June 11
Final Fantasy VII
Just did a little today, running low on energy. Hopefully more tomorrow!
23 Likes
June 11th 
・SAO Progressive 1 (2% → 6%)
This is a book I have a physical copy of (510 pages). I know the book is split into two parts and I’d like to at least finish the first part by this time next week, which would be at page 194. I don’t know if I can do it, I can only give it a try.
More look-ups than in Kagami no Kojou, but not as many as in Kusuriya no Hitorigoto. Got stuck on the first page due to the astronomy term “second magnitude star” (二等星) trying to figure out what object in the sky that was supposed to be. (Wikipedia was not very helpful)
Was a bit hard to stay focused at times, but surprisingly didn’t suffer from fatigue. Feels good! Makes me wonder what’s the (next) main bottleneck holding me back in my reading skills right now, if that makes sense.
24 Likes
Forgot to post this yesterday, but I read 人魚禁漁区, the second story in 竜のかわいい七つの子.
Synopsis
A boy, Jun, happens across a mermaid on the side of the road, unmoving but seemingly alive, and calls for help to get her back in the water. The next day at school, he hears one of his classmates talking about how he’d run over a mermaid on his bike on the way to school yesterday—she was likely the same one. In this world, mermaids are regarded as animals and pests with whom humans compete for fish, and if you harm or even kill a mermaid, you don’t even get a slap on the wrist. There are people who fight for mermaids to have human rights, but they’re generally looked down on by society. Jun finds himself sympathizing with them, though. When he sees the mermaid again that afternoon, determined to make her way out onto the road, he decides to help her rather than leave her well enough alone as he’s been advised. He takes her to the school, where she’d been trying to get to, in a wheelbarrow filled with seawater, and afterwards, as thanks, she stuffs a bucket over his head and tries to take him to her home at the bottom of the sea, but of course, a bucket can’t hold air underwater and he would drown, and he manages to get away. He decides that he wants to become an ocean researcher and learn more about mermaids. I hope he gets to meet her again in the future and they can learn to communicate properly (and maybe fall in love?)
I’ve been thinking about starting DQXI in Japanese for a while now, and I finally started it yesterday! I named the Luminary エリオル (Elior), as that’s what I went with for his full name in the single fic I have completed for this game, which came about because I was wondering in what kind of circumstances Erik/Camus would even use his full name. (I usually call him El, and if I make a second save file, I’ll probably go with エル.) The game actually has the option to play with or without furigana, which can be changed at any time from the settings menu, which is pretty cool. I’m sticking with furigana for now. It also has the English voices, which I wasn’t expecting. There are definitely words I’ve had to look up, but I haven’t really been having any trouble so far aside from my slow reading speed—I miss like half the in-battle text, I have yet to be able to read even a quarter of one of the info cards on the loading screens, and it took me nearly 6 hrs to almost be ready to enter デルカダール城. The books actually give me more trouble than talking to the people.
Also I learned a new pronoun: 汝 (なんじ), an archaic form of “you.” It has multiple other readings as well, some of which are respectful, polite, or derogatory. It was used by the guy who gives you your first quest, as part of a saying telling one to be kind to everyone.
Some vocab of note:
擬態 (ぎたい) [noun] mimicry
匍匐前進 (ほふくぜんしん) [noun, する verb] crawling along
猫車 (ねこぐるま) [noun] wheelbarrow. I already knew 手押し車, so now I know two words!
餌付け (えづけ) [noun, する verb] artificial feeding; accustoming wild animals to eating food given by humans
アザ [noun] birthmark
月日が経つ (つきひがたつ) [expression, タ五] time passes; the days and months go by; the months roll on
元も子もない (もともこもない) [expression] losing everything; coming to nothing
ふきだし [noun] speech bubble. I saw it written in kana all but once, when a デルカダール guard used the kanji: 吹き出し.
首を長くする (くびをながくする) [expression, する verb] to eagerly look forward to
石畳 (いしだたみ) [noun] stone paving; cobble paving; cobblestone; flagstone
神秘的 (しんぴてき) [な-adjective] mysterious; mystical
まんざらでもない [expression] not all bad; not as dissatisfied/annoyed as one would have others believe
足手まとい (あしでまとい) [noun, な-adjective] impediment; burden; encumbrance; hindrance
退ける (しりぞける) [一, transitive] to repel; to drive away; to repulse; to reject. New reading for this kanji! I only knew のける, which, of course, being different words, has a somewhat different meaning.
欠かせない (かかせない) [expression, い-adjective] indispensable; vital; fundamental; imperative; crucial; critical
全滅 (ぜんめつ) [noun, する verb] annihilation; total destruction; crushing defeat
太刀打ち (たちうち) [noun, する verb] crossing swords. competing against; contending with; fighting against.
古今東西 (ここんとうざい) [四字熟語, noun] all times and places; all ages and countries
21 Likes
I was tired today from work and Fathers’ Day shopping (rather, from having to go out into the heat to do so. It was hot as everliving hell out there: 99°F, feels like 109°), so playing some DQXI was it for my reading today. I played for about 4.5 hrs, just long enough to meet Erik and escape, then hear from Deku (I don’t remember his name in English; Dirk?) where the red orb is.
It seems Erik will form imperatives by taking the ます stem and adding な (来な, 行きな). That’s my first time seeing that. (Of course, I did hear it when I first played a couple years ago, but I didn’t notice. I don’t think I even recognized Erik’s voice as being Uchiyama Kouki’s… I’m pretty sure I recognized Jasper/Homerus as Sakurai Takahiro, though; I don’t think I’ve ever not recognized his voice.)
Some vocab of note:
地下牢獄 (ちかろうごく) [noun] dungeon (specifically one which is a prison)
旧知 (きゅうち) [noun] old friend; old acquaintance
間一髪のところ (かんいっぱつのところ) [expression, noun] close call; narrow escape. Really, Erik said “間一髪だったな,” but context says it was a shortening of this.
振り切る (ふりきる) [ラ五, transitive] to break off from (pursuer); to pull away
欲を言えば (よくをいえば) [expression] ideally; if one were to wish for more
首を突っ込む (くびをつっこむ) [expression, マ五] to poke one’s nose into another’s affairs; to have a hand in; to take a deep interest in; to meddle in
21 Likes
June 11 Home Post
I started today off with some more 海辺のカフカ for this week; so far so good! I read like 16 pages total today without much trouble so at this rate I think I’ll be able to keep up with the book club just fine 
I didn’t really intend to play much AI: The Somnium Files since I was busy and didn’t start until it was pretty late, but uh… things happened 
I’m always saying AI keeps throwing new stuff at me but it really just keeps happening, every time I think I have some idea what’s going on there’s some new wild aspect and man. It’s a whole time 
~ AI things ~
Sooo I talked to イリス after we got attacked and… there are alien program conspiracies now?? I can truly never guess where AI will go next huh, wild But yeah that’s a whole thing, so now we’re doubting not only our boss and our whole work situation but also the AI who literally lives in our eye?? Like アイボゥ being so immediately like “well that’s all clearly ridiculous, there’s no way you believe her right?” and 伊達 just like “…but you’re connected to that program, right?” 
Yikes! The conspiracies might go deeper than I ever thought; I’ve been concerned about how our boss just conveniently happened upon 伊達, memory-less and missing an eye, and was like “yeah come be part of my secret agency!” like that’s so sketchy, she clearly knows more about this than we do. And 6 years ago (that fateful time) the only other Psync machine in existence got mysteriously stolen and no one knows where it is? There is so much sketchy stuff here, I’m so concerned 
On a more fun note though, I can’t believe イクラマンふとし is Minecraft It’s some Stanley Parable stuff all over again, waking up in this somnium Minecraft world:
Things are wild right now lmao.
Ooooh Nightshade 
I messed with it a little a while back so I can’t give super accurate information, but from what I remember of the time it wasn’t that bad apart from some intimidating historical stuff right at the beginning It’s one I’ve been thinking about getting back into sometime soon, so it’s exciting to see other people interacting with it
25 Likes
Jun 12, Sun calendar post
Week 11 of Spring 2022’s summary
I don’t really read as much, as I split some time to listening, and planning on listening better.
Reading
- I read two chapters of Night Cafe somehow. I also considered continuing ahead +1 chapter – not really impossible, but I held back by an expectation of needing some efforts.
- Read JoJo, to fulfill the plan
- Read Death Note Ch.17 (first of Vol.3) ahead
- Unsurprisingly, I still continue to buy and read miscellaneous stuff on Bookwalker.
- It’s the first time that I change the display language to Japanese on Steam.
- Apparently, this is required to see Japanese screenshots of a game.
Listening
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It’s a shortened form of ～なさい ^^ Makes it more casual.
10 Likes
Day Something
- ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 14巻
6/8
119-132
6/12
132-end (189)
Ah yes, the episode that can be summarized with Jotaro beats up an ape
23 Likes
The June Tanuki Den: Date 20220612 
No Longer Tanuki Progress: 16.50%
Not too much time today, but managed to fit in a paragraph or so.
Japanese found in the tall grass
Learnthings
他郷「たきょう」ー Another place; foreign lands
難易「なんい」ー Difficulty; relative difficulty
六親眷属「ろくしんけんぞく」ー All of one’s relatives, by both blood and marriage; your kin
蠕動「ぜんどう」ー Vermiculation; peristalsis; to wiggle like a worm
蛮声「ばんせい」ー Rough voice
配属将校「はいぞくしょうこう」ー Commissioned officer of a school
肉体「にくたい」ー The body; the flesh; one’s physique [MEAT BODY]
People
聖徳太子「しょうとくたいし」ー Prince Shotoku (6th-7th Century) Also apparently had very baggy clothes.
24 Likes
Oh, neat! Thanks!
Would most polite to most casual be 行ってください > 行きなさい > 行きな > 行け? (Or at least I assume なさい is below ください since it generally doesn’t get translated with a “please” in English, but I haven’t actually learned it…)
4 Likes
June 12th!
I read the next chapter of Yoru Cafe today. As always it took me a long time, about 90 minutes again - but I didn’t find it too tough to read this week, it was mostly vocabulary I knew and even though there were a few bits of grammar that I puzzled over a bit, I’m pretty sure I got the gist of it all in the end. 
20 Likes
Yeah, I guess you could say that. A short summary of what I think:
- 行ってください - is the most polite out of those four. Carries the meaning of a request.
- 行きなさい - sounds like a parent or teacher telling their child/student to do something.
- 行きな - I think this is mostly used between peers, I haven’t seen it much yet so I can’t tell.
- 行け - sounds bossy and rude. Imperative form.
9 Likes
June 12th
・SAO Progressive 1 (6% → 12%)
Currently longing for the days where I could enjoy the simplicity of copy-pasting words from ebooks.
googles how to set up yomichan in physical books
28 Likes
June 12
Being a bit lenient with myself today. Feels entirely appropriate for this off month in the challenge. I’m counting playing Atelier Sophie as my “reading” today, despite the fact that it is only listening (since I am playing with English text). Still, I played for several hours and had several story bits.
And like with any medium, I’m encountering words I recently learned on WK. I’ve been hearing 真剣 quite a bit. Also fun when I noticed a discrepancy between the audio and the translated text. Sophie called out two names with a surprised/questioning tone, and they decided to translate that as: “NAME A and NAME B. Why are you here?” or something very like that. And I guess that is the difference between audio and text, because audio can convey tone. But it sounded a bit accusatory to ask “WHY?!”
They’re your friends, mate.
24 Likes
| June | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 月 | 火 | 水 | 木 | 金 | 土 | 日 |
| 01 | ||||||
| 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 |
| 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 | 31 |
15 Likes
June 12 Home Post
I… hm. I can feel the end coming in AI: The Somnium Files so I played like… a lot today and woah, things are wild. Brain is currently overloaded with crazy plot things If I had to guess I’ll probably finish in the next day or two? So we’ll see
AI stuff because what even happened today omg
I don’t even know where to start I had good instincts about ピュータ being sketchy but like… I don’t think he’s bad actually? Probably, clearly he and 沖浦 and 89 are all connected in various ways and at this point I’m very unclear on what they’re actually trying to do Like I don’t think 沖浦 or 89 would want to hurt イリス? I certainly don’t see why they would, and therefore I don’t know why ピュータ would since his main investment in all this seems to be 沖浦 
But like the last thing I saw was 沖浦 dead in the Psync machine and 89 shocking 伊達 which would indicate them not being on the same side but?? Why?? Then there’s the whole thing with the Psync machine swapping people’s minds which they clearly had to find out somehow, and that trial version requires an eye I guess? So maybe it wasn’t 89 anymore
But there was a whole lot of backstory today; 愛夏 
That whole situation is really sad, and complicated yikes, 世島's got a lot going on too But okay listen - 伊達's definitely his son yeah? He definitely did the murder all those years ago as a tiny child and somehow now doesn’t remember it and they’re like protecting him from that reality I guess? But yikes, that… has so much angst within it, oof. Depending on who all does and doesn’t know… like he’s raising 沖浦's daughter, ouch. I… am worried But also this Psync machine mind swapping mechanic… I feel like that must be relevant to 伊達 somehow as well? Like he’s missing an eye which the prototype probably used, and he’s missing all his memories from before that time? Except for these weird snippets where he remembers doing that like temple pattycake song with イリス as 89, like… and he just has weird knowledge of stuff he shouldn’t have any idea about. Plus it would explain how we were “randomly” found on street and roped into this special agency… idk
Wow you can tell things are getting wild because I can’t shut up about it In other news there was a Zero Escape reference; there’s a lot of references to other spike chunsoft games haha
(calling a frozen corpse ALL-ICE… yikes lmao)
22 Likes
June 13
Read the next story in The Best Selection from Yuu Watase (her name actually appears in this order when written not written with kanji/hiragana on the book cover). I actually flipped through it yesterday, to kinda get an idea of what the story was about. That made me think I wouldn’t like it, so today felt like it was gonna be a chore. But the story was better than I imagined it from just browsing the pages.
But I’ve almost got a headache after reading. Probably because I woke up with fried brain. Poor sleep last night I guess. So felt like a real mental effort to read even though it had about the same difficulty as all the other stories in this volume. (Aka it is my fried brain status that made the effort hard, not the text of the story.)
Will probably play more Atelier Sophie later because what else am I gonna do with a mostly offline brain? Listening practice will not be very valuable, but then I don’t think anything I do today will be high quality. And a nap would probably not make a difference because they rarely/never do for me. 
Edit: Should mention that I am feeling better about my days again. Mostly back to my more cheerful self, even with a dead brain. 
?
22 Likes
Yesterday’s:
Y’know I remembered that Deku calls Erik/Camus アニキ, but I forgot Erik calls him 相棒. I’m kinda jealous tbh. Since パートナー gets used more often, 相棒 feels more special. Like, (Vance? Vince?) will call you 相棒, and it would be one thing if everyone called their partner 相棒 in this competition, but no, they use パートナー. It’s just him. So I’m like, “No! Only Erik can call me 相棒!” But I’m not the only one Erik calls 相棒…
Also! It comes with voice dramas! And you can toggle the text on and off and it has a log mode where you can read the whole thing and you can jump forward and back by individual sections! So I’ll definitely be listening to/reading those at some point, though probably not anytime soon.
Anyway, I played for about 6 hours. We got the red orb back into our possession and escaped through the traveler’s gate to Homura (first イシの村 [石], then ホムラの里 [炎]… I don’t really remember the next place, so I wonder which is next), then started off toward the monster hideout in the west. I had wanted to finish the labyrinth and have Veronica and Senya/Serena join up, but I ended up being too tired and turned in. Aside from unlocking お宝ハンター/Itemized Kill, I haven’t gotten to where Erik starts calling you 相棒 yet.
Some vocab of note:
密林 (みつりん) [noun] close thicket; dense forest; jungle. Apparently this is also a slang word for Amazon.com lol
青二才 (あおにさい) [noun, derogatory] green youth; immature youth; novice; greenhorn
乗りかかった船 (のりかかったふね) [expression] having gone too far to turn back
事切れる (こときれる) [一, intransitive] to expire; to die
なんの変哲もない (なんのへんてつもない) [expression, い-adjective] completely ordinary; plain; commonplace; everyday
いてもたってもいられない [expression, い-adjective] unable to contain oneself; itching to do something; cannot sit still
金床 (かなとこ) [noun] anvil
指南 (しなん) [noun, する verb] instruction (in martial arts, performance, etc.); teaching; coaching. This comes from 指南車, an ancient Chinese vehicle with a compass whose needle always pointed south.
マセる [一, intransitive] to be precocious; to be mature for one’s age; to seem grown-up; to seem mature
無骨 (ぶこつ) [noun, な-adjective] boorish; unrefined; rustic; uncouth; clumsy; brusque
単刀直入 (たんとうちょくにゅう) [四字熟語, noun, な-adjective] straight to the point; point-blank; frank; direct
19 Likes
I hit a little bit over 100k characters read in total for 生命のスペア yesterday. I think I’m averaging almost 10k characters a day but I have a lot more free time on the weekends compared to weekdays, so the average gets a bit inflated from weekend reading days The story has been decent so far, if I wasn’t tracking my total character count I would think I’m near the end but I’m only about 1/3 of the way done per jpdb’s total character count for this game. I’m not sure how the story will end when there is so much left but it has been a fun read so far! Relatively simple too, the grammar is a lot easier than I expected, its mostly just a lot of vocabulary look ups.
21 Likes
The June Tanuki Den: Date 20220613
No Longer Tanuki Progress: 18.23%
The main character is starting to get creepier and creepier.
Japanese found in the tall grass
Learnthings
鉄棒「てつぼう」ー Iron bar; horizontal bar (that’s used in gymnastics)
幅飛び「はばとび」ー Long jump; broad jump
尻餅「しりもち」ー Falling on your bum; also the mochi for a child’s first birthday (it’s put on their back and they look like a turtle, I’m sure someone shared some cute pictures of that earlier in this challenge or in the previous one)
囁く「ささやく」ー To whisper/murmur
見破ら「みやぶら」ー To see through something (like a lie, façade etc.)
業火 「ごうか」ー Hellfire; flames of hell
発狂「はっきょう」ー Lunacy; madness
演じる「えんじる」ー To act/play (a part/role); to perform; to put on
重苦しい「おもくろしい」ー Heavy feeling; gloomy; oppressive atmosphere
溜息「ためいき」ー Sigh
木っ葉「こっば」ー Wood splinter/chip; worthless person or thing
じっとり ー Damp (has negative nuance, like clammy)
キョロキョロ ー Looking around restlessly; fidgety eyes
四六時中「よんろくじちゅう」ー Around the clock; day and night
口走る「くちばしる」ー To blurt out
媚笑「びしょう」ー Charming; enticing smile
猫撫で声「ねこなでごえ」ー Soft, coaxing voice
下駄箱「げたばこ」ー Shoe rack or cupboard for shoes
Other Forms
見廻す ＝ 見回す「みまわす」(to look around)
傍から ＝ 側から「そばから」(as soon as; right after)
@Redglare, realised that yesterday was a year since I joined your first reading challenge, so it’s been a whole(ish) year of reading! I started off struggling, and I’m still struggling, but just with harder things now, so… 
Advanced Struggling
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