Oh my god I love him so much! :333 10/10 would hug him be his study buddy. Was about to comment on how racoon-like he is, only then I noticed the rest of your post.
Such a precious durtcoon
Hmm… Durtcoon… GASP How about he’s a Durtanuki!?! The “T” fits so naturally
Oh my god how did I not see that! Love it, gives it a big personality :33 Durtanuki for the win
It’s a challenge, not gonna lie I’ve really enjoyed it though! I knew nothing about it beforehand, just picked it up on and quickly got invested, as you do. I’ve since been side-tracked by Zero Escape but I do really miss it, I miss my boys :')
But yeah from a language standpoint it has some weird words as light novels sometimes do, and the sentences get pretty long, but it has like half-ish furigana which was what actually motivated me to keep on with it in the beginning. I do really like the writing though, rough as it can be sometimes it’s really interesting, the author messes with the language in some pretty cool ways!
Super relatable, I definitely read more in Japanese these days than I have in English in ages It’s
been nice to kinda rediscover that love I used to have for reading this way!
Oooh I might have to check that out sometime! I’m always a sucker for sports/club-type stories, and I keep hearing about 2.43, but somehow I hadn’t really registered it as a light novel series
Ahhhhh a friend!!! Perfect
2.43 is really great, especially if you like sports dramas. (Part of the reason the recent anime wasn’t very popular, at least in the West since that’s what I know, is a lot of people were thinking, “It’s a volleyball anime, it’s gotta be exactly like Haikyuu” and never gave it a chance. They’re completely different genres, completely different stories.) The books are great, so much better than the anime (which I still love, even though it’s not all that great an adaptation), and the characters are amazing. The majority of them do speak Fukuiben though, which makes it more difficult, but if you know some Kansaiben it shouldn’t be too bad because of the overlap
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Here I am, participating in the spring reading challenge! I will be continuing with reading manga volume by volume, alternating between shounen and shoujo manga. Naturally, I will focus on manga that contain furigana. I am a beginner so I can’t read kanji in the wild yet but I am hoping that constant exposure will impart knowledge of kanji by osmosis. (Or at least, the consistency of routine will build up my reading habits and improve my reading comprehension. I’ve realised that I learn better when I have a routine to follow.)
I will be continuing 山田くんと7人の魔女2 from my extension of the winter challenge. I have only two more chapters to go. Then I will pick a shoujo manga from my extensive collection but that’s probably a week or two off from now.
Previous challenges
山田くんと7人の魔女2
第15話 キャーキャーキャーツ!! (つづく)
1st April
Read pgs. 159-162.
2nd April
Read pgs. 163-166. End of chapter 15.
第16話 超やわらか~い
3rd April
Read pgs. 167-173.
4th April
Read pgs. 174-183.
5th April
Read pgs. 183-193. End of volume 2.
しゅごキャラ! 1
第1話
6th April
Read pgs. 1-15.
7th April
Read pgs. 16-21.
8th April
Read pgs. 22-26.
9th April
Read pgs. 26-31.
10th April
Read pgs. 32-37.
11th April
Read pgs. 38-50.
12th April
Read pgs. 50-53. End of chapter 1.
第2話
13th April
Read pgs. 54-61.
14th April
Read pgs. 61-66.
15th April
Read pgs. 67-73.
16th April
Read pgs. 73-76.
17th April
Read pgs. 77-81.
18th April
Read pgs. 82-86. End of chapter 2.
第3話
19th April
Read pgs. 87-96.
20th April
Read pgs. 96-102.
21st April
Read pgs. 103-107.
22nd April
Read pgs. 108-115.
23rd April
Read pgs. 115-121. End of chapter 3.
第4話
24th April
Read pgs. 122-131.
25th April
Read pgs. 132-136.
26th April
Read pgs. 137-140.
27th April
Read pgs. 141-144.
28th April
Read pgs. 145-151.
29th April
Read pgs. 152-157. End of chapter 4.
第5話
30th April
Read pgs. 158-164.
1st May
Read pgs. 165-166.
4th May
Read pgs. 167-171.
5th May
Read pgs. 171-176.
6th May
Read pgs. 177-180.
7th May
Read pgs. 180-184.
8th May
Read pgs. 184-196. End of volume 1.
山田くんと7人の魔女3
Chapter 21 痛かったわ。
Chapter 22 何て悲劇よ。
Chapter 23 嫌かしら?
Chapter 24 探すんでしょーがツ。
第17話 してあげる。
9th May
Read pgs. 1-13.
10th May
Read pgs. 13-19.
11th May
Read pgs. 20-24. End of chapter 17.
第18話 モジモジ
12th May
Read pgs. 25-31.
13th May
Read pgs. 32-37.
14th May
Read pgs. 38-44. End of chapter 18.
第19話 好きにして。。。。
15th May
Read pgs. 44-51.
16th May
Read pgs. 52-55.
17th May
Read pgs. 56-64. End of chapter 19.
第20話 ちゃんと考えて。
18th May
Read pgs. 65-67.
19th May
Read pgs. 68-71.
20th May
Read pgs. 72-78.
21st May
Read pgs. 79-84. End of chapter 20.
第21話 痛かったわ。
22nd May
Read pgs. 85-104. End of chapter 21.
第22話 何て悲劇よ。
23rd May
Read pgs. 105-110.
24th May
Read pgs. 111-117.
25th May
Read pgs. 117-124. End of chapter 22.
第23話 嫌かしら?
26th May
Read pgs. 125-138.
27th May
Read pgs. 138-144. End of chapter 23.
第24話 探すんでしょーがツ。
28th May
Read pgs. 145-153.
29th May
Read pgs. 154-164. End of chapter 24.
第25話 ミーンミーン。
30th May
Read pgs. 165-178.
31st May
Read pgs. 179-193. End of volume 3.
となりの怪物くん 1
となりの吉田くん
嫌いじゃないよ
変
その1となりの吉田くん
1st June
Read pgs. 1-15.
2nd June
Read pgs. 16-30.
3rd June
Read pgs. 30-44.
4th June
Read pgs. 45-50. End of chapter 1.
その2 嫌いじゃないよ
5th June
Read pgs. 51-58.
6th June
Read pgs. 59-67.
7th June
Read pgs. 68-84.
8th June
Read pgs. 85-90. End of chapter 2.
その3 変
9th June
Read pgs. 91-99.
10th June
Read pgs. 100-114.
11th June
Read pgs. 115-122.
12th June
Read pgs. 123-132. End of chapter 3.
その4やっかい
13th June
Read pgs. 133-142.
14th June
Read pgs. 143-156.
15th June
Read pgs. 157-173. End of volume 1.
実は私は 1
第1話「告白しよう!」
第2話「追いかけっこしよう!」
第3話「弁当を食べよう!」
第4話「お見舞いに行こう!」
第5話「真面目に授業を受けよう!」
第6話「背くらべしよう!」
第7話「全部忘れよう!」
第1話「告白しよう!」
16th June
Read pgs. 1-20.
17th June
Read pgs. 21-36.
18th June
Read pgs. 36-55.
19th June
Read pgs. 55-60. End of chapter 1.
第2話「追いかけっこしよう!」
20th June
Read pgs. 61-68.
21st June
Read pgs. 69-78.
22nd June
Read pgs. 79-80.
23rd June
Read pgs. 81-96. End of chapter 2.
第3話「弁当を食べよう!」
24th June
Read pgs. 97-102.
25th June
Read pgs. 103-116. End of chapter 3.
第4話「お見舞いに行こう!」
26th June
Read pgs. 117-125.
27th June
Read pgs. 126-132.
28th June
Read pgs. 133-136. End of chapter 4.
第5話「真面目に授業を受けよう!」
29th June
Read pgs. 137-140.
30th June
Read pgs. 141-146.
Well - I’ve been off the reading bandwagon while I was moving this winter. I am mostly settled. My stress level has come down a bit. I’m hoping to be reading more regularly the next little while.
What I’d like to do is make progress with a book, but probably going to start with some more manga to ease back into things and see how it goes. No promises on what I’ll read - pretty much just going to my shelf and picking something I haven’t read at this point.
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Wow I leave the thread alone for a day and come back to 70+ posts and 55 notifications And I love it!
Welcome welcome welcome to all the first-time joiners!!!
And a big huge “welcome back” to all the returning challengers!!!
So happy to see so many people joining! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the participants are a huge part of what makes the challenge so successful, so thank you for being here! Looking forward to reading with you all
I will make my home post eventually lol but I need to organize my life first
I’m loving the multilingual vibes in here by the way So cool!
Me too I have so many unread English books, you guys…but I know I’m going to overwhelm myself if I try to do that as a challenge and Japanese too, so I’m not going to do that xD
THIS IS MY FAVORITE THING IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD OMG
DURTANUKIIIIII
I want him in the home post, can I put him in the home post
So excited to have you back btw!
I recently got back into reading English books at bedtime to help me unwind. Anyone who is familiar with my JP reading habits cough murder cough crime stories cough will not be surprised that my most recent finished book was about a Victorian era serial killer
I actually mostly read historical nonfiction like that in English but so far haven’t found much in Japanese, at least not available in ebook form. If anyone knows any titles I would be delighted to know.
(edit, there are some titles I do want to try, for example
戦前昭和の猟奇事件 looks very much up my alley )
Woohoo, a new challenge!
2022, 2nd Quarter
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This time as well I’ll be aiming to read in both Japanese and Mandarin every day. It’s so nice to see that other people are also mixing in other languages, yay!
For Japanese, my main goal is to read 30+ minutes of novels a day. Because lately I haven’t been finding the time for manga, this time I’ll also add the goal of finishing a manga volume a week. This week’s volume is: からかい上手の高木さん 17.
For Mandarin, I just need to read something every day. I’ll be focusing on Mandarin Bean entries (intensive aka looking everything up), 漫画 pages (extensive aka getting what I can), and my yearly goal book, which is a book of folktales for kids (intensive). I’ve started a large vocabulary push with Mandarin due to finding something above my current level that I really want to try reading, so additional goals would be to keep up with that and also to be sure and also study grammar and not just fling myself into the anki abyss (which is both simpler and more fun).
I will update on the day following my reading day. Same as last time: I’m aiming for a bit being <10 minutes, some being 10-30 minutes, a fair amount being >30 minutes (if it felt like I didn’t get a great deal read), and a lot being >30 minutes (if it felt like I read a great deal). I’ve found that keeping close track of time spent reading demotivates me, so it’s all フィーリングで. This is really only with Japanese, because my Mandarin reading フィーリング at the moment is more like: Is this reading? Am I just looking words up that happen to be in a row? I will persevere!!

You know, with how much I read other visual novels, I’ve been thinking I should check out some otome some day. At this rate it’ll be a while before I could get to one, but I’m not too picky about exact content if it’s a well written work. Taking a quick tour through the higher rated ones on VNDB, so many look extremely appealing aesthetically too…
there are some really good ones out there! especially once you can move beyond just what’s localized. there’s definitely a title for everyone.
I love him!!! hmm I think Sonny/Sunny would suit him heh.

DURTANUKIIIIII
I want him in the home post, can I put him in the home post
DURTANUKI!! It would be such an HONOR, please do!!

So excited to have you back btw!
So excited to be back, thank you

I think Sonny/Sunny would suit him
Aaahhh! “Sonny the Durtanuki” is too cute
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to take the books I bought with myself when I moved, but I still have internet for reading. So, this spring I want to read much more than I did last time. (and last time it was around 20 days, so I have a good chance to do it )
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New challenge!! Looking forward to it.
I’ve only partly picked what to read so far - will most likely follow in @natarin’s footsteps and play some more 999 , which has been really fun so far
As for books - I’m currently still reading a series I’ve started forever ago (NO. 6) and I’m planning on continuing that but since that’s gonna take me a while to finish and reading only one thing at a time would be… way too reasonable, I’m probably gonna pick up something else as well. I’m not gonna join any new bookclubs for now since classes are starting up again and I kinda feel like just reading whatever for a while, sooo I get to choose a new book for this challenge Exciting.
Would also like to finally read at least some of the manga I have piled up, but I’m just… not gonna make plans I might not stick to anyway
Home Post
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Days completed: not enough but let’s not talk about that
Last updated: June 6
Reading List
novels / light novels
- NO. 6 book #3 (?% - 100%)
- 死神の精度 (0% - 8%)
- 親愛なるあなたへ (0% - 22%)
games
- Zero Escape - 999
manga
- SPY×FAMILY 1
Previous summary post
Happy reading everyone

my normal reading habit has been dead for a while
Sounds familiar Not completely dead in my case but I’ve barely read anything in English over the last one or two years - though I’ve been getting back into it lately and it’s been nice, I did miss it quite a bit
. As much as I enjoy reading in Japanese, there’s something to be said for reading a book without having to look up words all the goddamn time

I’ve actually wanted to draw us a reading Durtle for so long now… but not just any Durtle will do! I’ve done my best to honour our original mascot, the Tanuki at the same time:
I love this a lot.
Pumped to be back for another season’s challenge! I took quite the break since the end of the last one, so I’m ready to dive back into it with everyone. I see we have a lot of new faces joining us this time. Happy to have you aboard! Also glad to see a lot of returning veterans. My only goal this time around (besides reading a little each day) is to not fall behind in the upcoming book club I’ll be participating in.
I’m looking forward to reading everyone’s posts and watching us all progress this spring. よろしく!
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本棚
消滅世界・村田 沙耶香 (part of Sayaka Murata Book Club)
かがみの孤城・辻村 深月(wanted to read w/ book club, but am SERIOUSLY behind; may post thoughts there, anyway)
授乳・村田沙耶香 (picking up where I left off in book club)
傘寿まり子・おざわ ゆき
TODAI app (articles in a pinch)
Key
0% ~ 33% finished
34% ~ 66% finished
67% ~ 99% finished
100% Complete!
progress not trackable
Updates
I got this badge for the first time today!

Here’s a question for fellow readers who may have put a book on hold for a little too long like I have: Do you start from the beginning, rereading the parts you have already read, or continue from where you left off?
If I left a book on hold for a really long time, that’s usually a sign that I’m not interested in the book. In that case, I just drop it. In the rare case I do decide to continue reading, I may look up synopses/blurbs until I jog my memory of where I’ve reached.

Here’s a question for fellow readers who may have put a book on hold for a little too long like I have: Do you start from the beginning, rereading the parts you have already read, or continue from where you left off?
Since I tend to make vocab lists while reading, if I’ve put off reading the book for a while, I’ll usually start from the beginning. This also let’s me see how many words and kanji I’ve picked up since my first reading which can be a nice motivator.
I’m doing a weird thing with 夜カフェ right now where I’m rereading with the book club but also reading where I’ve left off so I can make my own vocab list. I like doing more active reading because it helps me really think about the content. If I’m reading without looking up anything, it becomes more of a passive process for me, and I forget what I read soon after. If this happens, then it feels like reading to begin with was a waste of time.
(It’s not just a language acquisition thing either. I realized early on when reading and interacting with the text for my English major classes that I actually remembered the content vs the books I read for pleasure.)
But back to rereading books or not - if I hit a certain level where my vocab lists aren’t very long, and I’m more than halfway into the book, unless I hardly remember what was going on, I’d probably just finish it. Particularly if it wasn’t that interesting of a book and I just wanted to finish it to appease the completionist in me.
Not in Japanese but set in Edo period and basically a detective thriller about this samurai/police officer solving the mysteries surrounding the crimes impacting the shogun. It’s really well-researched in terms of the social restrictions of that time period because there’s only so many things the protagonist is allowed do to do depending on his position, and if he screws and gets caught, he’ll have to commit seppuku. A lot of the times he has to take risks to solve the mystery (or his and his retainers’ livelihood is in danger).
I would say it was one of the big influences for my interest in Japan during my high school days. It’s called the Sano Ichiro series by Laura Joh Rowland. It starts from Shinju and I believe the series is finally complete.
Also looking forward to the reading lists you share during this challenge. I love detective fiction but not quite the level to tackle it in Japanese yet.