What we should be reading in Japanese - How to Japanese - April 2021
Apr 20, 2021 • Subscribe
More like this
あとになってわかったこと
Collector's Mindset - How to Japanese - February 2025
あっためて vs あたためて #learnjapanese
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 12 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
Yesterday I said that I was reviewing two series this week that focused on complicated relationships. The first was Volume 9 of Otona ni Nattemo, by Shimura Takako…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 7 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
When I reviewed Volume 6 I said of that volume that it was like a fever finally breaking. “You don’t feel “good,” per se, but you feel better,…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 9 ( 付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
When we first met Miwa, she was unsure of herself. And when we met Saeko she seemed very confident. As we’ve got to know them, we’ve come to…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 6 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
You know how you feel after you’ve had a fever, when the fever breaks and you’re soaked in sweat? You don’t feel “good,” per se, but you feel…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 4 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
In Tamifull’s Yuri drama Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 4 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな), we are confronted with something we don’t see very often at all in Yuri…two people who may just…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 8 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
“The characters and the art have grown, Tamifull’s narrative skills are excellent here. We’ve been with them through a lot…and we’re still here as they enter the next…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 10 ( 付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
Life is complex – humans are complex systems and relationships are complex systems made up of other complex systems interacting. Things are always complicated in Tamifull’s Tsukiatte Ag…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 11 ( 付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
In my review of Volume 10, I said, “I’m ready for something to lighten up.” Welp, Volume 11 of Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana ( 付き合ってあげてもいいかな) by Tamifull is not…
Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 5 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
As a reviewer, I understand that spoilers are sometimes unavoidable in order to make a review make sense. As a reader, I don’t particularly mind spoilers…until I do.…
It’s a Summer Film! (サマーフィルムにのって, Soshi Matsumoto, 2020)
A jidaigeki-obsessed high schooler sets out to make her own summer samurai movie in Soshi Matsumoto’s charming sci-fi infected teen rom-com
The Warped Forest (あさっての森, Shunichiro Miki, 2011)
Three trios in search of happiness find themselves transported to other worlds in Shunichiro Miki’s surreal quasi-sequel to Funky Forest
Fusa (その木戸を通って, Kon Ichikawa, 1993)
Kon Ichikawa’s Fusa (その木戸を通って, Sono Kido wo Totte) opens on a note of artifice. Misty rain and the verdant green of the forest give way to total darkness…
Struggling Man (私はいったい、何と闘っているのか, Toshio Lee, 2021)
A dejected middle-aged man experiences a crisis of masculinity when his home and work lives come under threat in Toshio Lee’s warmhearted comedy.
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 9 (おとなになっても)
I am currently reading two Japanese series about adults in complicated relationships. Both series are, in equal part, compelling and interesting and annoying as heck. Today we’re looking…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 3 (おとなになっても)
Akari is ready to move on. She’s ready to reclaim her old career in the salon and stop running away from her life. She’s putting Ayano and her…
Otona ni Nattemo, (おとなになっても) Volume 6
In Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 6, Shimura Takako has done something I’ve not seen before in a manga and I think I like it. ^_^ The main plot…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 1 (おとなになっても)
Shimura Takako’s work with gender and sexual minorities has been very influential and popular among western manga readers, and series like Sweet Blue Flowers and Wandering Son end…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 5 (おとなになっても)
Previous volumes of Shimura Takako’s adult life drama have centered on three adults whose life has been thrown into turmoil by unexpected emotions. Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 5…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 8 (おとなになっても)
Akari and Ayano have moved in together. This fact fills this book with all sorts of tensions, both positive and negative. Sure, they have been through ” a…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 10 (おとなになっても)
There are a lot of lose strings to tie up here at Shimura Takako’s Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 10 (おとなになっても). And, while the final bow is a bit…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 4 (おとなになっても)
In previous volumes of Otona ni Nattemo, we met Akari and Ayano, who met in a bar and spent the night together, Ayano’s husband Wataru, who has wondered…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 7 (おとなになっても)
In Shimura Takako’s Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 7 (おとなになっても) a lot happens. We left Akari and Ayano having been carefully not seeing one another for some time, as…
Yuri Manga: Tsukiatte Agetemo Iikana, Volume 3 (付き合ってあげてもいいかな)
2020 marks an interesting new phase for me in regards to Yuri manga. Because there are so many more comics about adult women, written for adults, my specific…
Love, Life and Goldfish (すくってごらん, Yukinori Makabe, 2021)
An elitist banker learns to embrace his sensitive side when demoted to a country backwater obsessed with goldfish in Yukinori Makabe’s charmingly quirky musical
![Featured image for Episode #76 (S10E5) – Getting Any? [みんな〜やってるか!] (1995)](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20240228/1709108171.80025.118324.jpg)
Episode #76 (S10E5) – Getting Any? [みんな〜やってるか!] (1995)
We’re going lighter this time with comedy podcaster Chris Andersen. In this episode, we discuss Getting Any?, Takeshi Kitano’s 1995 comedy/parody film about a middle-aged guy obsessed w…
Kininatteru Hito Ga Otoko Janakatta, Volume 2 (気になってる人が男じゃなかった)
In Volume 1, we met Ohsawa Aya, a fashionable girl in most ways – except for her retro taste in music. When she walks into a shabby CD…
Kininatteru Hito Ga Otoko Janakatta, Volume 3 (気になってる人が男じゃなかった)
Up until this volume, there has been almost no conflict of any kind in Arai Sumiko’s school and music Yuri series. In Kininatteru Hito Ga Otoko Janakatta, Volume…
Kininatteru Hito Ga Otoko Janakatta, Volume 1 (気になってる人が男じゃなかった)
Aya is a high school student who loves music of the 90s-00s. She’s content to sit and listen to the Foo Fighters in her ear buds, but when…
In the Distance (距ててて, Saki Kato, 2022)
Two roommates struggle to get along amid the stress of pandemic-era life in Saki Kato’s indie dramedy.
I Never Shot Anyone (一度も撃ってません, Junji Sakamoto, 2020)
An unsuccessful writer staves off a sense of existential despair living by night in Junji Sakamoto’s darkly comic tale of late life ennui
And Then They Never Die / そして誰も死ななかった
The protagonist of And Then They Never Die , Ushio Oomata, is a sleazebag. He’s crass, rude, and a fraud—he’s a mystery novelist, but the on...
Kininatteru Hito Ga Otoko Janakatta Drama CD, Special Edition (ドラマCD 気になってる人が男じゃなかった)
Last week, I was able to review the upcoming Yen Press release of Sumiko Arai’s popular manga The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t A Guy At All.…
All Under the Moon (月はどっちに出ている, Yoichi Sai, 1993)
Citizens of post-Bubble Tokyo struggle to reorient themselves amid changing realities in Yoichi Sai’s lighthearted comedy.
New Moomin 4/52 - Snufkin Is Back (スナフキンが帰って来た) (1972) (English subtitles)
Moomin seems to have broken Mr. Hemulen's horn, so he takes on various jobs in an attempt to buy a new one for him. Along the way, however,…
Onaji Tokoro De Nemuru Made Matte (同じ所で眠るまで待って)
When I originally read Mizuno to Chayama, (水野と茶山) the thing that struck me, not in a positive way, was the lack of joy or humor or happiness. The…
![Featured image for Sisters Royale: Five Sisters Under Fire [シスターズロワイヤル 5姉妹に嫌がらせを受けて困っています] (PlayStation 4) Unboxing](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20211030/1635622955.24208.50772.jpg)
Sisters Royale: Five Sisters Under Fire [シスターズロワイヤル 5姉妹に嫌がらせを受けて困っています] (PlayStation 4) Unboxing
A few days ago I received a shoot em up from Japan, and it came with some interesting goodies.
歩いても 歩いても OST - GONTITI
Still Walking [Aruitemo Aruitemo] Directed by: Hirokazu Koreeda 2008 Download
てへぺろ [Tehepero](๑≧౪≦)てへぺろ
Hi everyone. Oh no, I have left my blog for too long. I even forgot to write in English! Does anyone help me with my terrible English? My…
Genjitsu Touhishitetara Boroboro ni Natta Hanashi Manga (現実逃避してたらボロボロになった話)
Who could have imagined in 2016, when we all first discovered Nagata Kabi-sensei’s honest and touching diary of her struggles with mental health, that we’d be tuning back…
Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu, Volume 9 (推しが武道館いってくれたら死ぬ)
When we left this series in Volume 8, there were rainbows and doves flying because an entire volume had passed without making me feel unpleasant thoughts in the…
Oshi ga Budokan Itterkuretara Shinu, Volume 8 (推しが武道館いってくれたら死ぬ)
Yippee! A whole volume of this manga in which I never once wanted to shake the daylights out of the creator! Ahem. But seriously, Oshi ga Budokan Itterkuretara…
Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu, Volume 6 ( 推しが武道館いってくれたら死ぬ )
In Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu, Volume 6 ( 推しが武道館いってくれたら死ぬ ), we meet another local idol group, the Starlights, when the two groups end up in a double…
Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu, Volume 7 (推しが武道館いってくれたら死ぬ )
Until late last night, this review was going to be completely different. I had a whole review planned out and was all ready to joke about Path #5…
Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu Live-Action (推しが武道館いってくれたら死ぬ)
For various reasons I have spent the last few weeks playing catch-up with everything I have meant to watch and read and listen to but never got around…
Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu, Volume 10, (推しが武道館いってくれたら死ぬ)
Volume 9 left me weak with relief as Eripyo and Maina actually had a conversation. But as we look at the cover of Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu,…
What Can You Do about It だってしょうがないじゃない (2019) Director: Yoshifumi Tsubota
“What Can You Do about It?”, from director Yoshifumi Tsubota, is a heartfelt documentary that transforms from depicting his relationship with a distant relative with a developmental dis…
Your Japanese is Good If You Get This No.3 てもらう・てくれる・てあげる
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
Blue, Painful, Fragile (青くて痛くて脆い, Shunsuke Kariyama, 2020)
An unreliable narrator only belatedly comes to a realisation of the costs of his immature insecurity in Kariyama’s prickly romantic drama