[2024] 多読/extensive reading challenge

Not saying I would have put it together if listening, but I think most people that watch a ton of anime know this word. Usually when they announce new anime they talk about it being one or two cours to indicate how long it will run.

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I guess it shows that I have no experience with the medium. :joy: Watching this is kinda meta.
I also bumped against ケレン味 so far.

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Even knowing terms and so on like that I found the first few episodes a bit disorienting as I didn’t really understand any of the crises in the production process and so on. BUT PERSEVERE tis worth it :grin:

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The second watch through with JP subs on and pausing to check that excel sheet on 宮森 with all the steps did help a lot putting it together. I have to admit that my brain did shut down during the character introduction scene where I was just force-fed job titles that I know nothing about. Except 監督 and 社長 I guess.
But it was interesting to realize that they have multiple artists working concurrently in a pipeline and that the order in which you put them matters.
I’m learning many things today.

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Sounds like we now need an extensive anime watching challenge as well :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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I’m secretly considering making one for next year. But at the same time, I sometimes feel like people who watch anime just watch a lot already, and those who do not aren’t inclined to start, so I’m not 100% sure there’s a need. Beyond my own, that is :upside_down_face:

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I was also wondering along these lines actually… I don’t watch that many anime, and those I do watch are recommendations by friends. So I would probably not be that thread’s target audience :wink:

But if you want to track your progress and discuss a bit and get recommendations, why not start a thread and see what comes out of it? I’d definitely lurk for a bit :slight_smile:

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Me too, that sounds really interesting. I haven’t been a massive anime watcher lately, but I did want to start again, as more of a study tool this time I suppose…
So specifically a thread similar to this one that just tracks progress and is a place to discuss (or, because my life is super hectic at the moment, just lurking) could be interesting.

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There’s always more to watch __

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I’m getting triggered just remembering that dude exists. How did he even get the job? Too unrealistic, immersion broken.

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I finished reading キッチン yesterday (but not the 2nd story also included in the book, Moonlight Shadow – Banana’s debut work).

I really have trouble to put my feelings into words because even now I’m still a bit puzzled what the book wanted to tell me. It’s a very personal, introspective story. It’s about overcoming grief and interpersonal relationships. It also shows the complexity of feelings people have towards each other. Many stories (especially love stories) basically reduce the feeling of distance between people to awkwardness. キッチン is not like that and portrays a quite interesting relationships that can’t easily be labeled (as friends, family, lovers, acquaintances or whatever). That’s what I liked because in real life, that’s how many relationships are. Oh, and it was interesting to see the coverage of trans people in a Japanese book, especially considering it’s from 1988.

That being said, I didn’t feel much of a catharsis towards the end. It did end on a positive, somewhat conclusive note, but I still find it hard to grasp the story – and not because it was particularly complicated or hard to follow. But maybe that’s also part of what the book wanted to be.

Overall I think I liked reading キッチン and I wonder if other novels by Yoshimoto Banana fall into the same category or read quite differently (キッチン was only her 2nd book). I don’t feel the urge to check them out right away, but I’d like to read more of them eventually.

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When you’re trying to use causative-passive.

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I’ve started reading my presumably last (and 12th) book for the year: 夏の庭 The Friends by Kazumi Yumoto from 1992. It’s a rather curious story about four elementary school boys (6th grade) who decide to stalk an old men because they want to witness his death. What starts out as a silly idea out of curiosity how a dead person looks gradually develops into something bigger. I’ve only read 1/4 of the book yet, but it looks like the boys slowly get attached to the old man, despite never having talked to him.

I’ve read しずかな日々 earlier this year and thought the books might feel nostalgic in a similar way, but so far this doesn’t seem to be the case. しずかな日々 was more gentle in nature, having a rather shy protagonist, while 夏の庭 has a bunch of more outgoing characters. But the portrayal of the children both books feels very real.

So far it’s fun. I hope I can finish it by the end of the year. It’s not like I had a goal, but 12 books would make for a nice, round number.

On a side note, I swear that most of the words I don’t know are compound verbs. That’s probably the equivalent to the English phrasal verbs where a verb with different particles can lead to a whole range of completely different meanings (put on, put up with, put by, put across etc.) – and precisely because they are so similar, they are harder to memorize. Well, it’s getting better but I definitely need to focus on this more.

On a 2nd side note: I’m considering opening a bookmeter account next year so I can write reviews in Japanese to practice my writing. I haven’t really used it much (messengers don’t count) since I left Japan and any excuse to hone my skills would be welcome.

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Plus, then we can all stalk what you’re reading. :stuck_out_tongue:

It might help to start by making sure you know what all the verb suffixes mean in the general sense, even if they sometimes have a specific nuance for specific words. I’m sure you know plenty of them already, but there’s so many out there. I haven’t done a good job of this myself yet, but I figured I’d mention.

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And one month later, I finished it.

It’s a bit hard for me to compare the two games, since my vocab, kanji, and especially grammar level are in a different place now, but I think this game was easier. Less kanji used. Straightforward language.

Really a great recommendation as pretty simple reading fare, in my opinion.

Participating in this thread has made a really big difference for me. :+1: Especially in reading speed. And I think it was really important for me to pick something I like, level be damned, rather than try to read stuff I find boring just for the sake of the level of the material fitting my (lack of) reading ability.

I’m not sure what I want to read next. Part of me wants to keep floflo-ing until the new year to hopefully make my first book easier to get through. So I might just read random articles or whatnot until this thread is in its second iteration.

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Yay! That’s the spirit :slight_smile:

I think and act the same, and when I struggle hard and want to give up, I think back to when I read my first books in English (whoa, I had no idea what they were talking about!) :joy_cat:

Afterwards, the struggle remains the same, but I can take it with a much lighter heart.

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2019 wrap-up

With only 2 weeks left in 2019, it’s time to look back and reflect on how far we have come.
So, how did it go? Did you barely reach your goals, blast them out of the water, or missed them completely? What were the speed bumps along the way? Was there anything that helped? What was your favorite/ least favorite Japanese book/manga/other media this year?

Additionally. I’d like to use this post as a reminder that the great table of everything at the top of this thread will be reset at the beginning of 2020. Probably not on January 1st, because I’m not a machine (not that there’s anything wrong with that @omun), but in early January nonetheless. Results from 2019 will be archived behind a drop down in the first post.

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My reflection on 2019: Looking back on my Bookmeter account, I was surprised to see that it was only this year that I started reading Japanese books, with the Time Girl book club. I would have never dreamed that I made it this far :slight_smile: When I entered my goal in the great table, I had no expectation whatsoever, so I almost randomly chose 5 books and 6 manga. I exceeded that goal by far, with 7 (almost 8) books and 11 manga! Although in all honesty, I must say that four of the books weren’t “real” ones (two learners’ books plus two volumes of Nyan Nyan Detectives) but the other four felt rock solid (for the sake of alliteration, let’s call them Kakeru Shoujo, Kino, Konbini and Kitchen). And all of this in just one year - I still cannot really believe it.
Of course this would not have been possible without the great discussions and the incredible support and encouragement from all of you in the book clubs, in the Read-Aloud sessions and in this thread - I will not name anybody because I will inevitably miss lots of you. You’ll know anyway who I’m talking about - thank you so, so, so much, and see you here next year!

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Will end the year with around 50 volumes of manga read, half of my intended goal. Consistency was clearly the problem, but in the past 1 week, I pretty much have been reading 1 volume a day, so I guess that’s being solved :sweat_smile:

I’m optimistic about next year in terms of reading. Will try again to aim for 100 more volumes. Once I reach it, I’ll see how I feel and make new goals :slight_smile: I’ll probably try to aim for my birthday (192 days left :scream:) instead. Am I the only one that prefers to make goals for one’s birthday versus New Year? :stuck_out_tongue:

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What manga did you read?
#lookingforrecommendations

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