Join Us! デスノート ・ Death Note (Beginner Book Club) // Reading: Volume 12

I was having the same issue, especially with reading the small hiragana beside the kanji (coupled with a lot of eye strain). I ordered a stronger magnifing glass from Amazon, and it was a bit better. A couple days later my husband found me a used handheld digital microscope, and it’s great. It’s just a kid’s one, but there’s lots for decent prices online. As you can see, my magnifing glass still comes in handy.

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The discussion thread for week 1 is now live!

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That is impressive effort to be able to read teenage light graphic novel :-). I do have digital microscope and this looks like a good use for it!!

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I have had to use the magnifier on my phone…you can take a pic with the magnifier then enlarge as needed to see the teeny tiny furigana :wink:

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I’m currently debating between getting the monochrome it colored version ebook. I had a look at the previews, but those aren’t always indicative of the actual product - If someone bought the color version: is there a difference in the quality of the text between these versions, or is it purely that one is colored?

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I just compared the monochrome Bookwalker preview to my coloured ebook version, they look about the same to me qualitywise.

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There goes my hope of readable fine print. :joy:
Thanks, I’ll stick to the monochrome then

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I can confirm that the fine print definitely isn’t readable in the coloured version either :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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Sorry if topic was discussed before.
Do you recommend watching anime (with subtitles) before reading in Japanese?
I was surprised to find it to be so highly rated on IMDb.
And I understand that I may be the only one here who has not seen it already.

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I have not seen it. Habitually, I don’t watch animes before reading manga - partly because the story might have changes and/or reorderings that can be confusing, and partly because it forces me to really notice whether or not I’ve understood the Japanese or not - it’s a lot easier to think you understood the sentence if you have the context of already knowing the story, even if you actually didn’t follow the grammar. I sometimes go back and watch the anime after.

I suspect people do it both ways - it seems pretty common to want to read the original manga because you liked the anime - so probably up to your personal comfort level and preference.

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just wanted to share this pic of the manga i got for my oldest this xmas!

there’s a little A5 death note with all the rules and some lined paper for “executions”!

all in english, all second hand as well. really good shape. i guess people don’t damage their manga!

this morning we went to the book shop and saw a very pretty LN death note book as well. i resisted bravely.

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This is something that’s been on my mind as I’ve started reading through Detective Conan in Japanese, having read the material in English a few years ago. Reading has been going a lot more smoothly than I anticipated, and I can’t tell if it’s because I’m at a good level of Japanese for reading it, or if I’m unconsciously filling in knowing the full context (including what happens later)

I’m not familiar with Death Note to comment on what the impact might be, but in general, you should consider manga you’re reading in Japanese to be in one of two categories:

1) Material you already know. This would be something you’ve read in a language you’re fluent in or watched an anime counterpart in a language you know (especially if the manga and anime line up closely with one another).

Here, you have a “superpower” when reading in that you already know what’s being said, and what the context is. It makes it easier to keep going forward. You have to ensure you’re taking the time to pick out any words you don’t know that you want to learn, or any grammar you’re unfamiliar with that you’d like to learn more about. Even then, you’re less likely to make significant gains along the way.

Note: First-time/beginning readers likely will still make significant advances in grammar if they’re not familiar with the basics yet because at that point you can’t so easily plop known context on top of a sentence and feel like you understood it.

2) Material you don’t know. Even if it’s available in some form in a language you know, you haven’t read/seen it before. You have no idea what to expect, and if a line doesn’t make sense, you’re on your own (unless you’re in a book club!) figuring it out.

In this case, you really have to make certain you’re understanding each word and all the grammar. You can’t rely on familiarity. You have to go into full “decipher mode” to work your way through it (unless you already know a lot of the vocabulary and have a lot of experience with grammar). This can be a painful experience for first-time readers, but a necessary one to get into reading. You’ll be learning a lot as you go (again, unless you’re already at a high enough level).

Since I’m reading multiple manga, I like to have at least one where I’m already familiar with the material, and at least one where it’s completely new to me.

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Bought this so many years ago…15?? long before I started learning Japanese, nor even owned any books printed in Japanese…surprised to see someone else has one! No way I’m gonna write any names in it though…too creepy!!..It’s still new

not really a spoiler but (since the book is in English and Light is translating it into Japanese) the first page of instructions…

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the notebooks look similar

i contemplated taking pics of all the rules. i had no idea there were so many actually. ours goes to 59.

it’s in both languages

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It IS because you’ve heard the material before, I’m sure.

I have this experience for all manga that’s been made into anime or drama CDs. And for harder to read series, I rely even more on the audial version of the work. It’s just easier. (not for everyone I get this, but just me personally as this is the skill I honed more than reading at first and still do).

Basically, I can recognize some kanji from context in the drama, and then add my own furigana. :sweat_smile: So, it certainly helps with reading.

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I have two :wink:
One came with the manga set, the other I might have bought, don’t remember… Maybe one came with the English, and one the Japanese set… Can’t recall :crazy_face:

The small one is all the rules, the false leather one has the same set of rules + a whole notebook of lined papers to write in names. It also has some pages of actual names put in (they are story specific)



Page with text. Story specific so potential spoilers.
But… is it just me or is that Chinese?!! Not a single kana! Other pages was the same…
I skipped the ones I recognised as very spoilery, this one shouldn’t be that important I think, if anyone wants to see
Edit: The page above, with the rules, looks Chinese too!! O_o

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I remember reading about incidents of students writing names of fellow students in “Death Notes” at the time of prime hype about the anime. China went full culture war on Death Note, prohibiting the show/manga, and there were even cases of legal proceedings around students having written the names of fellow students?/teachers? in “Death Notes” in the US, considered as “death threats”.

At the time, I had no idea there were actual “Death Note notebooks” being sold that you could indeed write you own stuff in. :sweat_smile: Seeing your collection, fills in the gap, and suddenly it makes a lot more sense. XD

I would love to have the one with the names, pre-written in it though, from the story. :slight_smile:

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As Light says at the end of this week’s section このノートには人間なら誰でも一度は試してみたくなる魔力がある :smile:

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Don’t threaten the lives of others, m’kay…

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quickly read through. some are down right ridiculous.

blaming the show/book is also completely ridiculous.

i’d rather have y name in someone’s cosplay death note than get threatened directly tbh. it’s way more stylish :wink:

all that said, you’re absolutely right. threatening people’s lives is not nice!

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