📚📚 Read every day challenge - Summer 2022 🏖 ☀

[Zakarius]

The Tanuki Falling Leaf Party: Date 20220906

吾輩は狸である progress: 18.67%

Wagahai-cat gets teased with a hanky (amidst much conversation).

Japanese found within the acorns

Meowords

襟髪「えりがみ」ー Scruff of the neck
草双紙「くさぞうし」ー Ukiyo-e illustrated literature, popular in the Edo-Meiji period.
御転婆「おてんば」ー Tomboy
飄然「ひょうぜん」ー Casually; aimlessly; detached; aloof
偏屈「へんくつ」ー Narrow-minded; obstinate; bigoted; perverse
首実検「くびじっけん」ー Checking a person’s identity (comes from identifying someone from a severed head and has quite the history)
月並「つきなみ」ー Every month; commonplace; trite; conventional (also: 月並み)
稽古「けいこ」ー Practice; training; study
乾燥無味「かんそうむみ」ー Dryness; dullness
超凡「ちょうぼん」ー Extraordinary
男振り 「おとこぶり」ー Handsomeness; manliness (looks)

Forms
攫む ＝ 掴む「つかむ」(to seize; to catch; to grab)
焚く ＝ 焼く「やく」(to burn)

[lucylavelle]

September 6th!

I read Chapter 35 of Mitsuboshi Colors today. It was a fairly simple read, though it had quite a few words I needed to look up or work out from context (they were about fashion modelling , which is not something I talk about in Japanese very often!)

(Home Post)

[Cathm2]

I haven’t really been keeping a note of my reading last few days, partly because the main challenge is over and partly since I was packing for holiday.

With travelling on and off for the last 48 hours, I’ve caught up in my reading a bit. I’m now a bit ahead on some clubs and still behind with Tugumi. I’ve also finished volume 1 of Orange - I’m starting volume 2 without finishing the extra chapter at the end, I’ll probably catch up with that later.

[WaniTsunami]

I went ahead and finished the first part of chapter 1 last night. I am mostly trying now to figure out when my brain is most ready and willing to read. Commuting, lunch and before bed seem to be the only times I can get myself to do it (which is a lot of time) but any times outside of that seem to be impossible to get anything read. While I am walking, I have been listening to the audiobook of previous chapters I read just to challenge myself to recognize what part of the book it was and maybe recognize words without looking at them. Seems to be a pretty good mix of listening and reading.

[AzusaChan]

I spent the past few days trying to find something new to read now that I finished Monkeys. I read about a dozen pages of 推し、燃ゆ but realized that was way over my level. I was looking up way too many words in every sentence and lots of unknown kanji, making it take a lot longer than I’d like to read something so I put it on hold for now.

After that, I gave 推しのラブより恋のラブ a try and found it to be a much easier read so I think I will continue with this. Its a yuri game where the MC is addicted to some gacha she is playing and while “confessing” to one of the characters, another girl thought the confession was for her and things get interesting from there

The art style is really cute in this VN too

[DIO-Berry]

Home

岸辺露伴(きしべろはん)は動(うご)かない 1

start - 15

I already want to slap Rohan.

Episode 16 - the Confessional
I’ve watched the anime version and many of the live action episodes, but I didn’t realize how sporadically numbered these spinoff one shots are. Why is this one 16?? Volume 1 contains 16, 2, 5 and 6.

Like I said, I want to slap Rohan. In the beginning he goes on and on about Catholic Confessionals (he’s visiting a church) and is narrating his own actions. There’s also a separate narrator. And a guy who narrates his confession. Are you seeing my problem? Even with the framing, it feels like too much telling, not enough showing. I almost dropped it because I thought it was obnoxious, but it seems the other episodes tone it down. That gives me the impression that this is the first spin off episode that Araki made, but then it has the number 16 which then feels arbitrary unless it’s intended to note the order in which Araki thought these episodes up? That’s relatable since I number mine similarly.

Anyhow, it seems like I need to slog through this episode and then the rest will hopefully be better.

I’m tempted to look up when each episode came out because the style of the first/16 looks very similar to Part 5 and then the rest look more like 7/8’s style (although I’m not overly familiar with them).

[natarin]

September 6 Home Post

Still just fitting in a few pages of 跡を消す where I can, maintenance mode!! I miss the wild reading days of summer but it’s all good, I’ll get there again eventually

[WaniTsunami]

The confessional came last in my Netflix list but gave the impression it was actually the first episode. So I was really confused by that since I had watched the other episodes beforehand and was just kind of along for the ride.

EDIT: Actually I checked last night and it was THE RUN that was the last episode that felt like the first. the Confession was the 1st episode but felt like the last. I had it backwards.

[enbyboiwonder]

Home

Yesterday:

I finished HQ vol 17 and read 5 chapters of vol 18. The bad thing about this match is we get Tendou. I don’t like him, he kinda gives me the creeps. Tsukishima in this match, though. Man, he’s so great. I love him so much.

Y’know, I don’t know who my favorite character in this series is. I know it’s almost certainly one of the autistic ones, but I dunno who. “Almost certainly,” because I don’t think Suga’s autistic and he’s definitely in the running. Tsukki, Kageyama, Ushijima, Akaashi, Kita…

Some vocab of note:

笊 (ザル) [noun] something full of holes
替え玉 (かえだま) [noun] second serving of noodles (to add to one’s remaining ramen broth)
有言実行 (ゆうげんじっこう) [四字熟語, noun, する verb] carrying out one’s words; being as good as one’s word; making good on one’s promise
手がつけられない [expression, い-adj.] out of control; out of hand; unmanageable; nothing one can do
ぎゃふんと言わせる [expression, 一] to argue (someone) into silence
一糸乱れぬ (いっしみだれぬ) [expression, prenominal] perfectly ordered; perfectly coordinated
助太刀 (すけだち) [noun, する verb (他)] assistance (in a fight); help; aid; backup. helper; supporter.

---

Today:

I really don’t get how Bookmeter’s 相性 works. It’s showing my #1 person at 330% compatibility now. They’re also reading Yuukoku no Moriarty though, so uh, yeah, I don’t think so.

I finished HQ vol 18 and read 6 chapters of vol 19. I’d wanted to finish this volume too, but I got distracted doing other things, and now it’s midnight and I’m tired.

Man, I loved that scene where Tsukki gets fired up over finally having blocked one of Ushijima’s spikes in the anime, but just. reading that

——たかがブロック一本
たかが２５点中の１点
たかが部活

and then that big two-page spread of him celebrating? Man, that was so great. This match is so great. (And then Aki being so proud of him, especially for finding his place on the team, that he starts crying ♡)

Some vocab of note:

後手に回る (ごてにまわる) [expression, ラ五] to be forestalled; to fall behind; to be one step behind
往復ビンタ (おうふくビンタ) [noun] double slap in the face (the second slap administered by the return motion of the back of the hand)
劣る (おとる) [自ラ五] to be inferior to; to be less good at; to fall behind
付け焼き刃 (つけやきば) [noun] thin veneer; hasty preparation; knowledge or skill learned as a stopgap. The original meaning refers to the retempering of a dull blade so that it looks sharp but is actually unusable.

[DIO-Berry]

The live action order of episodes also seems really arbitrary. I just checked and the ova is as well
Manga

OVA (wiki needs to stop with the summaries…)

Live Action

From behind is interestingly the Cheap Trick plot which appears in Part 4. I’m not sure what the Kushagara episode is about, I’ve only seen the last minute or two of it twice.

I’m really surprised that The Confessional came out during Part 5’s publication. The style is certainly closer to Part 5 than Part 4 imo but it’s odd. Like did Araki just happen to have the time to put out a whole extra chapter?

Just did some more research. Chapter 510’s date is June 23, 1997 and then chapter 511 is July 14, 1997 and then 513’s is July 28, 1997 but these cover dates differ from the instore dates which suddenly start appearing with 515 being in store also on July 28, 1997 according to this wiki

Chapter 515

I kind of get it since the September edition of Ultra Jump is avail in August, but it’s rather confusing. Given the publication dates though, it looks like Araki took a short break?? But I’ve also heard he’s never taken a break/missed a deadline during Parts and only takes breaks between them???

It looks like the Hill episode came out during Steel Ball Run and presumably many of the other episodes came out during JoJolion… with the exception of episodes 10 and 11 which are recent and in between JoJolion and the mysterious Part 9.

I feel like I need to call on a JoJo Otaku senpai to see what they know

Also forget my theory about episode number being about concept order. Hot Summer Martha (10) is based on Covid so that logic doesn’t fit

[ChristopherFritz]

Day 68: September 6th

Super-small reading day today.

スーパーマリオくん Volume 1 (60% ➨ 70%)

[Zakarius]

The Tanuki Falling Leaf Party: Date 20220907

吾輩は狸である progress: 19.35%

Master and his friend try and outdo each other in their conversation.

Japanese found within the acorns

Meowords

遡る「さかのぼる」ー To go upstream/up a river; to go back (past etc.); to date back; to trace back
猶太「ユダヤ」ー Judea; Jew (usually not in kanji)
死骸「しがい」ー Corpse; carcass
釘「くぎ」ー Nail; spike; tack; rivet
講釈師「こうしゃくし」ー Professional storyteller
弥次馬「やじうま」ー Curious onlookers; rubbernecking (also: 野次馬)
縄暖簾「なわのれん」ー Rope curtain

[Daisoujou]

It’s another period for me where motivation is pretty hard to come by, so I’ve been slipping on VN reading. I hope when I finish WK (if I can keep up pace, within this month) I’ll get a little energized to turn that time towards more reading and listening. I think the grind has truly worn on me and I’m just barely outlasting it at this point.

I did, at least, briefly start another book by Sayaka Murata (コンビニ人間’s author): 殺人出産 | L29 . I liked the idea of having some short stories break things up, though it seems one story dominates most of the book length anyway. All the same, should be interesting. Reading it feels pretty similar in difficulty to to コンビニ人間 so that’s nice.

I guess I can also include some time spent playing Earth Defense Force 6 (地球防衛軍), currently only available in Japanese. The missions descriptions give me little bits of reading practice, and the audio mixing is so bad that the subtitles are basically just reading practice most of the time heh. I wonder what happened to Dragon Quest 11 my attention span is really bad with games. One day I’ll stick to something.

[lucylavelle]

September 7th!

Today I read the next chapter of Teasing Master Takagi-san.
As usual, Takagi was able to see through Nishikata’s ploy with minimal effort

(Home Post)

[WaniTsunami]

Finished Chapter 3 of 青ブタ８. The remaining parts are kind of long, but there is only 3. So I am trying to figure out how to tackle them. I may just read a part a day, and finish on Saturday, but I am pretty motivated to finish. However my vision feels pretty messed up from reading so much. Whatever I tackle next I think I gotta go a little slower for the health of my eyes.

[DIO-Berry]

Home

岸辺露伴(きしべろはん)は動(うご)かない 1

16 - 28

I went to bed hella late so I didn’t have much time to read. It was really odd reading Japanese that is intentionally so poor. I’m glad the font choice was weird too just to be super obvious about how off/wrong everything was supposed to feel.

I should finish this episode tonight. Idk if I’ll try to read all of the next one too or not. My concentration is shot today, but we’ll see if that changes.

[ChristopherFritz]

Day 69: September 7th

にじいろフォトグラフ Volume 1 (52% ➨ 70%)

キラキラ100％ Volume 3 (66% ➨ 71%)

[enbyboiwonder]

Home

I went to HPB again today, this time to sell a bunch of books (about 3/4 manga, a few of which I was simply getting rid of, while the rest I’d decided I’m only gonna collect in JP, even if it’s gonna take a while to get them). I actually got $80 for everything, which is awesome. I feel a little bit better now about not really having much self-control lately when it comes to book-buying. A little bit. I still gotta figure out how to reliably get myself to hold back more, because apparently telling myself I’ve got 120+ unread books already ain’t cutting it. It’s only getting me not to buy from Amazon, which ain’t that helpful.

Anyway, I picked up a copy of Stardust while I was there, so I spent a lot of time reading that today and didn’t read much in JP. It’s very different from what little I remember of the movie, but still mostly a good book.

Aside from that, I finished vol 19 of HQ and read 3 chapters of vol 20.

Some vocab of note:

義 (ぎ) [noun] prosthesis. I don’t know if the prefix tag applies to this meaning as well, but that is how it was used in the chapter 義翼(ぎよく), Prosthetic Wings.
亀裂 (きれつ) [noun] crack; crevice; fissure; rift
ど忘れ (どわすれ) [noun, する verb (他自)] lapse of memory; (something) slipping one’s mind; forgetting for a moment something one knows well. Unlike the ど used as a prefix in many other words, this one is the kanji 度. I don’t really know how that lends to the meaning, but I do know it’s not an intensifier, so it’s not “I super forgot” like Bokuto thinks it feels like. (Although 度 is apparently rarely used ateji for that ど lmao)
肝が据わる (きもがすわる) [expression, ラ五] to have guts; to be plucky; to have nerves of steel
断崖絶壁 (だんがいぜっぺき) [四字熟語, noun] critical situation. From the more literal meaning of “precipitous cliff; sheer precipice.”
へでもない [expression, い-adj.] of no concern; nothing; trivial; not even a fart. (Literally; that へ is 屁, “fart.”)
五分 (ごぶ) [adverb, noun] tie; evenness

[omk3]

September 7

Tugumi, chapter 8
Grammar :いい

Finished chapter 8 of Tugumi yesterday. I feel a little bad for reading so far ahead of the book club, but it’s not like there’s much discussion going on, and I need to start finishing books again if I’m ever to try and reduce the evergrowing virtual pile of bought and as-yet unopened ones. The minute Bookwalker does some some sort of promotion, I feel compelled to get at least a couple books from my (also evergrowing) wish list. And they do promotions all the time. Why wouldn’t they, their trap works perfectly…

On Grammar, I read how いい can mean anything from “good,” to" listen", “no”, and “enough already”. Nothing really new.

[WaniTsunami]

That was me with Spy x Family, I think I read everything in the same week because I think I was only reading One Punch Man at the time and not particularly in a serious way.