ハピネス・Happiness - Volume 2

Yes, more or less.
別にいいけど is a set phrase meaning “it’s okay,” “I don’t care”, “whatever”, things along those lines.

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I was also wondering about what Gosho says on pg.13: “ほらほら言ってごらん” – in particular the use of “ごらん”(御覧) instead of “てみる” in the sense of “try to”.

I get that using てごらん rather than てみる in plain form, it’s more of a suggestion to the listener to try to do something rather than the speaker trying it – but I’m curious about the keigo(敬語) verb. I’ve heard that this use of ごらん is not meant as keigo, and is used more often these days by parents speaking to their children, someone older speaking to someone younger, or otherwise among friends (here’s a discussion on Reddit about it). Does anyone know of other examples of keigo verbs being used now more in casual contexts rather than as keigo?

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Week 1 is finished already!

We’re still working on chapter 6 during week 2. If you’re already finished, hang in there and feel free to discuss the plot so far.

How’s the reading going?
  • I’m still reading chapter 6
  • I finished chapter 6
  • I’m reading ahead
  • I’m behind, I plan to catch up later

0 voters

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She's too cute

gosho1
gosho2

Although it wasn’t nice to see her being laughed at, it is good that she’s not a completely cool and infalliable character. This chapter also serves as a reminder that while they might respect Okazaki now, Yuuki and Nao probably aren’t the nicest people or have good intentions.

Languagewise, the only thing that tripped me up was Goshi saying です as っす or す. The fact that she’s using 丁寧語 at all seems a little odd.

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She doesn’t seem the type to use it, but she is younger than them, so it’s not unusual.

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It’s week 3, time to start chapter 7!

Like we did with chapter 6, we’ll read this over the course of 2 weeks. There’s no cut-off for when to discuss the second half of the chapter, so feel free to discuss the whole of chapter 7.

Are you still reading along?
  • I am reading along
  • I will catch up later
  • I’m reading ahead
  • I won’t be reading (anymore)

0 voters

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I totally missed the chapter change (it’s subtle and right in the middle of action) and accidentally read chapter 8 too. :flushed: I’ve…seen things.

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Yes, I did a similar thing when just reading ahead a little way. I suspect it will be possible to pick up the pace as the story keeps you reading.

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The story is starting to move along now! This volume has been much more fun to read so far than the first one I think.

Is anybody else finding it slightly weird that it seems like something bad happens to Okazaki every time he recalls seeing up a girls skirt? :thinking:

I’m glad you posted this, or I think I’d have done exactly the same! It was a much more subtle chapter change than all of the others so far.

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Nao's face is priceless

Yeah that happened to me too, and even after reading your comment about it, it really straps you into the action

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「ねみー」。。。何ですか?

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If I had a nickel for every time that happened, I’d have 2 nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.

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眠いという意味です :sleepy:

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Whoops, read too far cause I didn’t notice the chapter transition.

I can forgive the bad guys for kicking the shit out of people, but cockblocking poor Yuuki is unforgivable. :joy:

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I’m not sure if it’s a cultural difference or what but I was pretty shocked that Yuuki just outright said 死ね to his mom just offering him dinner. I mean it’s manga so it can be a bit absurd, but is this really so common?

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I am not sure I understand why you’d think that the fact that a scene like this appears in a manga implies that somehow such a thing is common, in japan or elsewhere.

I mean, I am sure there’s people all over the world who hate their mothers for various reasons, and hate them enough to tell them all kind of horrible things (or even kill their mothers); also keep in mind that we don’t have much context into Yuuki’s family: she might not even be his real mother (e.g., she’s a step-mother or something)

So personally I don’t think the manga is being absurd or exaggerating, it’s simply showing that Yuuki’s family situation in particular is in a pretty bad shape. It’s not making any statements about this being normal at all.

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To be fair, I have heard from others on this forum that 死ね is a somewhat-common insult in Japan, though I’ve not verified that myself.

So, with this chapter as in previous ones, it’s slang contractions that are tripping me up more than anything else. E.g., I can’t tell what 有樹ゆうきんち (page 42) is meant to be at all. I swear there was also a case of a name just followed by ち too, but I can’t find it now.

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It’s “Yuuki’s home”, a contraction of のうち. See here.

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Huh, I had no idea うち rather than いえ could refer to someone else’s home, not just your own!

I probably didn’t explain myself well, I feel like I’ve seen similar statements in other Japanese animes much more often than I have in American media. To me it feels so outrageous to say that but I feel like in this case (and some other animes) it’s used more in a “go f*** yourself” tone. Perhaps しね is used because Japanese doesn’t have equivalent swear words to English?

I realize that mangas aren’t real and will exaggerate many things but the use of telling a parent to kill themselves is something that shocked me quite a bit and I wouldn’t expect to see in American media, so I was wondering if there’s a cultural difference.

Or perhaps I just don’t watch/read enough American stuff anymore!

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