Day 5 - April 5
- 美少年探偵団 1 - 9,67% → 10,27%
Just a little bit of reading before I go to work now. Will edit this later (if I get to read some more tonight) 
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I read Seed 3 of GREEN. Seems that, nope, ch 2 took place at the beginning of summer, not the end, as it’s summer break now. Wako declares that, as she doesn’t have class, for the next month she won’t be returning to Tōkyō no matter what they tell her.
More-or-less live reaction:
Hmm, do we get the first indication that Wako-chan’s feelings aren’t one-sided? Makoto teases her, saying that since she’s here he’ll take a summer vacation too and stay with his parents, because he enjoys seeing her reactions.
We meet another of the main characters, Nozomi (spelled 希望, which until now I didn’t realize could be a name, much less that のぞみ could be a masculine name), the prettyboy idiot son of the Seiwa Grape Plantation who acts like he doesn’t want to succeed his father but actually still loves grapes and the countryside and does want to take over. The two of them don’t seem to have a very good relationship, but they don’t seem like they truly hate each other, either. Nozomi is 4 years younger than Makoto (and 1 year older than Wako), and they would play together as kids when Makoto would visit his grandparents every summer, though they’re not particularly close anymore. Nozomi likes Wako too and fabricates a lie about Makoto being gay (and confessing to him in HS) to try to get her to give up on him lol
Makoto likes her back, and we get a kiss! And Wako’s in a daze for a good while afterwards lol (Grandma: Just what in the world did you do to Wako-chan?! / Makoto: *telling silence and blush*)
I read 6 pages of 2.43, putting me on pg 42.
2.43 rambling:
Huh, so though Subaru, at the current point in time (third-year in high school) is the third-tallest character at 189 cm, he was pretty short in middle school. Come to think of it, during the awards ceremony scene in 1-1, he was described as being short, too. But the scene where Ochi and Subaru run into each other at the hospital, both there for routine checkups, is set in July their first year of high school, and the narrative talks as if Subaru’s not short now or indeed since the school year began (中学時代の三村は、たしかに決して身長に恵まれてはいなかった。) so he must have already grown a fair bit even just in the few months between the Hokushin’etsu Tournament in August and the start of high school in April.
That’s another similarity he has with Chika, then, since Chika also was really short as a kid (none of Chika’s family is particularly tall, either) but then by first year of high school he’d surpassed 180 cm. (Granted, I don’t know how tall Subaru was as a first-year, but quite likely at least 175 cm. So far we haven’t learned anyone’s height pre-main-timeline aside from Yuni’s and Chika’s.) And they were both born early (between Jan 1 and Apr 1), Subaru in March and Chika in January. They play different positions (Subaru a left/wing spiker, Chika a setter) and their personalities are pretty much the complete opposite (Subaru carefree and gregarious and Chika more reserved and withdrawn, though they’re both very driven and focused), but they’re pretty similar in a lot of other ways, it seems.
Huh, so that means Takasugi was taller than Subaru in middle school. Well, a lot taller. The first story in the side novel 空への助走, 強者の同盟, is about Takasugi during their second year of high school, after the third-years had just retired and Subaru had been given the captaincy and the ace position. Takasugi has always been first in everything, from the oldest in his year to the best on his middle school volleyball team—including being the tallest. And now he’s coming in second to Subaru in a lot of respects. He’s still the tallest at 190 cm, but Subaru’s just about caught up. I never did finish that story. I read all of 途中下車の海, which is about the captain of Fukuhou’s jūdō club, but I only read a handful of pages of 強者の同盟. I should definitely finish that sometime.
Speaking of comparisons, I can’t wait until we get some interaction between Fukuhou and Seiin. I specifically hope there’s interaction between Aoki and Fukuhou (I already know Oda, Yuni, and Chika all definitely interact with Subaru), particularly Ochi, because one of the mini anime was set I think at the practice match at Fukuhou, and it had Oda, Aoki, Subaru, and Ochi. Then Oda and Subaru headed off partway through, leaving just Aoki and Ochi, and with their boyfriends captains gone, they dropped the niceties and bared their figurative teeth at each other lol so yeah, I want an expansion on that antagonistic, guard-dog relationship they have. Somehow I get the feeling though that this mini anime is their only real interaction. Maybe in next 4 years… But at my current pace, I won’t get to it until December, augh!
Kabei-sensei seems to use 自分 more often for Ochi than for the other characters when it’s their POV. I wonder if it means anything, or if it’s coincidence and it’s just that she’s more frequently used structures where it would make more sense to put 自分 than the character’s name in these couple sub-chapters than in the others.
厳しい言葉に喉がぎゅっと締めつけられる。口論は昔から苦手だった。自分の中に反論はいっぱいあるのだが、言葉にできなくて結局言い負けるからだ。
That sounds a lot like me. But I don’t know what exactly it is that makes me bad at refuting stuff like that. It’s like, the arguments are definitely in there, at least halfway in words (the rest, if any, in impressions/feelings; I think in a mixture of words, images, impressions, and feelings), but they just… won’t come out. Or I can get them to, but they always fall flat, and I end up giving up, sometimes even before I’ve started. I just figure it’s probably something to do with my neurodivergence. So I’m not sure whether to start headcanoning Ochi as ADHD or autistic or what.
It’s because of 2.43 that I know like half the body part words that I do. 喉 (throat), 踵 (heel), 顎 (chin), 膝 (knee), 腰 (hip), 脚 (leg), 首 (head), 眉 (eyebrow). Also, 頭上部 (top of the head). I’m not sure when I learned 肩 (shoulder) or 首 (neck). 頭 (head), 目/眼 (eye), 鼻 (nose), 胸 (chest), 手 (hand), 腕 (arm), 足 (foot, leg), 顔 (face), 頬 (cheek) I knew before. 手首 (wrist) and 足首 (ankle) I might have learned on WK before encountering in 2.43. There may or may not be some I’m forgetting.
I read ch 6-10 of コナの大冒険.
Some vocab of note:
土下座 (どげざ) This was my first time seeing dogeza in kanji! Or, indeed, in writing at all.
バカタレ [noun] A stronger version of バカ.
すっとこどっこい [noun] Another word for “idiot,” which I’m only assuming from this one instance is stronger than バカタレ.
骨肉 (こつにく) [noun] Aside from the obvious “flesh and bone” meaning, it also can mean “one’s own flesh and blood; blood relative.”
持ち前 (もちまえ) [noun] one’s nature; characteristic; inherent; natural. I kind of assumed it was related to 建前 (the face you have vs. the face you put up), but it seems it’s just 建前 vs. 本音…
寸前 (すんぜん) [suffix] just before; on the verge of; on the brink of
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Read 三毛猫ホームズの推理 chapter 1, part 4
That bit about the “friendly discussions” was really funny 
You’re reading it too? Are there 5 of us now? 
Now that I’ve gotten to this part and have some context, I agree, especially considering the previous sentence. さまになる as a whole expression fits. The guy doesn’t look like the type for this or that.
EDIT: For those of you who like to know how long it is before a good break point so you can plan how much/when you read, section 5 is 20 pages, and it’s the end of chapter 1. I wanted to know the section length and saw a spoiler.
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Day 3 
Was super busy yesterday so I didn’t get time to post but managed to squeeze in a little reading time.
Read:マグメル深海水族館
Finished: Chapter 1
Time: 23 minutes
With this chapter the protagonist and more of his goals were established. Along with that each chapter seems to center around a different deep sea creature (this one had really cute giant isopods). Really enjoyed reading this one so far and the lack of furigana is really testing my kanji skills.
New Vocab
飼育員 caretaker
ダイオウグソクムシ Giant Isopod
掃除屋 Janitor; cleaner
水槽 fish tank, aquarium
狭き門 high barrier (to enter a highly competitive school, company, etc.); difficult hurdle;
大群 large crowd; large herd; large flock; large school; large shoal; swarm
清掃員 cleaner; janitor
死骸 (dead) body; corpse; carcass; remains
沈む to sink; to go under; to submerge
海底 bottom of the ocean; seafloor; seabed (I could tell the meaning of this one but somehow forgot 底 can be read that way)
絶食 fasting
ラッコ sea otter
足ひれ swimfin; (diving) fin; (diving) flipper
棲む to live (of animals); to inhabit; to nest (I thought this one was interesting, I knew 住む means to live but I never realized there was another kanji for referring specifically to animals.)
More spoilery thoughts
Giant Isopods are apparently referred to as “The Janitor of the Ocean,” because they eat the corpses of creatures that have sunk to the bottom. The protagonist Koutarou is working at Magmell as a janitor so the director (who he looks up to and just met for the first time) calls him
Poor Koutarou
I like how this chapter starts with Koutarou wondering if he’ll always just be a janitor and ends with him figuring out that he wants to become like the director and help people understand the deep sea better.
There were also some hints at a more overarching plot point involving the protagonist’s dad. There’s a point where Koutarou thinks “それに深海で働いたらいつかまた、お父さんに…” Which suggest to me that he kind of disappeared? Seems interesting.
Day 4
Read:マグメル深海水族館
Finished: Chapter 2
Time: 24 minutes
This one pretty consistently seems to take me around 23 minutes per chapter. With this I’m more than halfway through the first volume. This chapter’s sea creature is the Frilled Shark, which is apparently called a living fossil because of its lineage that goes all the way back to the Carboniferous.
New Vocab
Some more biological vocab this chapter
おどおど timidly; nervously; hesitantly; trembling (with fear)
捗る to make (good) progress; to move right ahead (with the work); to advance
通称 popular name; common name; nickname; alias
瀕死 (on the) verge of death
網 net; netting
受精卵 fertilized egg; fertilised egg
孵化 incubation; hatching
栄養 nutrition; nourishment
卵胎生 ovoviviparity
ラブカ frilled shark
浅瀬 shoal; shallows; sand bar; ford
習性 behavior; behaviour; trait; nature
野生 wild; growing wild; living in the wild
エラ gills; branchia
魚類 fish; fishes
More spoilery thoughts
It seems like in the last chapter Koutarou caught the directors eye and now he’s maybe considering giving him a more involved role at the aquarium. It also seems like the director might know something about his dad. He sent Koutarou to go pick up a Frilled Shark that had gotten caught in a fishermans net. Unfortunately by the time he got there the shark had already passed away.
Luckily with the help of the fisherman he was able to save one of the shark’s eggs and bring it back to the aquarium. Through this experience he learned that working the kind of job he wants means working directly with life and death and that seemed to be the directors purpose for sending him.
かわいい shark manga are perfect they look adorable! I love sea creatures (and different creatures in general) so I’m definitely going to pick some of these up. Thanks for the recommendations!
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This is probably a typo but I thought I’d mention it anyway. This is read いたる. 
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am loving this thread, this is the first time I participated here.
Last week I ordered the prefectures book for the next ABBC (都道府県の話), and all of しろくまカフェ. They arrived yesterday!
I’m loving that the prefectures book is just at/above my comfort level, I read the first two pages but will now wait for the group to get started. I have some other books for 2nd graders (e.g., biographies for 2nd graders) and it’s just a bit more of a slog to get through. This prefectures book will be fun!
The polar bear cafe manga looks challenging, but a bit easier than Doraemon, which I can get through slowly. I’m definitely going to make use of the old book club notes on it!
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I’ve made this userscript that might be helpful to people here:
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I wrote a bit about what I was reading last night at the time, but for an official update, I read 16 pages of 三毛猫ホームズの推理, finishing part 1, section 4.
Also, some minor fun bits from my reading:
なるほど、そんなことがあったのかと片山は内心肯いた。
I loved this sentence. Something about the imagery of someone nodding on the inside.
Also I was delighted by 浮浪者 (vagabond) which I dutifully learned from 怪人二十面相 back in 2020 and I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen since 
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Hah, I would make my own typo immediately after pointing out someone else’s. Fixed, thank you!
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Tanuki Den (aka Homepost): Date 20220405 
Tanuki Scroll V: 春先の雪女 
Read today’s Hyakumonogatari, about a haiku poet and Yuki-onna!
Japanese found in the tall grass
New Things
俳人「はいじん」ー Haiku poet. Self-explanatory really, but I think this is the first time I’ve ever happened upon this.
女らしく「おんならしく」ー Feminine; ladylike
笑い掛ける「わらいかける」ー To smile at; to grin at
あでやかな「艶やか」ー Glamorous; enchanting; bewitching. Cool kanji! 「艶」 though use of it is a bit out-dated.
歩きぶり「あるきぶり」ー Way of walking; one’s walking style
念入り「ねんいり」ー Careful; scrupulous; thorough
もしや「若しや」ー Perhaps; possibly
あるいは「或いは」ー Or; either
Forgotten Things
Meanings
得意「とくい」ー Good at; skilled at; forte
Sorry for passing on the typoitis!
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Heh, I just memorize what number my home post is (# 70 in this thread) and edit the url directly to jump to it. Or click the link I leave in each daily update. (Notifications help me navigate to my latest update)
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home post
Read 97 manga and one novel so far this year!
小説：about 30% done
| 四月 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
五月
I read most of the days but lost track. 
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Ah, with Japanese month names, will get on it in the afternoon
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Gotta be as 本格的 as possible
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Dunno man, using Arabic numerals instead of 一日, 二日, 三日…
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ahhh might be too much 本格的 
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春２０２２の毎日読みチャレンジ 5日
I’ve finished up page 23 and read page 24. Since I had to head to my psychiatrist I took my book with me and just tried to see what I could understand when just reading, without looking things up so technically I read more than just up until page 24.
I… There was a lot of science stuff I didn’t quite get. Since this is a mystery novel I would assume that I this will actual come in as being plot-relevant when Kusanagi is going to solve the case. To quote him (more or less) 理系オンチのせい
Not translated yet because my back is killing me right now. Also no vocabulary list because that would require me to sit up.
I will not keep this word from you however:
あほぼん - Stupid Osakan
I only looked for ほぼ, and the word above had nothing to do with the novel Just thought it was funny.
Thank you for helping me out 
Good to know that I just managed to confuse myself.
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Day 5 
三毛猫ホームズの推理 ~17% to 21%, chapter 1 section 4 to halfway through section 5
This section was pure katakana madness, ranging from (no spoilers really) アラン・ドロン (Alain Delon) to ラフマニノフ (Rachmaninoff) and ツァラトゥストラ(Zarathustra)! I also find it hilarious how, like in so many movies, (mild spoiler) the camera focuses on the cat (instead of a lamp on the bedside table) whenever there’s sex happening off screen/page.
I had imagined the Read Every Day Challenge going very differently for me. I thought I’d be reading a few pages here and there, one day from a book, another from a manga, in a relaxed, casual way, just so there would be some Japanese reading, even a few lines, every day. Instead, at least these first few days, I’ve been intensively and obsessively reading the same book at full speed (my current full speed anyway), regretting that I just can’t find the time to read even further each day. While this means I’m really enjoying the book, I’ll probably need to make myself slow down soon before reading starts eating away from the time I should be devoting to other things. I should also remember to take my time and practice my kanji recognition a little more. Right now, as I’m reading, I just don’t want to stop and spend a second or two on that kanji that I know (I know) but don’t immediately recall, I just quickly look it up (the joy of ebooks) and move on. Taking my time to properly “see” those kanji would surely be of greater benefit in the long run. No furigana manga are good for that - no easy way to look up anything.
Words and expressions of the day
後回し - putting off, postponing
小生意気 - cheekiness, impertinence
順を追う - to go through step by step
おせっかい - meddling, nosiness
時代遅れ - old-fashioned, behind the times
下心 - secret intention, ulterior motive
場違い - out of place, inappropriate
折り畳む - to fold up, to fold into layers
脅迫状 - threatening letter
確たる証拠 - definite evidence
接吻 - kiss (how did I not know this until now)
口付け - kiss (ditto)
主人公 - protagonist, main character
ばつが悪い - awkward, uncomfortable, embarrassing
口を挟む - to cut into a conversation, to interject
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Great actor! I love L’Eclisse, Le Samourai, stuff like that. A little surprising to see him referenced.
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11 pages of かがみの孤城 🪞 Week 19, finishing this week’s part!
More speculations among the characters about what is going on and maybe (cliffhanger!) we will find out next week if they can get some clear answers (we can probably all guess how that will go…).
Nice word of the day: 竜巻 - tornado
(I might have encountered it before, but it’s still a nice compound)
In unrelated news: I beat level 40, so yay for me! \o/ Two thirds done!
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