81%B5%E5%9B%A3-home-thread-doggy-detectives/42029/20 "2020-02-17T14:44:48Z")
Can anyone talk about the pros & cons of the different ebook stores? I want to pick one and stick with it so I don’t end up with different books in different stores. I already have some purchased books on the US Kindle store. How much of a hassle is it to switch back and forth if I buy some Japanese books on amazon.jp? Are any of the stores more calibre-friendly than the others? [Next page](https://community.wanikani.com/t/%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E3%82%8F%E3%82%93%E6%8E%A2%E5%81%B5%E5%9B%A3-home-thread-doggy-detectives/42029.md?page=2)