ドラえもん ・ Doraemon 🤖 (ABBC) Week 7

:robot: Welcome to Week 7 of ドラえもん ・ Doraemon :robot:

Learn more about the Absolute Beginner Book Club here
Visit the home page for Doraemon here

Remember to set this thread and the Doraemon home page to watching to receive notifications!

Week 7 25 Jan 2025
Start Page 66
End Page 78
Chapters 虫よせボード and いっすんぼうし
Last week Week 6
Next week tbd
Home Thread Here

Page numbers are the ones printed on the bottom of the pages. These may differ from the numbering in digital versions.

Last panel: end of episode

:mag_right: Vocabulary

Vocabulary spreadsheet

Characters

Japanese English role photo
ドラえもん Doraemon main character - a robot-like cat from the future sent by Nobita’s great-great-grandfather
野比 のび太・ のび のびた Nobita Nobi main character

:speech_balloon: Discussion Guidelines

Spoiler Courtesy

Please follow these rules to avoid inadvertent ネタバレ. If you’re unsure whether something should have a spoiler tag, err on the side of using one.

  1. Any potential spoiler for the current week’s reading need only be covered by a spoiler tag. Predictions and conjecture made by somebody who has not read ahead still falls into this category.
  2. Any potential spoilers for external sources need to be covered by a spoiler tag and include a label (outside of the spoiler tag) of what might be spoiled. These include but are not limited to: other book club picks, other books, games, movies, anime, etc. I recommend also tagging the severity of the spoiler (for example, I may still look at minor spoilers for something that I don’t intend to read soon).
  3. Any information from later in the book than the current week’s reading (including trigger warnings that haven’t yet manifested) needs to be hidden by spoiler tags and labeled as coming from later sections.
Instructions for Spoiler Tags

Click the cog above the text box and use either the “Hide Details” or “Blur Spoiler” options. The text which says “This text will be hidden” should be replaced with what you are wishing to write. In the case of “Hide Details”, the section in the brackets that is labelled “Summary” can be replaced with whatever you like also (i.e, [details=”Chapter 1, Pg. 1”]).

Hide Details results in the dropdown box like below:

Example

This is an example of the “Hide Details” option.

The “Blur Spoiler” option will simply blur the text it surrounds.

This is an example of the “Blur Spoiler” option.

Posting Advice
  • When asking for help, please mention the page number, and check before posting that your question hasn’t already been asked. As the threads get longer, it becomes more convenient to use the Search function, which is located in the upper right corner of the forum. It is the magnifying glass which is near your profile picture! The best way to search is usually to type part of the sentence you are confused about, and select “in this topic”. This will show you all posts within the current thread which has that string of text.
  • Be sure to join the conversation! It’s fun, and it’s what keeps these book clubs lively! There’s no such thing as a stupid question! We are all learning here, and if the question has crossed your mind, there’s a very good chance it has crossed somebody else’s also! Asking and answering questions is a great learning opportunity for everyone involved, so never hesitate to do so!

:rocket: Discussion questions

What do you think about this week’s invention from the future?

:fire: Participation

Will you be reading along with us this week?
  • I’m reading along
  • I’m still reading but haven’t reached this point yet
  • I’ve already read previously but I’m here for the discussion
  • I’m reading this after the book club has finished
  • I’ve stopped reading this book
0 voters
2 Likes

虫よせボード
anime/translated title: “The bug boards”
google translate was weirdly insistent that 寄せ means “repel” but it means the opposite.
The invention: I would hate this in my house but it’d make a great idle game (あつめ brings back fond memories of Neko Atsume - Wikipedia lol).
Word I liked: セミ - cicada
These stories all follow the same format but it makes them easy to follow.

いっすんぼうし
anime/translated title: “The one inch boy”
Another one based on a folk tale: Issun-bōshi - Wikipedia plus the hat pun
The invention: Too dangerous for me but it’s nice to see a real Gulliver’s Travels one.
Word I liked: 潰しる - to crush, くすぐったがり - ticklish

虫よせボード (bug calling board)

Page 1

Wow, a huge kabuto beetle!

Where was it?

I found it in our garden.

Our garden is huge with lots of trees and flowers growing.

So, various bugs show up.

Your guys’ gardens are small and pitiful.

He made a fool of me.

Make the garden bigger.

That wouldn’t work.

Bugs don’t gather there!!

Page 2

Bug calling boards!

There are various drawings of flowers.

By decorating with them, various bugs will come.

Ah, here comes one.

It drew in (a bug).

And so, bugs will come.

What a wondrous drawing.

Let’s put more up.

Page 3

What’s this one?

A tree trunk.

It’s a cicada!

It came to suck the sap from the tree.

We cut the oak tree and…

The sweet sap comes out.

Kabuto beetles and stag beetles will come to lick.

What’s this?

Bamboo/a reed (はてな ??? couldn’t figure this one out)

Page 4

I see!

Let’s show Shizu-chan too!

Let me borrow it a bit too.

I’ll gather tons of bugs.

What kind of thorny tree is this?

Wow, a swallowtail butterfly!

Aw, it got away.

Page 5

This time…

Ahh! A bunch of bees!

Please return what you borrowed.

I threw it away, are you complaining?

About two months later.

The other day, Jaian threw out this board.

Page 6

The leaves are full of holes.

A weird thing is stuck to it.

A swallowtail butterfly’s cocoon is growing.

It came back to eat all the leaves, and became a pupa.

Now, soon, it’ll become a butterfly.

It’s coming out.

I’m glad it grew up safely.

いっすんぼうし (Issun hat)

Page 1

Thanks for coming!

Hold on. Let me try it.

Page 2

Let me TRY IT!

Alright, you can have it back.

It’s dirty!

If you don’t want it, I’ll take it.

He took it!

I gave you the money for that. How long would it even take to eat it?

Please get it back, if only for me!

Scary!

Jaian will fight me and I can’t win. It’s no use.

One inch hat!

Page 3

Put this on Jaian.

Aa, aa, aa!

When it makes him smaller, you can beat him.

I get it! I’ll do it for sure.

Just take the hat off.

OK, I’ll do it!

Good luck!

Where is Jaian? I’ll make you cry today. (ぎゅうっと?)

It’s Shizu-chan! I’ll surprise her.

Page 4

Shizu-chan.

Who said that just now? Strange…

Heehee…

This is easy.

SHIZU-CHAN.

Who is that?! I have a bad feeling.

Waa, help me!

I can’t get it off.

Shizu-chan, wait up!

Ah.

Page 5

Let me have a taste!

Wait, stop!

Don’t let him borrow it!

That’s not Nobita?!

Cut it out!

Shall I crush you like a flea?

It hurts!

He’s moving around on my back.

Hya!

Page 6

AHAHA!

I’m ticklish!

Tickle tickle tickle.

Stop it! HEEHEEHEE!

I can’t breathe, I’m exhausted…

I’ll stop borrowing things!

He bought me a new ice cream!

If you split it in half, it isn’t much.

Hey, let’s put on the hat!

That’s plenty to eat!

For bug-calling board, did anyone figure out what the はてな at the bottom of page 3 is? a reed? bamboo?
For Issun hat, I was wondering what the verb is on page 3, when Nobita says “きょうこそ,ぎゅうっといわせるぞ” edit I think I had this one written wrong initially, because it’s looking like it’s ‘to squeeze’ ぎゅっと握る? He’s going to put the squeeze on Jaian lol

2 Likes

I read pages 66-69. I skipped ahead to this week’s reading because I was behind. I actually followed along pretty well this time :slight_smile:

Thank you @mgevaert for translating the story. I checked the first section after I read the pages in Japanese. It was very helpful in seeing how close I was.

2 Likes

I love bugs and wanted to be an entomologist as a kid so the Bug Board chapter is a delight. What a cute ending too! Language-wise I psyched myself out a couple times because I either thought something was a bug name and it wasn’t or vice versa. Really fun chapter.

3 Likes

Had a couple questions on the first couple of panels.

  1. Is the わー a sound of excitement or something?
  2. の is just used as anything i guess
  3. in panel 5 i dont understand what he is asking doraemon. I though だす meant to take out, I dont understand how that acts on a spacious garden.
2 Likes

虫よせボード (bug calling board) responses

Summary

P 69 panel 22

I think it might be 果てな as in “hmm, the end” (of a bamboo), but not sure

That’s right, it’s normally at the end to mark emotion

の has a lot of different grammatical uses. Is there one in particular tripping you up?

Your understanding is correct! Nobita is used to Doraemon getting him anything he wants… so he’s being a bit petulant here

2 Likes

For once this time I have questions unanswered :slight_smile:

Page 68, panel 13

ふしぎなえだね
I know ふしぎ is a -na adjective, but I don’t exactly understand what that sentence means.

Page 75, panel 18

ぎゅうっといわっせるぞ
I can’t decipher what verb is used here ^^;

Page 78, panel 44

ぐるじい
Is that an onomatopoeia?

I found the 虫よせボード very poetic :bug: :butterfly: :sparkles:

2 Likes

虫よせボード
I feel like I’m at the perfect level right now for this, and I recognized a lot of the vocab I’ve recently learned. Not really any questions on this one.

いっすんぼうし
On the other hand, I struggled a fair bit on this one.

In my Japanese class yesterday, my teacher randomly brought up the folk tale! I was excited because at first I thought she was talking about this chapter.

Pg 73, panel 2
I’m trying to figure out かしてみな.
I’m guessing it comes from 貸す and 見る. In formal language, would this be 貸して見てください?
So how does that last part turn into な? The command form?

Pg 74, panel 8

半分こ, is こ from 個 (small object counter)?
Or maybe from Jisho: “doing together; doing to each other; contest; match”
Or do I just take it as a set phrase?

Pg 75, panel 20
I’m having trouble with a few words here.
こそ in jisho doesn’t seem to fit well. Maybe “It being today”? The only thing I can think of for ぎゅう is squeezing. いわせる is the causative form of 言う.
Putting this all together, maybe “As for today, (Jian) made me say ‘(onomotapoeia of someone being squeezed).’”? Except maybe the ぞ means that Nobita is the one doing it to Jian, so:
"Today I will make Jian say “(onomotapoeia of someone being squeezed)”?
It’s really difficult for me to tell who’s doing what sometimes.

Pg 78, panel 42
くすぐったがり – In Jisho, I can only find 擽ったい which is ticklish. What is the がり then?

Pg 78, panel 44
Can’t find ぐるじい either

Thank you!

2 Likes
虫よせボード

I meant to ask, is there any way there was a typo when you asked ググル先生? よけ means repellant and ocr might have mixed up よせ/よけ.

P75 panel 18

That is tricky without kanji. Does this help?
ふしぎな え だ ね
The え is 絵 (picture), so it’s saying “what a mysterious picture

いっすんぼうし responses

That’s how I understood it! That’s the slang command form

You must have barely missed, Jisho has the entry 半分こ as childish language for “halvesies”

75 panel 18

There’s a typo, it’s いわせる. The ‘aseru’ ending is causative and removing it gets you back to いう 言う. The causative of to say is I’ll make you say.
ぎゅう is the sound someone makes when they are squeezed, how specific is that :joy:

Yep you’re right! Good analysis

It means a person who x. Here’s an explanation

P 78 panel 44

I think since just before that he’s saying he bent breathe it’s him barely being able to pronounce the word right, so he’s trying to say くるしい (it hurts)

I thought いっすんぼうし was the trickiest one so far!

3 Likes

This guy Doraemon getting mad at the child for having his ice cream stolen and basically forcing him to risk his life to get back the half-eaten ice cream is certainly something. Like, surely he just has an invention that can create a new ice cream or something. Loving this so far.

1 Like