I read the next two sections of 山田くんと田中課長. Some of his coworkers are jealous of Yamada being in charge of kachou-san because they, too, want to take care of a small, cute living creature, and Yamada’s just like, “Get a hamster or something” lol
I read 6 pages of 2.43, finishing this subchapter and leaving off on pg 100! There was actually a video?? I wonder why in the anime they changed it to Aoki only having pretended, it’s not like it would make the scene any shorter or anything. Also, though it is in line with his scheming personality, with him not having taken a video, it makes it feel kinda… empty, and Subaru’s apology on Kouhei’s and Ochi’s behalf was for nothing. Sure, we don’t know if he would have actually used the video or if it was still an empty threat (nope, there was a part in vol 1 where he demonstrated he was 100% willing to blackmail Chika into joining the team, I forgot about that, so he absolutely would have followed through), but at least the apology meant something in the novel. I didn’t dislike that bit in the anime before, but I kinda do now.
I came across 嫌味, which I just learned on WK today! So that’s exciting. The line was Ochi thinking that even though Oda basically said the exact same thing as Ookuma (accusing Fukuhou of not taking things seriously if they have the free time to come spy on the competition), from his lips, it doesn’t sound like an insult. Yeah, that’s what happens when you have tact and aren’t spoiling for a fight lol
In non-reading news, I finished YoI! Viktor, to Yuuri on the plane: “I’m surprised you can sleep in such a cramped seat!” Also Victor: falls asleep on his shoulder / Part of the title of ep 8&9 is “おそロシア!!” a pun on 恐ろしい and ロシア, but that’s completely lost in the translation, of course; they just put “The Horror!!” I’m glad I can appreciate stuff like that now. / They try to play the rings off as not gay with Yuuri’s rationalizations, but like. The closeups on their hands as they slowly, carefully slide the rings onto the other’s fingers? The friggin’ church bells after Yuuri slides Viktor’s on? Dude, they’re freakin’ engaged. You couldn’t be gayer if you tried. Although I guess it’s a good thing The Straights buy it, or else it wouldn’ta gotten past Japan’s censors lmao
Also, it’s super weird being older than Yuuri now! I was 3 years younger than him when it aired, and now I’m nearly 3 years older. This shouldn’t be allowed.
I’m kinda disappointed that Crunchyroll doesn’t have JP subs, tbh. I’m at the point where I could watch at least some shows with JP subs, but not yet with none. Even 2.43, which I’m very familiar with, I miss a bunch without subs.
Some vocab of note:
すねる [自一] to be peevish; to sulk; to pout
マジックテープ [noun] velcro
発端 (ほったん) [noun] origin; genesis; opening; start; beginning. And thus I learn that 発 also has the reading ほつ.
一喝 (いっかつ) [noun, する verb (他)] sharp, loud rebuke; bark; roar
I’m feeling more positive about the fleshing out of the characters since Hikari was added in. Still waiting for Hibino to be less one-dimensional, but Kenji and Kyouko have definitely been getting there these past few chapters.
Hikari’s presence continues to shake things up. Kyouko can’t digest food, so she relies on blood from her brother for meals, including at school while hidden away from other students. But Hikari is extremely concerned about Kenji’s rumored “sister complex”, and strives to keep the two apart at school.
By mid-second volume, I wasn’t certain if I’d continue the series past the free trial period. Having now finished volume 3, I do plan on buying the rest to read through.
怪獣のトカゲ Volume 1 (68% ➨ 87%)
So close to finishing up the time-limited free volumes! Down to one more chapter of Tokage and probably one more chapter of Tsubaki left, then it’ll be back to reading other things for a bit.
I felt like reading some manga today so… I did! I was still partway through やがて君になる so I finished up the first volume of that. It was overall a pretty comfortable read; definitely some student council-type terms I would’ve looked up if I were being more intensive about it but I generally do better with manga if I don’t do that haha. It’s a very cute manga though, as expected
Then for a complete change of pace, the next easiest manga I had according to natively was ブルーロック So I started reading that and got sucked in really fast, and so I read the whole volume yay I should’ve really expected it’d be up my alley lmao, super overdramatic sports manga with like death game vibes? Incredible. 蜂楽 is my favorite for sure so far, what a chaotic gremlin I’ll almost certainly be getting more volumes of ブルーロック in the future, I enjoyed it a lot and it really was a pretty easy read! Much easier than I would’ve expected for sure. (Also iconic that the overseer man says 帰れ with the furigana exactly like that )
Soooo tired. Which seems to be the trend. But here we go!
Day 11
カリスタルハンータズ Book 2 Progress [||||||62%] Sooo many conjugations have me confused right now. Need to do some research because I’m lost. This was a rough reading day. My brain kept stalling out on sentences where I got the gist of what was going on, but didn’t understand the tense because a conjugation was unfamiliar. Going to do some research and reread tomorrow. Now to fall asleep doing my WaniKani reviews as has been my habit this week
Woo! Someone else reading ブルーロック🥳 It’s so good, like half pure adrenaline over the top drama and half goofy character hijinks. I’ve read 11 volumes so far and it’s not let up yet, would definitely recommend reading more!
Read page 94 to page 97 (26 – 27%) of かがみの孤城 today. I didn’t have enough time to read in the morning, so I read in the evening instead. Didn’t put it off until 11pm for once, lol.
I was tired and in a slightly bad mood after work. I’ve managed to skim read 9 pages of mission 5 of Spy Family, where I got the general idea, but I definitely need to go back over it.
Edit: I also skimmed the first 2 pages of Tugumi. Don’t know if I will manage the book. To be honest the lack of furigana wasn’t the major issue, and I can understand a lot of the vocab, I just have no idea what’s going on!
I finished reading the 月の光 VN. It was super short and I was mainly just playing it to pass the time but it was alright. In the end nothing really happened.The MC decided to just keep her feelings to herself in order to keep their friendship intact since she was worried confessing could ruin their relationship. I guess her decision to put their friendship over her love can be seen as sweet in its own way. Not sure if it’s because it was an amateur game but the writing felt a bit weird compared to other things I’ve read (although my jp is nowhere near good enough to accurately judge how good someone’s writing is). The sentence order and particles felt a bit all over the place compared to other stuff but could have just been their style.
When I read やがて I had that same issue haha. The first volume or two was a pain cause of all the student council stuff they were talking about but thankfully the vocabulary felt like it got easier in the later volumes.
I was in London today so I dropped in. I had to rush off to meet some people, so didn’t have time for a leisurely browse, but I did pick up 江戸川乱歩名作選. At 15 quid it would have been cheaper to order from amazon.co.jp, though
In the books-on-Japan-not-in-Japanese category, I stopped in at Skoob Books (good second hand bookshop in Bloomsbury) and picked up:
The Autobiography of Fukuzawa Yukichi
Makiko’s Diary – A Merchant Wife in 1910 Kyoto
Electrified Voices – How the Telephone, Phonograph, and Radio Shaped Modern Japan, 1868-1945
Wow - how did you manage to find anything in there? I just remember that the shop consisted of a few rooms stuffed full with books from floor to ceiling, and I was hopelessly lost Kudos to you for finding such interesting-sounding books
Oof. Bad, bad day. One of my cats got really ill this morning, so my day has mostly been me rushing her to the vet and anxiously waiting for test results. We’re not out of the woods yet, but she’s on medicine now. I think we both feel pretty terrible.
Thankfully ハピネス is still a comfortable read. I read 60 pages and probably could have continued, but I’d better get my reviews done and a good night’s sleep eventually. I hope everyone’s day is going better than mine!
17 more pages of よつばと!today; now on p. 204, with just one chapter to go. I’ll then go back for a second read-through with Jisho to help me with the vocab I don’t know. I am truly pleased that it’s been so easy to read this volume with no reference material, even if I’m missing some nuances. Most encouraging learning experience I’ve had in some thime.
There is some logic to their layout These were all in the history section, which is roughly sorted by country. I don’t usually have this much luck there, though.