ね and ネ
Pronunciation
“NE” sound in "Necktie".
ね Memorization Story
For the hiragana ね imagine a 7/11 employee. They are wearing a necktie, in the shape of a 7, but it is covered with pictures of NOODLES. And it is SUPER long, dragging on the floor, just LIKE a noodle.
We will be seeing the left side of this hiragana a few more times later on, and will use the 7/11 employee with the necktie shaped like a 7 in those as well, so try to really imagine him here now.
ネ Memorization Story
The katakana is an image of his boss's arm holding him out the window upside down for coming to work with a noodle for a necktie. Yes. His boss is a shark.
Writing
The left side of this hiragana will show up in a few others, so you’ll get used to it pretty fast despite its complexity. After drawing the vertical line, just draw a 7 in the middle of it, and then slice right back up through the vertical line.
The katakana ネ is actually based on the left side of the hiragana, or rather the kanji that they are both based on. So you’ll be seeing this a lot in the future as well, when you start learning kanji!