Welcome to the アオのハコ (Blue Box) Book Club Volume 1 discussion thread! You can find the home thread here. Feel free to discuss chapters, ask questions, and share resources on the volume here.
Enjoyed it a lot! It felt a lot more playful/joke-y than I remembered it being when reading it in english, especially with some language stuff like @ChristopherFritz mentioned (ty for that Maggie-sensei link too, i was staring at that panel for a bit not quite understanding)
Did not expect to read the week’s portion in one day… This was a happy accident. I also didn’t expect the turn of events:D. Taiki is hilarious (charmingly dumb). I am so happy I can understand most of it!
I also read week 2’s section in one go today. I really do love this manga. Thank you @rokon for doing a book club for it. I guess otherwise I would have never read it.
Week 2 thoughts/spoilers
Chinatsu is going to stay at Taikis home now. I really didn’t expect this turn of events, too. I am really curious how this will unfold now.
I love the interaction between those two.
And I totally sympathized with Taiki after their first 1on1. He looked like I would do (or at least how I would feel) after such a match
Was a little bizarre to read the rest of the first chapter today in japanese, and then immediately get a notification that chapter 99 was out in english and go read that
Definitely still enjoying re-reading it! I have some more specific thoughts but I’ll wait until we’re further along to see how they hold up + not spoil anything
@muromuro and I had a lot of fun translating it because sometimes we didn’t understand something and interpreted it in our own way… But we still understood about 90%, which, I think, is great!
page 75 question
I didn’t really understand what they are saying… I mean, thinking here!
It looks like both sets of thought bubbles belong to Kyou
So put together, with commas added for better legibility, we get:
……ま、たしかに、結局、自分に素直なやつが強いよな。
Which is something like, “…Well, certainly, in the end, people who are honest/straightforward with themselves are strong.”
If there’s a specific part of it that’s giving you trouble, I can try and explain it
(Update: Whoops I got it wrong at first; it being separated across speech bubbles made me think the が was “but” but it finally clicked a few re-reads later that it’s the subject marker. This should be right though)
(Update the second: I was thinking that since you don’t necessarily need だ/です after a noun or な-adj. at the end of a sentence, at least casually, it wouldn’t necessarily need to be there before “but” since it’s joining two sentences, but I think it does always need to be there then, actually [that けど would be more likely than が aside]. Thus, it has to be the subject marker.)
Week 4 finished!
Hina is so cute! She literally reminds me of a character from my future game :,3. @muromuro and I could understand about 95% this time! I am so happy because of this. We are advancing in our Japanese journey^o^
I loved that we get to know a little bit more about Hina. She always seems so cheerful, and yet the situation, where she could only look at delicious food but not eat it, felt somehow really sad. We also don’t know, whether she is doing the rythmic gymnastics (because of which she has to do this diet) on her own accord or whether her parents force her - if I understood correctly her father was also a national gymnastics athlete?
And the end of the chapter…as if seeing chinatsu senpai talking and walking with another boy is the end of the world I am curious how this will continue in the next chapter. I hope Taiki (is that the name of the main guy? I am so bad with names ) won’t get in a crisis over this…
Week 5 finished!
The chapter wasn’t too difficult! I learned many words that were used in it just recently.
Spoilers and thoughts
Hina is so cute, but as @Nicole216 said, it was a bit sad to see her not being able to eat tasty foods! I hope she doesn’t starve herself.
I am so curious what’s gonna happen next and I can’t wait for the next week!
Feel a little bad that I haven’t had much to say, but things are still kinda warming up plot-wise and haven’t had much trouble or questions with anything. Just reading along and vibing in parallel with everyone
During the latest voting for the Beginner Book Club, I became aware of this club that had already started for one of the books I was hoping would win. I finally decided to join, and I’m glad I did. The story is too cute
I bought the book yesterday and liked it so much that I’ve already caught up! I look forward to reading with you all!
I am curious how this will continue in the next chapter. I hope Taiki (is that the name of the main guy? I am so bad with names 
) won’t get in a crisis over this…
