IceCream & Bokusenou

アプリ：小学生手書き漢字ドリル1006

2013-07-08T03:07:00.002+01:00

Platforms: Android & iOS

Ever feel like in today's digital world it's easier to forget how to write kanji?
Or maybe you are learning them for the first time and want to easily practice on the go?
Well, there's a free app for Android and iOS which will yet you do just that.

I am reviewing the Android version, but the iOS version should be similar

The app is designed around a ninja theme and is fairly well done.
Each of the kanji are separated by grade, and then further into groups of five,
making it just right for those times when you are waiting or the bus, or last in a line for something.

The short sections combined with the well done ninja themed sounds made we want to keep
going, giving off a "just one more level" type feeling, similar to games.

Each of the problems shows a phrase with a blank part which you fill in by writing the missing kanji.
This means I wouldn't recommend it for those who haven't learned how to write any kanji or basic vocabulary yet.

The kanji recognition was generally good, although there were times where it accepted a kanji
before I finished writing it, or when I made a mistake, as well as times when it wouldn't accept
what I had written even when I traced the example, but overall it was fairly good.

Overall this is so fantastic I almost couldn't believe it was free, and I recommend everyone
who has an Android or iOS device & wants some kanji practice check it out!

ドラマ：　私が恋愛できない理由

2011-12-21T20:35:00.000+00:00

Difficulty Level: 2
Subs: here
Episodes: 10

In your late 20's? Check. Unmarried? Check. Great, this drama's aimed at meeee!!! ^_^

So, this drama's about 3 women and their problems with love. One is too boyish. Another is too cynical. The other is too 重い. They're all trying to find their way in the world in their career and relationships.

Despite being slightly predictable at times, it's a good watch, and i could relate to their characters. It did hold me until the end, so... :)

The language is quite natural when the 3 women are talking together, with them laughing and talking over each other, so despite their conversation subjects not being particularly complex, it's a 2 difficulty level, i think.

Right, i only have 2 things to say. 1. what was 藤井 thinking at the end?!. and, 2. that 店長 reeeeeeeallly needs to shave off that moustache ;)

laterlater =)

アニメ：　ヒカルの碁

2011-12-04T15:31:00.002+00:00

Difficulty: 2
Subs: unknown
Episodes: 75 + Special

If you've never played go, you'll want to by the end of this series!! :)

This is the first really long anime i've watched... 75 episodes is a lot!!! But it's pretty addicting, so i got through it in less than a week.
Please see Starrybrooke's review: http://japansense.blogspot.com/2011/11/hikaru-no-go.html for a better review than mine ;)

It's about a boy called Hikaru, who manages to attach a ghost to himself that was stuck in the go board in his grandfather's attic. The ghost is that of Fujiwara no Sai, an awesome Go player.
Hikaru has never played Go before, but gets really into it. The story focuses on how his learning progresses.

Because there's 75 episodes, you see Hikaru and his rival Touya Akira grow up and mature as they progress. By the end of the series, you really feel like you've lived through 3 years with them.

One thing i really liked about this series is that Hikaru is not some born Go genius (though he does have some natural talent), he just has an awesome teacher and works exceptionally hard to progress. It's also really amusing to see Go matches played like they're sword fights or something... a hand streaking through the air to make a move that challenges someone.

You don't need an understanding of Go to enjoy this series... you can just enjoy the atmosphere of the matches and learn a few things as it goes along. And you can always tell who's winning and by how much by who has the sweat droplets on their face, and how many of them there are. ;)

If you watch the TV broadcast version, there's a special segment at the end of each episode that teaches you something about the game, which is also pretty nice.

The language level is around average for anime i think... there's Go terminology of course, but you won't have much problem picking it up as you go along. Most of the language is fairly standard, and remains at the same kind of level the whole way through.

Anyway, it interested me enough to watch til the end, and i found out my family has an old Go board that hasn't been used in 20 years or so, so i'm gonna try playing!!! :D

ドラマ：　専業主婦探偵、私はシャドー

2011-11-28T17:13:00.003+00:00

Difficulty Level: 2
Subs: here or search on the Chinese sites for streaming versions
Episodes: 9

My surprise favourite of the season :)

Yeah, this is just - hilarious!!! Every episode has made me laugh out loud at some point.

It's about a shockingly clingy housewife... she lives for her ふみ君; every waking moment is spent adoring him. But he, obviously, feels a bit suffocated by it all, and doesn't pay much attention to her. Anyway, she realises she has to change, and ends up becoming a detective in her spare time and taking on different cases, becoming more independant, and trying to save her ふみ君 from affairs and stuff.

It's sweet, and funny, and i like the theme tune ;)

The language is very easy, as there are no specialised words, and 芹那's character is quite naive and simple. The only slightly more difficult parts are when ふみ君 is speaking to 芹那's dad while playing table tennis, but in general, this series should be good for beginners to learn from, or intermediates to watch comfortably.

EDIT: i revised the ranking to level 2 after watching to the end of the series, because the subplot becomes much larger, and there ends up being more corporate language and stuff. However, the main plot remains at level 1 the whole way through, i think... (though of course they're intertwined)

アニメ：　ピアノの森

2011-11-17T20:16:00.000+00:00

Difficulty Rating: 1
Subs: unknown
Episodes: Movie
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTczOTk0MjQ=.html

If you like classical music in general, or enjoyed Nodame Cantabile, give this a try!

The story of this film is in some ways really quite similar to Nodame Cantabile... the son of a famous pianist meets a boy who is a genious pianist but has had no formal training - he grew up playing a piano that he found abandoned, in the middle of the forest. He plays for fun, and has his own style.

Through the movie, you find out the story of this piano, and why Kai is the only person who can play it... anyone else who tries to play it can't make it produce a sound, so everyone thinks it's broken.

I really enjoyed this film!! It's not a comedy like Nodame Cantabile, and features younger characters. I think i even like it more than Nodame, it's a real shame it's only a movie and not a full series, because i wanted to keep watching. :( Apparently there is a manga though, and it's been running since 1999, so if you can get hold of it, it's quite a lot.

The language of the film is mainly very easy... most of it is just kids speaking to each other. And although the style of the anime itself didn't seem particularly special, there are some nice scenes in the forest.

Hope you enjoy it!! ^_^

トレンドたまご

2011-11-15T20:15:00.000+00:00

Difficulty Level: 2
http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/mv/wbs/trend_tamago/

If you've been to those "sells everything you never imagined" shops in Japan and loved it, you'll love this!!!

Yeahhh!!! Inventions!!!

They're short programs about inventions. Some are truly interesting and innovative, i found the program from this: http://youtu.be/2RK_rl6oXfo
Which is just, amazing!!! Others are more everyday life inventions.
If you REALLY love トレたま, you can find older ones by googling. :)

The language isn't so difficult, and since they're describing what you're seeing, you should be able to pick a few words up from it too. :)

A Guide to Passing JLPT N2 (2kyuu)

2011-10-01T17:34:00.001+01:00

Passing the JLPT is very helpful if you are thinking of using Japanese in your career.

N2 is the second hardest level, in which only around 30% of people pass. The way I passed the test is not the only way, but it worked for me, and I do believe anyone can pass it if they have the motivation. When I passed I had some things that were not in my favor:

It was my first JLPT, so I didn't know much of what to expect.
I was a fulltime college student, leaving less time for Japanese,
I didn't live in Japan, meaning I needed to use a lot of English in my daily life.

In spite of these things, I passed, and I believe you can too.

The exam is divided into three parts: Vocabulary/Grammar, Reading, and Listening. I will address each part separately, but first, a few things it's good to have done before studying.

Before studying for the exam, finish these:
Remembering the Kanji I
Core 2000/6000 Anki deck or equivalent
Basic grammar, such as in Tae Kim's Guide.

To study for the exam, you will need:
Kanzen Master Grammar 2kyuu (or the new N2 one)
Anki
An N2 Anki vocabulary deck (I used the "Playsay" one)
Lots of native media and books
A book of mock tests for the new test (I used this one)
Past tests

Optional:
Other JLPT prep books
A smart phone with an EPWING reader and text reader app/A denshi jisho

Vocabulary/Grammar:
Complete the N2 vocabulary Anki deck (adding sentences/deleting words you already know as necessary). If you are using a vocabulary prep book as well, after you complete it, cross check the words that you learn with the Anki deck, and learn any new words. Prioritize vocabulary over everything, even grammar, and SRS words that you pick up from Japanese media/books. Vocabulary is likely the single most important thing to know for the test, and if you pick it up from native media, most of the things on the test will seem really easy, almost dumbed down easy.

For grammar, go through Kanzen Master, SRSing all the sentences and making vocab cards for any new words. Make sentences of your own using the grammar points if that helps. I find it helpful to add sound (via the GoogleTTS plugin, or another way), and repeat sentences after the sound for it plays. Also, I should warn you that Kanzen Master's explanations often leave something to be desired, so I ended up adding explanations from kokugo dictionaries, the "Green Goddess" Kenkyuusha dictionary, Niwasaburoo's guide, and 日本語表現文型辞典 to the back of my cards.

Reading:
There are two main schools of thought when it comes to reading:

The "Read without using a dictionary" method, AKA Tadoku.
The "Look up every word you don't know" method.

While I think both methods of reading are can be useful, and my limited use of them changes depends on the type of book I read, I recommend against using the first method a lot when studying for the JLPT, as books are a huge source of potential vocabulary.

What I did was a technique I learned from someone I know who is fluent in English & Japanese.
It involves reading each page three times.

Read normally and don't look up any words.
Read/scan the page, and look up new words
Read the page as quickly as possible

Now, different things work for different people, but this did really help my reading speed, and build my vocabulary, and it doesn't take as long as it sounds, but I don't think it matters how you read too much, as long as you read something in Japanese everyday, and keep SRSing words. I would make sure at least some of what you read is actually on paper, printed vertically, as people read differently on screens and paper (I read faster on paper), and a lot of the reading passages have vertical text. As for what and how to read, I'd recommend essays and literature. I just read literature, because I really like it, and passed, but most of the reading passages on the test are essays.

Now, I have heard of some people who passed the test by reading manga. While it is great to read manga, and I am a huge fan of it myself (and read some between practicing for the test), it is very important to get used to reading books. A lot of people run out of time on the reading section, I finished it with 20 minutes to go because I was used to reading, scanning, and speed reading in Japanese. If I read something that is hard to put down, I read faster, so find something that really interests you, and if you pick up a book, and it turns out to be boring, find another. Amazon.co.jp's book recommendations are pretty good for finding similar books to those you already like.

One thing that makes reading a lot a little easier is to have text books on your smartphone, so you can carry them anywhere. I bought a Blackberry (without a phone plan) to solely use as a text reader/EPWING viewer, but most smartphones with apps likely have text reader and EPWING reader apps. These are the popular ones I know of:

Text Readers:
iOS: iBunko, Skybook
Android: Vertical Text Viewer
Blackberry: Mobipocket
Other smart phones: Mobipocket

EPWING viewers:

iOS: EBPocket Free & Pro
Android: Droidwing
Blackberry: EBReader
Other smartphones: EBPocket

Note that I have not tested any of these except the Blackberry ones, but the rest are pretty popular, and they are frequently recommended on the Koohii forums.

If you have a smartphone with a some of the apps mentioned above, try to spend most free moments when you have nothing to do (i.e waiting in line, taking a train, etc) reading a book. I only bought a smartphone after taking the JLPT, but it would have made the act of reading frequently much easier then.

Listening:
Listening is the part of the test that people can't really "study" as much for, as each audio track is only played once, followed by a brief silence for people to write down their answers before the next track begins.
The result is that, unlike all of the other sections, there is not much time to think. You either know it or you don't. One thing that can help though is to listen to as much natural Japanese as you can. Most of the audio tracks either sound like conversations, or something you would hear on the news. I made a habit of playing podcasts staring more than one person, and TV news streams. If you can follow along with both these kinds of media, then passing the listening section is a matter of how much vocabulary you know, as the tracks themselves are slower than most media. Try to vary the types of media you listen to as well. I am a big fan of anime, and watched a lot of it in between studying for the test, but I didn't consider it "studying for the test" because anime is usually slower (either that, or much, much faster) than unscripted Japanese, and usually not formal enough to be like something on the news, so I didn't consider any scripted media besides the news to be "studying for the test", though others may think differently. That doesn't mean you can't watch it for Japanese immersion (or just plain fun) though.

One thing to pay attention to during the listening test is the sound of people laughing. Some of the possible answers usually contrast so much with the question, that they are pretty funny, and stressed test takers will laugh at anything even remotely funny, so hearing the sound of laughter can help limit off choices if you are getting stuck.

General advice:
Do mock tests and past tests so you know what the question formats are like. Native media is great and all, but you need to know the test as well. It's fine to start off not having the tests timed, to see how you would do under no pressure, but be sure to do some in similar conditions to the test, and that includes time limits.
In the end, all the test is doing is saying is "this test is a little easier than most works intended for native Japanese people, do you understand it?" To pass it, you will need to understand around 80%-90% of most (non-technical) media, and that's the real reward.

Japanese Subtitles on Tudou

2011-09-30T23:42:00.001+01:00

Hiya, sorry i haven't written in so long!!! I'll try to catch up on some of the stuff i've been watching soonish.

But i thought i'd write a note in case some of you didn't notice... lots of the dramas from this last season have been uploaded onto Tudou with Japanese subtitles!!! (as well as chinese). You can usually find them by going to Tudou and typing the name of the program in romaji... it really is helpful for picking up any words you didn't know, or missed, so it's great!!! :)

In case i don't get to catch up before i move on to watching other stuff & forget about it, the dramas from this season i enjoyed were 絶対零度 season 2, Don Quioxte, and 男でも女でもない性. That's pretty much in order from hardest to easiest, with 男でも女でもない性 being very easy. Anyway, check out summaries if you're interested... :)

本：　誰よりも君が好き

2011-08-02T03:10:00.003+01:00

Difficulty Level: 1
Full Title: 誰よりも君が好き　日本語力を磨く二義文クイズ
Author: 山内博之　
Publisher: アルク (2008)
Pages: 178
Preview: google books

Deepen your Japanese grammar understanding through ambiguous sentences!!

Well, the last of my birthday books finally came!! I got a couple JLPT grammar books, plus this. So far, i haven't touched the JLPT books, but this one is really quite fun :)

Each page contains an ambiguous sentence in Japanese. You think about it, and see if you can work it out, then the explanation is on the next page. Simple, fun, and a great way to test and strengthen your Japanese grammar knowledge!!

The explanations are short, clear and easy to understand, and the book was written with learners in mind, so the vocabulary used is full of common words. That's why i've marked it as level 1. The whole book is in Japanese, with no english translation though, so you do need to be able to read a bit.

Overall, i think people just moving into intermediate stage, or generally intermediate level would get the most from this book, but i'm still learning things from it. One thing i really like is that at the end of the explanations, it explains how a slightly different sentence can only be read in one way and not the other. It also tells you which way of understanding the sentence is more common (sometimes i've thought of the other meaning first, so this is actually quite useful!) And, of course, working out the ambiguty is fun... it really makes you think about the grammar of the sentence.

The level of difficulty of the ambiguity varies too, with some being really easy to spot and others taking longer. So again, even though it's an easy read, and i've ranked it 1, that doesn't mean the ambiguities will all be too easy for you if you're more advanced. The only real criticism i have is that the "difficulty level" given in the book seems fairly arbitrary. Well, i can't work out whether one cat face is supposed to be the hardest or easiest hahah. Maybe it's more dependant on where your grammatical strengths and weaknesses lie...

Anyway, definately a good read for anyone who wants a break from grammar textbooks, but still learn some grammar.

p.s. can you spot the ambiguities in the title of this book? There are 3 different meanings of that sentence. If you can't already spot them all, this book is probably for you. :)

テレビ：　Qさま！！　漢字王決定戦

2011-07-22T05:11:00.006+01:00

Difficulty Level: 3
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTI3OTg3NTg0.html

Super-fun for us kanji geeks!!! ;)

Qさま！！ is a quiz show about kanji... it's really fun to watch and shout out the answers when you get them!!

There's loads of different types of questions, such as readings, meanings, name the radical common to a few kanji, name the missing kanji common to some compounds, correct the kanji, you name it!

Well, i suck at it! But it's soooo much fun when you get one!!! i'm about half way through the 2009 3 hour special now, and i've managed to answer a few questions right (i got all the meaning ones yesssss!!! ... by guessing ;) plus 脹脛 and one of the compound ones. :D The radical ones were mostly all real "doh" moments for me though... this show actually makes me want to go & do RTK!!

Although i've marked this show as "3" (because most of the vocabulary words, at least in the 3 hour special are difficult), i think that most people learning Japanese will be able to get something from this show, and also learn a ton. In fact, if you're someone who's just completed RTK, but knows no japanese whatsoever, i think you'd still be able to get the more kanji writing type questions. So, by all means give it a go!!! btw, the range of questions in the normal shows are much wider, so there are questions even beginners will get. But there's also questions other than about Kanji, like famous people, which i never ever get...

サイト：東外大言語モジュール TUFS Language Modules

2011-07-07T20:27:00.001+01:00

Difficulty Level: 2
I think I found the Holy Grail for laddering languages.

TUFS Language Modules is an online language lessons site is Japanese, and although some languages have more content than others, I found the site was very comprehensive, with beginner level dialogue videos that include subtitles for both Japanese translation and foreign language transcription which can be switched on and off at will. Most of the dialogues also have English translations, which is nice.

The language is pretty straight forward, although it might help to brush up on grammar terms in Japanese if you don't have much experience in this area. Now, why would you want to learn another language using Japanese as a base language in the first place? I admit I was skeptical when I read the article on laddering in All Japanese All The Time, in which learning a third language through your second (or fourth through your third and so on), dubbed "Laddering" was written about (I'll refer to it as "laddering" as well, since it's as good a term for it as any), but lately it seems like a good way to hit two birds with one stone, so I urge everyone with intermediate+ Japanese skills who want to learn another language to check this site out. They even have rarer languages, like Urdu!

テレビ：　あいのり(２)

2011-06-25T12:24:00.001+01:00

Difficulty Level: 2
Subs: the majority of the speech is subbed on the program
Episodes: 10

The basic idea is that 7 single people (4 guys & 3 girls) go on a bus ride around a country, in this case Bangladesh. If they fall in love with any of the members on the bus they confess to them, and return to Japan - with them if they accepted, and without them if they decline.

i've found it hard to find variety shows that i can watch a lot of episodes of without getting bored or annoyed generally. But i really enjoyed this one!!! i love seeing & getting to know other people's personalities & good points, and this show really lets you do that. Also, because the show is set in poorer countries, there are also parts that show people in Japan what life is like there, and things that are being done to help. Ainori has built schools for children in many different countries, so you could also support them by watching through specific sites if you're in Japan, or buying the DVD box set if you like it.

The language level is not hard at all, there are very few difficult words. It's totally normal speech which is fantastic for us learners!! Also, it's a really good way of getting used to different accents, as the participants come from all over Japan, not just Tokyo. But that also makes it a little more difficult. The sound quality is also not always very good, which is also good practise for real life. It'd be a great program to stick in your ipod i think.

Definitely recommended!

本：中上級を教える人のための日本語文法ハンドブック

2011-06-16T22:35:00.001+01:00

Difficulty Level: 3
Title: 中上級を教える人のための日本語文法ハンドブック
Author: 庵功雄 Isao Iori
Publication Year:2001
Publisher: 3A Network
Pages: 599
Preview: Google Books

This is a grammar handbook for Japanese teachers. It has pretty much become my Japanese grammar bible.

While learning Japanese grammar in English can be good, and I highly recommend works like the "Dictionary of Japanese Grammar" series, reading about Japanese grammar in Japanese can be really interesting. You can already do this online with Niwasaburoo's guide, I find I like this book better. It is the closest thing I have found to the Dictionary of Japanese Grammar series in Japanese. What is so good about it is this: the grammar is explained in a clear matter, and includes things like common mistakes learners make, which proved more helpful than I thought it would.

While the writing is straightforward, I would not say it is easy. Be prepared to look up Japanese grammar terms if you don't have much experience with them. Like the Dictionary of Japanese Grammar series, this book is not afraid to be a bit technical.

本：漢字で意味が変わるビミョ~な日本語

2011-06-16T22:08:00.002+01:00

Difficulty Level: 2
Title: 漢で意味が変わるビミョ~な日本語
Author: 和田みちこ Michiko Wada
Publication Year: 2005
Publisher: 3A Network
Pages: 232

Preview: Google Books

Have you ever had a time when you were not sure which kanji to use in a word with many possible kanji spellings? Can you tell when to use 会う,　合う, and 遭う? What about 意志 and 意思 ? They can confuse even Japanese people. Which is why this book is all about learning when and when not to use them.

Each page contains commonly confused words with the same reading but different kanji, and explanation on when to use them, mnemonics, and a funny comic strip or dialogue to help you remember.

The comics are really funny and I know I will never confuse certain words again after reading them!

The book is pretty straightforward, but it is meant for Japanese people, so I think that intermediates and up (or upper beginners with a strong kanji background like Remembering the Kanji) will benefit the most from it.

アニメ：　屍鬼　Shiki

2011-06-14T23:37:00.003+01:00

Difficulty Ranking: 2
Subs: Episodes 1-22 here
Number of episodes: 24 (1 series + 2 specials)
Vampires are such a cliche subject that there's nothing interesting that could possibly come out of a vampire series right? Or is there?

That is what I thought before I began watching Shiki. The problem with vampires that that they have become more about romance than horror (e.g the Twilight books, or in anime, the Vampire Knight series) in modern day pop culture. Shiki, thankfully, has "old school" vampires.

Story: The story takes its time to build at first, like any good scary story. The setting is a remote Japanese village, and by end you feel like you are a part of it. While the initial slow pacing may annoy some people, good things come to those who wait, and you won't be disappointed. The anime is based on a novel from the late 90s by Fuyumi Ono, who is best known for her 十二国記 (Twelve Kingdoms) series of books, and you can really tell a lot of work went into creating the setting. The most of the first episode is just introducing the setting, but it gets better from episode 2 onward. A lot of really great series have less than great first episodes...I guess it takes an episode to introduce things and such. Anyway, most of it is pretty easy to understand, but two of the characters are a doctor and a Buddhist priest, and most of their talks can get pretty heavy, not to mention the medical terminology, so the rating is between 1 and 3 because of varying difficulty levels within the episodes.

Characters: Once thing I love about this series is that the motivations of both the vampires and the humans are well developed. There are about 1000 people in the village, and yet each one has their small role to play.Watching how all the villagers deal with the knowledge that vampires have been preying on the village has really interesting. After a while, the screen time is half split between both sides, and it deepens the story when you see events which were shown from the humans' side from the vampires' eyes and vice versa. Even the side characters have a story, and their own reasons for doing things.

Animation: Another of the strengths of Shiki is its animation. While the character designs could take some getting used to, everything flows really well, although it would have been nice if they hadn't made the contrast between the vampires and the humans so jarring, it might have made some plot points less easy to figure out.

Sound: All the voice acting was very good, and made it easy to empathize with the characters. The opening and ending themes were not great, but they fit in with the atmosphere. The soundtrack was one of the most haunting soundtracks I have heard, and really sets the tone of the series well.

Overall, this series is a much watch, unless you really can't stand horror. I should mention that the second DVD special isn't out yet, but the first special was excellent.

***********************************************************************************
IceCream's thoughts:

Well, i just finished watching this series, it was pretty good! It's aaaages since i watched anything with Vampires!

If i were to rank this series, it would definately be a 3 though. While there are many easy lines, like Bokusenou said, i think that there's enough of those difficult talks, medical terminology, shinto terminology, and vampire terminology to make it more difficult than an avergage anime (though i haven't seen as many as Bokusenou, so this might be why i think that).

Anyway, one of the things about this anime is that it's not exactly a straight horror, but quite a philosophical story about morality, and what it means to be "human". It plays on your natural in-group / out-group emotional response of supporting the humans against the vampires to create a scene that ends in moral dubiousness and uncertainty. The young priest reminded me of a Dostoyevskian character in many ways, though i couldn't like him, or believe he was right either. And like Bokusenou said, it's definately interesting to watch the different reactions of the people in the village, and the different character types associated.

The only annoying thing for me was how long some of the characters took to do anything about it at all, though this was a property of their characters, and contributes to your understanding of who they are, so it's like that for a reason...

thanks for the recommendation Bokusenou :)

お笑い：　笑神降臨　（しょうしんこうりん）

2011-06-10T00:41:00.003+01:00

Difficulty Ranking: (2)
Subs: you can find many 日本語字幕 episodes streamed just by typing the title in google.
Episodes: Well, it seems like NHK has been running this for a few years, so probably lots if they're on DVD.

Each episode of this show lasts for half an hour, and features one comedy duo / trio (etc) doing a few different sketches. So, it's a nice way to find new comedy that you like, or watch a longer version of someone you already like. (i dunno about anyone else but i find 5 minute clips on youtube quite annoying to watch).

My favourite's so far have been アンジャッシュ and ドランクドラゴン, but nearly all the ones i've watched have had at least one sketch that i laughed at at some point, so it's good. There've also only been a few that i didn't like enough to watch the whole 30 minutes of either :)

The language difficulty obviously varies between episodes, but having the subs is really useful. Lots of the comedians seem to use a ton of 敬語 and stuff like that, so it's a fun way to learn some. Since i haven't reviewed any comedy yet, i've just marked it as "2" for now, though that may change if i watch more. Honestly though, there doesn't seem to be much variation in the level between different comedy acts, especially those that do sketches rather than 漫才 (which i'm not really into anyway)...

アニメ：　げんしけん

2011-06-09T18:32:00.005+01:00

Difficulty Ranking: 2*
Subs / Transcript: unknown
Number of episodes: 27 (2 series + 3 OVA)

Everything you ever wanted to know (and probably more) about オタク culture.

This series is hilarious!!! It's about a university society called 「現代視覚文化研究会」 (society for the study of modern society and culture [i.e. anime, manga, and related games]), or げんしけん for short. It follows a group of students through their time at the club, and eventually out into finding work when they graduate university.

Most of the episodes introduce some aspect of オタク culture, or problems that arise in the character's lives from it. The main explanatory device is through the character Saki... she is not an オタク and begins hating them, and only hanging out with them because of her boyfriend. So they end up explaining a lot of stuff to her like anime porn, or cosplay, or making models.

Anyway, i laughed a lot while watching this series, it's definitely fun to watch!

*Right, about the language: i've marked it as difficulty level 2, because that's about how difficult it was, generally speaking. You can learn a lot of fun Japanese watching this series for sure (not just オタク stuff, but generally funny stuff as well). HOWEVER! I would rarely say this, but i wouldn't advise watching this series without subtitles!!! There is so much anime / manga talk with shortened titles and references to who knows what series that even the character Saki sometimes says "please, speak Japanese!!". So, unless you're an オタク yourself, you'll probably spend a good deal of time wondering why you can't understand what they're on about if you don't watch it with english subs which contain those extremely helpful notes english fansubbers do... ;)

サイト：魔法の図書館　Magic Library

2011-06-07T05:32:00.004+01:00

魔法の図書館 is one of the largest online collections of Japanese cellphone novels.
Why would anyone bother with reading a cellphone novel, you ask? Because they are generally easier than novels. Let's pick a random romance novel (one of the easiest genres) . This one is called 桃色吐息 (pink colored sigh).

『あれ？かのんも剣道部？』

１年５組の前で、私は同じ小学校出身の咲に声をかけられた。

『あ、咲も？ママもしてたし、かっこいいから、やってみよーかなと♪』

『えーなんかかのんににあってなーい』

げらげら笑い転れる。

たしかに似合ってない。うん。それは認める。

でも　だ。

『咲・・・失礼じゃない？ってねえ！！聞いてる！？うぅー・・・もう咲なんか知らないっ！！』

☆

『あー笑った笑ったー　幸せいっぱ　っておお！！あの子！すっげーかわいい！！超タイプ！』

『咲・・・百合みたい。気持ち悪い。』

だってかわいいじゃーん

そういってそっぽを向く咲の横顔は、かのんと違ってかなり大人びている。

でも絶対精神年齢は幼稚園児レベルだ。

『んーじゃあ女の子として言おう。』

いつもは男なの・・・・！？

『あのまゆげ・・・』

まゆげ？

『・・・ぶっ　くははははは！！まじありえない！いひひひうふえへへへへへへ！』

咲の視線の先を見ると

確かにまゆげだった

Pretty straightforward stuff for intermediates, right? But what if you don't like romance? Never fear, mystery, fantasy, and even horror books abound, so you are sure to find something you like, or check what's popular.
The only issue with cellphone novels is that usually they don't list total page numbers (just "next" and "back" with the current page number) so you don't know how far you are within one.
Nevertheless, cellphone novels can make it easier to get used to reading literature, and who knows, you might find something cool. If you come upon any interesting stories, feel free to post them in the comments!

アニメ：今、そこにいる僕 Now and Then, Here and There

2011-06-07T05:02:00.000+01:00

Difficulty Level: 2
Subs/Transcript: Unknown
Number of Episodes: 13

I started watching anime in 2000, and in starting then I missed a lot of older series, and I suppose any series that started before then while always be "older anime" in my mind. 今、そこにいる僕 started in 1999, and it shows, but it's still one of the darker series I've seen.

Story: When I first saw this series, I dropped it after the first episode. No, really, it looked like a stupid Kendo series with a main character who seemed like a generic shounen anime lead, who has a generic love interest and a generic rival. If I had only seen the second episode I'd have known that the love interest and rival never show up again, and things are done in this series of the sort which should never be done to children. It's a shounen series character thrown into a seinen series world. In the beginning especially, the storytelling is very tight and it keeps one on the edge of their seat. In the middle it becomes quieter but spends most of the time building up for the end. In a nutshell, it's what would happen if a kid was dropped into a military dictatorship with a mad king, and no sense of it's inhabitants' well being. Despite the simple character designs, and child protagonist, this show is not for kids, at least ones who don't want to have nightmares for weeks on end. The child characters are only there to show a contrast between the innocence of the characters, and the cruel world that takes pleasure in crushing their sense of wonder and using them for it's own agenda..

Characters: At first I hated Shu, the main character, and I hated Lala Ru, the quiet girl he wants to protect at all costs after only speaking with her for a few minutes, but generally when I downright hate all the characters in a series, that's a good sign. Shu became less annoying eventually, and Lala Ru is a quiet character so she wasn't as annoying. One of the standout characters from this series was the mad king. The person who played him did an outstanding job of playing a complete nutcase in power, to the point where you wonder just what he will do next. The problem with Shu was that he was too blindly optimistic at the beginning, but the other characters made up for it.

Animation: While the animation is sort of dated, especially for someone used to anime that has been out in the last 10 years or so, the bland animation style helps put the emphases on the story.It's not eye candy per se, but it gets the job done and it could be worse.

Sound: All the voice actors for this are really top notch. I was expecting the voice acting to sound somewhat dated, but the cast is one of the all around greatest I have heard. The opening theme is sort of generic adventure music, and the ending them is somewhat draggy. I was surprised to learn that this series was one of Taku Iwasaki's early works, of who I am a great fan of his work on the Witch Hunter Robin soundtrack among others. That said, there are a few stand out tracks on the OST, but nothing particularly memorable.

Overall, I see why this series is considered a classic, and if you like dark stories, this one is not to be missed!

アニメ：魍魎の匣 Mouryou no Hako

2011-06-06T03:44:00.002+01:00

Difficulty Level: 3
Subs: Episodes 5-10 here
Number of Episodes: 13

Wow, this has to be one of the most intelligent series I've ever seen. One of my favorite movies is a little known film called Mindwalk, in which a poet, a politician, and a scientist spend the whole movie discussing questions of life, space, time and the universe. Watching this series reminded me of it.

Story: This is a mystery series that isn't afraid to spend whole episodes with the characters just talking with one another, and while it might turn action fans off with this, the writing is solid, and the times the characters spend discussing things are one of my favorite parts of the series. you never know what little thing is going to be important later on, but even the unimportant points serve to flesh out the characters and the setting. The series was adapted from the second book in a novel series by Natsuhiko Kyogoku, and after finishing it I immediately ordered the first book, Ubume no Natsu. This series is also one of the hardest anime, in terms of language level, that I have seen. All sorts of obscure youkai references abound, and all the discussions can be hard to keep up with if you miss something, but I still recommend this series if you want something to make you think. The first few episodes focus on one of the victims of the box-murder and her friend, which are kind of annoying, but I am glad I stuck past those episodes because it was worth the wait.

Characters: I love how fleshed out the characters in this series are. It makes me wish all anime series had episodes where the characters sit down to a round table discussion and just talk about what's happening in the series, although I admit it wouldn't work for every series, but the long discussions in this one really helped you get to know the characters. I don't think I have ever seen an anime series with so much time devoted to talking before, and that's a compliment. I like mystery series, but I've never felt like I was solving a case along with the characters until watching this.

Animation: The character designs are by CLAMP, which while I am a huge CLAMP fan, I'll admit that a lot of male characters they design tend to have a "pretty boy" look to them, and I wasn't sure if that would work in a mystery series, but it seems like they toned it down for this series. The animation is very good at showing subtle gestures and other things that make the characters seem more realistic.The visuals are just great to look at all around though.

Sound: The the opening and ending songs aren't really memorable, but the soundtrack was very good at setting a mood. The voice actors were also very good at their roles.

Overall, I highly recommend this series to anyone who likes intelligent anime and isn't put off by lots of talking.

アニメ：　東京マグニチュード８．０ Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

2011-06-05T23:52:00.001+01:00

Difficulty Level: 1
Subs: Episode 1 & 2 here

This is a sort of drama-anime, based on the events of a massive earthquake in Tokyo, and two children's journey home afterwards. It's based on the projected events following the now overdue 東海地震, and every episode states that a great amount of research went into making the program, although real events may be different.

In the light of the recent massive earthquake, this is an even more difficult and upsetting series to watch than it would be anyway, but it really is very well made and only rarely crosses into overdramatics imo. i thought it portrayed some of the psychological shock very well at times. But, i'm happy to note that the humanity, lack of hysteria, and kindness towards others in the real world after the earthquake (as much as i only saw it on NHK) by far outweighs that shown by this series, although there are moments you can strongly perceive that too in this show. By the end, i had definate tears in my eyes, and thoughts about the program remained with me for days afterwards. I'd definately recommend it.

One of my favourite bits was when Yuuki was looking at the birds, and saying that it's easy for them, they only have to fly when an earthquake strikes. It made me think, for all the rescue robots made (some of which also feature in this show) WHY haven't they made robot wings yet!?!?! It would be perfect for all sorts of emergencies, and they don't need to be long lasting or anything, only pick you up and take you to higher ground to avoid the tsunami, or hold you in the air until the earth stops moving...

The language for the most part is very easy to understand, and is suitable for beginners. However, there are news broadcasts throughout the show, which are obviously more difficult. I decided on difficulty level 1 though, because the vast majority of the show is easy to understand.

アニメ：　東のエデン Eden of the East

2011-06-01T12:25:00.001+01:00

Difficulty Level: 2
Subs: Episode 1-4 here full series transcript here

This show is addictive right from the start (some guy with no memory turns up naked outside the White House)!!! It continues to be pretty addictive as you find out whats going on. And the animation is a really nice style, i liked it! It's light and fun to watch, but it's really about social issues in Japan atm, and how they can fix the problems.

Ah, i kinda want to say more, but i don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't watched it yet...

Anyway, there are two movies that follow directly from the series to try to end it. Actually, i thought the end was a bit rushed and unsatisfactory, but the series is definately good enough overall to watch anyway!

The language difficulty can be split directly into two groups, i thought. The first is difficulty level 1, when the characters are talking amongst themselves about ordinary things. This stuff is very easy to understand. The second is more like level 3, when they're talking about noblesse oblige, and the game in general. So, in this case difficulty level 2 is an average of those two, rather than all the speech being level 2-ish.

アニメ：　妄想代理人 Paranoia Agent

2011-05-26T22:59:00.002+01:00

Difficulty Level: 3
Subs / Transcript: unknown

well, that was, um... unexpected...

Actually, i think the translation "Delusion Agent" would have made more sense for this series. There is a little paranoia here and there, but mainly delusion, illusion, mass hysteria, mass consumption, general insanity, and general strange-dream-bordering-on-nightmare stuff. At times it's hilarious, at other times a bit disturbing. Sometimes it was a little too much for me, so i turned it off to sort of wake up. But, it's certainly not repetitive...

The language is harder than in the other series i've reviewed so far in a few ways. Firstly, some things just don't make that much sense unless you're down with a whole world of delusions, and these sentences are hard to catch for me. Secondly, there are sometimes voice effects which make things more difficult to understand. Finally, there is a wide, wide range of speaking styles in different places, from newsreaders to old fashioned speak to yakuza-like and so on. But, like any series, there's plenty of things you'll be able to understand too. :)

アニメ：　蟲師 Mushishi

2011-05-24T21:18:00.003+01:00

Difficulty Ranking: 2
Subs: episode 1 & episode 26 here

i really enjoyed this series too!!!

When i was a child, i used to have asthma. For as long as i could remember, very occasionally i would lay in bed at night and not be able to breathe properly anymore. It was weird, but i never thought too much about it. One night when i was a little older, me and my sister were talking late at night... i asked her if she ever couldn't breathe properly late at night. She said "no, that's probably not normal..."
Following that came a barrage of questions; "if you shut your eyes tight and then open them again, can you see colours and lights dancing around in the darkness?" "you know when you cover your ears with your hands, can you hear that weird noise?" "when you're in the bath and water gets in your ears, do you ever hear that kind of loud banging sound that sounds like someone's coming to get you?" "do you ever hear your head sort of creaking slightly?" "when you press your eyes a little, can you see all those patterns?" and so on.

Well, this is the kind of thing that Mushishi draws you in with. I hadn't thought about this conversation with my sister in, well, perhaps more than a decade (closer to 2 decades?), but Mushishi reminded me of it. It reminded me of lots of childhood things like chasing after a rainbow or just watching the sunlight sparkle off a pond's surface in the morning. All of these things are connected with 蟲. (not actually an insect btw.)

Along with these ideas are tales of human attachment. Many of the stories end sadly, because of human stupidity or attachment to an idea, or the Mushi themselves. Others end sadly because the protagonist doesn't know how to cure the person whose entered contact with the Mushi. Overall, it's a simple, but thoughtful series full of ideas and stories that will enchant you and draw you in. Oh, and the scenery backdrops are beautiful watercolour-esque paintings.

i liked it :)

アニメ：　キノの旅 Kino's Journey

2011-05-20T17:08:00.000+01:00

Difficulty Ranking: 2
Subtitles: episodes - don't know... if anyone finds them, please tell me!!! movie subs here

i loved this series so much that i'm gonna buy the books and probably watch the anime a good few times more too.

Thanks so much for recommending this Bokusenou!!!

キノの旅 is a story about a girl called キノ and her talking motorbike. (please don't stop reading yet! ;) She is a traveller, and travels to many different countries to meet the people who live there and learn about their customs.

Whoever wrote this series definately has a love for social / human paradoxes (well, not strictly paradoxes, but you know what i mean...), the absurd, and things like infinite regress. The books are aimed at teenagers, but a good paradox story never gets old, right?

The most refreshing thing about this series for me though, was the way the stories were presented. キノ meets lots of different types of people, and a lot of the social systems portray humanity in a fairly harsh light. But, i really got the feeling that the writer just wanted to tell paradoxical stories rather than moralise on any issue. キノ herself is extremely unjudgemental, though she does stick by her own rules, and does what she thinks is right.

And what you're left with at the end isn't that heavy, sick, empty feeling that humanity is pointless and full of holes, or even some moral about how we should try to improve humanity, but just a simple, beautiful view of the world through the eyes of a true traveller.

"the world is not beautiful, and therefore, it is".

IceCream & Bokusenou

アプリ：小学生手書き漢字ドリル1006

ドラマ： 私が恋愛できない理由

アニメ： ヒカルの碁

ドラマ： 専業主婦探偵、私はシャドー

アニメ： ピアノの森

トレンドたまご

A Guide to Passing JLPT N2 (2kyuu)

Japanese Subtitles on Tudou

本： 誰よりも君が好き

テレビ： Qさま！！ 漢字王決定戦

サイト： 東外大言語モジュール TUFS Language Modules

テレビ： あいのり(２)

本：中上級を教える人のための日本語文法ハンドブック

本：漢字で意味が変わる ビミョ~な日本語

アニメ： 屍鬼 Shiki

お笑い： 笑神降臨 （しょうしんこうりん）

アニメ： げんしけん

サイト：魔法の図書館 Magic Library

アニメ： 今、そこにいる僕 Now and Then, Here and There

アニメ： 魍魎の匣 Mouryou no Hako

アニメ： 東京マグニチュード８．０ Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

アニメ： 東のエデン Eden of the East

アニメ： 妄想代理人 Paranoia Agent

アニメ： 蟲師 Mushishi

アニメ： キノの旅 Kino's Journey