I decided to read a bit before going to bed. I wanted to challenge myself to read a chapter but I didn't realize how long it would take me lol. I spent about an hour reading 12 pages. I don't know if it's because it's a children's book series but there's so much onomatopeia that my head is spinning. Some I get the gist of but others not so much and Kindle's dictionary isn't the best so I'll probably look for a dedicated onomatopeia dictionary soon.
In terms of the chapter’s contents, I won’t write spoilers but I think the interactions between characters is very wholesome. Hibiki’s and Akane’s relationship especially.
Aria: the masterpiece volume 1 – progress report
Yesterday: read pages 5 through 9
Today: read up to page 21
Today, I felt better and thus the reading went a bit more smoothly. Also, the more complicated worldbuilding part slowely but surely transitioned into more daily life like situations – well, sci-fi daily life that is – and the sentences became more mangeable despite me having to look up plenty of words.
Some words of note
到着 arrival
景色 scenery
ペロペロ licking
突然 sudden, unexpected
滑稽 funny, laughable, ridiculous,
(–ても)…始まらない it’s no use … somewhere in the distance, Silver the hedgehog just started sneezing
Thank you, @windupbird !
I’m glad to be a participant in this challenge because I don’t think I could otherwise bring myself to consistently read (almost) every day. The main reason being that me not being quite accustomed to reading in Japanese makes it rather difficult in the beginning stage and more likely for me to take a long break from it. That’s why I’m counting on the challenge to give me a push in staying consistent up until the end of this year.
YES, please! Feel free to keep the enthusiasm and gushing going, I’ll be listening.
I’m always glad to see other people be unabashedly enthusiastic about something – be it work, hobbies or media (well, as long as it’s not a malicious kind of enthusiasm about other innocent people’s hardships and such).
Frankly, I also kind of bask in the enthusiasm of others because I can’t really feel it properly myself anymore. Ah well, maybe one day I’ll rediscover my childlike enthusiasm.
Getting even scarier. Also, reading slower than the other two days…
HUNTER x HUNTER Vol.18 Ch.183-187 (Finished volume)
New arc, and I roughly remembered this one as well.
It’s probably not the time for me to remember anatomical Kanji as well as their On readings, yet. Joyo and other more common ones are bigger priorities.
Additionally, yesterday I read HUNTER x HUNTER Vol.18 Ch.176-182 (Started volume)
Also, I skipped Vol.9-17, where I watched 1999 anime adaptation. (Though, supposedly a little different from manga).
狼と香辛料 (96% → 100%!!!).
I managed to finish it in the expected timeframe (well, one day late). Reading this book in one month was a big time commitment considering how much I can dedicate to Japanese lately, so I’ll probably take it easy for a bit. I’ve been neglecting other reading materials so I might go back to those. Currently contemplating whether I should join the next Advanced Bookclub pick or just chill.
I finished this week’s reading for the Mystery Book Club early, and thought I might as well read on a little. But my eyes and brain refused to cooperate. I guess I need to slow down a little.
I always forget it’s important to rest too
But… so many books…so little time…why rest when I could read instead?
Yesterday I read 初恋 by 一樹らい. You can definitely tell how much she loves kagehina lol (she’s drawn a bunch of kghn DJs as ぶぶん飯店), the main characters look quite a bit like them, though that’s about as far as their similarities extend. This story’s also kind of like the opposite of Boy Meets Maria, despite the similarities in premise. Both have an amab person who was raised as a girl for much of their childhood because of their mother, before finally deciding they’re gonna put themself first and live as a boy even if it hurts her, and then the main character falls in love with them thinking they’re a girl and still loves them after learning otherwise. (Oh yeah and there’s trauma, but definitely not the same type.) But Ichigo is certain of his gender, while Yuu doesn’t know what he is; and Taiga might worry a bit at first about whether he likes Yuu as a girl or as a boy, but he pretty easily decides it doesn’t matter and puts it behind him, while Yuusa has a sexuality crisis. They’re both really good in their own way.
I was also pleasantly surprised to find that it includes the one-shot よりみち!
I also read the first two chapters of 君には届かない。vol 2. I had to skim vol 1 first though since I kinda forgot what happened, plus I got part of it mixed up with 恋ではないと思いたい.
Some vocab of note:
見殺し (みごろし) [noun] letting (someone) die without helping
Reading more of Kiki, this time checking my attempts at deciphering the grammar with ichi.moe. Obviously that isn’t a perfect solution, as just in the second sentence I found a new grammar point I hadn’t known before and which wasn’t shown there.
のように / のような - similar to
When you only know の to indicate possession, then the idea that it could be part of a phrase isn’t forefront in your mind. Really glad Bunpro exists! Searching through grammar points is incredibly tedious in a dictionary, so this is an excellent resource.
I think a read a bit less than half the chapter, this is a slightly longer one than usual. The next stopping point was close enough to the end that I had a choice of either stopping or finishing the chapter, and finishing the chapter was probably another hour away. So tomorrow it is.
Thought I wouldn’t have time to read today, so I read earlier than usual. Then I suddenly had plenty of time to read, so I read some more (was actually trying to take a nap this time).
Encountered the word 嵩張る today in Honzuki. It’s fun because I just learned it the other day from Spice & Wolf.
Erm… I wrote this 3 hours ago. After which I proceeded to read the first chapter (45 pages) of Junji Ito’s うずまき… Not even one of the books I had in progress, no, I had to go start a new one…I need help
Anyway… Interesting words I came across:
駆け落ち - elopement, running away with a lover
手の施しようがない - beyond help
前触れ - advance warning, portent, omen
And just look at the detail in this panel (nothing scary, I promise)
Today I read Chapter 14 of Orange.
I think I’m getting a cold, since I’m a bit sniffly and headachy - so reading todays chapter took me longer than usual, but even though I find Orange quite a tough read sometimes I always enjoy it so much
So I used this casually in conversation once to reference some friends of mine who eloped and was met with shock. I guess it has a very negative connotation in Japanese whereas at least where I grew up saying someone eloped just means it was done fast and/or quietly, but not necessarily a bad thing. Google says Today the term "elopement" is colloquially used for any marriage performed in haste or in private or without a public period of engagement. which matches my understanding, but I do also wonder if it’s true for everywhere English is spoken
I always forget to post in this thread.
ボッコちゃん
Today I read seven pages and finished the next short story. What I like about this book is, that sometimes rarer grammar points are used which you usually don’t see that often.
Konosuba Vol.1
I read the next four pages. This book is pretty easy that means I don’t need to look up vocabulary that often.
Finished Chainsaw Man 6 yesterday. Will start 7 and probably finish that tomorrow since its my day off. I might even just binge read. Who knows. My addiction to YouTube seems to be waning a little so I might be able to focus more.
Had a really odd day–not entirely sure what’s up, but was just in a really weird kinda melancholic mood when I woke up. Since it’s rainy season and the days get so short here, maybe I just haven’t been getting enough sun or something. Made sure to take a walk and dug out my sunlight lamp. Ended up spending a bunch of time playing stuff in English after work just to see if I could kinda shake off the funk, but to no real avail.
BUT! I’m not willing to give up my streak, so power through I suppose.
Tae Kim 144 → 151 – some nice clarification about giving/receiving verbs. Main new thing of note was て form + みる for trying things out vs volitional とする for making an attempt to do something.
からかい上手の高木さん chapters 3 and 4.
Kindle is working mostly fine so far, it’s kind of a pain to zoom in and read furigana because it kinda breaks and you have to wait for it to register, but this hasn’t come up a whole lot. It really messes up the pages in between chapters sometimes, maybe when I converted my epubs to aw3 I messed up somewhere
Good Words
指導「しどう」ー guidance, coaching
爆笑「ばくしょう」ー burst of laughter
筋肉痛「きんにくつう」ー sore muscles
三日坊主「みっかぼうず」ー monk for three days (exp), someone who can’t stick to anything
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Absolutely! Looking forward to it (at this rate it’ll just be another what, 2 years? )
I think it generally has a negative connotation in English too, it has a sort of accusatory tone for something that’s maybe not all that well thought out. I might use it to describe a situation to other people, but probably wouldn’t say it directly to the people who are eloping, if that makes sense. I usually associate it with romantic period works: Ethan Frome, Sorrows of Young Werther, Daisy Miller, that sort of stuff with a few hot headed lovers making some questionable decisions in their haste and passion, at least.
Japanese found under the leaves 
)
November 2 
Nov 2 
November 2nd