ゆるキャン△ Vol. 4 🏕

[Belthazar]

This week’s campsite is Mount Fuji YMCA Global Eco Village - though for anyone planning on bringing their own Chikuwa, unfortuntely pets are forbidden (aside from guide dogs and other service animals). And (spoiler alert), they’re staying here for basically the rest of the volume, so I guess that’s gonna be it for real-world location research for a while…

The farm sweets place that Aki and Aoi visit is Makaino Farm.

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So, one of the reasons I’m not a fan of Toba-sensei is the way she immediately gets passed-out drunk the moment Aki says she can have a drink.

Page 37, a fun fact: this is the first time in the series that Saito’s given name has been used. Bonus fact: Ena is a city in Gifu prefecture (it’s adjacent to Nakatsugawa, where the Magome-Tsumago Nakasendo walk is located).

Page 44 first panel, does 玄関 refer to the entrance to the admin building, or somehow metaphorically to the entrance of the campground as a whole?

[mintyfresh]

These spacious campgrounds are pretty wild, but I’ve also only been to campgrounds in California and Washington, which tend to be forested and/or rocky. This wide view of other campers seems a tad too… open for my personal preference.

But I suppose that may be why the girls only ever get shown as camping without anyone else around? I seem to recall a number of other people when Rin and Nadeshiko went on their first proper camping trip together, but iirc the focus was mostly on them and left other people out. I’d imagine other campers just mind their own business and it’s not really awkward to be relatively close out in the open like that.

@Belthazar

So, one of the reasons I’m not a fan of Toba-sensei is…

I totally understand being irked by Toba-sensei for that reason. If I were to evaluate her as an actual, real life person yeah she’s pretty irresponsible and self-centered. But, suspending my disbelief for the manga, I vibe with her really hard just because I love bundling up, getting drunk, and gorging on camp food.

[mintyfresh]

These tiny little stick figure kids were unexpected lol

Also really cool to see smores (and their etymology) in Japanese and have it retain the context of being a camp-snack.

Rin’s quip of 「スモアというよりモアモアだな」is pretty clever, I love it.

[Belthazar]

@mintyfresh

Also really cool to see smores (and their etymology) in Japanese and have it retain the context of being a camp-snack.

I admit I found it a teeny bit curious that the country of origin isn’t mentioned at all.

[mintyfresh]

Makes me wonder how well known smores are. I’m assuming since it gets its own little panel, not very? Nadeshiko seemed completely taken by surprise, and it’d make sense that Expert Camper Shimarin would know about it. Then again, it might be something that people who camp would be aware of, since a lot of the gear breakdown that happens covers fairly standard items and concepts.

There seems to be a lot of loan words and camping gear from other countries that I don’t think ever mention nation of origin, so it doesn’t strike me as super odd that they gloss over it for smores.

[Naphthalene]

21 - クリキャンはじまるよ !!

Start date: November 7th

• I’m reading along
• I’m taking my time
• I’m dropping out

[Belthazar]

As threatened, there’s nothing new on the real world locations front this week.

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Page 66, Nadeshiko’s use of オーキードーキー intrigues me a bit. I know “okay” has made it into fairly common usage in Japanese, but when did “okey dokey” make it over there?

Page 81, one of the changes they made for the drama is that instead of this whole sequence of Chikuwa chasing Nadeshiko then Nadeshiko chasing Chikuwa and then everyone playing frisbee (presumably because of the whole “working with children and animals” thing, ya know?), instead Nadeshiko loses track of Chikuwa, and while trying to find him, she finds Hiroshi instead. At which point she steals his catchphrase.

[2OC3aOdKgwSGlxfz]

World’s cutest … sneeze!? ぶしゅ seems to be used for splashes of water (among other liquids), but not sure if that’s how it’s being used here.

[mintyfresh]

I feel like I’ve heard “okey dokey” specifically said in other series? English turns of phrases and exclamations seem to have made their way into pop-culture lexicons at least. For Nadeshiko in particular, she’s already shown herself to be kinda… all over the place when it comes to her references and sense of humor haha.

Also god, wrap me up like Toba-sensei, it’s cold and windy out now.

[Naphthalene]

A tad late (from the point of view of my timezone), but

22 - 特別な晩ごはん

Start date: November 14th

• I’m reading along
• I’m taking my time
• I’m dropping out

[Belthazar]

Looks like there’s two options for the nearest convenience store to the campsite: a FamilyMart that’s 4km to the south, and a 7-Eleven that’s 4.2km to the north. Since we can see Mount Fuji on her right in the final panel, I guess she’s gone for option B. At the scooter speed limit of 30km/h, that should take 8 minutes each way, making 20 minutes for a round trip pretty reasonable.

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Page 94, why is it that 椎茸 and 松茸 are written in kanji, but まいたけ is written in hiragana? Also, is there any etymological connection between 竹 and 茸? (P.S. To anyone wondering, マッシュルーム is the generic western common white mushroom.)

Not… not much else to comment on this week.

[ms12345]

Hey guys, I was keeping up with the vocab sheet up until last week but I’ve reached a point in the semester where I really don’t think I can afford that time. I’m really sorry that I didn’t say anything about it before and that I can’t continue. Looking forward to coming back to y’all once I’m on the other side.

[mintyfresh]

No sweat! It was definitely helpful but gotta focus on real life stuff. Good luck with the rest of your semester!

For myself, I’m taking the same approach that I’m using with the Kiki’s Delivery Service book club and just shooting for a general understanding rather than parsing out every single line I don’t know. Pleasantly surprised how much I can read now. Occasional vocab still trips me up, but Yuru Camp thankfully uses these kinds of words fairly often so a holistic approach with learning has worked rather well.

Me and my housemates have been eating a lot of hot pot, but seeing it in this manga makes me want it more lmao

Also, I love these in-between illustrations:

[Belthazar]

@mintyfresh

Me and my housemates have been eating a lot of hot pot, but seeing it in this manga makes me want it more lmao

With A5 grade meat?

[mintyfresh]

god I wish

[mintyfresh]

Seeing the girls in Santa outfits and the word クリスマス reminds me that I’m still amazed at how completely Japan has embraced Christmas as a holiday. Visiting during December to see Japanese Christmas is def on the bucket list, which would’ve happened this year if it weren’t for… well, everything.

But yeah, it’s neat to see how they still get the basic tenets of it down, given the reasoning for making sukiyaki. I wonder if Japanese kids ever take part in the whole “asking Santa for presents” thing?

[Belthazar]

@mintyfresh

Visiting during December to see Japanese Christmas is def on the bucket list, which would’ve happened this year if it weren’t for… well, everything.

I visited in December 2017. I made a point of going to see Sanders Claus.

@mintyfresh

But yeah, it’s neat to see how they still get the basic tenets of it down

Well… the basic tenets of one aspect of it.

The サンタクレンジャー panel was funny, though. Especially Rin almost but not quite getting into it.

[mintyfresh]

While I missed Sanders Claus, me and buddies still managed to get a picture of him in his yukata (which I’m pretty sure is that very same statue). I’ll have to catch him another year…

And Rin’s reluctant compliance will never not be funny haha.

[Naphthalene]

Even later than usual… sorry about that.

23 - 12 月 25 日

Start date: November 21st

• I’m reading along
• I’m taking my time
• I’m dropping out

[Belthazar]

So, this chapter was adapted to the final episode of the anime… 's first season, the first episode since the very… uh… first episode to only cover one chapter of the manga. That said, extra sequences were added to fill out the runtime - one at the start that’s a flash forward to what the characters are up to ten years into the future… which is revealed to actually be a story that Nadeshiko is telling the others while waiting for Rin to get back from shopping, and one added to the end that’s kind of an “and the story continues…” sequence showing Nadeshiko returning to Lake Motosu to try solo camping for the first time, and encountering Rin there. Either way, after this point, we’re heading into new territory… until the next season comes out, anyway.

Is anyone else as sad as I am that we never got to see Sukiyaki Episode III: Cheese Pasta?

Page 132, in the anime, right before Aki pulls out the tablet, she describes the concept of outdoor film festivals, which is illustrated this shot, which honestly looks to me like Back to the Future drawn in the style of Astro Boy. Anyone else concur?

Page 135, any idea if 原付の旅 is a reference to a real TV series?

Page 146, Love that callback to the first volume. まぶしい…