地球星人 🌏 Book Club ・ Week 1

Japanese Language Reading
#10

Awesome to see some new faces! If you still like Murata by the end of this book, we’ll be sure to funnel you into the Murata Book Club :eyes: :innocent:

As for kanji and vocab lookups, they can be a bit of a pain… So for novels, I buy the kindle version, de-DRM it with Calibre and extract the raw text (easy to find when you ‘edit’ the book in Calibre). When I plug that into japanese.io I get one-click lookups. Makes it a lot less painful :grin:

The most obvious comparison seems to be 美佐子 from コイビト. Both 美佐子 and 奈月 have this whole narrative for their stuffed toys, including their stuffed toys giving them orders of sorts. I wonder whether 奈月 will turn out to be equally deranged :grin:

Compared to 授乳 this certainly seems more like the Murata I know and love, especially as far as the difficulty of the Japanese is concerned. These shorter sentences make less of a demand on my working memory, so the reading is smoother for me. I also get the impression the vocabulary is a bit more everyday so far and the descriptions a bit less flowery.

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#11

I just finished コンビニ人間 a couple weeks ago so I’m really excited to read another work from Murata as well. I enjoyed this first part, I’m going in blind so I definetely didn’t expect the whole magical girl with stuffed toy from another planet lol. Definetely excited for what comes next.

Also, when 由宇 says …秋級の山で、宇宙船から捨てられてたのを拾ってきたんだよって」I’m a little confused on how I should read the name of the mountain (I’m assuming it’s a mountain (?), I couldn’t find any translation). Is it just あききゅう or does it mean something ?
(page 9 on my kindle version but might be different for others)

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#12

There’s furigana in the first sentence:
Screenshot_20211128-231545

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#13

Oh damn, and I even took note of that when I found it :joy:
My bad, I must’ve forgotten after a while. Thanks.

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#14
I don't quite understand the structure of this sentence

ピュートがぬいぐるみ売り場の端っこで捨てられそうになっていたのを、私がお年玉で買ってあげた。

ピュートがぬいぐるみ売り場の端っこで捨てられそうになっていた
At the edge of the stuffed toy section Piyyut had come to look like he was going to be thrown out.

Then that sentence seems to be nominalised and made into an object with のを. But then what is it the object of? 買って seems to me the only option, but then my interpretation of that whole preceding sentence being the object doesn’t make sense. Which means my interpretation of の doesn’t make sense… But if it means something like ‘I bought the one that looked like it was about to be thrown out’, why do we have ピュートが in there as well?

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#15

See, I read a sentence and think nothing of it, then someone asks about it and I’m getting confused all of a sudden.

My thoughts on the sentence

I think it could also be written like this:
ぬいぐるみ売り場の端っこで捨てられそうになっていたピュートを、私がお年玉で買ってあげた。
ピュートが is the subject of the phrase ぬいぐるみ売り場の端っこで捨てられそうになっていた,
then all of that phrase is the object of 私がお年玉で買ってあげた。
Translating in English while keeping the sentence structure does take some mental acrobatics, but the result is the same: I bought ピュート, who looked like he would be discarded at the edge of the stuffed toy section, with my New Year’s pocket money.

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#16

I agree that that is probably what is meant by that sentence, but I am not sure how the grammar yields that interpretation. I do not recall having seen this before, that Xが〜の is written, where 〜X is actually meant. If the whole phrase is the object, wouldn’t the object be ‘the fact that at the edge of the stuffed toys section Piyyut looked like it was about to be thrown out’?

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#17

I think の can stand in place of any implied noun, or make the whole preceding phrase into a noun. The way I see it, の stands for Piyyut here, as he’s been already mentioned, so it wouldn’t mean “the fact that”. I’m no grammar expert, mind, that’s just how I understand it.

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#18

I may be wrong but here are my thoughts on that sentence.

Thoughts

The way I read is that the のを phrase is the object of てあげた. 奈月 is doing ピュート a favor by rescuing him/her from being thrown out. I think it also shows 奈月 treating ピュート as a person/living thing, maybe even of an equal status due to the use of あげる instead of やる which you might expect instead if she thought of ピュート as something like a pet. I’m not really sure how kids normally talk to pets or stuffed animals though.

ピュート is the one the favor is being done for so I think there’s an implied ピュートに in this sentence which is left out since it would be redundant. So ピュート is the indirect object and the situation ピュート is being rescued from (…のを) is the direct object of the favor (買ってあげた).

EDIT: I forgot to mention that 奈月 is the subject here (the one doing the favor of buying, which is again omitted from the sentence since it’s clear she’s talking about herself) while the ピュータが at the beginning of the sentence applies to the phrase before のを and not to the overall 買ってあげた. My mind is all over the place today so I’m sorry if this doesn’t make any sense.

Note: I referenced the てあげる section in A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar.

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#19

I think it’s related to 「のをいいことに」with the latter part omitted.

https://chiyo-sampo.net/grammar-jlptn1-woiikotoni/

So something roughly like “I took advantage of it looking like they were going to throw him away by buying him,” or “Under the pretense of it looking like he was going to be thrown away…”

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#20

First an apology for linking both discussion questions to other Murata books–that’s definitely not a prereq and I don’t want to riddle the thread with potential spoilers. Once there’s a bit more than 11 pages of material to work with I’m sure I’ll get more creative.

Also, fixed the typo in the end phrase. Thanks @Scylie for the catch and @omk3 for the fix on the home page.

(Minor spoilers for コイビト from 授乳 here and in above quote）The almost uncomfortable attachment to a stuffed animal definitely calls for that comparison. This also made me think about Madoka Magica–is it common in the 魔法少女 genre for young girls to be granted their powers by a small talking animal?

I also do see a bit of a connection with Keiko from コンビニ, although I’m not sure to what extent I’m letting myself be influenced by future chapters. (Mild early コンビニ人間 spoilers) I think 奈月 shows the same sort of independence and societal detachment that Keiko showed as a kid. In 奈月’s case this takes the form of dating her cousin instead of “violent” outbursts. Like in Keiko’s case, she hasn’t picked up on society’s cues that this behavior is wrong, and clearly nobody has explained exactly why (although I don’t know to what extent a 9-year-old would ever get such an explanation). Maybe it’s a stretch, but the general alienation seems to be there.

I picked this up days after I read コンビニ人間 in English on @Aislin’s recommendation. I found it unlikely that I could like something even more, but this did it. I’m psyched to have the opportunity to get back to it in Japanese a year later, I’m just envious of those who get to read it for the first time in the original language.

Going back to this was a breath of fresh air. 授乳 was starting to make me doubt my Japanese abilities. The style is much more similar to コンビニ. It paints a much more vivid picture with fewer words. I think this section did a great job of establishing a strong sense of nostalgia. Or it might just have resonated well with me because I have very fond childhood memories of seeing certain cousins just once per year.

Now we just need a real life ムータ and ホシオ! Although I’d probably be creeped out to have either of those around.

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#21
My reply, which turned out to be an off-topic about 魔法少女 genre in general

It’s funny when you bring Madoka Magica as the thing you know best within the genre, when it’s an example of the genre subversion :smiley:
But it’s the same for me :wink:
I even educated myself a little about 魔法少女 genre after reading another Murata’s work, 丸の内魔法少女ミラクリーナ, and when I say educated, I mostly mean I read the wikipedia article & some of articles in its references section :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:
As for the animal sidekick,

It seems like every magical girl anime series has a magical animal companion
source: 30 Day Anime Challenge- Day 15: Favorite animal sidekick/pet or summoning from any anime | Blerdy Otome

NonHumanSidekick
Most Magical Girls have one or more of these, who often overlap with Weasel Mascot, Mentor Mascot, and/or Ridiculously Cute Critter:
source: Non-Human Sidekick - TV Tropes

But when we’re on the common elements, what surprised me most is that fighting evil wasn’t there from the start:

Prior to that, magical girl shows post-Princess Knight downplayed the fighting and functioned more like sitcoms. Their magical powers resembled the antics of Steve Urkel in Family Matters – an excuse for crazy stuff to exacerbates the episode’s social conflict. While they were often still princesses, magical girls dealt with schoolyard problems more often than actual threats. They’d use their powers to go out with boys or live double lives as pop stars.
source: What Makes Magical Girls So Popular? - Anime News Network

And it seems it’s Sailor Moon that changed this:

Sailor Moon (1991), whose anime adaptation was broadcast from 1992 to 1997, revolutionized the magical girl genre by combining “transforming hero” elements from live-action tokusatsu hero shows like Super Sentai and Kamen Rider with feminine interests, such as romance and child-rearing. […] In addition, unlike previous magical girl series, Sailor Moon featured a team of magical girls as the main characters, with male characters supporting them in battle.
source: Magical girl - Wikipedia

I was also surprised that idea of using a compact to transform is so established and widespread and that it was introduced as early as 1969 (Himitsu no Akko-chan anime adaptation).

And I admit I didn’t really think too deeply about this bit until articles pointed this out to me:

A key attribute of the Sailor soldiers is the nature of their transformation. In their sailor collars and miniskirts, with their long hair, manicured nails, and smart accessories, they look singularly ill equipped to do battle. When male superheroes like Kamen (Masked) Rider and the Super Sentai teams morphed, the changes were clearly designed to make the heroes stronger. But the transformation of the Sailor girls functioned primarily to exaggerate their feminine good looks and sexuality. In a major paradigm shift, Sailor Moon represented power using standard attributes of youthful feminine beauty and sexuality, negating the traditional dichotomy between cuteness and strength.
source: Children of Sailor Moon: The Evolution of Magical Girls in Japanese Anime | Nippon.com

I’m by no means an expert on the topic, and maybe all of the above is a common knowledge, but it wasn’t for me :stuck_out_tongue:

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#22

My experience with the genre is pretty much Madoka and a couple episodes of Sailor Moon, so your breakdown here probably more than doubled my knowledge :grin:. It will be interesting to read this again with a bit more 魔女少女 context. Also, I’m pretty interested now in reading 丸の内魔法少女ミラクリーナ.

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#23

Ohhhh I’m so excited we’re finally reading this. After 御伽の部屋 this already reads and feels so much more like the Murata style I crave for. :sweat_smile:
Already off to an intriguing start, too. Also glad to see some fresh blood new faces, hope you stick around!

Took me way too long to realize they’re driving in a car and the 隣 is not someone from a different house next door. :joy:

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#24

No idea what to expect from this story yet, but I’m intrigued! This is my first Murata book as well.

Not much to go on yet but probably that segment where Yuu said (paraphrasing) he thinks his mom would be better off if he went back to his planet, and that he’s been waiting to be taken away all this time.
That’s kind of sad man.
I wonder why the mom says the alien thing to him. Random joke? Is he actually adopted or something? (Under the assumption that he’s not an actual alien… :laughing:)

ポハピピンポボピア k̶i̶d̶d̶i̶n̶g̶
指切り :slightly_smiling_face:

Oh my god, he’s so cute!! :pleading_face:

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#25

My first book club at this level! I did enjoy it quite a lot
I read about half of this weeks, then mentioned to my sensei and he suggested we read some together, and it was honestly super helpful. I’d highlighted words I didn’t know or a few pieces of grammar I didn’t grasp and he was able to explain much quicker than I could’ve looked it up. Also reading it aloud mean he picked me up on a few onyomi/kunyomi errors and some rendakus that I missed. I think I’ll do the second half of this passage the same way tomorrow.

I’ve not idea where this is going, but I was expecting the 魔法少女 stuff to be real, but from him and the discussion here I understand this to be a classic trope amongst anime girls.

My other dumb thought was when they said 山の中 and 宇宙に近いI was imagining a literal inside of a mountain that rose up to space - but then they mentioned 長野 and 千葉 and that grounded it for me a bit for now. When reading in Japanese I do struggle to distinguish metaphor and normal descriptions - but I’m just not used to reading novels…

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#26

I have added a sheet with names in the vocab file because they only get furigana at their first occurrence. Please feel free to add more entries (persons and places).

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#27

Thank you very much! I’m feeling good with 日常 and ヨコハマ買い出し紀行 at this point. When it comes to non-manga reading, I’m having some difficulty having enough stamina to go through. (Ogawa Mimei’s stories were a bit frustrating because of that.) However, I found the remaining 8 pages easier. I’m hoping to keep up reading this book until the end, that would be a big milestone for me. :slight_smile:

I got the paperback version. :sweat_smile:

This was my favorite new word too, especially because I understood the meaning even though seeing it for the first time. :slight_smile:

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#28

I’m another Murata newbie (@jhol did a good job promoting this book club, I think) and I’m going in completely blind. I just finished this week’s part and it was a very enjoyable read!

Murata indeed has a very straightforward writing style (in this book so far) so I only have vocabulary to worry about and that’s not such a big deal with the e-book version.

Like @jhol mentioned, she paints a vivid picture with few words and I think that that is what makes it so enjoyable for me.

It might have been the opening sentence :smiley:. I just couldn’t figure out what she meant with 夜の欠片 (it became clear later) and I couldn’t figure out if 秋級 was a normal noun or a proper noun because I couldn’t find it in a dictionary and also not on Google Maps. In the end I just settled on it being either a fictional mountain or a mountain that is so local that it isn’t listed on Google. (Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.)

I’ll admit that I also had to do an image search to figure out what a 変身コンパクト is. Turns out we have some lying around the house (ガシャポン souvenirs) :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

And I had some trouble with the すいこ. At first I thought that すいこっていって was some kind of conjugation of a すいこる verb or something, but when they started discussing it, I realised that he was just saying that it’s called すいこ.

Again, I couldn’t find any dictionary entries and very little Google Image results. Maybe this is a local name for a plant that has a different common name…? It’s probably sorrel or some other type of dock (スイバ) because those are also included in the Google results and they are edible and sour (called ‘(veld)zuring’ in Dutch which has ‘sour’ in the name).

変身コンパクト :smiley:

Definitely the opening with the 夜の欠片 and 真っ黒な闇. An immediate sense of mystery and foreboding.

I also liked the kids’ conversation: discussing these outlandish things as if they are just an everyday reality is very kid-like.

She comes across to me as a strong-willed character, self-assured and like she knows how to get what she wants.

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#29

I’m psyched you’re able to join! I know you also have かがみ on your plate so my fingers were crossed.

I think you’re spot on. From the Wikipedia article on スイバ：

このほかにも地方によって、茎をポンと折って食べると酸っぱいことから スカンポや スカンボ 、 スイッパ、スイコ、ショッパグサ、ネコノショッカラ、スイスイグサなど、さまざまな別名でも呼ばれることもあり、その方言名の数は200を越えるといわれている。

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