📚📚 Read every day challenge - Fall 2022 🍁🍂

I played a little bit of Wild Arms Alter Code F in japanese. The japanese in the game is pretty easy to understand it’s just that the font is sometimes a little hard to read. I started the prologue with Cecilia that means I’m not that far in the game yet but I definitely want to finish it in japanese. It’s really fun.

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Finally finished Chainsaw Man 7 last night. Read almost all of volume 8 on the bus because its mostly pictures, but still wild and fun. Played Danganronpa V3 again last night because I died in Persona 5 and literally was failing at every game I booted up and just wanted to not die in a game for a little bit xD

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:hedgehog: Home Post :fallen_leaf:

11月15日火曜日(かようび)

ぼっち怪物(かいぶつ)盲目(もうもく)少女()

pp.3-4 新しい単語(たんご)

単語 英語
()わり change, difference
() glory 1
()(いる)っていた I liked it
このくらいにしておくか I’ll leave it at that, This should be enough
キャアキャア crow call
(だれ) somebody
(だれ)から somebody plural, anybody
干渉(かんしょう) interference
されない to not be done
空間(くうかん) space
あっ… ah!, hey!
ちょっ… stop!
まっ…() w-wait! -te form
ストップ stop!

1 I think this may be part of a set phrase… but not sure. The direct translations don’t make sense to me. The full phrase is 変わり映えはせずとも the English edition has it as “This monotonous life…” but it’s one though split across three boxes like so:

Oh by the way, those last few words… she dropped an apple and it’s rolling away.

今日(きょう)のノート

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November 15th!

Just a little bit of reading today - A chapter of Teasing Master Takagi-san. It was the first chapter in a 2 chapter arc so I’m looking forward to finishing it next week :slight_smile:

(Home Post)

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:lady_beetle: Home :lady_beetle:

November 15

人間椅子 -

ジョジョの奇妙な冒険49
60 - 165

I was really having a blast reading yesterday.

JoJo Part 5 Spoilers

This volume is the gang’s introduction and they knock it out of the ballpark to show how undisciplined they are on the surface.

As for my reaction… I love this opening scene where we see all of them together. I can already tell I’ll really dislike reading Naranchia’s speech. It’s so much easier to listen to when they speak that rough kind of dialect. It was fun seeing how Fugo’s speech changes based on his mood too. I do appreciate that they made a change in the anime of Bruno being called away and that’s why he doesn’t notice what Abbacchio does rather than in the manga where he just doesn’t see and comes off as oblivious.

This was cute though
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Also, send Abbacchio straight to jail lmao. Worst personality in the whole Part possibly (affectionate).

Then we have the gang renting the yacht and taking it to Capri. One of the reasons I love Part 5 is because of the Italian scenery. I’ve been to Capri and a fair amount of Italy, so it’s really lovely to see it rendered beautifully in anime form.

This scene is also great because we really get a good look at how the gang interact with each other. I feel like just based off this first bit that Mista comes across more deviously than in the anime, but that’s probably just me. I also liked that the anime made it possible to figure out what was going on while in the manga, we really couldn’t tell until the conclusion.

Also jfc Abbacchio

I’ll add pics from my phone later but jeez, he’s such a petty ass :joy:
I’m a bit surprised because his moments capture my attention better than Giorno, although I would still say Giorno is my favorite of Part 5. He’s not Dio levels of captivating my attention, but it’s not so different. I may need to rearrange my favorites list- 1. Dio, 2. Giorno, 3. Abbacchio, 4. Kakyoin

Also the bit where Abbacchio questions Giorno’s loyalty/dedication and Giorno replies with “I have a dream… to unravel the mystery of this enemy stand!” and then flings himself into danger had me cackling. My poor neighbors.


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Group bonding
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Damn you discourse rotating my pics unnecessarily

I forgot to say but I think this is pretty funny, I only went to sleep last night because of the time. I really wanted to finish the volume but it was 12:30 already. I went to sleep and then this morning I woke up at 6. I think my brain and body were both excited to possibly finish in the morning. :joy: Since that’s only 5.5 hours though, I went back to sleep until my alarm went off at 6:30. I should’ve stayed up and finished the volume though :joy: it’s not like I could have fit another sleep cycle in anyway and naturally waking up out of one is best. Just the idea of my brain and body coordinating to speed up my sleep in order for more JoJo time tickles me

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Summary post

Been a bit of a rough month for me, though Japanese (and Spanish) have been going fine, actually? I’m also not having any trouble keeping up with National Novel Writing Month.

So far so good on the reading challenge! I actually just finished the book I was reading in Spanish, Antes de Ser Libres by Julia Alvarez, and I started reading a Spanish translation of a graphic novel called Redbone by Christian Staebler and Sonia Paoloni, which I picked up at the library. So far, it’s much easier than the novels I’ve been reading, haha.

As far as Japanese goes, I finished the November 6 Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling show just in time for the next show (which I’m currently in the process of translating)!

Here’s a photo from the show. Hyper Misao was about to go to the UK to wrestle in a couple shows, so she came to this match prepared for her trip! She was dressed as Harry Potter and had her luggage with her. But her teammates, Maki Itoh and Miyu Yamashita, were worried about how well she’d packed, so they opened her luggage and found it completely empty except for her passport, haha. Misao said that she would fill it using a magic spell.

Unfortunately for Misao, her opponents (Yuka Sakazaki and Mizuki) took advantage of her empty luggage, too.

She did manage to get the win, though, and was able to travel to the UK with peace of mind! I didn’t watch either of the shows in England (they were with the company Pro Wrestling: EVE), but Misao was practicing doing her pre-match spiel on the microphone in English so that she could be ready to do it in English at EVE. She made a couple tweets in English, too.

(Boy am I going to miss twitter if it dies… I don’t know what pro wrestling would do without it! I did manage to convince my predecessor (who is an actual professional translator, haha, and is the best Japanese-English translator I’ve ever encountered) to archive his old translation tweets for TJPW and DDT from like 2018-2021 when the account was active, so I’m very, very relieved that at least a backup of those will exist if all else fails. Otherwise, years of history for those companies would be lost…)

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I think this may be part of a set phrase… but not sure. The direct translations don’t make sense to me. The full phrase is 変わり映えはせずとも the English edition has it as “This monotonous life…” but it’s one though split across three boxes like so:

変わり映え is a word that means ‘changing for the better’ or ‘improvement’. It’s usually used in a negative context to indicate that something is remaining the same. せず is the ず form of する which means ‘without doing’ so it’s basically expressing that time is passing with nothing changing.

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2022-11-16T01:30:00Z

This kanji just came up on my review queue today. I hope seeing it in the wild and noting it here will help me reinforce the reading. :slightly_smiling_face:

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So my cold continues to be very unpleasant and I ended up calling off work because sniffling/sneezing/croaky voicing my way through meetings (even virtual) felt like a lost cause. I tried to read a bit of the short story at the end of 死仮面 but failed because…well, partly cold, but also partly it’s pretty boring so far. I then tried to read 秋の牢獄 but stopped after a bit because my focus is not great and I didn’t want to miss out because of my distracted state.
So…I started a new book. That I care very little about. It’s called 教場, it’s about a police academy, the writing style is just ok, and I bought it off Honto so word lookup is a pain. But it has an audiobook. So far I’m about 1/4 of the way through with it due to listening at 1.15x speed and I’m considering going higher. I have so little care for this story but it’s just interesting enough (and stimulating enough, with audiobook+text) to keep me distracted from my cold.
Gotta do what you gotta do :joy:

ポケットに手を入れる癖がある人の心理や性格とは might be worth a read :sweat_smile:
Interestingly I used to get scolded as a child for having my hands in my pockets during the winter, but the reason was “if you trip on the icy ground you will not be able to get your arms out to break your fall in time”.

Ah hope it’s not the one I have! It’s miserable. Hope you feel better soon!

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Home Post

Day 6 Progress - お隣の天使様 二冊 - 40.36% - 47.27%

I got stuck for about five minutes at the very end of my session on a line that was most likely a spelling mistake…

…それはおくびにも出さすにもう一度頭を撫でると…

It should be 出さず not 出さす (I believe) but unfortunately I’m not nearly at the level yet where I can readily blame a printing error instead of my own lack of understanding :sweat:

Word of the Day: 範疇 - category. This one is just funny to me. Such an elaborate kanji for such a pedestrian word.

LOL, I did a quick skim of the page and the amount of psychoanalysis there is impressive. I especially like the part where the article asserts ‘people who put their hands in their pockets aren’t actually listening… if they were, their hands would be by their knees and clenched’…like jeez, I wish every single conversation I was in was that interesting for me to be looking that intense…

Funnily enough I actually did fall and break my ankle on some ice this February and my hands were probably in my pockets then so maybe I should heed that advice myself…

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November 15 :maple_leaf: Home Post

I’m sleepy so not a big update, but I finished up volume 13 of ブルーロック and it continues to be wild. I’m very curious to see how things go from here :eyes: there’s still some major unanswered stuff so we shall see!

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:maple_leaf: :turkey: November 15th :turkey: :maple_leaf: (Home Post Link)

Read:

  • Tae Kim 274 → 282 – mm didn’t recognize any of these ones, I think we’re actually getting into stuff in formal writing which I don’t have a lot of experience with (yet)
  • からかい上手の高木さん chapter 28, 29 – Sometimes in these lil cute slice of life romance stories, characters can be a little obtuse in their methods and it’s not entirely clear whether they are: a) aware that they like a person (長瀞 cough cough), or b) actually attempting to really directly tell the person they like them. (かぐや and 御行) This is not one of those cases. 高木 is about as direct in her feelings and intentions as possible. 西片 is just unbelievably dense; forget not being able to read the air or mood, this guy might not know if it was raining even if he was standing in a typhoon. But still, picking a game that was impossible for her to lose when kisses were on the line was a nice touch. :sweat_smile:
Good Words

ほめる ー to compliment, to praise
せこい ー crafty, sly
公平「こうへい」ー fairness, justice
いきなり ー all of a sudden
全敗「ぜんぱい」ー complete defeat
期限「きげん」ー time limit

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I was out of town for several days and didn’t want to make posts on my phone. But not having my computer also meant I read a lot! I don’t remember what day was what so a big jumble it is.

Home post

Days 41-45:

Priority: :houses: 青桐, every day. :sparkles:

Free choice: :mag: 硝子の塔の殺人 the first day, and I finished it. :hibiscus: (no real spoilers–>) It was bonkers and maybe 100 pages too long and really fun! The other days I guess I’ll say… :rocket: ミニスカ宇宙海賊 1, since I read at least 10 minutes of that each day.

Extra:

  • :black_joker: 遊☆戯☆王 1 and finished it :hibiscus:
  • a fair amount of :notes: のだめカンタービレ 6
  • a bit of :skull: 死神の浮力
  • lots of :scissors: 魔王城でおやすみ 11
  • all of :boom: 鋼の錬金術師 6 :hibiscus:
  • all of :japanese_goblin: 仁 1 :hibiscus:
  • a fair amount of :palms_up_together: 模倣犯 上, which I hadn’t started but which is one of the ones on my priority list for 2022 (but I still shouldn’t have started it because I am reading too many things, including at least two other mysteries… and also it’s so so long)
  • poked at :bubbles: とらドラ 6 (also on my priority list but I probably won’t continue it now with so much else in progress)

Snatches of: :magic_wand: ハリー・ポッターと不死鳥の騎士団 (day 41).

Read-aloud: :gem: 伯爵と妖精 1 (day 41).

Reassessing manga options

Of the in-progress manga volumes I listed at the start of this challenge, the only one remaining is :notes: のだめカンタービレ 6 (and I’m close to finishing it as well). Now I can start fresh. I’m thinking only two volumes at a time, given that I generally focus more on novels than manga. Once I finish a volume, I can pick another.

Anything without emoji is something I haven’t been making reading progress on since prior to this challenge.

To start,

  • :notes: のだめカンタービレ 6
  • :scissors: 魔王城でおやすみ 11

Other sooner-type series,

  • :boom: 鋼の錬金術師
  • :performing_arts: ヤマトナデシコ七変化

And soon-ish-type series,

  • :shallow_pan_of_food: ダンジョン飯
  • :japanese_goblin:
  • 暁のヨナ
  • 月刊少女野崎くん
  • 天は赤い河のほとり
  • 桜蘭高校ホスト部

And ones that could be any time but I’d want to focus on them pretty heavily,

  • ふしぎの国のバード
  • スキップ・ビート
  • ミステリと言う勿れ

And the ones I’m putting on pause for the foreseeable future,

  • :notebook: デスノート
  • :black_joker: 遊☆戯☆王
  • それでも歩は寄せてくる
  • 極主夫道
  • 地縛少年 花子くん
  • 蟲師
  • とんがり帽子のアトリエ
  • … etc

… Let’s make a queue and then not look at this list or the many things I left off of it… for a long time. Focus and finish things, focus and finish things.

Queue (仮):

For one of the two volumes at a time, let’s say :scissors: 魔王城でおやすみ until I want a break from it. To slot into that can-read-in-any-mood spot during that break, how about :performing_arts: ヤマトナデシコ七変化 2.

For the other slot, after :notes: のだめカンタービレ 6, how about…

  1. :boom: 鋼の錬金術師 7
  2. :japanese_goblin: 仁 2
  3. :boom: 鋼の錬金術師 8
  4. :shallow_pan_of_food: ダンジョン飯 5
  5. :boom: 鋼の錬金術師 9
  6. :notes: のだめカンタービレ 6
  7. :boom: 鋼の錬金術師 10
  8. :japanese_goblin: 仁 3
  9. etc

But I’ll see where my mood takes me. :grimacing: Wait, reading is fun! :blush:

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Home

I read 2 chapters of 不機嫌なモノノケ庵.

I read 3 pages of the second story in おばちゃんたちのいるところ, to the first break. So far I’m liking it better than the first, though that one didn’t turn from a bit weird to wild until a little later, so, we’ll see.

In non-reading news, I started Tiger & Bunny on Netflix, and watched 12 episodes. I already knew the opening theme, オリオンをなぞる, which was a surprise! Yano Shougo did a cover of it for the Re:collection series, and I think I like that version better than the Unison Square Garden one. Anyway, I had no idea what I was in for going into it, and I don’t dislike it? After the first ep, which was meh, I’m actually enjoying it (I started watching after midnight and ended up watching until 4:30 and had to force myself to go to bed and not just marathon it all morning). Also it’s nice being able to hear and understand some of the things that don’t translate well. Like 上 being both “top” as in the top wire and “up” as in don’t bother picking one, just kick the bomb straight up into the sky to explode harmlessly overhead. Or the 装甲 vehicle that Kotetsu misinterprets as 走行, the word he usually associates with vehicles, whereas in the English they say both words and he just doesn’t register the “armored.” Like, he might be a bit of an idiot, but not that much. But Bunny’s over here being unhelpful: “走行じゃなくて、装甲.” Kotetsu: “は??”

At first I was thinking I wouldn’t, but I think I will see about getting the manga, actually. I am honestly such a sucker for the “one who pretends not to care but very much does × their significant annoyance” dynamic (see also Abeno and Hanae, as well as Kunikida and Dazai from 文スト. I think 2.43’s Chika and Yuni count, too).

(update: I’d thought this was a reboot since I know T&B’s been around, but it seems Netflix has got it marked as 2022 because that’s when s2 was released. So there aren’t two different ones, then.)

Some vocab of note:

釘を刺す (くぎをさす) [expression, サ五] to give a warning; to remind (a person) of

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You got the right hunch! :grin: 変わり映え is an noun which means “(a) change for the better”. It is also written as 代(わ)り映え. Just like in your example, it is usually used in a negative sense with the meaning “with no change for the better” or simply “no change” / “same as before”.

Regarding 映え, it basically acts as a suffix attached behind other words like 見栄え “good outward appearance”、出来栄え (good) “performance” or “workmanship”、インスタ映え “looking good on Instagram”.

ah, Leebo’d by @sddsdd


Relate :face_holding_back_tears:

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15 November 2022

:house: Home Post


  • Graded Readers

blhhhghgh. not much time, but chipping away at reading nonetheless. my schedule should be clearing up with JET applications closing, so that’ll be a huge load off my shoulders

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November 16th
:maple_leaf:Home post:maple_leaf:

Aria: the masterpiece volume 1 – progress report
Yesterday: read up to page 213
Today: finished chapter 6. Read up to page 231

Still not feeling too great but I managed to read a bit more than yesterday.

While it’s amusing to see Akari having her own speedy technique by rowing backwards, I still think that it might be a problem at one point: how is she supposed to see obstacles in time and maneuver around them if she’s not looking ahead? I suppose future customers choosing to travel with Akari may have an action-packed experience because they would have to contribute to their own ride and give her warnings on what’s in front of them. :thinking:

Chapter 7 started on a cute and at the same time overly dramatic note already as the president is about to leave for good due to, in my opinion, manageable limitations on his part. :smiling_face_with_tear:

Luckily it seems that I ‘only’ have the sniffles because I didn’t have a fever overnight and it’s only my nose and throat which are acting up (also most likely not COVID according to my self-testing). Thank you very much for your wishes. The same goes to you, @pocketcat : I wish you a speedy recovery! :smiling_face:

Some words of note

掴まる (つかまる) to hold on to, to grasp​
互い (たがい) mutual, reciprocal
整理 (せいり) sorting, arrangement, organisation
落ちこむ (おちこむ) to feel down, to feel sad, to be depressed
頼り (たより) reliance, dependence

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16/11 2 pages おばちゃんたちにいるところ

Had the day off mostly, but still didn’t read much. But I’ve started this week’s reading so better than nothing.

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Nov 16, Wed of Week 8 of Fall 2022 :maple_leaf:

I am hoping that my small country would be noticed more from Japan, than from US, where much of English info on the Internet came from.

What I want to know very first about the status of 大麻 in Japan.

What the disease looks like may be guessed by Kanji, but actual English disease names are – touch hold + Google Translate (on Android).

  • ATRI (Ch. 登校)

Miyamoto Musashi without Furigana (宮本武蔵). I pretty much can’t guess the last Kanji. Also 巌流島(がんりゅうじま). I don’t know this one, but I can guess the reading, except for island (島) part.

To-be-remembered vocabularies and phrases
  • 悪心(おしん) and 嫌悪(けんお) – nauseous feeling is “bad”, like a dirt 汚点(おてん)

  • (たずさ)わる help (たす)ける, and being in touch (さわ)る, with sound changes.

  • 寸劇(すんげき) = 一寸(いっすん)の劇

  • 合法化(ごうほうか) apparently, the meaning of 合法(ごうほう) is less than I think, like 合法的

  • 懸念(けねん) having fear in mind () with all might 一生懸命. There is also 懸想(けそう).

  • 取締(とりしまり) / 取締法(とりしまりほう) = 取り締まる

  • (くろ)ずむ more like 黒を()

  • 食欲(しょくよく)不振(ふしん) = 不振(ふしん) if it doesn’t move (shake 振る), it became dull, like a dull knife…

  • 抽出(ちゅうしゅつ) picking an orange 柚子(ゆず) into middle (ちゅう) of a hand 扌

  • ()()る stand tight 立つ, and cut 切る firmly 断じて

  • 嗜好(しこう) my olden 老 thought 思考 (chanting 唱)

  • 陶酔(とうすい) thrown into porcelain wine pot, and got drunk

  • 合点(がってん) self-explanatory Kanji, but can also be がてん. Common enough to be written ガッテン in context (which can be seen once in while, not so rare).

  • 律儀(りちぎ) not the first time I see, and somehow remembered the exception

  • (いか)つい think キツい. Actually came from 威喝(いかつ) (which I probably have seen also).

  • (すご)む think ツッコミ, but more severe 凄い / (すさ)まじい

Revised mnemonics

  • たじろぐ still can’t remember this one. Perhaps しりぞく.

Phrases

  • そっぽを()く can also be written 外方を向く. (ほう) is shortened.

  • ()(かい)さず verb is 介する

  • (おも)いの(ほか)


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:tiger2: :books: The Tanuki Autumn Onsen :hotsprings: :raccoon:

20221116 - 吾輩は狸である progress: 75.97% :musical_score:

Wagahai-cat is very hungry and demands breakfast, but no one pays any attention to him despite his expertly executed meows for attention (he likens his meowing melodies to the beauty of Beethoven’s symphonies).

:fallen_leaf: Japanese found under the leaves :fallen_leaf:

Meowords

闃然「げきぜん」ー Quiet and still; no signs of life
「つんぼ / ろう」ー Deafness
胚胎「はいたい」ー Germination; pregnancy; arising/originating in; resulting from

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