Flesh & Blood Drama CD-series listening club ⛵ 🎧

So I wanted to circle around back now that it’s been a bit, see what folks’ thoughts are on how we want to structure threads.

Looks like we’ve got four users are who are a definite go (all familiar names, haha), and a couple of maybes. Anyone else who’s interested but might be on the fence? Or has decided they’d like to join after all.

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Good call @eefara! Let’s revive this thread for a bit.

Those of you on the fence and those of you who have voted in the poll saying you’ll participate: have you managed to get a hold of the Drama CDs? If you haven’t started in on that bit, now’s a good time to do so, as shipping can be a hassle if you get too close to Christmas. ^^’

Also, what date should we start listening! :headphones: We already discussed January, so here’s a poll with some possible dates in January. I’ll leave an other option as well. :slight_smile:

  • 7 January
  • 14 January
  • 21 January
  • 28 January
  • other (post in the thread)

0 voters

I’ll make another post about how to divide up the tracks, but I must leave for work now! XD :bus: :cat2:

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Looks interesting, anyone thinks there mighe be a digital version somewhere?

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Basically this:

“If there’s a will there’s a way”-attitude is what we’re going for here! XD Hopefully people have enough time to still put in orders and find them online. :slight_smile:

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A quick note: I have transcriptions of the drama CDs (unverified as to their accuracy) for those who might want to join but would appreciate a helping hand.

Like ekg said, probably not. :frowning: You can find the first few drama CDs on used Japanese sites for relatively cheap, at least.

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Great stuff. Even if not completely accurate, they should be able to give people some help keeping up. :slight_smile:

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So, the final question for our planning is how to divide each CD-release into chunks to listen to each week. I think a natural approach might give the best experience.

I took some time to add to @eefara’s chart of the audio tracks - to figure out the general correlation of book chapters → audio tracks:

Track # Time book chapter
Prologue 4:08 Prologue/ chapter 1-2
Scene 1 16:46 Prologue/ chapter 1-2
Scene 2 12:02 chapter 3
Scene 3 13:49 chapter 4
Scene 4 11:03 chapter 5
Scene 5 15:44 chapter 5
Scene 6 12:47 chapter 6
Scene 7 15:19 chapter 6
Scene 8 5:55 chapter 7
Scene 9 18:26 chapter 7
Scene 10 11:56 chapter 8
Scene 11 4:40 chapter 9
Epilogue 3:27 予感
Total Time 2:26:02

From my own experience with these things, I think it’s best to allow you some time to get submerged into the listening experience. Cutting it up into too small chunks will mostly ruin the experience, but also, make it harder to make out what the story is about. You’ll inevitably end up being confused or lost from time to time, but if you’re allowed to continue listen you can make up for your moment of confusion by finding something later on in the audio dialogue, that suddenly makes the previous part easier to understand - basically the magic of learning more context.

For that reason, I would suggest 20 minute chunks of audio each week. It also roughly corresponds to the lengths of a couple of tracks and keeping to the book chapters. :slight_smile:

Track # Time book chapter week schedule
Prologue 4:08 Prologue/ chapter 1-2 week 1
Scene 1 16:46 Prologue/ chapter 1-2 week 1
Scene 2 12:02 chapter 3 week 2
Scene 3 13:49 chapter 4 week 2
Scene 4 11:03 chapter 5 week 3
Scene 5 15:44 chapter 5 week 3
Scene 6 12:47 chapter 6 week 4
Scene 7 15:19 chapter 6 week 4
Scene 8 5:55 chapter 7 week 5
Scene 9 18:26 chapter 7 week 5
Scene 10 11:56 chapter 8 week 6
Scene 11 4:40 chapter 9 week 6
Epilogue 3:27 予感 week 6
Total Time 2:26:02

Let me know what you think of this suggestion for a weekly schedule! ^>^

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I dont even have a cd player lol.

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Well, you could get one for cheap, I’m sure, to use with your computer. :slight_smile:

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@ekg, I like that schedule! :+1: And we could speed it up if needed down the line; I figure it’s best to start conservatively, at least early on. Would it be possible to post the prologue for people to download and listen to, to get a sense of how difficult a listen it might be for them? any indication of difficulty would come later, but I figure the prologue’s short enough to serve as a sample, right? Like what digital books post as previews?

I bet you can get them dirt cheap, or cd drives to connect to your computer via usb for dirt cheap nowadays.

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I don’t think this forum will allow any sort of ripping and illegal uploading/linking to the forums. So, that’s a no. And even if it was already out there, we can’t really link to it. That’s just the forum rules.

But, if I were to make my own judgement about the difficulty-level: this is not beginner level stuff.

Settings-wise, there may be formal Japanese used and story-wise there is intrigue and twists and turns. Thankfully, the main character uses modern-day casual, Japanese, so that helps a lot to keep up I feel.

So, intermediate-level is what I’d define it as.

I’m not sure if that’s fair, but for me, hard or advanced Japanese would be formal, normal speed, non-planned talk about complex subjects, like a political, scientific etc. discussion in Japanese.

Drama CDs are always slowed down in comparison, basically the same as with anime, since they’re actors doing acting. And since they’re reading a well-thought out script, even with the more complex topics, they’re still easier to follow than normal talk. :slight_smile:

(also speech clarity, is a big difference along with audio quality for that matter, helps making Drama CDs easier to listen to)

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Forgot to mention: but do buy a pair of headsets. Just normal. Earbuds are fine. Just don’t listen to this stuff on “stereo” as it’s not the easiest listening experience. :slight_smile: :headphones:

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I ordered the first two a while back and no sign of shipping yet but hopefully they’ll come before the start date. :crossed_fingers:

Schedule looks good to me! I’m not super familiar with the medium but I think I can keep up with that much per week.

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I’ve never planned a schedule of this sort either!

I don’t know if this will come across as a nice listening experience or what problems there might be for people to keep up.

I think for now, we should all treat it for what it is: a trial run for what to come!

This is a long series, and if you want to stick with us, let me know immediately what tweaks you want to see. I’m just making stuff up here, and only together we can land on something that truly works for your group that want to listen to this series! :slight_smile:

As we go, I think I’ll just make one thread for each Drama CD release. Post a proposed schedule. I wont promise that I will do what I did for this release though (me listening ahead, to know what track means what), but if we during the next 3 threads can get into something of a habit, I think I won’t have to do that anymore. Or we can self-correct as we go. (stopping at a track or wanting to include the the next track in the current week’s discussion) I hope that’s how it might play out, but who knows. ^^,

In any case, I’m humbled by all the enthusiasm for this project and hoping we can all add to it being a great experience for all! :grin:

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I’ve just put in an order for mine; first two CDs plus the first special talk since it was availale really cheap on the site I was on. :sweat_smile: Was hoping to pick up the third as well to complete the triumvirate of OG artist covers, but none of my usual places were listing it.

If I keep picking up the CDs, I can tell this is definitely going to be one of those where I’ll probably be buying them way out of order; whatever’s available at the time.

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We might have to take this into consideration going forward, if people end up having too much difficulty finding the next in line CD-release. But, we’ll see how things go. :slight_smile:

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I’ve closed the POLL and it looks like we’ll be starting on January 7th with this listening club. I’ll post a discussion thread in a moment! ^>^

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I want to remind everyone that this ongoing book club is still under it’s pilot stage really. And so, let me know about how you feel about stuff and what needs improving? :slight_smile:

Is this pacing good for us? Do we want to go faster or slower? Things like that.

Do we want to link other resources to the OP posts that might help people listen? And what would they be? (I have no idea at the moment, and so hope for some ideas if you have any/want more stuff! :grin:)

Otherwise, for me the plan is to post similar opening texts for each discussion thread = each BLCD release, be it 1 or 2 CDs doesn’t matter. I’ll create a listening schedule of around 20 minutes each week.

For resources, there will be the links to each relevant book club discussion thread and the OP post’s encyclopedia for historical names, places and events - while the book club main thread has the nautical encyclopedia.

In any case, just post in the main thread and let me know if anything needs changing and well have an open discussion about what each of us want, need and wish for this BLCD-club! (there I said it, this being a BLCD-club :rofl:)

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I think y’all got me somewhat infected with the hype you’re generating here :eyes: so I may or may have not placed an order for the first few CD’s :grin:
I will have a Japanese courier come to my place in early March so I got around the huge international shipping expenses for now :sweat_smile: I will not make it in time for CD 1 but I hope I can get on board for the subsequent CD’s :blush:

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Whop! :partying_face:

excited

Welcome to the party! We’ve been spoiler tagging a lot so just join in when you can! ^>^

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