It does get annoying when they do the katakana thing to imply the character is foreign. At least they dropped some kanji in there too.
There’s some characters whose dialogue is strictly katakana and It’s a pain to read for everyone. They did this to Lt. Surge in the Pokemon games and manga. What’s worse is it’s a combination of Japanese for the natives so they can understand him somewhat with random bouts of ridiculous English all written in katakana.
Sometimes it stylistically works though like with a minor Team Rocket grunt character in the Kanto region in gen 2 who stirs up trouble thinking Team Rocket has returned. His dialogue implies he’s not native to the region (and likely not a real member at all, just an admirer hoping to join) but that whole implication was lost in the English version, and he just looks like a bumbling fool instead.
And then when Japanese TV does it… it’s funny when even if it’s a foreigner speaking perfectly understandable Japanese, they’ll automatically get subtitled but the Japanese person in the same scene doesn’t
Yeah! I don’t remember why the author was on a hiatus but I remember being surprised to hear them finally completing the series just recently.
Each volume is pretty short. If you don’t count the extras, it’s less than 150 pages so I think that’s partly why they’re cheaper.
That’s what this manga is like. The first chapter and the first episode start out the same but even by the end, it ends a little differently. And then the anime just does its own thing.
Yeah I wouldn’t rush. It feels like a fast read in the beginning, but it gets a lot deeper than the anime so you want to try understand the mystery a little more. There’s also a few characters that are dialogue heavy, and I just want to skip them but don’t know how relevant they are to the story so I just slug through.
I know there are multiple Pokemon manga, but he wasn't so bad in the one I'm reading.
Out of curiosity, I compared with a few other series.
Volume one is about 170 pages, though maybe later volumes are a little shorter? The common price for volumes is:
Another series I’m reading with about 150 pages to a volume (but it’s a more recent series):
This one’s about 140 pages per volume:
(Newer releases start at 693 円 before working their way down to 660 円.)
And about 130 pages to a volume:
For a comparison of an older series (even older than DNAngel), here’s one with about 190 pages to a volume:
This one also got new volumes in the past few years (an unrelated sequel by another mangaka) that sell for the same price as the original series volumes, similar to DNAngel’s newer volumes matching the price of the older volumes.
Chapter 102 of Yotsuba today. It was a very sweet chapter, in which Yotsuba gets her first set of paints. There were several cute Yotsuba/Jumbo interactions, which I always enjoy.
Welp, I did end up making a character on a Japanese server finally . I thought that “taking a full break from Japanese” made no sense when I can just directly swap to my main character and change to English. That’s it, no more Japanese. I thought that if I’m going to be doing this, then I do want it to be full Japanese interacting with Japanese people. ちょっと怖いけど ；；
The lag is actually not that bad as I thought it would be from my region. It’s bad, just not terrible. Definitely playable. I remember at the start of the game back in A Real Reborn that Europe didn’t even have European servers, I think they were Canadian back then and we all played just fine with +100/150 ms of ping. It feels somewhat similar to what it was back then, maybe just a tiny tiny bit worse but very similar.
I’m excited to start the chapters with one of the biggest Dio simps! I’m off to a slow start though because of bad bedtime choices… Well at least tonight I’ll be able to go to bed at whatever time.
I might do more reading yet this evening, undecided, but I have read a bit of:
天使の傷痕 | L30?? - the story is finally opening up after some scene setting. Murder stuff, not super spoilery cause it’s the beginning of the book, spoilered cause death: The man and his fiance encounter a man who has been stabbed in the woods. He stumbles out to them with a dagger sticking out of his chest then falls off the cliff. From the description it is not a very steep cliff seeing as the main character is able to climb down to him. The dagger has some kind of insignia on it, which is presumed to be homemade. Dying man also leaves a trail of red blood through the 熊笹 which are noted as being yellow (probably cause it’s fall, there’s a lot of talk about the fall colors). Such imagery! The main guy is a reporter and he had brought his camera (with color film! ) and he’s all “well I can’t put it in the newspaper but how can I not take a picture of a dead man right in front of me!”. Odd mood, can’t say I relate. Also, I looked that plant up, it looks like this when yellowing:
Anyways the whole scene was very dramatic and very 60s so I’m here for it. The author continues to challenge my kanji knowledge (got 暫く today) and I’m basically treating them like pokemon. How many shiny kanji can I catch?
火車 | L35 - I’m reading this in paperback as well, but this one I’m following along with an audiobook so…basically no lookups and very few pauses. I’m fluctuating between “This is fine, I’m following everything” to “wait what, I missed a piece” to “oh god, so many business terms help”. I admit the story doesn’t interest me all that much yet, but I’m only 3 chapters in.
Honorary mention to a rare English book in my reading rotation! The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle which I’m now about 10% through? It feels like someone smashed the Netflix show Dark and an Agatha Christie novel together. I’m digging it.
A bit of variety again today! I started off with some Haikyuu light novel stuff and read about another 20 pages which still felt really nice and casual, a lovely change of pace Honestly the hardest part is all the onomatopoeia which really tracks actually, but half the time I just go by vibes and move on haha. Then it was time to challenge 十角館の殺人 again and I think I’ve made it through the worst of it for now! I mean we’ll see how it goes next time I pick it up, but I’m on the second section of the chapter so I think I should be okay. Then I felt like some クールドジ男子 hijinks so I read a couple chapters, an absolute delight as always Overall a pretty good day! I’m probably gonna be too busy to read much tomorrow so glad to get it in while I can
I finished the last chapter of HQ vol 5, and then through ch 55 in vol 7. At least it’s a good place to stop, being between sets, because I’m super tired.
I’m getting close to when Fukuroudani will be introduced! Considering Bokuto’s on the cover of vol 11, I’m assuming it’ll be that one!
Some vocab of note:
惨敗 (ざんぱい) [noun, する verb (自)] ignominious defeat; crushing failure; utterly beaten; overwhelming defeat
ドヤ顔 (ドヤがお) [colloquialism, noun] self-satisfied look; triumphant look; smug face; shit-eating grin. I don’t know where the ドヤ comes from, but I understood it because it sounds like どうや —it seems like the kind of face someone would make while exclaiming, “どうや!”/“どうだ!”
縺れ込む (もつれこむ) [自マ五] to proceed although deadlocked; to be carried over (e.g. to the next meeting); to go into a shootout (e.g. sport)
ガラ空き (ガラあき) [noun, な-adj.] inadequately defended; defenseless. virtually empty.
こっぴどい [い-adj.] An emphatic form of ひどい.
フカす [sports term, 他サ五] to shoot (a ball) too high; to blast over the bar. HQ’s definition: 打った瞬間にアウトと分かるくらい、スパイクやサーブを大きく打ってしまうこと. (Accidentally hitting a spike or serve where you know the instant you hit it that it’ll be out.)
寸分の狂いもない (すんぶんのくるいもない) [expression, い-adj.] accurate; flawless; perfectly ordered; without deviation
怪我の巧妙 (けがのこうみょう) [expression, noun] fortunate error; lucky break; fluke
注視 (ちゅうし) [noun, の-adj, する verb (他)] gazing steadily at; observing (a person) closely; maintain a watch over
Previous few days I’ve been managing 1-2 pages of Tugumi then a few pages of Orange.
Today was (mostly) a day off so I caught up with Tugumi - first time I’ve finished the chapter with the club! Read 11 pages today. I thought about reading on but decided best to take a break while I worked out how it post the Spy Family threads!
I read a few pages of Orange volume 1 again - now up to 50% so I can potentially catch up with the club.
I finished シャドーハウス volume 1 early a few days ago, I’d plan to read on if there’s an offshoot club.
So overall, I’m up to date with all my active book clubs (not counting Orange as I only started it this week!), which is just as well as I’m heading into a busy week. The following week should be easier though.
Finished Kindaichi volume 3 yesterday. I had originally planned to read 1 or 2 chapters per day, but that left things in an awkward place so I decided to go through the rest as well. So I had read 2 chapters before dinner and 3 chapters after dinner.
I really liked this case aside from the usual skeeviness and teen romance I don’t have much interest in. Very interesting tricks and just a smart and very empathic killer. The rivalry with Akechi Goro is also a nice additional element.
I think I’ll just continue with volume 4 next, which I could probably read over the weekend. Next week I’m thinking of finally reading Zenitendo volume 3. Additionally, Monday is when I start working for the first time. Well the position I’m in is closer to an intern, but I’m pretty excited about it.
Wagahai-cat explains that life is much better as a cat, humans just make life complicated, whereas cats see that life is simple, full of eating and sleeping, and sleeping and eating.
Japanese found in the sand
Meowords
裾模様「すそもよう」ー Kimono with a design on the skirt part 自惚れ「うぬぼれ」ー Pretension; conceit 撫肩「なでがた」ー Sloping shoulders (more common as: なで肩) 旅鴉「たびがらす」ー Wanderer; vagabond; vagrant (also: 旅がらす) 皺「しわ」ー Wrinkle; crease 按摩「あんま」ー Traditional Japanese massage; anma 横膈膜「おうかくまく」ー Diaphragm
Feeling a little burned out today, so I just read the subtitles to youtube videos I was watching for entertainment. I hope I get out of this slump soon! Happy weekend!!!
I finished the Shin Kanzen Master Reading N2 book but I don’t feel like I actually got better at reading or at least I still have a hard time choosing the correct answer.
Furthermore I did my daily training from the Nihongo so Matome Reading N1 book and finally started reading and finished the first short story from ボッコちゃん the book sensei recommended. It’s a collection of I think 50 short stories the sentences are pretty short but I see lots of grammar used which I never saw in other books.
Chapter 18 of Happiness today. The story continues to be generally unpleasant, but the art is so beautiful sometimes, and the text is so readable for me that I still enjoy it despite the vague sense of discomfort.
This has been the first manga that has felt more like just reading rather than reading-and-learning. Hopefully I can find more stuff that is as simple for me to follow …ideally with less upskirting
August 19th
What did I read?: 今日のさんぽんた Vol 1
How much did I read?: 12 pages
How long did it take me?: 11 min
Didn’t read yesterday because I worked for 12 hours instead lol But today was a better day. This manga is growing on me, the first few chapters were kind of eh to me but the ones I read today were pretty funny/cute.
I just realized I haven’t posted any panels from this manga yet. So here’s Ponta xD
color film! 
Honestly the hardest part is all the onomatopoeia which really tracks actually, but half the time I just go by vibes and move on haha. Then it was time to challenge 十角館の殺人 again and I think I’ve made it through the worst of it for now! I mean we’ll see how it goes next time I pick it up, but I’m on the second section of the chapter so I think I should be okay. Then I felt like some クールドジ男子 hijinks so I read a couple chapters, an absolute delight as always 
Overall a pretty good day! I’m probably gonna be too busy to read much tomorrow so glad to get it in while I can 
名探偵コナン Volume 11 (61% ➨ 71%)
orange Volume 2 (0% ➨ 29%)
Haven’t been to the sauna all summer, so this somehow slipped my mind. 
I hope I get out of this slump soon! Happy weekend!!!
Aug 19th 
