I just finished up with both chapters. I would definitely agree that Chapter 23 took quite a bit more reading than Chapter 22. I think this is the most text-heavy chapter we’ve come across so far! It certainly took me a lot longer to get through than any of the previous chapters, but I definitely enjoyed the challenge of it!
I tried to narrow it down, but I just couldn’t. Every single panel here, I adored. Embarrassed Urushi was super cute. The thing that’s going to keep me around for this series is definitely going to be her expressions and the artwork more than anything else, since I’m fairly certain we aren’t going to get much in the way of major progress in the series (or if we do, it’ll be a long time coming given that the series is still running).
Takeru and Sakurako seem like they will be entertaining characters, for sure. I definitely hope to see more of them as the series goes on. This panel just stood out to me because it definitely seemed like the perfect representation of the pair.
I was wondering how you’d handle picking from that page.
At two chapters per week, we’ll finish up though volume nine by this time next year. You’ll wonder where all the time will have gone. (But luckily volume ten will be out by then!)
Chapter 23 had some longer sentences that were a bit of a doozy but I mostly could get through them pretty well!
Page 71/72
These two panels are connected but I’m not sure if I’m interpreting them correctly, especially the first one.
I’m interpreting “手伝うと言ったものの…” as ”The thing I would like to say is I’ll be helpful…" but I’m not really sure what the の is doing at the end, the three dots make me think that something is omitted so it wouldn’t be a sentence ender の, but even if it was I wouldn’t know the meaning! Gaah
Then やはり先輩と二人きりがいいなんて would be something like “the time we spend alone together is great” so I guess the two bubbles are somehow contrasting each other but I cannot wrap my head around it
Page 84
I don’t really get the feeling of this sentence “私はそういうのはいらない主義なので…”, is she saying something like “Not entering something like that (a club) is a doctrine of mine so…”, as in “Joining a club is against my philosophy so I won’t join”. It’s such a weird expression tho, and I’m not sure I’m getting it right.
And then his answer would be something like “You’re ok with saying that after forcing a person to join a club!”?
I was expecting we would get some sort of double date scenario in the 将棋部. but it seems it didn’t happen in the end, I guess the other member will be solved somehow similarly so the status quo is preserved.
A とは言うものの is a expression that means “Although (I) say that A …”. ものの is a somewhat formal particle that means “although” or “despite”, similar to のに. In this case 手伝うと言ったものの is using 言った in the past sense, so this would be “Despite having said that I would help”.
Ayumu already said he would help out in page 127 of volume 1; that’s another reason why this is not “I want to say that I’ll help”.
Page 84
Yes, Sakurako’s way of thinking is kind of eccentric (or more like, her whole self is eccentric I guess), so I agree this doesn’t sound very natural or normal; your translation looks correct to me.
Yes. よく言う is often used in a metaphorical sense that the person is saying something without shame; in the sense that it’s surprising how they can say something so readily despite how it contradicts something else they do or say.
Ohh, so it was a fixed expression, those will be the end of me… Also I don’t know why I assumed Ayumu said something about wanting to say that, no expression of desire was there .
I’m glad i sorta guessed what よく言う meant by context, I’m sad I didn’t find the definition myself hahaha
Same exact thoughts as sakuchu, that happy Ureshi panel is an easy standout.
This wasn’t too bad! A few panels I sat and worked through slowly, but I think I mostly figured it at all out. This week’s reinforcement standout is さえ within a conditional, something I’ve learned about through Satori Reader recently. I’m learning
Very last bubble in 25
I have the feeling I’m going to slap myself when I see the answer, but is going on in 見よがし?
I’m always loathe to try to answer questions because I don’t really trust myself, but I did actually look this one up and figured I could at least share what I found, right or wrong.
Last bubble
So I found a few different sources listing これ見よがし as some sort of whole phrase meaning “showy” or like, “ostentatious” kinda. And with the adverby (?) に we all know and love in there (I hope), I basically interpreted it as her describing/praising the sound he made by slamming the piece down. “Whoa, what a [great/loud/something idk] sound!!”
Would love if anyone more qualified can confirm or deny/explain more in depth, but yeah, those are my thoughts.
Thank you! It’s so hard sometimes for me to figure out where to start and end my search, so I left off これ (while trying any combination possible of the later characters, heh). Given how much particles can sometimes be dropped, I had totally written it off as a normal これ. When I think about, in that sort of use, それ probably makes more sense (given that he’s the one doing it and not her), but it’s so easy to see what I think is something simple and totally gloss over it.
Right?? I don’t know if there’s a more efficient way, but I’ve basically just started throwing whole sentences/bubbles into a search and seeing how it might naturally get broken up in results. I totally read it as a normal これ at first too. The fun of Japanese
がし: from かし, a suffix that used to be used to call someone’s attention to the sentence
It’s like saying, 「これを見てほしい」. “I want you to look at this.”
Adding the particle に to mark this as the “destination”, and we have a いい音 (good sound) toward the phrase, “I want you to look at this.”
Essentially, it’s a good sound that’s conveying “I want you to look at this”, which basically means Ayumu’s trying to attract attention (being showy) with the loud sound.
And after his attempt on the third page of the chapter, I think he deserves to show off.
(Sorry about the really poor explanation. I never know how to properly talk about に.)
I had to do some extra searching, but I think I get it –
I’m definitely not familiar with かし / がし . Tried looking it up for further reading but struggled to find anything in grammar resources. I guess it’s this? Jisho.org: Japanese Dictionary Actually, “as if to say” helps a lot to understand how you get to ostentatious, just turning it into “as if to say ‘look at this!’”
Well, I did a lot of searching to make sure I wasn’t being a fool in thinking you had the imperative wrong, and I only now learned apparently みよ is a valid imperative form for みる. Seems it usually comes across as older, or more like a version for writing, when used on its own? I only knew the みろ version, so that was another stumbling block.
This has helped me learn several things at once, thanks a bunch.
Just wrapped up the two chapters. There wasn’t much in the way of anything too confusing this go around. I think the biggest lesson for me this week was learning that っス is a contracted/very slangy です. I haven’t run into that one just yet, but it was pretty intuitive from context (though I’d be curious to know why it’s written in katakana). I actually guessed that before looking it up to confirm. While I haven’t actually looked too far into Way of the Househusband yet, I get the feeling that this is a form that will become quite familiar when that book club begins, though I could be wrong. I just get “rough, but humble” vibes from it, which feels very Yakuza-y.
Story Comments
ニコニコ Ureshi is definitely the easy standout for Chapter 24, but I would also posit that I enjoyed this panel nearly as much. Ayumu being totally frozen gave me a good laugh, and after the previous weeks’ chapters, in which I had a whole page of embarrassed Urushi to choose from, I can certainly relate to the, “What do?” mentality.
As far as other standout panels, there wasn’t a whole lot from Chapter 24. I think most of the enjoyable bits came from the dialogue more than anything; it’s a bit interesting. In spite of a healthy amount of dialogue, both of these chapters only had a couple words that I felt I had to double-check myself with. Otherwise, the vocabulary was pretty easy this go-around.
I think, besides sheer determination and blank-slated stoicism, this is the most emotion we’ve seen from Ayumu. Or at least, it’s stood out the most for me so far. It was nice.
I thought about mentioning that actually! I’ve started reading Neko Ramen recently, and that manga is absolutely full of the っス contraction. I inferred the meaning the same way, but for what it’s worth, in there it is also presented in katakana, I’m pretty sure every single time. Might just be the way that particular usage is usually written.
Hmm. I wonder if it indicates that you should pronounce the す sound more strongly than you would in です？ Total conjecture and a random guess, there, but since katakana is often used for emphasis, I do wonder if that’s the case…
I also haven’t heard the usage yet (or I have, but didn’t notice it), so maybe it is a case where the “u” sound is slightly dropped, like in です/ます, etc., but in reading, I found the “mental” voice in my head pronounced it strongly as “su”.
I definitely hope to see more of them as the series goes on. This panel just stood out to me because it definitely seemed like the perfect representation of the pair.
