7-17-2009

Hello. This is nikorai, and I'm here with the scans from my recent shopping spree. The order was placed with Amazon.jp and it's full of interesting stuff.

The box arrived a bit smashed but the contents are in perfect order.

 

Stuff piled in a heap

 

And separately

 

Beside this page, the scans are also uploaded to one of my photobucket albums and can be viewed here:

http://s259.photobucket.com/albums/hh307/nikorai/package07162009/

 

Now let me comment a bit on each item. Since you've most likely come here from the frontpage I won't repeat myself but I have to note that the first two books were recommended to me by good people from animesuki forums. I should say that the choice was right, the books are very useful.

中上級を教える人のための日本語文法ハンドブック [単行本]
庵 功雄, et al

 

Looking at the title of this book, you can see that it's aimed at upper-intermediate level of Japanese. Grammar books with explanations in the language you learn are usually recommended for people who are deep into language studies. For example when I studied English at the uni we used English-English dictionaries extensively. The same goes for French. I have a grammar book for French as well (it's called 'Grammaire du francais contemporain' or 'Grammar of modern French') and it's of particular use when you're trying to get familiar with some finer points of French grammar.

The Japanese grammar book works the same way. It's organized by parts of speech. Particular attention is paid to verb usage, tenses and mood. Because of its complexity, topics related to verbs usually take the most space. Particles are another big topic which is discussed in the book. Each paragraph provides a pattern first, then examples, and an extensive explanation afterwards. At the end of the book you can find a subject index for quick reference.

Perhaps the only problem that can slow down the process of reading is the fact that you're completely on your own with kanji, meaning that no furigana is provided.

 

日本語文型辞典 [単行本（ソフトカバー）]
グループジャマシイ

This is a Japanese grammar dictionary. It's more user-friendly than the previous book. You can directly access entries with an expression you're interested in to find examples (with furigana this time) and a short guide on usage below.

 

 完全マスター2級 日本語能力試験文法問題対策 [ペーパーバック]

アジア学生文化協会留学生日本語コース

I found this green book myself. JLPT 2-kyuu has long interested me, so I decided to take a look at the list of grammar topics one is supposed to know. After a quick look at the list I could see that at least half of them look familiar. Perhaps I'm not too helpless when it comes to Japanese but I do miss a lot of kanji and vocabulary as well as language practice in general.

The book provides tests to check your knowledge. There are answers at the end of the book, so it's suitable for self-studies.

 

On the whole I should say that the three books are an excellent reference source but they don't replace your main textbook. I think it'll be best for me to stick to my practice course doing grammar exercises at the same time.

 

Below is the list of books, discs, and magazines which are pure entertainment.

 アイドルマスターrelations 2 (IDコミックス REXコミックス) [コミック]
上田 夢人

 

This is the second and last volume of im@s relations manga. I enjoyed reading the first volume, so it's natural that I bought the second one as well. I hope to start reading it in the near future.

 

 アイドルマスターブレイク! 1 (ライバルコミックス) [コミック]

 

iDOLM@STER manga didn't end with "relations" (see above) to my surprise but instead received a new installment in the form of iDOLM@STER Break!. This time the author is different and it is Fujima Takuya while last time it was Ueda Yumehito. The design is quite cute but this manga received mostly negative feedback at Amazon.jp, so you'll have to wait when I read it myself to tell you whether it's actually a complete trash or is worth reading.

 

Below are the pictures of 3 CDs in a row. These are singles from Really?Really! and Tick! Tack! games respectively. Of course it's old stuff and I've heard the songs not for once but I actually never had the CDs with full versions of the songs. So they are finally here, at my desk. It's better late than never, so to say. As for Really?Really! game, now I got a complete set of CDs for it, including the OST and two singles.

You'll find the scans of the booklets along with mp3s in the music section as soon as I manage to make the necessary arrangements.

 

Remember memories [CD]
YURIA, et al

 

Happy Dream,Ageless Love [CD]
橋本みゆき YURIA, et al

 

 

PCゲーム「Tick! Tack!」OP主題歌　Be Ambitious,Guys! [CD]
橋本みゆき, et al

 

電撃 G's magazine (ジーズ マガジン) 2009年 08月号 [雑誌]

 

The latest issue of G's magazine comes with a figurine of the main heroine with the unpronounceable name Arcueid Brunestud (who happens to be a vampire at that) from Tsukihime game, anime, and manga series. As I learned from the magazine, the 6th volume of manga has been released, so the series draws a lot of attention once again. At a side note, new chapters of Tsukihime manga are published in Dengeki Daiou (電撃大王) comic magazine. So it's no wonder that you can see a huge article in a magazine under Dengeki brand (owned by ASCII Media Works, Inc., actually).

The main theme is different, however. It is (guess what?) Da Capo series and its new installment, D.C.II Fall in Love. And if you say it's Otome on the cover then you're right. It's been like that in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009...  So you get the picture, you can't get rid of Da Capo so easily. Surely, printed media are not the only way to get new information about the franchise. Once you log in to ai sp@ce you can't make a step without seeing something or someone related to Da Capo.

As for me, I took note of articles dedicated to Hatsune Miku - Project DIVA -, iDOLM@STER Dearly Stars, Shuffle! Essence+, Princess Lover!, and Marriage Royale. The latter one actually receives an article about traveling across Japan in the company of Tenryuu Ena, one of the heroines from the new game from Navel. I have already prepared the scans, so I'll most likely upload the translated version of the article under the Navel/Lime section. The same goes for Shuffle! Essence+. I keep in mind to translate other articles as well.

memew vol.42 [ムック]

 

Uh, this magazine is kind of out of place here. Last time I ordered vol.39 which featured an interview with the girls from AKB48, team A. This time it's like a continuation of the topic, so I took along vol.42 as well.

SUPER GT 2009 ROUND3 富士スピードウェイ [DVD]
スポーツ

 

This disc seems to be even farther from anime but in Super GT series you can find a Hatsune Miku version of BMW Z4 and Studie GLAD Racing servicing it. This racing team performs nasty most of the time and they've never won any points but what they do win is the attention from the anime community.

Round 3 took place on May, 4th but the DVD has become available only recently.

 

I guess that's it for now.