＊１２月２８〜３１日＊
・73 pages of 宝石商リチャード氏の謎鑑定, reading into case 3 and leaving off on pg 127
・ちぐはぐなキス
This is how I learn “chalcedony” starts with a “k” sound, not a “ch” sound.
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Overall stats for 3 month:
- Novels and Light novels:
- サイレント・ウィッチ – 1 volume
- お探し物は図書室まで
- 硝子の塔の殺人
- Also spent quite some time on reading 新完全マスター：文法・読解
- 1 VN game and 1 manga volume and 2 novels in progress
- 47.5 hours of immersion reading time and 41 hours of textbooks
This wasn’t the best quarter, but it was still good. I spent way too much time on textbooks, so next quarter will be textbook-free.
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2025/12/31
Three chapters of Blue Lock
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I’m glad to facilitate the challenge! A Noodle for scale is always appreciated
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December Update & Challenge Wrap-up
I had a slower start to this month due to JLPT cramming and the subsequent “hangover.” My holiday break was very relaxing though and I managed an unprecedented pace for Yu-gi-oh volume 12, while also going max speed on 2 Wanikani levels. On the other hand, gaming slowed down a bit after I finished KH1. I’m now on Chain of Memories, the red-headed stepchild of the series (not counting the various p2w mobile games). I’ve been debating mixing in a more fun game in between CoM sessions, which kind of feel like homework.
Overall this challenge was definitely a success, although the pivotal moment will come in January with the JLPT results. I missed 3 days of reading and am about a hundred reviews behind on Bunpro but I’ve kept that streak alive at least. For 2026 I’m thinking of starting one of those study log threads I keep seeing. Thanks to @DIO-Berry for hosting another great challenge!
December totals:
| Books Read | Pages | Start date | End date | Total days | Pages/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 遊☆戯☆王 11 | 365 | 2025-12-01 | 2025-12-21 | 21 | 17.38 |
| 遊☆戯☆王 12 | 357 | 2025-12-22 | 2025-12-31 | 10 | 35.7 |
| Games Played | Time |
|---|---|
| キングダムハーツ | 11.2h |
| キングダム ハーツ Re:チェイン オブ メモリーズ | 7.8h |
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December 31
I played 英雄伝説 碧の軌跡 and finally finished the intermission. There was not that much main story progression as I hoped but at least we got a little story.
The whole year 2025 was disappointing. Even though I read every day it doesn’t feel like I actually made any progress.
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I don’t think it’s possible to read every day and not make progress! It can be hard to notice sometimes, but it all adds up - even if it’s not at the pace you originally hoped for. Showing up consistently is the most important thing.
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This is AWESOME!
I missed the story behind the snake (is it a reading tracker?)
Did you use a crochet pattern or did you design it yourself? (Can you please share the pattern? I’d like to make one too…)
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Thank you, I’m glad you like him - I’m so happy with how he came out!
Yes, he’s a reading tracker!
Each segment is a volume of manga (or in one case a children’s novel) that I read in Japanese this year.
I use Natively to track everything i read in Japanese, and thought it would be fun to use the colour of the difficulty levels as the colour for each segment 
I named him Ippon because 一本 means “one long cylindrical thing”, but can also mean “One book” 
He’s very similar to the large snake pattern here, except I made a few tweaks - his body is rounds of 18sc instead of 16sc because I wanted him to be a tiny bit chunkier, and I made the tail by reducing by 1sc every 2 rounds instead of following the tail part of the pattern because I didn’t want it to be as long.
I made him in a continuous spiral, but if I was making another one I think I would do it in individual rounds instead so that the colour changes were a bit neater - if you look at his underside there is a little ridge every time there is a colour change which is fine, but I’d avoid next time. (pic below in case that description made no sense!)
I did 10 rounds for each book, with 2 rounds of white in between so it was easy to count how many segments there were. I also did 2 rounds of blue to mark the end of each month.
If you do decide to make one this year, I’d love to see it!
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Love it! Thank you for your elaborate answer, it’s very helpful!
Seriously considering to do this for 2026. Not sure what to do about the colouring, most of what I read tends to be roughly the same level on Natively… Maybe one colour for books and then one for each manga series?
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Different colours per series would be fun!
I know some people like to do different colours for each genre, but I’m no good at knowing what genre things are
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I don’t know. It feels like I didn’t make any progress in the last two years. 
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