[2024] 多読/extensive reading challenge

Really? :thinking:

If anything, then, that’s a very misleading title. I was sure it would be some simple language slice of life or such.

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It’s by far the hardest thing I’ve read, including compared to 魔女の宅急便 and 時をかける少女. I finished the first two volumes and own the next four, but I had to shelve it for now because it’s too hard. It would sometimes take me 1.5-2 hours to read an eight page chapter, and even then I didn’t understand some stuff.

It uses a lot of kanji at higher levels of WaniKani and even outside of WaniKani with no furigana, and some of the language is just tricky. The kind of thing where you know all the words and grammar but still have no idea what it means.

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Spoilers for 闇の守り人 and 乙男

Just finished the climax of one of the books I’m reading where the main character reunites with her foster father who died years before and then he vanishes back into the darkness.
Then in the manga I’m reading…the main character freaking proposes to his love interest and she accepts and there’s still 5 more volumes left.

My heart is going to explode from all these feels. :sob::sob::sob:

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You should actually put spoilers behind a spoiler tag or hide details section. Just saying “spoilers” in bold isn’t really enough. :sweat_smile:

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「あいつら、自分と同じ会社の男にばっかり色目をつかって、僕とは目を合わせようともしない。大体、縄文時代から女はそうなんだ。若くて可愛い村一番の娘は、力が強くて狩りが上手い男のものになっていく。強い遺伝子が残っていって、残り物は残り物同士で慰め合う道しか残されていない。現代社会なんてものは幻想で、僕たちは縄文時代と大して変わらない世界に生きているんだ。大体、男女平等だなんだと言いながら……」

「白羽さん、そろそろ制服に着替えてください。朝礼しないと間に合いませんよ」

A woman author writing about a female character not putting up with a “nice guy’s” temper tantrum. How refreshing. I’m so glad I ditched 夜は短し步けよ乙女. コンビニ人間 has been such a delight so far.

Also I love how this trope crosses cultures. Hahaha.

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Personal Update:

After reading the first chapter of 憂鬱たち and beginning the second one, I tried reading a bit from 時をかける少女 and it seems to be a lot closer to my current level so I have decided to put 憂鬱たち on hold in order to keep my novel reading motivation higher. It’s very interesting so I’ll get back to it for sure but I’ll stick to 時をかける少女 for now.

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I finished the first case!

I set myself the goal to finish it before Saturday, so I’m pleased overall. It’s slow going, and I mentioned in other places that I really don’t think I’d be able to play a game I don’t know in Japanese at this point, but this is definitely an accomplishment for me. ^^

Even just sinking in the hours I have so far has already seen an improvement in how long I can read in one sitting.

I have about 15 notebook pages of vocab notes, but that’s to be expected when reading something above my level. But it’s fun to encounter 大統領暗殺未遂事件 for the first time and understanding it right away. ^^

I don’t obligate myself to look up everything, or to remember all I look up, but it’s good vocab practice, and I revert to just reading whenever I get tired of looking things up.

TL;DR: definite personal record in terms of reading, and still having fun. Probably even more so than when I started. :purple_heart:

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Stop making me want to play it again! I don’t even own a Japanese version of any of the games anymore!

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I believe the 3ds version of the trilogy lets you change the language to Japanese in case you didn’t know.(Just what I’ve heard though, probably a good idea to make sure first for anyone who plans on buying it. I may be misremembering)

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I’ve only read through the first few minutes of case 2 so far, but from what I remember from playing through it in English, I’m going to be looking up a lot of words in the coming case.

Spoilers for case 1 and 2 of the game

Case 1 was about a seeming assassination attempt outside of a plane and a murder inside a plane. Pretty contained in terms of topic.

I already know that some of the topics that will be dropping by in case 2 are:

  • animal grooming
  • wood carving
  • being a killer for hire
  • being a priest
  • terms with regards to blindness and having a guide dog
  • animal taming and a high-wire circus act
  • rigorous exercise/boxing
  • animal-focussed experimental penal rehabilitation programs
  • blackmail
  • probably stuff I forgot

I might as well marry a JP-ENG dictionary. We’ll be spending a lot of time together. T^T

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頑張ってください!you can do it! :+1:

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I remember binge watching play through of all the games a long time ago…Reading your spoilers I realize I think it’s been long enough that I’ve forgotten the details of the cases. Makes me want to go watch them all over again though I wonder if I’d remember the culprits right off the bat.

Thoughts about 背中を蹴りたい (no spoilers)
「この、もの哀しく丸まった、無防備な背中を蹴りたい。痛がる〇〇〇を見たい。いきなり咲いたまっさらな欲望は、閃光のようで、一瞬目が眩んだくらんだ。」

I always get excited when I find the title of the book in the book itself. I think this line is pretty important and I can understand why the author chose it as the title. It really reveals something about the speaker and really changes how you see the relationship between the two characters…(the want-to-be-kicker and then kickee, I mean.) I’m really enjoying it so far.

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Finished 5th chapter in the HP book. Not increasing my pages per day yet, but I haven’t missed a day so far, so that’s good :slight_smile:

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Player character:
アレとはダレのことなのですか。

Interlocutor:
アレはアレだよ。

fry-suspicious

How very helpful you are.

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だって、アレってアレしかないよ。

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I wasn’t quite sure where to post this question, but I figured I might have the most diverse group of readers in this group.

So I’m leaving for a two week trip to japan in about a week’s time and the plan is to take like one outfit and spend my time there filling that empty space in my suitcase with books and manga.

Here’s the question: Any recommendations you guys have? I haven’t had the chance to really research what I wanted to get and while I do want to decide on some on the fly, I also don’t wanna miss out on any really good titles.

I really enjoyed 君の膵臓をたべたい and I’ve enjoyed キノの旅 so far too. Not a massive fan of 時をかける少女. In English I like to read a good fantasy, preferably dark, but I read most things anyway. I also really quite enjoy reading things like ‘vox’ by christina dalcher if anyone has read that.

Honestly grateful for any suggestions, so if you have any, let me know :wink:

I enjoyed the first volume of ゴブリンスレイヤー quite a bit. If you haven’t seen the anime it might be worth checking out (or if you have and want to try reading anyway).

I also have another LN recommendation which is probably not too well-known or talked about, though it also has an anime adaptation. The title is: 終末なにしてますか?忙しいですか?救ってもらっていいですか?

I know, it has a long and stupid name, but it’s a fantasy work about a post-apocalyptic world of sorts, which is an inherently dark setting. I’ve read 2 out of 5 volumes so far and I think it’s quite good.

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Oh those sound super interesting! I’ll definitely check them out (especially the second one).
I don’t actually kind quirky titles like that, makes me curious about what’s inside :wink:

Also I feel like goblin slayer rings a bell but I’m not sure if it’s the anime I’m thinking of … :thinking:

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Based on the anime, 獣の奏者 and 新世界より perhaps. I plan to read both series but don’t own them yet.

Also, take a look through the beginner and intermediate book club nomination lists and see if anything looks interesting. From the intermediate list I already have 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱 and 魔法少女育成計画 (basically a magical girl battle royale), but I can’t say if they are any good. I intend to read both this year.

Is that good? I just added it to my wishlist a few days ago.

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:grin:

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