I’m running out of ways of saying that I just read some 狼と香辛料 (21% → 24%). Fun fact: I don’t really have being able to handwrite kanji as a priority in my Japanese learning, but at some point I decided I would at least learn to write the kanji from the titles of the books I was reading, if only so I could write them down on notebooks for organization purposes. So now I can write some pretty complex kanji while being unable to write most of the simpler ones. Oh, well, at least the ones in this book aren’t too bad. Maybe eventually I will read enough books that I’ll cover most common kanji? Doubt that, honestly.
Finished another volume of one piece, just in time for a weekly update. Had already made a post about volume 7 here. So today is about volume 8 and some more thoughts on the series so far, now that I finished the Baratie/Don Krieg arc and the Arlong Park arc starts.
volume 8
I’m definitely glad this part is over, not that I hate it but like I kinda mentioned in my previous post the moving parts that are in this arc are more interesting than the main villain itself. Which I still feel is kinda a shame. It’s also quite messy in how it transitions to the next arc. Oda was still learning the ropes, although he already had that base structure down. That said he already namedrops Jinbe after he had already established Mihawk as a threat all so he can introduce the concept/system known as the seven warlords, who are extremely powerful pirates that the marines employ to control the seas. One the other hand there’s also the marines, which so far have been either lackeys or very corrupt individuals. The Arlong Park arc that we shift towards in the later part of the volume re-establish that part. Things are definitely getting more interesting, although it is still in its early stages after about 70 chapters.
I’m definitely enjoying myself on this read and I forgot I also had the first eight volumes in english. So I double checked some things like how well it translated over and I don’t think you’d really miss out much in the english version of viz. Either way I haven’t read beyond volume 8 before (although I have seen how the anime handled it).
Also looked up the schedule of the free promotion they have on the shonenjumpplus site. This is all official, of course it is not the same as reading it in print or on kindle/bookwalker as they strip out the extras like interviews.
Pretty much all of Master’s friends are round so there is much conversation, one of them tries to tell a story, and says that it’s long and it’d best to let them finish before asking questions. But no one can help themselves and keep butting in.
Japanese found under the leaves
Meowords
老梅「ろうばい」ー Old plum tree 蝗「いなご」ー Grasshopper (also: 稲子) 鎌首「かまくび」ー Curved neck (like how a snake does)
Today, I got home from shopping center late (at around 8 pm), but somehow I managed to finish a volume of manga - WANTED, short stories by the author on One Piece. Well, I read two stories today, and one story yesterday night. There are five, and I read the other two a long while ago. I quite like the plot twist, the art, and the mood.
I didn’t read novel today, but today I bought a non-fiction physical book. I might read tomorrow, and tell how it feels.
Then, having time or not is also a matter that can happen any day. If I don’t have time, or can’t focus well, I might not focus on reading, but perhaps listening, or speaking and writing prompts.
Yay, I’m finally back to reading this!!! I hadn’t realized how much I missed it until I started reading it today. The art style is so gorgeous. Like I’d forgotten how pretty and expressive the art it. The characters are just so well done.
I know I’m gushing, but it deserves it, okay? xD
Currently reading chapter 5 (volume 2). I’m very behind my own book club.
And to talk about something completely different, I bought my first couple of books via rakuten/kobo. おおかみこどもの雨と雪 and 狐笛のかなた that @NicoleIsEnough personally recommended to me last challenge thread. I won’t have time to start either of them anytime soon, but I got a coupon for making an account to buy ebooks at rakuten/kobo, so I had to buy so it wouldn’t expire, no? ¥400 off was a nice discount.
I’m so glad it was simple, and I could use my non-Japanese credit card.
Now, I just need to catch up with Orange, then Loopers, and then I could potentially add a new book to my currently-reading pile .
Today I read chapter 8 of Yoru Cafe Volume 2.
I do enjoy reading it, and I really want to get more used to reading novels as well as manga - but I think I might drop this series at the end of this volume unless something happens that really, really makes me want to read on.
Every chapter ends up taking me about 2 hours to read, so keeping up with a chapter a week is a big commitment for me.
I think part of the reason it takes me so long to read each week is because it does not use much kanji. I find I spend a lot of time looking up words and then recognising them as soon as I see the kanji, and also a lot of time trying to work out where words end. Something about a long string of kana just turns my brain into mashed potato
I’d like to find a novel of a similar difficulty, but with shorter chapters - so I’d love to hear suggestions if anybody has any!
Chapter 5 of チーズスイートホーム today. I’m finally steady enough in Katakana to be able to read the title!
The challenge with reading manga is the vertical composition of the text. Some words I can read easily if they’re horizontal, but like this… everything takes at least twice as long.
I decided to read the side story first after all! I’m glad I did, it surprisingly ties in well thematically with what’s going on in the main story. I worried about it feeling out of place, especially since imo the authors were kinda hit-or-miss with their additions in the other Zelda manga I read, but I’m really enjoying this so far!
It’s pretty fun to read the side story too since it’s not part of the game so I have no idea where it’s going. I know based on the title of the side story that Skull Kid (Stalkid in Japanese?) is going to be involved somehow, but I don’t know how yet
Today, I read part 3 of ジャックと豆の木, in which Jack climbs up the giant beanstalk which somehow grew in just one night. He arrives at a castle which is where a man-eating giant lives :0
Read more 異世界の名探偵 - it continues to be a serviceable young adult fantasy. Pretty much the same difficulty level as 本好きand similar themes, although the main character is obsessed with being a great detective (in a world without such) rather than books.
I’m stuck waiting for a bit so I’ll probably read more of it still unless I get bored and open something else up.
Day 8: October 8th
What did I read?: 夜の名前を呼んで
How much did I read?: 38 pages
How long did it take me?: 40 min
Yes hello I’m dying, I got a COVID booster yesterday so as per usual with COVID shots I’ve been feverish and aching the entire day and mainly just laying on the couch under a soft blanket. So if anything makes no sense in this update, that’s why and I apologize, I tried my best
I did read, though I’m gonna be honest, I’m not sure I totally understand what happened But med school buddy Karutos (hopefully I’m not mis-transliterating that, that would be embarrassing) is confirmed malicious and like…ridiculously powerful, it seems, which is a low-key terrifying combination (he made a fake version of himself and had that version keep talking to/distracting Rei while the real him kidnapped Mira. He also manifested an entire bookstore full of fake patrons to create an experimental condition that would help him put Mira into a darkness/panic attack? Like?) BUT what was interesting and a bit surprising was that Mira actually kind of saved herself. She found some light in the darkness on her own <3 Karutos left before Rei got to them, but I’m guessing we haven’t seen the last of him.
(I’m going to try to put a bit of what I read in spoilers. Alert: spoilers.)
Priority: ミニスカ宇宙海賊 1. Someone is attacking the docked spaceship with a virus and 茉莉香 and チアキ are on watch and trying to figure out who’s doing it. Free choice: 硝子の塔の殺人. 一条 headed up the spiral stairs to the 壱 room and is talking to 神津島. Other: 魔王城でおやすみ 10. 姫 used the skills she polished while おばけふろしき狩り-ing to relentlessly ninja into every strategy meeting so she could tag along to meet the 隠居中 former 魔王.
I wonder if you’re the one who mentioned 硝子の塔の殺人 in the mystery book club threads over on Natively, then! I loved 十角館の殺人 when I read it, so I’ve been enjoying following along on those threads (though I haven’t even made a forum account there so I’m even more lurker-y than usual). I was just going to put 硝子の塔の殺人 on my list to read later since I’m already in progress on way too many things, but then it was just sitting on the shelf at the library where I work… which seemed like book destiny so now I am reading it. So far I’m enjoying it a lot! I mean, when I picked it up at the library and opened it and saw the detailed diagrams of the 硝子館, it pretty much had me from there, lol.
3-4 pages of a tome of short stories called 10月のおはなし. It was the story for 10/7 because I wanted to read 10/8’s but it was a part 2 so I read the first part and then ran out of time for the second…
I like how I thought I’d pretty much only be reading JoJo, heh
I read the preview for 蟻魔君は魔法使い, which was featured in the little booklet that came with vol 2 of 晴れのち四季部 which arrived today. It seems cute, so it’s definitely going on my list! This also apparently marks the 5th time I’ve ordered from Manga Republic, so they included a little thank-you note. And since it was only the one item, I didn’t expect them to include any extras, but I still got yet another pack of clear book covers that I almost certainly will never use lol
極主夫道 book club started vol 8 last week?? And I marked in the poll that I was reading along?? I have no memory of this, I thought it hadn’t started yet. So yeah I read vol 8 today. The front cover is like a page from a 動物図鑑, and it’s an entry on the golden hamster. I got to 野生 and went, “???” Like, it’s so weird thinking of hamsters as wild animals?? Like, no??? But they are, and they live underground in arid regions, and like it makes sense but my brain doesn’t know how to handle this.
Also I don’t know where I finally learned to read 図鑑. It always used to just be “ず[blank]” in my head. Unless my brain’s finally made the connection that “Ah yes, the right part is just the 監 in 監督, so it must be かん.” (Why it didn’t do that before now I’ll never understand.)
Miku infodumps about PoliCure this time! I didn’t read it (my brain shut down upon seeing the wall of text cut off by the speech bubble), but I love to see it.
I meant to read 夜カフェ ch 8 but was too tired, so that’ll be tomorrow.
Got to read a slightly more substantial amount of ブルーロック! We’re heading into some angsty territory But it’s really nice that ブルーロック just feels like something I can chill out with and enjoy, feels good!
Yessss, I’m so excited!!! Can’t wait to inflict it upon my friends
Nice long reading session today, managed chapters 32, 33, and 34 of よつばと！(finishing volume 5) in just under an hour. I can feel my reading stamina and speed improving a lot from when I first started reading this series, which is a satisfying realization! I believe this session puts me over 1000 pages of manga logged too!
Some cute chapters, got to go play around in the rain, interview the citizens, then take a nice train ride, and play around at the beach for a while. Not a lot of very challenging vocab/grammar here, but very enjoyable.
Good Words
妖精「ようせい」ー fairy, sprite, elf
喜んで「よろこんで」ー with pleasure (adv)
濡れる「ぬれる」ー to get wet
宗教「しゅうきょう」ー religion
クラゲ ー jellyfish
浮き輪「うきわ」ー swim ring
貝殻「かいがら」ー seashell
ヤドカリ ー hermit crab
限界「げんかい」ー limit, bound
Yay! First finished book of the challenge! (And, honestly, first finished book in a while.) せんせ tried making シーヴァ an apple pie, only there technically wasn’t any apple in it and he may have severely burned it…But the darling girl still wanted to give it a try. I have to share one of the おまけ comics; it’s just TOO CUTE.
Now, when I tell you this volume ends on the meanest cliffhanger… I kind of regret not picking up the next volume while I was at Kinokuniya. Still, I do want to tackle 魔女の宅急便, and I can see myself ignoring everything and plowing through all 11 volumes of this series.
October 7
October 8 
Oct 8 
ミニスカ宇宙海賊 1. 
硝子の塔の殺人. 
魔王城でおやすみ 10. 
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I believe this session puts me over 1000 pages of manga logged too!
とつくにの少女１(85% → 100%)
I have to share one of the おまけ comics; it’s just TOO CUTE.
I kind of regret not picking up the next volume while I was at Kinokuniya. Still, I do want to tackle 魔女の宅急便, and I can see myself ignoring everything and plowing through all 11 volumes of this series.