u/adeepkick

Let me get this outta the way first: I am aware of Tokyo Jihen but they don’t quite do it for me the way her solo music does!

I love Sheena Ringo’s music, particularly her first 3 albums. The songs all sound incredibly distinct but the albums are still cohesive, kinda weird but very catchy, and her vocal style packs so much emotion into it. I’m looking for similar artists who just kinda make jaw dropping and unexpected but still catchy music like that.

Some other artists I like are The Oral Cigarettes, the pillows, Band Maid, andymori, and Shishamo

I kinda like Yorushika but haven’t really clicked with it yet

I’ve struggled to get into King Gnu, Polkadot Stingray, Asian Kung Fu Generation, and Mass of the Fermenting Dregs

Any recs would be appreciated! Thanks!

Hello!

I started learning Japanese recently and made myself a Japanese eshop account to grab the Yokai Watch 1 Remake since it seems to be a relatively common rec for new learners, but after loading up my account with a gift card I still have ¥1480 left to spend. I’m trying to find something interesting to spend it on that I wouldn’t be able to get on the NA eshop.

Ideally, I’m looking for something that’s only really in Japanese. It doesn’t need to be for a new learner since I’ve already got Yokai Watch and Fantasy Life i with furigana for that but if it was that would also be great! Doesn’t need to be text or dialogue heavy either. Could even be something difficult to read that I can look forward to, though I’d prefer a non-VN.

I’m picturing something like a fun or interesting indie game possibly? Or maybe a cheap port of a classic game?

I know this might be a long shot since this is a largely English speaking community but if you got recommendations I’d love to hear ‘em

Thanks!

こんにちは！

I’ve been learning Japanese for about a month now and I kind of wanted to mark my progress and maybe compare with others in terms of what I have learned in such a short period of time. I both feel like I learned a lot and learned basically nothing at the same time.

I’m counting my start date as the day I created my renshuu account, April 7th. I technically started a few days prior with Duolingo but quickly realized that was a bad idea. Renshuu has been significantly more helpful to my studies and though it occasionally feels fast-paced, I have been able to adjust the number of new terms per day to fit what I am comfortable with.

I also picked up a copy of the Genki 1 textbook and workbook to supplement renshuu. I only received it about a week ago and haven’t had many chances to read, but I did get started with it in the last couple days. I’m also going to be watching along with ToKini Andy’s Genki I series as I work through it.

What I’ve accomplished:

-Learned the kana: I feel pretty comfortable with reading all the Hiragana and Katakana phonetically. Recalling them from memory to write them makes me stumble a bit more than reading them but I expect that to change in the next month or so.

-Began learning vocab: I have two renshuu word schedules. One for their Japanese Basics grammar schedule and another I added for Genki chapter 1 vocab. Between the two of them I have studied roughly 300 terms. My mastery rating between both is at about 33/100, so I would probably take that as me comfortably knowing about a third of those terms. (I know this isn’t quite how it works but it’s an easy way to quantify it for me).

-Started grammar in renshuu: Simple です sentences, possessive の, adjectives and adjective linking, like/dislike/want, simple questions, basic verbs. Not quite half way through the grammar basics just yet but I should be relatively soon.

-Started studying Genki I: Very early in here but I was able to learn the numbers and work on the first section of chapter 1. I’m noticing a lot of crossover here with the renshuu basics but I think the extra topic coverage and physical writing will be helpful for me.

Short term goals:

-Finish renshuu’s grammar basics and get to their N5 schedules: Kinda speaks for itself.

-Begin learning the kanji: This will come with the above since renshuu has an N5 kanji schedule.

-Start using Satori Reader: Seems like a good first step to actually practice listening but my first try with it was very unsuccessful even with the easiest stories. I probably need to finish the basic grammar before getting anywhere with this.

-Find more immersion materials: At this stage it is very hard to understand speech for me when I’m not even able to read most things, but I know just trying this will be helpful. Any recs here would be appreciated!

Mid-term goals:

-Read a manga with furigana: Heard there was a copy of FLCL with furigana out there and I’ve never seen it so I’d love to read that. Might also be smart to start with Yotsuba since I see that commonly recommended for new learners too.

-Play a game with full kana or furigana: Something simpler like a Pokemon game or Yokai Watch or Ni no Kuni to start probably. Maybe Dragon Quest? Also heard Fantasy Life i has furigana so I have some good options I think. (I tried Stardew Valley multiplayer in Japanese the other day and with no kanji experience that was quite a bit over my head lol though I did learn どうぐ)

-Start to understand speech: I am really struggling with this one but I think having the basics down will eventually make me not feel quite so hopeless.

Long term goals:

-Read a book in Japanese: Really excited at the idea of this. I am a huge reader in English and reading an entire book in Japanese is a dream I’d love to see fulfilled someday.

-Play a Japanese-only game: Something that was never translated that I would have never been able to experience properly without the knowledge of a second language.

-Be able to understand Japanese music: This one is kind of the reason I finally pulled the trigger and started learning. If you couldn’t tell, being able to experience and understand art in a different language is a chief motivator for me.

There are certainly other things I want to potentially be able to do, like browse and engage with the Japanese-speaking internet and potentially visit Japan and be able to communicate with locals, but if I’m being honest with myself my chief driver definitely is media comprehension.

I’ve been enjoying my studies and I know there will be ups and downs but I’m happy with my progress so far! I don’t know how my progress compares to others but as a total beginner, this is where I’m at.

I’m open to any suggestions if something helped you at the stage I’m at! Also if you leave me a comment in very simple sentences I can try my best to respond appropriately lol

ありがとうございます！