I ended up reading the last three chapters of the story today. There is a crossover chapter with another series by the same mangaka, so I haven’t finished the volume yet, but I don’t think that chapter will have any bearing on the overall Orange story. Probably just a fun goof.
This is my first finished manga series in Japanese where I have not previous experienced the story before in English or another form. And that feels pretty significant to me.
I look forward to in a couple of years time, rereading the whole thing over a weekend. I could have finished Orange quicker if I was reading it by myself, so saying it took 8 months is kinda misleading. Although, maybe if I had been reading it by myself, I would have taken pauses from the series, so who knows?
In any case, very happy with this accomplishment, and Orange was such a great story so makes it even better. Highly recommend this series. And yes, while the main story is technically finished in volume 5, the additional volumes (6+7) fleshes out stuff and takes care of dangling threads, totally worth reading. Without them, I wouldn’t have been as happy about the series because I felt like one question was unanswered, but 6-7 answered it. ^^
Properly read and took vocab notes on the first chapter of よつばと！
I bought volume 1 years ago and have read it multiple times since then but it still cracks me up every time. I finally went and bought a whole 15 volume set despite having bought a few odd volumes over the years. I was hoping for it to be released as a ebook but that doesn’t seem to be happening any time soon. Can’t wait to finally progress in the story!
Gonna see if I can maybe finish the 15 volumes in time for よつばと! Volume 1’s 20 year anniversary this August
02/03/23: 1Q84 Book 1 後編 (33 - 37%) Completed chapter 16!
03/03/23: 1Q84 Book 1 後編 (37 - 38%)
04/03/23: 1Q84 Book 1 後編 (38 - 41%)
I’ve been planning to finish this weeks 1Q84 reading by today, but I’ve been a little busy with sorting out travel arrangements these past few days. Will finish chapter 17 tomorrow though :3
Considering I’ve only read two light novels so far (since Yoru cafe seems to count), I don’t see it happening anytime soon since it won’t with that series unfortunately. First book was so good too, but I can’t recommend reading anymore than that one.
But I’m sure it’ll happen eventually. ^^
My next achievement should be finishing my first VN. In a couple of months. ^^
forgot to reply, but let me know when you get around to sakura, saku! With your speed I’m sure it’ll be in no time I’m gonna try to read 1 or 2 volumes / month but I’m not really in a rush since it’s still ongoing afterall
Today I read Chapter 61 of Shadows House. Only one more chapter left in this volume
This volume has felt very text dense to me compared to previous volumes, and I’ve been finding it a bit tough - but the story is really interesting!
I barely read last week and it showed in my class as my proficiency dropped significantly (plus I have been up since 2 am watching kdramas and my classes were 12 pm and 1 pm soo).
Suffice it to say that I plan to read 30 minutes per day this week even if I cannot understand the content.
Very tired today, so I didn’t have the energy to read much.
2 pages of 2.43, leaving off on pg 195. Did a tiny bit of translating, too. Today I came across 濃度, recently learned on WK, in the wild for the first time!
Busy day, read a tiny bit of 半落ち and I’m ready for bed.
Jealous, I hope to do this tomorrow!
夜警 was on sale I think? I usually binge Aozora when I’m feeling indecisive, but you have to really lean into the chaotic energy of not knowing what you’re going to get.
Although I hear 漱石 is a solid choice (こころ、坊っちゃん and the like) - I’ve only ever read a random one of his essays and it wasn’t exactly thrilling, but I’ve heard his fiction is great. I plan to read こころ eventually, maybe later this year.
I have adored every 太宰 short story I’ve read as well. His writing is such a delight.
Oh yes good suggestion actually! We could read the 10 dreams together @omk3 if you like (as I’m doing that anyways for the literature circle I signed up for), the stories are short (~3 pages each) but make for good discussion (at least the first two did). Maybe we can rope in @Myria as well?
囀る鳥は羽ばたかない 8
5 pages in chapter 45 - 1st page of chapter 47
estimating that’s p40 - 103
According to 3/5 in let’s enjoy the seasons, the reason frog and snake have 虫 in their kanji is because a long time ago 虫 meant more like creatures that “open the door” in spring ie come out of the earth. Til!
Oh boy, Saezuru. Saezuru, Saezuru, Saezuru. Ignoring how awful Japan is with consent and how both of these characters would be so much better off getting therapy, I love that Yashiro has given up pretending that he doesn’t know Domeki. I can’t wait to see him become more and more honest. I’m a bit torn about Domeki’s actions. On one hand: creepy. On the other hand: it feels like he’s playing Yashiro’s games, which is interesting. Is that supposed to be a sign of intelligent or emotional growth or that he’s still just playing at being yakuza?
Thanks for the recommendations once again! For now I decided I’d like to read 水たまりで息をする, a probably stranger story (a man starts avoiding tap water and stops taking baths) written by the author of おいしいごはん。I’ve even set up a thread in case anyone is interested to join, now or later (the book is on the expensive side, but hopefully there will be some coin-back sale soon for those interested).
I had a quick look, and it’s short and free (déjà vu) and hopefully not as hard as 糞尿譚, so why not?
Dreams 1, 3, 5 and 7 are in Breaking into Japanese Literature as parallel Japanese and English texts with same-page glosses for all the vocab, if there’s anybody who’s interested but doesn’t feel at a level where they can just dive into them yet. The book’s website also has audio of readings of them freely available if you want to listen along.
Oh, I’ve been doing badly this past week and somehow didn’t even realise the end of the challenge had already passed
Embarrasingly late summary
Despite borderline (mentally) beating myself up for missing so many days per week, this has been my most consistent challenge so far! I managed to read 23/31 days in January and 19/28 days in February, at most missing 2 days in a row. I’m actually very surprised seeing the stats all together.
My progress throughout this challenge:
Started and completed the first three volumes of ハピネス
Started and completed かがみの孤城（下）
Started 世界から猫が消えたなら and read to a quarter of the way through
March 4 
This is a great achievement 
In a couple of months. ^^
I’m gonna try to read 1 or 2 volumes / month but I’m not really in a rush since it’s still ongoing afterall
