I actually liked the webcomic art a lot! it’s got a charm in its roughness, same with the OVA. It was just trying to read the god awful handwriting that killed me 
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Sorry, didn’t know that what I’ve recommended is an illegal site. Won’t happen again 
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I have a question: are we supposed to read by the start date or during the week of the start date. Like, for week 2, should I read pages 12-16 by September 2nd or wait to start until after September 2nd? I know obviously this is all self-guided and so it doesn’t reaaally matter, but I wasn’t sure which was the expectation. Thanks!
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You can start whenever, but the general layout of the club is that the posted date is the start date.
So you would read those pages starting Saturday.
Also, welcome to the forums!
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Thanks! I read week one’s section last night, but I wasn’t sure if that was super late or not. My Japanese ability is really low, but I moved to Japan a month ago and I’m trying to make fast progress (or at least as fast as one can when learning Japanese).
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Nah, that’s not super late at all. When I first started, I was usually reading all the way up to the very start of the next week, just because I was so slow, so you did well!
I wish you the best of luck with your time in Japan and making quick progress! Reading has definitely made a huge impact in my own learning, so I hope it will do the same for you! 
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We’re now starting Week 2!
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Does anyone know how much of the manga you have to read to be able to watch the first episode of the anime without getting spoilered?
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I think the first episode roughly covers up to page 93 of the manga, but the anime also has a lot of little differences, so it might also include parts from later in the manga in the first episode (certainly it shows some of the characters earlier than the manga does).
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I’ve been using a Japanese dictionary app to help me read. I prefer this to a straight up translator, as I like to try putting together the grammar and vocabulary myself. The app I use also shows commonly used phrases and marks which definitions and readings are the most common.
I didn’t realize until recently that the Jisho website doesn’t seem to do this. It’s just a straight up dictionary, and a very particular one at that.
So, I thought I’d recommend this app on iOS. It’s fantastic, free, and completely offline. I’m not sure how they made it, but I am thankful for it.
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I use it as my main lookup source, and I agree that it’s extremely useful.
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Is there an equally good dictionary for Android that you know of? Apparently this is only Apple
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I personally use Akebi because I think the handwriting recognition and radical searches are decent, but I’m open to using another if anybody has any suggestions (Akebi doesn’t have ‘most common’ markings etc’, though I like the example sentences, but I have found situations where it won’t find something that jisho finds etc)
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My go-to dictionary! What I really like about it is that it recognizes conjugeted verbs and shows you the dictonary form results.
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I use this one. Has been excellent thus far, though admittedly I have not tried many others
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Week 3 is now live, everyone!
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Week 4 is live, everyone! It’s the first week where we step up the pace a bit!
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On paper this seems to be a slow reading pace, but in reality, there is no way I could keep up and actually understand what I am reading.
This book is significantly more difficult than the previous book (オオカミ). I can read an entire chapter in one sitting of オオカミ and still have it fairly well understood with some dictionary usage. With ホリミヤ, I am to the point where I use a pen and paper to try to decipher what is being said, and I still can’t figure it out.
I don’t know the selection process for the “absolute beginner” book club, but this is not a book fitting of that title. It’s a shame. I was so excited to join in on this after discovering the club near the end of オオカミ. Maybe next time we can choose a book that is that level instead?
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Are you following the discussions each week? Although it may not be doable on your own, I think you may be able to manage it if you follow other people’s translations and questions. (This is part of what’s great about these clubs!)
There has already been some discussion and I believe the consensus is that Horimiya is pushing the limit in terms of difficulty. I’m guessing that as a result the next pick will be a lot easier.
Eta: if Horimiya is too difficult even with help, you could go back and try some of the previous easier picks while waiting for the next book to come around.
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Generally I think natively 20+ is a bad choice for ABBC (natively obviously is not the be all and end all but I really think that is about the threshold where stuff really ramps up in difficulty).
That said, the start of my reading journey was only about 9 months ago, so it’s not insurmountable. But I think you really want some stuff you can bang out and feel good about rather than something like this where absolute beginners feel like they’re hitting a wall.
(The other tip of this is that the BBC I find closer to what I would have thought was intermediate. I can only guess what they’re reading in a hypothetical expert book club)
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