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A year has already passed since I started, so I decided to write something about the things I did and some things I have learned. I did say a year but actually, I informally began from the time I started watching anime. What I did was to listen attentively to the lines of the characters while associating them to the subtitle and to the scene. Doing this, I learned basic grammar and basic vocabulary. The formal endeavor started on Sept. 10, 2014. I learned kana and some 300 basic kanji through writing. I doubt someone will do this but still, I do not recommend to do the same as writing takes a lot of time and it doesn't help that much in reading. Reading can only be learned by doing the actual reading. (But doing something others cannot, is always fun.) I came to fuwa, met rains, then found a good news. Learning japanese can be done while reading visual novels. After 3.5 months, I decided to read my first raw vn since I already learned basic grammar, basic vocab, kana, and some 300 kanji. My first game was a moege. I started with this type of game because I heard around the forums that moege is the easiest type of game. But it was not easy. I'm a perfectionist so I worked hard to understand every single line, while reading it several times aloud, until I can speak it fluently. Darn perfectionist. Because of this method, a month has already passed yet I haven't even reached the 1st choice. Something has to change. I changed my approach. This time, I just move on after getting the gist, while keeping in mind to guess how the repeating word is read, before looking it up in the dictionary. It's faster and is a lot more fun than what I was doing before. I didn't completely comprehend everything but I still knew what's going on, thanks to the support from several factors: a. context of the scene b. background music c. characters' facial expression & gestures d. characters' tone & nuance. These things are very important, as it fills the stuff I didn't get from reading. The first game was specially tough. The key is not to give up. As much as possible, one should avoid reading two or more games at the same time and concentrate on a single vn. Avoid reading a vn then dropping it, then continue to repeat the cycle. Finishing a VN completely, gives motivation to read more. Also, one should not rely too much on Jparser. Atleast have a dictionary program for support. These are my suggestions for guys who are planning to read raw vns. My goal is to enjoy visual novels without tools. My initial impression when I was starting was, before attempting to read VNs, I should have a good grasp of the 2136 Jouyou Kanji first. This is a common misconception. Having solid basic grammar is the "go signal". Grammar acts like a backbone/outline/foundation in understanding Japanese. As for kanji, grinding them one by one, is not as enjoyable & effective as remembering them in VNs wherein kanji is used in actual words. For some words, I start by identifying them as a "unit" and not as "assembled parts". For example, the word 自動販売機 (jidouhanbaiki / vending machine). I think of this as【自動販売機】and not as 自+動+販+売+機. The first and the last characters are my main focus. Through its repeated appearance, I slowly recognized the characters "inside" the word and their respective order. Then eventually learned their on-yomi as well. 自 is "ji", 動 is "dou", 販 is "han",etc. Also, I found the hiraganas that succeed the kanji of a word very useful in remembering the words. I'll just call them "hiraganas" here. Say I'm not sure what the word 確かめる means and how it is read. But I can read the hiragana part so it will look like this in my mind. 〇かめる "Now, I don't know any other word with 'kameru' as its 'hiraganas' aside from 'tashikameru'. I'm not sure though if that's correct. Hmm. *checks the dictionary* Oh yeah, it is 'tashikameru'." Due to it's constant appearance in the lines, I started to associate the appearance of 確 with かめる and with it's corresponding reading and meaning. Then eventually recognized 確かめる reflexively. It also told me that 確 is "tashi", therefore, 確かに is "tashikani". I believe that Repetition is key to learning any skill. Maji. About 2 months ago, I began watching anime again but this time, without subs. Watching raw anime improves my vocab and it gives me satisfaction and enjoyment more than those with subs, since there is no distraction. Now, I'm going to give few comments about the airing anime series this season that I am watching, which I arranged according to difficulty from how I see them. Easy to understand 1. Danchigai - 3.5 mins / episode. A really soothing series. 2. Ore Monogatari - 好きだ！ 3. Gakkou Gurashi! - Cute girls doing cute things, in a not so cute situation. 4. Prison School - Funniest thing on earth. 5. Ao Haru x Kikanjuu - Has similar premise as Ouran HSHC. This one though is action. 6. Charlotte - story by Jun Maeda (Key). Charlotte's episode 7 is one of the best episodes I have ever watched. Started to get quite complex on episode 8. Not so easy 7. Shokugeki no Souma - Best anime. The cooking terms are not easy. 8. Ushio to Tora - Youkai terms. I normally hate noisy songs but I love this series' OP. Has a tsundere. 9. GATE - Military. Honestly I have no idea what's going on with the plot aside from the obvious. Well, that's the end of this. Screenshots from Le Labyrinthe De La Grisaia

Tou no Shita no Exercitus, as I mentioned in the previous post, pretty much eliminates most of the problems that Verethragna had in terms of the card combat system, in exchange for a loss of any real challenge, outside of the last boss and a few others along the way. That impression didn't change throughout my experience of the last few chapters of the game, so at this point, I won't bother rehashing that explanation. More importantly, I thought I should mention that this VN doesn't commit the greatest sin of a gameplay hybrid by using the gameplay in place of narration (rather than to supplement it). Its combat scenes have decent (if not overwhelmingly good) narration, and there is a general sense that this was someone's work of love, as well as business, which is relatively rare in VNs these days. The plot, while not anything new (the setting channels Wild Arms and Mana Khemia, which had me cracking up a bit) is nonetheless solidly written, and the characters, while sometimes a bit overly comical in nature, were generally well-described and developed by the end, with a few exceptions (Ruana's team, the tower keepers), though this was alleviated by the large number of side-events you could access during the last chapter to get to know them. The existence of money is actually pretty pointless, since you can get by just by using the cards you pick up along the way (though third level single-enemy magic attack cards can only be purchased in the store, as far as I could tell). On the other hand, this means that you are free from the need to budget, instead allowing you to focus on dungeon-crawling to get your levels even with the enemies and obtain cards you might find of use. Overall, this VN was surprisingly good, leaving me with a general good feeling, though it wasn't exceptionally awesome. This VN would probably suit the tastes of people who like the Koihime Musou series (if you excise the first game, which was localized) and other 'light' gameplay hybrids, where the gameplay is designed to be easy to navigate. It isn't anywhere near kamige level, but it is nonetheless VN of the Month, August 2015.