Time for a stroll in the forest:
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I decided to start learning 5 words a day after this post in preparation for the club starting. Made it from 56% known to 83%! Hopefully I’ll have an easier time making it through the week one!
Excited to start this with you all! 頑張ってよ！
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What are you using to learn and get those percentages?
Disregard, I see the bunpro stuff now!
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I think for this one I am going to do each section in english first then JP. I didn’t know how to use my spells until the end of ff1 because I don’t know much Japanese and translating everything doesn’t get the full perspective I think.
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That can be a good way to do it, personally when I started playing in Japanese I did it with an English gameplay video from YouTube on the side so that I could double check complicated dialogue in English.
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I have prepared week 2 in the spreadsheet (proofread the script + generated the vocab list).
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While I was at it I ran my wanikani kanji stat script on the text of the first two weeks:
2049 kanji (474 unique)
full stats
| Level | Kanji | Running total (unique) | Running total (including dupes) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 女入力上人大一 | 7 [1.5%] | 120 [5.9%] |
| 2 | 本王々手文白天日右正左立子出中小 | 23 [4.9%] | 228 [11.1%] |
| 3 | 半切分用外北字止明方心生少今 | 37 [7.8%] | 295 [14.4%] |
| 4 | 早去名休見不耳他宝号仕村打元町男年平気世先 | 58 [12.2%] | 390 [19.0%] |
| 5 | 当多青空来兄声言会作同何体角近代回行弟考金自 | 80 [16.9%] | 520 [25.4%] |
| 6 | 室全両東化思国姉活長向取店点安知海後地私家前死歩有 | 105 [22.2%] | 668 [32.6%] |
| 7 | 黒末理強辺教雪記船失南以時通弱必由高 | 123 [25.9%] | 731 [35.7%] |
| 8 | 雲番買者所数役支間反場対住道君身決次助話 | 143 [30.2%] | 833 [40.7%] |
| 9 | 送売和事使重苦持返表新定仮服受美辛具相要実度物部負乗界屋 | 171 [36.1%] | 963 [47.0%] |
| 10 | 配路鳴頭始落調聞葉起開親酒集飲最求運 | 189 [39.9%] | 1009 [49.2%] |
| 11 | 意味昔誰初仲利追良成好働戦共別神指伝注命特 | 210 [44.3%] | 1098 [53.6%] |
| 12 | 旅疲深彼悪待階合動港商章着 | 223 [47.0%] | 1141 [55.7%] |
| 13 | 感俺情練士殺選様暗器 | 233 [49.2%] | 1205 [58.8%] |
| 14 | 能例固完残性願望閉念 | 243 [51.3%] | 1244 [60.7%] |
| 15 | 変岩丈信法夫勇単軍払術列帰 | 256 [54.0%] | 1334 [65.1%] |
| 16 | 危関遠守笑証箱険存急 | 266 [56.1%] | 1354 [66.1%] |
| 17 | 堂覚識敗官無愛説悲兵原詳 | 278 [58.6%] | 1388 [67.7%] |
| 18 | 忘弓告報種可等類 | 286 [60.3%] | 1409 [68.8%] |
| 19 | 乱連続絡若得加減団忙 | 296 [62.4%] | 1451 [70.8%] |
| 20 | 夢在率倒個防議困難害経飛確 | 309 [65.2%] | 1485 [72.5%] |
| 21 | 敵建務査増総素派任 | 318 [67.1%] | 1514 [73.9%] |
| 22 | 態示吸領姿寝状更 | 326 [68.8%] | 1534 [74.9%] |
| 23 | 備収師導城呼 | 332 [70.0%] | 1556 [75.9%] |
| 24 | 違武製腰型腕境 | 339 [71.5%] | 1588 [77.5%] |
| 25 | 栄捕絶効渡況与属補抜慣隠 | 351 [74.1%] | 1616 [78.9%] |
| 26 | 造占討我復怪 | 357 [75.3%] | 1643 [80.2%] |
| 27 | 途貸退眠 | 361 [76.2%] | 1650 [80.5%] |
| 28 | 撃攻巨庫録逆精 | 368 [77.6%] | 1693 [82.6%] |
| 29 | 娘寄恐怖催壊積 | 375 [79.1%] | 1706 [83.3%] |
| 30 | 盗婚魅 | 378 [79.7%] | 1713 [83.6%] |
| 31 | 救探尋 | 381 [80.4%] | 1717 [83.8%] |
| 32 | 採込志久傷捨 | 387 [81.6%] | 1729 [84.4%] |
| 33 | 簡噂装操裏暮皇熟 | 395 [83.3%] | 1771 [86.4%] |
| 34 | 隷縦奴揮聖損 | 401 [84.6%] | 1792 [87.5%] |
| 35 | 遅湖炎破互剣 | 407 [85.9%] | 1814 [88.5%] |
| 36 | 伸頼将幅踏 | 412 [86.9%] | 1820 [88.8%] |
| 37 | 執陣戻闘 | 416 [87.8%] | 1826 [89.1%] |
| 38 | 託避繰扱奥択緒傾逃 | 425 [89.7%] | 1847 [90.1%] |
| 39 | 御躍片拒壁奪 | 431 [90.9%] | 1857 [90.6%] |
| 40 | 隣繁 | 433 [91.4%] | 1859 [90.7%] |
| 41 | 潜艦撤 | 436 [92.0%] | 1881 [91.8%] |
| 42 | 掘焦泊 | 439 [92.6%] | 1885 [92.0%] |
| 43 | 威滅 | 441 [93.0%] | 1888 [92.1%] |
| 44 | 雷 | 442 [93.2%] | 1890 [92.2%] |
| 45 | 滝稼頃 | 445 [93.9%] | 1897 [92.6%] |
| 46 | 鍛帝魔黙 | 449 [94.7%] | 1984 [96.8%] |
| 47 | 扉 | 450 [94.9%] | 1986 [96.9%] |
| 48 | 騎盾 | 452 [95.4%] | 1994 [97.3%] |
| 49 | 征 | 453 [95.6%] | 1995 [97.4%] |
| 50 | 洞伯邪駄 | 457 [96.4%] | 2003 [97.8%] |
| 52 | 殊慢 | 459 [96.8%] | 2005 [97.9%] |
| 53 | 艇 | 460 [97.0%] | 2017 [98.4%] |
| 54 | 紋 | 461 [97.3%] | 2019 [98.5%] |
| 57 | 敢賊 | 463 [97.7%] | 2021 [98.6%] |
| 59 | 卑 | 464 [97.9%] | 2022 [98.7%] |
Not found on WaniKani: 冶杖拗爵窟兜鎧怯斧槍
As always we have the same type of distribution: by level 10 you have almost 50% kanji coverage and by level 30 you reach 80%.
The first 20 WaniKani levels cover 72% of the kanji in the script, the last 20 levels cover less than 7%.
Also notice that the early kanji are heavily used. Levels 1 to 5 contain 80 unique kanji that appear in the script, but the count is 520 if you include dupes. That means that each of these kanji appears 6.5x on average. That’s why I tell people that resetting to these early levels is pointless: these kanji are going to be reinforced heavily as soon as you start reading real Japanese. If you still don’t remember what 町 is, I assure you that by the time you’re done with this game, you will.
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If you’re interested in fantasy at all, it might make sense to just go for it and learn most of these now. (Maybe you already did in the previous group.) You’ll see them everywhere, especially everything with D&D influence.
Equipment:
鎧 よろい armor
兜 かぶと helmet
杖 つえ staff
斧 おの axe
槍 やり spear
Bonus: 斧槍 ふそう halberd
Incredibly common word not in WaniKani because the kanji is not on the right list:
怯える おびえる to be frightened
爵 is しゃく, means peerage in general whenever it’s combined with anything and baron on its own. If you can somehow stuff this into the same slot in your brain where 貴族 resides you’ll be golden.
A small link for those hungry for a history lesson and more details.
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Yeah I think 鎧 and 窟 in particular really should be on WK. 洞 is already here but you can’t spell 洞窟? Come on!
怯える certainly deserves a spot as well.
The rest is maybe a bit too niche. You’ll certainly encounter them a lot in fantasy stuff but WK needs to remain a bit more generic.
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I updated the Bunpro deck for week 2 vocab. Thanks for getting the sheet updated early!
As a personal anecdote… With the addition of 186 new items, sadly, my overall known words went down to 77% 
I also updated 「くわばらくわばら」in the spreadsheet to be accurate. “Mulberry Field” stuck out to me as odd so it took a little research to determine what it was actually supposed to be 
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Ah yeah, this time I curated the entire list by hand but this one snuck through. Thank you!
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I had real trouble with 耀き’s reading (cog yak? yikes). No problem after FFI! I know it’s not an early level kanji, but still a good example of the repeated use in a game forcing it into my head.
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Is it spelled that way in the game? I’m familiar with 輝き, I don’t remember seeing 耀き but maybe I mentally substituted it in context without noticing.
But yeah that’s also a word I used to forget a lot which got hammered into my brain by this game.
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Derp, thats the first thing that popped up in my IME on windows. 輝き was down the list for some reason.
That raises the question of why the heck this very rare spelling popped up first …!?
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If it’s like the Mozc IME, it probably remembers the last spelling you used. Maybe you once mashed the space bar too much by mistake… That certainly regularly happens to me.
I recently learned the kanji 逢 so now when I type あう my IME completes the relatively rare 逢う before 合う、会う or even 遭う.
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Just a couple of links here for everyone.
First, a nice, comprehensive guide for the PR version if you don’t want to miss anything. It’s probably the best one I’ve found, but I don’t like that it sometimes resets to the start of the guide when I refresh the page: https://psnprofiles.com/guide/16577-final-fantasy-ii-the-pixel-remaster-walkthrough#9-journey-from-fynn-to-altair-world-map.
Second, something a little fun. A while back, I read through a blog of some people playing final fantasy games for the first time. (Remember blogs? /sigh). I read their FFI and FFT entries and was entertained, and then I had the FF2 section open for literal years in a tab or bookmark or something. I took this opportunity to finally pick it back up and follow along with them. It’s the original NES version, link here: Final Fantasy II – In The Beginning, We Were Stabbed – Marathon Recaps
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I just wanted to say, thanks again for talking about your entire set up, it was inspiring! I ended up buying the Elgato 4K S during Black Friday sales for my Switch.
Here’s what I ended up with:
Switch → Elgato 4K S → Elgato Studio → OwOCR running in a terminal watches folder for screencaps and uses Apple Live Text to copy text to clipboard → Migaku auto pastes clipboard content… I can make cards as needed.
Here’s what that looks like for me… and my holiday break vocab studies paid off! The game opening text and dialog (until you gain control) known words is 94%!
I think the last piece of the puzzle is to set this up with the TV so I don’t have to sit at my computer desk to play. And… while the delay isn’t detrimental to JRPGs, the lag is somewhere in the 500-1000ms range so it does feel a little discombobulating to press a button and the character moves a second later, so I would prefer actually playing using the passthrough.
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Once you have it on your pc screen, what is the advantage of all this other faffing about compared to just using YomiNinja? You can bring up the overlay at any time, and it’ll OCR everything on the screen. You can customize the OCR engine (the default sucked, but Google Lens has been more than 99% accurate). You can also customize the dictionary, so I went with Yomitan because I’m used to it and you can add or check Anki cards, and it auto screencaps and transcribes the sentence when I make a card. I cut out the middleman and just play on PC since I already have that on my living room TV, but I imagine that part isn’t ideal for everyone.
edit: It’s not always obvious on the internet so I want to make it clear, I’m not posting to criticize. If you’re getting something cool out of your setup that I don’t have, I want to know so I can integrate it into mine if possible.
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You’ll still need most of that setup if you want to play on your Switch and not your PC I think, since you need a way to retrieve the images on your computer.
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Once the video feed is on your screen in a window, Yomininja will read it, so I think you only need the elgato to get it there in the first place. Unlike a previous solution I was using that hooked into a window, Yomininja reads the entire screen, so I use it for games, manga, youtube… anything.
Yomitanception
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