獣の奏者 prologue, part 1 discussion

I beg to differ. :see_no_evil:

4 Likes

I suppose you have to make a choice. Pictures or no furigana.

I actually wanted to ask if there’s one with the original text but also with illustrations!

I doubt it. The pictures usually come with Aoi Tori Bunko versions that are targeted towards kids.

1 Like

懐かしい!
I was reading that book almost 6 years ago now. It’s insane how fast time flies.

6 Likes

Woo, first section of novel in Japanese! I don’t think I would have made it if I hadn’t already watched the anime.
Going through again with the dictionary was a massive chore

Questions

Page 9

母が闘蛇の世話をしにいくときは、水汲みをしていても縫い物をしていても、途中でほっぽって、必ずくっついった。

It’s describing her daily life when mum’s at work and that she always stops and does something partway through, but I’m not clear on what

  • she gets distracted by (beyond generally wanting to touch the 闘蛇).
  • what she ends up doing instead.

岩房の深く暗い溜め池の水面をうねらせながら泳ぐ、巨大な蛇を見てめながら、母は平淡な声でいった。

I think I got a bit lost with this because I don’t really know Japanese writing conventions yet. Is this describing what’s happening during the dialogue either side? Why do they use those long dashes instead of normal quoting here?

Page 11

そばに行くのさえいやなのだそうだ。

The なのだそうだ confused the hell out of me. At first I thought it was ((…なの)だそう)だ but it turns out なのだ is a thing…
I’m guessing the sentence means something like “It looked like it was assuredly the case that even going near them was disliked”?

Page 14

…縄張り意識が強い闘蛇…

The 闘蛇 are very territorial?

Page 19

母が凍りついたように身動きもせず、じっと見つめているので、語尾が尻すぼみになってしまった。

Don’t get what’s going on with the last clause. The world ended
I’m tired and misread 語尾 the translation of as end of a world… :joy:
Move along, nothing to see here.

4 Likes
Page 9

This is describing what Erin is doing whenever her mother goes to care for the 闘蛇.
母が闘蛇の世話をしにいくときは、(…)、[エリンは]必ずくっついていった。
Erin always came along when her mother went to the touda.
くっついていく = くっつく + 行く = to come along

水汲みをしていても縫い物をしていても、途中でほっぽって = whether Erin was drawing water or whether she was sewing, she always dropped everything (to go with her mother)

Page 9?

The weird dashes are definitely not a standard writing convention, I was very confused by this as well! I think it’s referring to a flashback, indicating that the conversation took place in the past. The dialogue does return to normal brackets soon.

And yes, the part you quoted ends with 母は冷淡な声で言った. Everything before that basically describes what the mother is doing during talking (making use of ながら with a very long sentence in front of it)

岩房の深く暗い溜め池の水面をうねらせながら泳ぐ、巨大な蛇を見つめながら(…母は冷淡な声で言った)
(Starting from the back of the sentence): while staring at the giant snakes who were swimming around while creating ripples in the dark lake inside the cave… (her mother said with a calm voice).

Page 11

I do think it’s more (なの)だそうだ, but since だ is the normal way to connect stuff there isn’t really a difference?
But I wouldn’t try and force the „assuredly“ meaning you presumably found for なのだ into the sentence, since it’s a speculative sentence anyway:
„It seemed like they even disliked simply walking beside them“
I don’t really remember the context for this one but looks like you understood it well!

Page 14

Yes. :smiley:

If you need more detailed breakdowns please say so! But your understanding seems pretty solid already so I wasn’t sure how far I should break down the sentences…

3 Likes

Thanks :slight_smile:

I’m pretty comfortable with the grammar, I think I just got lost as to how some of the sentence were working in context.

I still find the なのだそうだ really odd. I’m happy with the meaning (it’s the usual indecisive language), but the idea of a double copula just feels off somehow.

It’s amazing how much trying to form the question helps.

4 Likes