Kona's Big Adventure
The world can be a very big place for a small black cat.
Kona is the master of his domain, the comfortable home he shares with Ken, Natsumi, and fellow feline Mocha. However, when a grazing deer offers Kona the chance to explore the wide world beyond his yard, he can't pass up the opportunity. But has he bitten off more than he can chew? A thrilling adventure told in 45 episodes.
Episode 1
Kona introduces us to his roommates and explains how he got his name.
Notes: This article is narrated in a conversational style, featuring incomplete sentences, order reversals, and colloquialisms.
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Episode 2
Kona introduces us to his roommate Mocha.
Notes: This article is narrated in a conversational style, featuring incomplete sentences, order reversals, and colloquialisms.
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Episode 3
Kona describes one of the things he loves best in life.
Notes: This article is narrated in a conversational style, featuring incomplete sentences, order reversals, and colloquialisms.
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Episode 4
Kona thinks back to his early childhood.
Notes: This article contains good examples of things like musing about distant situations, the speech patterns of adolescents, and the so-called "suffering passive."
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Episode 5
Kona describes life at the animal shelter.
Notes: This episode contains great examples of expressions that are common in storytelling.
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Episode 6
Kona and his remaining siblings worry over the fate of the cats who are taken from the box. Or is it the ones who stay who are in danger?
Notes: This article provides explanations of several subtle grammar points and some nice storytelling vocabulary and expressions, like "breaking one's silence."
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Episode 7
Things start to look up when a woman takes an interest in Kona.
Notes: This article contains fun mimetic vocabulary like 'buruburu' and 'gorogoro,' along with great examples of storytelling patterns like "as if to do such-and-such."
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Episode 8
The woman decides on Kona despite her companion's protestations.
Notes: This article contains great vocabulary as well as natural dialog between several of the characters.
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Episode 9
As Kona leaves the shelter, his new companion reveals a shocking backstory.
Notes: This article features excellent vocabulary and a good example of dialog between two characters in a story.
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Episode 10
Kona recalls his first moments with his new humans.
Notes: This article contains great expressions like "compared to X," "X resembled Y," and "every square centimeter," plus several examples of the -te aru pattern, which functions a little like the passive in English.
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Episode 11
Kona begins to settle into his new life with Ken and Natsumi.
Notes: This shorter article nevertheless contains lots of interesting vocabulary and expressions, such as "completely losing oneself/being completely absorbed" in something and doing something "for the first time in one's life."
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Episode 12
A small gesture from Natsumi helps Kona get to sleep in his new home.
Notes: This article contains interesting notes, such as on the difference between two variants of a common word, and the "storytelling present tense," which we'll see more of as the story progresses.
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Episode 13
Kona and his companion finally get named on their first morning with Ken and Natsumi.
Notes: This episode contains great examples of storytelling devices, such as replacing the verb of saying or thinking with a simultaneously occurring action or emotional response after a quotation.
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Episode 14
Kona and Mocha begin to discover that their universe is bigger than they had imagined.
Notes: This episode contains excellent storytelling vocabulary and expressions.
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Episode 15
Kona and Mocha complete their transition to life with Ken and Natsumi.
Notes: This episode is replete with interesting vocabulary and expressions, such as light "pouring in" from windows, being so surprised that "one's eyes fall out" from one's head, and more.
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Episode 16
Several years having passed since the last episode, Kona catches us up with his daily routine, which involves keeping an eye on the animals that come to visit his yard.
Notes: This episode contains wonderful grammar and vocabulary, including expressions such as "stuffing one's cheeks" with food, doing something "in a delirium," and more.
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Episode 17
Kona's routine is interrupted when a giant visitor suddenly appears in his yard.
Notes: This episode introduces lots of good concepts, such as the use of parentheses to indicate internal dialog and great storytelling vocabulary.
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Episode 18
Kona and the visitor get to know each other.
Notes: This dialog-centric episode provides a lot of good practice at understanding conversation, including the use of the suffix -te kuru to put us in the viewpoint of one character and the use of gender-specific speech patterns.
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Episode 19
Lily makes herself at home as Kona has a realization.
Notes: This episode is alive with evocative words and expressions, such as "leaping through the air," "bursting out," "perpetrator," and more.
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Episode 20
Lily talks about the natural world as Kona listens in disbelief.
Notes: This episode contains more good examples of feminine speech, as well as vocabulary like "shaking one's head (in a negative response)."
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Episode 21
Kona is torn when Lily makes an intriguing offer.
Notes: This episode contains great vocab and expressions, such as "curiosity welling up" and "clinging on frantically."
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Episode 22
Kona takes Lily up on her offer and gets the ride of his life.
Notes: This exhilarating episode features good examples of the "storytelling present tense" and excellent vocabulary like "to cling on" and "to cut through."
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Episode 23
As Lily and Kona make their way toward Lily's home, Kona gets a chance to meet new friends.
Notes: This episode features dialog that showcases a few common male-female speech patterns and, as always, excellent vocabulary.
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Episode 24
Kona takes in the scene as the group stops for a moment on their way up the mountain.
Notes: This episode contains a few sentences with potentially challenging constructions, but the annotations should help you navigate them.
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Episode 25
Kona gets a startling lesson in the natural order of things when he inquires about the hawk he saw earlier.
Notes: This dialog-centric episode features excellent vocabulary, such as the brutally concise expression jakuniku-kyoushoku.
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Episode 26
Kona's education on the natural world continues.
Notes: This episode contains useful notes, such as an explanation for the no that sometimes appears before nara and two common abbreviations of the nakereba verb ending.
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Episode 27
As his first day in the wild draws to a close, Kona thinks about his old life.
Notes: This episode contains a lot of good vocab and grammar, including a discussion of the kurai that marks a trivial thing and a reminder on the usage of the adjectives natsukashii and koishii.
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Episode 28
As the deer prepare to spend the night, Lily tells Kona more about surviving in the wild.
Notes: This article contains many excellent vocabulary words and phrases, such as the way to talk about "taking turns."
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Episode 29
Nightfall brings new lessons to a wide-eyed Kona.
Notes: This episode contains dramatic vocabulary and expressions like "lying in wait," "howling like a wolf," and "swallowing something whole."
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Episode 30
An unexpected turn of events plunges the herd into a state of emergency.
Notes: This exciting episode contains such dramatic words as "(running) at full speed" and "chasing after" someone, plus useful grammar notes, as always.
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Episode 31
As the herd takes evasive action, Kona is thrown off balance.
Notes: This episode contains thrilling and evocative language, including expressions like "terrific speed," "it was right then (that it happened)," and more.
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Episode 32
Kona finds himself in a tight spot.
Notes: This episode contains such vocab and expressions as "fangs" and "growl," along with extensive notes.
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Episode 33
Kona reflects on the events of the past day and night and wonders what the future holds.
Notes: This shorter episode contains straightforward grammar and vocabulary.
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Episode 34
Kona evaluates his options as he decides what to do next.
Notes: This episode contains mostly straightforward vocab and grammar, but a few interesting grammar points are described with extended annotations.
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Episode 35
The situation at the tree is transformed by news from afar.
Notes: This episode contains lots of dramatic dialogue, including interesting expressions and vocabulary such as "nearly being killed," and "laughing mockingly."
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Episode 36
The one-eyed wolf provides some unsolicited knowledge.
Notes: This episode showcases gruff male speech and contains lots of grammar notes.
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Episode 37
The one-eyed wolf delivers terms—and a warning.
Notes: This episode is packed with vocabulary and expressions aplenty, such as "to overlook," "to be worth ," and "to well up."
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Episode 38
An unexpected visitor to the tree forces Kona into action.
Notes: This episode contains great vocabulary such as "slithering" and "targeting," along with several extended annotations.
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Episode 39
Kona nervously makes a new acquaintance.
Notes: This longer episode is replete with extended annotations.
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Episode 40
The large bird thanks Kona for protecting his eggs.
Notes: This episode contains great visual descriptions, such "shining blackly" and "riding gracefully on the wind," plus a breakdown of an expression that essentially means "what will be will be."
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Episode 41
Kona struggles to stay focused as he provides directions.
Notes: This episode contains a great depiction of speech in a senior-junior relationship.
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Episode 42
Kona and the bird cooperate to find Kona’s home, as a familiar presence spots them from below.
Notes: This relatively straightforward episode contains several fun imitative words, such as yuttari to and kyorokyoro.
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Episode 43
Kona exchanges parting words with the bird as Mocha looks on in disbelief.
Notes: This episode contains an example of you ni being used as an exhortation, and a common use of yoku to express amazement.
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Episode 44
Kona is greeted by very different reactions from the members of his home.
Notes: This heartwarming episode contains such useful vocabulary as "to be amazed" and "to hold in one’s arms."
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Episode 45
Kona reflects on what he has learned about the world and himself.
Notes: This episode contains excellent vocabulary and a few tricky expressions, but our breakdowns should help everything click in this important final episode.
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