This is technically from yesterday, but I was reading at such a terrible hour of the night, I decided to go to bed instead of making a post .
A friend of mine linked this short manga (it has 8 pages) on twitter, and I decided to give it a shot for my daily reading because I’m ahead with 大海原と大海原 and don’t currently have a DDT translation I’m working on.
I was surprised to find that it is more or less at my level! The grammar isn’t too hard, and there are only a few kanji I didn’t know. It’s a little bit sad, though, just a warning, because it’s about the lack of marriage equality in Japan.
Except for the words circled in pencil, I could read the whole passage. Understanding it on the other hand is almost 0%. However, I like making this sort of progress. Once I can pronounce the words, it’s only a matter of time until I learn the meanings.
That’s wonderful, enjoy it! This passage was shared for a reason, too. I think I mostly follow it, but what I get out of it is super vague and rambling. If you’re curious, the words are (a conjugated) 怒る (おこる, to get angry) and 重要 (じゅうよう, important; major; etc)
365日にっぽんのいろ図鑑
Time spent: 25 min
Today’s color: 萌黄色 (もえぎいろ) - light green; yellowish-green and 小町鼠 (こまちねず) - a very light white-gray
A double feature today, to make up for yesterday. I really like both these colors, actually, they’re very pretty. Apparently 小町鼠 was named that to be Cool for the Kidz honestly, it kind of worked lol, I like the name xD
Good words
冴える (さえる) - to be clear (of a sight, sound, colour, etc.); to be bright; to be vivid; to be crisp
萌え木 (もえぎ) - young tree sprouts; young tree buds
萌葱 (もえぎ) - light yellowish green; color of a freshly sprouted onion
鎧 (よろい) - armor
直垂 (ひたたれ) - ancient ceremonial court robe, looking like this
みなぎる - to rise high (of water); to overflow; to swell; to be filled with (emotion, energy, etc.); to be bursting with; to be brimming with; to pervade (of an atmosphere, feeling, etc.); to prevail
血気盛ん (けっきさかん) - passionate; hot-blooded; full of vitality
生み出す (うみだす) - to create; to bring forth; to produce; to invent; to think up and bring into being; to give birth to; to bear
若向き (わかむき) - intended for the young
まいにち暦生活 日本の暮らしを楽しむ365のコツ
Time spent: 7 min
Today’s reading was about うぐいす餅, which immediately made me think of the little bird friend I posted about a couple days ago. I google imaged them, hoping that they did indeed look like this bird, and while my search returned a disappointingly low number of bird-shaped mochi, I did find these ones, which are pretty darn adorable:
As promised, I finished アゲイン!! today! It’s pretty interesting, it’s like a weird combo of a sports/club manga but also sci-fi? Wild I imagine I’ll continue it in the future (since I have all of them), but for now I’m messing with other things…
…so I started reading ヴァニタスの手記! And it’s been pretty slow going, but not so much because it’s hard as because it’s so pretty, I’m obsessed with the aesthetics immediately. Like even the cover has a fancy matte kind of texture to it, and the inner cover has shiny silver illustrations, and it’s just so pretty I know nothing about the series but I’m definitely intrigued so far, even outside of the art. The language honestly isn’t super difficult outside of some… creative uses of kanji? The mangaka is clearly very into French and so the furigana on some words is just katakana-ized French, which is just more interesting than anything.
(I also started playing the cat soup game (in Japanese obv) and it’s just so hey it’s all reading practice lmao)
Words!!
筋書 - synopsis, plot
即ち - that is, namely
復讐 - revenge
曽～ - great-(grandfather, etc.)
貧血 - anemia
勝る - to excel, to surpass
機械仕掛け - mechanism (but like the cool kind, google this if you wanna see cool steampunk things)
If you’re talking about Cats and Soup, which came up when I searched for this, you don’t know how excited and immediately disappointed you made me when I thought someone had, somehow, made a game based on the short anime film Cat Soup
Yeah update time: Homepost 35 (whoo cracked a whole month of reading)
Solanin: finished with the main story just a few minutes ago. Not sure I understand the hype about it all that much. I’ve heard many people praise it highly. And sure it IS good but somehow I expected something more…
I personally liked the middle part the most. Around chapter 11-19 was the high point for me. My other thoughts I put in a spoiler.
The good points for me were the characters, they are all pretty likeable. Another high point is definitely the art. Some of the panels where they perform or when characters show emotions are just unbelievable.
I liked how the characters grieved for their dead friend. Would have even liked to have more detail in that part!
The bad points didn’t like much are: Some parts feel pretty fatalistic to me. The characters wallow in their sucky daily live with seemingly low drive to actually change something. Meikos sentence in chapter 27 captures that: あたしって何をやっても中途半端なんだよなぁ。I mean sure it might be realistic but I don’t feel like it makes for a story I personally find super interesting.
The thing I disliked the most though is that she got over her grieve by learning to play the guitar in like 1 month -.- (I know symbolism uwu). Sure everyone handles grieve differently but that was just something that sucked me out of the story somehow
I will read the 2 chapters はるよこい attachment thing that plays after the story next. But I don’t expect it or the afterword to change my opinion much.
Other then that I kept on reading Slam Dunk and some daily news on Todai. Slam Dunk is just the right kind of silly and hype for me at the moment. Really enjoy it and since I’m just in the middle of 3/20 books I still have some story to get through.
After Solanin I need a replacement for my more intensive reading. Since a few Bookclubs are kicking of rather soon I will probably latch onto them.
So for the time beeing I’m thinking of using Tobira as “reading” material. Thinking of working through each chapter in 2 days kinda setup. I probably know most of the Grammar from Tobira already but the more article style reading might be a fresh breath of air and I’m sure to encounter some basic vocabulary that slipped through my reading cracks.
Tobira is sitting on my shelf forever and it would be a shame if I would get no use out of it after buying it so long ago. (swabian mindset intensifies)
Since I finished one chapter of Kino no tabi the day before yesterday and because I’ve been interested in Kiki for some time, I decided to switch for now. So far Kiki is a nice read and I can almost understand everything. Still a few loose ends but I think that these ends will resolve when I just continue reading ^^
It’s the weekend so no short Meaning Book reads for me today. Longer article about a older gent who runs a YouTube channel on art: 海外でも人気絶大！ ミャンマーの風景画が“おじいちゃん先生”柴崎春通氏の添削で劇的変化
Article was pretty fluffy with just some minor background on the man running the channel and talking about how nice it is he can reach international audiences.
Haven’t checked in the whole week (I think?) so there is my little report:
On Sunday I read this week’s assignment of 大聖堂, and it was so gripping that I could not put it down, so I read until 2 am On Monday I finished the few pages that were left of it, and I started 幸せのパン (I want to watch the movie but I want to read the book first!) and it went quite ok. I did not have much time during the week but I managed to read a few pages every day. Today was sauna day, and because this book is a paper book, I took it to the sauna and read it there instead of my usual Little Prince. I finished the first episode (out of four) today, so it still seems like I could make it to the end of the book before the film festival ends This evening, I started this week’s assignment of 笑わない数学者 and I would like to finish that today.
Plans for next week:
Finish 笑わない数学者 today
Read 大聖堂 tomorrow and then however long it may take me (my Japanese friend reading partner will travel next week, so if he gets too bored during the journey, he will maybe read next week’s assignment as well, and I need to prepare for that ^^)
Read 幸せのパン as well (I think I should try to fit in a few pages each day regardless of my other book, and read it full-steam once the other one is done).
I read Chapter 8 of 三つ星カラーズ、and Chapter 13 of 極主夫道 today.
I was planning to read chapter 14 too, but I had less time than I expected today because my boiler broke!
I’m planning to read it tomorrow now, and then start Volume 2 of よつばと！
Zoo 2: I started on this a little yesterday! And… it’s a bit tricky, heh. Every story thus far from the first Zoo and now here has been from the perspective of very different characters, and this time, it’s an older man. Trying to comprehend Japanese is gonna make me ageist! It’s full of those sound shifts and old man words that I’m only lightly familiar with. Sentences have been longer than average compared to Zoo 1 as well, because of a tendency to mix descriptions of what is occurring with rambling, ranty complaints. Story has potential nonetheless, it’s about a guy who lost the ability to feel pain.
Summer Pockets: I got my second choice for who to hang out with, and went with つむぎ, the blond girl. She’s kind of this game’s dopey eccentric, which has led to amusing conversations, and most importantly, she’s one of the simplest speakers haha. So I think I’m going to focus my efforts, if it’s as straightforward as I expect, to getting on her route. There’s only really… probably 1 character I’m actively avoiding because of low interest. Then a few that, language-wise, seem better to do a little later.
Today I read ~2700 characters across ~240 lines, which is a nice little speed up. Happy I did manage to find an easier scene, since Zoo 2 is stretching my cognitive abilities a bit.
I have to say, overall, loving the pacing of this VN. We’ll see how that works out long term, but even at my reduced reading speed, I get to go through a few separate scenes each day. I imagine it’d be quite snappy for a native. VNs often drag things out… as much as I adored Higurashi, I sure have memories of spending probably over an hour, even in English, just reading one scene of club activity shenanigans
Favorite new word is こんがらがる (become entangled; to become complicated; to get mixed up; to screw up; to get caught up in). It’s just fun to say!
.
I’ll just award myself a medal for my loyalty and dedication to the cause 
honestly, it kind of worked lol, I like the name xD
I imagine I’ll continue it in the future (since I have all of them), but for now I’m messing with other things…
I know nothing about the series but I’m definitely intrigued so far, even outside of the art. The language honestly isn’t super difficult outside of some… creative uses of kanji? The mangaka is clearly very into French and so the furigana on some words is just katakana-ized French, which is just more interesting than anything.
On Monday I finished the few pages that were left of it, and I started 幸せのパン (I want to watch the movie but I want to read the book first!) and it went quite ok. I did not have much time during the week but I managed to read a few pages every day. Today was sauna day, and because this book is a paper book, I took it to the sauna and read it there instead of my usual Little Prince. I finished the first episode (out of four) today, so it still seems like I could make it to the end of the book before the film festival ends 
This evening, I started this week’s assignment of 笑わない数学者 and I would like to finish that today.
