My Bookshelf Part II

While I've never been a huge fan of video game systems. Portable gaming always intrigued me since the original Nintendo Game Boy came on the market. So when the DS Lite, with it's touch screen came on the scene, I had to pick one up. Especially, when I saw all the Japanese learning software that was available in Japan. That was several years ago, and nowadays the amount of titles DS software for the learning market is huge. The dual screens with touch sensitivity makes for a great interactive learning experience.

As for learning kanji, there are loads of titles out there, and while I don't claim to have tried them all, I fell in love with one pretty much immediately: Nazotte Oboeru Otona no Kanji Renshuu (now Kanzen Ban). There's nothing flashy about it, no cool animations or characters, just down to earth learn'n. That's the point, isn't it?

The interface is quite simple. Your top screen has the questions, and the bottom has the drawing pad and controls. Character recognition is smooth and fast, with only a few hiccups with wrong characters.

Playing basically focuses around daily training exercises, where you practice a given set of kanji - 10 at a time. The kanji are presented in short phrases and you practice both reading and writing. To progress in the game, just test yourself. A selection of characters are selected from the level, and you'll be asked to read and write them. When you finish the game, you should be familiar with all the Jouyou kanji.

The thing I like about this title, is that the characters on screen are quite large. Other kanji titles have quite small characters, so it's difficult to view some of the more complex characters. Combined with a simple user friendly interface and all the learning tools you need, there's no reason look any further than Nowpro's Ontona no Kanji Renshuu Kanzen Ban.

Order your's now from beNippon and have it on your doorstep in no time.