📚📚 Read every day challenge - Winter 2022 ☃❄

VNs

Yeah I’m speaking from zero experience with the Japanese, but this is probably true? It strikes me as a step up from something like Ace Attorney. Which I wouldn’t want to push on too hard, but before I reached that final case, it felt like a fantastic entry point if someone is ready for games/VNs. It’s had the most helpful repetition of key words in anything I’ve read yet, too. JPDB, for whatever it’s worth, also slots DR at one point higher in difficulty than Summer Pockets.

I of course don’t have firsthand experience, but if I was just idly recommending some VNs to people based on how they look and what I’ve heard about their difficulty, the more slice of life stuff like Little Busters looks like a good call, and is almost what I started with. Aokana seems to be widely loved, is allegedly not too hard, and is available in Japanese on Steam. Yuzusoft stuff like Sanoba Witch is apparently really easy to read (also in Japanese on Steam), but I have no firsthand experience with them, and that’s increasingly approaching the kind of stuff people avoid VNs for, haha.

It’s hard to make recommendations because what’s easier is mostly the very slow paced slice of life stuff which puts some people off. Plus, most of what I’ve played in English is not really suitable until you’re more proficient with the language. Stuff that’s more plot-heavy and weighty. Like looking at what @BadWeather has played, I want to go for more mystery stuff like Raging Loop, but I imagine Raging Loop is more suitable with a little more experience. Higurashi/Umineko are the best calls for people into this kind of stuff, but they’re known for being relatively hard to read.

I hear Himawari isn’t too hard to read and has a bit of a sci-fi slant (also haven’t read it), but that one isn’t available in Japanese on Steam, though the price looks more reasonable elsewhere. And it has an All Ages Version, so there are options. Not that I really want to be having this particular conversation here but I also don’t want to indirectly recommend something with very explicit stuff without making that clear, heh. But it doesn’t have to. That’s probably true of a lot of others because not always, but often, that stuff is removed in the Steam release (but can often be readded in patches if that’s your wish).

ANYWAY! Recommending under constraints is kind of hard. I wish this stuff was more easily accessible.

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So stressed from work, so tired. Almost forgot to read yesterday but saved it with two pages of Yotuba. Read today. Impulse bought a physical copy of Asuka magazine (one of those >900 pages ones that cost an extra 2000 yen to ship). :thinking: Call it a gift since I just plunked all my Christmas money straight into my savings account.

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Summary Post

Day 24: Oh man I was braindead today, but I still managed to read 5 pages of よつば&!

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February 3 :snowflake: Home Post

I played some more 999 today! Not nearly as much for sure but that’s okay, today was kind of a weird day :joy: I can confirm they apparently got like a whole all-star voice cast for this game so that’s fun. I’m looking forward to getting proper character introductions and pun names and such, but they’re all still a great time anyway! This girl has some jokes:

Love learning a new word (八方塞(はっぽうふさ)がり - blocked in every direction) and then immediately seeing a joke made from it that makes intuitive sense :joy: Language humor!

Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get to play more; I wanna do more puzzles :eyes:

Danganronpa digression

I did also mess with Danganronpa for a little bit to get a sense of how hard it was and it was kind of a revelation, honestly. According to the saves I last tried it in Japanese almost a year ago, and I remember it pretty much being me clinging to whatever I remembered from playing in English and vaguely figuring out the Japanese from that :joy:

But today? I didn’t play for very long but I really just casually went in, scoped out a decent chunk of dialogue, and quit before I even really realized that I’d just… read it? Like yeah there’s stuff I would’ve looked up if I were actually seriously playing it, but it was so much more comprehensible than I would’ve expected. It’s real evidence that nah it’s not like 999 is so much simpler than anything else I’ve tried, I’ve just actually improved?? Absolutely wild.

Lmao it’s funny you say that bc I’m still absolutely terrified of Ace Attorney in Japanese, but now Danganronpa seems possibly doable. I’m definitely way too early in 999 to be like “hmm maybe I’ll play Danganronpa after” but also when have I ever had self-control huh

Cool words

遠隔操作(えんかくそうさ) - remote operation
希望的観測(きぼうてきかんそく) - wishful thinking
(ちから)ずく - (brute) force, with all one’s might
電気(でんき)()てない - this I couldn’t exactly find in a dictionary or anything, but from what I can tell it basically means the power’s out which makes sense, “electricity isn’t coming” you know, but interesting to see!
赤道(せきどう) - equator // 子午線(しごせん) - meridian (bc I obviously need these for everyday life :joy:)
何気(なにげ)なく - unintentionally, calmly, inadvertently

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Update February 3

  • Teasing Master Takagi-san vol 1. Chapter 3 to the end. 118 pages. So much faster with a vocab sheet and the book club threads.
  • もじぱったん. Played five puzzles and read through all the new dictionary entries.
  • Animal Crossing.
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Excited to finish not one but two chapters! I split the sections below for my own organization. Also loving the characterization of Aiko-san. She’s clearly a good person. She’s only different because she takes the time to hear people out and take care of them rather than submitting to the status quo. Everyone needs someone like her in their life! She gives me Uncle Iroh vibes from ATLA. Except instead of running a tea shop, she runs a cafe!

2月4日 ~ Day 35 / Back to Home

夜カフェ page 36 of 189 (10 pages - chapter 2 finished)

Last we left off, Hanabi finally decided enough was enough and went off to pack her things to escape to her aunt’s place. Her mother tries to stop her, but Hanabi doesn’t pay no mind and leaves the apartment without another word.

She has to take the train to get to the house, but she finds it quicker than she thought. When she reaches the house, she notices the cafe facing the street that her aunt was also running, “District 3 Cafe” it’s called. The house itself was originally her grandma and grandpa’s house that her aunt restored and they were living together for a time. It’s not clear if her grandparents are still alive or if they moved out.

Her aunt Aiko answers the door almost immediately and invites her in. She realizes what her mother meant when she described her as “strange” because even knowing what Hanabi had done, she praised her for giving her parents a piece of her mind and leaving instead of reprimanding her for backtalking to elders. She invites her to eat stew that she prepared for dinner. Hanabi feels reminiscent of her old home and her old mother when she was still not working. The food smells delicious, it tastes delicious, and there was proof that someone was occupying the home. It felt warm and cozy unlike the lonely existence she’s come to know in her own home.

Hanabi feels comfortable around Aiko-san, and even relays all the problems she’s been bottling up inside for so long. She admits that she’s been wanting a place where she belongs, but with the bully Yayako taking that opportunity away from her, she’s stuck. That’s why she wanted to change schools, but since she failed the exam, she feels that she’s failed at her attempt to change herself.

Aiko-san explains to her that even if she managed to change her environment, she can’t change the other people occupying it. So even if Yayako wasn’t at the other school, there’s a chance someone like her would be there instead. In that case, what would Hanabi have done? Hanabi admits she never considered that problem and realizes what she needed to do was focus on changing herself. Right now she’s been running away and hiding because she didn’t want to be picked on, but if she stood up and fought, then she could find a place where she belonged.

In the middle of their conversation, a boy walks in. Hanabi’s first thought is he looks handsome and fashionable although a little scary by how quiet he is. Aiko-san introduces them to each other and Hanabi realizes he must be very intelligent if he got into the area’s top private high school. Aiko-san explains that he got into a bike accident in front of her shop, so she took care of him and rushed him to the hospital. I don’t remember if it’s been clarified why, but now he’s a regular there.

Vocab for Reference - New words are bolded

ポツン・falling in drops (e.g. rain)
滴・しぐく・drop (e.g. of water); drip
街灯・がいとう・street light
滲む・にじむ・to blur; to blot; to be blurred
何もかも・なにもかも・anything and everything; just about everything
改装・かいそう・remodelling; remodeling; reorganization; reorganisation
独身・どくしん・single (marital status)
面する・めんする・to face
奥・おく・inner part;inside;interior
怒鳴りつける・どなりつける・to shout at
ばしっと・whack; smack
大真面目・おおまじめ・deadly serious; deadly earnest
煮込む・にこむ・to boil well; to stew; to simmer (for a long time)
香り・かおり・aroma; fragrance; scent; smell
漂う・ただよう・to waft (e.g. a scent); to hang in the air
腕まくり・うでまくり・rolling up one’s sleeves
鼻歌・はなうた・humming; crooning
口ずさむ・くちずさみ・to hum (a tune); to sing to oneself; to croon
蛇口・じゃぐち・faucet; tap
まな板・まないた・chopping board; cutting board
刻む・きざむ・to mince; to cut fine; to chop up; to hash; to shred
かき回す・かきまわす・to stir; to churn; to poke (a fire); to disturb (water)
お玉・おたま・ladle
色とりどり・いろとりどり・multicolored
盛る・もる・to serve (in a bowl, on a plate, etc.); to dish out; to dish up; to fill (a bowl) with
香ばしい・こうばしい・aromatic (roasted beans, roasted tea, etc.); fragrant (e.g. burning wood); pleasant-smelling; savory-smelling (e.g. barbecued meat); savoury; appetizing
予想・よそう・expectation; anticipation; prediction; forecast; conjecture
ほろほろ・falling apart; crumbling; melting (in one’s mouth)
頬ぼる・ほおぼる・to stuff one’s cheeks;to fill one’s mouth (with food)
かりっと・crunchy
ふんわり・gently; airily; fluffily
言い合う・いいあう・to say to each other; to exchange (jokes, comments, etc.)
状態・じょうたい・state; condition; situation; appearance; circumstances
一気に・いっきに・immediately; instantly; right away; straight away; straightaway
仲間はずれ・なかまはずれ・being left out
限る・かぎる・to be restricted to; to be limited to; to be confined to
探る・さぐる・to feel around for; to fumble for; to grope for; to search for; to look for
断言・だんげん・assertion; declaration; affirmation
お凸・おでこ・brow; forehead
ちょこん・slightly (of an action); (looking) small and quiet
突く・つつく・to poke (repeatedly lightly)
ウェーブ・wavy hairstyle
背負う・せおう・to carry on one’s back
ちらっと見る・ちらっとみる・to glance at; to glimpse
上ずる・うわずる・to sound shrill (of a voice); to sound high-pitched and excited; to sound hollow
難関校・なんかんこう・hard-to-get-into school; elite school; highly-selective school
ぽかん・openmouthed; with one’s mouth wide-open; gaping; flabbergasted
笑いかける・わらいかける・to smile (at); to grin (at)
照れる・てれる・to be shy; to be bashful; to feel awkward; to feel embarrassed
のけ反る・のけぞる・to be taken aback

夜カフェ page 45 of 189 (9 pages - chapter 3 finished)

The next day Hanabi wakes up in Aiko-san’s house nearly forgetting she stayed the night when she woke up late and wondered why her mother didn’t wake her up. She has a silly encounter with Yamato, the high school 1st year boy who’s living at her aunt’s house. She forgot he was there and didn’t think to groom herself before coming out to brush her teeth. He saw her in her half-awake state when he called her down for breakfast.

She finds everyone sitting in the cafe waiting for her. Hanabi explains that she overslept so she;s considering calling in sick from school. This surprises her because she’s never outwardly thought of skipping school. Someone laughs when she hears this and Hanabi gets introduced to Saki, a 20-year old waitress who apparently made the breakfast. Things are awkward with her and Yamato during the meal. As she pours the dressing for the salad, he seems to be glaring at her and she nearly drops the serving dish. They don’t say a word to each other while cleaning up either.

When Hanabi checks her phone, she sees Line messages from her parents. To her, they don’t sound worried, but her mother tells her she’ll be picking her up later. She instantly feels opposes the idea and goes to the work room to discuss with Aiko-san about having her stay a little longer. Aiko-san tells her she’d be happy to have her stay, but she won’t be the one convincing her mother to let her. That’s up to Hanabi. If she wants something really bad, she has to find a way to explain her feelings from the bottom of her heart because otherwise having someone else interfere has no meaning. Hanabi seems unsure, but Aiko-san reassures her that her mother will understand if she’s honest and tells her how she really feels.

Aiko-san impressed me in the last chapter, but her advice to Hanabi this time around was also spot on. It’s only a shame that Hanabi was discouraged from seeing her aunt when she was younger or she could’ve gotten advice about how to deal with Yayako sooner.

Vocab for Reference - New words are bolded

翌朝・よくあさ・next morning
遅刻・ちこく・lateness; tardiness; arriving late
寝ぼけ眼・ねぼけまなこ・sleepy eyes; drowsy look
洗面所・せんめんじょ・washroom; bathroom
振り向く・ふりむく・to turn one’s face; to turn around; to look over one’s shoulder
私服・しふく・civilian clothes; plain clothes; mufti
はみがき粉・はみがきこ・toothpaste
もごもご・mumbling
どぎまぎ・flurried; flustered; upset; nervous; embarrassed
覗く・のぞく・to sneak a look at; to take a quick look at
映る・うつる・to be reflected
木製・もくせい・wooden; made of wood
中庭・なかにわ・courtyard; quadrangle; middle court
窓際・まどぎわ・(at the) window
革・かわ・leather
仮病・けびょう・feigned illness
あっさり・easily; readily; quickly
被る・かぶる・to overlap
示す・しめす・to indicate; to show; to represent; to signify; to display
柄・がら・pattern; design
刺繍・ししゅう・embroidery
転ぶ・ころぶ・to fall over
溶け出す・とけだす・to begin to dissolve
間抜けな・まぬけな・stupid; foolish; idiotic; inane
ぎろっ・staring (e.g. eyes); goggling; glaring
跳ねる・はねる・to hit (e.g. to have a car hit something or someone)
どうやら・it seems like
食器棚・しょっきだな・cupboard
片付ける・かたづける・to tidy up
背筋・せすじ・the muscles along the spine
充電・じゅうでん・charging (electrically)
件・けん・counter for (received) emails, text messages, voicemail messages, etc.
内容・ないよう・contents; content; substance; matter; detail
幕・まく・curtain; bunting
咄嗟に・とっさに・at once; right away; promptly; on the spur of the moment​
洞窟・どうくつ・cavern; cave; cave system; grotto
仕事部屋・しごとべや・workroom
統一・とういつ・unity; consolidation; uniformity; unification; compatible
下書き・したがき・draft; rough copy
見張る・みはる・to open (one’s eyes) wide
ふわっと・softly;gently;lightly
細かい・こまかい・fine; minute (details)
丁寧・ていねい・careful; close; thorough; conscientious
如何にも・いかにも・absolutely; certainly; for sure
挿絵・さしえ・illustration (e.g. book)
しぶしぶ・reluctantly; unwillingly
切り出す・きりだす・to begin to talk; to break the ice; to broach
説得・せっとく・persuasion
ぴしゃり・flat (refusal, denial, etc.)​
切り開く・きりひらく・to carve out (a new career, future, etc.); to open up (a new field)
見透かす・みすかす・to see through; to see the true nature of something
にやり・meaningfully (smiling, grinning, etc.); suggestively; broadly; sneeringly
日差し・ひざし・sunlight; rays of the Sun

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Yes food in japan is strange. Have you met 人参 yet? にんじん carrot

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Day 29: February 2

  • 君の名は。page 211-232 (92%)

Almost… I hope I can finish it this weekend ^^

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I normally would as well, but I’m trying to order from Kinokuniya as much as I can from now on, and there were only a few things that I couldn’t get from them. But I wanted あすか so bad :joy: and apparently back issues aren’t available forever, so I decided to just go for it.

How do you like ちゃお and なかよし?

5 Likes

:house:

Day 35. Read the other half of page 226 and also page 227 of Kiki. It’s finally the weekend… I’ll try to read a fair amount before it gets super busy again. Maybe even up to Chapter 11 (the last chapter)? I’m only going to get busier from here, so honestly I need to speed up and finish Kiki as quickly as possible so I can read some easier stuff (back to Zenitendou) without focusing so much on amount.

I mean, I really have dragged Kiki on for long enough :joy:. It’s a nice, wholesome story, but about ten months is a while, you know?

Edit: I’m kind of considering abandoning the rest of my Japanese studies just this weekend so I can have fun reading the rest of Chapter 10 tomorrow and Chapter 11 on Sunday. If I know I’m only going to do reading as my daily Japanese study (well, I’ll also need to do WK, but that doesn’t count), I’m sure I’ll be able to do that with no problems. And since I won’t be rushing to ‘have my daily reading intake,’ I can enjoy myself.

23 Likes

:tiger2: :books: Homepost - Tigerdate: 20220204 :books: :raccoon:


Tanuki Scroll XXXV: マウイの仕事 :crescent_moon:

Read today’s world folktale, from New Zealand!

It was a bit of an origin or creation story - how humans learnt to cook and how they discovered fire, also how New Zealand came into existence (it was fished out of the sea!), and capturing the sun and beating it with a stick until it agrees to rotate around the earth slower so that the crops can grow better :laughing:

☆ Learnings ☆

New Words

ニュージーランド ー New Zealand
(Not really a new word, but I don’t think I’ve seen it in Japanese before, surprised it uses ジ not ゼ but the katakanisation of words always surprises me)
あご骨「あごぼね」ー Jawbone. Also written as: 顎骨「がっこつ or あごぼね」

Bonus from the Traditional Colours of Japan book I bought awhile ago
Been reading this when I can, it’s a bit difficult Japanese-wise, but thankfully there’s furigana on some of the obscure stuff! It’s also weird how different it feels to read Japanese “physically” rather than just on a screen.

Some Words

「まん」ー Outdated kanji for 万: 10,000
染物「そめもの」ー Dyeing; Dyed goods (more common as: 染め物)
手鑑「てかがみ」ー Collection of handwriting; Model, Example

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Summary Post

February 4
星の王子さま, p. 27-30.

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Well that’s a scary sounding vegetable when it’s written all in hiragana. It’s time for me to study more kanji :laughing:

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Day 35!

Chapter 4 of よつばと! today. I really enjoyed this chapter, Jumbo is hilarious. I got a little confused in the middle, but I’ve come to the conclusion that it was meant to be a bit random and chaotic! Since Jumbo is jumping to the wrong conclusions about why Yotsuba’s dad has a high school girl in his house….

(Home Post)

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Home post :house:

Day 28:

I read two pages of よつばと! today :four_leaf_clover: It’s getting a bit easier :slightly_smiling_face:

Ah, I just realized my posts probably don’t look as good to people browsing in dark mode 😅


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VNs

Oh, I totally get that :grin: I haven’t played it in any language yet, but from what I heard about it, I definitely don’t expect to be an easy read. I might still try it if I have some extra time, if just to see how hard it’s going to be, but I don’t have high hopes.

(I’m also not sure that I’ll have enough free time any time soon to invest in a long-ish and complicated game, let alone with the handicap of playing it in Japanese, i.e. at a much reduced speed and likely with incomplete understanding. But if I had the time, I would totally go for it, so whatever excuse I make up, in reality time is probably the main limiting factor. :caught_durtling:)

Besides, it’s not like I’m dead set on playing Danganronpa as my first VN in Japanese – it’s just that I have it in my Steam library in hopes of playing it some time, and it has Japanese support unlike many other VNs on Steam. So I’ll definitely play it at some point, and I might check it out soon just out of curiosity and totally not get sucked in for weeks/months making next to no progress :grin:

That’s actually a great idea, thanks!

I haven’t heard of it, but looks like something I might like, so I guess I’ll save it for later – when I have more experience :slight_smile: Thank you!

Personally, I don’t mind slice of life at all, as long as it doesn’t lean too much into the realm which VNs have a… reputation for :grin: But it’s a bit hard to find something that would be both enjoyable and (reasonably) easy to read.
E.g. your daily updates and screenshots of Summer Pockets have me quite intrigued by this particular game, but, say, Clannad or Little Busters don’t feel as enticing to me for some reason.
Aokana looks interesting, but apparently there’s some content that I’d prefer to avoid… And it seems to be so ubiquitous in romance VNs that it’s hard to find a good one without it.


Summary post

February 4 update:
Read chapter 11 of よつばと! today. Yotsuba was going her thing again, and it was hilarious. Sometimes I wonder how she gets away with her hijinks so easily. But they end up being both so funny and so innocent that I think I wouldn’t mind too much, too :grin:

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Today has been chaos so much later update than usual. Today was 『マスクと共に』 which is a short blog post about corona policies and school. I thought this would be easy because it’s short but I honestly had to reread it a bit. The actual email from the school still puzzles me and I’m going to bring it up with my tutors next week. Learning opportunity, yeah?

I made the mistake @downtimes was referencing when I started out learning Japanese! I was reading a story about a rabbit who was told by an elephant he needed to eat 100 small にんじん to become big and strong but he made a mistake and at 100 large にんじん instead. In my head I was thinking "にん=人 and じん=人…he’s eating people?! :scream: "

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last two days have been bumper reading days!

Yesterday I read from about 70-92% in 世界から猫が消えたなら… and it made me cry for most of that time :sob::sob::sob::sob: I stayed up a bit later than intended reading because I was very hooked but managed to find an okay stopping point in the end.

I’ll most likely read more of that (might finish it) before bed tonight but after work I needed to catch up on Kikis for the book club I’m in. We’ve just moved to reading whole chapters each time and while I technically had 2 weeks to do so I left it until now (the evening before) lol. I still find Kiki a struggle to read, not quite sure what it is about it tbh. I need to catch up on book clubs more generally, I’m weeks behind with ハイキュー😥

Also played a bit more Persona 4 today, but once again wasn’t able to get Game2Text working (again, more my laptop issues than anything wrong with the tool) so no pretty flashcards for anki but I played for an hour and am really enjoying it! I’ve played persona 5 before (with English subs) but this is my first time playing 4 and I’m really liking the slightly more spooky vibe it has already. Still not too far in, but this time the three main characters went inside a TV and met a strange fun クマ🐻 Still really surprisingly comprehensible! I do expect that it will get harder as it gets more into the plot but it’s still really nice to be playing something that I remember thinking about playing earlier in my Japanese learning journey and thinking it would be too hard and to have it feel really nice and enjoyable :smiling_face_with_three_hearts::smiling_face_with_three_hearts::smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Summary post :bookmark:

February 4

本好きの下剋上 8
Progress: (48% → 49%)

It has been a super long day, I need to go sleep. And finally weekend again~ :durtle_the_explorer:

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Another VN response

If nothing else, Summer Pockets blows them out of the water in production value and art style in my opinion (it’s so much more recent, to be fair), so I have that same feeling on my side. Little Busters actually doesn’t look that appealing to me but it’s SO commonly extremely praised that I want to give it a shot on reputation alone.

Yeah that’s totally fair. Some VNs go… very far, in various ways. I’ve certainly gone through some excessive stuff for the sake of the surrounding story. And I know very little about that game to be honest! I’m mainly just cross referencing what is in general really highly rated in the VN communities with what I perceive to be their difficulty. This does approach indirect spoiler territory, but if you’re trying to avoid particular content, VNDB tags might be useful for ensuring a work doesn’t have that. They seem pretty thorough. Best of luck anyway, with whatever you try :grin:


Summary post

You know… reading is hard.

I kinda managed? But Summer Pockets definitely took a turn for the tiring, today. Perhaps this screenshot can illustrate:

To be fair, this is a reference to a quote, and this sentence isn’t THAT bad when you know what’s going on, but those are 2 allegedly N1 grammar points sandwiched together in one sentence. I already knew ざる, and べからず isn’t so bad if you already know べき. Still, it’s more indicative of how all of this was written than I’d like. Combine that with sentences that use words like 抜き手 (jisho defines as a traditional swimming overarm stroke) and with onomatopeia used as verbs which I had to search that sound effect site for because they’re not on Jisho and, well, oof. Both of those were in the same sentence, and plenty more like it was elsewhere. I can puzzle through this stuff with resources on hand and a lot of time but it really makes one wonder just how many years it’s going to take to approach anything near real independent reading comfort, you know?

I don’t mean to be a downer, this isn’t really despair-posting; I’m going to go right back to reading Zoo later tonight or something and keep going at it. But this language sure is a lot, isn’t it? I picked this VN because it’s on the easier side :sweat:

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