Same. xD
New challenge thread is live! If you’re still continuing from the Fall challenge, feel free to keep posting updates here until the official start of the new challenge on January 1st ^^
This morning after updating, I played the first case in 逆転裁判. Aside from the specialized vocab, it was pretty easy, and I didn’t make any mistakes, which speaks positively for my comprehension. This is the easiest case, though. I don’t wanna say it took me almost two hours to play because it did not feel that long, but it was 2 a.m. when I finished and I don’t remember it being that long after midnight when I shut down my laptop, so uh.
This afternoon, I started playing the second case, but then got stuck on how to advance with Hoshikage’s office. Like, I can go there, but the guy’s never in, and near as I can reckon, I’ve done everything else I can everywhere else. If I can’t figure it out tomorrow, then it’ll be time to find a guide already.
I never thought about it until I started playing it this morning, but AA’s a VN, isn’t it.
Home 
December 27
人間椅子 -
ジョジョの奇妙な冒険60
64 - 81
I was exhausted yesterday and had to be woken up to go sleep in a bed. Today’s a personal rest day, so hopefully I can make a lot more progress!
December 27 
Home Post
I keep not reading until late despite being on break, why am I like this 
I’ll get better!! But anyway I remembered that I hadn’t touched マミヤ in a while and I didn’t want to completely lose track of what was happening in it, so I played a bit and it’s all just as pretty as I remember. Still no real idea what’s going on, but I think that’s the nature of it really. Another one to keep in the rotation 
Oh big mood, it’s horrible for productivity 
I’m only like an hour in but as I said I’ve really enjoyed it, I’ve also heard so many rave reviews about it that it seems like a pretty safe bet if you even remotely like mysterious narrative kind of things. If nothing else there’s a demo so you can get a feel for it and see!
Welcome to the VN club 
@Jfredel78 and I are planning to read Reading Murakami Haruki's 1Q84 (Intermediate/Advanced Book) from January. We’ve both read the first part of the first book already, so we’re starting from Book 1 part 2. Is anybody interested in joining us? (If you still need to read Book 1 part 1 I’m sure we can find a solution that works for all of us.)
(Please be aware that this is Murakami so trigger warnings apply left and right.)
December 27 
おいしいごはんが食べられますように, 12-38%
This books is addictive! Not all that much is happening, but it makes me want to keep turning pages. 
Phew, that’s one I’ve already read in English, so I’m able to resist the temptation to join you. 
Day 48 Progress:
お隣の天使様 五冊 - 8.24% → 10.35%
I’ve failed again, given in to debauchery… These last few days off of work have been bad for my functionality as a human being. I actually need work to like reset my sleep schedule, lmao.
Word of the Day:
Dec 28, Wed of Extra week of Fall 2022 
-
SPY x FAMILY Vol.4 Ch.23 + extras (end volume)
-
うたわれるもの
Maniacal laughter here too. Very ominous.
Interesting words
- さが = one’s nature. Kanji form is 性, in written in Kanji in dictionary.
- ハリボテ = something that looks good superficially. From 張りぼて, probably an overdone 彫る.
- しこたま = a whole lot of
- うんたらかんたら = yada yada
- アスレチック = an outdoor adventure playground / athletic sports
- しわがれる = to become hoarse. しわがれた声 in context, but しわがれ声 in dictionary. Kanji form is 嗄れる.
- つんのめる = to fall forward. From 突く + のめる, where the latter means to fall forward (but not pulled with force?).
- わざわざ = expressly. Kanji form is 態々.
- ほんのり = slightly. 本の is also slightly. I think of り as 里.
- ばっくれ = feigning ignore. From バックレる / しらばくれる.
- 由々しき = serious; grave. In context as 由々しき事態. Similar to 由々しい.
- 大らか = composed; broad-minded / large quantity
- 麗しい = lovely
- 不届き = rude; insolent
- 吹かす = to smoke (a cigarette). Probably 吸う is OK too. (But not 吹く.)
- 蔑む = to hold in contempt = 軽蔑する
- 歩む = to walk on foot
- 見逸れる = to underestimate. In context as おみそれ.
- 引きずる = to drag along. Full Kanji form is 引き摺る.
- 持ち運ぶ = to carry along
- 恐れ入る = to be astonished
- 某～ = certain
- 普遍 = universal
- 無難 = safe (e.g. of a choice); risk-free; passable
- 相場 = reputation / speculation
- 莫迦 = Baka. Of course similar to 馬鹿.
- 庶民 = commoner
- 駄犬 = a dog with no pedigree; mongrel. Opposite is 名犬.
- A homophone is 打鍵 = keystrokes (of a keyboard)
- 白髪 = white hair; gray hair
- 子音 = consonants. Opposite is 母音, e.g. a, u, o.
- A homophone is 死因.
- 失血 = heavy blood loss; exsanguination
- 秘訣 = secret trick
- 秘話 = secret story
- 終結 = an end; a conclusion
- 間食 = snacks
- 保護 = taking to protection; taking to guardianship
- 長官 = director. A boss of officials. In contrast, 小官 simply means, humbly me.
- 日柄 = today’s condition (lucky? unlucky? auspicious?)
- 儀式 = rites
- 統率 = commanding
- 瓦解 = collapsing. What to be resolved from bricks (煉瓦).
- 幼少 = infancy; childhood. In context is 幼少期.
- 適宜 = appropriate; discretionary
- 拝謁 = having an audience with an emperor. Has Furigana.
- 玉座 = throne
- 樹立 = establishment; founding
- 妙齢 = young (woman). Kanji from 年齢.
- 度外視 = disregarding
- 薄情者 = insensitive person. 薄情 is being insensitive.
- 司令室 = control room. 司令 = commander / giving commands.
- 善後処置 = remedial measures. 善後 = planning for a good future.
- 全知全能 = omniscience and omnipotence
- 可もなく不可もなし = neither good nor bad
- 食い気味 = butting in. Similar to 食い込み気味.
- 造詣が深い = profoundly knowledgeable. The second Kanji is from 初詣で, but it’s probably the first time I see On’yomi.
SFX
- どたんこ = probably a thud (a hard object falls down)
- じんわり = steadily seeping out. じんわり温かい.
- ギョッと = being startled
- むんず = strongly; violently; with all one’s strength
- しんなり = soft, tenderly. From しなやか.
Kanji
- 詣
- attain knowledge from a temple
- ケイ
- 造詣, 参詣
- Kun readings
- 初詣で, 詣でる
December 28th
Card Captor Sakura volume 4 – progress report
Yesterday: Began reading volume 4, read up to page 26.
Today: Finished chapter 15, continued up to page 61.
Yesterday, I put the worst part of the chapter behind me, therefore today’s reading was much less unpleasant. I was completely blindsided by Shaolan mentioning that he has an older sister as I didn’t remember him having siblings at all. Though, I don’t think we ever get to see her in the manga, or at least I don’t remember seeing her in any way.
Word or expression of the day:
一人暮らし - (ひとりぐらし) - living by oneself, living alone
Honourable mention(s):
ヤシの実 - (やしのみ) - coconut
December 28
おいしいごはんが食べられますように, 38-71%
I went a little crazy today and couldn’t stop reading. Can you tell that I’m enjoying this book a lot?
I’m finally done with my 2023 reading 
Anything that won’t be finished til 2023 (ユージニア and anything I start now) will be popped into those page counts, so I’m calling it at 7382 pages.
That is…18 books? Not counting audiobooks. And 38 short stories. And 8 manga volumes (I don’t count the pages in manga since they’re so text sparse in comparison so mixing feels odd to me).
I now have 3 days to relax, read English books, maybe finish the ウテナ manga, maybe start おいしいごはん 
There, fixed that for you 
No, seriously. We are having a lot of fun over in its thread, you should really come and join us for the ! 
Home post 
// 
Dec 28 
・ 本好きの下克上 15 (18% → 33%)
Reading continues. Did some other stuff too today, mom taught me how to make homemade tomato sauce as a side dish for fried eggs, that was great.
28/12 24 pages かみさまがまちがえる, 24 pages Orange (finished letter 20), 1 page 夜カフェ
Finished one book - I’m now down to reading 5 books or manga actively (until I start the next volume of シャドーハウス).
I was hoping to catch up with all clubs by the end of the week but doesn’t look likely. We’ll see.
December 28th!
I read chapter 21 of Orange today. Only one chapter left of the main story now… I’m really keen to see what happens so I think I might end up reading it tomorrow instead of waiting until next week to read it with the bookclub… I haven’t quite decided yet!
2022-12-29T01:14:00Z
I recently learnt this word on WaniKani and now I am seeing it in the wild.
Did you mean 2022? Sorry to be nitpicky but it confused me.
December 28th (Home Post Link)
Read:
- NHK News Web Easy: 水族館でオタリアが正月の書き初めを練習 - tfw a sea lion has better kanji handwriting than you
(but fr so talented and then he does a lil roar like he’s so proud of himself and it’s very cute pls watch the video at least) - ホリミヤ chapter 41
Good Words
NHK
書き初め「かきぞめ」ー first calligraphy of the year
オタリア ー south american sea lion
水族館「すいぞくかん」ー aquarium (I feel like i heard this a lot in 白い砂のアクアトープ, but don’t remember seeing kanji)
十二支「じゅうにし」ー 12 signs of the zodiac
卯「う」ー sign of the rabbit (zodiac)
ホリミヤ
鑑賞「かんしょう」ー appreciation
不可避「ふかひ」ー inescapable
謎「なぞ」ー riddle, puzzle, mystery
江戸「えど」ー edo (時代, 幕府, 城, etc)
騒ぎ「さわぎ」ー uproar, disturbance
恐怖「きょうふ」ー terror, horror, scare
So studious! a whole year ahead! (but congrats, and with 3 whole days to spare! 
)
So much reading!! I think i saw this on a few lists in the top 5 thread, seems to be worth reading.
edit - I see there’s an informal book club going… maybe I try to join in next month, it sounds very up my alley
some new books have been purchased, ready and raring to go for the next challenge
yep, 2022. melting emoji was used to indicate the state of my brain right now 
I’m leaving it. Good job, time time-traveling me!
I’m also joining it late so feel free to jump in. I may start before the new year but I’m 100% taking an evening off to decompress from ‘challenge’ type stuff
Jay Rubin’s Making Sense of Japanese (previously Gone Fishin’) arrived today, and it’s smaller than I thought. I thought it would be your usual textbook size, but it’s a Japanese-style “hardcover” book, just printed left to right rather than right to left, so it’s the same size as a regular manga, whatever page size that is. You could not tell that from the product image on Amazon at all. Anyways, I’m looking forward to starting that one.
I read a whole 58 pages of 明日をくれた君 today, finishing ch 4 and starting on ch 5, and leaving off on page 233. I’m gonna cry. I want to keep reading, I only have 34 pages left, but I have work tomorrow morning and also I’m tired, so I don’t wanna stay up 'til who knows when.
Oh man.
It’s ironic that Midzuki wants to be close to someone who doesn’t see her for who she is (Kaito), but then the two people who do, she either wants nothing to do with (Sugiura) or ends up driving away (Ritsu). Well, there’s Satou-kun, but he’s not physically in her life.
Midzuki might possibly be developing a crush on Sugiura-kun. They’d be cute tbh
Satou Yamato shows up at the school gates one day after school. Midzuki and Sugiura see him from the library window. Sugiura’s justifiably wary, but Midzuki doesn’t care and goes to see what he wants—if he is indeed there for her—but by the time he gets out there, he’s gone. Sure, his reasons for being there coulda been innocent, but… Especially with the suspiciousness before with him knowing her full name somehow despite them never having interacted and going to different schools… hm.
Satou-kun has her number somehow. He calls her cell phone at night a week later from a public phone. That’s not creepy at all, though of course she doesn’t think so. When she asks him how he knows her number, she just gets dial tone; either he hung up or his time was up, but either way she doesn’t find out. Yeah my estimation of him has gone down. Anyway, he said he would leave her one last letter.
……私は、佐藤くんが、好き。きっと、ずっと前から好きだった。
You like the wrong person.
Oh, yeah, that Satou Yamato is a creep. We run into him again when Midzuki’s waiting at the park by the station for Ritsu after club activities Sunday evening. He’s approached Ritsu and grabbed her arm when she tried to get away (“何で俺のこと拒むんだ？ 俺はこんなに優しくしてるのに.” はい??), claiming to be her friend just because he talked to Midzuki once. Okay, and how does he know Ritsu too? ストーカーか? Seems like my and Sugiura-kun’s bad feeling about him when he showed up at the school gates was absolutely right.
Hm… Ritsu remembers him now, vaguely. Like with Midzuki, he approached her once on the train when she was unwell to ask if she was all right. Still, for him to hound her and grab her when he sees her out and about—alone—and act all familiar just because he talked to and “was nice to her” once… that’s creepy. That’s alarm bells, right there. That’s the difference between a “nice guy” and a nice person.
Annnd, he knows Ritsu has a boyfriend. And we still don’t know how he knows either of their names. He said he won’t appear in front of them again, but I don’t trust like that.
We get the first letter that’s not between Midzuki and Satou-kun: an apology letter (wherein she also confesses that she likes sweets-making and embroidery and the like) which she gives to Ritsu after Satou Yamato leaves. She said and did some things that she regretted recently, and she wanted to write a letter since she wasn’t sure she could apologize properly face-to-face. Ritsu has some things she wants to apologize for too, and she forgives her easily and they make up.
美月って意外に隠すの下手だよね？ 美月が可愛いものが好きなんて、最初に話しかけてくれたときからわかってたよ？
♡ We saw that before, too, when Ritsu, knowing Midzuki’s decorative strap (which she has too in a different color to match) broke recently, invites her out shopping for a new one. One of the things Midzuki regrets saying is accusing her of just choosing something she herself likes, but Ritsu chose the straps knowing they’re the kind of thing Midzuki likes. Her childhood friend may think cute things don’t suit her, but her best friend has known from the beginning that she likes cute things and has never once thought it odd. ♡
Ritsu describes Satou-kun as Midzuki’s savior when she tells her about him, and I’m inclined to believe that Midzuki’s "好き"という気持ち toward him are just those toward a savior. Of course, I don’t know how much of that is just me wanting Midzuki/Sugiura to happen. I went into this ready for Midzuki to slowly develop feelings for Satou-kun over the course of their exchanges and then they’d meet and it’d continue from there. But then Sugiura showed up. And the chances that Satou-kun is him under an alias are nil.
Oh my god
「早く昼寝して教室戻りなよ」
「……じゃあ、寝かせろよ」
「え？」
床にお尻をつけて座っていた杉浦くんが動いたと思ったら、突然私の左肩にもたれかかってきた。あまりの近距離に、心臓がはち切れそうなほど膨らみ、顔はゆでだこのように沸騰する。
If Kozakura-sensei ends this pretending like these two aren’t love interests, I’m gonna be so mad.
He has long eyelashes and she notices this—is captivated by them, in fact. I am losing my entire goddamn mind.
Ohhhh… noooo… no, I’m gonna cry. Ch 5 hits you with the feels right off the bat, with our longest letter yet. They saved each other, at least as much as they could be saved. And now we know why Sugiura was involved when he didn’t seem related from a story standpoint. And just how Satou-kun contacted her. 早く読み終わりたい!
I figured out what I needed to do in 逆転裁判 today—talk to Itonokogiri-keiji about Mayoi’s phone. I played through the end of the second day before deciding I needed a break. Dang, this case is long. Also, I did not realize DL6 came up so early. Is that one gonna be the next one? Reiji… Anyway, Reiji/Miles is my favorite character (yes, I do have a type), so I can’t wait 'til we get some character development for him. Even if it does involve a heartbreaking backstory…
Some vocab of note:
素っ気ない (そっけない) [い-adj.] cold; short; curt; blunt
癪に障る (しゃくにさわる) [expression, ラ五] to irritate; to grate on one’s nerves; to aggravate; to be galling
引き立て役 (ひきたてやく) [noun] person who makes someone else appear better; foil
健気 (けなげ) [noun, な-adj.] brave; courageous; heroic; noble; admirable; commendable; praiseworthy; laudable
踵を返す (きびすをかえす) [expression, サ五] to turn on one’s heel; to turn back; to return
釘付け (くぎづけ) [expression, noun, する verb] being stationary; being rooted to the spot; halting; freezing. From the literal meaning of “nailing down.”
間髪容れず (かんはついれず) [expression] immediately; instantly; with nary a pause; without a moment’s delay. Shirabe says that the first part is usually read かんはつ with かんぱつ being irregular, though when it’s a word on its own, the latter is the usual reading, although it also says that 間髪 by itself is an abbreviation of this expression. Goo supports this by listing the reading as かんはつ and saying that かんぱつ is an error (though it doesn’t have an entry for 間髪 on its own). Yet I had to type かんぱつ to get it because the IME wouldn’t accept かんはつ at all. So what do I believe?
噤む (つぐむ) [他マ五] to shut one’s mouth; to hold one’s tongue; to keep silent. I like that you can tell exactly what it means just by looking at it: 口を禁
動かぬ証拠 (うごかぬしょうこ) [expression, noun] irrefutable evidence; smoking gun; solid evidence; incontestable proof; dead giveaway
口走る (くちばしる) [他ラ五] to blurt out; to let slip; to say inadvertently; to come out with (e.g. nonsense). Not quite the same as running one’s mouth in English.
ホの字 [expression, noun] the L-word; being in love. From 惚れる (ほれる), “to fall in love.”
人聞きが悪い (ひとぎきがわるい) [expression, い-adj.] disreputable; scandalous; disgraceful