Looks like a great book, but…
Why is whole Finland being treated like a single city? 
Anyway, as always thank you for sharing and best of luck with your studies and other cativities! 
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Aaaah goggly eyes yay!!! I can’t believe how big it is. It looks so fun, but omg you would knock yourself out falling asleep with it 
Does the obi have a comic on it? I remember rodan saying there was normally even a manga series that runs on the obi 
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Hades 2 ? I may have done a run or two... cool game
Yes this is shameless and no I do not feel shame.
I can’t wait to hear about your feeling related to the game 
there’s so many lovely characters dynamics everywhere.
Must… not… spoil…
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There should also be another achievment:
Become the Goddess of Nightmares yet still remain Sane
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LoL
How many times lately I’ve been smacked in the face by my tablet as I nodded off to sleep while attempting to read! 
Owie. 
Wut–!!!
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1d is linear, 2d is flat, 3d is spatial, and beyond that it’s just you being in your own dimensions. xddDqddinnit?
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…and then you absolutely do.
Just in case Shannon, I want for you to know how ever grateful I am every time you pick up on a thought I have in my messages and provide your own takes on it and elaborate on it further, it makes me feel really listened and supported and it makes me want to share my problems in the hopes that if people are good in the first place, maybe we can brainstorm all my current things I’m thinking about and going through as well ^^
There recently was a list I saw somewhere that was listing big cities in Europe among things like, “Berlin, London, Paris, Madrid, Amsterdam… Bulgaria.”
So Finland will have to take a place right next to Bulgaria there on that list ^^
Either way, we all know that Finland has only one city and it’s Helsinki and all the nordic skiers that go to Lahti and Kuopio are just mass hallucinations, right @eagleflo? xddd
Damn it’s a good thing we’re just about to start having the December holidays break, I can’t wait to spend hundreds of hours in the ga-what do you mean it’s January 9th xddd
I’ll try to chip down on it every once in a while, definitely super interested C:
and in 5d they kick on your cinema seats and pour water on you when you dive into the depths of the seas in the new Avatar, it all comes together
Yep, you’re correct! Here’s the one from the 130th issue, if you wanted to read it alone, right-to-left ^^
(i didn’t even notice until you pointed it out, because why would you take the 帯 out 
xddd
January 8th, 2026
- 105 reviews on WaniKani
- 10 reviews on Bunpro
- (Children’s) Book: 友だちは1/2ゆうれい第２話
- Podcast: 30m of そこあに
Oh hey, it’s exactly one year of my study log today! I already did clean up the op and did make the summary of 2025, so I’m not digging into that again, it’s nice how much in terms of my Japanese has improved over the last year, though I do feel like after the final rush on WaniKani, I might have pushed myself a bit too much and I need to restart the machine of being interested in Japanese language again ^^
The current book is a bit boring, its goal was to be easy to read, and it makes me go like “whaaaat??? you’re a ghoooost??? omg thats insane!!!”, but it doesn’t make me go wild in terms of what’ll be in the next chapter ^^
But yeah, I’m slowing down - even on WaniKani I allowed myself to fail more words than usual and I researched the words I was struggling with.
On the note of cool physical things in ハルタ, there are those tiny little polaroid-like pictures of a Christmas party with your besties, they’re cardboard though, but they still look pretty, from the running manga called ホテル・メッツァペウラへようこそ
And, as in many Japanese magazines, there is a poll you can fill in to let them know what your favorite series is!
It’s still really cute to have it in analog on actual paper, because the pan-European Manga Issho just came up with a QR code and a simple website where you vote for your favorite comic ^^
And in terms of the purchases from Japan, the trend this time around was “continuations”, I want to hear what’s been happening next in the series I’ve started scraping and liked:
…yes, the socks are a map of public transit in Paris xddd
Life
MINECRAFT BANANA
MINECRAFT BANANA
(why is it so round???)
Spree is starting to freeze over in the strict city center, and it’s just a matter of time before the first more mentally challenged people decide to go and start testing how deep the ice is and can you walk over the river ^^
wheeee~
Today in the evening it snowed once again, and the sanding trucks are keeping up with car roads pretty well, but way less with the cycling roads, and it is really, really slippery:
Some people at work just decided to go home earlier because it seemed like it was only intensifying between 4 and 6, and I… eh… cycled to a cinema xddd
THE MOVIES WILL NOT WATCH THEMSELVES
To make a fun tangent to the French-rivalry post I made earlier today, the movie was in French, but it was a collaboration of German and French media companies and the text in the movie was shown in German. The story of The Little Sister, I didn’t even look it up before watching the movie and as I started watching it I was like “wait a mINUTE”, it’s a story about a second generation muslim immigrant from Algeria into France that happens to be lesbian and it’s not a very popular trait to have being a muslim ^^
The religion is mostly on the side of the movie for most of it and the relationships are being shown as religion-less, though there is a shadow looming over that film of, because the conflict of the religion is the main thing going through Fatima’s head, there was only a certain level of exploration that they could take the lesbian relationship angle into. I have a feeling that in order for me to enjoy it further, the dial of dialogue in relationship could go a little bit up. Still though, it was a total surprise to me that this even was a lesbian movie in the first place, so WOOO C:
Oh, and also, found a YouTube video about somebody writing the exact same things I’ve started doing over the last two-to-three years!
they put it way more eloquently than I ever would, but that video made me feel seen and understood, so if anyone is interested in making their lives more interesting, that’s the ticket!
Anyway, crashed really bad with energy levels today and might do it tomorrow too, so we’re currently in the recovery mode ^^
I’ll see you tomorrow!
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I’m feeling this waaay too hard…
I thought I would have “all this time” during a leisurely 2 month long trip in Japan, to stay with 友人 while they were working, …and I’d be stuck at home without a vehicle, armed with only my phone, tablet and my Switch. I’d catch up with Wanikani and my game club and book clubs and VN club etc.
…I’ve done none of that, and the 積ん読 and “games-to-play” list is just growing!!!
(adding Die jüngste Tochter to the list…)
Green tea spluttered all over my phone
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Really, only?!?! I’m sure it’s big enough to have more characters than The Hundred Lines already xD
I spot NANA, very nice
I first I was confused reading what it’s about, thought you were talking about Our Little Sister! Which I recommend watching if you haven’t yet
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Thanks for the continued Harta pictures and sharing the obi comic, how fun (and bizarre 
)
Bidoof lore, I watched and took notes so anyone who generally doesn’t watch videos (normally me so I sympathise) can enjoy these thoughts
- Writing is thinking - aim for mental clarity.
yes! Brain dump, log, journal, thought categories. I like what she said about logging is being actively interested and engaged in your own life. I like the WK forums for that, logging and being interested in each other’s lives as well - Analog items revival luckily I don’t have as much attachment to my phone and have kept a lot of analog from the before times but I take the point. I’d like to knit again
- List of anchors that’s funny, I somehow have an automatic list of helpful activities that my brain runs through to keep me going. I’m very thankful for my mom for giving me a positive default on this point. I can’t imagine having to create this habit from scratch, respect
- Freedom to pick up new skills and hobbies without pressure to be great! Just do it because you can, lovely thought
“Life is interesting”
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Happy one year log-aversary! 
I had this a bit too, I found just taking it easy on the Japanese front for a bit renewed my enthusiasm again.
Maybe the banana itself comes out the skin all cubular 
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January 9th, 2026
- 118 reviews on WaniKani
- 8 reviews on Bunpro
- TV series with Japanese subs: 1 episode of Pluribus
- Manga: ヨーロッパたびごはん
- Book club: 推しの子第１巻
Well guess what, I went from
to hosting my first book club within the span of like 20 hours xdd
This manga is really popular and dare I say, it touches on some really important topics in the Japanese society, so if any of you is interested in it, give it a shot, I’ve finished the first volume already!
I wonder how is it that I fluctuate so hard with my interests and energy levels, but eh, it’s winter, understandable ^^
In another news, I applied for a position at Natively? It’d be fun even enthusiastically try to add to the platform, I have a feeling it’s still missing a lot of features that could make it much better, so, hey, I’ll keep you updated ^^
The leetcode I was doing a few months ago went through, but then I was told that the opening was already filled and I was asked to look for a different one, and the only ones were in Kyiv, so I was like “nope, I’m good” ^^
And Pluribus, the subtitles were much more basic than the dialogues, as often with Japanese-translated content: I found the series to be a bit too slow (drawn out?) to retain my interest, so I might not be following up ^^
And in terms of ヨーロッパたびごはん, りょうこながら delivers once again, here are her partner’s opinions on licorice after trying it once and then multiple times xdd
This manga is an autobiographical tour around Europe, and trunklayer complained that Finland was presented as a city on the 帯, well, it’s even worse, the part of the manga where Finland is involved is just called “Nordic countries” while all of the other sections call the specific country by the name xdd
But the manga is great and I’m such a sucker for travel manga and I recognized so many things and so many foods and fjihdhjfbhsdjhjf C:
Continuing the topic of France though… xddd
I’d very much recommend for the more EU-inclined people to give a shot to the manga regardless! C:
Life
who dis
I took my handheld camera for another spin, following the video I posted yesterday about how to live an interesting life ^^
And also, took it to many places where the manga was being drawn, like:
or:
She’s from Prenzlauer Berg, isn’t she C:
It’s so nice to see those places in real life! And Prenzlauer Berg is a great district to live in and visit, it just feels like the more high-living residential part of the city ^^
Even more snow falling down today, still really cold, horribly slippery, I fell down from bike a few times today, but that’s the allure and charm of winter ^^
But yeah, I’m finding it really hard to motivate myself to meet up with people lately, it’s a little bit of “i spent december not talking to people and it was pretty neat” and a little bit of “it’s so cold i literally just want to be wrapped in a blanket at home”, I want to have at least one social opportunity by the end of the weekend, so hold me accountable ^^
And see you tomorrow!
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You’ve motivated me too (not gonna steal your work but I sure could lend a hand on the infra side).
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What the meow?!
Oh, well, as you’ve pointed out, it’s still a great book! 
Anyway, as always, thank you fur sharing and best of luck with your studies and other cativities!
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Spot making it sounding so nice, I already said thank you but no thank you, I’m busy!
I really hope you get picked! I’d hire you! and / or with @akatsukinoluna, who made a pretty solid case too
I really love those! We should have a “manga VS real life location” thread!! [1] I would have a few things to post in it, not my pictures but found the locations thanks to the Interwebs
but please someone else create it because I’m too lazy ↩︎
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I said it on A Durtle’s Refuge already, but I get really giggly and happy about knowing that the project I’m currently looked at is being developed by someone I know, so I’d be really happy if you were able to make it! Good luck on the potential recruitment if you get a chance ^^
January 10th, 2026
- 103 reviews on WaniKani
- 9 reviews on Bunpro
- Game: something like 5 hours of Hades 2 (dont judge xdddd)
- Previews of a few ebooks/audiobooks plus the preview of 52ヘルツのクジラたち
Today was a day I once again grapled with the thought that I don’t know Japanese well enough, which at this point is a bit of technicality, because I have all the right tools in order to understand all of the content and get myself to be better in Japanese, but it will not stop me howling at the moon regardless ^^
The crisis was sponsored by the Audible chart of the most popular audiobooks in Japan right now, because there’s a trial on Audible, or at least I have it, that I can subscribe to Audible for three months for 99 yen a month and get a free audiobook, any audiobook over that time ^^
So my first thought drifted towards the second 成瀬 book, 成瀬は信じた道をいく, and I noticed that, wait, the audiobook is only 5 hours long??? I definitely spent much longer than 5 hours to read the first book ^^
I put up the audiobook and was like, nope, I understand less than 50% of the things in there ;__;
So my second idea was something like 化物語, because the latest recordings of the Audiobooks on Audible have actual voice actresses of Monogatari series voice them, and it’s familiar voices and familiar cadence, so it should be easier to understand, right?
welllll, the recognition isn’t as good as I’d like for it to be, but I was able to hold some of the storyline… just don’t expect for me to do it anywhere close to 7 hours 42 minutes ^^
And then I looked at the overall charts for Audible, what are the most popular books in there, and the number one book is…
The most popular Japanese audiobook as of right now, 52ヘルツのクジラたち. 成瀬 is something like #4 on this list btw ^^
But just looking at the synopsis, this looks really interesting imo, though the final sentence definitely does escalate quickly ^^
52ヘルツのクジラとは、他のクジラが聞き取れない高い周波数で鳴く世界で一匹だけのクジラ。
何も届かない、何も届けられない。
そのためこの世で一番孤独だと言われている。
自分の人生を家族に搾取されてきた女性・貴瑚と、母に虐待され「ムシ」と呼ばれる少年。
I put on the audiobook preview and I was like “i dont get anything”
then i checked the sample of the book and it was going pretty well, but then i got incredibly tired after the sample first two pages xddd
I wish I were good at Japanese language, whatever this means.
Good news, I have everything that I need now, picrel me for the next 1500 hours of learning Japanese:
Bad news, it’s reeeeally really hard to keep the focus and stamina on. How to do it in a thoughtful and a mindful way I wonder?
Answer??? Hades 2???
I still don’t know how much I’m learning out of it considering the voice acting are in English, but each time I get a powerup, I have to read a few lines to attempt to understand what the powerup is, it might be giving me something at least as I consume the crack in video game format anyway?
So @YandrosTheSane: I got to the Chronos fight today, I had a really crazy build, but unfortunately died at his fight, so it might take me a bit longer ^^
Hades 2 spoilers
THERE IS SO MUCH CONTENT IN THIS GAME ITS UNBELIEVABLE
i unlocked a bathhouse and took a few people bathing with me and i was so sad that they didnt let me take Artemis to the bathhouse but Melinoë has so many weird unique assets that only appear in one mechanic in the game and then never again xddd
Also, I got three Scylla’s songs, I wonder how long were they recording the soundtrack ^^
Life
Leopoldplatz today had a market for the Wedding residents, so I came and hanged around for a bit ^^
They had hot food, a fireplace, Irish music performers, and discounts on coffee ^^
The weather today was perfect for a walk (at minus 6) xddd
The residents efforts on removing snow from commonly used things but keeping it on the ground is leading to some interesting compositions ^^
I found a French bookstore today in Mitte for the first time and look at what book they were promoting in there!
Also, Spree finally froze over and I saw some ducks walking over it C:
…did I mention perfect weather? ^^
Another demo in front of the Brandenburg Gate today, always fun to see people not caring about weather when manifesting ^^
And unfortunately, by the time I got to the cinema, all the movies I wanted to see were sold out and I was like >:[[[[ xdd
It seems everyone got the same idea, when it’s cold, go to the cinema 
But hey, here’s a movie I saw back on February 18th, 2025 over Berlinale, apparently it takes 11 months to secure a distributor after your movie makes it big at the film festival, I’ve almost forgotten about the film by now ^^
Berlinale 2026 coming soon, but most likely I’ll only be able to see one or two movies only, spoilers for February ^^
See you tomorrow!
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It takes a long time to build up to a level where you can easily just put on anything which looks interesting in Japanese and understand most of it straight away… trust me
I understand that feeling of it being like you understand nothing and that you’re so far away, but also, you’re capable of reading novels now even if it’s early stage, you can read manga quickly and easily, so for stuff like audiobooks of level 30+ novels, you just need to build up to it over time, especially given it seems like your reading is a little bit above your listening at the moment. If you want to, you know what you need to do to get there (spend hundreds and hundreds of hours reading and listening to slightly easier content and build up your level, it does work!).
Maybe go down to a bit easier level stuff for a bit and you’ll see that actually you’re good at Japanese, and that it’s easier to put lots of time in when it feels like a bit less effort. Focusing on raising your baseline level also makes the higher-level stuff feel easier too over time
(of course it can be harder to find prose you’re interested in at a lower level, the good news is that the progression of content opening up and feeling easy to you always gets quicker, and before you know it it feels like most stuff is available to you! Probably you’ve seen the same thing with manga over the last few months I’d guess)
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I’ve had the same realization about audio books last week, trying to listen to the audio version of the current IBC, which I have already read and understanding less than 50%. Followed a nice discussion with some wise words from @pocketcat about “how long” to get there:
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And I’m willing to keep getting it to work! It’s just that I have a feeling that I have an ADHD brain trying to navigate a certain level of being intermediate in Japanese, where the pros of ADHD brain: it sometimes goes hypoactive and you can hyperfocus for literal hours, cons of ADHD brain: force it to do something against its will in the hyperactive mode and it’ll start physically hurting your body before you even know it 
I’m still trying to understand my mind and my body, so this thread is the attempts to understand myself too ^^
Thank you for this post! It was very encouraging to read it ^^
dam i thought i’d just do a spring 2026 marathon with an audiobook and i’d be good at listening, what do you mean it’s 700 hours, that’s 690 more than my entry would be xddd
Interesting discussion either way, thanks for posting this!
January 11th, 2026
- 117 reviews on WaniKani
- 6 reviews on Bunpro
- Book Club: 推しの子第２巻
- Children’s Book: 友だちは1/2ゆうれい終わりまで
- Manga: 冷たくて 柔らか第２巻
- Podcast: 50m of ちっち邸のゆるっとゲーム雑談
uuh uh. I spent something like 7 hours on Japanese today again.
I also finally made our book club official, Speed Run Book Club is a thing now! We started with 君に届け that I’ll be reading over the upcoming days sometime ^^
But as for today:
The 友だちは1/2ゆうれい book, I thought “why keep splitting it up into chapters”, and then I just binged it in a bubble tea place. The whole book counting the first chapter before took me something like 3.5-4 hours maybe, it did have furigana everywhere, so no lookups were strictly necessary, but the stamina issue showed up once again and I was zooming in and out of some sections. Luckily though, I understood 99% of the story beats, so it really wasn’t that bad.
I did not look up a single word or a single character in the book.
I decided to rate it Level 22 on Natively because it just threw a VIOLET TWILIGHT at me and I’m like “WAS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE A KIDS BOOK” xddd
But yeah, I’d really be interested in finding those 少女探偵ナンシー somewhere, but I’m almost sure the library at JDZB doesn’t have it ^^
On the other hand though, 推しの子 went flying today! I had a really good reading session, where even if I was making lookups, the lookups were like “ah yeah, that makes sense” and I also was able to understand 99% of the story beats even though the text was much more difficult ^^
And 冷たくて 柔らか, it started of a little disappointing, but then it picked up once again in the second half and I was bought again, not enough to give it 5 stars again, but I’m still into the manga ^^
As for the podcast, it took me 40m into the episode to realize that this is no longer a video game podcast, but a board game one, I was wondering why were they talking about the board games there xdd
But it was an anniversary episode and there was one riddle related to a board game, wasn’t able to crack it, but the board game looks fun ^^
Life
I think that SAD caught up with me really bad xddd
Consider it a continuation of complaining over the last few days, it’s getting meh ^^
That’s the reason for so many hours of Japanese today, I just simply couldn’t get myself to real world today that much ^^
I got myself some Vitamin D to try to boost my mood, but it took me until 2pm to even be able to leave the flat today ^^
I did manage to witness a beautiful sunset though!
And then I cooked some Asian, baozi and edamame… with German tea ^^
Back to work tomorrow, see you then~
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random q doof: does your browser slow like crazy once you put like more than 4 or 5 images in a post? is that a ram/browser limitation I have? (I am using chrome with like ten billion tabs, which is god awful about RAM usage)
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