These are so lovely - I’ve read both of these in English and now I’m wondering if I can get my hands on these versions somewhere when I’m ready to read them in Japanese (which won’t be for some years, I imagine…)
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July 1
(home post)
Orange page 5 → 19 (12 pages, some where blank)
It was July 2 in Japan when I read, so I technically started the manga on the correct day for the book club. 
Already enjoying the art so far. I think I’d already skim read about this much at some point, so no surprises but definitely made sure to look into any unknown word to help fill in the vocab sheet.
I feel so responsible as the club shepherd. Or whatever to call it. 
So happy to finally start reading Orange. I’ve waited two weeks for this, which feels like forever. And to get to do it on the first day of the summer challenge too. 
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Which bookshop? I’ll probably be in London in a couple of weeks so if I have spare time I might check it out…
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Nice to be back, I always love this challenge. I remain reading Summer Pockets, but not for much longer!
Appropriate text – not the best timing to be finishing the summer VN, haha. Still, great start for me. Today’s reading was relatively easy, with lots of repetition circling around a major plot point that’s slowly occurring. With that, I managed to hang in there for 12,000 characters read today. This route moved a little slowly but I think it did effectively develop the characters and relationships, so I’m hooked to see the end of it. And very, very excited to start on new things.
One interesting little thing I learned: 川の字 . Apparently refers to parents sleeping with their child in the middle. You know, 3 people lined up, like the 3 lines of that kanji. Cute.
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| REDC | 月 | 火 | 水 | 木 | 金 | 土 | 日 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 |
July 1
Final Fantasy 7: 1 hour.
来たー！ Finally went back to FF7 and reading altogether after a couple weeks. I felt a tiny bit rusty at first but quickly caught up on reading speed, though as always nothing fancy. I swear video games are gradually making me a pro at reading katakana, I’m so grateful that my brain starts to catch katakana words without the need to read each kana individually.
I really want to finish FF7 already, not for any bad reason, but because I didn’t want to spoil anything so I didn’t really add much to my updates in the last challenge, and I already want to!! 
That and I’ve already been playing it for a long time and I want to move to another thing.
I might… might, get Chrono Trigger before the summer Steam sales end. Undecided, but likely. And also recently I’ve been really wanting to play RimWorld again and I’ve discovered that it got a proper Japanese translation at some point, I don’t know, I haven’t played in a few years. But going for a run in Japanese sounds like a super fun idea to me, so might do! Sadly RimWorld is a game that wouldn’t offer too much language practice once you learn most of the important things, but luckily there is still a lot of text and a fair amount of commonly known technical vocabulary that might be worth learning.
Also @latepatate !!! Glad to see you here 
.
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Jul 2, Sat of Week 1 of Summer 
(end-of-Spring 
) 2022
So, I’ve just decided to read うらら迷路帳. (Yeah, the one from Borx’s avatar.) It really is light-hearted 4-koma, but there is no chapter. (Also, no Furigana, with ample Kanji use.)
Even with Furigana, I would certainly want to read hand-written text outside speech bubbles; which almost certainly has no Furigana. It’s more fun this way…
I feel like, even though I want to read n+1 for studying, but I really want to eventually make this n-1… (For me, this one counts as n+1, just as JoJo and most other mangas found anywhere.)
Also read 進撃の巨人 Ch.3 – I feel like there are a lot of things I don’t catch, even if I look up on dictionary from time to time. (While I catch a lot more from Urara and JoJo, as long as I look up.)
There is also a thing about psychological trick? Urara has no chapter (i.e. 1); SNK has 5; JoJo in monochrome version has almost 20. Which one do you think I am able to read the fastest? – SNK’ve quickly gone beyond half, now (74%, actually).
I am shifting my main dictionary, from Akebi+Kotobank to Aedict+link to online dictionary (Goo). Aedict probably also has better Kanji breakdown, although I haven’t tried much yet. There are also things like I have to change some UI settings. Also, the former dictionary has older JMdict which more errors, and doesn’t seem to get updated, while has integration in most places’ context menu (but not Bookwalker…); so maybe I can go from Aedict => Goo in web browser => Akebi, too.
Vocabularies
- 見習い – みならい – apprenticeship
- 人見知り – ひと.み.しり – fear of strangers
- 人見 – slit curtain on an acting stage ; with as secondary meaning of 人目
- ひとみ also can mean 瞳 ( black of an eye ).
- 警ら – けいら – patrolling
- Also written 警邏 (but not in text).
- 旅立つ – たび.だつ – to begin a trip
- 道標 – みち.しるべ – guide / road sign
-
Road signs [/spoiler] are also read [spoiler] どう.ひょう
- 知る辺 means acquaintance , with 導 / 標 for of guiding kind (and not necessarily human)
-
- 人生の岐路に立つ – じんせい.の.きろ.に.たつ – at turning point in life
- Can also use 居る
- 岐路 – きろ – crossroads; intersection
- 桃源郷 – とうげんきょう – Shangri-La; heaven on Earth
- Practically, this one is searchable because I used Akebi, which has spelling suggestion. 桃占郷 in text.
- 山賊 – さん.ぞく – bandit
- お上りさん – おのぼりさん – country bumpkin
- 親玉 – おやだま – boss
- 貴女 – きじょ – lady; opposite is… 痴女?
- 企て – くわだて – planning
- あまつさえ – moreover
- 同い年 – おな.い.どし – same age
- Practically, 同じ with い and then rendaku.
- 物売り – ものうり – street vendor
- 棗 – なつめ – jujubes
- 登場人物 page just put this Kanji in without Furigana…
- 逃亡犯 – とうぼうはん – fugitive criminal
- It seems that 死 is deadiler than 亡…
- 大目に見る – おお.め.に.みる – to overlook / to let pass
- 喝 – かつ – scolding sfx
- 新参者 – しん.ざん.しゃ – newcomer
- 程々に – ほどほどに – in moderation
- 介錯 – かいしゃく – the thing that happens after seppuku/harakiri fails to kill
- Also just mean giving assistance , but that isn’t in context.
- 秘境 – ひきょう – unexplored region
- 人里離れた – ひと.ざと.はなれた – middle of nowhere
- 人里 – human habitation
- 野生児 – やせい.じ – feral child
- 野生 – wild
- とまれかくまれ – at any how
- 行儀悪い – ぎょうぎわるい – bad-mannered, naughty
- Base vocabulary is 行儀 meaning behavior ; similar to 行い, also in context.
- 札 – ふだ – label; certainly, which reading to use depends on context
- 気が早い – きがはやい – drawing to conclusions
- 足手まとい – あしでまとい – impediment
- 纏い uses the same Kanji as 纏め
- Feets come before hands, this time.
- 好機 – こうき – good opportunity, chance
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I only read about 20 pages of 硝子の塔の殺人 today and I’m not sure I have the energy to read more so perhaps finishing it this weekend won’t happen.
I also got some inspiration from @basilsauce 's personal JLPT challenge and decided that rather than fiddle with my JLPT books (which…I’ve never enjoyed them much) I’ll do a slightly different personal “one grammar point a day” challenge for myself. It looks like Imabi has 376 lessons to complete “Veteran II” and while I’m unlikely to review everything in the Beginner sections, I might review a few things here and there just for deeper understanding of basics…or because I’m having a lazy day
I made myself a spreadsheet with cells labeled 1-376 and each day I will try to do at least one lesson and will color in the corresponding cell(s).
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Day 1: July 1st
What did I read?: 猫には猫の猫ごはん Vol 1
How much did I read?: 20 pages
How long did it take me?: 20 min
I low-key almost forgot that today was July 1st lmao whoops
I am already in love with this manga 
Like this is the first page, I can’t even
And look at this back cover art
The manga begins when boy finds kitten in the snow (the kitty is so small and pitiful-looking in this chapter, it hurts my heart 
). Boy brings kitty to the vet, then takes kitty home. You can tell he doesn’t really know what to do with this cat but he really really wants to be a good owner, like he really wants to help and it’s so sweet
Unrelated to that, I wanted to make sure to give a big warm welcome to all the challenge newcomers, and a big warm welcome back to all the familiar faces from previous challenges 
Happy to have you all joining in, I look forward to reading with you!!
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I got a bit of a head start with the SPY×FAMILY club today by reading mission 2… and then read further ahead with mission 3 as well. I had a feeling I’d end up reading ahead with this one too, and I’m honestly surprised I held back this long. It’s definitely not that it’s particularly easy, like 夜カフェ, because it’s not—it’s about the same level as a lot of the other stuff I read—it’s just that I’m really hype for this series and there’s no way I can keep myself to one chapter a week lol. I can already tell I’m gonna feel bereft once I reach the end of vol 9, which will definitely be before September when I figure 10 will be out.
29 Likes
2nd of June
Day 2
Read from page 64 to page 68 (17 – 18%) of かがみの孤城. My goal for now will be to keep progressing 1% of the book each day — that will mean I would be able to finish it before October. Not too bad! Anyway, I’ll see how I go, and whether I can keep up with that speed.
29 Likes
July 1 
Home Post
Here we are again! I’ve missed バディミッションBOND so I picked it up again; I’m feeling pretty tired though so didn’t get that far, but that’s okay. I’m in the midst of resetting my sleep schedule so that’ll happen Regardless, I should be able to get more in tomorrow so I’m looking forward to that 
27 Likes
Day 1: July 1st 
I'm starting the challenge off with a decent number of series I'm either already reading or will be starting.
Rather than tracking pages read (which would make me want to consciously not count pages with little to no text), I’m going based on percentage progress within the volume.
Since my boss had the day off, and my boss’s boss had the day off, and things were slow at work, I made it a short work day. That means more time for reading than normal for me on a Friday.
Today’s reading:
🔍 名探偵コナン Volume 10 (6% ➨ 11%)
My current Conan reading is right at the end of a case, where the “how it was done” is explained. For anyone who hasn’t read Conan, this typically looks like:
It’s not uncommon for me to read 65 pages of a case portion in one or two sittings, then get through 14 pages of the solution portion in another two to three sittings. (For this case, it was two sittings within one day.)
Looked-up vocabulary words:
- 予測: prediction
- よす: to cease, to desist, to cut it out, to lay off (an activity), to drop (a subject)
- 殺る: to do someone in, to bump someone off
- 証言: evidence, testimony
- 溜める: to amass, to accumulate
- 蛇口: faucet
- 切り替わる: to switch to
- 固定: fixation
- 幼稚: childish, infantile
- 大胆: bold, daring (I should know this one by now…)
- どっぷり: totally (immersed in something, e.g. liquid, work)
- 問い詰める: to press a question, to cross-examine
からかい上手の高木さん Volume 7 (26% ➨ 36%)
orange Volume 1 (1% ➨ 10%)
🥷🏻 くノ一ツバキの胸の内 Volume 1 (21% ➨ 36%)
I started this series yesterday.
This mangaka certainly comes up with a variety of eye styles. In 「それでも歩は寄せてくる」, there’s Maki, Sakurako, and Rin who all have different eye styles. For 「くノ一ツバキの胸の内」, the primary one is Sazanka:
Tsubaki has a really nice design for her eyes:
Asagao’s eye design is nice, too:
Well, when they’re open:
Looked-up vocabulary words:
- 堪える: to endure
- 実習: practice, training
- しばし: for a short while
- 警戒心: wariness
- お達っし: notice or order handed down from above
- 鋭い: perceptive, keen
- 気分転換: change of pace, change of mood
- 押し通す: to persist
- 解く: to untie
That’s almost as many lookups as with Conan, but across a whole lot more pages.
ご注文はうさぎですか？ Complete Blend Volume 1 (38% ➨ 40%)
👧 からかい上手の(元)高木さん Volume 4 (85% ➨ 91%)
Not much to say here. This is one of those “quick and easy read” series for me, which is nice after going through a couple of pages from a no-furigana 4koma (or a heavy read like the solution portion of Conan).
Looked-up vocabulary words:
- 積み木: building blocks (In hindsight, I should have gotten this one.)
- 重心: center of gravity
ふらいんぐうぃっち Volume 11 (0% ➨ 4%)
🌳 ちいさな森のオオカミちゃん Volume 2 (57% ➨ 62%)
This is one of those series that most learners of Japanese likely wouldn’t find interesting enough to include in their tadoku. For first-time readers, where just being able to understand something makes even simplistic content interesting, I think it’s probably a great pick. It’s among the easiest manga I’ve come across without being targetted at little kids. Definitely one I’d like to nominate for ABBC, but not until my book club duties subside in November.
The premise is simple: it’s a slice-of-life about forest critters of various degrees of anthropomorphic design. The series is centered around the titular wolf, whose duty is to scare away any humans who wander into the woods.
Looked-up vocabulary words:
- 肌寒い: chilly, unpleasantly cold
SPY×FAMILY Volume 1 (35% ➨ 42%)
にじいろフォトグラフ Volume 1 (35% ➨ 39%)
31 Likes
july 1 
home post
I didn’t have time to read until really late tonight, but that means it’s close enough to July 2 that I figured I’d start reading Orange! I’m halfway through this week’s reading and so far I’m liking it!
These next few days will probably be similar, where I don’t have much time to sit down and read… but I’ll try to make a little time every day
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For daily reading I did a chapter of 暁のヨナ (manga) and a section of ナミヤ雑貨店の奇蹟。 I’m getting close to the end of Namiya — 40 pages left — which I think is going to be 3 days worth of reading. It’s a good book but for me it’s not a page-turner. I got one of the grammar lessons done too.
I’m probably going to be reading lots of 暁のヨナ all through this summer challenge. I watched the anime a long time ago and wondered what happened after it ended, and it only covered up to volume 8. And I refused to read it in English. So this is one of my longtime “things to read when I can read Japanese” projects. The first few volumes were pretty rough, but by volume 7 I was comfortable enough to feel confident I could finish the rest of the series. The part of the story I’m reading now is totally new to me, and it’s getting smooth enough that it’s feeling like actual real fun instead of “my daily reading assignment.” That’s a really nice feeling.
@pocketcat Good luck!
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Day 1 
穴 ~6%
Busy day yesterday, so I left my reading (and listening) to the very end, when I was already tired. But I couldn’t start the challenge with no reading at all now, could I?
I ended up opting for 穴 as my first July book as I have been wanting to read it for ages and kept postponing it for one reason or another. So far, it’s been only exposition, so there’s not much to comment. Looking forward to today’s reading to see how the story develops.
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Day 2!
Good morning, Europe gang! I figured I’d get my reading done early today, so I finished around 20 pages of ピーチガール. I think mostly the grammar and slang is what’s tripping me up with this manga. The plot is strange, but I’m enjoying the main character more than I did when I was younger. I didn’t like that she was so angry, lol. As an adult, I think more women should be Angry.
words and stuff
自己中
selfishness, egotism, egoism,
失格
Being unfit for one’s role, being a failure
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July 1
The past couple of days I’ve been sick, which wasn’t a great start to the challenge, but I seem to be getting better fast (crossing fingers I don’t get worse again like last time) so I’m hoping I’ll be reading more soon enough. In this first day I could only manage to read a couple of pages of 夜カフェ before my head hurt too much to continue.
28 Likes
Yesterday I studied a bit and then had to work till late, so I was pretty worn out. I wanted to finish off the 10 pages that I’m still missing of last week’s section of the Saikawa&Moe book that we’re reading with a small group, but then the Orange thread popped up, and so I thought I should maybe just download the manga to my phone in case I have some spare time, and then after the download Bookwalker kindly opened it, and then… I don’t know what happened really, but 20 pages in I looked up and thought “It’s really not bad, that manga”
So it seems like I just added another book to the reading pile 
London Bookstore talk
Thanks, noted! When I worked in London, the company was based in Moorgate and later Aldgate, so I know the eastern parts pretty well actually (setting aside reconstruction of course - did they finish this centerlink (?) by now anyway?), but I never had much reason to get to Soho or even further west. Will change that when the opportunity comes up again 
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Oh no! Get better soon!
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