To add to what @NicoleIsEnough mentioned, at the end of volume 2, page 141. there’s a scene where they discuss Chito’s age, and Chinatsu is surprised by how old Chito is, so she says:
Which confirms that she’s actually female. Can’t remember if in any previous volumes her gender was stated more explicitly…
自分で作った方が…
Is 方 here used as jisho 5. “indicates one side of a comparison,” or as “person”? It should be read as かた for “person,” not ほう, right? What’s the other side of the comparison then? “It’s cheaper this way than not”?
ch19, p8:
In my version there is even furigana that says ほう, so not sure what your question is here?
And no, it does not mean person; 自分で作った人 would be my child, I guess (a person that I have made myself)
ほうが is not necessarily a comparison in the classical sense, it can also mean “better” without directly being compared to something. In this case, the “better” thing is what comes after it: 色々な工夫できる
ch19, p12:
sorry, don’t know about that one, but from the sentence I’d expect it to be が.
I know this one’s already been answered, but I have a different interpretation that I wanted to put out there.
The noun 方 can refer to one of two options. Since 方 is modified by the clause 「自分で作った」 (“made by oneself”), the other option is “not made by oneself”, in this case store-bought.
The subject of the sentence (which is marked by the が particle), is 「自分で作った方」, or “the self-made option (as opposed to store-bought option)”.
This sentence ends in a form of the verb する (できる), meaning that the sentence tells an action the subject is doing. The action is 「工夫できる」, “able to devise (your own design)”. And of course this verb is modified by 色々, “various”.
Adding in a few words based on context: “The self-made option allows you to devise various designs. (Whereas the store-bought option, you aren’t able to devise various designs.)”
I might translate it as, “When you make it yourself, you can be more creative.”
This won’t specifically answer your question, but it’ll show you instances where the particles で + の get used:
That’s essentially the meaning I took from it. Chinatsu was asking what the measuring is for, but rather than spoil the surprise, Makoto is simply telling her to look forward to (it) coming up later.
Ahh, I can finally vote “I’m reading along.” Feels good man. Already almost half done with this issue, but I have no question so far. Will finish the rest tomorrow.
キモいと気持ちいいの間みたいな
“It’s like a feeling in between good and bad,” right?
Edit (same page): I don’t think that まとめて is used as the expression まとめて (like it says in the vocab sheet), but as 纏める. But none of the translations seem to quite fit here. I think the right translation would be “to form,” as in “form four equal patties” or something.