📚📚 Read every day challenge - Fall 2022 🍁🍂

:maple_leaf: :jack_o_lantern: :snowflake: :christmas_tree: October 16 :christmas_tree: :snowflake: :jack_o_lantern: :maple_leaf:
Home Post

Orange :tangerine:

I was about to not read tonight then I reminded myself that I don’t have to read a whole chapter of Orange every day, a few pages is fine. Sometimes it is far too easy to fall in the trap of needing to read the same amount as I did the day before (or in this case not yesterday but most days this week).

But I remembered in time that there was no such rule, so I read maybe half a chapter of Orange. I almost read past a good stopping point but recognized it in time.

It feels good to start getting back into routine after a couple of days of chaos.

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Home post

Day 15:

Priority: :rocket: ミニスカ宇宙海賊 1. Getting into the suits, which are apparently fancy.

Free choice: :test_tube: 聖女の魔力は万能です 1. I like other books I’m reading better but this one is just so easy that I end up reaching for it.

O C T w e e k 3
:books:
:rocket::mag: :rocket::wolf: :rocket::mag: :rocket::test_tube: :rocket::mag: :rocket::test_tube: :rocket::test_tube: :comet::boom:

Also, I’m starting to feel motivated to read in Mandarin again. Let’s say I’ll see how I feel about that after week 4.

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October 16th!

Today I read Chapter 24 of Shadow’s House, and finished Volume 2.
I’m really looking forward to finding out what happens next :slight_smile:

(Home Post)

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:lady_beetle: Home :lady_beetle:

October 16

ニャンキーズ
10 - 28

There was some typical anime pervertedness, but at least it makes more sense for cats than it does in anime logic?

13p plus a handful of random others from various doujin.

The more I’m able to read them the more I wonder, wtf did I buy?

I hate discourse

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:fallen_leaf::maple_leaf: October 16 :maple_leaf::fallen_leaf: home post link🏡

I read another page of ごんぎつね. This page was basically just describing how 兵十
fished in the river.

In other news, I’m sad that I broke my streak and didn’t read yesterday :frowning: I meant to read a little before I went to bed but I just fell asleep sigh.

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Summary Post

Day 16: October 16th
What did I read?: 夜の名前を呼んで Vol 2
How much did I read?: 26 pages
How long did it take me?: 43 min

Oh noooo please this chapter was so cute :sob: Rei showed Mira how to make a magic potion :pleading_face: And also turned his own hair temporarily black because he messed up a new potion he was trying to make :joy:

From star-colored hair to 失敗の色 hair :joy:

Can I just appreciate how adorable Rei is, explaining all the things to Mira (hidden because big pictures)

Look at the happiness in his eyes :pleading_face:

And she’s so genuinely interested and taking it so seriously, and he LOVES that, like you can tell how happy he is seeing her “get it” :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: Ahhhhh I love them so much

Look at how excited she is to show him what she did with the leftovers from their potion-making (as they were making the potion, Rei talked about honoring the ingredients by basically not letting anything useful go to waste, so she managed to find a use even for the leftovers that supposedly had no magical properties :smiling_face:)
Look at how adorable his reaction is
Like

They are actually the cutest :sob:
Also it turns out that the leftover bits she added fixed Rei’s hair, restoring it to its former star-colored glory :joy:

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I finally finished 天使の傷跡 and loved it. I can totally see why it won an award, and yet it still pleased my pulp drama loving heart. Good stuff. I wrote a fuller review on Natively.

I still have a couple books in loose rotation (異世界の名探偵, 自殺行の往復切符, 三体) and then the first book club (of many) starts in a week. My partner hasn’t started 三体 yet, for better or for worse, so my lack of progress there hasn’t been too bad :sweat_smile:

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:house_with_garden: Home post

10月14日

  • 原神

10月15日

  • 原神

10月16日

  • 原神
  • ルーパーズ (~1300c)

Updating the last few days. I’m having a lot of fun with 原神, it’s such a gorgeous game both visually and musically, despite the absolute trash gacha system. I’m lucky I don’t get hooked on gachas so I don’t feel at risk of spending money, I’m going free2play completely. Even then, it’s still so nice that I can experience the whole game and story for free. Of course it’s nice when you get a character you like every now and then but I’m honestly just playing this for the story and exploration so I don’t mind it much. The voice acting is also really nice, it has a great cast, and it’s fun to recognise VAs that have also worked on FFXIV.

Hey thanks! I think the issue I was having is that Textractor wasn’t recognising any useful hooks that showed the actual text, all the hooks were completely useless. It’s been a while since I tried it so I’m not sure I remember exactly, but I think that was about it. It does recognise the game, it’s just the hooks that were terrible. Were you able to get any that showed the text?

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October 16 :maple_leaf: Home Post

Stayed up probably later than I should have reading some more ブルーロック but I’m just really enjoying it, there are a lot of fun character things happening which is my bread and butter so it’s been a great time! Feels good to be reading a bit more consistently again :grin:

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:jack_o_lantern: October 16th :jack_o_lantern: (Home Post Link)

I didn’t even realize until today that we’re more than a quarter of the way through the challenge already!

Read よつばと!Chs 50, 51, and 52. There was an exchange in one of the chapters that I felt lost enough on that I opened up an english version of the manga to check what was happening and wow the english translation treats these characters so differently. I’m sure it’s consistent within its own narrative, but it was jarring to switch from one to the other. Really reminds you that translation is never a neutral thing, and I wonder how many other things I’ve read that would be written differently (for better or worse, it can absolutely go both ways) in japanese versus in english.

Good Words

招待「しょうたい」ー invitation
邪魔「じゃま」ー hindrance, nuisance
珍しい「めずらしい」ー rare, unusual
ブス ー ugly
要らん「いらん」ー I don’t need/want it (kansai, exp)
屋敷「やしき」ー residence, grounds
食券「しょうけん」ー meal ticket
不評「ふひょう」ー bad reputation
包み「つつみ」ー bundle, package (wrapped)
尤も「もっとも」ー reasonable, natural
長靴「ながぐつ」ー rain boots
着替え「きがえ」ー changing clothes
柿「かき」ー japanese persimmon (kaki)
広げる「ひろげる」ー to open up (here, 傘)

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:books: :maple_leaf: softlyraining’s spooky book stack :jack_o_lantern: :open_book:

October 16th:
:red_square: 名探偵コナン (5% → 17%)

Read some more Conan this evening. I finally got to meet Ran and witness Shinichi solve a case from start to finish (rather than the glimpse of a case’s end that happens at the start of the volume). Ran getting annoyed with how much he talks about Arthur Conan Doyle is pretty amusing. :grin: Still waiting for him to become the character design he’s most famous for. While I run into words I don’t immediately know the meaning of, it’s a pretty good read overall: comprehensible with a bit of a challenge. I don’t think I’ll be able to read 6 volumes of it before the month’s over, but I could see myself reading some more beyond this one. (That being said, I’d only read this digitally; I’m not gonna figure out shelf space for 100+ volumes of this manga.)

How positively Howl of him. :laughing: (I know that was more because of Sophie, but whatever, I’m making the joke.) This manga looks like a ton of fun! Glad you’re enjoying it. :smile:

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:wave:

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Started reading big kid NHK. I can comprehend a lot of it but can tell I am gonna be learning a lot of really big words quick with the stories that interest me! I am dropping jpdb to spend my time with reading the things that I enjoy and growing via reading (vocab wise). I didn’t do any MNN today, but I am kind of ahead of where I am supposed to be by now so thats fine. Gonna play more Pheonix Wright later.

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October 17th!

Today I read a chapter of Teasing Master Takagi-san, which means I’ve now finished Volume 8!
Today’s chapter was another cute one, in which Nishikata continued to be his own worst enemy :grin:

(Home Post)

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16/10 1 page 夜カフェ, went over Tugumi then read further 5 pages, 3 pages 耳をすませば, 2 pages orange

Bit busy yesterday - managed 4 dives with my ears slightly improving. Reading was a bit scrappy overall, but managed more than average of Tugumi.

17/10 5 pages Tugumi (to end chapter 10), read 5.5 more pages, 29 pages orange (to end volume 3).

Today was a half day of diving so had a bit more reading time. I’m catching up well with Tugumi, and now up to date with the Orange book club. Still behind with everything else though!

Tomorrow is a travel day - morning should have some reading time, but based on previous experience the boat and bus rides won’t lend themselves to reading. Also have no idea re internet at the last place we stay, so may not post for a bit, or it may be fine.

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16 & 17 October 2022

:house: Home Post


  • (16th) Listened to two episodes of a podcast just before bed.
  • (17th) Handful of NHK Easy articles

Getting a bit lost in the sauce with CSM, so taking a small break from it to make sure I’m not gliding by on context.

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Home

I ended up being way too tired yesterday to post, and I’m still tired today, ugh. Anyway:

I read やんだと! a series of よつばと! DJs by Hideyoshico. Sensei’s art style is so nice for よつばと! It suits it so well. The story has the same soft, almost somewhat detached feel as their other work I’ve read, イケメン君とさえない君. I really enjoy it. My favorite parts may well be when Yotsuba and Yanda actually get along for once, shortly before they’re back to their usual mode of getting along lol. Also, their dreams are so great.

I also found it on Bookmeter, though I didn’t see the reprinted 上/下 version that I have, only the original individual 1-7. So it kinda looks like I’ve read more books than I have, but it’s still the same content, so. Looking at the covers though, I wish I coulda gotten the individual volumes, but it woulda been so much more expensive…

Some good panels and a sort-of summary:

Very first panel, and what a good Yotsuba face

Look at her little arms, she’s so babie!

(Yanda pinched her cheeks and then poked her nose, and she does not wake up from that, but she does know it’s him and mumbles, やんだめ… it’s so cute. She dreams about Yanda being a like a demon king and kidnapping her dad, and she’s a Hero whose sword is a very tall soft serve ice cream. She saves tou-chan by eating her sword and not letting Yanda have any even when he begs for a bite lmao. Yanda ends up laying down next to her and falling asleep, and Yotsuba half wakes up, assumes it’s her tou-chan, and crawls onto him and falls back asleep, and Yanda dreams that that weight on him is Yoh-san sitting on him while he does his work. When Yotsuba wakes up later and realizes she was sleeping on top of Yanda, she freaks out and ends up kicking him in the face lmao)

I know it’s due to the length of the original DJs that the reprinting got divided up as it did: 1-4 becomes 上 and 5-7 下. The first 4 are overall shorter than the last 3, so with these groupings you end up with two volumes that are roughly the same length, though 下’s still about 1.5x longer lol. And then there’s the そのあとで, which is a separate volume.

But it also means that 上 ends in the perfect place. Part 4 is the one where Yanda’s wondering what he should do about these feelings, and he ends up following Yoh-san around on his errands after happening upon him, even buying a tub of ice cream which just ends up melting when Yoh-san buys himself a popsicle, even following him up the long flight of stairs to that shrine, at which point he starts regretting his life choices lmao it’s way too hot for this. I don’t know how long Yoh-san’s known Yanda’s been following him, but toward the top of the stairs he turns around to face him, and after he asks Yanda what he’s doing and stuff, Yanda vaguely thinks again about what he should do about these feelings, and then:

Man.

In part 3, Yanda had gotten drunk at a work function and Jumbo somehow ended up picking him up and bringing him to Yoh-san’s place. Yanda’s pretty much just passed out, but he does half wake up at some point and drape himself over Yoh-san before passing out again, and Yoh-san and Jumbo are like, “Huh? He mistaking you for someone? He mistaking you for his girlfriend? I never heard anything about him having a girlfriend.” Yanda mumbles, “Koiwai-san,” quietly enough that only Yoh-san hears him, and that’s probably when he starts to suspect, or at least that’s what we think, because… It’s later revealed that after Jumbo left, while Yoh-san was trying to transport Yanda upstairs to sleep there so Yotsuba won’t see him when she wakes up and be loud first thing in the morning, Yanda kissed him, and Yoh-san was like, “Huh? It’s me?” But since he’s weak to alcohol, Yanda remembers absolutely none of this.

Yanda’s definitely aware of his feelings throughout this whole series, he’s liked Yoh-san since they met in college and it’s implied that he’s probably gay, it’s more that he can’t quite admit them to himself yet. Even Yotsuba figures out that he likes her tou-chan, and when she says as much in part 7, Yanda freaks out and runs out, and Yoh-san goes after him, and that’s when Yanda finally admits it.

So there was a part where Yanda came over but Yoh-san was asleep so Yotsuba tried to get him to go home so he wouldn’t be loud and wake her tou-chan up. He refuses to leave, so Yotsuba sticks next to him and keeps her eye on him instead. He manages to shake her when he goes to the restroom, and since she’s not there when he gets out, he goes and checks on Yoh-san, and he kneels next to him and starts to lean down to kiss him, and that’s when Yotsuba appears in the doorway. Yanda holds his finger to his lips and then holds his hands up to show he wasn’t doing anything, and Yotsuba pulls her water gun on him. They end up making a commotion out in the hallway (and, yes, Yanda gets squirted with the gun) and waking Yoh-san up and getting scolded by him. Anyway, Yotsuba knows what a kiss is, it’s a thing that a man and a woman do together, so she knows Yanda had been about to do something bad. Later there’s a little scene where Jumbo’s babysitting her and they’re watching TV. When the couple on screen start making out, she asks Jumbo what they’re doing, and he answers, 魂を吸っている. So it woulda been hilarious if Yotsuba’d seen Yanda and Yoh-san kissing and flew at Yanda to get him to stop stealing her tou-chan’s soul. I don’t think there’s anything else in the series aside from the そのあとで, so I guess I’ll have to write it myself.

I then read the other two of Hideyoshico’s よつばと! DJs that I have, やんだとそのあとで and S&S’s.

Some vocab of note:

居留守を使う (いるすをつかう) [expression, ア五] to pretend to be out

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Oct 17, Mon of Week 4 of Fall 2022 :maple_leaf:

  • Talk to You (physical book of 50 interviews) – 1/50

It doesn’t appear to be hard, only that no Furigana, and looking up Kanji compounds is inconvenient. An interview is quite short as well. A manga author’s 日記 was a harder read language-wise, also troubled a little by handwriting.

Physical books are in some ways less convenient than e-books on Bookwalker; but the variety might be easier to be chosen in some ways (for example, when traveling and passing by a bookstore).

Nonetheless, things like Wikipedia not only have some difficulty language-wise; but also that I can tolerate scrolling less than page-flipping (or page-flipping-like).

  • かがみの孤城 (上) 7% => 12% (first chapter til 20%, listened to beginning of 2nd chapter some time before)

This one isn’t particularly troubling, but I just got somewhat tired. Also, I want to look up some words more deeply.

Today I read かがみの孤城 on a tablet, but probably depending on the mood and convenience, for whether tablet or smartphone.

I also took a look at Wikipedia app and daily topics on Android tablet. Anyway, I guess a game-changer for anything would be, how easy to look up in a (decent) dictionary. Otherwise, some workarounds.

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

20221017 - 吾輩は狸である progress: 55.88% :hotsprings:

Wagahai-cat observes the many happenings in the bathhouse and listens to the chatter.

:fallen_leaf: Japanese found under the leaves :fallen_leaf:

Meowords

機鋒「きほう」ー Brunt
敷居「しきい」ー Threshold (especially ones on sliding doors)

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:maple_leaf: :jack_o_lantern: :snowflake: :christmas_tree: October 17 :christmas_tree: :snowflake: :jack_o_lantern: :maple_leaf:
Home Post

Orange :tangerine:

Have so far read the second half of chapter 11 of Orange. Might read more, but also might not because…

The cutest of cutest of surprises (for you guys) is here:

Reveal

Kiro my new cat:

More pictures here if you wanna see them: https://community.wanikani.com/t/x/55503/6501

So yeah, can’t beat @windupbird in cute mangas, so I decided to add in reality to the fiction.

I hope the wait was worth it, @Zakarius.

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