July 8th!
I ended up working late today, so just a little bit of reading tonight.
I read the next chapter of Teasing Master Takagi-san. As usual, Nishikata continues to be his own worst enemy 
I also did some reading practise with my tutor during my lunchbreak, reading a passage and then answering some comprehension questions about it 
July 8
(home post)
Hotel page 183 → 206 (24 pages)
First finished book/volume of this challenge! ホテル・メッツァペウラへようこそ 1 
Was impossible to put down, it turns out. Really enjoyed this chapter with Jun having to deal with kids. Tomorrow will be Orange since new week, and after I finish that part… Who knows? I have a feeling I might have an idea when I get there.
Night Cafe 1 to read over the next month to join the club for volume 2? Or continue with Zenitendou? Or you know, just read Hotel volume 2? xD
Who want to bet against me picking the last one? No one? Scaredy cats. 
I also finished Atelier Sophie with DLC (Japanese audio, English text) today. At least I’m fairly sure I’ve finished everything that I can.
I’m not killing the last boss of the DLC because I’m not interested in spending a lot of time grinding to get better equipment to kill only that boss, to get a cauldron that I won’t need anymore because there will be nothing to synthesis. I tried that boss once at about where my chars are now with equipment and “levels” (max level 20 and then you earn ability points, weird system). And the boss did TPK in the first round after only Sophie had her turn.
So except that boss, and one last synthesis of the last cauldron, I’ve done everything and finished all side stories. I think. Playing on Switch means no achievements, so no way to check if I’ve missed something.
The last conversation with Monica had me crying. It was such a bittersweet moment. Two friends saying goodbye (kinda) before one of them goes on a long journey, and yet they are so earnest and happy for each other and… 
The game has a kinda slice of life story feel to it, with an overarching plot and (almost) every character having a great side story for just them. (Some of the side stories were also slice of life, but the majority was a proper story with beginning, middle, end.)
So at the end of the game, my favorite side stories are still Cory’s and Harol’s. Those two really shone. Oh, Monica’s was good too, but taking third place after the two first place positions of C & H.
I have the other two games in the trilogy, and I’ll probably end up getting Atelier Sophie 2 after finishing those. But for now, I’ll wait with starting a new game on my Switch until after I know how much time Loopers will take each week. ^^ It’s starting next week!
This post became a lot longer than I meant it to. Oops. ^^
It seems I was lazy today or rather there were lots of words to look up, so just six pages 5分で読める恐怖のラストの物語.
They short story I am reading now is pretty interesting. The protagonist’s grandfather died and they found a mysterious safe. Now they are searching for the key to open the safe.
Home post 
July 8th 
・SAO Progressive 1 (70% → 78%)
Today I learned that the past form of 問う is 問うた.
Also, two countries that was mentioned in the book: ウクライナ and スウェーデン 
Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like Sweden appears relatively often in Japanese books.
I might start being away again, solutions to my arm problem continue to elude me and it’s been very bad recently. It’s general enough I’m leaning towards thoracic outlet syndrome now? In better circumstances I’d be at a doctor, but with all the money I owe on that I’m gonna delay it and try what I can myself. Doing physical therapy type stretches I find and whatnot, but even using the mouse really hurts and it’s making reading the VN a pain with all the lookups I need. Made it through 4000 characters but ouch, gonna go rest.
Flowers is good, and still kinda hard, but I’ll talk more about it on a better day.
So sorry to hear about your arm; hope you find a solution!
| REDC | 月 | 火 | 水 | 木 | 金 | 土 | 日 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 2 |
July 8
Final Fantasy 7 → 50 min.
Reached the last zone 
. I’m definitely finishing this in the next few days.
july 8 
home post
Started off this morning with Ch. 42 of 極主夫道. I was planning on reading more 夜カフェ but then the books I ordered arrived early and I got distracted! So I started on the 時のオカリナ manga instead
So… can you tell I like Zelda? 
I decided to get only part of each series instead of the full set b/c I wanted to read too many different things right now. But eventually I’d like to finish each set.
Only a few pages in but so far I’m liking it! It seems to be at around the same level of difficulty as 神々のトライフォース, which is what I was expecting. Actually, it’s a bit easier to read than 神々のトライフォース, but that’s just because the digital version of these books have that problem where the text quality isn’t all that great. Language-wise it seems about the same difficulty so far.
I haven’t read the english versions of these so I’m curious what all’s going to be different from the game! They changed a lot in 神々のトライフォース (good changes and bad changes imo) so I’m not sure what to expect
I finally read more of 硝子の塔の殺人 but (very, very light spoilers) I’m still just puzzled as to how there are 80 some pages left. Perhaps there will be some new crazy twist? It feels like all the main threads have been cleared up already though. I can only assume what we have left is a deeper dive into the 名探偵 character and her background.
Also, in case anyone is interested, I’m kicking off a Mystery novel book club on the Natively forums: 🕵️♀️ 推理小説読書会 📚 Mystery Novel Book Club 👮♂️ Now voting! - Reading - Natively Forums
Aiming to start it Aug 8, taking nominations, books of any level welcome.
I’ll of course be reading whatever gets nominated along with my typical bouncing around to other books as the wind changes 
2022-07-08T04:00:00Z
I finished 実は私は １ today. The publisher for this manga allows quite a bit more handwritten kanji than I was used to so I found myself skimming quite a bit of dialogue. The omake pages at the end of the volume were completely handwritten and worse yet, had no furigana. However, I found myself recognising some of the kanji by shape even though I couldn’t make out all the strokes, either from seeing it earlier in the volume (like names) or vocabulary that I already know. So I feel quite proud of myself for finishing this volume. 
I read missions 9-11 of SPY×FAMILY today, plus the omake and extra mission, finishing vol 2!
Seeing stuff on tumblr from the anime as it comes out or from random chapters and not actually watching the anime myself doesn’t give me a very good idea of when things happen, so I didn’t realize Damian would already be applying the shoujo filter to Anya in his memories in the very next chapter! He literally just got punched by her yesterday, and that did not put a damper on his burgeoning crush at all. Man, those fancomics really were not lying about him and Loid having the same type: a woman who can kick his ass.
Wait, is her name supposed to be spelled “Ania” then, not “Anya”? How’d it end up officially spelled with a ‘y,’ then?
Yuri was a cute kid. Too bad he turned out to be a creep. Well, “creep” may not be the best word, but.
I’m with Anya though. Studying’s the worst. I wish I could beam an entire language directly into my brain. Immediate understanding, no assembly required.
Real talk, though, when do we meet Bond.
Since today was a bleh brain day and it was half a chore to read that half-vol of SxF (why?) but I still wanted to read, I picked up another new one, 君には届かない。and read the first two chapters.
ヘソを曲げる (ヘソをまげる) [expression, 一] to (go into a) sulk; to get cranky; to get cross
ゴリゴリ [onomatopoeia, の-adj., colloquialism] hardcore; serious; genuine; bona fide; true; real
目玉 (めだま) [noun] special feature; centerpiece; showpiece; drawcard. An abbreviation of 目玉番組.
右往左往 (うおうさおう) [四字熟語, noun, する verb (自), の-adj.] going every which way; going this way and that
抜き打ち (ぬきうち) [noun, の-adj.] doing (something) suddenly and without warning; doing without prior notice. So a 抜き打ちテスト would be a pop quiz.
ご愁傷様 (ごしゅうしょうさま) [expression] my condolences
カリスタルハンータズ Volume 2!
It was a 103 today in my neck of the woods, so I am knock-down-drag-out exhausted. Finally took WaniKani off of vacation mode now that my dad is doing better, and WOOF I’m already overwhelmed. Did quite a few lessons, but now I’m drowning in reviews…
I read p. 1-17 today. Thank you Kindle for telling me my progress is a nifty [||14%]!
Too many new words and too tired to think about writing in more details tonight. I’m definitely rereading from the beginning tomorrow to help the new kanji and vocab stick.
It was really cool to see the grammar I learned in volume one carry over into volume two!
July 8 
Home Post
This challenge is quickly turning into me going feral over バディミッションBOND 
There’s just… a lot?? It’s definitely the longest (vndb says like 45 hours) and most difficult VN I’ve played so far, but at this point I’m in so deep I don’t even care lmao. Honestly the only thing I’ve actually tried that might be a rougher read is 錆喰いビスコ? But even then I’m not sure, and I’m certainly much farther in this than I ever got in 錆喰いビスコ so 
It’s getting easier as I go though, for sure. I mostly just get thrown by weirdly specific expressions but that’s probably not gonna change anytime soon
Emotions were really high today アーロン’s whole complex about heroes goes so deep; he’s so adamant there’s no such thing, that he doesn’t care about anyone outside his family and would never go out of his way for anyone else, and yet he does so again and again! He puts his whole life on the line not just for ルーク, but for people he hardly even knows, and it’s just like… he and ルーク are the same deep down, アーロン’s just been crushed by the world and covers it all with aggression and apathy. He really is such a tragic character, and it just keeps getting worse
ルーク is so relentlessly good, I love him :') everyone’s going on about how アーロン betrayed him, even アーロン, and ルーク is just like “no, he was just trying to save アラナ” with no grudge whatsoever. チェズレイ (not that he’s a standard for goodness lmao but whatever) was like “why are you worried about someone who betrayed you, who walked all over your heart and trust” and ルーク just kept believing in アーロン anyway! He’s such a genuinely good person, he deserves all the happiness in the world honestly.
Today was very anime haha; dramatic scenes everywhere!
ルーク the shounen protagonist, truly
ルーク imitating アーロン lmao, very good 
But what really has me messed up is this:
There’s so much to unpack here?? So there’s been a lot of implication with ルーク and that lab where the experiments took place, and I suspected アーロン was the one carrying ルーク in the opening, but this? It’s so much more than I thought; they didn’t just have some random connection in the past, no no, they knew each other, ルーク just doesn’t remember anything. But… アーロン does? Maybe? It’d explain why he reacted the way he did when he first learned ルーク’s name. But man… that makes the whole hero thing so much more complicated. Also just look at him?? He’s so precious and happy? Before the world crushed his spirit? All these characters continue to have really intricate histories and relationships and I have a lot of feelings about it
Oh very relatable, that letter took some doing I wasn’t prepared for my keigo knowledge to be tested so thoroughly haha
Aw I’m sorry, I wish you all the best! Rest is important 
Oooh I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on that, I’ve been enjoying mystery-type stuff a lot recently so that sounds like a good time! I’ll see if I can come up with a good nomination no promises though lmao
Day 8: July 8th 
からかい上手の高木さん Volume 7 (36% ➨ 46%)
怪獣のトカゲ Volume 1 (28% ➨ 37%)
ふだつきのキョーコちゃん Volume 2 (0% ➨ 21%)
I’ve been holding off on starting up the various Legend of Zelda manga (since back before they were “readable” for me.) I’ve read about half of the one/two-volume series in English before, but probably will read them all in Japanese eventually. Each time I see you mention one, I move just a teensy bit closer to adding one to my to-read list!
I don’t know if any release currently in print isn’t available digitally, but I’ll probably start out with A Link to the Past, then continue by game release order (Awakening, Ocarina, Majora’s, etc.) Is there no Wind Waker…?
That’s the other reason I’ve held off. If I buy physical I’ll never get around to reading them, but digital the furigana on the preview of A Link to the Past I checked out last year didn’t look very friendly!
Day 9!
I just read the last 30 pages of ピーチガール１ That means I finished my first manga volume since starting the challenge! I enjoyed the first half of it, but then there were too many convenient misunderstandings and love triangle shenanigans. I really don’t think I’ve ever read a love triangle story that I enjoyed.
I don’t know what I’ll do next, but I’m thinking visual novel… Maybe it’s time for Zero Escape?
Have a great Saturday, everyone!
July 9
(home post)
Orange : page 32 → 55 (24 pages)
Well read early today because it was either do that or not read at all. Second half of chapter one for the club, and I can already tell that everything I say about this manga will have to be spoilered, also I’ll probably talk more about it in the club rather than here. (Just a heads up.)
However, I don’t have time to write up my questions, observations and such for the club today so let me just say this:
Kakeru is so sweet and he is dead in the future. He and Naho are both really observant, especially of each other.
I can see this might be a manga I cry a lot with, because it already happened when the first clue to Kakeru being dead in the future showed up. I understood immediately.
He is so sweet looking when he smiles. This shortly into a manga I don’t know Kakeru enough to care much about it—correction, I shouldn’t care much yet (but I do). Just the way he is drawn, and what he says and does. It’s impossible to not fall in love with that smile.
So yeah, just a quick reaction post. I want to write so much more, but I have to get ready and go having a gaming day/night with my friends. Such a chore.
July 8
Played バリバリ for about an hour and finished the level 2 board for this route!
(Spoilers about the game system?) This game has an interesting system where, if I understood the explanation correctly, there are 4 levels for each individual route and every level consists of a board with different squares representing each section / secondary section.
That’s the only picture I could find online without risking spoilers too much. It seems every level gets more and more of those squares and I just unlocked my first level 3 board and it looks pretty intimidating. I’m starting to think my goal of doing one board a week from now on might have been too optimistic. Oh, well, at least I can’t complain of a lack of content.
Just checking in because I had by far my busiest/most productive week yet as far as reading in Japanese goes. I’d fallen a bit behind on Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling translations last month (for a variety of reasons), but I really wanted to catch up before their big show on July 9 (which just finished a few hours ago).
So I ended up translating a big show, a press conference, and two smaller VOD shows (links go to my posts about them in the wrestling thread). All in just one week! I lost a lot of sleep in order to get them done in my spare time around my work schedule, and am currently very tired .
I only have a rough estimate of how many characters I read, but I think it was about 9,000 characters total across all four of them? I know that’s not really all that much for most people in this thread, but it’s a lot for me, especially since I’m doing a full translation of them for a small handful of fans!
So it takes a lot longer because I have to actually try to understand every single sentence and can’t just gloss over the ones that are still too hard for me . Plus having to take the time to think about how to word things in English.
It’s good practice, though, and you get to experience the delight of sharing the stories with someone who otherwise would not have been able to experience them with full context 
. It’s pretty incredible how much I’ve already improved in the seven months or so that I’ve been doing this.
Some of it, like translating the actual match recaps, is not strictly necessary (since you can just watch the match yourself and see how it goes without needing a text description), but I like to do it anyway to preserve the context, and also because it’s a really great way for me to learn important wrestling vocab.
I also have been reading in Spanish every day, though it has absolutely taken the backseat while I’ve been working on the TJPW translations. For several of these days, I just read a page or two of Spanish, then spent several hours doing Japanese translation . But it still counts, and hopefully I’ll be able to have some more balanced days in the remaining weeks of the challenge.
Maybe I can make the wrestling sound slightly more interesting if I include photos? Here are the Magical Sugar Rabbits (Yuka Sakazaki and Mizuki) doing one of their tag team moves, which is called Toy Story 1 (They have different moves for Toy Story 1-4. Why did they name them after those movies? I have no idea):
Wow, that’s pretty amazing! This means that I translated the equivalent of 65% of a volume of manga in just one week 
!
I’m definitely still not remotely at a point where I should be doing this sort of translation work with my current level of skill, but, well, if there’s no one else doing it…
Quite tired after work again. Read 1 page of the Prefectures book, and finished the last 9 pages of Spy Family mission 2. Pushed on with the first couple of pages of mission 3, but I think I need to call it a night!
9th of July
Only read page 90 of かがみの孤城 today. I definitely need to go to bed now and will have a completely full day tomorrow, so I may have to catch up on Monday.
