📚📚 Read every day challenge - Spring 2022 🌸 🌱

I think the thing with tropes is that sometimes you love them (I’m all about detective novel tropes. Like golden era crime solving stories are nothing but tropes and I adore it) but others rub the wrong way (I can’t get into 男向け light novels for this reason I think).

BTW re the BL convo and looking for nontropey and nonadult content: 三角窓の外側は夜 (I think that’s the name - on mobile) is like 80% ghost story and 20% BL tension. It has some err… Suggestive scenes but there’s no actual adult content. PG-13 and most of that is for the ghosts. It’s a manga and a live action movie. Movie is closer to 95% ghost content though.

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Anw my reading thing for today

Gonna go through some Aozora 5-minute reads, make vocab cards, report back

Also I will time myself to see if they actually take 5 minutes for me (probably not)

  1. 日記帳 江戸川乱歩

Comments: Lol I don’t get how he got the letters here

三月の九日はアルファベットの第九番目のI、同じく十二日は第十二番目の、L

Also man was that an interesting twist! To think that his dead younger brother was in love with a woman set to marry his older brother (the mc) and that the woman loved him back but he didn’t notice it because she used coded stamp positioning even though he coded his dates to spell out “ILOVEYOU”

It took me not 5 minutes but 35 minutes to read. I’m kind of tired (old texts are way harder than I thought they would be) so I’ll stop here.

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That reminds me to look through a post you made a while back listing some I think detective novels you liked
Golden stuff right there, detective novels

Same but for their anime adaptations. Often too many harems with five versions of the same girl who seem to have no wills of their own and insane main characters who are always op compared to everyone else for me lol
Although I do like them a lot or for the first few eps whenever they have an interesting premise

I think there was an anime about that? That came out like a couple seasons ago
I didn’t know there was a manga or a live action movie. The anime was ehhh for me but those might be better. Maybe I’ll try the manga

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April 21st.

My family were still visiting today so it was a lovely, but busy day :slight_smile: My niece is so adorable.
I’m a little tired out this evening, so I read a few chapters of Shirokuma Cafe.
I’m hoping to tackle the long Yotsuba chapter tomorrow since its Friday and that means I don’t need to go to bed at a reasonable time to get up for work the next morning!

(Home Post)

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Which VN is that? How difficult would you say it is?
I started the Clannad VN a while ago but dropped it because it was too hard. Then again, that was a while ago so I should probably give it another chance :laughing:

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16 pages of かがみの孤城 🪞 Week 20 today and it went quite well, so I’m happy with that :slightly_smiling_face:

Some words:
お門違い
虚をつく
抜け駆け

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Summary post :bookmark:

April 21st :cherry_blossom:

・薬屋のひとりごと (38% → 40%)

Finished chapter 15. It did a cliffhanger. Maomao’s secret???

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Hah, I did the same thing pretty early on in my studies with Clannad. Need to give that a second look for my curiosity, see how much I’ve improved.

The game is Summer Pockets! Specifically the Reflection Blue edition, a Japan-only version with tons of extra routes. I think as VNs go it’s on the relatively easier side but it definitely pulls out grammar points from all across the spectrum, mid-long sentences in narration at times, and loads of odd words. A texthooker (I can talk more about the setup if you need) would be very useful. I think SP is a little simpler than I remember Clannad’s writing being, and JPDB.io does rank it at 4/10 while Clannad is 5/10, though I have no idea if their automatic difficulty guesses are reliable at all.

The worst thing with SP is they really do not make it easy to get. I had to go to some effort to launch the game as someone not in Japan, and it’s really expensive if you get it the way I’m allowed to talk about getting it on Wanikani :sweat_smile:. Will just leave that as a neutral statement.


This is a lazy update post but I went for a small walk because the weather is good today, so I’m now being tormented with my migraine-adjacent vision disturbances and head pains. Achey joint day today too. I read like 2000 characters. If my health was better I’d be a lot better at Japanese and I’m mad, heh. Will read more later if I’m capable of it.

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I finished the last five pages of “An Alligator in the Yard?” The policeman is panicking when he sees the alligator, while the woman is grabbing her small dog that the gator is wanting to eat. The woman is screaming for the policeman to get the alligator! He grabs the clothes line with a load of clothes on it and ties up the alligator. But the woman is pointing out that now the clothes are on the ground and dirty, and the policeman is embarrassed.

New book tomorrow, number 11.

New Vocabulary:

だいじょうぶ
大丈夫 safe, secure, alright

まわ
お巡り Officer, usually written in kana, which it was in this story

あぶ
危ない dangerous, risky, hazardous, perilous

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三毛猫ホームズ
finished 4.3 today. Almost at the end — just one section left, but I’m too tired to pay attention for 20 more pages today.

I was surprised to see that the “how” of 森崎’s murder was pretty close to what I’d idly imagined. Logistically that way made a lot of sense, but the “why didn’t anybody notice?” part bothered me so I kept dismissing the possibility. Also what I envisioned was more like a :cocktail: and that was clearly ridiculous :joy:

I wonder how the next/last chapter will wrap it up.

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April 21st :cherry_blossom: :cat2: :cherry_blossom: (Day 21)

Home post

Decided that I should try and do a daily update even if it’s just a small one. I think it helps me keep on track. Anyways, I’ve continued reading 小さな闇 today. Having the English translation on the side is so fumken nice - not having to reach for my phone/laptop to search for the meanings of words is a blessing during commute. Also, there is a little notes section at the end of the book, which points out some interesting words and sentence structures in the text and explains them. For one, it explained what Gジャン (jean jacket) is and why they call it that. And they also explain references to stuff like movies and manga - so I am not left wondering why the スラムダンク print on the protagonist’s shirt is a relevant to mention.

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I also was like “crane guy is gonna kill him for talking smack about his baby” but likewise dismissed it as too obvious :joy:

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I clicked on your link and saw that there were bookstore links on the page. I get all of my Japanese books from bookwalker so I clicked on the link but it can only be accessed within Japan. So I guess this is not a book I can read at this time. :smiling_face_with_tear:

本商品は、日本国内からアクセスした場合のみ閲覧できます。This was at the top of the page. I actually managed to read all the kanji except the last two at the end. So I was pretty sure of the meaning before Google translating the page to English. Banzai, WaniKani! Banzai, reading challenge! Banzai, reading!

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Summary Post

April 21
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun


The Switch is back home, but I’m so close to finishing this game I might as well just do. Ended up liking it quite a bit actually . I still don’t think it’s good language practice overall but eh, it’s not like it’s too long anyways. Once I resume FF7 and whatnot I’m back to diligent vocabulary mining :sunglasses: .

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Did you try Mandarake and ebay?

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@enbyboiwonder piggybacking off this comment, BOOKOFF online plus the proxy of your choice is great. I think I got all of my JoJo (over 60 vols) for just over 10,000 yen (shipped in Japan though, not internationally).

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Home

星だけが知ってる and Candy made it to Texas today, and they’re still projected to arrive by Saturday evening! I’m excited. I wonder if I can finish GREEN by then; I’ve got 3 chapters left, so I’ll have to read 2 one day.

@MaraVos, @DIO-Berry, thanks for your recs! I always forget about eBay, for some reason. I’ve got them bookmarked now, and I’ll definitely be checking those when I can’t find books (or only expensively) on my usual sites.

I read 8 pages of 2.43, finishing 1-4 and putting me on pg 80! Next up is 1-5 SCOUTING, which should be the events at the end of ep 6. I skimmed a bit ahead, and it seems 1-7 is the Fukuhou-Seiin practice match, which is in ep 7, so the entirety of the first chapter isn’t shoved into one episode. Anyway, the chapter ends on pg 142, which is an average of a little over 20 pg for each of the last three subchapters, which isn’t too bad.

First, a digression. (lol not me over here getting emotional over literally everything in this series)

Reading a post on tumblr about involuntary crying and seeing in the comments how some people just can’t seem to fathom that someone crying isn’t inherently manipulative just. makes me appreciate again how Subaru handles Ochi being an easy crier. Their run-in at the hospital during first year, which was their first proper meeting, when Ochi started crying, Subaru immediately stopped. He realized that Ochi left earlier because he was upset, not because he was trying to be rude or anything, and his anger drains away. And he doesn’t acknowledge or bring attention to Ochi crying (much less tell him to stop), he continues the conversation and gets Ochi to stop by distracting him from it/what he was upset over. He just. completely dumbfounds him to the point where the only thing Ochi can do is just look at him like, “Huh?” and completely forget that he was even crying lol.

Ochi’s not trying to win sympathy or anything, he’s not crying on purpose, he doesn’t even want to be crying, and Subaru doesn’t act like he is. Instead of getting upset or angry when Ochi starts crying or seems like he might, he takes a step back and realizes that, oh, he’s said something he shouldn’t have or done something he shouldn’t have and upset his friend (or, in the previous case, that Ochi’s upset by the circumstances and it’s nothing to do with him), and they both make it right, even if it’s just Subaru doing nothing and Ochi shrugging it off. (Then I’m not sure if after the finals in the HaruKou prelims counts, but Subaru’s, like, off brooding by himself, and Ochi comes and finds him and tries to get him to cry - He needs to! This was their last chance, their three-year dream is now forever out of reach! He doesn’t need to pretend to be strong anymore, especially when it’s just the two of them! - and says that he won’t cry until Subaru does, and Subaru politely ignores that Ochi’s already bawling.) (At least I don’t think he does. idk, it’s been a while. But he’s never reacted poorly to to Ochi crying, not once.)

Anyway, as someone who’s always been an easy crier and was treated badly for it, I really appreciate it. I’d always get yelled at for crying, which of course would only make it worse, so I kinda trained myself not to cry, so then when I wouldn’t cry anymore, my mother would yell at me to quit my crying when all it was was that my eyes were watering because I had something in them, or allergies, or my nose was doing that stupid tingling thing, or what-have-you. Like, I wouldn’t even cry from reading/watching sad media that would make a normal person cry, anymore. (And then in college, probably because I spent a significant portion of the year away from my mother, I started crying again, and all my work went down the drain!) It’s probably because my mother’s one of those manipulative criers, so she apparently can’t fathom it being involuntary and not to, like, curry sympathy or get what I want, or whatever. Clearly, because she only cries with ulterior motives, then that’s the only reason anyone would ever cry. It’s definitely not an involuntary reaction for a lot of people, oh no, crying’s only ever done on purpose. -rolls eyes-

But anyway, yeah. That was really nice to see. And that Ochi remains an easy crier! He might be less so during the main timeline now that he’s a little older, but he still cries more easily than other people, and it’s not treated like a bad thing or anything. I love this series so much.

But also, the comments on that post are making me consider Ochi being neurodivergent again (and not just because I’m projecting this time!). A significant number of people who shared that they, too, are easy criers shared that they’re autistic or ADHD (or that it’s from RSD, a disorder which is highly comorbid with both but can certainly appear without either of them), or that they have anxiety or a mood disorder. Neither of the latter apply to Ochi, but the former don’t necessarily not apply. Hm, I’ll have to gather more evidence and think about it more.

Also that there’s some physiological component to it, too. People whose primary hormone is estrogen tend to have a lower threshold for crying while people whose primary hormone is testosterone tend to have a higher threshold, any trauma or mental thing that affects emotional regulation notwithstanding. So, and/or support for (pre-T, esp. first year; heck, when are you even allowed to start HRT, anyway? I don’t even know in the U.S., much less Japan) trans guy Ochi? Though I wouldn’t exactly want to use it as such, personally… I dunno, it just kinda makes me feel icky.

Now, on to your regularly scheduled obligatory rambling:

We learn that Nanafu-shi, where Seiin is located, is about 30 to 40 minutes away from Fukui-shi, where Fukuhou is located, by train. Despite being relatively close, though, the schools don’t really have a relationship with each other. Subaru and Ochi both know Aoki and Oda though, and vice versa; since their schools weren’t rivals until now, I wonder if we’ll learn how? Because it definitely seemed as if they actually knew each other, rather than just of each other.

Also, all the cities are named after bugs, which I love. 紋代町, where Yuni and his family live and where he and Chika go to middle school: 紋白蝶, the cabbage white butterfly. 鈴無市, where Chika and his grandparents live: 鈴虫, the bell cricket. 七符市, where Seiin is located: 七節虫, stick bug. And since Fukuhou is located in a real-life city, the school itself is named after a bug: 福蜂, the wasps of Fukui (at least, that’s how I interpret it; it’s the same 福 as in 福井, and bees just don’t seem to suit them for some reason? Can’t put my finger on why, but wasps do). I already think stuff like that is cool, and I’ve come to really like insects recently, so it’s double-cool.

I read 夜カフェ ch 3, which was 9 pages.

I read Seed 18 of GREEN. lmaooo this time Nozomi’s mother and grandmother are away on an onsen trip they’ve won.

Huh, I came across 意地悪 spelled as いぢわる. I wonder if it was done to show accent or something, since afaik 地 isn’t one that can rendaku to either じ or ぢ and is always only ever じ, and it was spoken by a character who speaks a dialect.

Some vocab of note:

搗き立て (つきたて) [noun] freshly pounded (rice cake). This appeared as 搗き立てお餅.
酔いしれる (よいしれる) [一, intransitive] to be infatuated; to be entranced; to be carried away
自慢 (じまん) [noun] pride; boast

That sucks, I hope you can find some other way to read it!

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Summary Post

Day 21: April 21st
What did I read?: クマとたぬき
How much did I read?: 9 pages
How long did it take me?: 9 min

As I thought, I was very busy today :pensive: I did squeeze in a few pages of クマとたぬき though.

Please enjoy some flying tanukis!

Good words
  • 気絶 (きぜつ) - faint; swoon
  • 獣道 (けものみち) - animal trail; game trail
  • トラバサミ - steel trap; foothold trap; bear trap​
  • 追いかけっこ (おいかけっこ) - chasing one another; playing tag
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April 21 :cherry_blossom: Home Post

Ahhhh I’m still not finished, I’m so close :joy: I’ve still been real busy but tomorrow I should have time to finish it up! Soon :grin:

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April 21st (Calendar Post)

もし、恋が見えたなら => 102 pages (96 minutes)

Some fun panels:

Suddenly, Aria.

ピ-ン :bulb:

ばこーんっ

長~!

image

That’s not the meaning I expected with those kanji…

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