📚📚 Read every day challenge - Summer 2022 🏖 ☀

:house:
12th of July

Read page 91 to page 93 (25 – 26%) of かがみの孤城 today. I may read more in the afternoon if I have time.

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I hope you’re doing a little better now at least!

The author does love her western media. Expect to see a lot more book and movie references throughout haha. Glad I could help with the character count thing too. I only learned about it a month or two ago myself when I saw other people share their daily character count history.

Reading update for myself, I finished Nekopara Extra the other day. It was really short (about 19k~ characters) and basically exactly what you’d expect from a moege with catgirls. It was kind of relaxing to read something more simple without any complex sentences though.
I started to read an indie jp VN (月の光) that is super short as well (jpdb gives it a character count just under 10k). Its a yuri story about some girls that just graduated high school and one of them is moving to Tokyo for university and the main girl is more or less trying to workout her feelings before the other girl leaves. The game is nice so far and the entire thing is voiced, even the narrative parts. The font is kind of ugly to me for some reason but that’s my only complaint so far :sweat_smile:

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Nah I agree, haha. This one doesn’t seem that old but I’m way too easily put off by interfaces and stuff in a lot of older VNs especially, so I know exactly what you mean.

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Home post :bookmark: July 11th :sunny:

・SAO Progressive 1 (84% → 87%)

Sat outside in the sun while reading, felt very refreshing :smiling_face:

Today I learned that it is not always safe to dismiss unknown particles as typos. (Thanks for helping out! @Kazzeon @Myria ) Totally forgot that phrases in quote will give exact matches in the results when searching for stuff on the internet.

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Home post

REDC
Week 3

July 11
Chrono Trigger → 36 min.


Did finally start Chrono Trigger but I’m so tired today that I only walked around speaking with NPCs at the very start just learning the basics, combat and so on. First impression is already good, I’m sure I’ll like it. Confirmed very few kanji striking back again, egh. But hey it’s forcing me to get better at it.

Honestly it’s really the same for me. I’ve watched just some bits here and there and the dialogues being automatic feels somewhat daunting to me because I’m sure I’ll miss some things for sure. But I’m much more confident after having played the original now, I’m sure it can’t be too much different from it, right? :smile: hehe… r-right? D:

I don’t know, I’ll report back for sure once I start it, which will be later this week most likely. I still don’t know if I can play it in Japanese, hopefully just changing the console to Japanese automatically changes it. If it doesn’t, well, that would really suck.

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Jul 12, Tue of Week 3 of Summer :beach_umbrella: 2022

This week’s plan is in my personal topic.

I might progress here less often, but I by no means stopped reading (e.g. I will probably still read 福娘童話集 every day).

Yesterday, I finish Ch.2 of 妖怪の子預かります Vol.1, just to see the smol plum yokai. Also read a little more of うらら迷路帖, in hope of catching more Kanji (and vocabularies), and now, I also at least take notes of 頭高 (or anything possibly out of expectations) – this is in hope of better listening too, such as by studying subtitles.

I read a little about Chain Saw Man, as there is a post discussing (although I am still at half of Ch.3). Of course, Death Note is still being read 1 chapter a week, as I still want to learn and share the interesting parts.

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Summary Post

July 11th
What did I read?: 猫には猫の猫ごはん Vol 1
How much did I read?: 12 pages
How long did it take me?: 15 min

It’s been a hectic day, so just a little read for now. But finally we are back to saving the kitty :pleading_face: Look at this poor baby and his precious little mitten paws :broken_heart:

Taiyou tries to give the kitty some cat food, but he won’t eat anything. The sincere concern on Taiyou’s face is just the sweetest thing ever, he is as cute as the cat tbh, I love him and I want to protect him

Spoiler for the chapter ending

Luckily, he finally gets the kitty to eat something <3 Homemade chicken soup with dried bonito flakes does the trick :3

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:couple_with_heart_woman_woman: home :couple_with_heart_woman_woman:

well, that escalated quickly!

finished the 5th volume of the Kase-san series. Yamada-san and Kase-san have moved to Tokyo, Yamada is overwhelmed with the big city. they meet with a friend from their home-town for 花見, all still very wholesome. Kase visits Yamada in her new (tiny little, i’ve seen apartment-tours of tiny Tokyo apartments on youtube, it looks just like that) apartment. a few pages later, they’re having sex.

it’s not that i mind, it’s just kind of very sudden? like, they’ve kissed 2, maybe 3 times so far? they’re still calling each other by their surnames? well, not any more now, but entering that scene. and Yamada is still like, calling you by your first name is going to take some getting used to. but they’re now having sex.

and this is the second manga which suddenly towards the end of the last volume has a sex scene. (Kase-san has two more volumes, but they were added later, i think). and i’ve only finished two manga series. is this a trope i’m not aware of, a way this kind of manga is structured? …i’ve got a lot to learn :sweat_smile:

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Home

I started reading 山田くんと田中課長, a collection of a bunch of shorts that Natsumizu-sensei drew over the years (2010-2015), some that it seems were included as extras in the tankoubon of other of her manga? about salaryman Yamada who arrives at work one day to find his boss Tanaka-kachou waiting on his desk—because he inexplicably has shrunk down to being 24 cm tall, or a little smaller than a Ken doll. And buchou-san has arbitrarily decided that Yamada will be taking care of him, of course. It’s pretty cute. Kachou-san is really cute, too.

Some tangentially related saltiness

Though since nothing really happens and all we really get are hints, apparently there are people who consider it “not BL,” which is a total double standard because if one of them were a woman, no one would question that they’re meant to be love interests. I guess that means Hyuuga and Riko (KnB) aren’t love interests, or Ryouma and Sakuno (TeniPuri), or any other sports manga protagonist with a girl who’s clearly meant to be his love interest! They never kiss or start going out or anything, so obviously they don’t romantically like each other. Clearly the implication that their relationship is heading or would/could head in that direction just isn’t enough!

Yeah, I read it scanlated a while back, or at least what little bit was available (and then immediately added it to my Amazon wishlist because this was after I started actually being able to somewhat read Japanese), and I saw people in the comments complaining that it wasn’t actually BL. On the one hand, I should really know better than to look at the comments, but on the other hand, the comments have been instrumental on more than one occasion in avoiding content I don’t wanna read, especially when the description is unclear, cut off, or straight-up nonexistent. On at least one occasion, I started reading without checking other people’s tags and comments only to find that it’s teenager x adult or some shit…

Anyway, I read the first three sections, which are all shorter ones. There are six (or I guess seven?), and together these three only make up a quarter of the volume!

I read 4 pages of 2.43, leaving off on pg 93.

My rambling got really long. Unsurprisingly. lol

Aoki!! He’s such a little shit lol I love him. looool and apparently, though they certainly know each other on sight, Ochi and Aoki didn’t actually know each other until now, because Ochi’s impression of him is that he seems rational yet gentle, and then he pulls this shit, and Ochi’s like, rational and gentle?? Where?! So I guess this is where his dislike starts lmao (He can be gentle though, just mostly only with Oda. Mostly. Honestly I feel like he cares about the team more than just for Oda’s sake the way he acts like it is, but not in a tsundere way or anything. God no, tsundere’s the absolute last thing he is. I dunno, I don’t think I can explain it well. And yet he’s pretty much all I’ve been writing lately lol Aoki’s actually starting to properly feel like my favorite character.)

Then again, Aoki didn’t play volleyball in middle school, and Seiin and Fukuhou never had a relationship despite being geographically close, so they never had joint training camps or practice matches or anything, so it makes sense that Ochi doesn’t know Aoki at all except as a player, I just never thought about it. But from the anime, Oda and Subaru did seem to at least sort of know each other (even if possibly only by reputation), so I’m looking forward to seeing how they see each other. Oda almost certainly looked up to Subaru in middle school, not just because everyone did, basically, but also because he was also a short player who’s playing left and is a successful spiker and ace (and of course now, despite being little taller than Oda in middle school, he’s one of the tallest players in the league. That’s gotta hurt), but I wonder if Subaru ever took any special notice of Oda. He took notice of Ochi, a rather average (and also short, probably around his own height in MS) but determined and capable player, when no one else did, but what about Oda, a player even shorter than him who’s just as determined but has less success in trying to overcome his setbacks? Did he root for him? Is some part of him excited at the possibility of getting to face him even as he’s annoyed at people (that cameraman with Fukurou TV) saying that, ooh, it’s not fun if Fukuhou just wins again now that they’ve got competition within Fukui, and even as he’s still determined as ever to finally get to that center court at HaruKou this year?

Anyway, all that, plus the info that Subaru and Ochi have gone to and from school together “an incalculable number of times” means I’m not disappointed that this scene goes pretty much exactly as in the anime and there’s no more Ochi-Aoki interaction here. Also I know Aoki shows up in next 4 years, so I can hope for more there. Even if it’ll probably take me four years to get to it.

In non-reading news, I watched 2 more eps of YoI. I met Minami-kun. I adore him. Same with Phichit.

Some vocab of note:

我関せず (われかんせず) [expression] no concern of mine; nothing to do with me
ボコる [他ラ五, slang] to beat the hell out of
茫然自失 (ぼうぜんじしつ) [四字熟語, noun, の-adj., する verb (自)] stupor; stupefaction; (being) dumbfounded
歯軋り (はぎしり) [noun, する verb (自)] grinding one’s teeth out of anger or vexation
便乗 (びんじょう) [noun, する verb (自)] taking advantage of (an opportunity); jumping on the bandwagon

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July 11 :blossom: Home Post

I did kind of a lot today actually :joy: I started off with バディミッションBOND and lost my entire mind as always; I’m so far in at this point and yet I’m still meeting new characters and such and I don’t think that’s done either, wild. I did a boss battle today I guess?? Lmao didn’t see that coming in my silly mystery VN :laughing: But yeah lots of angst with イアン who, surprise, isn’t actually the big bad (in retrospect I probably should have suspected this but alas) which raises even more questions; who’s the phantom huh?? But I finally met AAA for like two seconds and I love him immediately, I look forward to interacting with him more and probably getting my heart shattered :man_shrugging:

And then I read chapter 15 of 海辺(うみべ)のカフカ so I’m all caught up for the week again! Again a relatively smooth read, I just got really tired toward the end and decided to push through anyway :joy: But hey I did it!

(On an adjacent note, through bookwalker sales and coins they threw at me I acquired the first volume of NO.6 which I’ve been wanting to read, but as expected I’m awful about ebooks :laughing: Maybe it’ll be enough to motivate to deal with it, but if anyone has bookwalker reading tips I’m certainly open to those as well :grin:)

Ahhhh congrats, that’s really awesome!! :tada: Finishing big projects like that is always such an accomplishment. FF is one of those of those series that I’ve always wanted to try out more but just never got around to, but one day in Japanese maybe? :eyes:

Yesss, love the cats!! Congrats on chapter 5, I remember that one being a bit of nightmare :joy: but the cats were worth it all!

Omg they’re so cute :sob: new manga for the ever-growing list haha

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:house:Post

Day 11

:open_book: カリスタルハンータズ Book 2

:arrow_right: Progress - [|||||50%]

🧐 New Words

カリスタルハンータズ

Book 2

Chapter Word Meaning
4 みんな All, everyone, everybody, everything
4 家族, かぞく Family
4 火事, かじ Fire
4 消して, けして To extinguish, to put out
4 待って, まって to wait
4 建物, たてもの building
4 名前, なまえ Name, first name, given name
4 なる To become
4 ヒーロー Hero
Chapter Word Meaning
5 もいない Not even
5 もう大丈夫 It’s alright now

:thinking:Thoughts

Holy moly things got crazy FAST. The first volume of Crystal Hunters was very basic. Likely by necessity as it sets up the story, introduces characters, and has you jumping right in to a bunch of basic grammar. It was a pretty wholesome story about friendship with some monsters thrown in. Kind of gave me Pokémon vibes? But book two? It starts off all cute with a blossoming romance and then out of nowhere - everything is on fire?? Everyone is an orphan?? There is sooo much more blood. Good thing the art is fabulous and the writers are crafty because I have never been so invested in a story with such basic dialogue…for my benefit :sweat_smile:If you are looking for truly beginner Japanese reading material that won’t put you to sleep, I highly recommend this series!

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:spiral_calendar: Day 11: July 11th :ocean: :shell:

🎀 ふだつきのキョーコちゃん Volume 2 (78% ➨ 100%)

As I progress through volume 2, I’m seeing more aspects of story moving forward. Things like, for example, Kenji keeps boys from getting too close to Kyouko to ensure nothing bad happens, but this had the unfortunate side-effect that girls avoid her as well (as Kenji realizes this volume). There’s also Kyouko’s initial of jealousy of Hibino which looks to be slowly subsiding as Kyouko spends more time around Hibino.

The main weakness I see as I near the end of volume two is that the main characters feel one-dimensional to me, especially Hibino. Hopefully they get fleshed out a bit over the next few volumes.

I do feel the same about Takagi and Nishikata in their series, that they often feel a bit one-dimensional to me. On the other hand, Ayumu and Urushi in their series I feel have steadily developed as characters over time.

The newcomer of this volume looks like she’ll help shake things up a bit.

She’s fairly dynamic and expressive and should be a good counter to Kyouko’s professed preference for solitude.

Aside from that, today’s reading includes a nice scene with Kyouko purposefully removing her ribbon:

spacer:ribbon: ふだつきのキョーコちゃん Volume 3 (0% ➨ 40%)

spacer:lizard: 怪獣のトカゲ Volume 1 (47% ➨ 68%)

spacer:ninja:t2: くノ一ツバキの胸の内 Volume 2 (65% ➨ 81%)

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:books: :video_game: :shallow_pan_of_food: :sunny: July 11

(Re)Read chapter 2 of 青のフラッグ. It was very noticeable how much shorter than the first one it was. It went by very quickly, which was convenient since I didn’t really have anymore time to read.

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Day 11 :heavy_check_mark: :cyclone:

~ 43-44%

Tiny read yesterday, can’t have been more than two pages. I don’t expect today to be much better. Summer should be a relaxing time with increased reading opportunities, but in fact I’m not finding it conducive to keeping any kind of established routine. Trying to fit the increased socializing and travel of summer along with an unchanged amount of work/study/pastimes as in winter within a day that is still not longer than 24 hours somehow seems impossible. I wonder why. :anguished:

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I’ve been noticing that too. So unfair. :smiling_face_with_tear:

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:cake: :evergreen_tree: July 12 :evergreen_tree: :cake:
(home post)

Hotel 2 :evergreen_tree: page 89 → 198 (106 pages*)
*I don’t count the pages between chapters that aren’t anything.

The benefit of reading early in the day means I could just keep reading as I enjoyed the Hotel manga. There was another 2 chapter story and then I couldn’t believe there wouldn’t be a bit more, so I read another chapter and then the volume ended. :sob:

I’m out of the Hotel manga. I even took the time to figure out how soon I might expect volume 3 to come out, but this months Harta is only publishing chapter 18, and volume 2 ended on chapter 13. So only four more chapter have been published… That means it is some months left until volume 3 might be published. :sob: :pleading_face:

It also meant I read 1 volume of Hotel in 3 days. So much fun, and also reading extensively really speeds up my reading speed. Imagine that. xD

I’m having a lot of synergy between the main things I’ve been reading, and also with my WK level’s lessons. Orange and Hotel sharing some vocab (which I’ve looked up for Orange since that is intensive reading for me), and also what I’m currently learning on WK also showing up in both.

I did mention 内緒 a day or so ago, and I expect to learn that on WK soon since I just had the second kanji as a lesson. And I got 贈 in my lessons just today and that showed up in Hotel today (贈り物). There was also at least one more WK item that I just learned that showed up too.

Kinda funny how in sync WK have been with what I’m reading right now. :smiley:

But whatever will I do with myself tomorrow? Loopers doesn’t start until Friday and Orange chapter 2 isn’t until Saturday (although I can swing Friday evening because Japan’s time zone is ahead of mine :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:). I know I don’t have to hold strictly to these things, but if I’m gonna read with the club and I don’t have a particular reason to start early, I won’t.

Maybe I’ll try to cram a whole Yotsuba& volume into 2 days? xD

PS Edit: second half of today’s update (which I didn’t know would happen when I made this post) can be found here.

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:green_heart: Home :green_heart:

ジョジョの奇妙な冒険19

95 - 122

YES I AM!

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Only read 1 page of the Prefectures book today. Which brings me up to date with all my reading. Work was long and busy and tiring so that will do.

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15 more pages of よつばと! today. And yesterday I did order a set of vol. 1-13 so that I will not run out of her shenanigans any time soon.

Yotsuba reminds me of myself when I was very small; I love watching the way the grownups around her respond to her exuberance the way I wish the adults around me had!

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I read the first volume the other day, its so charming!! :laughing:

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