Kana de Manga Special Edition: Japanese Sound FX

Kana de Manga Special Edition: Japanese Sound FX is a delightful read by Glenn Kardy and Chihiro Hattori. Not only is is cute and engaging, but it really helped advance both my Japanese language study and my understanding of the Japanese culture. The book is sort of a follow-up to the original Kana de Manga book, so if you haven't read that one you should probably start there (unless, like me, you already have a basic grasp of both hiragana and katakana).

The book is divided into five sections with different categories of sound effects (animal, human, mechanical, nature, and other) which makes it handy to search for a specific sound effect (if for some reason you need to know it). I also thought that the layout of the book made it easy to make your own flashcards of sounds that you want to learn or work on (which I did).

As a reference for fun sound effects or a motivator to practice, practice, practice your Nihongo, this book is great! A great gift idea for anyone interested in Japanese language or manga/anime (and yes, that is a hint to my family and friends ^_^).