Just taken a quick look, and have two comments, two questions, and a suggestion…
Comments:
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My initial thought looking at this was “wow, where was this when I started learning Japanese?” It might be a bit easy for me now, but still it is brilliant. What little Japanese I have, I learnt from reading here in the WK bookclubs, so I know a bit about about learning from manga, and I love how yours is designed for just that. I love how you repeat vocab (I just learnt the word 剣 quickly and without effort) and the story seems compelling enough to keep me reading. Really, for a beginner, especially for someone whose aim in studying Japanese is to read manga by reading manga, I can think of no better start.
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My other comment is simply to congratulate you on making your manga as unlike a textbook as possible. I’ve learnt my Japanese from only reading because I hate textbooks, they are boring and often really patronising. The worst kind of manga you could have produced would have been a story about an English guy who goes to Tokyo and is amazed by Japan and has to learn how to put out the rubbish and gets lost in Shinjuku station and takes a trip to Mount Fuji and so on and so dull. Utterly boring rubbish. You’ve gone for something much more interesting and closer to something authentic, and I absolutely congratulate you on it.
Questions:
- Are you offering this up for free? Or do you have plans to make future editions for sale? It would seem like a good idea!
- Will a paper version become available? Personally I don’t like reading on screens, but if a physical copy were available I’d seriously consider buying one.
Suggestion:
- This thread is very good, but how about setting up a Crystal Hunters bookclub in the reading section?
- I don’t know if you are familiar with the bookclubs here, they are totally amazing and a great place to study. I can really see a bookclub around CH designed for those at the very start of their reading journey. That would be great!
Anyway, once again, thumbs up! Really nice work! I wish you lots of success with Crystal Hunters!