Reading Update: 9月21日〜30日
Materials:
授乳
月刊少女野崎くん３
ヒトゴトですから！１
What a mood! It’s the exact mood that’s getting me to actually post an update for once, so thank you, Belerith!
As you can see, 野崎くん has been promoted to orange. This is, in part, because I finally got around to doing things I’ve been putting off, and thus needed something quick to keep that all-important streak going. (There are obviously also books I’ve been putting off…perhaps this is a personality trait…) I’m not gonna lie: I was probably also lazy for some of the days in this range, but I at least read something! Even one step moves us forward and all that jazz.
月刊少女野崎くん３: Read through one of my favorite chapters so far in the volume. Our titular character has trouble keeping his character’s placements consistent, which puts a lot of hardship on background artist 堀先輩. While it’s funny watching the characters trying to help 野崎, it was both adorable and hysterical how attached 御子柴 became to one of the solutions, in particular.
ヒトゴトですから！１: 久しぶりだよ〜 I managed to crack this manga back open after who knows how long. I forgot what happened since the last time I read it; pausing in the middle of the chapter really didn’t help that situation. This manga is about two lesbian women (not a couple, but there’s always the possibility of that changing) who work in human resources. I’ve been trying to read this volume straight through, meaning “not constantly looking up every word I don’t understand.” Needless to say, a lot of the HR lingo goes over my head. Still, it’s pretty interesting! I didn’t learn about this when I read it in this range of days, but it’s still probably the most interesting thing I learned about thus far.
What is ピグマリオン効果?
ピグマリオン効果, or the Pygmalion effect (or even the Rosenthal effect), is a phenomenon where the higher the expectations for someone (in the case of the manga, employees), the better they perform. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, meaning the other way around could work, too. In my experience, big expectations = big pressure, which hasn’t always equaled better performance, but alas, perhaps I’m not blessed enough.
Here’s the Japanese definition given in the manga, if anyone’s curious:
【ピグマリオン効果とは】
アメリカの教育心理学者ロバート・ローゼンタールによって発表された心理学用語。人は期待された通りに成果を出す傾向があり、他者からの期待値がそのあとの成長を決定づける要因になると考えられている。「ピグマリオン」はギリシャ神話に登場するキプロスの王に由来する。
授乳: Finally, still trying to catch up with the current 村田 pick. I’ve been having an easier time with Week 2’s section. I’m currently reading through a decently gross scene (wouldn’t be 村田 if there wasn’t at least one): MC’s recalling a time her father came home drunk with a bunch of younger co-workers; her mother welcomes them in and makes them food, only some of the ingredients may have been sourced from the garbage can… 
Part of me knows this isn’t the nicest thing to do, but her husband was also kind of an a-hole to her in this memory, so…I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little on board with this.
Some interesting vocab words (too many to list them all, so I'm limiting myself)
鼻の頭 (はなのあたま): tip of the nose (cute way of looking at it, imo)
古女房 (ふるにょうぼう): good old wife, one’s wife of many years
満面笑顔 (まんめんえがお): (with) one’s face beaming with joy; smiling from ear to ear (written in the book as 満面の笑顔)
Thrilled that I somehow made it to the end of the month without missing a day! Weekends are always a toss-up, so I’m glad I set myself with 野崎くん (even if I should maybe focus a little more on the other books on my list during the week).
Congrats to everyone who’s still chugging along with us on this challenge! Whether you haven’t missed a day or there’s several gaps in your tracker, you’re still making great progress. Here’s to 10月! 
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