Just to be very clear, these issues have nothing to do whatsoever with pitch accent. They are simply different words that you need to learn to pronounce properly. In the first case, you have a trailing う or not. That lengthens your word (or not). For starters, you can clap your hands rhythmically, and each mora goes on one clap. Even the trailing う gets one clap. Same with 少女 and しょじょ.
In the second case, it’s about glottal stop versus う. Do you know this English accent where they say „butter“ without pronouncing the t? That’s the glottal stop. That’s what you need in 四日 whereas there is a う in 八日.
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Like one of those T-omitting Bri’ish accents? 
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@Vanilla The analogy made things click. I guess I’ll slowly work on memorizing the rules one by one and use them as reference for the time being with the drills I’ve been doing, try to get a feel for it the way I did with mnemonics once upon a time.
@superelf94 The bit about the chopsticks is pretty good motivation to get my pitch down lol. At least she clarified.
I have tried increasing paying attention to long vowels during my immersion (i wasn’t doing it before) and I am slowly getting into the habit of focusing on them. I would assume you’re right on the money that continuing that would help (and i was gonna watch anime anyways)
Also, are you saying that ほんとう and ほんと are the same word or are you saying that they’re separate words? I don’ understand which one you’re trying to say.
@NicoleIsEnough You misread my sentence (I wasn’t saying those were also pitch accent) , but either way the advice regarding the clapping is useful, thank you very much. If I think about it as a completely separate sound things click.
Thanks again for all of the quick responses everyone, gonna go back to immersing
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They’re the same word, with the same meaning, but it’s like saying “really?” vs “for real?” or writing wise “because” vs “cuz”. It’s more polite to say the full word, but shortening it doesn’t change the meaning. Japanese culture also prioritizes politeness so that’s why I mentioned that conversationally, they can be received differently, which is where I might’ve been confusing.
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Ah, sorry about the misunderstanding! Glad it helped you nonetheless 
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Manga is usually read top to bottom right to left.
But when the text is written horizontally, it should be read left to right, right?
Like, this is トポトポ and not ポトポト、right?
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My dictionaries list ポトポト for liquid noise, and don’t list トポトポ for anything at all, so my guess is ポトポト.
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My instinct was トポトポ because the ト looks like it’s on the top, so I read it top down. But I got the same as you when I googled, after seeing your comment
Edit: or not apparently, based on a comment below
Kotobank:
［副］液体が続けざまに落ちる音や、そのさまを表す語。「汗をぽとぽと（と）たらす」
Liquid falling/being poured sound basically
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That’s very interesting…
Here’s an example from another book:
I’m quite sure it’s わくわく and not くわくわ
Likewise,
these are ビュッ and ぎゅるるるるるる respectively and not ッュビ and るるるるるるゅぎ
I do, however, wonder, if
is トボトボ or ボトボト・・・ Unlike the situation with トポ / ポト、both トボトボ and ボトボト are in dictionary and both can apply here…
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This must be トボトボ (trudging)? ボトボト is water related noises again, which doesn’t seem likely from the panel.
My overall conclusion is that you’re supposed to know the onomatopoeia, which tells you what is meant even when the artist arranged the sfx in a nonstandard way 
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Gonna have to disagree with the other commentors and say it’s とぽとぽ
とぽぽ is something you can use for pouring hot liquids so it’s not weird to me even if it’s not in a dictionary. Japanese people tend to be creative with them so I wouldn’t expect all of them to be in a dictionary. I can ask a Japanese person for confirmation but I think it’s a case of the simplest answer is the correct one.
EDIT: Japanese person agrees ぽとぽと wouldn’t even apply to the situation according to them, and maybe only be used for the last drops coming out anyways
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Honestly I hate the sheer number and impenetrable feeling of onomatopoeia that all seems so similar. Kanji is easy compared to that shit 
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For real. I would be perfectly satisfied to slowly familiarize myself with them just by exposure, except the JLPT feels the need to test me on them for some reason. I feel like when they’re used in sentences, the meaning makes perfect sense because I understand what the onomatopoeia is describing, but if you give me a sentence and ask me if I should use ぽとぽと or ぽつぽつ or ぶつぶつ or ぴたぴた…. NONE of these are words. かん.
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