📚📚 Read every day challenge - Winter 2022 ☃❄

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Day 35:

日本語: I read some of ミステリークロック and some of 機動強襲型令嬢アリシア物語1.

中国語

中国語: I read an intermediate entry on Mandarin Bean, one page of 擅长捉弄的高木同学, and a bit of 孩子最爱读的中国民间故事.

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I finished my first manga in Japanese! I’m very happy that it happened to be Pokemon Special. If you’re thinking about reading the manga, you can read my review on Natively. I also went ahead and read the remaining chapters of 絶叫学級 転生, so that makes two finished manga in one day!

2月6日 ~ Day 37 / Back to Home

Pocket Monsters Special Vol 1 (page 200 of 200 - chapters 13-14 - finished)

There was a scene in chapter 13 where Red is at Mr. Fuji’s house and they show a picture of Green’s Dodo including one where it was born and it showed him hatching out of an egg. Since there was a lot of suggestions of a 2nd gen in the manga, I finally looked up dates to confirm if the manga preceded the games’ (and even the anime’s) confirmation of a new 2nd generation, and I realized this:

  • Episode 46: ふっかつ!?かせきポケモン! where the gang finds a Pokemon Egg in the anime was originally aired in May 1998
  • Pokemon Gold and Silver games were originally released in Japan in November 1999
  • Pokemon Special manga was originally published in Japan in March 1997

which means the manga proceeded the 2nd generation games as well as the anime suggestion of a 2nd generation with Togepi’s existence. Now it makes me wonder how much the author was in the know about the games or if he just took creative liberty and assumed Pokemon came from eggs. Either way, it’s pretty interesting to me.

Now for the chapter summaries…

Chapter 13: Red gets caught in the rain and looks for shelter as he enters Shion Town. He’s looking around trying to get people to help, but they all avoid him seemingly on purpose. Red notices an old man (Mr. Fuji) praying in front of a Pokemon’s grave and learns details about the town - people come to the area to bury their Pokemon and pray for their spirit, but lately evil spirits have been appearing at the tower, and so everyone is on their guard.

Mr. Fuji invites Red to his home and shows him pictures of a Dodo that recently passed… and Red notices a picture of Green with it. Mr. Fuji confirms that this is Green’s Pokemon and he had come just before it was laid to rest, but he hasn’t been back from the tower for the last two weeks. Thinking something must have happened to him, Red goes after him and encounters terrifying apparitions of Pokemon that should have been laid to rest but are manipulated by occupying ghost Pokemon. Red realizes that if he escapes the fog, he can escape their attacks but is then attacked by a controlled Green and his Lizard (Charmeleon).

Chapter 14: Green’s attacks are top notch and difficult to beat. With Ghos’s orders, he attacks using Fire Spin(?) and ends up enveloping himself and his Pokemon in the flames which wears off the hypnosis he was in. Freed from the ghost Pokemon’s control, Red has his Fushigidane suck up all the air and fire a Solar Beam to break a hole in the tower which causes the ghosts to flee. Green comes to and offers a half-assed thanks and heads upstairs to find the guy who controlled him.

Kyo (Koga) appears but his real body is outside of the building. He orders his Arbo to attack the children nearly burning them with its acid attacks. Green thinks of a strategy and quickly heads back downstairs, having Red follow him. He uses one of the apparition Pokemon’s body’s as a decoy for Arbo to attack before ordering Lizard to tear it in half. Out of Pokemon to defeat the children, Kyo has no choice but to withdraw and Mr. Fuji thanks them (specifically Red) for their help in clearing the tower for them.

Although Green is still a little rough around the edges, he does come around a little in the these last two chapters, foreshadowing potential character development in future volumes. I think it’s particularly sad that he had to lay one of his Pokemon to rest, so I’m sure he’s not feeling 100% either, and then to have Kyo attack him while he was down… I do like seeing how he and Red teamed up in the end. Even if they don’t really get along, they still make a good team covering each other’s weak points.

Vocab for Reference - New words are bolded

第13話
疑心暗鬼・ぎしんあんき・suspicion will raise bogies; once you suspect something, everything else will look suspicious; jumping at shadows​
供養・くよう・memorial service for the dead; holding a service
寿命・じゅみょう・life span
墓・はか・gravesite; tomb
老人宅・ろうじんたく・old person’s home
霊・れい・soul; spirit; departed soul; ghost
幽霊・ゆうれい・ghost; specter; spectre; apparition; phantom​
様子・ようす・state; state of affairs; situation; circumstances
噂・うわさ’・ rumor; report; hearsay; gossip; common talk
恐怖・きょうふ・fear; dread; dismay; terror; horror; scare; panic
信頼・しんらい・reliance; trust; faith; confidence
見向きもしない・みむきもしない・taking no notice; ignoring; not even looking at
きちんと・properly; accurately; exactly; precisely; regularly
直前・ちょくぜん・just before
数か月・すうかげつ・several months
暴く・あばく・to disclose; to divulge; to expose
雨漏り・あまもり・roof leak
霧・きり・fog; mist​
操る・あやつる・to manipulate (a person, public opinion, etc.); to pull the strings; to control from the shadows; to mastermind
立ち込める・たちこめる・to hang over; to shroud; to enshroud; to envelop; to screen
範囲・はんい・extent; scope; sphere; range; span
さえ・(if) only; just; as long as

第14話
防御・ぼうぎょ・defense; safeguard; protection
拉致・らち・taking captive; carrying away; kidnapping; kidnaping; abduction
ガス状・がすじょう・gaseous; gasiform
絶つ・断つ・たつ・to suppress; to eradicate; to exterminate
気体・きたい・gas; vapour; vapor; gaseous body
すり抜ける・すりぬける・to slip through (a crowd); to weave through (e.g. traffic); to pass through; to make one’s way through
吸い込む・すいこむ・to absorb; to soak up
肺活量・はいかつりょう・lung capacity
超ド級・ちょうどきゅう・superlative; extraordinary; mega; outstanding
一先ず・ひとまず・for now; for the time being; for the present​
塔・とう・tower; steeple; spire
何階建・なんかいだ・how many floors
溶解液・ようかいえき・dissolution
団三幹部・だんさんかんぶ・Three Team Executives
前線基地・ぜんせんきち・frontline (military) base; forward base; outpost
立体映像・りったいえいぞう・stereoscopy; three-dimensional vision
部下・ぶか・subordinate person​
崩れる・くずれる・to collapse; to crumble
突き抜ける・つきぬける・to pierce through; to break through
見抜ける・みぬける・to be transparent; to be penetrable
誘い込む・さそいこむ・to entice; to tempt; to invite someone to join in

絶叫学級 転生 1 (page 173 of 192 - chapters 4 & side story - finished)

第4章 宇宙人間・The Alien Human
後ろの光子ちゃん Hikaruko-chan’s Back (Pages)・怨霊・The Apparition

If you read chapter 4, be prepared for some images. This story felt Twilight Zone-esque to me. I’m not quite sure how to interpret the ending - does she become an alien spy? and were those doctors aliens or taken over by them too? - but I’m glad I didn’t drop it like I thought of doing.

The little side story in the end about the newbie apparition-in-training Hikaruko-chan is cute, and it’s the only part of the manga where Yomi gets involved (not just narrating a story). From this section, we learn that Yomi makes people’s wishes come true in exchange for their lives in return. Does she succeed in this chapter? You’ll have to read and see!

Vocab for Reference - New words are bolded

第4章
無限・むげん・infinity; infinitude; eternity
支配・しはい・rule; domination; control
日常・にちじょう・everyday; daily; ordinary; usual; routine; regular
試行錯誤・しこうさくご・trial and error​
液体・えきたい・liquid
拒絶反応・きょぜつはんのう・(organ) rejection;unthinking dismissal; strong reaction (against)
成分・せいぶん・ingredient; component; composition
食塩・しょくえん・table salt
炭・すみ・charcoal
重曹・じゅうそう・baking soda; sodium bicarbonate
てゆーか・って言うか・っていうか・or rather (say); or better (say); or perhaps I should say; or, how should I put it; I mean
乗り気・のりき・interest; eagerness; enthusiasm
ノアの箱舟・のあのはこぶね・Noah’s Ark
動画・どうが・video (esp. digital); video clip; clip
表示・ひょうじ・display
削除・さくじょ・deletion; elimination; erasure; striking out
乗っ取られる・のっとられる・to take over; to capture; to seize; to commandeer; to occupy; to usurp
接続・せつぞく・connection; attachment; union; join; joint; link
人類・じんるい・mankind; humanity
移住・いじゅう・migration; immigration
先住民・せんじゅうみん・indigenous people; native people; aborigines
呼吸・こきゅう・breathing; respiration
進歩・しんぽ・progress; advance; improvement; development
転任・てんにん・change of post

第5章
怨霊・おんりょう・revengeful ghost; apparition
生業・なりわい・occupation; calling
住人・じゅうにん・dweller; inhabitant; resident
標的・ひょうてき・target
一人前・いちにんまえ・fully fledged; established; qualified
以来・いらい・since; henceforth
関して・かんして・in relation to
無関心・むかんしん・apathetic; indifferent
下半身・かはんしん・lower half of the body
生者・せいじゃ・living person; the living
成仏・じょうぶつ・going to heaven; resting in peace; dying (peacefully)
教官・きょうかん・teacher; instructor; professor
事務所・じむしょ・office
見逃す・みのがす・to let pass (a matter); to overlook (e.g. a wrongdoing); to turn a blind eye to

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:house:

WOOHOO I FINALLY FINISHED KIKI!! After ten months, omg. I didn’t update yesterday, but I read pages 228 to 239, nearly finishing Chapter 10… you know how when reading late at night you get so sleepy you decide to ‘take a nap’ before continuing? Or maybe it’s just me? Well… I fell asleep lol, and never finished the last two pages. So I read pages 240 to 265 today — nearly in one sitting, only taking a short break to update my study log! I’ll only be getting 6 hours sleep tonight, but no regrets.

My first ever novel :partying_face: I’ll definitely be reading the rest of the Kiki series at some point, but as I won’t have much time over the next few weeks for now I’ll just continue reading Zenitendou as something easier, and also enjoyable.

Even though I struggled through each page at first, and focused more on progress rather than the simple pleasure of reading, I can say I did enjoy Kiki. Even from the beginning of the story the descriptions are gorgeous, and each chapter is so wholesome. Since I read the book over a ten-month period, it’s almost like I grew with Kiki :joy:

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I’ve been meaning to ask, but where did you buy 擅长捉弄的高木同学 and 孩子最爱读的中国民间故事? I’m also learning Mandarin and they seem like they would be nice to practice with. Thanks!

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:tiger2: :books: Homepost - Tigerdate: 20220206 :books: :raccoon:


Tanuki Scroll XXXVII: 甚兵衛(じんべえ)とキノコ :mushroom:

Read today’s folktale, from Fukui Prefecture!

About a man meeting a group of mushrooms that tell him they hate miso soup, he tells them he hates Koban (old coin of currency - 小判). So, because he’s mean, he pours miso soup on them the next day (poor little shroomies), they uproot themselves and run away.

Shroomy

That night the shrooms smash down his door (the word the story uses is: やぶる - to kick down, so you know these guys mean business). They surround him and throw koban at him until the floor almost gives in.

He wakes in the morning a rich man and lives happily ever after.

☆ Learnings ☆

New Words

甚兵衛「じんべえ」ー Informal traditional clothes for summer, like a kimono, but short sleeve. (Also a name)
八升芋「 はっしょういも」ー Another name for ジャガいも: Irish potato. Doesn’t seem to be a very common word at all.

New Kanji Form
海苔「のり」ー Nori, today is nori day! Eat all the nori!


Nice one, congrats!! :partying_face:
Another success for the thread!

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Summary Post

February 6
星の王子さま, p. 35-39.


おめでとう! :tada: :tada:

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Summary post

February 6 update:
Read chapter 13 of よつばと! today. In this one Yotsuba gets to meet her archnemesis, the mighty bird repellent balloon. Of course, this ends in a hilarious showdown. The winner is Asagi, who’s still enjoying her vacation :joy:

I’m almost done with the second volume, and it’s time to decide on the next book to read, but I’m enjoying Yotsuba so much that I don’t want to stop here… Perhaps I’ll try to read a book during the day (which I may or may not have enough time to do daily), and then read a bit of Yotsuba in the evening since it’s been working so well to help me unwind after a tough day. I’m also still considering trying some VN(s), but I don’t feel like I have the energy to jump into one right now.

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Day 37!
Today I read 三ツ星カラーズ Chapter 7. I was finding this book quite hard to read for the first few chapters, but I’m starting to get the hang of it now. I think most of the problems I was having were based around that fact that I kept assuming I was reading things wrong because what I was understanding something to mean seemed a bit odd. But now that I know that さっちゃん really is just talking about poop constantly, and 琴葉 really is just obsessed with death and murder, its much easier to know that I’m on the right track! :laughing:.

(Home Post)

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woohoo! well done :slight_smile: :partying_face::partying_face::partying_face::partying_face:

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Today’s article was 『人間関係』 which is from the same blog as the past few days. I’ve mentally been pretty drained lately (mostly from work and winter blues) so having these short but still engaging reads for me has been useful.
I suppose on the bright side one of the books I’m reading, ロクヨン, I’m starting to get the hang of. It’s still a very difficult read with lots of idioms, literary speech, and set phrases I infrequently encounter but I’ve gotten some of the newer vocab internalized and am finding the ‘rhythm’ of the author’s writing easier to grasp.
On the other hand 共犯マジック just introduced a bunch of characters and didn’t give furigana for their names, which made me quite irritable.

image
Yay! More firsts! :tada:

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Summary Post

Short update from me! I’m still on holiday so I’ve been neglecting posting here but I mostly kept up with the challenge. For a few days I only read a page or two and I missed one day (sadge) but have been more diligent since. I think I finished the main story of 時をかける少女 now, as what I’m currently reading seems like side stories? (Like last 10% of the book or so?) I’ll try to write some more thoughts once I’m fully back in a week :slight_smile: I should be fully finished then as well :heart: :sheep:

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I never got around to posting yesterday or the day before, but I read six pages from ちゃお, and twenty-three pages from The Way of The Househusband. I’ll post later tonight for today’s readings. I learnt a ton of vocabulary, but I picked out a couple of my favourites.

プロ------professional

プチ------small​ (from French “petit”)

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Congratulations :tada:, what an awesome accomplishment!

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It was really hard for me as well, in the last chapter (and a few pages before that chapter), there were a lot of new words, some of them on a whole different topic than the rest of the novel. I knew you also had trouble with this part, which gave me some hope and made it easier to not worry about it as much :blush:

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Home post :house:

Day 30:

I read just one page of よつばと! today :four_leaf_clover: :confused:

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Summary post :bookmark:

February 6

本好きの下剋上 8
Progress: (58% → 62%)


So many people here completing their first book :eyes: :sparkles: Well done! :tada:

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More Persona 4 today! Today’s play time was a good bit harder. First I got a scene with two characters that talk very keigo, and then later I got a scene between two detectives discussing the case so far, and both were a noticeable step up from the scenes where it’s just the main characters (who are high school age) talking between each other. But luckily now that I’ve got Game2Text working Yomichan was there to help me out and I got to add quite a few fun words to my anki :sparkles::star2::sparkles:

I’ve also downloaded a few samples of novels onto my Kindle to try them out to decide what to read next. I’m feeling like reading some crime/murder mystery type thing, so if any one has any recommendations for things in that genre that aren’t super long or impossible for someone around the N3 level (aware that anything will probably be fairly challenging in this genre) then please send them my way haha. One of the samples I’m trying is すべてがfになる which I figure will be too hard for me but at least has a bookclub here to rely upon a bit :thinking:

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I almost missed Friday, but saved it by reading two pages of Yotuba in bed. Yesterday I worked in the morning, and when I came home I sat down and read a chapter of Way of the Househusband, which I think took quite a while. :thinking: I worked this morning too, but instead of reading Househusband I read 50+ posts of this thread! :joy:

Congratulations! to all the people who finished their first novel or manga in the last couple days! There were so many! It was like a cascade. :blush:

Many responses

Thank you for this link! I love that when baby whales whisper they sound like piggies with a huge vocal range. :joy: Too cute.

I’m with you on this one for sure. I say the words in my head when I read, so not knowing the reading of something really bothers me. Dictionary addicts unite!

Thanks! Sounds cute. :slight_smile:

This is kind of like a rite of passage: buy a book you really want to read that is too advanced, buy a new book which is less advanced but still too hard, repeat this step until finally you reach a book that is not too hard. :joy: Now at least you have a lot to look forward to. :blush: (My pile is like seven books deep.)

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Oops responses take up so much space

Great job, both of you! People are doing great here.

This story sounds fantastic, haha. Also makes me think of these Dark Souls enemies way too much.

I’ll be watching these suggestions closely, because I was thinking of asking about the exact same sort of genre in the future. My (overly ambitious and probably not going to be achieved, but it’s ok) goal is to try to reach a point by the end of this year where I can play Lost Judgment, and in order to do that, I’m going to need to spend some time in that genre and get some knowledge of the sort of words I’d expect to be used there.


Summary post

After most harder recent days, today was pretty relaxed! Very glad to have an easier reading day. The only thing that really messed with me was having to go do some searches to discover just what 温泉のもと (in the context of receiving it as a prize) could mean, and it seems to be onsen powder, bath salt sort of stuff.

Today I’m just going to share a screenshot for the sentence:

Like what I said once before… there’s nothing that tricky going on here, but it’s a moment where I just went “oh, I can read this!” (after looking up かざす in a dictionary). I remember months back thinking the conjugations were painful to memorize, struggling with らしい for a while when I started reading, wondering how you can ever parse what と is which when every particle seems to have so many meanings, and just generally being frustrated by a lack of word boundaries… and all of that’s semi natural now. That’s pretty neat :slight_smile:

I realized finally the texthooker page actually tracks how much I read, and it was 255 lines, 2925 characters today. If only I paid attention to the time lmao (probably close to an hour and a half, maybe slightly under?). I mean, mining adds time cause I have to clean up every card now that I have too many dictionaries, and I go on lookup detours and all so this isn’t pure reading speed… it’s rather slow, but that’s no surprise, haha.

Edit: Keep forgetting I want to add interesting words I come across. Today was 秘湯 (ひとう), a secret hot spring, like one not a lot of people know about.

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Maybe Pretty Boy Detective Club? It’s aimed at teens and at ~250 pages it’s half the length of the Decagon House, which I would have recommended otherwise. I haven’t read either in Japanese. I read the Decagon House in English though and really liked it.

If anyone has recommendations for Japanese cozy mysteries, I would love to hear them. It’s hard to find any at all that are translated into English, but I feel like they must exist.

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