Crystal Hunters (Japanese): Book 1

by Nathaniel French, Sean Anderson, miyonescy (Illustrator)

Take the first step on your adventure to learn Japanese. You only need to know 87 Japanese words and particles to read over 100 pages of an epic manga with monsters and magic. Free guides to help read and understand the whole manga can be found on our website:

Genres: Japanese Literature, Manga, Language, Fantasy

113 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 7, 2020

Reviews

[Stuart Holland · Rating 5 out of 5]

これは凄い本だ！ ("This is an amazing book!", for my English readers.)

I've been learning Japanese since last July (mostly Duolingo). This manga has been a great first foray into using those new language skills for something that I'm already interested in.

Crystal Hunters is designed for new language speakers/readers, and that definitely shows. The vocabulary and sentence structure used in it are extremely simple. It's very much a "my first Japanese reading" exercise, but it doesn't scrimp on the story or the art. It tells a simple but fun story and is a great way to put your early language skills to the test while also having fun at the same time.

Cal, Bansom, and Subasa are (as the title suggests) hunting crystals, which they can sell for money. (I think of them as quasi-D&D adventurers, but due to the story's simplicity I haven't seen too much of the world yet - I assume that will come in the sequels.) This first book is about how they become a team (/adventuring party).

I definitely had to do Google translating for specific vocabulary (and particularly what new kanji meant), but because the vocabulary repeated often, that became less and less necessary as I got through the book.

I actually read this book twice, first in Japanese and then again in English, to see if I'd missed anything. I was surprised that I hadn't really. There were some small subtleties that I only saw in the English version, but I'd understood all of the major story beats in my Japanese run. I particularly enjoyed that I immediately understood "Goodbye, machine man!" when one of the villains attacked Bansom (one of the protagonists).

You'll also see based on when I started this book that I put it down for a while in the middle. That was more a function of my own time rather than the book itself. But one thing that did show me was that my Japanese had improved in the time between December and March, because it was much easier reading when I read the latter third today.

For perspective on length, reading it through in English only took me about 15 minutes (speed boosted by also knowing what happened). Japanese obviously took me a lot longer.

Overall, it's a great book! Serves its purpose very well of a beginner language learner story that's also fun and interesting. I look forward to reading the rest of them as I learn more!

I do wish that it was distributed some other way aside from Kindle. I don't buy books with DRM, but I had to for this one because there was no other way.

[AdaCakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for reading practice, and the others in the series get progressively more complex. I've found it very helpful in improving my reading speed and ease, and the story is actually interesting. Highly recommend for Japanese language learners.

[Monica モニカ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This manga series was made for people new to reading their target language. I thought it would be more dialogue storytelling focused, but it seems to be told mainly in narration. In retrospect, I understand why, because it is trying to reinforce the basic grammar. It also had a lot of repetition to reinforce the grammar and newly introduced vocab words.

The words I learned through context while reading: 矢、弓、かいぶつ、剣、きかい

This manga did prove useful in reinforcing what I already know. However, I'm confused as to why it didn't have very many verbs; and the verbs that it did use were one's I wasn't familiar with. I'm not saying that it should have only used vocabulary I know, but I feel as though it should be using verbs that are only widely used in everyday life since it's written for Beginners in the language. The only verbs that were in here that I really knew previously were the obvious 見える、行く、＆ 分かる　verbs. The verbs that I found unnecessary were: 持つ (to have)、＆ 使う (to use). Example sentences were: Subasa has the bow; Subasa uses the bow; Karl has the sword; Karl uses the sword. I felt like it would have been better for my brain to instead think about how the objects associated with the verbs. Wouldn't it make more sense as: Subasa shoots the bow; Karl cuts with the sword. Shaping the verbs around the context, instead of using broad verbs like "to use" or "to have" would have been much more helpful. Of course, these are just my opinions, and maybe not everyone has studied the similar verbs I have.

I'm not sure whether I will continue buying from this series; although the price point was very cheap and definitely worth the money spent. This series did give me an idea of what I'm looking for though.... I realize fantasy isn't my main priority. That if I'm going to learn Japanese, I must first master and focus on slice-of-life stories, instead of stories that have words like "Western-sword" and "horn-monster."

[Jamal · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is quite frankly awful.

I truly believe that the authors do not know Japanese with enough depth to write a book in it.

Though, what can you really expect from a book written by non-native speakers.

If you see this review heed my warnings. Do not read this slop. Stick to proper native materials (e.g. Yotsuba).

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

まあまあだった。無料だから読んだ。私の日本語力は中級かもしれないから、簡単すぎた。初級の方がいいとおもう。でも、ウェブサイトに「このシリーズはだんだんむずかしいになる」と言ったから、たぶん未来の本を読むかも。次は英語で同じコメント。

It was alright. I read it because it was free. My Japanese level is probably intermediate, so this was too easy for me. I think it's better for beginners. But, on the website it says that the books get progressively harder, so maybe I'll read some in the future.

[Roland Zimmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first manga in Japanese! It's really great for beginners without skimping on being interesting. I'm not super interested in reading about school or coffee shops, like most beginner manga, so finding a sword and sorcery story was awesome! If you're learning Japanese and you burn out on, "Mrs. Smith's English class is down the hall," this will be super refreshing.

[Shay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really into the story! I love the repetition and beginner format. The actions in the illustrations makes up for the plain dialogue. There's a lot of action and I love team/found family storylines. They have a website with detailed notes on what you're reading! I just wish there was at least a glossary for the main words used in the book.

[DavidO · Rating 5 out of 5]

God for beginners

I enjoyed it. If you go to their website you can find a PDF with the definitions of all the words used, which is really helpful. The story itself is interesting enough. The dialog is repetitive which is really helpful in learning the language.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because the grammar and vocab are so simple the story is a bit lacking, but it is made up for by the fun of being able to easily understand an entire manga in Japanese.

[Prasad Jyothi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great first Japanese book for Language learners

So much repitition and simple uses. Furigana helps read the sparse kanji present in the book. Story is also good for the level.

[Paul A · Rating 5 out of 5]

日本語は難しい、でもこの本はむずかしいじゃないです。この本は素晴らしいです。私はカル、バンソム、スバさ、とナイツが好きだ。

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it again with some actual knowledge of Japanese in me. It feels good.