📚📚 Read every day challenge - Spring 2022 🌸 🌱

[Zakarius]

The June Tanuki Den: Date 20220607

No Longer Tanuki Progress: 9.35%

There’s some pretty obscure kanji here that don’t have furigana, but then it gives me furigana for 空.

I um… also have an announcement, that’ll quickly be never spoken of again.

Somehow I completely forgot that I needed to times my character calculations by 100 to get the correct reading percentage. So… my reading is actually at 9%. and all my past readings will be two decimal places higher now.

I did think that my reading had been extremely miniscule, even by my slow standards.

Anywayyy…

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Japanese found in the tall grass

Learnthings

所謂「いわゆる」ー As it is called; so-called (have I come across this before in this book? Probably. This will most likely be a common recurrence until the words finally get rooted.)
目障り「めざわり」ー Eyesore; Unpleasant sight
滅多「めった」ー Seldom; rare; thoughtless; reckless
真夏「まなつ」ー Midsummer; height of summer
脚絆「きゃはん」ー Gaiters; leggings
レギンス ー Leggings
袖口「そでぐち」ー Cuff; armhole
上京「じょうきょう」ー Going up to the capital; going to Tokyo
怖ず怖ず「おずおず」ー Timidly; nervously
性癖「せいへき」ー Disposition; propensity; inclination
お正月「おしょうがつ」ー New year (especially the first three days of one)
獅子舞い「ししまい」ー Liondance (traditional dance)
手帖「てちょう」ー Pocket book; notepad; memopad

Different Forms
彼等「かれら」ー They / 彼ら

[AzusaChan]

I’ve been reading more 生命のスペア recently and kind of put the manga I was reading on hold, or focusing on it less at least. I try to hit at least 5k characters a day in the VN just so it won’t take me too long to finish (I think at that pace, it’d be almost exactly 60 days to finish this one which isn’t bad for me). I had a lot of free time this past weekend so I was able to go a bit above that. I’m at about 43k~ characters read in total and the story is about 300k long. I like all the characters so far though, they’re really cute and funny. The premise is kind of sad though so I’m a bit fearful of what’s going to happen by the end but I’m enjoying the ride.

The heroine of the story is cute and makes a lot of good jokes & facial expressions

Also a random WK vocab word (暴走族) that I didn’t expect to see in the wild, at least for this VN.

[Redglare]

Summary post

June 7th

・ かがみの孤城 下 (45% → 54%)

I have to find the book clubs threads. Stuff is happening

[MissDagger]

June 7

Read chapter 12 of Yotsuba& today. I love Yotsuba’s dojo for swimming. Do it like a fish! Think like a fish! The humor was a bit more repetitive than usual. Perhaps they should have gone to Waterworld. But Yotsuba saved the chapter with all the humor bits around her.

Feeling a bit low today. Several things in my life kinda going a little bit not right, so everything is shaded with some wrongness. Makes the whole day(s) feel rather dissatisfying at the moment.

[MaraVos]

Finished chapter 5, nine pages. Things are heating up!!

I kept track of some of these words today while reading because I didn't want to forget them.

ひざ and ひじ – reminds me of まつげ and まゆげ. One is elbow and one is knee. Do I remember which is which…? Yes! (Because Kirishima-kun totally sucked the blood off Miu’s skinned knee!!! )
こめかみ – temple (part of your head)
鼻にかける – I love this! To be full of pride, boastful. Like, so full of pride that you hang a little sign on your nose letting everyone know why!
気が散る – to get distracted
口づけ – to kiss (as a prince kisses a princess’ hand)
ooh, one more
高鳴る – to throb!

[MaraVos]

Sorry you are feeling down. Hope things start going totally right and you feel better soon.

[rikaiwisdom]

Summary Post

June 2
Final Fantasy VII

June 5 - 7
Final Fantasy VII

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I keep wanting to update but I’m playing quite late at night and I’m always tired right after so I never do. Haven’t done today yet but I’m about to so might as well just add it. Sadly not much to say without disclosing heavy spoilers, but it’s been getting more and more spicy.

[Daisoujou]

@Thud

Played some more Persona 4 Golden recently and I’m right about to head into the first dungeon.

Oh I love Persona 4, super cozy memories just looking at that screenshot. Hope you have a great time, and definitely keep us updated.

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Another quick update, but another 8000 characters! Hanging in there much better today. Not much I can say without spoiling the game structure a bit too heavily, but my general feelings remain from before. Still waiting for things to heat up. Nothing huge good or bad when it comes to my reading, just continuing the grind.

[lucylavelle]

June 7th!

I had a call with a friend and we read a page of the 君の名は light novel together.
I also read chapter 67 of Yotsuba which had a few hilarious panels of Yotsuba trying a Bucking Bronco exercise machine.

(Home Post)

[DIO-Berry]

Day Something

• ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 14巻

6/4
67-70

6/5
71-92

6/6
93-102

6/7
103-118

I’ve been bad about posting

[enbyboiwonder]

Home

Super tired today and only ended up having the energy to read the first two chapters of ジャム屋さん on Satori Reader.

[natarin]

June 7 Home Post

I played some more AI: The Somnium Files today! I’m going down pretty much a completely different path than I have in the past so lots of new stuff; 硝子(しょうこ) is still a garbage mom though, she really told her daughter she wished she was never born huh?? Awful, the whole sequence in that somnium with アイボゥ comforting みずき through her mother’s voice was really depressing, that poor girl needs so many hugs

There was fun little part that I think is a Haikyuu reference? I could be reading Haikyuu into everything lmao, wouldn’t surprise me, but:

And then she just spikes this giant panda head full force powerful, I love Haikyuu

On a different note, I was in the mood to read a book today and I’m all caught up on 海辺(うみべ)のカフカ sooo I picked up 風(かぜ)が強(つよ)く吹(ふ)いている again! And I ended up reading 20 pages in like two hours so yeah, safe to say I’ve improved since I last touched it. I also briefly attempted 錆喰(さびく)いビスコ again and I’m at the point now where I can actually tell how much weirder the writing is in it than in 風(かぜ)つよ 風(かぜ)つよ is miles easier for sure. But yeah it was really nice to go back to it! It felt really doable with some lookups here and there, and I always love seeing the character interactions and such. I’m finally living up to my avatar again haha

[MissDagger]

Reply

@MaraVos

Sorry you are feeling down. Hope things start going totally right and you feel better soon.

Thanks.

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June 8

Read chapter 13 and 14 of Yotsuba&, finishing volume 2. Favorite chapter was probably どんまい, but also loved the revenge chapter and the cake chapter. As for chapter 13 and 14:

Miura-chan… Poor Yotsuba, at least Ena has got her back, and then poor Ena. Seldom goes well for Ena, eh? The stillness at the end when we cut to Asagi was very nice. Then chapter 14, an Asagi chapter!, even called as such (sneakily). Although pretty tame appearance from her. Winding Fuuka up with making it seem like their dad is dead. There is some interesting stuff going on there potentially, considering the facial expressions of Asagi and mom. While Ena happily announces that Asagi will kill their dad soon.

So neither were laugh out loud chapters, although a couple of chuckles slipped out. Poor Fuuka though is the butt of a lot of jokes and supposedly not very skilled at anything. Her T-shirts are a highlight even if her family can’t appreciate them. I hope she gets to show off some brilliance at some point.

[omk3]

Summary update for June so far:

I’ve continued reading everyday. I’m keeping up with the book clubs and finished 佐賀のがばいばあちゃん. I’ve also started 糞尿譚 (currently at 17%), which I’m finding hard. I mean, it was written in 1937 so there’s really no way it would be easy, but still, my newly-found confidence took quite the hit. It didn’t help that I tried listening today (something I haven’t really actively practiced so far), and, what do you know, Japanese is still very much a foreign language. I mean, I do catch most of the words I already know as long as they’re spoken slowly and with adequate pauses (not happening), but connecting them into a cohesive whole that makes sense? I’m still not really doing that.

[Zakarius]

The June Tanuki Den: Date 20220608

No Longer Tanuki Progress: 10.61%

Now I’ve gotten a bit further into the book I can safely say that the English version I’ve read was actually really quite bad. Maybe it was just the version I read, but it’s like reading a whole new book.

Most stuff I’ve read that’s been translated from Japanese is usually pretty good, so I’m surprised that a classic of Japanese literature has such a poor translation. Maybe I bought the really naff copy and somehow missed the good one

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Japanese found in the tall grass

Learnthings

復讐「ふくしゅう」ー Revenge
客間「きゃくま」ー Guest room; drawing room; parlour
捲る「めくって」ー to turn over; to turn pages; to leaf through (a book)
仲店「なかみせ」ー Shops lining a passageway in the precincts of a Shinto shrine. Also seen as: 仲見世.
滅茶苦茶「めちゃくちゃ」ー Absurd; unreasonable; preposterous!
出鱈目「でたらめ」ー Nonsense; rubbish
次兄「じけい」ー Second oldest brother
フラッシュ ー The flash of a camera; flashlight; newsflash; very shot scene of a TV show/film
更紗「さらさ」ー Cotton print; calico. From the Portuguese: Saraca. (Ateji kanji)
風呂敷 「ふろしき」ー Wrapping cloth

Kanji Form
筈「はず」ー kanji for はず - should (be); expected (to be)

[lucylavelle]

June 8th!

Today I read chapter 68 of Yotsuba. It started and ended as cutely as usual but there was a really sad bit in the middle which I wasn’t prepared for! It ended on a much nicer note though thankfully!

(Home Post)

[Redglare]

Summary post

June 8th

・ かがみの孤城 下 (54% → 61%)

(I’ve forgotten how lively it is at home, feels good to be back.)

[enbyboiwonder]

Home

I read the preview for クロスゲーム. I remember borrowing the series from my local library (though in middle or high school, I don’t know) and loving it. I was reminded of the series today and thought I might get it sometime.

I read act 5 of ボーイミーツマリア.

It's almost showtime

Taiga landed the lead role in the play! It seems he’s improved quite a bit under Arima’s guidance (during the dress rehearsal, some of his fellow club members can’t believe it’s really him lol). Also, Arima calls him by his given name now!

lol special training for what, again, exactly?

Ah man, the guy who told Taiga that Arima was definitely a girl in ch 1 shows up to the dress rehearsal with the intent of confessing, and Arima, instead of ignoring the gallery as he intended, ends up having an outburst exposing himself as a guy when that guy tried to (way too loudly) argue with his friends that he knows Arima’s a girl and she must have her reasons for wearing the boys’ uniform and all that (yes, nearly everyone already knows he’s a guy, but that’s not the point—it’s when he’s in girls’ clothes; it’s not on his terms), and it triggers a panic attack, like when that teacher came to watch his performance last year and it messed him up, but Taiga is out of the wings and by his side in a second to try to calm him. The other girls dancing on stage with him tried to approach him— “Arima-kun? Are you all right?” —but he couldn’t really hear them. Only Taiga: his arms around him, supporting him; his voice telling him, “It’s all right. You’re all right.”

I kinda doubt it will, but if this ever gets an anime or something, I hope Enoki Junya voices Taiga. He’d be perfect for him.

The last chapter is longer than the others, ~60 pgs rather than ~30 for the previous ones.

I picked up 明日をくれた君に、光のラブレターを today and read the pre-story bits (three partial pages) and 9 pages of the prologue, 放課後のシークレット, leaving off on pg 16. Midzuki is an outsider, doesn’t have many friends (only the one, it seems: Ritsu), and doesn’t really know how to deal with people, so I can relate to her.

Some vocab of note:

めっそうもない [expression] don’t be absurd; that’s out of the question; nonsense
弱音を吐く (よわねをはく) [expression, カ五] to whine; to make feeble complaints
立ち稽古 (たちげいこ) [noun] rehearsal
物心 (ものごころ) [noun] awareness of things around oneself; ability to understand what’s going on around oneself; judgement; discretion
さらさらない [expression, い-adjective] not in the least
露見 (ろけん) [noun, する verb] discovery (of a plot, misdeed, etc.); detection; exposure; disclosure
当たり障りのない (あたりさわりのない) [expression, prenominal] harmless or inoffensive; bland; tepid
常日頃 (つねひごろ) [temporal noun] every day; at all times; frequently
狼狽 (ろうばい) [noun, する verb] confusion; dismay; consternation; panic
上旬 (じょうじゅん) [adverbial noun, temporal noun] first 10 days of the month

[natarin]

June 8 Home Post

Read some more 風(かぜ)つよ! They’re all doing their best in their own ways, it’s really nice to see. They’re all good characters :') so it’ll inevitably hurt more when more angst comes, rip. I also started playing Obey Me! on a whim for funsies I don’t know much about it but I figure spotify’s recommended me enough of the songs from it at this point for me to give it a go haha. It’s cool so far! The whole intro section was kind of a lot but it seems fun, at the very least it’s more reading practice for now

[Zakarius]

The June Tanuki Den: Date 20220609

No Longer Tanuki Progress: 12.33%

It’s a lot more motivating now seeing that I’m moving by a percentage each read, rather than a tiny fraction.

I’m having fun too. Look forward to reading each day, even though I know how everything pans out, it is like reading it from new again. The humour really comes across in this first chapter (and the overall feeling of egotistical self-loathing that, even without knowing how the novel turns out, it’s used so well that you just know things aren’t going to go well), the tone is really well set.

Taking it a sentence at a time so I don’t get too frustrated with the start-stop of having to look up a lot of words and “what even is this grammar? WHAT IS THIS”, but that isn’t always smooth, today the record was beaten for longest sentence at 243.

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Japanese found in the tall grass

Learnthings

博士「はかせ」ー Expert; learned person; Doctor (the PhD kind)
馴染「なじみ」ー Intimacy; familiarity
講談「こうだん」ー Storytelling with a highly dramatic delivery (usually chronicles of war, revenge tales and the like)
剽軽「ひょうきん」ー Facetious
嗚呼「ああ」ー Ah! Oh! Alas! (the line it’s used amused me: しかし、嗚呼、学校！)
殆ど「ほとんど」ー Almost; nearly; practically; basically; virtually
或る「ある」ー A certain [thing]; some [things]
全知全能「ぜんちぜんのう」ー Omniscience and omnipotence; all-knowing, all-powerful
赤恥「あかはじ」ー Great shame; great embarrassment
病み上り「やみあがり」ー Convalescence; to gradually get better after illness; the late stage of an illness when it starts to pass
人力車「じんりきしゃ」ー Rickshaw
綴り方「つづりかた」ー Way of writing (in a literary composition kind of way); way of spelling something; school composition (in other words: 作文)
滑稽噺「こっけいばなし」ー Funny story, focusing on humour and ridiculousness
痰壺「たんつぼ」ー Spittoon; spit jar
職員室「しょくいんしつ」ー Staff room
通信簿「つうしんぼ」ー Report card