Please read the guidelines on the first page before adding any words.
Please note that this was auto-generated and might need some additional editing, but it should serve as a solid starting point. If you have any questions/doubts, please post them in this thread!
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.
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.
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).
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!
Membership
Will you be reading with us this week?
I’m reading along
I’ve finished this part
I’m planning to catch up later
I’m reading this after the book club is already finished
0voters
For our newer readers
How are you doing so far?
It’s going really well
It’s going well
I’m struggling, but I manage
I’m struggling so much I’m thinking of dropping the book
I’m no longer reading the book
I have read harder manga/books than tlhis one but I still need to click a poll option
0voters
(This poll is anonymous)
Just remember that the club is always here! Even if you decide it’s too much right now, you can always come back later and review the threads/ask more questions if they weren’t answered! If there’s anything I can do as the organizer to make things easier for you guys, just let me know as well!
Don’t forget to set this thread to Watching if you want to receive notifications for discussion!
Handwritten text this week
Note: Physical book pages are listed in parentheses.
Going off of the statistics from the last 2 weeks, it seems like most people are doing alright! This is the first week where the pace is picking up a little bit. We will be reading 10 pages instead of the usual 5. I will post a poll towards the end of the week, asking about the increase in pace, and how everybody is handling it, but please, feel free to let me know in your comments about how the pace is treating you and if we need to ramp up a little bit slower. It will create some awkward break points, but it’s most important that everyone in the club is able to keep up!
You got this, everyone! Keep up the questions, and all the great work!
I usually don’t try to precisely translate sentences and focus more on the overall idea, but I’ve got time today so am going to try some more literal translations of the first page (a couple of things I’m unsure about in bold - would be great if anyone knew the answer to them )
p22 (20)
宮村が家に来るようになって わかったことがある
Miyamura started coming to my house, here’s what we know
漫画は好きだけど 「萌えー」とまでは
I like manga, but not to the point of “moe” (“but only up until moe”)
別にオタクという訳ではない
It’s absolutely not the conclusion that he’s an otaku (not sure what という is doing there?)
ケーキ持って来たよ
I come with cake!
家はケーキ屋らしい
(his) house is cake-shop-like (not sure why らしい is used rather than just だ?)
ああ…あけた時はやっぱ痛かったなぁ…
Ahh… The time I opened it (piercing it) was painful as expected… (not sure why な is there, isn’t that a kind of self-reflecting particle? Is it to show that he’s remembering to himself?)
ピアスは中学の時に安全ピンであけた
He opened his piercing during middle school with a safety pin
そしてあまり勉強は得意ではない
And, he’s not very good at studying (what’s the function of あまり there, “not much”?)
ようになる is actually it’s own grammatical structure, but you got the meaning!
I think it’s probably playing on ケーキ屋, which is read や. His house/family is a cake shop/cake household (we’re listing things we learned about 宮村, so it’s referring to his family/household)
The らしい here is indicating its conjecture. “It seems his family runs a cake shop” or maybe “it appears”, this is a good one to know! It comes up a lot in conversation (also だろう) to soften sentences and make them less assertive.
I think the な here is probably kind of like a ね, just another way of softening what he’s saying,
Think of it as separating out or indicating the earlier bit is a clause which affects the later grammar in the sentence.
別に /「おたく」という / 訳ではない Not really / “An otaku” / can’t conclude that
He’s not really an otaku.
You got the general meaning. In this case ‘obedient’ doesn’t seem like the right translation. Quiet would fit better, I think.
Yes, you got that right. Slight nuance: There’s no indication of “have to retake the test”, just that there is is makup exam. What I got from that is that he’s not worried about failing this one. “It’s (just) an end of term test. If you fail, there’s a makeup exam.”
“Souda doesn’t get any of this yet”. (Litt. “it’s not understandable by him”)
わーかーるー
もーん !
“Yes I can !”. I believe the もん is short for ものだ ?
じゃこれは？
xの範囲を
求めよー
“well, is that so ? [it] asks for the area of x”
ええっくす．．．？
“x ???”
そら見なさい
こんなのは
基本中の基本
なのよー
"Pay attention to that. These kind of thing is the basics of basics [plus なのよ for emphasis]
[Miyamura laughs, dramatic pause and…]
基本中の基本が
出来てない人が
笑ってんじゃない
わよ．．
That’s trickier… “People who don’t master the very basics”… don’t laught / can’t laught / are no laughting matter ?
Not sure about that てんじゃない… He’s obviously making fun of her seriousness (note the わよ which I think is something she would say, but not him)
だって赤点
取らなきゃ進級
出来るんだよ！？
Context makes me think it’s something like “because you must not have failing grades to advance to the next class”. But something is missing between 取らなきゃ and 進級…
知ってるわよ!!
“That, I know !” with another わよ again, I think he’s using it to tease her a bit more.
Looks like now that her little brother likes him, he can afford to be more relaxed.
A person who is not able to do the basics can’t laugh, you know
だって赤点 取らなきゃ進級 出来るんだよ
If you don’t earn a failing grade, (you won’t?) be able to promote (move to the next class)
Looks like me and @simboubou had trouble with the same sentence. I keep thinking it should be the ‘if you don’t x… (that would be bad)’ construction, but wouldn’t it be if you don’t earn a passing grade? Not failing grade?
I stumbled on the same panel in page 24 too. It’s also hard to know who’s talking sometimes when they don’t indicate it very well with the speech bubbles.
I see why you might think that, but I don’t think contextually it makes sense he ‘left to go get cake and came back’ - he probably just came with cake. (I guess you could think of it as ‘he came back again, this time with cake’. Anyway, it’s not important.
Some bits and pieces, hopefully I’m not too wrong on these.
p24
The わよ sentence ender can be regarded as feminine so you will often find it (in lit especially) being used to indicate the female speaker. (That said, don’t rely on it only, since there’s other usages and it’s also Kansai弁). So the sentences ending in わよ are probably Hori’s.
It’s the ～んじゃない form, so yes, can’t laugh/don’t laugh (I would personally translate it as ‘shouldn’t laugh’, though that’s from a natural english perspective and isn’t strictly speaking implied in the dialogue)
I agree with @MrGeneric’s translation, but this one is a bit tricky, so let’s break it down.
だって / 赤点取らなきゃ / 進級できるんだよ?!
Because (as long as) / if I don’t get a failing grade / I can advance to the next year of school?!
“If I don’t get a failing grade, then I can advance to the next class!”
Here’s the slightly tricky bit: 赤点取らなきゃ, or more specifically, 取らなきゃ
Most of the time the Xなきゃ ending, as the casual form of ~なければ、means [have to do X]. But the reason it means [have to do X] is because there’s an implied ～は いけません or a ～ならあい following it. Eg:
行かなければいけない (more formal)
行かなきゃ (more casual, dropped the second part entirely because it’s implied)
“I have to go”
(literally) “Not going (can’t happen)” .
In this case the second implied part isn’t really there, because Miyamura named his own consequence: 進級できるんだ. So you just negate the verb.
)
