The base for this vocab sheet was prepared using a fair amount of OCR/parsing, automated by @ChristopherFritz.
Some notes for using/improving it:
Pages are physical page numbers (they are printed on some pages). Ebook reader pages might be off by a bit.
Some words might have been recognized or parsed incorrectly, e.g. they are split even though they belong together, or they are simply wrong and aren’t even in the manga. Feel free to correct/remove those if you see them!
Words might be missing. Feel free to add them!
By default, translations in grey are auto-filled with a list of possible meanings (from a Wiktionary database). If you know what the actual specific meaning in this context is, feel free to fill it in! (It’ll turn black then.)
Grammar Sheet
Discussion Guidelines
Please blur / hide any major events in the current week’s pages (however early they occur), like so: text here (that’s: [spoiler]text here[/spoiler]).
When asking for help, please mention the page number, and check before posting that your question hasn’t already been asked
Join the conversation — it’s fun!
The page numbers for ebook readers might be off by one or two. Some pages have physical page numbers on them, and you can use that to find out much off it is for you!
Participation Poll
I’m reading along
I have finished this part
I’m planning to catch up later
I’m skipping this book
I’m reading this book after the club has finished
0voters
Voice-over Video
If you want to also listen to Ruri’s adventures - there’s an official voice-over video!
So, it’s finally time to start. I’ve been eagerly waiting for this, and I know a lot of you have been too!
Below I’ve written a few words that might be particularly interesting for those that have never been in a book club before. I hope it’ll help you.
I’m looking forward to reading this manga with all of you!
Ask questions!
I know that some of you might be feeling shy, or don’t want to bother others with their questions, but you don’t have to worry: People love answering questions. You’re making the thread more lively, and you’re also helping everyone who has the same questions. Please, ask a lot of them!
Here’s what to you need to know:
Please include the page number: [details="Page 54"]Your question goes here[/details] (See “How should I post my questions?” in the FAQ below for more.)
Check if your question has already been asked. (See “How can I quickly find out if my questions have already been asked by someone?” in the FAQ below.)
Please mark any spoilers for the current/future chapters like this: [spoiler]text here[/spoiler])
Also, it’s fine to only read the thread, but consider participating at least a little, even if it’s just short posts like “This is really hard, but I’m giving my best!” or a “Wow, reading this chapter was fun.”. It’ll help you feel more part of the club which makes it easier to stay motivated, and it’ll make it easier to ask questions later if you have some.
Some general advice
Don’t give up just because you have to look up so much that it “doesn’t feel like reading”. That’s how we all started, and if you keep at it, you’ll get better. (There’s more on this in the FAQ below under “Is it too early for me if I have to look up a lot of grammar/vocab and often don’t understand sentences?”)
If we’re too fast for you, you can go at your own pace. Post your questions in the appropriate thread for the pages (see the schedule) then. You’ll get answers surprisingly quickly!
Google: Great for finding more about grammar/expressions if you can identify them. (Example)
ichi.moe: Tries its best to identify parts of a sentence for you. (Example)
DeepL: Tries it’s best to translate a sentence for you. Sometimes helps to point you in the right direction.
You can find out more about using these tools in the FAQ below under “How can I approach a sentence I don’t understand?”
FAQ
About questions and answers
I have a lot of questions, but I don't want to be a nuisance.
Questions being annoying is a really common misconception. Luckily, the opposite is the case. Asking questions helps everyone:
The people who answer usually enjoy helping others and answering questions. Many people say that they are even learning a lot when they answer questions! And those who can’t or don’t want to answer them simply ignore them. So, literally the worst thing that could happen is that your question doesn’t get answered, and even that is highly unlikely.
All the people who have the same question will be really happy to see them already asked by you. It’s not uncommon to see people thank others for asking a question they had.
The thread gets more lively.
You get your questions answered - and on top of that, when you participate in the threads, you are probably more motivated to continue and keep up with reading!
So not only are you not a nuisance if you ask a lot of questions, you make the club better for everyone. Please ask a lot of them!
My questions feel really basic, and I'm kinda reluctant to ask them.
This is a club for first-time readers. No question is too simple or silly - we are expecting first-time reader questions. Please ask them, and help all the other participants who have the same question!
How should I post my questions?
Here’s a format I like to use, as an example:
Using page numbers helps anybody quickly go to the page, and typing out the sentence makes it searchable and provides context for those who want to answer. Sometimes they don’t even have to open the book to answer your question.
And here’s how to make it:
[details="Page 7"]
ツチノコがごみ？？らします 必ずネット
What are the ？？ on the trash sign?
[/details]
[details="Page 18"]
Kon: 隅のほう......っぽい方向から埋めていこう
"Let's fill it up... sort of into the direction of the corner"? I guess he might be talking about filling in the map?
[/details]
[details="Page 23"]
Kon: まぁ部屋とまともに繋がってない廊下なんて意味ないけど
Does Kon mean that there's no point in having the normal second floor corridor if it's not connected to the normal second floor rooms? And まともに is "normally"?
[/details]
Two things to keep in mind:
Be sure to post it in the weekly thread to which those pages belong. You can find an overview over them in the schedule.
If you don’t use physical pages, mention it. Ebook readers often are off by one or more. Many books or manga have physical page numbers printed on some pages though - you can find one of those and count forward or backwards to your page.
How can I quickly find out if my questions have already been asked by someone?
Use the search function with “in this topic” selected to look up part of the sentence you are interested in:
About reading and understanding
Is it too early for me if I have to look up a lot of grammar/vocab and often don't understand sentences?
That’s pretty normal for your first book(s) - we all started out like that. If you keep at it, I promise you that you will get better.
Feeling strongly like that actually happened to me twice, once with my first Absolute Beginner Book Club, and again with my first Beginner Book Club. Both times I felt ill-prepared and like I’m not even really reading because I had to do oh-so many look-ups, and like I should give it up for now and try again once I’m better because there’s no point continuing right now.
Well, turns out there was a point. While I actually gave up that ABBC, I did power through this feeling and stick around for that BBC, and I’m so glad I did. I learnt so much, and once I was done I went back to try that ABBC book again, and this time I could actually read through it in a few days! (Still with many look-ups, of course, but by then I was totally fine with that.)
So… the solution is usually not stopping to read and going back to learning vocab until the feeling goes away - it’s to make peace with having to look up a lot.
I read a sentence. Do I know all vocab? If not, I look it up as I’m reading by typing the words I don’t know into jisho.org (vocab) or thejadednetwork.com/sfx (sfx).
Does the sentence make sense to me? If yes, I continue with the next one.
If I almost get it, but some details I missing, I try to google for those details (e.g. if I have never seen the sentence ending よね, I will google “yone japanese grammar”). If it that solves it, I make a bookmark of the info I found and continue with the next sentence.
If I can’t find out what the heck is up with the sentence, I transcribe it and stick it into ichi.moe, which will analyze the parts the sentence is made up of. Often that allows me to look up grammar or just solves my problems, and I continue with the next sentence.
If I still don’t know what’s going on, I put it into DeepL. If the automatic translation makes sense to me and fits in the context, I look at the Japanese sentence again and try to figure out how DeepL got there.
If I still can’t figure out the sentence, I check the weekly thread (if I’m reading with a club). Was the question already asked?
If so, I check (or wait for) the answer.
If not, or if the answers don’t help, I make a question with the sentence and my best guess of a translation.
if there’s no answer: My best guess at translating + asking a question.
How much should I try to understand?
That depends on three things: How hard the book is for you, how much time and energy you want to put in, and how much you want to understand.
If it’s hard and you only have little time/energy, try to understand the gist and learn a few new things each week. Remember to ask questions when you struggle.
If it’s hard, but you have more time/energy, go for as many details as you want to after you get the gist! Ask lots of questions, the community is a treasure trove of information!
If it’s not that hard but you still want to deepen your understanding, feel free to ask questions about more minor details you don’t completely get.
Pace and don’t overexert yourself. It’s more important to finish the whole book and learn a lot throughout, than to go for 100% understanding of chapter 1 and 2 only to be burned out and stop reading there. If you realize you can’t keep up what you’re doing, start doing less - you’ll still learn a lot!
And lastly, if you don’t actually care about e.g. getting all the details and just want to have a nice reading experience, that’s totally okay too and you’re still very welcome to read with us!
About the club in general
The club is too fast for me, or I'm starting late. Can I read at a slower pace?
Feel free to read at your own pace. If you have any questions, just ask them in the weekly thread they belong to (see the schedule here). It doesn’t matter if it’s been weeks, months or years since the club read that chapter - you’ll likely get an answer surprisingly fast. (And don’t forget to use the search function first to see if your question has already been answered.)
Am I doing the book club wrong if I'm __________________?
I think the only time you do a book club wrong is when you neither enjoy it nor learn anything from it. Do as much or as little as you are comfortable with.
Any suggestions on how to get the most out of the book club?
For me, the best thing about the book clubs is that you can learn so much - but that’s only if you actually participate in the club. So, my recommendation is: Read the threads, and ask all the questions you have!
And if you feel up to it, answering questions is another way to learn a lot.
At our leader’s request, I’m reposting my “Things to Know Before You Dive In” comment here for anybody who may have missed it in the original thread!
General Thoughts
The biggest thing to be aware of is that when you first start reading, it’s likely not going to really feel like reading as you know it in your native language. It’s much closer to doing a puzzle. You’ll be seeing and deciphering bits of information that you recognize and trying to match it up with the things you don’t know to try and pull meaning from the context. It’s going to be an exercise in patience, and it won’t always be easy. It might not seem like it in the moment, but you are learning and picking up information. @ChristopherFritz has mentioned many times in many places throughout the forums that the brain is a pattern-recognition machine. He’s right. As you continue to read and expose your brain to the grammar patterns, it will pick them up. Some grammar points will come more naturally than others – they’ll be obvious in context, or the English explanation will be all it takes to understand it. Other points, you might see 10, 20, 30 or even more times before it sticks. I still have grammar points that I forget and have to look back up, even now. It’s a totally natural part of the process, and we’ve all gone through the stage where we’ve wondered if it even counts as reading when you are spending that much time with the vocabulary sheet, or grammar resources, in between looking at the pages of the manga. It does count, and if you stick with it (as long as you are enjoying the process at least some!), it will net results. Those results will come a little easier if you make sure to utilize the resources I’ll be linking below and to ask questions in the discussion threads!
On that note, when you come across things that are difficult to understand, please, please, please feel free to ask in the discussion threads! If you have a question, there’s a good chance that somebody else does as well, and even if there wasn’t somebody else with the same question, answering the questions is a great way for some of us to take a closer look at something we thought we knew, and realize that there was some nuance we were missing. Asking and answering questions is a fantastic way to learn, and it’s a big reason why I’m a bit of an evangelist for the book clubs. It’s such a fantastic resource, with a wealth of knowledge that is just waiting for you to access it! The biggest thing I always like to stress is that there is no such thing as a silly/stupid question in learning environments. Every question is a good question, no matter how basic it might seem!
Be aware that sometimes you might come across a sentence that just makes no sense and you have no idea what it is. In those cases, of course, always feel free to ask about it in the thread, but also consider moving past that sentence and reading the next one or two. I can’t even count how many times I’ve looked at a sentence and wondered, “What the heck is this character saying?” only for another character to ask the other character the exact same thing because what was said was essentially nonsense or some complicated jargon that the author will break down and explain in the following panels.
Something that may be worth mentioning: While I don't know if it will show up in this manga for sure, it could come in handy: sometimes the furigana on a kanji is NOT how that kanji is actually read. For more information, click the arrow!
It is quite often the case that, if the furigana doesn’t directly match the kanji, it’s an attempt to insert some double-meaning and make a joke.
From “The Way of the Househusband”, in which 包丁, referring to a kitchen knife and which would usually be read as ほうちょう, is given the furigana ヤッパ, a slang-y term that is used by Yakuza members to describe a blade (like a weapon, not just a normal kitchen knife, generally). A lot of the humour of this manga is directly related to other characters misunderstanding this character because of how he speaks. The kanji is used to indicate to the reader that what he really means is a kitchen knife, but the furigana is what he says out loud, hence the concerned reaction of the gentleman to whom he is speaking.
More commonly in shounen manga, however, and something you’ll see in games quite often as well, is that something like attack/skill/technique/magic/etc names will be written as English words, or in katakana, and the kanji will be explaining the basic “idea” of what the attack actually represents. You’ll also often see this for organization names and the like, or unique in-universe titles/events.
From Tales of the Abyss, where 神託の盾 (which would be read: しんたくのたて if the proper furigana for those particular kanji were used “Shield of the Oracle”) is called オラクル or “Oracle”. (Incidentally, the group is called “Oracle Knights” in the English version of the game). As with the Househusband example, the furigana indicates what is being spoken by the character, and the kanji indicates to the audience what the actual meaning is.
From Cardcaptor Sakura. 封印解除, a made-up compound of the words 封印・解除 (actual furigana for those kanji: ふういん・かいじょ), given レリーズ as furigana, which would be the English word “release”.
Grammar and Vocabulary Resources
Here is a list of the resources that I found absolutely invaluable when I first started out reading.
For unknown vocabulary, if it isn’t already in the vocabulary sheet, whether they be all-kana or kanji, I tend to use:
It’s an intuitive interface, and you’ll find a lot there, though it doesn’t have everything, so keep that in mind! One major pro, though it doesn’t necessarily pertain to this manga, given that it has furigana, is there are “Search by Drawing” and “Search by Radical” options, so even without furigana, you should be able to find a kanji on that site!
Is also a great source for finding words. It will also often give you a great list of example sentences, so you can see those words in context!
The downside is that the interface is primarily in Japanese, and if there’s a way to change that, I’ve not found it yet (also haven’t bothered to search around for it much), so it is a bit more difficult to use than Jisho, though the interface itself remains intuitive.
For looking up grammar, I’ll either literally just type the grammar point + grammar into google. (I.e., “てくれる grammar”), and look at those results, or I’ll consult a few different sites:
Bunpro has a free grammar reference (the only paid portion of the program is the SRS, I believe), and has decent, concise explanations of many grammar points.
Maggie Sensei is very good at breaking things down in a way that’s easy for me to understand. One of the big downsides, however, is that she is very much a “wall-of-text” explainer, and with all the different colors she uses to color-code grammar points, the site can quickly give you a bit of sensory overload. Ctrl+F is your best friend on her website, in my experience, though once you find what you’re looking for, she does a good job of breaking those points down.
Organic Japanese with Cure Dolly - YouTube If you aren’t much a fan of reading your grammar, and have better luck with videos, this channel comes highly recommended by a number of people. In my experience, she does a good job of making some particularly difficult points make sense, once she stops pontificating on how her method is the best method. I also have a hard time with the voice, but the downsides are definitely outweighed by the upsides of her explanations.
Japanese Language Stack Exchange For some of the more difficult grammar questions, sometimes the best results are in Q&A forums like stackexchange or HiNative! I always take these sites with a grain of salt, but they can be useful in finding some answers on the off-chance that nobody in the book club knows an answer for sure! (One of the fun things about Japanese is its ambiguity, after all, so even when you think you know something, sometimes it’s hard to be sure!)
Ichi Moe. It does a fairly decent job in breaking down sentences to individual grammar points and words, so that you can maybe piece together meaning from there. This is especially useful when you come across a sentence that you just can’t crack the logic behind, as it separates everything out in an easy-to-read manner, and also can often tell you if something is an idiom! It’s not perfect however, and especially once you hit more slang-y Japanese, or you put in names, it starts to not do the job as well. My suggestion for sentences with names: replace the name with a pronoun like 彼 or 彼女. This just helps the parser out a little bit and can give you a better result sometimes!
Finally, the weapon of last resort: a translator. Sometimes you might find that you have a very difficult time parsing something, and there’s just no way it’s making sense. In desperation, you turn to Google Translate. If you’re lucky, it spits out something comprehensible. More often than not, though, because Japanese is such a contextual language, it requires more context before it could possibly help you out. If you absolutely feel that you have to go to a translator, I would recommend DeepL Translate over Google Translate, hands-down.
I’m going to supplement this with this major warning:
It REALLY should be your weapon of last resort. You will almost always get a better answer talking it out with the book club, with people who are reading the same book as you, than from a translator which doesn’t have any context to the situation from which you are feeding it a sentence. This is especially the case in Japanese, which relies so heavily on context. The translator can break down to a few different scenarios:
You put your sentence in, and the translator gives you an answer that makes sense, and it’s actually correct. (Best-case Scenario)
You put your sentence in, and the translator gives you an answer that doesn’t make any sense, and it’s wrong. (Bad scenario, but not the worst-case)
You put your sentence in, and the translator gives you an answer that makes sense, but it’s WRONG. (Worst-case scenario)
The problem is, that if you are fairly early in your Japanese journey, you might not be able to differentiate between Scenario 1 and Scenario 3, and you’ll go on with a misunderstanding on how a phrase is used, or what it means. That’s why I say it’s absolutely a last resort, and should be avoided, but I’d rather give a link to a translator that’s a bit more accurate than Google to try and equip you a little bit better.
And the last little bit of my rambles here will be talking about the Search Function that is part of the forums here.
While the discussion threads are excellent resources, if you’re maybe chiming in a little later, it can feel like an absolute chore to read through every post trying to find the answer to what you need – especially if the book clubs are as lively as we want them to be!
But fear not, the Search Function will get you taken care of. It’s quite easy to use and relatively robust (at least as far as forum search functions go)!
Using the Search Function
You might have no idea what I’m even talking about. No worries! The search function is really easy to find. You can either use Ctrl + F while in the forum (on Windows; I can’t speak to Mac for sure, but I assume it’s just Cmd + F) to open up the search, or you can simply click the magnifying glass that is next to your profile!
If you used the keyboard shortcut, it will default to searching in the specific thread. Otherwise, if you use the magnifying glass, just click the bit that says “in this topic”
From there, it’s super simple. Just type what you’re looking for.
My usual advice for using the search function is to use a section of the sentence that you have questions about. You can search by page number, if people are marking their questions and answers correctly, but sometimes, that gets missed, so it’s better to search by text, in my opinion.
As an example, say I had a question about a sentence in the first chapter of Teasing Master Takagi-san: 「ゆがんじゃったのかなー、ちょっと西片あけてくんない？」Let’s pretend I have no idea what 「じゃった」is specifically.
I go to the thread to see if that question has already been answered. There are over 500 posts in that week’s discussion thread, so reading through every single post is hardly an option. I would just pull up my handy-dandy search and type ゆがんじゃった (the more you can narrow it down while keeping it unique to the sentence that you are searching for, the better. It makes it easier to find instances where somebody asked a question, but maybe didn’t post the full sentence. In this case, I chose ゆがん as the presumably unique part of the sentence that will keep it relevant to my question, and of course, I included じゃった since that is the part I have a question about in this hypothetical). I am then given a list of each post that has that exact phrase, complete with previews that can make it easier to judge which comment is likely to have the answer I’m searching for:
In this specific instance, it looks like the question was originally asked by VikingSchism (since that’s the top result), with an answer by Phryne. Looks like it could have used more explanation, though, since it continues to get discussed. You’ll start to recognize some faces and names answering questions – pretty much every time, if you see an answer by ChristopherFritz, it’s worth clicking, and that’s certainly the case here as well.
And… that’s it. It’s really that simple. Use the search function by typing portions of what you have questions about, and you’ll have an easy way to click through a couple of posts instead of a couple of hundred.
Grammar Questions and Answers
The idea for this section is for members to summarize answers to any questions which have been asked, preferably sorted in the order of which the sentence in question appears in the manga. This comment is now a Wiki so that all members can quote the questions and answers given throughout the thread, but everything is compiled into a single location.
Note: I will go back and add my answers to questions here shortly, but I will otherwise be pretty hands-off! My recommendation would be for everyone to add their own answers to questions at the same time as they answer them to keep this up to date in the easiest way.
Pg. 9
Yep, you have that right, but you do have a typo.
見てこれ is what shows up in the text.
I only mention it in case it was an actual reading error.
Pg. 10
ってこと is short for ということ. It’s honestly something of a nominalizer. Translation-wise, it’s a bit of a tougher one. There are a few different ways to look at it. Maggie-sensei has a great write-up on という as a whole which includes ということ as part of the article. (Do use Ctrl+F and search for ということ to narrow down to the right section, though).
In this case, it’s being used to define something (though, since it is a question, it’s being used to request that clarification). Sort of like, “You are saying/are you saying: ○○?”
Also, be sure to pay attention to line breaks in speech bubbles. 何それ is a sentence on its own. It’s separated out by a line break (this is something you get used to over time. I know it took me ages).
So it’s roughly “What is that? You’re saying they grew in your sleep?”
Yeah, that’s correct. Probably a slurred それは is how it came to be, I think.
どう = how
なって is なる is て form
んだ = のだ, but the ん is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
Without contracting: どうなっているのだ?
ている often becomes てる, and when followed by の, る often gets smushed into becoming an ん sound as well.
So: どうなっているのだ → どうなってんだ?
Roughly, “How did (my head) become this way?”
With the follow-up topic clarification, which you already caught!
You have まあ correct. It’s often translated as “Well.”
You are pretty close:
Roughly, “Well, it’s because half of you isn’t human.”
The し and な are both sentence ending particles.
し is used for explanation and reasoning (yep, another one).
な is kind of like ね, if just a bit rougher.
せい = “fault/blame”
かな is the bit that gives it the wondering tone.
So, “Probably, that is to blame.”
Ah, no. Two separate sentences (with the first sentence linked to the previous speech bubble)
The first sentence is, “Because your dad also has horns.” And it’s tied to the 多分そのせいかな.
The second sentence is totally unrelated:
ほれパン食べな
The ほれ indicates the topic shift (“Hey, pay attention to the next thing I’m about to say”)
食べな is short for 食べなさい, so just telling Ruri to eat her toast.
Pg. 12
とは is a particle (or rather, combination thereof) that indicates a bit of a surprise, oftentimes. When paired with まさか, you can pretty well assume that’s how it’s being used. You’re pretty close, but I would phrase it more like:
“I wouldn’t have thought the horns would grow in one night.”
まさか一番で生えるとは思わなかったけど
N3 grammar point on Bunpro: まさか
Pg. 13
Another case where I would break it up a bit: “A dragon you said? What?”
The mom then gives the synonym, and Ruri’s response was basically saying, “Don’t give me the synonym.” Because she knows what a dragon is, she is just shocked by the revelation (as would we all be if a parent just casually dropped that, hey, by the way. You’re totally half-dragon.)
Pg. 14
サクッ
The の is basically just a stand-in generic noun here. “What kind of” is how I would translate 何の
It’s っ. You’ll get used to it the more exposure you have until you reach a point where you’ll wonder how you ever mixed them up.
Except for handwriting, where it’s always dependent on the author’s penmanship.
I would also phrase the translation more like, “If (だったら) it were a joke, then what are those horns?”
These should all be combined:
“‘Tell her (Ruri), tell her’, I have been thinking, but…”
The とは is being used in the non-surprise form where it’s basically just a stronger quoting particle.
思ってたんだけどね = 思っていたのだけどね
So, explanatory の, だけど = though.
Unnecessarily, as opposed to forcefully.
こと = nominalizer. It turns the verb into a noun.
でも = roughly, “or something.” Maggie-sensei covers this usage. If softens the usage a bit, makes it sound less committal.
ない = negation
かな = that same doubt/wonder particle
って= casual quotation particle, essentially と, marking this as a thought she has had
Overall, in natural English, I would phrase it along the lines of, “I wondered whether I shouldn’t tell you unnecessary things or something like that…”
Pg. 15
どうする is more like, “What are you doing about ○○?”
She is asking if Ruri intends to go to school given the circumstances, and is telling her to answer quickly because she is leaving soon.
念のため is also like, “Just in case”
とく/どく can have the “get ready for” meaning, but it’s also like “to get something necessary done”, and that feels like it fits better here.
てもいい is granting permission
けど is though, but it’s more like, softening the sentence.
Overall, “It’s okay if you need to take the day off just in case, though.”
Pretty close.
だけ = just
だ = copula
しな = same combo as before, with the し giving a reason, the な being essentially a ね.
Essentially, “Nah, I just grew some horns (implied: so i won’t skip school)”
通り = a way, not specifically a road.
普段通り is essentially, “As normal/in the normal way”
So, “Well, doing things as normal is fine.”
でいい is another form of てもいい (permission/acceptance).
Pg. 16
Small っ in both cases. You have this one.
She is stuttering over the word お父さん
Yes
続き is connective. 話そ is a truncated 話そう. So you have meaning correct, but it’s not a noun phrase in this sentence, but just two verbs connected together and then turned into a casual volitional. The mom seems to speak this way consistently, so you’ll get used to seeing weird forms of things the more time we spend with her.
Pg. 17
More like, “She’s not wearing the shoes she always wears…”
Just read this week’s bit. Second time reading it in Japanese now, it’s always a delight Ruri’s mom never fails to crack me up.
There was one bit of grammar I figure some of you may struggle with, figured I might as well explain it in advance
p.15: 死にゃしない
This is a contraction of 死にやしない, which is an N1 grammar point. Her mom is telling her she definitely won’t die.
The English version translates this to something like “it’s not like they’ll kill you” but note there’s no causative or anything in the Japanese version, the translation just makes an implication explicit. There’s no mention of killing specifically in the original.
Hey guys! So, here are the notes I’ve done for our first week. I made a note for pretty much every line of text, trying to decipher it to the best of my ability. However much or little you feel like reading is up to you, hopefully at least having the text here will be of benefit to others. Once my jp reading ability increases, so will the quality of these translations!
Page 05
ツノ関係ないじゃん。= It means “It’s nothing to do with ツノ (horns)”
Page 09
ねーお母さん = “Hey… Mom…”
おはよ = “Morning”
ねえ見てころ “Hey… Look at this…” I assume 見 is in the て form because it’s a request.
うわっ = “OohAhh” (just an interjection, like ‘woah’)
何だソレ = “What are these?” (referring to the horns). Why is ソレ in katakana?
うわって言うな = “Don’t say ‘うわ’”
起きたら生えてたの = Ichi.moe said that たら here is conditional. I assume it’s linking the two verbs here. So, how come it doesn’t translate as “i wake up if it was growing” ?
Should 生えてたの be interpreted as 生えて + たの , or 生えてた + の ?
Page 10
何それ寝てる間に生えたってこと = I used google translate out of curiosity. So it’s ‘what is that’ (何それ), ‘in the middle of sleeping’ (寝てる間に), ‘grew’ (はえた), and then I don’t know what “ってこと” means…
知らないよ = "I don’t know…
寝てたもん = I’m taking 寝てた to mean “I was sleeping”, and ichi.moe tells me that もん is used when indicating a reason. So, I’m taking it on face value that the full sentence is “I don’t know, I was sleeping”
そらそうか = I interpreted this as meaning “Is that so?”, but kanshudo says that そら means ‘that is’. Which… in this context is kinda the same thing I guess?
ねえこれ何だと思う? = I’m guessing it’s something along the lines of “what do you think this is?”. Because we use the と particle when quoting something said (or thought), right?
角だと思う = “I think it’s a horn” , maybe? Just a guess with the と particle next to 思う. I’m confused as to why they have the katakana as furigana here. Perhaps ツノ was originally a chinese spelling?
…だよね! = “…yeah!!” (As in, ‘duhh!!’)
どうなってんだ = I think どうな means “how” or “why”, but I have no clue why this is in the て form. んだ is just confirming the statement.
わたしの顔 = “My head”. So in the context of the full sentence, is she simply saying “Why is my head (this way)?”
何で急にツノなんか… = Kanshudo tells me that なんか is used in the middle of the sentence to indicate that something is unexpected or unwanted. So I take it that the character is just trailing off (ie. Not ending the sentence with something like ‘じゃないです’ in this case). So the sentence means “Why are horns suddenly (appearing)…”
Page 11
まあ = Presumably an interjection of some sort.
あんた半分人間じゃない = “You aren’t half-human”
しな = I used google translate to try and figure out the しな part. Google says it’s “I don’t think so”, so I take it しな is some derivation of 知る
え? = Interjection
実はあんたのお父さん人間じゃないんだよね is my first full sentence to understand completely with no help!! “The truth is your father isn’t human”. よね at the end is just adding emphasis that this definitely the case.
は? = Interjection
多分そのせいかな = Google tells me that ‘せいかな’ in this context means “I wonder why”. Why doesn’t kanshudo or jisho tell me that せいかな means this? Anyways all I got from this sentence was “Maybe this (is)…”
お父さんも角生えてるからほれパン食べな = “Because Dad grew horns, he doesn’t eat bread” ?
Page 12
じゃあ何… これ遺伝なの? = “Well what… Is this your heredity?” (as in, ‘is this in your genes’)
そうだよ = “That’s right”
まさか一晩で生えるとは思わなかったけど = I take this to mean “I really don’t think it (the horns) grew in just one night”. I understood everything about the sentence apart from とは
じゃあこれ何のツノなの…? = “Well, what are these horns?”
龍 = Dragon
Page 13
龍って何 = “What’s a dragon?”
ドラゴン = Dragon
別称じゃなくて = I looked this one up. 別称 is “synonym” in thia case, and じゃなくて is “is not” in the て form. So, is ルリ saying “It isn’t a synonym” in an asserting way here?
Page 14
あんた人と龍とのハーフなのよ = “You’re half-human/half-dragon”
Does that sound effect say サフッ ?
父親が龍だから = “Because your father was a dragon”
それ何の冗談? = “Is that a joke?”. I don’t know what の is doing here.
冗談だつたらその角何なの ? = “Are you asking me if the horns are a joke?” Again, I don’t know if it’s a small つ or a big つ here.
言おう言おう = It’s the volitional form, so, “tell me tell me”?
とは思ってたんだけどね = “To think… Since”. That’s all I got. Stumped on this one.
無理に教えることでもないかなって = “Forcibly teach…”, and then everything from
ことでもないかなって onwards I don’t know. I think it’s a noun phrase becuase こと is following a verb. So perhaps it’s something along the lines of “I can’t forcibly teach you/tell you” ?
そうだな = “That’s right…”
Page 15
私今日早いからもう出るけどあんた学校どうする? = “Because I’m busy today, I’m already leaving quickly, how are you getting to school?” I’m inferring this because 学校どうする? pretty much means “how are you doing school?”
念のため休んどいてもいいけど = 念のため is an expression meaning “just making sure”. どいて is apparently the て form of どく, meaning “to get ready for”. That’s all I know. I used DeepL for the full sentence and it said: “Even if it’s the case that I have a good rest”. So, this is another one that has stumped me.
いやでも…ツノ生えただけだしな = “No matter… The horns grew because…” I don’t know what だしな means. Maybe it means “anyways”? I got いやでも from kanshudo, which told me it literally means “whether one likes ir or not”.
ま普段道りでいいよ = “The normal road is good”
死にやしないし = Something to do with “not dying”. That’s all I can infer in attempting to translate. Also, is that a や or a ゃ? It’s difficult to tell.
えっ = Eh…
Page 16
えつ待つてマジなの? = In this instance I don’t know what is or isn’t supposed to be a small つ. Assuming both are small つs, then I’d translate this as “Eh, wait, seriously?!” I take it that the な after マジ is just an abbreviation of ない (ie. マジない = マジじゃない = (you’re) not serious?!)
うんマジ = “Yes, seriously”
じゃ = “Well”?
何かあったら連絡ちょうだい = 何か (thought this meant ‘what’, apparently it’s ‘something’ or ‘anything’), あったら (if), 連絡 (contact), ちょうだい (give me, according to google translate). Assuming 連絡ちょうだい means “get in contact with me”, i take it this sentence means “If there’s anything, contact me”
ちょちょちょつと = “W…W…Wait!”
おつ おと = “Oh… Oh…”
お父さんだドラゴン？= “Dad’s a dragon?”
そうだよ = “That’s right”
ごめんね = “Sorry”
Is this sound effect ガチャ ?
また帰ったら続き話そ = また, again. 帰ったら, (when) returned. 続き, continue. 話そ, talk. I understand the words by themselves to infer that the sentence means “We’ll continue talking when I’ve returned”. Given the fact that the verb is in the middle, I can infer that this is a noun phrase. Why does it mave to be a noun phrase, though? I popped the sentence into ichi.moe to see what そ means in relation. No answer but I’m almost certain it’s just an emphasis particle. My guess as to why it’s a noun phrase is so that it could mean: “When I return we will continue it: [the] talk”
えついや = Again, assuming it’s a っ, this would be えっいや, meaning “Eh… No!”
Page 17
パタン = Hopefully I read the katakana correctly. I assume its onomatopoeia for the door slamming shut.
いつもの靴履いてってないし = いつも (Everytime), 靴 (Shoes), and i broke down 履いてってないし with ichi to get infer that it’s something about “not continuing to wear”. So is ルリ simply saying that “Everytime [Mom] doesn’t wear shoes [when going outside]…”?
FYI, when I originally typed this, there was a double line-break after each translation, but it didn’t come out when I posted, as you can see in the preview window on the right. If someone could tell me how to achieve this, please tell me, as it’s much easier on the eyes when there’s the extra space.
Just kinda tackling everything at once, feel free to ask questions if anything is unclear
It is, but it’s also used to indicate when something happens in time - “they grew while I was sleeping”
生えてた + の.
Note that this is not the question particle の, but the assertive の (basically indicating an answer to a question).
何それ is also used to indicate general surprise/confusion, and って is a contraction of という. ということ is a bit tricky to translate honestly, but the whole thing is something like “how’d those things grow while you were sleeping” (as in “how the hell did that happen overnight”)
Yes, もん is short for もの here, which does indeed indicate a reason, so she’s just saying (with a fair bit of sass) that she doesn’t know what happened because she was sleeping at the time.
Close. More like “half of you is not human”.
し indicates a reason for something, often in a list of reasons but also for single reasons. な can be thought of as a variation on ね. So the whole sentence is “it’s because half of you isn’t human” with that sort of rhetoric ね nuance to it. Mom’s being super deadpan here.
And again presuming this to be something obvious with the ね making this a super deadpan sentence - it’s a minor detail but the comedic effect is brilliant tbh
Because it doesn’t.
せい is something like “fault” or “reason” - as in 君のせいだ, meaning it’s your fault. Mom’s saying the horns are because of her father not being human.
These are two separate sentences. Again, mom’s being super deadpan here. “It’s because your dad has horns too. Here, eat your bread.”
Note that ～てる indicates a state. These horns grew at some point, but are now there. They’re not still in the process of growing.
This is Ruri’s line, she’s asking about her own heritage.
She didn’t expect the horns to grow overnight - note the past tense 思わなかった.
とは is just the quoting particle と and a topic marker - “horns growing overnight [in particular] is not something I ever thought of”
She’s telling her mother she wasn’t just asking for a different word
サクッ - it’s the toast crunching
何の冗談 is something like “what kind of joke”
～たら is an actual conditional here. “If it’s a joke, what are those horns?”
とは is the quoting particle with a topic marker again. 言おう言おう is what she was thinking. So she’s saying “I was thinking ‘I’ll tell her, I’ll tell her’, but…” (and this follows into the next sentence)
無理に is like unnecessarily, not forcibly. She didn’t want to tell Ruri something potentially shocking/worrying without any reason to do so.
って is a casual/contracted quote marker. The sentence being “quoted” is 無理に教えることでもないかな. Often って will be short for という but I think in this case it’s quoting another thought she had at one point.
でもない is used as a sort of strong negation.
こと is used here to indicate something she must/should do
So she’s saying she thought this was very much not something she should tell Ruri without a good reason.
早い is early, not busy. She’s saying she has to work early (the “work” part is implied but that’s generally what she’d be getting ready for on a weekday).
Something like “what will you do about school?” is more natural. She’s not asking how Ruri’s gonna get to school, but rather if she’s going to school at all.
“It’s okay to take a day off just to be sure”
休んどいて is a contraction of 休んでおいて (which you’d figured out already), which can mean doing something in preparation, but in this case is something like “for now”. Mom’s telling Ruri she’ll understand if she doesn’t want to go to school for now, what with the horns and all.
だけ is “only”
Ruri’s saying the horns growing is the only thing that happened. し is indicating a reason again, な is once again the variation of ね.
It’s 普段通り, not 普段道り. 普段通り is “just as usual”
I explained this a bit up - it’s a contraction of 死にはしない, meaning “there’s no way you’ll die”
It’s a small ゃ.
It’s a small っ
Yup, that’s right
Yup! It’s a contraction of では. You’ll see this a lot as a sort of generic interjection without too much meaning.
Yes, it’s the sound of mom opening the door
I’m not sure I understand what you mean here. There’s two phrases linked by たら - また帰ったら meaning “when I come back” and 続き話そ “let’s talk about the rest”. If you mean 続き, that’s a noun, not a verb (it’s technically the masu stem of 続く but it’s used as a noun here, meaning “the continuation” or something of the sort).
It’s a volitional form, but shortened. This manga is pretty colloquial so you’ll see these kinds of deviations from “textbook” Japanese a lot. So it’s just 話そう - “let’s talk”
That’s right
いつもの靴 - literally “the shoes of always”, meaning the shoes she always wears (to work)
This is just the stative form 履いててない with a bit of a “stop” in the middle. Again, a pretty colloquial thing but a pretty common deviation from “textbook” Japanese.
Mom’s not wearing the shoes she always wears to work. し indicates it as a reason for something but I’m honestly not sure for what - I’m guessing maybe just a reason for Ruri being a bit confused, but it’s left in the middle.
Thank you so much for all this, sincerely! This is my very first time doing something like this, and it actually was very enjoyable! I’ll now have the rest of the week to read this thread and ask follow-up questions. I skimmed this for now but I’ll give it the time it deserves as I’m about to go to bed. Again, ありがとうございます
It’s “Uwa!” As in a shout. Like you get scared or something
Probably emphasis. Also I’d change “These” to “That”
It’s like “When I woke up, it had already grown” sorry i can’t explain the grammar too well here!
The 何それ part kind of expresses disbelief and then “During the time you were sleeping, it grew”
“ってこと” is using the て as a quote I believe, which is in line with what I said with disbelief, kind of like she’s repeating what was already said.
I think this is just a way to say “Well of course”. Now I’ve heard this only audibly so I might be wrong on the spelling here but そうりゃそうか is what I’ve heard in anime. That’s how I understand it. Just a casual short way of that.
You used the wrong kanji here, but it’s basically like “Why did this happen to my head”
it’s like “Well…”
“You are half human after all” is what I feel. な is just a sentence ender here
I might be misunderstanding what you mean by interjection but it’s similar to just “Huh?”
せい is coming from fault or blame. So she’s saying “I’m wondering if it’s probably that (father is dragon) as the reason”
Very rough translation but you should get it
She is saying it’s because dad grew horns too. And now you need to treat the separate bubble as a sentence separator, she is now saying to Ruri “Here, eat your bread”. I think it’s another way to say ほら
“Then, what… this is hereditary?” Meaning she is asking if she got her horns passed down to her.
It’s like “To think they grew overnight, I never thought that would happen”
She is saying she is not asking for a different name
“What kind of joke is that?”
“If it was a joke, then what are those horns” She is basically saying how do you explain the horns if I was joking
kind of like she didn’t think it was necessary to inform her about, so no need to make this information compulsory. I actually filled out the vocabulary form if you check I used it as “Compulsory” because it’s kind of different than forcibly.
Not sure where you got busy from but basically she is saying she is leaving early, as in right now that’s why she uses もう出る and then she says “What will you do about school?”
She’s saying just in case, taking a day off would be fine by her
いやでも is more like she is expressing her reluctancy or unwillingness to do so “Yeah, but…”
Then, the usual way (to proceed) is fine. ま is shorter form of what I explained some other page まあ
yamitenshi explained this above
yes they are small, you might have read it wrong, “Eh, wait, seriously?!” is a good interpretation
she is merely stumbling her words to pronounce お父さん
More like “Her usual shoes, she didn’t wear this time”
I recommend checking out the vocabulary sheet, I specifically made sure to put definitions that could help in understanding some of these.
It can mean compulsory, but the focus is on an expected undesirable result or something just plain not being necessary or having any reason behind it, 無理 isn’t used for general “this is something that must be done” kind of things. It follows quite logically from the word itself too, it’s literally “without reason”.
I honestly think the translation of “compulsory” is a bit misleading anyway, if you look at monolingual definitions it’s not about an obligation to do something, but really about being forced or pressured into doing something. I’m not seeing anything in Japanese dictionaries indicating it’d express Ruri’s mom thinking this is something she needs to do out of a sense of obligation or somesuch.
Ruri’s mom expected a bad result of sorts (probably shock or something) from telling Ruri or just saw no good reason to do so, so she didn’t do it. There is a nuance of telling her being something she has to do (out of obligation), but that’s expressed by こと, not 無理.
Thank you to everyone who hast posted already! I had started to draft my questions, but had all of them answered before I could get past page 10!
言おう言おうとは思ってたんだけどね and 無理に教えることでもないかなって through me for an absolute loop. I had originally translated them to “I’m thinking what to say” and “I’m saying it’s not an impossible thing to say”.
Apologies if any of this doubled-up in other explanations; I haven’t read through other answers yet as they have been posted while I’m typing.
Also, if I don’t comment on something, I’ve agreed with your interpretation.
Pg. 9
Yep, you have that right, but you do have a typo.
見てこれ is what shows up in the text.
I only mention it in case it was an actual reading error.
Pg. 10
ってこと is short for ということ. It’s honestly something of a nominalizer. Translation-wise, it’s a bit of a tougher one. There are a few different ways to look at it. Maggie-sensei has a great write-up on という as a whole which includes ということ as part of the article. (Do use Ctrl+F and search for ということ to narrow down to the right section, though).
In this case, it’s being used to define something (though, since it is a question, it’s being used to request that clarification). Sort of like, “You are saying/are you saying: ○○?”
Also, be sure to pay attention to line breaks in speech bubbles. 何それ is a sentence on its own. It’s separated out by a line break (this is something you get used to over time. I know it took me ages).
So it’s roughly “What is that? You’re saying they grew in your sleep?”
Yeah, that’s correct. Probably a slurred それは is how it came to be, I think.
どう = how
なって is なる is て form
んだ = のだ, but the ん is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
Without contracting: どうなっているのだ?
ている often becomes てる, and when followed by の, る often gets smushed into becoming an ん sound as well.
So: どうなっているのだ → どうなってんだ?
Roughly, “How did (my head) become this way?”
With the follow-up topic clarification, which you already caught!
Pg. 11
You have まあ correct. It’s often translated as “Well.”
You are pretty close:
Roughly, “Well, it’s because half of you isn’t human.”
The し and な are both sentence ending particles.
し is used for explanation and reasoning (yep, another one).
な is kind of like ね, if just a bit rougher.
せい = “fault/blame”
かな is the bit that gives it the wondering tone.
So, “Probably, that is to blame.”
Ah, no. Two separate sentences (with the first sentence linked to the previous speech bubble)
The first sentence is, “Because your dad also has horns.” And it’s tied to the 多分そのせいかな.
The second sentence is totally unrelated:
ほれパン食べな
The ほれ indicates the topic shift (“Hey, pay attention to the next thing I’m about to say”)
食べな is short for 食べなさい, so just telling Ruri to eat her toast.
Pg. 12
とは is a particle (or rather, combination thereof) that indicates a bit of a surprise, oftentimes. When paired with まさか, you can pretty well assume that’s how it’s being used. You’re pretty close, but I would phrase it more like:
“I wouldn’t have thought the horns would grow in one night.”
Pg. 13
Another case where I would break it up a bit: “A dragon you said? What?”
The mom then gives the synonym, and Ruri’s response was basically saying, “Don’t give me the synonym.” Because she knows what a dragon is, she is just shocked by the revelation (as would we all be if a parent just casually dropped that, hey, by the way. You’re totally half-dragon.)
Pg. 14
サクッ
The の is basically just a stand-in generic noun here. “What kind of” is how I would translate 何の
It’s っ. You’ll get used to it the more exposure you have until you reach a point where you’ll wonder how you ever mixed them up.
Except for handwriting, where it’s always dependent on the author’s penmanship.
I would also phrase the translation more like, “If (だったら) it were a joke, then what are those horns?”
These should all be combined:
“‘Tell her (Ruri), tell her’, I have been thinking, but…”
The とは is being used in the non-surprise form where it’s basically just a stronger quoting particle.
思ってたんだけどね = 思っていたのだけどね
So, explanatory の, だけど = though.
Unnecessarily, as opposed to forcefully.
こと = nominalizer. It turns the verb into a noun.
でも = roughly, “or something.” Maggie-sensei covers this usage. If softens the usage a bit, makes it sound less committal.
ない = negation
かな = that same doubt/wonder particle
って= casual quotation particle, essentially と, marking this as a thought she has had
Overall, in natural English, I would phrase it along the lines of, “I wondered whether I shouldn’t tell you unnecessary things or something like that…”
Pg. 15
どうする is more like, “What are you doing about ○○?”
She is asking if Ruri intends to go to school given the circumstances, and is telling her to answer quickly because she is leaving soon.
念のため is also like, “Just in case”
とく/どく can have the “get ready for” meaning, but it’s also like “to get something necessary done”, and that feels like it fits better here.
てもいい is granting permission
けど is though, but it’s more like, softening the sentence.
Overall, “It’s okay if you need to take the day off just in case, though.”
Pretty close.
だけ = just
だ = copula
しな = same combo as before, with the し giving a reason, the な being essentially a ね.
Essentially, “Nah, I just grew some horns (implied: so i won’t skip school)”
通り = a way, not specifically a road.
普段通り is essentially, “As normal/in the normal way”
So, “Well, doing things as normal is fine.”
でいい is another form of てもいい (permission/acceptance).
Pg. 16
Small っ in both cases. You have this one.
She is stuttering over the word お父さん
Yes
続き is connective. 話そ is a truncated 話そう. So you have meaning correct, but it’s not a noun phrase in this sentence, but just two verbs connected together and then turned into a casual volitional. The mom seems to speak this way consistently, so you’ll get used to seeing weird forms of things the more time we spend with her.
Pg. 17
More like, “She’s not wearing the shoes she always wears…”
Ruri’s mom never fails to crack me up.
