月刊少女野崎くん 🖌️ (Beginner Book Club) ・ Week 4

Week 4 28 January 2023
Chapter 7 and 8
End page 116
Page count 28
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Hi everyone! I am back this week for some more questions :smile:

Question 1

What does Nozaki mean in the third bubble? Is it something like, now here (this room) is not in the condition of receiving guests?

Question 2

I don’t get much of the dialogue except that this editor contacted him one year after? Nozaki mentions how silly his excuse sounded, but what exactly did he say?

Question 3

So, Sakura is talking about thinking about the story, drawing… but then, I’m not sure about what she means in the bubble on the left of the page?

That’s it… for now. I am only half way through the first chapter of this week :sweat_smile:

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Answers

Do you mean the 本当にぐちゃぐちゃなんで!! bubble? I believe this would mean “It’s a real mess right now” using explication-tone (that’s why it ends in んで).
The middle bubble indeed says that the room is not in a condition to receive guests, or more literally, in a condition where people can be allowed through into it (通せる).

The excuse the editor gives is in the last bubble:

編集長が帰って来なくて遅くなりました

編集長 => Editor-in-chief (in other words, the editor’s boss)
帰って来なく => not come back and…
遅くなりました => it became late

So basically the excuse of the editor is that the chief editor didn’t come back (to the office) in a year and presumably that slowed the process of reviewing Nozaki’s ネーム. Which is pretty ridiculous…

My understanding is that she continues thinking about various problems a mangaka would run into:

ネタぎれ => running out of ideas or material for the manga
肩こり => getting stiff shoulders (from drawing all the time at the desk)
ありそう => seem to exist (things like the ones mentioned previously)

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Thank you so much!! Now it’s more clear to me ^^

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It is me once again ^^

Question: Can someone help me with the reading of these kanji?

The kanji I recognize: 受け止める, 少し悩む, 愚痴 . The others I do not…

What does this page title mean?


The translation google gave me of this phrase was “The lawn next door is a burnt field”… which doesn’t make sense to me? As a reference, this is in chapter 7, page 102 in my version of the kindle

Finish chapter 8, only 2 left for the end of the volume! I might try to tackle a different manga this week, which was why I tried finishing this week’s reading early. How’s everyone enjoying the story so far?

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Kanji

少し悩む = すこしなやむ

罵倒する = ばとうする

受け止める = うけとめる

抱きしめる = だきしめる

蹴りあげる = けりあげる

落ちる = おちる

愚痴る = ぐちる

微笑む = ほほえむ

Chapter Title

I believe the chapter title is a joke on the phrase:

隣の芝生は青い

Which is the same idiom as in English: “The grass is greener on the other side.”

Since the previous editor was so terrible and trying to insert tanuki constantly, the grass being a burnt field seems apt. :joy:

I’m enjoying it well enough, though I have to admit to enjoying the anime a little bit more. I think the 4-Koma format just isn’t to my tastes, if I’m being honest. But I definitely still enjoy it enough to finish up! The anime just landed better for me. :grin:

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I’m enjoying it quite a bit. I watched the anime too long ago so I don’t think I could make a fair comparison, but it’s always special to try to understand the jokes in the original language. I think it’s a special moment when one can get a joke that only works in japanese and laugh out loud - specially if it’s something that cannot be translated and can only be enjoyed by those that made the effort to learn the language.

My personal experience is that 4-komas can turn to be more difficult than people might think at first. The fact that the author needs to land a joke or a punchline every 4 panels means that sometimes a single page can get very wordy. I also feel it’s harder for the author to keep the jokes consistently funny.

Another thought is that I feel comedies in particular are ill-suited for beginner learners. A lot of japanese comedies rely on things like misunderstandings, puns, and references to japanese pop-culture that a learner has a lot of trouble figuring out with things like dictionaries.

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Thank you for answering my questions!

Indeed, I can imagine 4-koma isn’t for everyone. I read the manga in english (a few years ago, so I barely remember it to be honest) but would love to try the anime some time. And I agree that some comedies can be quite difficult for beginners! There are quite a few technical terms about creating/drawing manga in this one for example, but I feel like I am also learning a lot so its quite interesting.

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Page 93 (digital) Question

I’m not sure exactly what Sakura’s first bubble means, I only have two ideas haha. In particular I’m interested in だもんね, its definition and what it means in context. I think I’ve heard it loads before but just realized I don’t actually know exactly what it means haha
image

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Answer

Man, digital versions must be all over. This is 94 according to Kindle. :joy:

Anyway, the way I would interpret the sentence,

“No, not at all, but if the average person were to see this (presumably referring to Nozaki’s room/the state it’s in while he does work/that he is a shoujo mangaka in the first place, etc.), it would be quite the surprise, eh…”

だもん is the shortened version of だ + もの.

だ is just the general sentence-ending particle. もの is used for a few different things, primarily to give a reason/excuse, but also to express dissatisfaction. You’ll primarily see it used by women or children.

In context, I think that it’s being used for dissatisfaction as she kinda reflects on how strange the whole set-up he has going is/that he is a mangaka, etc… It’s a direct follow-up from the previous “chapter(?)” where Nozaki was panicking about the state of the room.

That was my rough takeaway, anyway, though I would be curious to know if others think I’m overthinking it.

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Page 93

I think she’s trying to figure out why he was freaking out about how messy his room is in the previous page. She guesses it might be someone unfamiliar with mangakas, who may find it surprising to see the messiness.

That sets up her surprise in the second panel when he reveals the guest is actually someone who will definitely be used to the messy workspace of a mangaka. Then the rest follows, with her saying there’s no need to be so frantic about cleaning, and Nozaki saying his editor coming makes him more nervous than if he had a girlfriend and she was coming over (lol).

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Thanks! That helped make it more clear

Ohhhh yes, that would make sense/line up with what Sakura says after, thanks for your input!! I think it was a little hard for me because of the subject omission and needing to understand all the context well haha

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I fell behind and just finished chapter 8 … I had kind of forgotten about this story line where they are playing games, get sidetracked wondering about this one side character, then end up staying up all night passionately writing a manga just to give him a happy ending (which happens to be queer). It is a perfect example of what I love about this manga. :blush:

I get why some folks wouldn’t like the 4-koma. It’s sort of intimidating feeling like every page starts an entire new story, and that’s why I fell behind actually … But I still love it. Ordered volume 2 from manga republic last week!

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