Taking a break from talking about my Japanese project...
Wow, the new season of anime blows. Anyone else getting the distinct feeling that everyone's shoveling the fanservice-heavy shows out the door now before the Tokyo ban goes into effect?
What I'm watching this season:
- Index II (con't) - Ah, what the hell. Yes, the plot makes no sense, but at least they try. And there's Mikoto, Kuroko, and Last Order to make it worthwhile. (TBH, another season of Railgun would be nice after this...)
- Hourou Musuko - So far, best anime this season. Takes its subject matter seriously and doesn't slip into stereotypes like EVERY western show does when dealing with sexuality. (If someone who is transgender/transsexual show up in a Western show, it's always "you're ex is now a man, baby!") Also, excellent music, excellent art, excellent animation.
- Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? - Well, it's funny. And then it slips in a bit of drama for about 20 seconds. Not quite sure what to make of it. (And good lord, isn't the tsundere loli archtype dead yet? It's a parody of a parody at this point.)
- Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen blahblahlongname - I have no excuses. This is a terrible, terrible show, but I keep watching, like a slow-motion trainwreck. The mother, at least, is hilarious: "Please don't get arrested!" Otherwise, it's taking Ore no Imouto, stripping everything that made that series good, and playing up the incest to the point that KissXSis looks classy. (At least those two were upfront about it... I guess?) Oh, and the art is terrible -- someone needs to get the animators to look at some real people every now and again.
Non-airing series I'm watching:
- Planetes - Wow. Realistic SF is rare enough; realistic SF outside of novels is unheard of. Tanabe is what a female character should be; not too brash, not a doormat, perfectly capable of working physically, but not a complete badass. In other words, a realistic woman. Sooo rare in fiction. (Fee is pretty awesome too; reminds me of Zoe from Firefly. Don't get between that woman and smoking, even if you are international terrorists!)
- Kimi no Todoke - Just trying it at this point, since the new season piqued my interest. Meh. Shoujo series are okay in small doses; marathoning one leaves me twitchy.
- Darker than Black - Seems to be along the same lines as GITS:SAC. Always a good thing.
I also have the rest of Ichiban Urshiro no Daimaou sitting around, but Konoe is the only saving grace for that show.
Still waiting for KyoAni to show up again. Preferably with a Little Busters! anime or moar Haruhi.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Sunday, January 16, 2011
日本語 Progress Update 2
According to Anki, I am exactly 3 months into my study of kanji. Some deck stats:
1230 cards
97.3% (403/414) Mature card retention
Avg Reviews (past week): 92.4/day
None of which, of course, actually means a damn thing, but I'm a whore for statistics.
I've made a few adjustments to my SRS method -- namely increasing the number of new cards per day to 25. This keeps pace better with the number of cards I add, and also means that I will finish RTK1 (plus the 157 kanji in the RTK1 Supplement) by the beginning of March. In fact, I'm going to go ahead and set myself a goal: All RTK1 kanji entered (though not necessarily reviewed) into Anki by 12:00am March 1st.
My attempt at starting sentences early has been aborted. I'm finding that the most useful kanji in RTK are coming closer to the end of the book rather than the beginning. I may know some 1200 kanji, but it's the one or two that show up *everywhere* that I don't know that will keep me from learning sentences properly. So that will have to wait, I think.
That said, I am doing more informal reading of Japanese. I've downloaded a Japanese dictionary for my iPod, and have been using that to look up words while I play リトルバスターズ. My retention of these words is pretty horrid, but that's not the point. (The point is that VNs are more fun if you actually understand the choices you're making.)
All in all, I'm satisfied with my progress so far. Kanji are no longer a slog, and I'm able to enjoy some basic reading amidst my audio immersion. The notion of visiting Japan in a year with full fluency is not as far-fetched as I once thought.
1230 cards
97.3% (403/414) Mature card retention
Avg Reviews (past week): 92.4/day
None of which, of course, actually means a damn thing, but I'm a whore for statistics.
I've made a few adjustments to my SRS method -- namely increasing the number of new cards per day to 25. This keeps pace better with the number of cards I add, and also means that I will finish RTK1 (plus the 157 kanji in the RTK1 Supplement) by the beginning of March. In fact, I'm going to go ahead and set myself a goal: All RTK1 kanji entered (though not necessarily reviewed) into Anki by 12:00am March 1st.
My attempt at starting sentences early has been aborted. I'm finding that the most useful kanji in RTK are coming closer to the end of the book rather than the beginning. I may know some 1200 kanji, but it's the one or two that show up *everywhere* that I don't know that will keep me from learning sentences properly. So that will have to wait, I think.
That said, I am doing more informal reading of Japanese. I've downloaded a Japanese dictionary for my iPod, and have been using that to look up words while I play リトルバスターズ. My retention of these words is pretty horrid, but that's not the point. (The point is that VNs are more fun if you actually understand the choices you're making.)
All in all, I'm satisfied with my progress so far. Kanji are no longer a slog, and I'm able to enjoy some basic reading amidst my audio immersion. The notion of visiting Japan in a year with full fluency is not as far-fetched as I once thought.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)