Categories
August 15th, 2015
My ten favourite pieces of fiction
Anime Relations: Touch, White Album 2
#1 Sakura no Uta (Visual Novel)
Sakura no Uta is beauty. It is a story about life, of growing up and trying to find acceptance in a world with no tolerance for failure. It is a story about family, of Naoya, the protagonist, and his relationship to his father, a world-famous painter, to whom Naoya finds himself resembling more and more as the years go by. Sakura no Uta does not hold any punches: it immediately hits you in the gut within the opening seconds, with Naoya attending the funeral of his late father, his casket ironically being carried through a sea of cherry blossoms.
I think, while Sakura no Uta is not nearly as ambitious as SCA-JI's other masterpiece (mentioned right below), it is a more personal story that finds beauty simply through showcasing the cycle of life. SCA-JI delivered with SubaHibi and perfected his art with Sakura no Uta. The game certainly has its share of issues-- the early parts can drag on a bit and a couple of the individual heroine routes are lackluster-- but after having read the Zypressen route and chapters 4, 5 & 6 (which I read in a single 18-hour marathon), I was speechless for more than a half hour after the credits rolled. I thought to myself: Sakura no Uta is the story I've always wanted-- it's the story I've been looking for for the past 22 years.
#2 Subarashiki Hibi (Visual Novel)
It is very difficult to put words to what has been one of the most powerful stories in my life. SubaHibi is a brilliant fusion of excellent storytelling, characters, and intelligent, thought-provoking themes that never do come across as 'pretentious', but rather the thoughts of an incredibly profound writer. The game is not without flaws, but I never did care for 'perfection' in the first place.
The "It's My Own Invention" chapter of the game is the weirdest and perhaps most memorable piece of storytelling I've ever experienced. It is a story of a timid, bullied schoolboy slowly breaking down and turning into an insane cult leader and mastermind. You truly do feel yourself falling into the madness along with Takuji, but that's not to say there aren't quieter moments later in the story. I should also mention that Yoru no Himawari is the best background piece I've ever come across in any piece of media; the moments where it plays are absolutely chilling and scintillating.
For the record, both Sakura no Uta and SubaHibi are the two pieces of media that I would give a perfect 100% score to without hesitation. I think they're the best stories ever created.
#3 White Album 2 (Visual Novel)
In the fall of 2013, during one of the worst periods in my life, I came across a certain quiet, unassuming anime that I expected to drop on the first episode. By the end of that episode, I had tears in my eyes and the feeling that I may be watching the best anime I've ever seen. I wasn't wrong.
However, the anime represents only a fraction of a much larger and even more powerful story. White Album 2 is actually a trilogy of sorts, with the second two encompassing the untranslated Closing Chapter visual novel. It is a massive story that covers five years in the characters' lives (and if you include the epilogue, eight), from high school students to working adults. It's by far the best romance story I've experienced, and if we're talking in terms of pure emotion, I would say White Album 2 wins in that regard as well.
The game is absolutely devastating and not something I would recommend for people who can't deal with depression and bitter-sweet endings. Even some completely ordinary tracks, like this one, tore me up and destroyed me emotionally every time they played. And as for the more climactic tracks, well, I'll let this speak for itself. Add to this the incredibly well-developed and realistic characters (Haruki and the rest are shitty, flawed people, just like you or me) and Maruto's heart-breaking and extremely powerful prose, and White Album 2 is something that hits really, really hard. Just thinking back on a few specific lines of text messes me up really bad.
#4 Touch (Anime)
I wrote a review for this a few years ago (which I'm not entirely satisfied with any more), but it is worth mentioning again just how powerful Touch is with so little. By the time the 26-episode prologue ends and it becomes apparent what Touch is actually about, I think it is near-impossible to not develop a massive emotional attachment to what's going on. The character development, the dialogue, the music (particularly Kazuya's theme or the final OP) are also absolutely outstanding. Touch shows that beauty is best found in the ordinary struggles of every day life rather than the supernatural. For me, anime hasn't really been the same since I finished watching Touch. I'm not sure it will ever be.
#5 Oyasumi Punpun (Manga)
A brilliant look into the mind and life of the clinically depressed. The corruption of the characters-- Punpun from a happy child to a suicidal, violent adult-- is entirely natural and represents something that could, and quite often, happens in reality. The story spoke to me in a pretty personal way as I identify very much with clinical depression and grew up much the same way as the protagonist. After finishing a volume of the manga, I would be completely destroyed and exhausted emotionally. I guess if you're a stable, happy person then the story won't do a whole lot for you, though.
#6 Baldr Sky (Video Game/Visual Novel)
I'm not really the type of person who cares much about action, but Baldr Sky is a big exception to that rule. The battles work so well because you, the player, are directly involved in them. The gameplay itself, while certainly lacking in the graphical department, is mechanically outstanding and adds to the emotional aspect in a really big way. Often there will be intense vocal tracks playing in the middle of a boss battle, or in some cases, the OP itself will actually start blasting during the final boss of a route. If you want a sort of visual representation of what I'm talking about and either don't understand Japanese and/or don't care about being spoiled, give this video a watch. Considering the 200~ hours of story to get to that point, the ending of Baldr Sky turned out to be the most chilling, intense scene I've ever come across in a video game. Period. The well-developed cyberpunk setting certainly added to the game's appeal, too. And Sora is pretty much perfection.
#7 Soukou Akki Muramasa (Visual Novel)
善悪相殺 ('zenaku sousatsu', or literally, "the counterbalance of good and evil") is the best theme I've ever come across in storytelling. It is explored so, so damn well, especially during the ending of Ichijo's route and the final route's epilogue. The setting is also incredibly deep and rich, enough that it genuinely feels like a living and breathing world, and the text, while very, very wordy, is incredibly effective, particularly during the battles which are defined purely through tactics and swordsmanship rather than powerlevels. It's certainly not something for the faint-of-heart, though, as it deals (graphically) with issues such as rape, the murder of loved ones, tyranny, and so on. The main menu theme says a lot about the kind of story that Muramasa is. I'm not sure I've ever come across anything darker, aside, maybe, from my mental state when the game forced me to read an incredibly massive and complex scholarly essay. Muramasa is not something that should be read unless you're very confident in your Japanese ability.
#8 Okami (Video Game)
It is oozing with charm, thanks to the beautiful art style (exemplifying why style is so much more important than 'realistic' graphics), unique soundtrack and story that deals heavily with Japanese folklore. The gameplay mechanics are outstanding as well, if a bit on the 'simple' side. It's a superior Zelda in every single sense, and my personal favourite video game, assuming Baldr Sky doesn't count. The ending is also quite emotional, to say the least.
#9 The Last of Us (Video Game)
Exhausting. The Last of Us is a testament to video games' ability to tell stories on par with the best film or literature. It also marries the gameplay with the storytelling in a really profound and meaningful way; ammo is scarce and Joel is fragile, adding to the feeling that he and Ellie are merely survivors and could run out of luck at any moment. The combat itself also carries a lot of weight; while mechanically satisfying, it feels appropriately disgusting, with enemies pleading for their life and their bodies turning into rotting hunks of meat after you load lead into their body. And, similar to Touch, The Last of Us does a lot with very little. There's no real 'drama' in the traditional sense, and the game never tries to paint a clear-cut sense of morality, as Joel (and just about everyone else) is often committing very vile acts in order to survive.
#10 Asairo (Visual Novel)
"和風". Asairo made me fall in love with Japanese writing and culture. It turned me into a massive, massive weeaboo. Shumon's prose (as exemplified here) is extremely powerful. The themes and symbolism portrayed in the story are also very thought-provoking, but I think, more than anything, it was the atmosphere that spoke to me. If that track can't be called beautiful, then I am not sure that beauty exists.
Sakura no Uta is beauty. It is a story about life, of growing up and trying to find acceptance in a world with no tolerance for failure. It is a story about family, of Naoya, the protagonist, and his relationship to his father, a world-famous painter, to whom Naoya finds himself resembling more and more as the years go by. Sakura no Uta does not hold any punches: it immediately hits you in the gut within the opening seconds, with Naoya attending the funeral of his late father, his casket ironically being carried through a sea of cherry blossoms.
I think, while Sakura no Uta is not nearly as ambitious as SCA-JI's other masterpiece (mentioned right below), it is a more personal story that finds beauty simply through showcasing the cycle of life. SCA-JI delivered with SubaHibi and perfected his art with Sakura no Uta. The game certainly has its share of issues-- the early parts can drag on a bit and a couple of the individual heroine routes are lackluster-- but after having read the Zypressen route and chapters 4, 5 & 6 (which I read in a single 18-hour marathon), I was speechless for more than a half hour after the credits rolled. I thought to myself: Sakura no Uta is the story I've always wanted-- it's the story I've been looking for for the past 22 years.
#2 Subarashiki Hibi (Visual Novel)
It is very difficult to put words to what has been one of the most powerful stories in my life. SubaHibi is a brilliant fusion of excellent storytelling, characters, and intelligent, thought-provoking themes that never do come across as 'pretentious', but rather the thoughts of an incredibly profound writer. The game is not without flaws, but I never did care for 'perfection' in the first place.
The "It's My Own Invention" chapter of the game is the weirdest and perhaps most memorable piece of storytelling I've ever experienced. It is a story of a timid, bullied schoolboy slowly breaking down and turning into an insane cult leader and mastermind. You truly do feel yourself falling into the madness along with Takuji, but that's not to say there aren't quieter moments later in the story. I should also mention that Yoru no Himawari is the best background piece I've ever come across in any piece of media; the moments where it plays are absolutely chilling and scintillating.
For the record, both Sakura no Uta and SubaHibi are the two pieces of media that I would give a perfect 100% score to without hesitation. I think they're the best stories ever created.
#3 White Album 2 (Visual Novel)
In the fall of 2013, during one of the worst periods in my life, I came across a certain quiet, unassuming anime that I expected to drop on the first episode. By the end of that episode, I had tears in my eyes and the feeling that I may be watching the best anime I've ever seen. I wasn't wrong.
However, the anime represents only a fraction of a much larger and even more powerful story. White Album 2 is actually a trilogy of sorts, with the second two encompassing the untranslated Closing Chapter visual novel. It is a massive story that covers five years in the characters' lives (and if you include the epilogue, eight), from high school students to working adults. It's by far the best romance story I've experienced, and if we're talking in terms of pure emotion, I would say White Album 2 wins in that regard as well.
The game is absolutely devastating and not something I would recommend for people who can't deal with depression and bitter-sweet endings. Even some completely ordinary tracks, like this one, tore me up and destroyed me emotionally every time they played. And as for the more climactic tracks, well, I'll let this speak for itself. Add to this the incredibly well-developed and realistic characters (Haruki and the rest are shitty, flawed people, just like you or me) and Maruto's heart-breaking and extremely powerful prose, and White Album 2 is something that hits really, really hard. Just thinking back on a few specific lines of text messes me up really bad.
#4 Touch (Anime)
I wrote a review for this a few years ago (which I'm not entirely satisfied with any more), but it is worth mentioning again just how powerful Touch is with so little. By the time the 26-episode prologue ends and it becomes apparent what Touch is actually about, I think it is near-impossible to not develop a massive emotional attachment to what's going on. The character development, the dialogue, the music (particularly Kazuya's theme or the final OP) are also absolutely outstanding. Touch shows that beauty is best found in the ordinary struggles of every day life rather than the supernatural. For me, anime hasn't really been the same since I finished watching Touch. I'm not sure it will ever be.
#5 Oyasumi Punpun (Manga)
A brilliant look into the mind and life of the clinically depressed. The corruption of the characters-- Punpun from a happy child to a suicidal, violent adult-- is entirely natural and represents something that could, and quite often, happens in reality. The story spoke to me in a pretty personal way as I identify very much with clinical depression and grew up much the same way as the protagonist. After finishing a volume of the manga, I would be completely destroyed and exhausted emotionally. I guess if you're a stable, happy person then the story won't do a whole lot for you, though.
#6 Baldr Sky (Video Game/Visual Novel)
I'm not really the type of person who cares much about action, but Baldr Sky is a big exception to that rule. The battles work so well because you, the player, are directly involved in them. The gameplay itself, while certainly lacking in the graphical department, is mechanically outstanding and adds to the emotional aspect in a really big way. Often there will be intense vocal tracks playing in the middle of a boss battle, or in some cases, the OP itself will actually start blasting during the final boss of a route. If you want a sort of visual representation of what I'm talking about and either don't understand Japanese and/or don't care about being spoiled, give this video a watch. Considering the 200~ hours of story to get to that point, the ending of Baldr Sky turned out to be the most chilling, intense scene I've ever come across in a video game. Period. The well-developed cyberpunk setting certainly added to the game's appeal, too. And Sora is pretty much perfection.
#7 Soukou Akki Muramasa (Visual Novel)
善悪相殺 ('zenaku sousatsu', or literally, "the counterbalance of good and evil") is the best theme I've ever come across in storytelling. It is explored so, so damn well, especially during the ending of Ichijo's route and the final route's epilogue. The setting is also incredibly deep and rich, enough that it genuinely feels like a living and breathing world, and the text, while very, very wordy, is incredibly effective, particularly during the battles which are defined purely through tactics and swordsmanship rather than powerlevels. It's certainly not something for the faint-of-heart, though, as it deals (graphically) with issues such as rape, the murder of loved ones, tyranny, and so on. The main menu theme says a lot about the kind of story that Muramasa is. I'm not sure I've ever come across anything darker, aside, maybe, from my mental state when the game forced me to read an incredibly massive and complex scholarly essay. Muramasa is not something that should be read unless you're very confident in your Japanese ability.
#8 Okami (Video Game)
It is oozing with charm, thanks to the beautiful art style (exemplifying why style is so much more important than 'realistic' graphics), unique soundtrack and story that deals heavily with Japanese folklore. The gameplay mechanics are outstanding as well, if a bit on the 'simple' side. It's a superior Zelda in every single sense, and my personal favourite video game, assuming Baldr Sky doesn't count. The ending is also quite emotional, to say the least.
#9 The Last of Us (Video Game)
Exhausting. The Last of Us is a testament to video games' ability to tell stories on par with the best film or literature. It also marries the gameplay with the storytelling in a really profound and meaningful way; ammo is scarce and Joel is fragile, adding to the feeling that he and Ellie are merely survivors and could run out of luck at any moment. The combat itself also carries a lot of weight; while mechanically satisfying, it feels appropriately disgusting, with enemies pleading for their life and their bodies turning into rotting hunks of meat after you load lead into their body. And, similar to Touch, The Last of Us does a lot with very little. There's no real 'drama' in the traditional sense, and the game never tries to paint a clear-cut sense of morality, as Joel (and just about everyone else) is often committing very vile acts in order to survive.
#10 Asairo (Visual Novel)
"和風". Asairo made me fall in love with Japanese writing and culture. It turned me into a massive, massive weeaboo. Shumon's prose (as exemplified here) is extremely powerful. The themes and symbolism portrayed in the story are also very thought-provoking, but I think, more than anything, it was the atmosphere that spoke to me. If that track can't be called beautiful, then I am not sure that beauty exists.
Posted by Veronin | Aug 15, 2015 4:01 PM | 0 comments
March 13th, 2015
Things I've Read in Japanese
Anime Relations: Tsui no Sora
Here's a list of all the things I've read in Japanese since I started studying in May of 2014. I've also added a difficulty rating from 1-5 for each of them, with a 1 representing something that a complete beginner could handle and 5 being something that will make you want to kill yourself unless you're damn-near fluent in the language.
Completed:
(VN) - Subarashiki Hibi [2/5]
(VN) - Aiyoku no Eustia [2/5]
(VN) - Baldr Sky [2/5]
(VN) - Sayonara wo Oshiete [3/5]
(VN) - Kusarihime [2/5]
(VN) - White Album 2 [3/5]
(VN) - Mahoutsukai no Yoru [4/5]
(VN) - Hello Lady (+fandisc) [3/5]
(VN) - Full Metal Daemon Muramasa [5/5]
(VN) - Totono [1/5]
(VN) - Magical Charming [1/5]
(VN) - Asairo [3/5]
(VN) - Angel Beats 1st Beat [1/5]
(VN) - Akatsuki no Goei (+fandisc) [2/5]
(VN) - Tokeijikake no Ley Line [1/5]
(VN) - Lovely x Cation [1/5]
(VN) - Dies Irae ~Acta est Fabula~ [4/5]
(VN) - Rance 01 [2/5]
(VN) - Boku wa Tenshi Janai yo [3/5]
(VN) - Damekoi [2/5]
(VN) - Rance 03 [2/5]
(VN) - Sakura no Uta [2/5]
(VN) - Oretsuba [4/5]
(VN) - Miagete Goran, Yozora no Hoshi o [2/5]
(VN) - Hataraku Otona no Renai Jijou [1/5]
(VN) - Cross Channel [4/5]
(VN) - Shoujo-tachi wa Kouya o Mezasu [1/5]
(VN) - Dies Irae: Interview with Kaziklu Bey [3/5]
(VN) - Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai (+fandisc) [2/5]
(VN) - Island [2/5]
(VN) - Himawari [2/5]
(VN) - Sona-Nyl [3/5]
(VN) - Senran Banka [1/5]
(VN) - Baldr Force [2/5]
(VN) - Chuusotsu 1st Graduation [3/5]
(VN) - Baldr Heart [2/5]
(VN) - Tsujidou-san no Junai Road [1/5]
(Game) - The Idolmaster: One For All [2/5]
(Game) - Zero no Kiseki Evolution [3/5]
(Game) - Ryu ga Gotoku 0 [3/5]
(Game) - Ryu ga Gotoku HD 1 & 2 [3/5]
Currently reading:
(VN) - Danganronpa V3 [2/5]
(VN) - Saihate no Ima [4/5]
(Game) - Persona 5 [3/5]
(Game) - Ao no Kiseki Evolution [3/5]
Bits and pieces:
(VN) - Reminiscence [2/5]
(VN) - Flyable Heart [1/5]
(VN) - Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm [1/5]
(VN) - Himanatsu [2/5]
(VN) - Idol Mahou Shoujo Chiruchiru ☆ Michiru [2/5]
(VN) - Clover Day's [2/5]
(VN) - Parfait ~Chocolat Second Brew~ (VN) [2/5]
(VN) - Ourai no Gahkthun [2/5]
(VN) - Majo Koi Nikki [3/5]
(VN) - Hanahira [1/5]
(VN) - Hikari no Valusia [3/5]
(VN) - Kiminago [1/5]
(VN) - Supreme Candy [2/5]
(VN) - Mebae [1/5]
(VN) - Ruitomo [4/5]
(VN) - Soushuu Senshinkan Gakuen Hachimyoujin [4/5]
(VN) - Maitetsu [3/5]
(VN) - Kajiri Kamui Kagura [4/5]
(VN) - Sen no Hatou [3/5]
(Game) - Hyperdimension Neptunia VII [1/5]
(Game) - Sora no Kiseki SC [2/5]
(Manga) - Mix (v1-3) [2/5]
(Manga) - Billy Bat (v1-2) [2/5]
(LN) - Shuuriya-san Chi no Hakaishin [3/5]
I've also played parts of hundreds of nukige and doujin eroge (those found on DLsite and the like), which I could not in any way list here in their entirety.
Completed:
(VN) - Subarashiki Hibi [2/5]
(VN) - Aiyoku no Eustia [2/5]
(VN) - Baldr Sky [2/5]
(VN) - Sayonara wo Oshiete [3/5]
(VN) - Kusarihime [2/5]
(VN) - White Album 2 [3/5]
(VN) - Mahoutsukai no Yoru [4/5]
(VN) - Hello Lady (+fandisc) [3/5]
(VN) - Full Metal Daemon Muramasa [5/5]
(VN) - Totono [1/5]
(VN) - Magical Charming [1/5]
(VN) - Asairo [3/5]
(VN) - Angel Beats 1st Beat [1/5]
(VN) - Akatsuki no Goei (+fandisc) [2/5]
(VN) - Tokeijikake no Ley Line [1/5]
(VN) - Lovely x Cation [1/5]
(VN) - Dies Irae ~Acta est Fabula~ [4/5]
(VN) - Rance 01 [2/5]
(VN) - Boku wa Tenshi Janai yo [3/5]
(VN) - Damekoi [2/5]
(VN) - Rance 03 [2/5]
(VN) - Sakura no Uta [2/5]
(VN) - Oretsuba [4/5]
(VN) - Miagete Goran, Yozora no Hoshi o [2/5]
(VN) - Hataraku Otona no Renai Jijou [1/5]
(VN) - Cross Channel [4/5]
(VN) - Shoujo-tachi wa Kouya o Mezasu [1/5]
(VN) - Dies Irae: Interview with Kaziklu Bey [3/5]
(VN) - Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai (+fandisc) [2/5]
(VN) - Island [2/5]
(VN) - Himawari [2/5]
(VN) - Sona-Nyl [3/5]
(VN) - Senran Banka [1/5]
(VN) - Baldr Force [2/5]
(VN) - Chuusotsu 1st Graduation [3/5]
(VN) - Baldr Heart [2/5]
(VN) - Tsujidou-san no Junai Road [1/5]
(Game) - The Idolmaster: One For All [2/5]
(Game) - Zero no Kiseki Evolution [3/5]
(Game) - Ryu ga Gotoku 0 [3/5]
(Game) - Ryu ga Gotoku HD 1 & 2 [3/5]
Currently reading:
(VN) - Danganronpa V3 [2/5]
(VN) - Saihate no Ima [4/5]
(Game) - Persona 5 [3/5]
(Game) - Ao no Kiseki Evolution [3/5]
Bits and pieces:
(VN) - Reminiscence [2/5]
(VN) - Flyable Heart [1/5]
(VN) - Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm [1/5]
(VN) - Himanatsu [2/5]
(VN) - Idol Mahou Shoujo Chiruchiru ☆ Michiru [2/5]
(VN) - Clover Day's [2/5]
(VN) - Parfait ~Chocolat Second Brew~ (VN) [2/5]
(VN) - Ourai no Gahkthun [2/5]
(VN) - Majo Koi Nikki [3/5]
(VN) - Hanahira [1/5]
(VN) - Hikari no Valusia [3/5]
(VN) - Kiminago [1/5]
(VN) - Supreme Candy [2/5]
(VN) - Mebae [1/5]
(VN) - Ruitomo [4/5]
(VN) - Soushuu Senshinkan Gakuen Hachimyoujin [4/5]
(VN) - Maitetsu [3/5]
(VN) - Kajiri Kamui Kagura [4/5]
(VN) - Sen no Hatou [3/5]
(Game) - Hyperdimension Neptunia VII [1/5]
(Game) - Sora no Kiseki SC [2/5]
(Manga) - Mix (v1-3) [2/5]
(Manga) - Billy Bat (v1-2) [2/5]
(LN) - Shuuriya-san Chi no Hakaishin [3/5]
I've also played parts of hundreds of nukige and doujin eroge (those found on DLsite and the like), which I could not in any way list here in their entirety.
Posted by Veronin | Mar 13, 2015 8:53 AM | 0 comments
February 2nd, 2015
My Guide to Learning Japanese
Anime Relations: Shitcom
In the years since I originally posted this blog, there's been a few key points I've learned and wished to highlight. While the original guide remains fully intact in its original state, I've included some new comments at the very bottom of this article, which you may find useful or insightful.
__________________________
I often get asked how I've been learning Japanese and what methods I use, so I figure it would be easier to write a short guide here instead. I'm also a bit frustrated by how inefficient most people's studying methods are (hi Reddit), so here's a guide that doesn't completely suck.
A few things to keep in mind if you're planning to start studying the language:
- Learning kanji is not an impossible task. Is it a pain in the ass? Sure, but you could still learn the 2000 required for literacy in a couple months if you were so dedicated. Almost every single kanji is made up of other kanji or symbols, called radicals, which will easily let you piece the kanji together if you don't immediately recognise it. For example, 姿 looks like a bunch of incomprehensible chicken scratches at first, but in reality it's just 女 and 次 squished together. Also, some kanji are just ridiculously easy to remember, like 人 or 一 . Even an absolutely crazy-looking one like 驚 you'll memorise just from seeing it constantly. Don't worry about kanji too much.
- Make it a habit to study every single day. Even if you're super busy and don't have much time to study that day, just throw in 15 minutes before you sleep. If you neglect it for a week or more, you're going to come back and find yourself forgetting things. The goal is to improve your understanding of the language, not to remain at the same skill level forever. If you half-ass it you'll never get anywhere. Motivation is more important than anything else.
- You're going to be terrible at the language for a very long time. Don't let it get to you. Think of it like an RPG or something: you have to start at level 1, and you can only level up and have an easier time by gaining more experience. The hardest part in learning the language is at the beginning-- you just need to keep banging your head against it until things finally start to make sense. The more you learn, the easier it gets.
Anyway, if you're motivated and ready to learn the language, here's what I suggest:
1. Start learning the kana. Use RealKana for that. Work on one column at a time in the practice session and add a new one in each time you've memorised all the previous kana. Don't bother thinking deeply about them-- just keep bashing them into your brain no matter how many times you get them wrong. They'll stick. You could easily learn hiragana and katakana in a day each with this method, whereas a college class would spend a month or two on it.
2. Learn basic grammar. Use Tae Kim's guide for beginner stuff and Imabi when you're ready for intermediate topics. Don't worry if some of the things seem overly complicated or don't make any sense to you, because they won't until you start reading and listening to these things in action.
Now, here's where you have a choice: you can either go with my method of reading visual novels with a dictionary (more on that soon), or if you have absolutely no interest in visual novels (my condolences), grinding kanji and vocabulary. If you choose the latter...
3a. For kanji, this Anki deck is a good way to get started with the first thousand or so. Avoid RTK because it sucks and teaches you useless kanji. Don't bother learning all the kun-yomi and on-yomi pronunciations or whatever because they're a waste of time and don't actually matter; just focus on memorising the image and meaning of them for now. As you'll see when you learn vocabulary, most kanji have a billion different pronunciations with each one being used pretty randomly, so it's better to learn pronunciation on a word-by-word basis. For the vocabulary itself, most people use Anki, a flashcard program that will drill thousands of words into your head through daily routine. The Core6k deck is the ones most people use, though I would recommend only learning the first 2000 words and then creating your own deck afterwards.
Now, while this all sounds pretty straightforward, you have to keep in mind that you're only learning through rote memorisation and textbook method, and as a result you're going to have major troubles later on if you don't supplement your studying with actual reading and listening. Try reading manga or light novels, or watch anime without subtitles. The sooner you start doing so, the better. You don't need 100% comprehension to read something. I've seen people who only did Anki for 1-2 years and then couldn't even read a moege afterwards. That's sad. You don't want to become one of them.
It's also worth mentioning that you can speed up the process by completely skipping individual kanji and moving directly to vocabulary, though it will be pretty painful at first. Also, do yourself a favour and don't bother learning how to handwrite kanji. It's a complete waste of time- you won't even need to handwrite if you live in Japan since just about everything can be typed/printed via phones and computers. Prioritise your time by studying things that actually matter, like grammar and vocabulary. If you absolutely feel handwriting is necessary and that you'll explode and die if you don't learn how to, do it after you've already gotten everything else down.
Since the traditional method is incredibly tedious and boring, I recommend reading visual novels instead. It will mean entertainment and study blend into the same thing, and by extension your learning speed will also rapidly increase. One hour of flashcards every day is boring shit, but if you spent six hours on a Sunday reading visual novels, you'd be getting six hours of studying done in that day. Nice. So, anyway, here's how you do that:
3b. Download ITH. It's a text hooker that will instantly grab and copy text from any VN you're running. Next, download Translation Aggregator. It's the program that will be running your dictionary. Bam, you're ready to go. What you'll be doing each time you play a visual novel is attaching ITH to the game's process after you launch it, and then have Translation Aggregator sitting on the side and automatically plugging each line of text through the JParser box. If you don't know a word (and chances are you will understand almost none of them by this point), all you need to do is hover over it in JParser and the definitions will pop up in a fraction of a second. Easy.
What visual novels are friendly for beginners, you ask? It depends on your preferences. If you're willing to handle mediocre garbage, Hanahira is pretty much regarded by everyone as the easiest VN in existence. Most moege (Flyable Heart, Kiminago, Magical Charming) are also incredibly easy to read, but if you'd rather go for something serious and plot-heavy, Aiyoku no Eustia is the perfect choice for beginners. By the time you're done Eustia, you could handle Baldr Sky without much trouble, and from there you could handle something like Kusarihime or Sayonara wo Oshiette. If none of those interest you (or you're looking for something else), I made a list here with a difficulty ranking for all the things I've read so far. Anything I haven't read you can just test yourself and judge whether or not you can handle it.
And, again, don't worry if you're awful at the language and aren't understanding things very well. I was the same way when I started reading and felt like every line of text was a mysterious string of gibberish. You have to start somewhere. If you really, really feel like you're not understanding enough and possibly ruining the story for yourself, you can just come back to it later or even reread it when you're better at the language. Most moege are mindless and have little of importance going on, anyway, so you could always hone your fundamentals with those first if you don't feel comfortable reading something like Eustia right away. However, keep in mind that it is doable if you have the patience. I was reading Baldr Sky and SubaHibi two months after I started studying and managed those just fine.
If you have at least an hour of free time every day, you'd be doing yourself a huge favour by starting as soon as possible. Translations for Japanese media are generally terrible (usually they're done by some 15-year-old who speaks English as their third language), so you'd be allowing yourself to experience the actual story and not a poor interpretation of it. You can also play/read the multitude of untranslated manga, light novels, visual novels and games, as well as open yourself to the possibility of traveling to or working in Japan.
Other things to note:
- If you can't get regular ol' ITH working, try ITHVNR instead. There's a few games that work only with it.
- For learning slang and colloquial speech, I'd recommend watching 実況プレイ on YouTube or Nicovideo. They'll also introduce you to 'natural' Japanese speech and are often hilarious to watch.
- If you're learning through the VN method, you can still do some supplementary studying with Anki to speed up the vocab process a bit. However, if you do, make sure that reading always remains the priority. If Anki starts taking up too much time then delete it and read more instead.
- This is a useful resource if you come across kanji you can't hook (i.e. in a console video game). It has saved my ass on many occasions. You can also use KanjiTomo to search any words you mouse over (useful for images and manga), though its accuracy is obviously not great.
- Video games (JRPGs) have much easier vocabulary than visual novels, so I'd recommend giving them a go if you want to try reading without text hookers and dictionaries.
__________________________
2022 Update - 7 Years Later:
So what have I been up to over the years?
In the fall of 2016, I moved to Japan as an exchange student at a Japanese university. Following the end of my time as a student, I transitioned into working in Japan, in a fully Japanese setting that required me to speak fluently. Overall, about three years I spent living in Japan, up until the start of the COVID pandemic which unfortunately sent me back to Canada. Currently I live with my Japanese wife (whom I met in Tokyo back in 2017) and speak exclusively Japanese at home, as that is the only language she can comfortably speak. To this day I speak Japanese more frequently than I speak English, despite living once more on the opposite side of the planet.
There's a few pieces of wisdom I've discovered during this time, and felt it would be appropriate to share by making a small update to this article.
- If a person has no experience living in Japan, take their opinions on the language with a massive grain of salt. This includes Twitter, Discord, Reddit, and many other forms of social media where beginners attempt to teach other beginners their flawed understanding of the language. Living in Japan and speaking the language with native speakers (in a natural environment) is integral to understanding the culture, idioms, figures of speech and much more. Please be very careful about whose advice you listen to, as many self-purported experts actually have little understanding of what they are talking about. It may sound elitist, but experience living in Japan should be considered the baseline for having a voice on the subject.
- No matter how hard you grind, you will never attain a native speaker's level of fluency. It's best to just accept this. Even after a decade of study, working in a fully Japanese environment, and speaking the language exclusively, there are still times I feel frustrated when comparing my level of fluency with that of my wife's. However, you can get close enough that your Japanese is for the most part indiscernible from a native speaker, save for some flaws like vocabulary gaps or the inability to understand poorly-enunciated mumble-speak.
- Even if a work is translated into English, the original Japanese still offers a vastly superior experience. Most Japanese to English translations are so bad that I would just recommend reading anything of value in Japanese instead. This goes for visual novels, video games, literature, and even manga and anime. Case in point, One Piece. I could not imagine experiencing the series in English as 50% of the humour and mannerisms are only understandable through the original dialogue. Most translations are often rushed in order to meet short deadlines, and the original author's heart and intent are deleted in favour of whatever the 40-year-old American man feels like inserting instead. If you can avoid translations, please do.
- If you've survived just one year of study, you're already ahead of 99% of people. Most people who attempt to learn Japanese give up very quickly as their motivation eventually falters. My goal with this guide is to teach people a more entertaining and nuanced method of learning, in the hopes that they will stick through and prevail. If you're still studying Japanese a year after you first began, you've already succeeded and are a winner.
- Writing kanji (i.e. with a pen) is a useless skill. It makes me sad, because I know the people who practice writing kanji every day will most likely never get anywhere with the language. Writing individual kanji does not improve your understanding of the language in any way, as it is vocabulary that matters. I got by perfectly fine in a Japanese workplace just with writing hiragana/katakana and a few very common kanji.
- Speaking Japanese and understanding it are two entirely different skillsets. While I could understand it during my first few months in Japan, I was afraid to speak it, because it was as if that section of my brain was locked off. Only through regular (verbal/spoken) practice with native speakers can you truly find the key to this part of the brain.
- If you are practicing speech, be very careful about the 'r' sounds. While Japanese is generally a very easy language to pronounce, this is one area where foreigners generally trip up. らりるれろ resemble L sounds in English more than they do R sounds. Use the tip of your tongue, and try to produce a mix between L and R. As a side note, keep in mind that Japanese is a mostly monotone language, and that by raising your pitch up and down similar to how most Americans speak English, you will immediately out yourself as a big foreigner to any Japanese person listening.
- At some point, you must take the training wheels off. While dictionary and texthooking software make learning Japanese much more fun and motivating, eventually, you'll have to close the software and consume Japanese media in its natural state. At what point this will be is up to the individual to decide. The benchmark I would personally use is for when you feel like reading visual novels is no longer improving your Japanese in any meaningful way. Personally, this happened a few years into my studies. If you would like a good suggestion of where to start, the Tsukihime remake (PS4/Switch) is a fantastic experience, containing difficult Japanese while still not being completely unapproachable by foreigner readers.
日本語は最初のころ理解不可能でチンプンカンプンに見えるかもしれないが、毎日少しずつ勉強したら、必ず上達する。モチベが落ちたら、休憩しながら日本語と繋がる遊び方を探してください。雲がいつか晴れる。
Last updated: Jan 26, 2022
__________________________
I often get asked how I've been learning Japanese and what methods I use, so I figure it would be easier to write a short guide here instead. I'm also a bit frustrated by how inefficient most people's studying methods are (hi Reddit), so here's a guide that doesn't completely suck.
A few things to keep in mind if you're planning to start studying the language:
- Learning kanji is not an impossible task. Is it a pain in the ass? Sure, but you could still learn the 2000 required for literacy in a couple months if you were so dedicated. Almost every single kanji is made up of other kanji or symbols, called radicals, which will easily let you piece the kanji together if you don't immediately recognise it. For example, 姿 looks like a bunch of incomprehensible chicken scratches at first, but in reality it's just 女 and 次 squished together. Also, some kanji are just ridiculously easy to remember, like 人 or 一 . Even an absolutely crazy-looking one like 驚 you'll memorise just from seeing it constantly. Don't worry about kanji too much.
- Make it a habit to study every single day. Even if you're super busy and don't have much time to study that day, just throw in 15 minutes before you sleep. If you neglect it for a week or more, you're going to come back and find yourself forgetting things. The goal is to improve your understanding of the language, not to remain at the same skill level forever. If you half-ass it you'll never get anywhere. Motivation is more important than anything else.
- You're going to be terrible at the language for a very long time. Don't let it get to you. Think of it like an RPG or something: you have to start at level 1, and you can only level up and have an easier time by gaining more experience. The hardest part in learning the language is at the beginning-- you just need to keep banging your head against it until things finally start to make sense. The more you learn, the easier it gets.
Anyway, if you're motivated and ready to learn the language, here's what I suggest:
1. Start learning the kana. Use RealKana for that. Work on one column at a time in the practice session and add a new one in each time you've memorised all the previous kana. Don't bother thinking deeply about them-- just keep bashing them into your brain no matter how many times you get them wrong. They'll stick. You could easily learn hiragana and katakana in a day each with this method, whereas a college class would spend a month or two on it.
2. Learn basic grammar. Use Tae Kim's guide for beginner stuff and Imabi when you're ready for intermediate topics. Don't worry if some of the things seem overly complicated or don't make any sense to you, because they won't until you start reading and listening to these things in action.
Now, here's where you have a choice: you can either go with my method of reading visual novels with a dictionary (more on that soon), or if you have absolutely no interest in visual novels (my condolences), grinding kanji and vocabulary. If you choose the latter...
3a. For kanji, this Anki deck is a good way to get started with the first thousand or so. Avoid RTK because it sucks and teaches you useless kanji. Don't bother learning all the kun-yomi and on-yomi pronunciations or whatever because they're a waste of time and don't actually matter; just focus on memorising the image and meaning of them for now. As you'll see when you learn vocabulary, most kanji have a billion different pronunciations with each one being used pretty randomly, so it's better to learn pronunciation on a word-by-word basis. For the vocabulary itself, most people use Anki, a flashcard program that will drill thousands of words into your head through daily routine. The Core6k deck is the ones most people use, though I would recommend only learning the first 2000 words and then creating your own deck afterwards.
Now, while this all sounds pretty straightforward, you have to keep in mind that you're only learning through rote memorisation and textbook method, and as a result you're going to have major troubles later on if you don't supplement your studying with actual reading and listening. Try reading manga or light novels, or watch anime without subtitles. The sooner you start doing so, the better. You don't need 100% comprehension to read something. I've seen people who only did Anki for 1-2 years and then couldn't even read a moege afterwards. That's sad. You don't want to become one of them.
It's also worth mentioning that you can speed up the process by completely skipping individual kanji and moving directly to vocabulary, though it will be pretty painful at first. Also, do yourself a favour and don't bother learning how to handwrite kanji. It's a complete waste of time- you won't even need to handwrite if you live in Japan since just about everything can be typed/printed via phones and computers. Prioritise your time by studying things that actually matter, like grammar and vocabulary. If you absolutely feel handwriting is necessary and that you'll explode and die if you don't learn how to, do it after you've already gotten everything else down.
Since the traditional method is incredibly tedious and boring, I recommend reading visual novels instead. It will mean entertainment and study blend into the same thing, and by extension your learning speed will also rapidly increase. One hour of flashcards every day is boring shit, but if you spent six hours on a Sunday reading visual novels, you'd be getting six hours of studying done in that day. Nice. So, anyway, here's how you do that:
3b. Download ITH. It's a text hooker that will instantly grab and copy text from any VN you're running. Next, download Translation Aggregator. It's the program that will be running your dictionary. Bam, you're ready to go. What you'll be doing each time you play a visual novel is attaching ITH to the game's process after you launch it, and then have Translation Aggregator sitting on the side and automatically plugging each line of text through the JParser box. If you don't know a word (and chances are you will understand almost none of them by this point), all you need to do is hover over it in JParser and the definitions will pop up in a fraction of a second. Easy.
What visual novels are friendly for beginners, you ask? It depends on your preferences. If you're willing to handle mediocre garbage, Hanahira is pretty much regarded by everyone as the easiest VN in existence. Most moege (Flyable Heart, Kiminago, Magical Charming) are also incredibly easy to read, but if you'd rather go for something serious and plot-heavy, Aiyoku no Eustia is the perfect choice for beginners. By the time you're done Eustia, you could handle Baldr Sky without much trouble, and from there you could handle something like Kusarihime or Sayonara wo Oshiette. If none of those interest you (or you're looking for something else), I made a list here with a difficulty ranking for all the things I've read so far. Anything I haven't read you can just test yourself and judge whether or not you can handle it.
And, again, don't worry if you're awful at the language and aren't understanding things very well. I was the same way when I started reading and felt like every line of text was a mysterious string of gibberish. You have to start somewhere. If you really, really feel like you're not understanding enough and possibly ruining the story for yourself, you can just come back to it later or even reread it when you're better at the language. Most moege are mindless and have little of importance going on, anyway, so you could always hone your fundamentals with those first if you don't feel comfortable reading something like Eustia right away. However, keep in mind that it is doable if you have the patience. I was reading Baldr Sky and SubaHibi two months after I started studying and managed those just fine.
If you have at least an hour of free time every day, you'd be doing yourself a huge favour by starting as soon as possible. Translations for Japanese media are generally terrible (usually they're done by some 15-year-old who speaks English as their third language), so you'd be allowing yourself to experience the actual story and not a poor interpretation of it. You can also play/read the multitude of untranslated manga, light novels, visual novels and games, as well as open yourself to the possibility of traveling to or working in Japan.
Other things to note:
- If you can't get regular ol' ITH working, try ITHVNR instead. There's a few games that work only with it.
- For learning slang and colloquial speech, I'd recommend watching 実況プレイ on YouTube or Nicovideo. They'll also introduce you to 'natural' Japanese speech and are often hilarious to watch.
- If you're learning through the VN method, you can still do some supplementary studying with Anki to speed up the vocab process a bit. However, if you do, make sure that reading always remains the priority. If Anki starts taking up too much time then delete it and read more instead.
- This is a useful resource if you come across kanji you can't hook (i.e. in a console video game). It has saved my ass on many occasions. You can also use KanjiTomo to search any words you mouse over (useful for images and manga), though its accuracy is obviously not great.
- Video games (JRPGs) have much easier vocabulary than visual novels, so I'd recommend giving them a go if you want to try reading without text hookers and dictionaries.
__________________________
2022 Update - 7 Years Later:
So what have I been up to over the years?
In the fall of 2016, I moved to Japan as an exchange student at a Japanese university. Following the end of my time as a student, I transitioned into working in Japan, in a fully Japanese setting that required me to speak fluently. Overall, about three years I spent living in Japan, up until the start of the COVID pandemic which unfortunately sent me back to Canada. Currently I live with my Japanese wife (whom I met in Tokyo back in 2017) and speak exclusively Japanese at home, as that is the only language she can comfortably speak. To this day I speak Japanese more frequently than I speak English, despite living once more on the opposite side of the planet.
There's a few pieces of wisdom I've discovered during this time, and felt it would be appropriate to share by making a small update to this article.
- If a person has no experience living in Japan, take their opinions on the language with a massive grain of salt. This includes Twitter, Discord, Reddit, and many other forms of social media where beginners attempt to teach other beginners their flawed understanding of the language. Living in Japan and speaking the language with native speakers (in a natural environment) is integral to understanding the culture, idioms, figures of speech and much more. Please be very careful about whose advice you listen to, as many self-purported experts actually have little understanding of what they are talking about. It may sound elitist, but experience living in Japan should be considered the baseline for having a voice on the subject.
- No matter how hard you grind, you will never attain a native speaker's level of fluency. It's best to just accept this. Even after a decade of study, working in a fully Japanese environment, and speaking the language exclusively, there are still times I feel frustrated when comparing my level of fluency with that of my wife's. However, you can get close enough that your Japanese is for the most part indiscernible from a native speaker, save for some flaws like vocabulary gaps or the inability to understand poorly-enunciated mumble-speak.
- Even if a work is translated into English, the original Japanese still offers a vastly superior experience. Most Japanese to English translations are so bad that I would just recommend reading anything of value in Japanese instead. This goes for visual novels, video games, literature, and even manga and anime. Case in point, One Piece. I could not imagine experiencing the series in English as 50% of the humour and mannerisms are only understandable through the original dialogue. Most translations are often rushed in order to meet short deadlines, and the original author's heart and intent are deleted in favour of whatever the 40-year-old American man feels like inserting instead. If you can avoid translations, please do.
- If you've survived just one year of study, you're already ahead of 99% of people. Most people who attempt to learn Japanese give up very quickly as their motivation eventually falters. My goal with this guide is to teach people a more entertaining and nuanced method of learning, in the hopes that they will stick through and prevail. If you're still studying Japanese a year after you first began, you've already succeeded and are a winner.
- Writing kanji (i.e. with a pen) is a useless skill. It makes me sad, because I know the people who practice writing kanji every day will most likely never get anywhere with the language. Writing individual kanji does not improve your understanding of the language in any way, as it is vocabulary that matters. I got by perfectly fine in a Japanese workplace just with writing hiragana/katakana and a few very common kanji.
- Speaking Japanese and understanding it are two entirely different skillsets. While I could understand it during my first few months in Japan, I was afraid to speak it, because it was as if that section of my brain was locked off. Only through regular (verbal/spoken) practice with native speakers can you truly find the key to this part of the brain.
- If you are practicing speech, be very careful about the 'r' sounds. While Japanese is generally a very easy language to pronounce, this is one area where foreigners generally trip up. らりるれろ resemble L sounds in English more than they do R sounds. Use the tip of your tongue, and try to produce a mix between L and R. As a side note, keep in mind that Japanese is a mostly monotone language, and that by raising your pitch up and down similar to how most Americans speak English, you will immediately out yourself as a big foreigner to any Japanese person listening.
- At some point, you must take the training wheels off. While dictionary and texthooking software make learning Japanese much more fun and motivating, eventually, you'll have to close the software and consume Japanese media in its natural state. At what point this will be is up to the individual to decide. The benchmark I would personally use is for when you feel like reading visual novels is no longer improving your Japanese in any meaningful way. Personally, this happened a few years into my studies. If you would like a good suggestion of where to start, the Tsukihime remake (PS4/Switch) is a fantastic experience, containing difficult Japanese while still not being completely unapproachable by foreigner readers.
日本語は最初のころ理解不可能でチンプンカンプンに見えるかもしれないが、毎日少しずつ勉強したら、必ず上達する。モチベが落ちたら、休憩しながら日本語と繋がる遊び方を探してください。雲がいつか晴れる。
Last updated: Jan 26, 2022
Posted by Veronin | Feb 2, 2015 2:32 AM | 20 comments
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