コンビニ人間: Week 5 Discussion

[Sylph]

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Week 5

Start Date: July 27th
Previous Thread: Week 4
Next Chapter: Week 6

Reading:

End Page (PB)	End Page (HB)	End %	End Phrase	Pages
62	55	36%	唇を拭った。	13

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Week 5 session (in your timezone): Sunday, August 4, 2019 12:30 PM TZ

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[seanblue]

Funny how on page 52 the new guy comments that the morning routine is 宗教みたい. I was just thinking how the routine seemed very cult-like.

Does anyone know if this is actually a thing?

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Later on page 52, what image is all the stuff with 膜 supposed to evoke?

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Also, what does フェイスアップ mean? It keeps coming up and I can’t figure it out.

[Belerith]

フェイスアップ

It’s this app, I assume! Google play link

It’s called faceapp, and let’s you change your selfie. Apparently you can make yourself smile also, change age and hairstyle and the such.

Edit: I haven’t read it yet, so if it doesn’t make sense I don’t know.

[seanblue]

Uh definitely not haha. That app was the first thing I saw on google too.

[Belerith]

Now I’m curious guess i know what I’m doing tonight then!

Edit: Google pics show these weird face lifting applications, like massagers and masks. Does that fit better?

[Kyasurin]

I don’t know for sure, but I assumed they arrange all the items with the label at the front…? “Face up”?

Got to be closer than the previous guess

[mrahhal]

Later on page 52, what image is all the stuff with 膜 supposed to evoke?

He laughed and snorted out of his nose, forming some kind of moisturized “membrane” (snot) for a moment until it burst out. Conveying that he laughed in a weird constrained way I guess. And Keiko being struck with it because she was thinking how such a long/thin/dry body can form moisture after all (for some reason it comes out all sorts of wrong in English when I try to describe it).

Also, what does フェイスアップ mean? It keeps coming up and I can’t figure it out.

That means setting up the product displays in the store.
That means bringing out the products on the shelves to the front (this is more accurate).

Edit: I found this if it helps:

フェイスアップ(商品を前に出す)

[Belerith]

My, how context changes things.

[mrahhal]

I checked the new names in the audio book.

悠太郎：ゆうたろう
麻美：まみ

[mrahhal]

The last couple sentences scared me to death

[2OC3aOdKgwSGlxfz]

This long sentence is giving me lots of trouble… can someone please lend me a paw?

At 30%

白羽さんの紙で作ったような乾燥しきった皮膚の裏側にも、膜をはるような水分があるのだなと、私がその膜が割れるのに気をとられていると 、

白羽さんの紙で作ったような乾燥しきった皮膚の裏側にも => Is that きった、切る in past tense? If that is so, then is 乾燥しきった using the grammar expression with きる at the end meaning completely, as in “completely dry”?
Why is the 裏側 mentioned here? Is that because our MC is looking inside 白羽さん’s nose (from what I understand of the sentence before this)?

膜をはるような水分があるのだなと => I have little idea what はる means here. Probably not “fluid like spring” … not to mention that as far as I know, ような needs a の before it when comparing to a noun (春のような)
Is that な near the end the な particle that one can use instead of ね too sound more assertive / rough at the end of a sentence?

私がその膜が割れるのに気をとられていると => I am almost completely lost here… the presence of two が makes me think there is an embedded sentence here. Probably 「その膜が割れるのに」 (no idea what it means though… “despite that membrane breaking”)? I also can’t seem to find what 気をとる might mean… =@.@=

Any help is appreciated!

[mrahhal]

Quoting from above:

Later on page 52, what image is all the stuff with 膜 supposed to evoke?

He laughed and snorted out of his nose, forming some kind of moisturized “membrane” (snot) for a moment until it burst out. Conveying that he laughed in a weird constrained way I guess. And Keiko being struck with it because she was thinking how such a long/thin/dry body can form moisture after all (for some reason it comes out all sorts of wrong in English when I try to describe it).

乾燥しきった

This means “dried up”, し切った as you explained seems to fit.

皮膚の裏側

“The other side of the skin”. Just means “the body behind the dried up outer skin”.

膜をはる

“Forming into a membrane”. 張る can mean that.

膜を はる ような水分があるのだ な と

膜を はる ような水分があるのだ な と
is the same as
「膜を はる ような水分があるのだ な」 と

気をとられている

“struck me”/“took my attention”

[2OC3aOdKgwSGlxfz]

Quoting from above:

Oops, I’m really sorry. Somehow I had completely missed that post.

張る can mean that.

Oh, I now see that jisho has that meaning too.

“struck me”/“took my attention”

Now it makes sense. Thank you for the help!

[2OC3aOdKgwSGlxfz]

Meow~, may I ask moar questions please?

At 35%

「でも、 変な人って思われると、 変じゃない って自分のことを思っている人から、 根掘り葉掘り聞かれるでしよう?

I am not very confident I get the meaning of that part, nor I am sure who 自分 refers too. My interpretation is the following:

変な人って思われると => if I am thought of as a strange person, then,
変じゃない って自分のことを思っている人から、=> from people that don’t (currently) think that I’m strange, (or is this “from people that don’t think themselves strange”?)
根掘り葉掘り聞かれるでしよう => I will get prying questions, won’t I?

Any help is appreciated, as always.

[mrahhal]

変じゃない って 自分 のことを思っている人から
People who don’t think they’re themselves are weird

Yes, you weren’t far off.

So:
“If I am thought of as a strange person from others who don’t think they’re themselves are strange, I’ll keep getting asked again and again what’s wrong.”

[Sylph]

I’m having trouble understanding this sentence (I believe it is said by 菅原さん):

Summary

「まあまあ、まだ習うことはいっぱいあるよー！ じゃあ古倉さん、フェイスアップからよろしく！ 俺もあがって今日は寝るわー」
The first part is clear, but I don’t understand the rest.
Reading a bit ahead I guess the フェイスアップからよろしく could mean “please start by doing the フェイスアップ”.
Still no clue about the last one. I don’t know what あがって is here and I don’t see how sleeping fits in the context. At first I though 菅原さん had finished the shift and was going to sleep or something but it seems right after they go to the register so it doesn’t seem to be the case.

Why is it always the simplest-looking ones? ;_;

[mrahhal]

This is said by the manager, not Sugawara. (yeah it’s a bit confusing since it felt like he wasn’t with them at that point, I think)

じゃあ古倉さん、フェイスアップからよろしく！

“Furukura-san, start with the product displays please.” (Check the discussion above about the フェイスアップ thing)

俺もあがって今日は寝るわー

“I’ll go off to sleep now.” Since the manager was in the night shift (if I remember correctly, I might be wrong). So I guess あがって here is 上がって (or any of its other variations), it’s a kind of a an expression I think: あがって寝る = Off to sleep

[Belerith]

俺もあがって今日は寝るわー

This is probably confusing because the order they’re talking in goes like 菅原-白羽-店長, without the manager being mentioned by name or title, he just ‘quietly’ fades out.

The 俺 here is your hint! A couple lines later, 菅原 uses 私 (I think she’s a 主婦? Might be misrembering though, didn’t check back), and 白羽 has used 僕 (makes sense, since he’s the lowest in the hierarchy, can’t go around 俺ing at all his seniors ) until then. The only one using 俺 so far was the 店長.

Also on the あがる, when I was doing バイト, that would mean leaving work. If there was a chance for some people to leave early because most of the work was already gone, あがりたい人いる？ was often used by the team leader.

I never researched its origin, but in my head I have this picture of said person ‘stepping up’ into their home at the 玄関. Helped me remember it at least, even if it’s probably not quite it.

あがって寝る = Off to sleep

Is that also a thing? あがる has so many uses!

[mrahhal]

Is that also a thing? あがる has so many uses!

Honestly I’m not sure Maybe it does just mean what you said, あがって寝る as in “come out [of the store]/ leave to sleep”. But “off to sleep” would still be a good translation nevertheless.

[Sylph]

This is said by the manager, not Sugawara.

I would have never guessed it, but it makes sense now .

The 俺 here is your hint! A couple lines later, 菅原 uses 私 (I think she’s a 主婦? Might be misrembering though, didn’t check back), and 白羽 has used 僕 (makes sense, since he’s the lowest in the hierarchy, can’t go around 俺ing at all his seniors ) until then. The only one using 俺 so far was the 店長.

I have to pay more attention to these things, they are too useful

By the way I usually try to spread the reading throughout the week to avoid burnout but I think this time I may end up reading it faster…I’m intrigued.

My thought process so far (just so I can read it later and compare, I don’t have pages but I think I’m about halfway there):

Oh, look, a guy that sees this is all a bit creepy. I think I could like him.
Oh, boy, he is disrupting the order and harmony of the コンビニ, will 恵子 lose her patience?
A sexist comment to defend his negligence aka implying that not everyone is the same inside the コンビニ? This dude is asking to get murdered.