Yeah, I felt we must have been missing something, as why would Fuuka use some obscure language-of-flowers reference to Yotsuba, a young child whose grasp of plain Japanese is sometimes tenuous? And Yotsuba not even blink at it?
But if a native speaker doesn’t get it either, then I guess it’s meant to be obscure… maybe Fuuka just trying to be clever and show off, and Yotsuba ignores it because she’s so focused on her task (or maybe because she’s used to grown-ups saying stuff she doesn’t understand). Or something.
The first few pages of this chapter were rough for me; I had to look up a fair amount of stuff, and ask several questions here… including this one, which turns out to not have a satisfactory answer. But the rest of the chapter was easy and fun. And yeah, the contrast at the end between what’s happening at home, and what’s happening where Asagi is, was really well done.
That is interesting. I’ve been toying with the idea of adopting a kanji version of at least my first name (Joe) — perhaps 浄, as used by Jo Kanazawa (金沢浄), a Japanese soccer player. So I’d put ストラウト浄 on my business cards (with furigana)… and then maybe get myself a 浄 T-shirt!
“Chapter” headings: 第十三話 uses 話 not 章. Is this unique(ish) to よつばと! because each chapter has its own separate plot (they are each a story / 話 unto themselves), or is it more genre-related? I tried to look up this usage of 第___話 in jisho but didn’t get too far.
Based on a quick and non-exhaustive survey (cause I got bored ) of all the Japanese manga I have on hand, 話 is most definitely the usual. “Chapter” is just the word we happen to use in English, not an actual direct translation.
Considering I have four manga magazine volumes, I’d say that’s a sufficient sample size.
Yeah, some manga writers like to be quirky. Ditto for anime episode numbers. Just flipping through my Young Ace, Nana Maru San Batsu uses “Question” (in English), Gunbuster uses “Stage” (also in English), while Spec and MPD Psycho both use “File” (English again). For the remainder, 話 is in the majority.
Weridly, ほっ健室 uses わっ, written exactly like that.
Isuca uses 話, but also uses the formal number kanji 弐拾弐 (= 二十二)
@Rowena 話 is just the counter for stories (and similar things). That’s why it’s used most often. But I’ve seen a whole bunch of different counters used, depending on the content of the story. For example, I just checked out Chihayafuru, and not surprisingly it uses 首, the counter for poems.
Well, it’s also “our”. As in “our household” (in the sense of うち as 家). But it’s also a polite feminine way of saying “I”. That particular usage is gradually falling out of favour, though.
In any case, I get most of this chapter. Just one thing, the second half of the mother’s speech bubble in page 171 panel 1, I understand the meaning, but not quite the specific grammar. 魔除けか何かの怪獣
Are you referring to the か? I broke it down as “or”:
魔除け か 何か の 怪獣
まよけ か なにか の かいじょう
[a charm against evil spirits] [OR] [something] [possession/adjective phrase] [monster]
(While referring to the Shiisaa doll, the mother describes it as)
A monster that’s a charm against evil spirits or something.
But the rest of the chapter was easy and fun. And yeah, the contrast at the end between what’s happening at home, and what’s happening where Asagi is, was really well done.
