Best Selling Novels and Manga of July 2012

If you're looking for more media to use in your immersion environment for learning Japanese, this is the post for you! The titles listed in the media section of the website are highly recommended, but I felt that they failed to present enough options. So in addition to the media introduction posts, I'll now be featuring the top selling Japanese media, so take a look and see what strikes your fancy!

ワイド版風の谷のナウシカ7巻セット「トルメキア戦役バージョン」

(Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind Wide Version Full 7 Volume Set)

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Japanese Version)

Hours of immersion await you in the land of Skyrim

Game Title: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Japanese Version)

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, PC

Kanji: Yes

Furigana: No

Difficulty: 3-5/5

(If you are new to the game series, this is a 5/5. If you've played this game or other Elder Scrolls games, the difficulty is in the 3-4/5 range.)

Manga Introduction: Yotsubato!

Title: よつばと！　（Yotsubato!）

Author: 東 清彦 　（AZUMA Kiyohiko）

Difficulty: 1 (1 easy, 5 hard)

Furigana: Yes

Format: 漫画　（Manga）

Manga Introduction: Mangaka-san to Assistant-san to

Title: マンガ家さんとアシスタントさんと　（The Mangaka and His Assistants）

Author: ヒロユキ （HIROYUKI）

Difficulty: 4 (1 easy, 5 hard)

Furigana: Yes

Format: 漫画　（Manga）

Manga Introduction: リューシカ・リューシカ

Title: リューシカ・リューシカ　（Ryuushika Ryuushika）

Author: 安倍吉俊 （Yoshitoshi ABE）

Difficulty: 3 (1 easy, 5 hard)

Furigana: No

Format: 漫画　（Manga）

Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon

Welcome to Rune Factory, a game about all of the best things life has to offer – fighting monsters, growing crops, making money, and getting a waifu (Translator's Note: waifu means wife). This game is a jackpot when it comes to learning Japanese, because it combines addictive gameplay with a lot of repetition of new vocabulary – which means you can learn and have fun at the same time! So let's take a deeper look at the game.

Updated Store Page

In preparation for introducing some more Japanese media, I've added some more content to the Store page of the blog. I'd like to write about some more websites, but I've unfortunately not had enough money to buy anything for almost a year now. Oh well, perhaps soon I can get on that.

Novel Introduction: 文学少女

Today I'm introducing (for the second time) the 文学少女 novel series. The first volume of this series was actually the first Japanese novel I ever completely read, so it's a nice place to start.

Title: 文学少女　（Bungaku Shoujo）

Author: 野村　美月　（Nomura Mizuki）

Difficulty: 2.5/5 (1 easy, 5 hard)

Format: 小説　（Novel）

Drama Introduction: My Boss My Hero

Today I have the pleasure of introducing something that is not manga, but is instead a Japanese drama series. I watched this series after seeing several people comment on how funny it is, and after watching only a few minutes I understood why they said such: this series is hilarious. Without further ado, I present to you: My Boss My Hero （マイ・ボス　マイ・ヒーロー）.

Manga Introduction: ポンチョ

Title: ポンチョ

Author: 高島　ひろみ　（Takashima Hiromi）

Difficulty: 3/5 (1 easy, 5 hard)

Furigana: No

Format: ４コマ漫画　（4-koma Manga）

Manga Introduction: 神のみぞ知る世界

Title: 神のみぞ知る世界　（The World God Only Knows）

Author: 若木民喜 （Wakaki Tamaki）

Difficulty: 3.5/5 (1 easy, 5 hard)

Furigana: Yes

Format: 漫画　（Manga）

Manga Introduction: マイ・ガール

Today's manga is a truly delightful series that is a bit reminiscent of Yotsubato. It also happens to be my favorite manga.

Title: マイ・ガール　（My Girl）

Author: 佐原　ミズ　（Sahara Mizu）

Difficulty: 3/5 (1 easy, 5 hard)

Furigana: No

Format: 漫画　（Manga）

Manga Introduction: さんかれあ

Today's manga is all about cute girls and zombies – a combination that is so genius I can't believe it hasn't been done before!

Title: さんかれあ　（Sankarea）

Author: はっとり　みつる　（Hattori Mitsuru）

Difficulty: 3.5/5 (1 easy, 5 hard)

Furigana: Yes

Format: 漫画　（Manga）

Manga Introduction: あまんちゅ！

Today's manga is from the creator of Aria, the stunning manga series that was adapted into an anime that spanned three seasons and an OVA.

Title: あまんちゅ！　（Amanchu!）

Author: 天野　こずえ　（Amano Kozue）

Difficulty: 3/5 (1 easy, 5 hard)

Furigana: Yes

Format: 漫画　（Manga）

Manga Introduction: アコニー

 

Today's manga introduction is an interesting series that I stumbled upon a few months ago. It's a bit more difficult, but it's intriguing enough to make up for it.

Title: アコニー　（Acony）

Author:冬目　景　（Toume　Kei）

Difficulty: 3.5/5 (1 easy, 5 hard)

Furigana: No

Format: 漫画　（Manga）

Manga Introduction: のんのんびより

Today's introduction is actually not a series I began early on in my learning, but rather a gem I found recently.

Title: のんのんびより　（Non Non Biyori）

Author: あっと　（atto）

Difficulty: 2.5/5 (1 easy, 5 hard)

Furigana: Yes

Format: 漫画　（Manga）

Manga Introduction: 魔法先生ネギま！

Today I'm going to introduce a rather common and well-known manga: 魔法先生ネギま！/ Magister Negi Magi.

Title: 魔法先生ネギま！(Magister Negi Magi)

Author: 赤松　健（Ken Akamatsu）

Difficulty: 2/5 (1 easy, 5 hard)

Furigana: Yes

Format: 漫画（Manga）