I finished the second chapter of 夜カフェ today, reading about 10 pages.
Grammar-wise I was able to read it without much difficulty, but I still had to look up quite a bit of vocabulary. I can feel my reading getting a little smoother each week though as I’m adjusting to reading prose instead of just manga though
I won’t continue with the other volumes of this manga because it’s not really my thing. The characters are kinda nice (I did get a little attached to them over time) and I like all the cooking, but the gags and the drawing style don’t really do it for me.
I wanted to finish it now (a little ahead of the book club) because I want to move on to デスノート ・ Death Note 📓 Vol. 2
Read a story about 野口英世, a Japanese bacteriologist who discovered the agent of syphilis. I found it charming how the story mostly talked about his motivation to help others by becoming a doctor, because of the surgeon who helped him restore his badly burned hand.
Read chapter 7 of 夜カフェ today, and since I calculated that I’ll almost definitely finish it in less than two weeks, I went ahead and ordered the next one. I don’t know if I’ll want to keep reading immediately, but I want to be prepared just in case!
Also, last night I picked up それでも歩は寄せてくる again. There was an 運動会 that I was avoiding reading (because the language suddenly became much more difficult for me), but I got through it, and remembered again how cute and sweet and fun this manga is.
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Ooh, I’m glad to hear that!
Congratulations! And thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Thanks for the review of this book! It makes me definitely want to read it. You also sent me on a browsing spree through aoitori, and now I’m not sure what to order next because there are just so many options! Werewolves …? Fairies …? Fox girls who hang out at the library …? Cinderella and the mean butler …? And the list goes on.
Was a bit more lazy than I wanted this weekend but whatever. Still read every day.
What I did the last week:
Week 3 for Yoru Cafe BBC
Week 5+6 for Happiness ABBC
Week 1 for Saga IBC
Around half a volume of Slam Dunk (6¹/₂/20 volumes down)
6 Nhk Easy articles
Some cross reading from the Freebees thread to see if theres something interesting I would like to add ( それは霊の仕業です seemed fun&ecchi)
Started Chapter 8 of Tobira (this is where I didn’t do as much as I would have liked)
Next week I want to basically continue exactly the same. Especially Week 2 for Saga IBC is next on my agenda. With easter coming up I’ll see how much time I can actually dedicate to other reading material since I’m going to visit my family over the weekend.
The flowers above the “Day #” links to my post for the previous day, and the flowers below link to the next day, except for the latest day ofc, they link somewhere special
Finished 3rd day in a row! Finished よつばと! chapter 8. There’s still a lot of stuff that I dont understand, but I guess that comes with time. Even though I feel like I only get around 50%, it is still very enjoyable and I’m looking forward to finish chapter 9 tomorrow.
Finished chapter seven. I really like the sizes of these chapters. Not too long for a tiny read. Still requires a bit effort with all the lookups, though.
Thoughts: We learn that Maomao is a mad scientist! In the pursuit of knowledge about medicinal plants she used herself as test subject - by hurting herself and then applying stuff on the wounds. She also seems to be very bored with her new job, not much for her to do. Even I’d be bored if I were her. Also randomly had to attend a meeting between Gyokuyou and Jinshi, talking about uncomfortable stuff. I hope Maomao gets something more interesting to do.
Word of the day: 顔
for having the archaic reading かんばせ in the furigana
Also enough through 三毛猫to join in some spoiler chat haha.
三毛猫 spoiler chat
I also 100% agree with this! I feel like they did a lot at the start to set him up as the worst possible detective and then since the case started he’s been pretty competent and unfazed by the things he’s meant to be phased by. It’s still a fun read but kind of odd/cheap as you say.
Thank you for the kind words! I’ve definitely been trying to keep things interesting, even when I started reading last year. The first game I played was the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon remake on the Switch, since I knew I’d enjoy that! I’m also having a great time with Ace Attorney (and feeling very grateful for all the law vocabulary Wanikani taught me in the 20s).
I think it’s just a matter of finding that sweet spot - something moderately difficult, but also really interesting. I’m glad you’ve been able to strike that balance for yourself!
I’d love to get recommendations, actually. Thank you for suggesting that. If anyone has any ideas for me, I’d be very happy to receive them.
As for genres I like… For manga I’m mostly into really good josei (think Nana and Paradise Kiss by Ai Yazawa) and BL (I’d list mangakas but I’ve read So much). When gaming, I prefer rpgs and story heavy games. That’s probably also why I like visual novels. Now that I think about it, I think I’ve seen a list of otome games ranked by their difficulty floating around…
三毛猫ホームズ speculation (having read up to chapter 2.4)
Theories in reply, probable spoilers but I avoided names
The first description of him is on page 68. Doesn’t that sound a bit like the way the killer is described at the beginning? Also, we’ve been hearing here and there that he’s tired from having done something the night before, or he was on some kind of short trip. Then in chap 2.4, we meet his wife, and she definitely thinks something is up with him. The conversation with his wife seemed like a big flag to me, so big that maybe 赤川 is playing with us and it’ll turn out that he just has a gambling problem or something.
Although… When I just re-read the descriptions of the two murders, are these actually the same guy, or was the second one (p 122) a copycat? In the first one we’re told that he looks like a super ordinary salaryman. The second one has a nice coat and seems handsome and gentlemanly-looking, like, say, the guy on page 150. The second girl knows that a murder happened but it’s inconceivable to her that this guy did it, so maybe she does recognize him. Is 「でも管理人はー」something that a person from outside the campus would say? (Maybe the answer is “yes”) If it’s 150さん, he’d have an easier getaway than most.
I read six pages today and finished the book from Graded Readers, Level 0, Vol. 1, Book 4. It’s about a girl’s friend who came for a visit and stays for lunch. The elder brother is a pest. I learned how to set a table for a Japanese meal.
I just checked where 2.4 leaves off and there is a major plot development at 2.5 which makes me think this theory is less likely It’s still possible but IMO it’d be an odd twist given what happened. Though if you’re right (post 2.5 spoiler) I’m worried for 晴美!
Just reread the passage in question.「でも管理人はー」doesn’t seem unusual to me. A dorm having a 管理人 seems normal to me, and probably somewhat expected for a girl’s only university dorm. Also as the killer seemingly frequents the girls at this university, he could have heard about there being a caretaker before.
Page 6 has the coat reference:
でも、来ているコートは高級品だし、そんなごまかしをやりそうには見えない
it’s in reference to her thinking he won’t skip out on paying
Page 122:
Day 7-9
Apr 7-9
Finished the rest of the chapter of 車井戸はなぜ軋る. Yes!
The “Solution” part is somewhat not unexpected to me. I’ll talk more in the ネタバレ section in the book club (to be posted later. I will attach a link). I really like the story because it is presented as a chronological order series of letters from 鶴代 and news reports. It is very creative. I don’t remember reading other detective novels using similar techniques. I can feel the sensitive personality of 鶴代 while enjoying the puzzle-solving while reading, knowing what 鶴代 wrote was only from her own perspective.
By the way, I tried to make my first Anki sentence mining deck using the story. But, for now, the cards I made are 1) sentences with 1 new vocab/expression, and 2) I would need context to understand those new vocab/expressions better. So I’m not adding words with precise meanings, such as 到達、実否、凄惨(which have equivalent Chinese)to the sentence mining deck.
Words of the day:
さきたつ=先立つ: 先に死ぬ
肝腎=肝心: very important
しょいこむ=背負い込む: carry the responsibility
一部始終: from the beginning to the end
俄然: suddenly
ハタと: suddenly。これは多分擬音語だ。
I’m wondering if it’s possible to automatically update the “Days Completed”, by counting the check marks on user’s home page. (Have not looked into Wanikani’s API yet)