Oota Katsushi worked as an editor of many of the Mephisto Prize winner authors many years ago, he worked with Seiryouin Ryuusui, Maijo Otaro, Satou Yuuya, Nisio Isin and many others who I can't recall off the top of my head. Afaik he worked with Nisio through all of zaregoto (the original 9 volume series), and up until the release of sekai 2 (2007) (I'm unsure if this is the last book he worked with Nisio on, but it should be around this time that they stopped working together). Oota was also the sole editor of the Faust magazine, and was in charge of the Kodansha BOX imprint for some time. Nowadays he's the CEO of Kodansha's subsidiary publisher Seikaisha. It's completely personal preference and what I've noticed by reading many of the things he's worked on, but Oota has consistently worked on what I consider to be the best books of each author he's worked with. And well, personally I noticed that I didn't like Nisio's works as much after Oota's departure as his editor. You can usually tell which works he worked in because Nisio always thanks him in his afterwords.

Thanks a ton!

Japanese books come in many formats, the smaller the book, the cheaper the price (and the easier it is to carry around, and store as they take less space), which makes these small editions quite popular and serve a purpose. In most cases you can often find big editions (be it tankobon, shinsho, or hardcover) of small books (which are usually bunkobon format). If you have trouble reading because of the small size, reading digitally on an e-reader always helps, as you can adjust the font size as you see fit, so make sure to look into that if you have trouble reading small font sizes. As an extra note: the font size between tankobon/hardcover and bunkobon doesn't vary that greatly, it's more about how the text is formated. And when the text size does vary, it isn't between sizes of the editions, but the publishers, some publishers have different font sizes from others, so that's something to look out for. (Also, sure, I'll see if I make a video about Japanese book sizes and whatnot. In the meantime this other video I made could prove useful for you: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nYK1l5ipf8-ar5osi=pgj8EFYw2dZBVw9g )

Real asf, hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii royaaaal

Shouldn't you be sleeping lil bro

I cooka da taco 🌮

This is the nicest comment I have ever gotten, thank you so much!!!!!

@ No problem, thank you so much for your time and investment so this could be shared!! I actually went on a hunt and bought the 夏と花火と私の死体!!! Thank you for the introduction!! I saw the one with your cover, but I got the older one since there were 2 so the next person could pick between both versions 😌. My good deed of the day. I tried to look for the エナメルを塗った魂の比重 but couldn’t find it 😭!! I’ll have something to look forward to after I finish Summer, fireworks & my corpse one though!! Thank you again for sharing, it’s already so mysterious with that entire vibe with the cicadas. I just end up with PTSD from ひまわりが咲かない夏　(道尾秀介) which happens to be one of my favourite novels anyhow!

Thank you!!! I hope you enjoy the book!!! If anything, I'd say that Summer, Fireworks and my Corpse reminds me a lot of Higurashi lol, it's great. Also エナメルを塗った魂の比重 is the second volume in a series, the first vol is フリッカー式. The first volume should have all the warnings in the world though, it's incredibly violent and kinda not that good, but I also recommend that just because it's something I haven't seen any other writer do something like it (big chance you don't like it)

I couldn't have said it better (Hiiiiiii :3)

My goat ❤

Tbh, I would say that in my case consistency was key. For my first two years or so of study I would wake up really early in the morning (as I was busy the entire day) and dedicate two hours to studying Japanese, every day. I'd just do stuff like Anki for kanji and vocabulary, and Minna no Nihongo for grammar. (It's actually a really bad book and I wouldn't recommend it). I also hopped on some Japanese classes for a bit. And by the end of my first year of study I read my first novel in Japanese (a children's version of Your Name). After that I continued studying and well, by my third year I managed to read all this. I didn't learn fast or anything, I just was super fixated on being consistent with my study.

@@kakuzoakutagawa8993 Yeah I guess I wasn't that consistent in my studies during the early years.. Oh I have to use Minna no Nihongo for my studies lol, and Basic Kanji Book (I hate that one). Do you know what your level was (like for JLPT) when you were able to read all of this? Also when you were reading, were you understanding almost everything, or like you had to search for some things you didn't know

I'd say I've been stuck at N3 (probably gonna try to get N2 next year) for a few years now and that was also probably my level back then. Of course, when reading you'll always come across lots of things you don't understand, but it's nothing that a dictionary and a Google search can't fix. Once you're able to read relatively comfortably I feel like the language acquisition becomes way faster. It's just a matter of pushing through the difficult start ig. (Also, I'm of the opinion that Minna no Nihongo is one of the worst Japanese grammar books. If you're gonna stick to that try using Tae Kim's Japanese grammar guide as a supplementary)

Thanks for the recommendation and thanks for answering my comments! The video was cool to listen on the background, I'll listen to more! Final question: do you have a particular website to buy Japanese novels?

Thank you so much for watching my videos. As for buying books, you cannot go wrong with amazon jp as it has international shipping. But you can always look for a proxy shipping service and buy used books from Yahoo auctions or Mercari (however, be careful with these services as the fees and shipping costs will always be more than what you expect)

You can check it on the webpage of the international chopstick association

I am Mexican, I learned this art form through self study

I haven't tried that yet, seems dangerous

It's Washington's monument

thank you, my mom got them at the supermarket!

I got dat dog in me bro, this is what 5 years of studying Japanese has lead me to

It's not that difficult bro, just grab them correctly

​@@kakuzoakutagawa8993 Minor spelling mistake.

Lies

If I remember correctly it was around 370-400ish American dollars per month.

Wait until you find out I'm half french. I genuinely lost at life before it even started.

@@kakuzoakutagawa8993 oh God...

You'll forever be first in my heart

Thanks neon, it does hurt a lot. I send you my best wishes. This kind of pain is one of the worst feelings in life.

@@kakuzoakutagawa8993 I wish you well too Kakuzō! There is enormous growth at the end of this pain. Idk if you’re watching the new anime Frieren, but it has been such a heart comfort to me already. The MC, an elf with a vast lifespan, grapples with her relationships with humans seeming unfairly short. The way she channels her regrets into learning to show up better in her present relationships is inspiring. Her memories of her past love are like a positive guiding force. It’s beautifully portrayed.

Hiiiiiiiiiiizumu

Hi, it was just a half-year exchange program

Fr fr, it could always be worse. At least now I'm not having a homeless arc in Japan. Looking forward to meeting you in person!!!! Good luck with your travels!

Can you please provide furigana in your title cards next time