It is definitely an odd placement visually… Maybe someone else might have an idea why it would have been placed like that?
I actually just went to see how the anime handled it and the line is spoken word for word identical…except that they appear to have dropped that こう. So no help there… 
The translations we’ve come to seem to generally agree with the Crunchyroll subs otherwise, though.
Good lord, I am having some serious reading comprehension problems with this thread/this week’s pages. I think I need to get some more sleep or something…
The number of times I’ve been reading something (in any language!) and either been so tired or so distracted that I re-read the same line 2, 5, 10+ times and still not registered what it was saying… 
Sleep definitely does help, though!
Week 2: Chap 6, Pt 2
We’ve now reached week 2 of the Card Captor Sakura Offshoot Book Club!
Please see the home post for details on the week’s reading.
Discussion Tips:
For some of us, it may be your first time participating in a multi-week book club thread, so here are some special tips:
If you’re caught up to the current week’s reading (or beyond), just keep posting as if this was a new week’s thread.
Just remember to add spoiler tags when discussing details in the book, even if you’re discussing things from previous weeks. After all, readers of previous weeks will be using this thread too!
If you’re currently on a previous week’s reading, don’t worry! You’re still welcome to discuss and ask questions about what you’re currently reading. Before posting, please check out what people have already posted about your week’s reading. (The schedule in the home post contains quick links to each week’s conversation.) You may find someone has already answered your question!
If you do have new questions to ask about a previous week’s reading, I recommend mentioning the week number to avoid any confusion.
Happy discussing!
Participation Poll:
Alright! To kick things off, I’ve read up to page 30 and filled in some of the vocabulary sheet as well.
The adults and teens just keep talking in this chapter! There’s lots of vocab here I didn’t know before. I love how colorful Tomoyo’s mom’s language is – I didn’t expect her to be so explosive towards Sakura’s dad… that being said, I would also be pissed if a teacher married my cousin while she was in high school and then she died 
Took a laid back approach to the reading this week but that said…
I really enjoyed the latter half of this chapter!! Sakura’s parent’s relationship is definitely… questionable at best (it’s downright ****** up actually but I guess lets just let that slide?) but that aside, I enjoyed the bickering between the two of them, and especially tomoyo’s mom’s choice to run the race as well was pretty funny. I actually found Sakura’s brother’s explanation to maybe be the most difficult part of this chapter Looking forward to next weeks reading - I’ll try to get back to a more serious/active reading approach, just been feeling a bit unmotivated as of late.
Yeah let’s just let that slide. I do hope we don’t get too many teacher student stuff.
I was at a bookstore and used that opportunity to read the french translation of that dialogue to check my understanding. There was a note at the bottom of the page: in japan, teachers are well respected and their wages are higher than in France.. I was like “I fail to see the point you’re trying to make…”.
The way she switched character was actually quite fun.
Haha I feel like that just makes it worse. There’s not really any defending it tbh - does anyone have the English version or remember if this is how their relationship is presented there? It’s kind of funny because this is the sort of thing that i’d normally flag as a symptom of a story written by a man, but CLAMP is a woman writer group right?
The Nelvana dub of the English anime (which is probably the one you saw as a child, unless you live in south east asia) cuts out all relationships, not specifically targeting this one. The English manga translation is much closer to the original, as is the Animax English dub of the anime (which is the one that’s on most streaming services these days).
I remember a meme about this a few years ago that sums up the series’s perspective on relationships:
Unfortunately, this also means there’s one other relationship in this series that is going to seem very questionable too (especially with the epilogue too, though I’m not sure if the epilogue was anime-original or not), but I think the series is mostly given a pass for it as they’re not the main character relationships and “Japan in the 90s, what are you going to do?”
I think another thing that gets the anime a pass is it’s for the time very progressive dealing with same-sex attraction in a kids anime. These days it’s all very much a “implications and overlookable statements” that would probably be written off as yaoi bait for the most prominent example (except it does get resolved!).
The sad thing is, it’s probably the gay relationship that prompted the gutting of all relationship stories, and not the age gap relationships.
And yes, CLAMP is an all-woman writer group.
I do sense something romantic going on between Toya and Yukito (something in the way Toya looks at Yukito when he eats and the fact that I don’t see how they’d be pals given how different they are).
But who knows ? We’ll see.
Week 3: Chap 7, Pt 1
It’s a new chapter, folks! Check out the home post for details on the week’s reading.
Happy discussing!
Participation Poll:
Well, another book club, another week behind again. I’m planning on finishing up to pg 40 today, but I’m taking a short break at the moment to post translations so far because my neck hurts from bending over reading/handwriting. I appreciate any feedback anyone is willing to give on my translations.
Week 2 has been one of those weeks where I feel like I’m leaning really hard on jisho/ichi.moe and I’m questioning if I’m actually reading Japanese 
I struggled with the multi-part sentences and all the .まだ。。ない conjugations.
On age gap…this is usually a topic that leaves a sour taste in my mouth. That being said, in the context of the story CLAMP has written it really feels to me like a young girl’s fantasy. I would be lying if I didn’t admit to having serious crushes on teachers and other older men at that age. It feels less like the typical male-written “school girls are hot” perspective and more like a young girl’s prince-on-a-white-horse fantasy (except it’s a kind, caring, intelligent older husband).
Also, it cracks me up how dedicated to the bit CLAMP is with all these flower-based names. Genuinely made me smile every time I translated a name to discover another flower name.
Yes! Re-reading chapter one I’m definitely picking up more things, like Sakura getting hit in the head with the baton! The 「ほら！」makes me think of something like, “Look! Just what I was talking about!” Or, “See, just as I was saying!” type of feeling to it!
Or the scene where they’re eating in the park, something I didn’t notice at first, Yukito is the only one in a feeding frenzy, Sakura notices and mimics Yukito and starts eating frantically… Sakura seems to be saying “Te-he-he, am I the only one eating?!” 
And finally, this panel, I totally missed what looks like two kids falling or tripping? In the lower-left corner, I’m not sure what’s going on there!
I wonder if こう is more like this definition?:
interjection used as a verbal pause - uh; er; mm; well
Like not really adding any meaning which might be why it’s not in the anime? Like I’m imagining the scene unfolding and the older brother is watching and narrating the scene (taking a pause to watch?). I’m just guessing, also I haven’t seen the anime.
Thanks for the translations, @Dimsumwitch! They look pretty good to me. A couple of thoughts:
I think it’s more “but” than “because” So “I often hear things about you from Tomoyo, but I still don’t know your last name.” And then “Could you please tell it to me?” would sound more natural.
I’ve got 27 ( 二十七際) for the age when 撫子さん died. That fits with the age gap for her kids.
The “へらへらして” is confusing, but along with the くせに at the end of the previous balloon, I think it’s “in spite of [letting her die], you’re grinning foolishly”.
And I think the next one is “Because I promised Nedeshiko I wouldn’t cry”. The “撫子さんと” at the end is who he promised. (I’ve seen this kind of phrase inversion before but I’m not sure what the nuance is.)
People fall over in manga or anime when something ridiculous or goofy happens, it’s an old gag. The idea is they’re so shocked that they fall over.
In this case, I imagine the kids are surprised that Tomoyo is such a big fan of Sakura that she would film a video of her running. It’s probably especially surprising considering the manga came out in the 90s. Video cameras were expensive back then!
The same thing happens on page 57, this time because Sakura is shocked that Tomoyo cares as much as she does about forgetting to take a video.
Last batch of translations for week 2. I got screwed up with page numbers somewhere. Moving forward I might just stick to my AE page numbers because I find it really hard to get them matched up with OG for some reason.
Thanks for the translations, @Dimsumwitch. It made me look over some stuff I hadn’t been sure of a second time. My comments/questions:
I’d actually intended to ask about the わけ balloon myself. I was taking わけ as “reason”, as in “the reason your dad and and Tomoyo’s mom know each other”. Then I translated the whole thing as “Is it better to ask the reason? Or is it better to be quiet?” But I’m pretty unsure about that. I know “ほうがいい” as being used for giving advice, so not sure about its use here in questions.
Another difficult page. I’m just going to put down what I get in hopes someone who understands better can explain.
“Mom was the only daughter of a famous Zaibatus family or something.” Unclear on かなんか; maybe more like “I guess”.
“Father was still a brand new teacher” (Basically the same.)
“Even though she knew there would be hardships, she got married at 16.” Could be they, subject is not given in the Japanese. The previous balloon has the father as subject, the next has the mother…
“She had a part time job modelling which going to school” (Basically the same.)
“But I don’t particularly mean that was the reason she got sick”. Very confusing, I’ll break down what I’ve got:
| 日本語 | My guess |
|---|---|
| 別に | not particularly |
| 理由で病気になった | the reason she got sick |
| わけじゃねー | I don’t mean that; ねー=ない |
| ん | emphasis? |
| だけど | but |
“At Mother’s parent’s house [there were?] various [things?]”
Next, ちっちぇえ might be ちっちゃい (small). And I think the 可愛がる at the end is a verb meaning “to dote on; to cherish”. So something like “Sonomi-san, from the time she was small, cherished Mom.” (Not sure about the last て.) “From the time when she was small” fits with “From Kindergarten” earlier (OG 27).
“It seems she was the one most opposed to the two of them getting married”
The handwriting is “まあいまも ゆるしちゃーだろ あのようしじゃ”
Maybe “Even now, it seems she won’t forgive him. That tone of voice…”
I was thinking “She always seems happy” (in the photos). Another missing subject in the Japanese, so you could be right.
Was typing something but I overall agree with @Zeggpold . That sentence about 実家 remains unclear.
Thank you for taking the time to describe this! 
Too funny!
