April 20th 
・薬屋のひとりごと (37% → 38%)
I’m still on chapter 15, only had time for six phone screen pages.
Seems like they already discussed it in the book club threads, but I find it funny when there’s a gairaigo in the furigana when it could just have been the actual reading of the word. Like in 衣嚢 = pocket, but it’s not a legit reading for that compound. Reminds me of 頁 = page, except that actually is a legit reading, lol.
It’s not much, but today I read the final chapter for ヨコハマ買い出し紀行 🛵 Volume 5 because I wanted to finish the volume.
I also played a couple of hours of 第2次スーパーロボット大戦OG (2nd Super Robot Wars Original Generation) which also counts, given the amount of dialog in that game. The last time I played it was a number of months ago and back then I could only read a sentence here or there, but I was glad to find that I can now read most of it without too much trouble (and even spot the mistakes in the fan translation) 
I really have to continue with かがみ tomorrow, otherwise I start falling behind…
April 20th!
I had visitors today so less reading time than usual! But I read 2 chapters of Shirokuma Cafe. There is something very cosy about this manga, so its a nice thing to read after a busy day 
Yeeaaaah, that’s kind of my expectation tbh! Still, could be some silly fun!
Or, at least, what the author thinks girls think a gay pirate story would be 
Aren’t a lot of BLs listed as josei, though? I know there are ones written for guys too, but it’s been my experience that a lot of queer stories are josei
I tried looking into that series the other day when it was first brought up to see if it was something I’d be interested in. It seems the first volume mostly just sets up the world/story, and the romance happens later. It seems it also gets very whumpy toward the poor MC in later volumes. And even though he’s 17, everyone seems to think he’s like 15, which makes the fact that at least one adult man falls in love with him even grosser. I have no idea if his actual love interest is also a teenager or not, but, I decided that even if his love interest is age-appropriate, the series wasn’t for me, so I didn’t try to look any further
Welcome! To both the challenge and the forums it seems.
I love that image, and I think I have a new dream for my life now. Time to start checking waterfalls.
Today I read about 7500 characters! Nice little bump upwards. Also late last night I decided to spend a little more time on the game and totally finished Umi’s route, so that’s even more significant progress! Today I started hanging out with Kamome:
She seems fun. Very playful character. Most of the time that leads to really short basic sentences that I can breeze through, though at times she starts speaking in ways I struggle with, stuff that I think is meant to be a little goofy. One of those very strong “do not copy speech patterns from this character” types, though that’s everyone of course to some degree, haha. Overall though, my first day impressions are that this is going to be a relatively easy route, which I appreciate. After this I expect the next one to be simple enough too, then we get to the two characters I’ve been putting off for anticipated reading trouble.
Anyway, her route involves a sort of treasure hunt, which seems like it’ll be a lot of fun. Total carefree summer as a child vibes (for now at least), wandering around looking for cool “secret” things.
One nice little victory was reading that today. It’s not written in a difficult way, but I can recall when even the slightest font differences short circuited my Japanese ability. There are many super hard fonts or handwriting out there that I’m no good at, but it pleased me to be able to read all of that slightly handwritten style text.
The best new word I have is just 思いを馳せる (おもいをはせる). The Japanese definition I have is horribly long, but the translations on Jisho are pretty evocative themselves: “to send one’s heart out to,” “to think nostalgically upon,” etc. Not just any think but a real specific, meaningful think.
Day 21
Read another short Tadoku story about a foreign 学生 Ken working in a コンビニ and not quite knowing how to interpret what お客さん answer him when he asks if they need a plastic bag.
What tends to be the difference between the two? I feel like I hear that distinction made a lot but I don’t know exactly what it means
I do find it kinda weird that whenever there’s a manga about gay people written for women there like “has” to be an uke and a seme? I’ve only been in straight relationships before (kind of? it’s complicated but), but that seems like a very reductive/restrictive way to think about people/relationships.
There’s also the like “but we’re both girls/boys” trope that always comes up for some reason? Or like when the characters are only same-sex attracted for high-school purposes
Today I read 20 pages of わんわん探偵団 (1). The book is for kids but I already bought it one year ago for the reading club and because I was bored I started reading it yesterday. It’s way easier than my other books.
(Days 16-20)
Alright, I was hoping to return with a bigger update (and with more things to say), but I guess not. In these past few days I’ve read:
This reading challenge has so far been a huge wake up call. While I can easily recognize majority of words and kanji I encounter, understanding them in context is a harder task. It’s clear that my grammar is lacking, and it just makes it harder to stay on track and complete my reading at the end of a long, tiring day.
To combat this, I was thinking of cutting back a little bit on the amount of time I spend on reading every day, and put some effort into grammar studies.
Day 20: April 20th
What did I read?: クマとたぬき
How much did I read?: 24 pages
How long did it take me?: 26 min
A 4-koma manga about…a bear and a tanuki 
The illustrations are very cute 
I think someone recommended or mentioned this manga in a previous thread but I can’t remember who 
Reading this made me realize that I’m kind of in the mood for something with more of a cohesive story, though. Might or might not read again tomorrow, kind of depends on how busy I am - these kind of manga are nice for those busy days ^^
This is so cuteee D: sharkies~
April 20
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
I thought I was reaching the end but nope, apparently there are still 4 more missions. I’m also getting the Switch back tomorrow so finally returning to FF7 \o/ .
I might be testing an experiment soon. The yomichan topic the other day reminded me that I did look into making flashcards with yomichan some time ago. So I thought it would be interesting to have Houhou for Japanese to English SRS, and Anki exclusively for Japanese to Japanese. What I mean by this is that whenever there’s a definition I fully understand in Japanese, I add that word to Anki through yomichan (very convenient, automatically grabs literally everything). On the other hand, when I don’t understand the definition completely, I add it to Houhou. I don’t even know what will come out of this, but hoping it’s something positive. For science! I expect most of my cards in Houhou, but I would be happy if eventually it becomes the other way around to transition more and more from bilingual to monolingual.
I read the preview for 恋の仕方がわからない. This one actually doesn’t seem like it’ll be that difficult to read? I mean the preview gave me a headache since the print’s kinda small and I can’t zoom, but the writing itself wasn’t particularly difficult. Be easier than the other manga I’ve been reading lately (舞台に咲け!, GREEN). So I may be getting that one next time I order off of Amazon.
Also, a couple books I ordered off Manga Republic last week (星だけが知ってる and 春園ショウ’s art book Candy) arrived in the States today and should be getting here on Saturday! Maybe I’ll finish GREEN by then and will read 星だけが知ってる before starting クールドジ男子, as it’s just the one volume.
I read Seed 17 of GREEN. This one had way more katakana than usual as Wako-chan was helping out at Kayoko’s restaurant during the xmas season and many of the dishes were mostly or fully katakana, so it was a bit more challenging than usual.
I read 6 pages of 2.43, putting me at pg 72. I also rewatched ep 6 (with ENG subtitles though), which covers this chapter. It’s my second-favorite episode, after ep 8, which I’m not sure which chapter that is.
We get explicit acknowledgement/confirmation that a good portion of Subaru’s outward personality is a mask! (Specifically: Though he’s a hundred times more naturally cheerful than Ochi, about half of Mimura’s affability is an act.) I wasn’t not expecting it, but it’s still nice, especially since, as this is from Ochi’s POV, it’s also confirmation that Ochi does know him well enough to tell (which I also already knew, but). Subaru’s good (although not perfect at it, though I’ve no doubt that he’ll get even better as he gets older) and people who don’t know him that well likely wouldn’t be able to tell he’s masking. There’s an upcoming scene where a reporter from Fukurou TV visits one of their practices, and in the anime you can see his mask start slipping near the end, although the crew of course doesn’t notice.
Oh my god, Subaru’s super tall (189 cm) and the reporter Mizuno is short even for a woman, so their height difference is “as much as two heads’ worth” and she’s gotta look up at him “with all her might” while he stoops down to accommodate her. In the anime, she comes up to a little past his chin. That would put her at about Ochi’s height, then, which is closer to being on the taller side for a woman (168 cm). Geez, just how short is she actually, then? 130 cm? She’s friggin’ tiny. (It looks like they got an actual Fukui TV announcer to voice her in the anime? That’s cool.)
The cameraman who hangs behind a bit just to talk about Seiin and how they might steal the crown from Fukuhou kinda pisses me off. “Fukuhou better stay on their toes, or someone might just take their spot. It gets boring if Fukuhou’s always a shoo-in.” I’m with Ochi, why even bother interviewing them then if it’s more interesting if they lose? I also don’t like how familiar he is. He calls Subaru “Subaru-kun” and he calls Mizuno “Mizuno-chan.”
lol Ochi wanted to sprinkle salt after the guy left.
Another thing that changed in the anime is that Ｋ校 became 小津高. When I end up doing my translation for practice, I wonder if I should update the name or leave it…
Ah god, Aoki’s such a scheming asshole, I love him. I can’t wait 'til I get to this last scene in the novel. (Also, actual Aoki-Ochi interaction?? Maybe?? A guy can dream. I bet they’d get on fantastically, and by fantastically I mean not at all but it’ll be highly entertaining from a reader’s perspective.)
I read 壁の穴 ch 35-39. Kumiko gets pushed and made to spill her soup at lunch, and that’s not bullying? “Oh, it’s just 意地悪する (being mean), not 苛める (bullying), it’s not that big a deal.” Uh, that’s friggin’ bullying, my dude. No one stops going to school and can only work up the courage to go back again with their new friend Chuuya the house mouse hiding in their pocket because some kids are a little mean to them sometimes, but they do because they’re being bullied. I’ve never been particularly liked by anybody, I was always an outsider, and other kids would treat me rudely/snidely at times which only caused me to keep to myself even more, but I was never bullied. Ostracized, sure, but not bullied. Kumiko is getting bullied. I hope the story will actually recognize that and not stick to that ‘oh it’s just 意地悪’ because, what, it could be worse??
条件を吞む (じょうけんをのむ) [expression, マ五] to accept the conditions
翌日 (よくじつ) [adverbial noun] the next day. I can finally remember the meaning, although I still don’t remember the reading, which is why I’m adding it today.
すっかり [adverb] all; completely; totally; entirely; thoroughly
根明 (ねあか) [な-adjective] innate cheerfulness
おそらく [adverb] perhaps; likely; probably; dare I say. I like how it sounds close to “most likely” and has a pretty similar meaning (in fact, whenever I heard it in anime before, I’d always thought they were saying a contracted form of that lol).
Posting in the evening again as tomorrow will be quite busy.
Today’s fun word is 侠客 which my Japanese dictionary didn’t have an entry for, but which my English one defined as “persons acting under the pretence of chivalry who formed gangs and engaged in gambling”. This is what you get when you google image search that term:
I didn’t quite finish re-reading the second half of Case 0, but I was happy with my comprehension for what I did read. The old newspaper quotes still trip me up, but I’m getting more used to the author’s style and picking up a lot more details this time around.
Bearing in mind it’s historical true crime and to not expand if you’re bothered by violent content:
Basically this 鬼熊 bumps into people who know him, they try to get him to turn himself in, he’s like “nah, I will commit suicide. I’m either gonna get the death penalty or will spend my life in jail” so they’re like… “ok!” (?!). Then one of the dudes he’s hiding out with is like “Before you do that, talk to this reporter friend of mine” so he does, and he allegedly tells this reporter that his only regret is that he didn’t lay low for longer so he could kill 3 more people. He then tries to kill himself (via カミソリ), it doesn’t work, so his older sister’s husband brings some strychnine to poison him. Somehow firefighters are involved in all this, despite my close reading I still don’t know why. I guess they were just friends? Anyways, this motley group then dump him in front of the family grave ( he’s still not dead ) and the police find him, and he eventually dies. The family members can’t be charged with harboring a fugitive, but the fire fighters, the reporter, and the friends can, so they are, but their sentence is commuted it seems (執行猶予). They technically could be charged with aiding in suicide, but it seems they weren’t for reasons unstated.
I’m traveling for the next week so reading will be more scattered and I won’t be bringing the device that has this book on it. Hopefully I can maintain reading each day though, between paperbacks and ミステリと言う勿れ on my phone 
I read nine pages of “An Alligator in the Yard?”. This is the 10th book in the Level 0 Graded Readers, and it features the policeman called Ryou-sann. His day starts out in a routine, boring way. But then, a hysterical woman comes to the Koban for help and grabs Ryou-sann. He can’t believe there is really an alligator at her house. But when he sees it, he freaks out, thinking “Alligators don’t live in Japan”.
No new words!
95-104
I was really busy and tired yesterday. It seems like my workload for this week is mostly done and that my load for next week may be light?? And soon enough it’ll be Golden Week, so I’ll be able to relax some hopefully.
I’m looking forward to hopefully getting much more reading done tonight. It seems like I can finally do some WK reviews while at work for the first time this week.
April 20th (Calendar Post)
Finished volume 2 of my current manga today. I’m sad there’s only one more volume.
もし、恋が見えたなら => 70 pages (102 minutes)
Fun manga panel from today:
プロだ！
Also ran into this interesting vocabulary:
April 20
Conference day. Busy schedule.
Did reading in support of my essay writing, but I feel like that doesn’t count. So I read another level-two graded reader. This one was a thematic cousin to the previous one. A family has trouble being places on time. In the previous story, it was the mother who was struggling. In tonight’s story, it’s the son. Both seem to be better about it by the end though. よかった
Progress on Tadoku graded readers
44 / 44 level-zeros
12 / 12 level-ones
3 /10 level-twos
x / 18 level-threes
side note: i feel like this month is flying by. idk if it’s the checking something off every day, or if i’m just anxious about some upcoming deadlines lol
April 20 Home Post
I’m getting closer and closer 
Hard to say how much I have left since stuff keeps getting added on, but things are definitely happening! I’ve been busy so I haven’t had a whole lot of time to play and reflect and such, but progress is definitely being made 
