This year I was able to meet all exceed all my goals.
I was read 11 novels (my goal was 8), exactly 100 volumes of manga, and (starting tracking from feb 11th) had roughly 310 hours of focused audio immersion. It's a fairly long writeup, though I only briefly touch on each highlight. Hopefully it's interesting.
Books I read this year at a glance.
- あ゛教科書が教えない日本語
- キッチン
- フィッシュストーリー
- 月まで三キロ
- 面白ければなんでもあり
- 魔女の宅急便
- また、同じ夢を見ていた
- 駈込み訴え
- 人間失格
- 変半身
- シン・エヴァンゲリオン論
- 国際おたく大学
And some brief thoughts about each of them.
あ゙教科書が教えない日本語 by 山口謠司 (Linguistic History/10)
An interesting look at Japanese semiotics, especially how the syllabary has been manipulated in order to express sounds not normally found in Japanese. There is also some history of the 国語 school subject and how it's more than just a language subject.
キッチン by 吉本ばなな (Love and Grief/10)
While it relies on some genre clichés, the eventual love story that blossoms in the second part of this book felt really genuine. An enjoyable read.
フィッシュストーリー by 伊坂幸太郎 (Another Isaka Koutarou Classic/10)
The dialogue and characters feel very down to earth and rough in a good way. The final story in particular was really enjoyable. Lots of themes of destiny and coincidence, but never in a way that feels cheap.
月まで三キロ by 伊与原新 (A Late Night Drive to Find Your Soul/10)
A mix of some extremely amazing, and some fairly mid short stories. They all have the vague premise of a person in crisis who comes to understand themselves through an interaction with someone else. It sounds vague, but I highly recommend this book for the good stories.
面白ければなんでもあり by 三木一馬 (How to write a VN/10)
An editor's perspective about what makes a story worth publishing, what sells, and some other minutiae you may not consider as an outsider. If you're interested in the behind-the-scenes or even the creative process of writing for mass audiences it's pretty worthwhile.
魔女の宅急便 by 角野栄子 (Illustrates the value of Kanji/10)
The book series Kiki's Delivery service is based on. It was alright, but was mostly notable for me as a book I challenged myself to speedrun. Not recommended as learning material because of it's irregularly low kanji use.
また、同じ夢を見ていた by 住野よる (A Unique Voice/10)
The first-person child's perspective gave this book a unique style. The themes of regret and isolation pretty relatable.
駈込み訴え by 太宰治 (Peak Religious Fiction/10)
I finished this while reading 人間失格. If it weren't for this story I would have dropped Dazai like a tonne of hot bricks. Quite moving and written with flowing prose. You can really feel Judas' voice throughout the entire story.
人間失格 by 太宰治 (Mid... Life Crisis/10)
Quite possibly the worst book I read this year. That's not to say it's terrible (I tend to only read good things). It was fine, and had some nice moments. You can definitely see the strong writing in places.
変半身 by 村田沙耶香 (Faith, Horror, and Sex/10)
Two short stories. The first is a bit surreal, but written in a way that compelled me to keep turning pages. I read the second story in almost one sitting and really enjoyed it.
シン・エヴァンゲリオン論 by 藤田直哉 (Ultra specific niche non-fiction/10)
A non-fiction book about 庵野秀明's filmography starting from Evangelion until Shin Eva 3.0+1.0 including some of his lesser known live-action films. Like a lot of non-fiction, the sub-chaptering system meant I could read in fairly short bursts and still get a lot out of it, though I wished more time was dedicated to the final movie. By the time I got there the book only had 30 pages or so remaining, and it felt like the themes were only touched on lightly.
国際おたく大学 edited by 岡田斗司夫 (An otaku time-warp/10)
Obtaining this book was a story in itself, and when I finally got it I didn't really care for the contents as much as I expected. There were some genuinely interesting sections, and the authors mostly seemed enthusiastic/knowledgeable about the contents of their respective chapters, but some sections were super dry. I would say I don't recommend it, but you probably can't find a copy unless you're in Japan and willing to pay ridiculous second-hand prices. The back page is signed by 岡田斗司夫 though.. neat.
Manga I read this year at a glance. (N) means it was a new series or oneshot for me. Listed roughly in the order that I read the earliest volume. (C) means I completed the series (as far as possible for current content).
- マイ・ブロークン・マリコ (N)(C)
- あせとせっけん
- よつばと！ (C)
- ルリドラゴン (N)(C)
- サーシャちゃんとクラスメイトオタクくん (N)
- あずまんが大王 (N)
- 甘々と稲妻
- 藤本タツキ編集 (N)
- ダンダダン
- チェンソーマン
- 海が走るエンドロール (N)
- やがて君になる (N)
- おかえりアリス (C)
- 少年のアビス (C)
- 明日、私は誰かのカノジョ (C)
- なるたる (N)(C)
- 光が死んだ夏 (C)
- 一ノ瀬家の大罪 (N)
- 葬送のフリーレン (N)(C)
- 「子供を殺してください」という親たち (N)
- ゆうべはお楽しみでしたね
- かぐや様は告らせたい (N)
- 阿波連さんははかれない (N)
- ドラえもん (N)
- 苺ましまろ (N)
- カノジョになりたい君と僕 (N)
- ヒナのままじゃだめですか？ (N)(C)
- ホームルーム (N)(C)
- 魔女先輩日報 (N)
- 新しい君へ (N)(C)
- 君は放課後インソムニア (N)
- 砂糖菓子の弾丸は撃ちぬけない (N)
- 血の轍 (N)
Highlights for Manga
おかえりアリス by 押見修造
On top of just being a nice, sentimental read, two big things make this an easy manga to recommend: It actually just ends, and it explores irregular gender expression in a manga in a way I've never seen before.
なるたる by 鬼頭莫宏
By the same author as ぼくらの, and basically what you would expect knowing his work. The ending was kind of weird, but everything between the start and end is a journey. If you can handle a little suffering in your stories you'll enjoy it.
新しいきみへ by 三都慎司
Judging by the Bookmeter page, this series is criminally under read for how good it is. Just like おかえりアリス, it has the good sense to be fewer than 10 volumes long. The writing is tight, takes you on a thrilling and emotional mystery adventure, and then gives a great payoff for everything in the end. My only reservation is that I think volume 1 is a bit weak and may mislead readers about what kind of story it is. If you aren't feeling volume 1 I highly suggest pushing to see vol 2 to the end before judging.
ホームルーム by 千代
Once again short and sweet. I'm a big fan of yabai romances and this is definitely one of them. The love triangle(?) eventually gets a bit too complicated, and the weakness of a short manga is actually revealed a bit here, since some story beats come and go without feeling properly resolved, but I still enjoyed it a lot.
葬送のフリーレン by 山田鐘人
While I don't think this series is super mind blowing, it has kept my interest up to the current volume. The storytelling format is compelling, and the world building doesn't dwell on boring elements too much. Each of the friendly characters in Frieren's quest is pretty fun as well.
Games
- スーパーマリオワンダー
- ドラゴンクエストトレジャーズ
- Risk of Rain 2
Additional things
- Sapporo Jan/Feb
- Tokyo/Osaka/Kyoto Oct/Nov
- Did the JLPT N2. Probably didn't pass.
- Did well in my first semester of university.
Going into 2024
I would like to beat last year and have at least 1 hour of audio immersion every day. I also want to prioritise audio over reading when I have free time, so my goal numbers will be adjusted to make that more reasonable.
See you next year.