That One Time I Did A Study Blog Called: Daily Updates from a Daily Man in the Middle of a Downward Spiral But Realized the Power of Friendship with these Ten Easy Steps and Here's How You Can Too. I love you, Tim Schafer! Please don't sue!

[rdennison7]

Entry the twelfth - July 30th, 2025

It’s a Wednesday once again! Can you believe it?

Today was a huge day for my reviews. I took out five, yes FIVE reviews in one session. Probably took fifteen seconds. I think I am ready to be the premiere Bunpro speed runner. Not the most progress in my grammar reviews, but…you know it’s bound to get closer to fluency!

But navigating the Bunpro forums, I noticed a rather nasty turf war between @bunnypro and @Superpnut. Yes, it was a violent and rather cinematic war with special effects, and high production values.

I have a proposition for peace, or rather peace through an alternate option for our frequent forum users.

Long have the Bunpro forums been indoctrinated by the notion of just two sides. The possum. The rabbit. Both on their own are fine, creatures worthy of praise and memes.

Things have changed, so much in the past few months, where the notion of what a possum or what a rabbit is no longer has meaning.

I bring to you all: the platypus

Yes, the humble platypus --duckbill and all. Bask in the glory that is…an alternative:

Now, I realize that a third option historically never works and that time immemorial has shown that a rabbit and possum have always taken center stage --but just for a moment consider: what if?

How many mammals lay eggs? Are venomous? Have a duckbill and webbed feet?

I am just a humble man, probably the most humble of men in the history of humble men. But look into your hearts. Embrace the platypus.

Embrace change, everyone.

[Edo9]

Five reviews? Now you’re just bragging. But anyone who one shotted all the N1 grammar points in one button press deserves all the bragging rights. I’ll just have to learn them like a peasant like everyone else.

If you figure out how to one shot all the pitch accent please let me know. I stress myself out so hard worrying about the day I have to use bridge and chopsticks in the same sentence.

[BadgerN00b]

For what it’s worth, I pronounce bridge like ha-SHEE, to really extend the sound, hopefully into the distance… like a bridge does.

Likewise, chopsticks is HA-shi, almost just HA-sh. There is kind of an i at the end, but barely. As if I started eating just before finishing the word. Maybe not the most polite way to use chopsticks, but yakiniku is hard to resist.

As for the turf war, I vote badgers as an alternate alternative.

[homa]

@Edo9

Five reviews? Now you’re just bragging. But anyone who one shotted all the N1 grammar points in one button press deserves all the bragging rights.

For some reason this phrase forming reminded me of this moment from dougdoug’s stream where his chat plays geoguesser vs Neuro AI: https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxRpoYkVhfevdScqp5dQoSLViF3qM5lKQe?si=iIzwQ9gor5DJmTlY
Oh well, I don’t know if there any people knowing about anything about those two, but I find them amusing

[homa]

This log gives me some ideas

[Edo9]

No Ai here, just buffoonery.

In this day and age it’s easy to forget that humans have that capacity as well.

[rdennison7]

Entry the thirteenth - July 31st, 2025

It’s a Thursday once again! Can you believe it?

Today was a relaxing, but SHOCKING day for my reviews and overall Japanese progress. Although, I wiped out six reviews lickity split, I noticed something…rather odd?

Do you see it? I am no longer a master of N1 Japanese! What happened? Well, intrepid truth seekers, Bunpro added more Japanese grammar! Oh my goodness, am I so grateful. Even though it was only four new N1 grammar points, it’s four more N1 stories to tell.

Too often we forget that we live in the age of abundance. It’s so hard to appreciate what we have when we get more and more in our lives! Bunpro staff, I want to expressly tell you that this update makes me genuinely happy. THANK YOU. Truly.

This is making me rather introspective. Let’s go on a journey. Think vibe coding but with feeling (sorry, comp sci student here, still trying to process the feelings thing).

On X, formerly Twitter (Bunpro, you gotta update the icon!), I follow exclusively Japanese accounts --usually it’s smaller accounts of Japanese gamers, usually those who are Xbox gamers (buuut that’s a topic for another tangent!).

Let me tell you of a man who makes me incredibly happy each time I see his posts:

Every. Single. Day. Each day this man posts an image of him enjoying a beverage --usually a Pepsi BIG ZERO, or on rare occasions a Coke Zero with an empty Coca-Cola glass. Once or twice a week, he adds in a small snack along with the picture.

What does this mean, you ask? Stop asking the wrong questions, I say! Think about the beauty of this: I don’t know of this man just that he is a gamer and a connoisseur of sugar-free soda products. What’s his work life like? Stressful? Who knows? But once a day, I connect with this man who lives on the opposite side of the world in a culture completely foreign to my own… and just briefly I am on the same wavelength as him.

This is a man enjoying the moment and sharing it with his followers. I will share his joy with you all. I wish you all a small, but joyful moment like his.

There’s beauty in routine, there’s beauty in the mundane, and I eat that up. Granted, I am more of a Coke guy than a Pepsi guy, but I can let my prejudices slide just for a moment to appreciate true art in a world where mundanity is dying a slow breath against the ever-prevailing culture of grinding and productivity.

Your slowest moments in life are usually the most beautiful!

Thank you, Bunpro staff for adding more grammar when you had zero obligation to! I will cherish each one.

Thank you, intrepid truth seekers for spending each moment of your day reading the ramblings of a man who should be more productive.

Until tomorrow, I bid thee adieu.

[rdennison7]

Entry the fourteenth - August 1st, 2025

It’s a Friday once again! Can you believe it?

Today was a monumental day for my reviews with 4 reviews being destroyed by the might of my Japanese linguistic abilities.

In my rampant acts of foolishness, I regret to inform you all that I forgot to mention that I added A NEW GRAMMAR POINT. Yes, yesterday, I was the proud studier of the ru-verb grammar point. I suppose if I had to place the blame away from me, it was the Bunpro staff for adding more grammar and getting me too stimulated.

So, I had to simmer down. Usually I do this with games, but today I chose a classic. I chose Shenmue.

Just look at that beauty. Fun fact: You can press the B button instead of A and that’s perfectly fine. Oh, boy, I hope someone got fired for that blunder!

This game is unironically the cure for the ailing games industry. You may suggest that Yakuza would be a more modern version of this, but you are most definitely wrong! Shenmue embraces the void in a way that most games are afraid to do so.

You are only fearless when you explore into the unknown! Shenmue is the rare example of such a game.

I will demonstrate such fearlessness right now. Imagine you are in a Japanese kitchen in 1986. You have that image in your brain, right? You peruse through the room and decide to open a curious drawer .

Look closely at this image. Yes, it’s exactly what you would expect from an ordinary drawer from any kitchen. But just look at it for about 30 seconds. What did you notice? Did you see the slight curvature of cloth on the edge? Or perhaps you noticed the artifacts on the edges of the utensils?

But what utensil spoke out to you the most? For me it was the curiously elongated fork on the far left.

Someone made this, maybe they used their own kitchen cutlery as a reference picture? Why did they add a slight curve to the cloth for something that most would just give a passing glance at? Wouldn’t it take more time to add a curve wouldn’t that slightly increase the polygon budget for this Dreamcast game?

In Shenmue, there’s a mechanic in which you can stare at framed images. In fact, here’s one of my favorite framed pictures in the starting home of the game:

Look at that mountain. Is it a low res Mt Bunji? I don’t see any marshmallows hugging it, so I have my suspicions.

But there’s a hidden mechanic behind merely looking at this rather nondescript picture frame.

You can…wait for it…remove it from the wall. Yes. Do you think there’s a secret message behind this picture frame? Maybe a goodie? Something worthy of your time?

Lo and behold, this is what is behind this picture frame and every single picture frame in your home. It’s a fine wall, I suppose. I am not an expert on walls, sadly. Does this speak to you? Even I am grasping straws here!

I often think about how interesting it would be to have a modern day Shenmue (not three!) where there really isn’t a goal or objective. Where you can just immerse yourself in a period of time in an area of Japan and interact with as many pointless objects as possible.

Would be a killer immersion simulator for language learners who can’t afford a trip to the country they are learning the language from.

Maybe games can just be, not just do!

Be on the lookout for sailors, everyone!

[Edo9]

Four reviews? Man, chill out bro. You might sprain your wrist from all that typing the way AI Art Masters toil from typing four words and pretending they just created God’s work.

Be sure to take breaks, drink plenty of water, and try not to go into deep rabbit holes about comedy actors that disappeared in the mid 2000s. Especially in the middle of study sessions.

[Bezmolwie]

Based on the streak, the OP is at least 2,737,908.5 years old.

Meaning, they got to see:

• The invention of stone tools by Homo habilis in East Africa. The OP was at least 50000 years old at that point.
• The emergence of Homo erectus, who used fire and migrated widely. At that point the OP was at least 700000 years old.
• The evolution of Homo sapiens, when the OP was at least 2.4 mln years old.

If I were you, I would listen very closely to any words of wisdom from such a species.

[rdennison7]

Entry the fifteenth - August 2nd, 2025

It’s a Saturday once again! Can you believe it?

Today was another memorable Japanese learning experience with only 3 reviews destroyed by my sheer willpower alone. I can now just look at reviews and complete them. No typing needed!

Remember when I mentioned I X, formerly Twitter, about two posts ago? Yes, yes controversial platform…but this bothered me a lot.

For better or for worse, the little bird is dead and buried. But…what does Bunpro post on Twitter? Is it good? Do they go for spicy political takes? Casual posting of mundanity? Let’s find out!

Immediately, I noticed that Bunpro isn’t verified. I don’t see the checkmark of officialness. How am I supposed to know they pay around $8 a month to be official? Yes, I know it’s linked from the official Bunpro website, but I don’t trust easy! Especially when it’s painfully obvious!!

But look at that, 1,410 followers. That’s a pretty decently-sized neighborhood worth of people following Bunpro. Really puts things into perspective, eh?

With that many followers, surely there’s a ton of engagement, right? (Spoilers, I looked ahead before typing this.)

Instead of emotionally reactive “hot takes” we have…something unique?

Aww, cute! They still use hashtags. But pay no attention to the engagement at the bottom! I will get to that momentarily.

So many posts are just these little content drops teaching Japanese. Which is cool, I suppose. Who…who makes these? I never seen these on the forums or the website proper. There’s little cartoons that look to be taken from some repository.

Clearly there’s effort put into these but look:

The engagement on these posts are ridiculously bad! Despite the effort put into them, which is respectable, there’s something to say where a man posting an image of a soda each day is getting more engagement than this.

There is something so sad about a call to action that is fallen upon deaf ears. You know what? I won’t reply to the Twitter thread, but I will give an example sentence just for you, unknown Bunpro social media poster:

トイレしてる間にドアを開けておいたら、義母に見られて心臓止まりかけたらしい…まじで死にたい。

I encourage you all to come up with your own sentence and make tribute to the social media engagement gods.

Screaming into the void again? I know that feeling all too well. Notice its use of emojis telling us to think. Alas nobody dropped anything in the comments. But I shall drop one more sentence just to pay tribute:

ズボンのチャックが開いていたようだ…会社のかわいい受付さんと話してた時に。見られたかも…？

Who are you, Bunpro social media poster? What’s your day to day like? Hobbies? Favorite food? I would like to know this person and write a minimum 100-page biography on them. Unironically. If I ever get the chance to do so, I will make it a special thread just to give them the kudos they deserve.

Remember to tip your waitresses, everyone!

[distantflower]

@rdennison7

What’s your day to day like? Hobbies? Favorite food? I would like to know this person and write a minimum 100-page biography on them.

You made me think of this song with those words

- YouTube

[adorable]

Impressive strategy skipping n5 and finishing n1, you’re going places.

[rdennison7]

Entry the sixteenth - August 3rd, 2025

It’s a Sunday once again! Can you believe it?

Today was exactly the same, mind-melting, philosophically-driven Japanese learning experience you’ve all come to know and love by now. Three reviews were obliterated with my mind’s eye and another grammar point bit the dust.

This leaves my body craving for a reward, and I dunno about you, but one of my favorite snacks is Saku Saku Panda.

If you never had these pandas before, then you are missing out. Every single time I go to Japan, I crave just two things: Saku Saku Panda and Mister Donut. Historical or linguistic nonsense? Nah. Authentic sushi or ramen? Throw that in the trash! To me, Mister Donut and those pandas are my world.

Curiously, it’s stylized as “Sakusakupanda” on the bag, which while an accurate translation…is weird to see in English. Let’s check their official webpage just to see if we can find anything interesting.

Going to the company’s official webpage is…Wowzers! That’s one TOUGH GUMMY…but what’s that on the upper-right hand corner?

English you say? But, Cure Dolly sensei told me I would never amount to anything in my Japanese learning life if I stepped outside of my immersion bubble, but Cure Dolly sensei never met a man with an unreasonable sense of curiosity, wit, and dashing good looks. Let’s click to see the English site.

Well, the English site doesn’t look too different, eh?

Maybe all this nonstop immersion 25/8 is causing a bleeding effect where everything seems one of the same.So let’s scroll down just to test out my new superpowers.

When feel ease at home. When chat with your friends. When take a break…

With your heart, 70 pandas.

I think that’s absolutely beautiful. Personally, I love really bad Engrish. Sometimes, it’s unintentionally philosophical.

There are 70 expressive face. you can find the one, matching your feeling.

Which panda is your soul animal? I will choose the rare koala creature that is on one of the faces. Fun fact! Bet you didn’t know that about Sakusakupanda.

Maybe one day I will rant about the majesties of Mister Donut, maybe I will rant about something in a ridiculous amount of precision tomorrow. Truly you never know, and that’s the best part. It’s a mystery for you as it is for me!

Until next time, stay sakusaku, everyone!

[Chimmsen]

Came here for the new panda title and was not disappointed!

[zerohbeat]

I now know of another snack that I have to try! Thank you for your wise recommendation.
Here, I got my family addicted to all kinds of Pocky haha…

[Asher]

Can’t believe you highlighted Shenmue but didn’t tell everyone about the amazing gachapon minigame. One of my favorite games btw.

[Edo9]

I typically step out of my immersion hyperbolic time chamber when I read these posts. Sometimes it’s hard to be a Kanji warrior when I’m not binging anime and reading documents from the National Diet Library for fun.

But reading about Saku Saku Panda, worth it.

[rdennison7]

Entry the seventeenth - August 4th, 2025

It’s a Monday once again! Can you believe it?

Today was ex–Okay, we’re skipping right to the tangent today. You know what really weirds me about Japanese culture? I have to warn you, once you see it, you cannot unsee it. If you wish to stop now, I don’t blame you.

Well, how can I say it without saying it. The Japanese seem to have a mild fascination with, well, this:

You may be thinking to yourself, “Pompompurin is life. Pompompurin is god. What’s weird about that?” And while you are right that this dog is more popular that some religions, look at what I had to censor? Yes, that’s right, his little backside beauty mark.

I noticed this when looking at stickers on LINE that many of them have the beauty mark on them and I started seeing it everywhere for cute Japanese creatures.

I have to ask why?

This started creeping into video games too!

Oh my goodness, not Okami! I love that game. But why? Why must there be such painstaking attention to detail about this area of cute characters?

Stunned, and lost for words, I gathered what little vocabulary I had and asked ChatGPT for any potential culprits for its origin point. One stuck out at me:

Shiri-tantei, eh? Is that the cheese?

Well, shucks I guess generative AI fails again, eh? Despite the fact this character looks like a rosey-cheeked Adolf Hitler, this still doesn’t help me answer the question of who started this.

But I realized that it was all Pompompurin all along. I mean, it had to be right? He’s just so proud of it.

I searched high and low for answers until I stumbled across this:

This caused several riots in Japan. Just when you think that one backside beauty mark enamored the Japanese, it was a genetic oddity from a McDonald’s toy that truly did them in.

But once you start seeing it, you can’t unsee it.

Look, it’s in Mario Party 2!

That’s…that’s not even an animal! That’s a bobsled! And then it started spreading! You started --oh god, it found Walmart?

Walmart’s not even Japanese! No, this…everything is falling apart. Let me ask ChatGPT and --oh dear lord, not them too!

This Pompompurin is a trojan horse planted by the Japanese. Enamor the world with a cute dog with a quirky little marking. Then slowly it takes over the world where even multi-billion dollar companies are embracing Pompom’s rule.

Maybe Pompompurin was playing 4D chess while we were all too busy with our reviews to pay attention. Maybe we spent too much time immersing ourselves in mind-numbing Japanese media while this cute Sanrio character plots world domination.

Personally, I have always been a team Pompom kind of guy, so I am okay with it. But I fear. I fear so much for those who are on team Cinnamonroll. May god have mercy on their souls.

Be sure to check under your beds, everyone!

[rdennison7]

Entry the eighteenth - August 5th, 2025

It’s a Tuesday once again! Can you believe it?

Today was a crazy and magical journey into the world of Japanese learning. The reviews put up a struggle, but after a tense fight, I used my blade (I am one with the blade, btw) to vanquish five reviews. Once it was known the reviews perished during the onslaught, a GRAMMAR POINT appeared before me. I stared into its soul and immediately found its weakness.

With the power of my ancestors locked away in my right arm, I unleashed 10% of my power and that brings me closer to collecting all the JLPT balls. I am told once I collect all five, I am granted eternal happiness and $10,000 in cash.

This battle was exhausting. So of course it led me to thinking about relaxing, potentially even mind-numbing methods of cooling off. This led me to thinking about a certain game developer I had such a strong fondness for that you don’t really see anymore.

I bring to you:

PopCap Games! Now that was a mighty brave developer before it traded its soul to the dark shogunate in exchange for paltry monetary gains.

This developer was firing on all cylinders! They were the masters of making games with simple-to-learn mechanics but with deep gameplay mixed in with charm oozing out of every orifice. OOZES! This combination led them to having mainstream success with the casuals and some rather fun experiences.

I truly struggle to think about how many other developers constantly made new IPs with such consistently high quality and charm. Sure you have Double Fine (but I think their games play like poo, but don’t tell Tim Schafer that. I wouldn’t dare to hurt that man.)

But…Pop Cap just stopped being interesting! It’s so sad. I loved Plants Vs. Zombies, Peggle, and even that darn Zuma game! A shame that a developer with so much creativity and charm got churned away into a brand of seemingly irrelevancy.

You know that a developer is special when each intro movie showing the company logo is unique. Totally unnecessary but it’s a secret coded message that tells to me that the devs care.

I always check a company from top to bottom to see if there’s a soul. There’s something to it when you can tell if the development team is having fun. Culture is important. Fun culture leads to a fun work environment, which leads to (hopefully) fun games!

Do yourselves a favor, everyone. Have an ice cream sandwich, go onto the app store on your device of preference, and just observe the games on the platform.

Things didn’t used to be this way. But maybe things can change if we embrace silliness and charm…and fart jokes.

Be kind and rewind, everyone!