Apparently I have reached my book reading goal. I guess 4 books isn’t a lot for some people here but it seemed quite ambitious when I decided on it back when I’d only read 1 book in Japanese. I expect to finish one or two more books before the year ends so I won’t feel too bad about failing the manga goal, since I just kinda changed my focus once I realized I could read more difficult books.
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I read about 20% of 獣の奏者４, the last volume (512 pages), while traveling last week.
Again, a small time skip is keeping things fresh and it’s back to what I love most about the series: A slow and careful portrayal of human relationships and animals (including their behavior and biology). I really love how Erin is torn between her family duties and duties for her country. Lots of questions still need to be resolved, so I’m sure the rest of the book will be full of excitement, too. So far it’s great to be back and a lot of fun.
And also very satisfying that by now I can read the books almost without effort. That was veeeery different when I first tried reading the first book about 3 years ago.
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I actually finished とんがり帽子のアトリエ vol 1 and also カードキャプターさくら vol7.
I seem to be really bad on focusing on just one series XD
Now I’m reading 少女終末旅行 vol 6 so I can say I read it all.
I’m also reading CCS before bed. I find it so satisfying that I can now read simple Japanese manga while laying down before I sleep.
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Is it worth it? I thought the first volume was kinda slow.
How is this? I’m thinking about reading this at some point, though I am concerned that it might have too strong shoujo vibes. Though CLAMP is supposed to be really good, so maybe it would be okay.
I’ve been doing the same with やがて君になる! It’s quite satisfying to be able to do that!
(Though I do still prefer to use my glasses when reading Japanese even though I don’t bother with English.)
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Is it worth it? I thought the first volume was kinda slow.
It’s still pretty slow, but I find it very relaxing and they slowly make their way up to the upper stratum. You learn more about their world with each volume. Not a lot of detail, but just enough to make the bits of information you have click into place. I’m curious what they’ll find when they get to their destination. If slice of life isn’t you’re thing, I’d say pass. I love slice of life stuff and enjoy it immensely.
How is this? I’m thinking about reading this at some point, though I am concerned that it might have too strong shoujo vibes. Though CLAMP is supposed to be really good, so maybe it would be okay.
It is super shojo. However, one of the minor recurring themes in it are the various forms of love people can share. It is so sweet and so respectful.
I read it in English in the early 2000’s and recently watched the new Clear Card arc… but couldn’t remember many details from the original series. So I’m rereading it in Japanese.
If magical girls aren’t your thing, maybe try Tokyo Babylon. It’s my favorite CLAMP manga and I might give that a reread in Japanese, too.
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I tend to dislike non-comedy slice of life where not much story happens either. For example, I didn’t care for the anime Mushishi even though it’s really popular. When there’s comedy or some character-driven story it’s a different matter.
I enjoy “serious” magical girl stuff, like Madoka Magica and Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku. But I also really liked the anime Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha, though I wouldn’t describe that as shoujo.
We’ll see. I’m hoping I can find a used set somewhere, but it’s unlikely. Unless that happens I’m not in a rush to read it anyway. But maybe eventually.
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For example, I didn’t care for the anime Mushishi even though it’s really popular.
Oh maaaaaaan I love Mushishi. I guess we just have different tastes there. XD
I enjoy “serious” magical girl stuff, like Madoka Magica and Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku.
Hmmmm… it’s hard to describe CCS. It 100% falls in the magical girl category, but it lacks the magical transformation type stuff… but it’s hard to put a finger on it. Clamp certainly does genre but they always follow their own rules. But it definitely leans more on the light side if you compare it to Madoka.
Again, I highly recommend Tokyo Babylon. I also love X, but it was never completed.
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Interestingly enough, that’s also the first manga I did that with (a day before the anime started, without even knowing there would be an anime, too)
Mandarake seems to have several in stock
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Well, I did it. I completed my first fully native reading thing. 
While I was supposed to read at least 5 days a week, I really, really didn’t. According to my habit tracker app, I completed my goal 53% of the time, and it took me 124 reading sessions. So it would have taken me 4-5 months if I had actually read on the days I planned to rather than 9 sodding months. 
In English, I think it took us (my wife and I play Ace Attorney games together) more than 20 hours to play this game. It makes sense that I would take me a while time to get through it.
When I started, I didn’t even have a grammar level of N5. I probably shouldn’t have doggedly kept going, but I’ve always been stupid criminally stubborn determined.
While I wouldn’t necessarily recommend starting such a reading endeavour at such a low level for everyone, it was very motivating to see my progress while reading. The difference in understanding between the first and last textbox of the game are very pronounced.
Now, to keep on keeping on. 
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Good job! For such a text heavy game, 9 months isn’t bad even in your native language.
I love the Ace Attorney games and have been wanting to replay them. Maybe I should try doing it in Japanese, too.
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Thank you! ^^
The big upside of Ace Attorney games:
Every case involves new people, with new, out-there circumstances, so there’s a hugely diverse set of words you’ll be encountering. 
The downside of AA games:
Every case involves new people, with new, out-there circumstances, so there’s a hugely diverse set of words that you have to keep looking up at the start / new big development of every case! D:<
I would personally recommend it, but I’m clearly biased because I have Stockholm Syndrome now for these games in Japanese. 
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The manga has such emotion behind it. I’ll have to keep an eye out for the author’s next work.
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Make sure to read 水域 by the same mangaka then if you haven’t, it’s only two volumes and quite excellent!
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As a fellow lover of Mushishi, I will have to look into this.
Finished 少女終末旅行 vol 6. It had the kind of ending I was expecting.
Now back to Card Captor Sakura! Started volume 8.
I also hit my manga goal again. x_x
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I’m running out of 積読漫画. Only 7 left. Looking at my wish list on Amazon, I’m planning to buy another 14 volumes next month, including the last two volumes of やがて君になる, all four volumes of プラネテス, and three volumes of きんいろモザイク to test out as my replacement for ご注文はうさぎですか.
Plus I’m getting an opportunity to go to a used Japanese book store next month, so maybe I’ll find some good stuff there.
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Three volumes feels like a huge commitment for just testing something out… Wouldn’t amazon preview be enough for that? 
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My kindle library tells me the 1st volume was free some time ago. 
Did you make use of this and test-read it - that is to say, is it very good? Should I finally read it?
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I was going to get just two, but then I read some of the sample chapter from volume 3 and it was pretty funny. I’m already familiar with the characters from the anime anyway. Some of us can’t just go to Book Off to get the next volume of something for 100 yen whenever we feel like it. (Meaning I have to constantly decide between buying too little and needing to order more (at the additional cost of 600 yen) or just buy more at once and risk not liking it.)
Uhh, it’s one of my favorite anime.
The smart thing would be to read the first volume from the free copy I got on kindle before buying anything. But I really dislike reading on kindle and from my experience with the anime (even though it’s supposed to be pretty different), I expect to enjoy it. So I kinda just want to get it to read whenever I feel like it.
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I understand your point, but buying something you don’t like will cost more than 600 yens 
That being said, it sounds like you already have a fairly good idea of what you are doing.
your stealth edits are making me sound weird but I ain’t rewriting that again
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