レンタルおにいちゃん - Week 9 Discussion (Absolute Beginners Book Club)

[Micki]

レンタルおにいちゃん Week Nine: Pages 103-116

Start Date: 3rd October

Last Week: Week 8
Next Week: Week 10
Home Thread: Link

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Vocabulary List

レンタルおにいちゃん Volume 1 Vocabulary

Created by @ChristopherFritz. Please read the editing guidelines in the first sheet before adding any words!

レンタルおにいちゃん Volume 1 Grammar

*Created by @nfive. Contains list of grammar points for the week with links to Bunpro explanations.

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[ChristopherFritz]

This chapter has something extra added above the chapter number:

If you look up 書き下ろし 描き下ろし in a Japanese-to-English dictionary, you’ll find it means “writing something on commission; newly written text” “drawing something on commission; newly drawn pictures (or paintings, manga, etc.)”. Indeed, this chapter was written specifically for the commercial release. It is all new material that had not been part of the free releases on Pixiv. (Thanks for the typo correction, @2000kanji!)

[tomwamt]

Page 108

Can anybody make out the chicken scratches in Kanami’s drawing? I think the bottom one starts with おそうじやさん ??? but I really can’t make out the rest.

[ChristopherFritz]

@tomwamt

おそうじやさん ??? but I really can’t make out the rest.

「おそうじやさんのおさかな」

But that’s all I can figure out, and even that much is thanks to you filling out the first half.

[2000kanji]

@ChristopherFritz

If you look up 書き下ろし

Not quite. It is not 書き下ろし but 描き下ろし (same pronunciation) which means ‘newly drawn pictures’.

描き下ろし - Jisho.org

[ChristopherFritz]

@2000kanji

It is not 書き下ろし but 描き下ろし

Ah, good catch. I always end up with 書く when I intend 描く! I should really notice it sooner these days.

[WalterMeiren]

Could use some help with some grammar points.
Page 105 - “かなみは遠慮しがちだけど”. The 遠慮しがち form specifically I can’t figure out.
Page 114 - “この魚を信頼して受け入れてるからじゃないかな”. The first part is easy to understand. I read the first part as “This fish is trusted, and…” but the second part doesn’t make much sense to me. I read it as something weird like “letting it in, because not, I wonder?”

[Micki]

@WalterMeiren

Page 105 - “かなみは遠慮しがちだけど”.

がち is listed in Jisho as a suffix meaning: apt to (do); liable to; prone to; inclined to; tend to​ (Usually written using kana alone, after a noun or -masu stem of verb; describes a negative tendency)

遠慮 is a suru verb and し is the masu stem of する.

So I read this as: Kanami is inclined to hold back (restrain herself from asking for help), but…

@WalterMeiren

Page 114 - “この魚を信頼して受け入れてるからじゃないかな”.

この魚を - This fish (followed by object marking particle)
信頼して - trusts (in connective form)
受け入れてる - is receiving
から - because
じゃないか- isn’t it
な - sentence ending particle seeking confirmation

There is no topic in the sentence. The topic is carried over from the previous sentences - the big fish.

As we’ve seen before から comes after the reason in Japanese.

So I translated as: It’s because (the big fish) trusts this fish and receives it, isn’t it?

I guess that could be a かな at the end (meaning I wonder) rather than か (question particle) followed by な (sentence ending particle) but either way the meaning is the same.

[WalterMeiren]

Major thanks as always.

@Micki

から - because
じゃないか- isn’t it

This part originally threw me off, but now, after your explanation, it seems obvious that the sentence means “Because X, isn’t it?”. Haven’t had a lot of experience with “isn’t it” in Japanese before.

[kousei22]

Page 105

I´ve read @WalterMeiren s question and @Micki s reply, but unfortunately I´m still not able to grasp the meaning of the right bottom panel´s bubbles and the connection between them. I thought it was Big Brother speaking, since his gestures gave me the hint that he seemed to be engaged in talking (completing his words from above), but even from Kanami´s perspective I can´t make sense of what´s being said.

First sentence: かなみは遠慮しがちだけど

@Micki

So I read this as: Kanami is inclined to hold back (restrain herself from asking for help), but…

Second sentence:

そんな必要ないからね

Because such thing is unnecessary

Whole sentence:

Kanami is inclined to hold back but such a thing is unnecessary

Regarding this translation:

1. What happens with から?
2. Isn´t there a contradiction in the meaning of Kanami´s words? What I would expect would be something like: I don´t want to restrain myself (from calling Big Brother) but such things (like fixing a clock) are not necessary.

My initial understanding (had it been Big Brother talking) was that he was saying something like:

“Kanami, you tend to restrain yourself, but that´s not necessary”

I saw in this translation a completion of the argument above that she can call him whenever (no matter the context, even though it´s because her clock has broken) she is in trouble.

Looking forward to your always enlightening feedback and sorry for my lack of understanding!!

[2OC3aOdKgwSGlxfz]

@kousei22

Regarding this translation:

1. What happens with から?
2. Isn´t there a contradiction in the meaning of Kanami´s words? What I would expect would be something like: I don´t want to restrain myself (from calling Big Brother) but such things (like fixing a clock) are not necessary.

My initial understanding (had it been Big Brother talking) was that he was saying something like:

“Kanami, you tend to restrain yourself, but that´s not necessary”

I also understood that this was Rental Brother speaking. I don’t see this as something Kanami could be saying.

Regarding what happened to から. Very often, the second clause that follows から can be skipped if it’s obvious from context. In this case, the result of the sentence is something that Rental Brother has already said in a previous panel, so he’s just explaining the reason for that.

そんな必要ない => Because there’s not need for (holding back) … (いつでも俺を頼っていいんだよ) (it’s okay to rely on me anytime).

So basically he’s giving the reason for what he said before. That’s why から is being used here.

[kousei22]

Ohh, it seems I got tricked again by the famous から and the omitted statement @ChristopherFritz explained in some other thread. Many thanks @2OC3aOdKgwSGlxfz!! It´s difficult to recognize it at first glance! I suppose from now on I´ll have to bear in mind that when から appears there´s a possibility that it´s acting this way, especially if it doesn´t make sense immediately.

And just one more question if it´s not too much How does all this から thing connect in the translation with the だけど?

[2OC3aOdKgwSGlxfz]

@kousei22

How does all this から thing connect in the translation with the だけど?

Rental Brother has two dialogue balloons in that panel. だけど is emphasizing the contrast between his first sentence and the second one:

叶実は遠慮しがち だけど => Kanami, you have a tendency to hold back / hesitate, but
そんな必要ない からね => there’s no need for that (because)

and as we talked previously, this last sentence connects to what Rental Brother was saying in the previous panel:

いつでも俺を頼つていいんだよ => it’s okay to rely on me anytime.

So, in this case だけど and から are not really directly related to each other, they are just connecting the different sentences that Rental Brother is saying.

[kousei22]

Ahh now I get it! So in fact it´s like this から is “substituting” the statement clause いつでも俺を頼つていいんだよ. That now makes perfect sense. Many thanks!!

[coolsday]

page 108

I have a question regarding the last two panels.
The part I am having trouble with is connecting the word 掃除屋さん to the rest of the context.
The translation I have right now is something like big brother asking Kanami what’s up with this janitor/cleaning fish in her sketchbook. Then Kanami is like “oh, my big brother taught me this”

Translated this way, it just makes no sense to me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleaner_fish ??

[tomwamt]

I think you’ve got it.The って is sort of like quotation marks. He’s asking: This “janitor fish”, what is it?

BTW Here’s the fish: https://jisho.org/word/本染分倍良
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluestreak_cleaner_wrasse?oldid=486252669

[coolsday]

Thanks again!

[kousei22]

Page 116

I´m having a bit of trouble with these two sentences from the upper left and central panels. Can´t really figure out grammar, meaning and connection:

片付けてもなくならないゴミの山と (Upper left)

部屋から出てこないお兄ちゃんがいる (Central)

Anyone can shed some light?? Many thanks as always!!

[tomwamt]

@kousei22

片付けてもなくならないゴミの山と (Upper left)

The core is just saying AとBがいる saying “There is A & B”. Both parts are of the form [neg verb phrase][noun] describing the noun that doesn’t do something.

Breakdown

First part: 片付けてもなくならないゴミの山
なくなる sort of means “to go away” here, literally it is ない in adverbial form + なる to become. Thus なくならないX means “X that doesn’t go away”, add in 片付けても “even if [we] tidy up” we get “A mountain of garbage that doesn’t go away even if we tidy up”.

Second part: 部屋から出てこないお兄ちゃん
Similar structure, 出てくる means “to come out” so 部屋から出てこないX means “X that doesn’t come out from room”

Now my guess for why it ends with いる instead of ある is because in a list of mixed animate and inanimate objects you use the last one to determine which verb to use. (If anyone has a source on this I’d love to see it)

[kousei22]

Many thanks!! Now it makes perfect sense!