レンタルおにいちゃん Volume 4

[ChristopherFritz]

Manga occasionally use ぶわ as a sound effect for things like someone bursting into tears, or an aura of energy bursting out of someone. There’s a feel of starting out slow, and then bursting out. This is along the lines of @Belerith’s response regarding water, which you can maybe imagine filling a container until it bursts out.

@Belerith

Just Kanami’s world expanding.

Not just expanding, but expanding with a ぶわ!

@kousei22

I didn´t know that the adverb と particle could also be replaced with って, that´s why I was confusing it too with a verb.

I feel like this is Japan’s worst practical joke on us learners.

Edit: This adverb と is the same thing as the quoting と (it’s quoting the sound ぶわ), which is why it can become って.

For a fun other usage of ぶわ, do a web image search for:

しっぽ ぶわってなってる

[ChristopherFritz]

Coincidentally, while doing my daily manga reading today, I encountered ぶわ’s lighter/floatier sibling, ふわ:

[kousei22]

@ChristopherFritz

しっぽ ぶわってなってる

@ChristopherFritz

Coincidentally, while doing my daily manga reading today, I encountered ぶわ’s lighter/floater sibling, ふわ:

Universe, do you want to tell us something?? Because the other day I remember I asked something and the same grammar point was on your reading too

[ChristopherFritz]

This happens for me at least once a week for me. I encounter grammar that was mentioned in a book club, or a vocabulary word I just learned in WaniKani shows up.

On one hand, it’s probably just frequency bias for common things, but sometimes it’s something that seems like it would be uncommon. For example, this past week, the ABBC manga introduced a character named 中井(なかい) and the BBC manga introduced a character named 桜井(さくらい). How often do you see two characters with 井 at the end of their surname show up in different works you’re reading at the same time?

[ChristopherFritz]

Week 4: Pages 076–098

Start Date: 2021-05-21T00:00:00Z

This week begins our final “split across two weeks” chapter.

Let’s see where this is headed!

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[kousei22]

What an astonishing chapter, I´m absolutely Did anyone see this coming?? Cause I didn´t, by any means

Two questions I had while reading!

Page 96

パパはママに冷たいのに, これ以上嫌われたら, どうしてくれるのよ!

This I think I misread at first, thinking the “receiver” of 嫌われたら was Kazutaka. I now think it´s her mum. Anyway, I´d like to check with you guys because I´m also unsure about that のに (is it the “emotion” end particle here?) I got:

"Dad acts coldly towards me… and if he hates me, how will you make up?

Edit: that どうしてくれる I found online as meaning something like “To make up for something”, but I would like to see your interpretations too

Page 97

This one´s a pure grammar one

塾だって一流の先生に任せてるし一点でも成績が下がれば勉強時間を倍にさせてる

How would you guys give the nuance of that second てる with that ば conditional? Maybe something like: “If… we will be doubling the study hours”? Because in Spanish, at least, it´s impossible to translate it without a normal future tense (which would be the plain させる form)

Many thanks in advance!

[ChristopherFritz]

@kousei22

パパはママに冷たいのに, これ以上嫌われたら, どうしてくれるのよ!

I read this line as, “Even though your father is (already) cold to me, if I come to be hated (by him), what are you going to do about it?” (Rough translation.)

The どうして + くれる pair is the verb くれる meaning “to do (for someone)”, and the adverb どうして meaning “how (will it be done); in what way (will it be done); by what means (will it be done)”. It has a sense of “how will you compensate me” (which is how I read it here), but in some it contexts can be used to demand an apology.

In all, I’d say your translation looks good to me.

@kousei22

Because in Spanish, at least, it´s impossible to translate it without a normal future tense (which would be the plain させる form)

Does it change any if you use “when” rather than “if”?

[kousei22]

@ChristopherFritz

It has a sense of “how will you compensate me” (which is how I read it here), but in some it contexts can be used to demand an apology.

Great! Thanks! On to my grammar memos

@ChristopherFritz

Does it change any if you use “when” rather than “if”?

Not much to be honest The problem is that I think it´s the first time I see the state of action てる with a conditional, so that´s why my mind is struggling a bit with the translation. I may have to just try to grasp it within the Japanese grammar (probably trying to fit it in alien grammar is not helping in this particular case)

[ChristopherFritz]

@kousei22

The problem is that I think it´s the first time I see the state of action てる with a conditional, so that´s why my mind is struggling a bit with the translation.

I’d go with something like, “When his grades fall even a little, they’re making him study double hours.”

[kousei22]

Ahh I kept seeing the parents as the subject of 倍にさせてる that’s why I wasn’t grasping the tense properly.

Many thanks for your help!!

[ChristopherFritz]

Week 5: Pages 099–124

Start Date: 2021-05-28T00:00:00Z

The weekly page count only increases from here on out!

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[2OC3aOdKgwSGlxfz]

Hmmm I am a bit puzzled as to why there’s a recording of what happened inside the car during the accident? I suppose there’s a chance the mother recorded it on her phone, though it feels pretty unlikely to me.

[ChristopherFritz]

I’d have to check the pages to see if anything specific is shown on the computer screen, but my first thought would be dashboard camera. I don’t know anything about them, though.

[ChristopherFritz]

Week 6: Pages 125–168

Start Date: 2021-06-04T00:00:00Z

We’re getting there!

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[2OC3aOdKgwSGlxfz]

One question please meow.

Page 137

Not sure I follow what 大吾 means in the following panel:

My best guess is that he’s saying “I don’t think that he doesn’t have any circumstances now.”, though I don’t think that fits the events currently happening. Does he mean that he isn’t sure that Kazukata had nothing to do with Kanami’s injury? Does he mean that he understands he still has some (psychological) issues?

Any help is appreciated! Meow.

[ChristopherFritz]

I meant to reply to this sooner, but it seems I closed this tab by mistake…

This is a difficult one for me, as it uses grammar/word patterns I’m not familiar with.

「なんの事情(じじょう)もなく」

Via Maggie Sensei:

There is NO ~~
→何も〜ない
→何の〜もない

(The “no” is in all caps to show emphasis.)

From this, I get Daigo’s first word balloon to be emphasizing that he knows there’s no circumstances behind the accident that hospitalized Kanami.

The second word balloon, I read as:

「『今(いま)がある』とは、思(おも)っていない」

I don’t have a certain answer on this one, so I’m left to ponder. Does the 「今(いま)がある」 mean that (regarding there being a cause), he isn’t thinking there “exists one right now”?

I think that leads nicely into his third word balloon. Something like, “There’s no circumstance (that’s to blame for Kanami being hospitalized). I’m not thinking one exists now. That being the case, I cannot forgive you for what you’ve done until now.”

[kousei22]

@2OC3aOdKgwSGlxfz

Not sure I follow what 大吾 means in the following panel:

I´m so glad you asked that, because I was just going to post regarding that line! I too wasn´t sure about how I had read it, but, surprisingly, my interpretation was somehow in @ChristopherFritz ´s line.

@ChristopherFritz

From this, I get Daigo’s first word balloon to be emphasizing that he knows there’s no circumstances behind the accident that hospitalized Kanami.

If I may contribute with something which may be of help, here is what the Goo Japanese dictionary says about 事情:

物事がある状態に至るまでの理由や状態。また、その結果。事の次第。「やむをえぬ事情があって遅れる」「事情が許す限り協力する」「業界の事情に通じる」「中南米諸国の事情に明るい」「住宅事情」「交通事情」

For me the key to trying to understand this part was to compare, just for a second, 事情 with 理由, which is a word the dictionary uses to create its definition.

Because, in fact, if 事情 actually means (it´s not the literal translation what follows, but the essence of the definition) “a reason or condition which contributes to the happening (state or action) of something”, then that 今いまがあるとは (that is, the actual situation of Kanami being hospitalized) has its 事情 in the incident with the boxes. Obviously Daigo doesn´t know the details, but, even though Makoto tells him that it was an accident, he doesn´t believe-think ( 思おもっていない) that it was a question of luck, that is, that there was no reason or logical situation ( 事情じじょうもなく) leading up to it.

I had read about that とは as a way to emphasize a thought, usually with a negative nuance. In that sense, it goes in the line of @ChristopherFritz ´s idea of emphasis along the dialogue.

Final result (free): I don´t think this situation came out of nothing

Of course, this is all pure personal interpretation, and considering there are people here with loads more of reading experience and that, even though it made sense for me, I could be totally wrong, please cherry pick!

[ChristopherFritz]

Week 7: Pages 171–222

Start Date: 2021-06-11T00:00:00Z

Final chapter.

Thoughts on the series?

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[2OC3aOdKgwSGlxfz]

Thoughts on this series.

From a japanese learner perspective, I think this series makes an excellent introduction to reading native material; this is definitely the easiest manga I’ve read so far. It uses a normal amount of kanji (unlike material aimed at children), almost every character speaks normally, there’s no specialized vocabulary, the pages are not filled with long dialogues that can be intimidating, and uses mostly very common grammar points. The kansai-ben would probably be the only thing that’d make me hesitate a bit before recommending this book to someone new to reading.

Sadly, even if it’s the easiest thing I’ve read, there was a lot I still struggled with. sigh =T.T=

As for the actual story. I am always hesitant to give a review of stuff I’ve read in japanese - there’s that nagging feeling in the back of my head that I probably missed many of the nuances and subtleties that would have usually enhanced the contents. There’s also the factor that I have very poor memory and even though I agree the pacing was great for beginners, it’s very hard for me to remember all the details clearly after 10 months. Nevertheless I’ll give reviewing it a try.

Overall I thought it was a nice story. Even though it didn’t go in depth of the serious aspects it touches upon, it didn’t gloss them over or tried to pretend they had simple solutions. The relationship between Kanami and her two brothers was interesting to watch unfold as the story explored the different events that led to them to where they were.

I feel the ending was a bit rushed. We slowly saw Kanami realize that there was a lot she would have to persevere through to reach her brother’s heart, and she seemed to be accepting that it was going to take long and that she needed to be patient - yet this seemed to be truncated by the accident that happens in the last few chapters. While this wasn’t completely random and didn’t invalidate or made pointless all the previous things Kanami went through, it did feel like a convenient shortcut.

There was also some points that seemed to have left unexplained, in particular about how exactly was Kanami related to her family. I can’t remember if it was ever explicitly stated, but it seemed Kanami was adopted, or at least not directly related by blood to her parents - that was the impression I got. The story never delves into this, or explains it. The only part where this seemed to have any relevance was that Kazutaka’s bullies seemed to be using that info to blackmail him.

Still, I feel the ending was satisfying and gave a positive outlook on life.

Huge thanks to everyone who participated in this book club, and specially to @CristopherFritz for running this club and all detailed and wonderful grammar explanations; it was a huge help to both learn and solidify my knowledge.

ありがとうございます！

[ChristopherFritz]

@2OC3aOdKgwSGlxfz

From a japanese learner perspective,

Your thoughts here mirror my own. Although I do recommend this alongside よつばと！ and 三ツ星カラーズ, the Kansai dialect is pretty much the one sore point for absolute beginners who don’t have the benefit of guidance on translating to Tokyo dialect. For those with such guidance, it think it makes for a great introduction to “fiction Kansai dialect”, the kind they’ll most likely encounter in manga and anime. (I don’t know about in live action fiction.)

@2OC3aOdKgwSGlxfz

Sadly, even if it’s the easiest thing I’ve read, there was a lot I still struggled with. sigh =T.T=

One reason I took so long to reply to your prior question (aside from accidentally closing the tab I had open as a reminder) was because I knew I’d couldn’t give an immediate answer off the top of my head. I had to re-read the panels leading up to it, and look into what I could find on it, to give my interpretation.

That’s happened more than once with this series where I was unsure of some grammar. But I’d still recommend it to early learners, because (as I’m sure us readers all know), we have to be able to tolerate ambiguity on this journey.

@2OC3aOdKgwSGlxfz

it’s very hard for me to remember all the details clearly after 10 months

Has it really been that long? Wow. (But imagine waiting for new volumes to come out in the store to buy!)

Regarding the speed of events at the ending, I will admit, when I first read the series, I wasn’t certain if there was actually a path to saving her brother. I think my favorite scene in the series is when Kanami’s brother goes to use the phone, which is right around the start of the ending sequence, so that likely does cloud my judgement on the ending a bit.

@2OC3aOdKgwSGlxfz

There was also some points that seemed to have left unexplained, in particular about how exactly was Kanami related to her family.

I may have missed something, but I’m under the impression she’s their biological daughter.

Regarding the blackmail, that seemed like the weak point of the story to me because I wasn’t certain the why behind it. I may have missed something vital, though! (This was my second read-through, but perhaps I tolerated ambiguity a bit more than I should have at some parts. I appreciated people questioning parts for this reason!)

Edit: Maybe if Kazutaka had issues with their parents, and didn’t have any friends, and was protective of his sister, it’d made sense why he’d have the one good person in his life as his smartphone background. The classmates could have threatened to make up a lie about it, although the whole “let me use you as a punching bag to let off my own stress” thing did feel a bit contrived, if I understood it correctly.