神さまがまちガえる | Volume 2 Discussion

Page 94 (not 92)

It’s more ordered than that.
眠らなくても平気 = fine even if you don’t sleep
眠らなくても平気なバグ = a bug where you’re fine even if you don’t sleep
眠らなくても平気なバグでも = even a bug where you’re fine even if you don’t sleep

I don’t think it’s a general pattern. It’s also not verb + は since 休み is a noun.

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Pg. 83

Yeah, ふにゃ can be like, lacking strength or appearing a bit pathetic. It can also be used to indicate one is slurring their words/mumbling when it’s a 擬音語. Both of which could apply when somebody gets drowsy or tipsy. He definitely thinks she is getting drunk here.

Pg. 90

This is more of a guess based on the context, with not much confidence because you have to read it somewhat strangely. SFX often have weird directions, though, so I’m going with:

けろっ, where it’s short for けろり/けろっと, where it’s like “nonchalantly; as if nothing happened”

Pg. 94

やってあげる would imply Kousei is aware of it right now, I feel like. “I’ll hang up the laundry for him right now, and he knows I’m doing it.”

But Kousei is asleep, so Kon is saying he will hang it up for Kousei, for Kousei’s future convenience when he wakes up. Hence the ておく usage. It’s not for an immediate benefit, but for a future convenience.

That’s my read on it anyway. I’m still a bit fuzzy on ておく usage sometimes.

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I can see why you all like chapter 9. What the heck. Not opening any spoiler comments until I’m done with reading though. This one is a bit longer, but if it stays this good (and doesn’t get much harder) I hope to finish it tomorrow :smiley:

So far, this one is a bit weird re: understanding - no questions for most pages, and then two pages with all the questions.

Page 99

On this page it seems that there’s something I’m misunderstanding, and since I don’t know where exactly it starts, I translated the whole page. Please excuse the missing transcriptions.

Akira: Speaking of “Nothing happening”… a bit ago was a time where we never figured out what was bugged, right. Even though it was over in two days.

Maruko: Yeah, that’s rare.

Kousei or Maruko: Seldomly there are bugs where you never figure them out, but those are usually times with long-lasting small bugs, aren’t they.

Akira: For example, something happening that humans don’t notice, but that’s actually amazing…
(<— That’s a bit weird, so I wonder if I misunderstand this sentence or the previous one. How would he know that it’s amazing? Especially if it’s small?)

Maruko: Nevertheless, Hime-chan seems to understand it, but… in the end, that one will stay a mystery?
(<— That one I’m not sure about. Or is it “seems like she would understand it”? And is she back to talking about the “mystery 2 day bug” that Akira mentions in the beginning?)

Kasane: Yeah. It’s still unclear.
(<— That doesn’t make any sense to me when I look at the previous sentences.)

Maruko: Was it the one before the “relentless tree growth” bug?

Kousei: No, before the tree thing was the bug where everyone lost their way. One more before that.

Page 110
  • ??は毎回のコメントペーパー五? ??レポート五?
    レジュメは?自ダウンロード
    My nemesis, handwritten kanji without furigana. What are the missing kanji in what Kasane is saying?

  • Kasane: 幸運にも自分の家の中にバグが発生したんだし
    What exactly does 幸運にも mean? I think 幸運に is the adverb “luckily”, but I don’t know what the も adds. Resources on にも I find seem to talk more about the other uses of the に particle (where it actually makes sense to me).

  • Kasane: あの少年の観察に徹したほうが得るものがありそうだ
    “Devoting myself to observing this boy seems like it would be the case that I would gain/understand(?)”?
    There are a few parts of that sentence that I have trouble with:

    • I only know ほうが from when two things are compared, but I’m not sure what she is comparing here. Does she mean “she would learn more by observing the boy, compared to not observing the boy and doing any other thing”?
    • I’m not sure what exactly 得る is saying, mainly because it seems the object is omitted from the sentence. Maybe it’s “understand”, and the implied object that she would understand is “the bug”?
    • ものがありそう is new to me, but maybe it’ll make sense once I understand the rest of the sentence.
  • Kon: 新歓って響き大学生っぽい!
    Is that: “‘New members welcome party’ sounds so much like ‘university student’.” with a bit of admiration? (響き is such a nice word!)

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Page 99

So, the crucial part of this conversation is the fact that the bug lasted two days. Previous chapters have explained that bigger bugs last less time than small bugs - so for a bug to last two days, it has to be something pretty amazing that somehow no one noticed. That’s what Akira is saying:

人間には気付けないけど、実はすごいことが起きてた とか

“(Something like) Humans not noticing it, but in reality it was something amazing.”

This is in contrast to the previous sentence - small bugs that are hard to notice should last a long time.

それでも姫ちゃんならわかりそうだけど

それでも => In that case (the case of something amazing going on that no one notices)
姫ちゃんなら => In Hime’s case
わかりそう => she’d notice, wouldn’t she? (literally she seems like she’d notice)

So, she’s just saying that Hime’s chances of noticing an amazing bug like that would be higher since bugs don’t affect her. And yeah, they are still talking about that 2-day bug.

She’s confirming that it’s still unclear what the bug was those 2 days.

Page 110

She’s explaining how the grading works in her class. The kanji are:

評価は毎回のコメントペーパー五割
期末レポート五割
レジュメは各自ダウンロード

I’m not quite sure what も is doing there. My best guess is that it’s there for emphasis. Weblio’s thesaurus has an entry for 幸運にも where it’s defined as: 事が望ましい方向に進み助かる様子 (situation is such that things move in a direction that is helpful). It’s also a synonym for 幸いにも, which has an entry in jisho.

image

So my guess is that it’s just a “fortunately” with some level of emphasis.

ほうが is being used for comparison here. The comparison is implicit, and it’s between devoting oneself to observing the boy, and NOT devoting oneself to that.

得る means “to gain” or “to acquire”. 得るものがある means “there’s (ある) something (もの) to gain (得る)”. So in this sentence, she’s saying that it seems there’s something she can gain from devoting herself to observing the boy.

Yes, exactly.

I also really like how 響き is used in japanese. I guess it’s similar to saying in English “has a nice ring to it”, though obviously that’s not the translation you could use in this sentence, though it’s a similar idea.

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Page 99

すごい doesn’t have to mean “amazing” in a good way. The two definitions are:

  1. ぞっとするほど恐ろしい。非常に気味が悪い。
  2. びっくりするほど程度がはなはだしい。並外れている。大層な。

I think the “amazing” translation comes from the second definition, but if we read into the Japanese definition more, it really just means “extreme to the level of causing surprise/shock”.

I think “seems like she would understand it” is more accurate, yeah.

Page 110

The previous page and this page prior to this part is about her speculation on the bug and how widespread it is. Right before this she says 広く調査しようと思っても無理. I think あの少年の観察に徹したほうが得るものがありそう is contrasting that. Specifically, “There’s likely more to be gained by thoroughly observing that boy (compared to investigating widely)”.

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Page 99

Aaah. I think with
人間には気付けないけど、実はすごいことが起きてた とか
I was mainly confused because I skipped over 起きてた being past, and because I thought it was in answer to the previous sentence where someone mentioned long-lasting small bugs. I guess the sentence has some kind omitted callback to the topic of the 2-day bug.

I guess the characters all implicitly understood that the only way a bug is large-scale but unnoticed is when the human mind is affected too. I assumed it was something that humans really just don’t notice (e.g. it doesn’t happen where it is observed by humans), but yeah, that makes sense then.

Kasane lied as naturally as she breathed.

Page 110

Re: 幸運にも - ah, so it’s probably just an expression. Gotcha!
(And I just read for the first time 幸いにも in 僕が愛したすべての君へ a few hours ago, haha.)

And here I was thinking it was ものがある - Jisho.org :laughing:
Thanks!

Ah yeah, that makes sense!

Yeah, me too! And I guess in this sentence it’s a bit like “nothing says X like Y”, although that doesn’t feel quite right either.

Thanks, you two!

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It’s going a bit slower after all. Two more questions.

Page 111

Kasane: 見た飾りごく普通の中学生男子

ごく普通の中学生男子 is probably “a very normal middle-schooler boy”, but what exactly is 見た飾り? “The seen decoration”, as in “From outside appearance” or something?

Page 120

Kasane: 距離感がいまいち掴めないな

Is that Kasane saying that she can’t quite get a feel of what the emotional distance between Kon and her is?

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It’s 限り, not 飾り. :slight_smile:

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Page 120

Yes. In later panels she explains exactly why - but basically from Kasane’s point of view they have just met, while everyone else believes Kon has been with them for several days. Also Kon calling her Kasane (instead of her last name) makes it seem like they are on friendly terms, which makes it hard for her to gauge how close they are supposed to be.

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:no_mouth:


I finished it! This was good.

Page 123

What are the terribly handwritten kanji/kana in the upper panel?

Kon: 話してるとき楽しそうだなーって
Initially I was unsure whether it was fun for him while she was talking, or whether it he’s saying that it seemed like she was having fun, but… because it’s 楽しそう, right? If it was him, he would’ve just used 楽しい?

Kasane: 子供の頃から興味を持たざるを得なかったというか
Is using 持たざる something like an expression with 興味? Is that why it’s not just 持たない? (And is it a conjugated 持つ or just its own word? It’s my first time seeing it.)

Page 126

Kasane: 思ったより ずっと人間だなぁって
Is that a deliciously ambigious “(You’re/I’m) even more human than I thought”? Still, what a weird thing that must be to hear for Kon, even without the subject being specified.

Page 129

このバグは誰も気づきこそしないけど 大規模には違いない

I’m a bit confused by this sentence having both こそ and けど.

  • With only こそ: “Precisely because nobody is noticing this bug there is no doubt it’s large-scale.”
  • With only けど: “Although nobody is noticing this bug, there is no doubt it’s large-scale.”

…but how is that combination working?

Also, what exactly is the こそ highlighting? Everything that came before it, the whole このバグは誰も気づき?

And what’s up with that whole continuative + こそ + しない anyway? Is that grammar, or an expression? I can’t find anything about it.

Page 135

Why is she calling Kon (or what is happening here) a 例外事象の中の例外, an “exception within an exceptional event”? Isn’t it just the “normal” exception, a 残留物?

Page 136

紺はバグとして解消されず結果ここに留まった
“Kon remained here, without being cancelled as a bug”?

Page 138

このまま何も問題なあく…とは いかないだろうか
Is that “‘Like this, it won’t be a problem…’ …you can’t say that, can you.”?


Chapter notes

I love this chapter for so many reasons.

From the bug perspective, precisely because nobody is noticing it, this is a fantastic bug. The thought of bugs meddling with the human mind is fascinating and terrifying at the same time, and I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me earlier how interesting this would be with Kasane around.

And on top of that, more so than the previous chapters, this one actually had a memorable and emotional story, with Kasane at first just wanting to observe Kon, but then clearly getting more attached to him, while knowing that soon he’ll be gone and she will very likely be the only one to remember him.

Also, of course: What a twist.

6/5 points, more please.


Favourite page: 125, where Kasane wants a cute tail so that she doesn’t have to add an exception to the rule.

And aww, Kasane trying to make the most out of their supposedly limited time, without being able to tell Kon why. And that top frame of page 130 where Kon is being erased in the water reflection…


Answers to other people's comments

But look how happy Kasane is about the differently-colored water fleas! :laughing:

Yeah, this was absolutely stellar!

I wonder if the author planned to do this from the very first chapter.
(And then spent the time on staircases and insomnia instead to lull us into a false sense of security…)

I agree, although it is weird that a bug like that should be limited by physical distance. The bug changes the physical reality and everyone’s memories to back up it’s story (down to making a bank account with regular payments for Kon!), but then it drops the ball because Kasane’s father is a bit far away?

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I’m travelling tomorrow and most likely won’t have the time to post this, so I decided to post it early!

10 - 家路

Start Date: Feb 25th

  • I’m reading along
  • I’m planning to catch up later
  • I’m skipping this book

0 voters

If you’ve read it before but will join in the discussion (or have read ahead), please select “I’m reading along”!

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Please don’t be about stairs and/or water fleas, chapter 10. You have big shoes to fill after chapter 9… :pray:

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We never really learned anything about that water flea bug either hahaha
Maybe that’s what ch 10 has in store :rofl:

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Page 123

つい講義のノリで, which means something along the lines of “I went into lecture mode without intending to”

Yes, Kon is talking how she seemed to be having fun while talking; and also yes, he would just say 楽しい if it was about him.

Just to clarify, this sentence is a bit more nuanced. He’s saying "I thought ‘She sure looks like she’s having fun while talking’ " - he’s explaining why he’s asking the question in the previous panel.

Well, the actual expression is 興味を持つ

image

This is getting combined with the grammar structure ざるを得ない, which means that someone can’t help but do something.

In other words, she’s saying that she couldn’t help but have an interest in it since she her childhood.

Page 126

Yes, that’s my understanding. In the next panel you can see that he does seem to be somewhat puzzled about it - keeps staring at her probably wondering why she’d say that.

Page 129

Sorry I don’t know really know for sure.

My best guess is that this is a very similar pattern to こそすれ, that can be attached to the masu-stem of a verb (like in our current case). X こそすれ, Y ない is a pattern that means that “X” will happen for sure, and certainly “Y” will not happen / be the case.

Considering this is こそしない, I feel this must be the antonym of こそすれ => so it basically would mean “for sure will not”. “People for sure will not notice the bug, but there’s no doubt it’s a huge bug”

こそすれ〜ない (JLPT N1) | Bunpro – Japanese Grammar Explained

Page 135

Well, if I remember correctly, in this story 例外事象 is the “formal” name for bugs - bugs are exceptional phenomena basically by definition. So this is basically “An exception within a bug” - the fact the Kon, in his existence as the product of a bug, didn’t end with the bug itself.

Page 136

I’d go for something like “Kon, being himself a bug, didn’t get erased and has remained here as a result”

Page 138

I feel Kasane’s closing words are intended to be vague, so I’m not really sure. I feel she’s saying something more along the lines of " As for ‘Just like this without any problems’ … it’s probably not going to be like that, is it? "

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I was already joking with @MrGeneric that chapter 10 will be the water fleas again, but this time the stripes are vertical :laughing:

(Jokes aside though, I just read the title, so I’m pretty sure I know now which bug this is. Guess the water fleas will have to wait.)

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omg that would be hilarious… if the mangaka of teasing master and mistaken got together … can you imagine

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Page 123

つい講義のノリで I think

Yep, he thinks she’s enjoying herself.

ざるを得ない is the expression.

Page 129

Even though and also precisely because? I’ve never seen anything like this, but maybe it does just mean both.

Sometimes particles split phrases, like 気づかない can be 気づきはしない to add emphasis. I’d guess it’s the same thing, though again I’ve never seen this with こそ before. And I think it’s just precisely because no one notices it must be a large scale bug.

I started replying before @2OC3aOdKgwSGlxfz posted, but I think I agree with the rest of what they wrote, so I won’t bother answering more than above. I haven’t read all their responses, so my responses could be redundant.

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I’m missing something obvious… can someone explain the first panel on page 143

the whole nickname thing why is it faster to call them normally but then they don’t…I feel like this is a lame question but … I’m sure someone smarter than me will tell me what I’m missing

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Pg. 143

こいつの小学校のときのあだ名チキンタッタな

“This guy’s nickname in elementary school was Chicken (?) Tatsuta.” (Not sure why chicken, but I’ve only just started reading the chapter myself. Maybe that’s explained shortly)

ながっ

普通に呼んだほうが早いじゃん

"That’s long!

Isn’t it faster to call you normally (your normal name)?"

(Thanks @TobiasW for catching that I overthought this at first!)

だからもう誰も呼んでない

“That’s why nobody calls me that anymore.”

そりゃそうだ indicates agreement.

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Answers to answers:

Page 123

Aaah, thanks!

(Since 持たざる has it’s own jisho entry I kind of assumed it was either a fixed word or a conjugation on its own, but I since I didn’t search for a conjugation + を得ない I couldn’t find it. Searching for grammar is pretty hard sometimes…)

Page 129

Mysterious - I can’t find anything when googling either, and it doesn’t seem to be in The Dictionary or The Handbook. But meaning-wise that translation definitely makes sense.

Ignoring the こそ construction that I don’t understand, I think “even though nobody notices” makes more sense, because she’s giving the reason why it must be large-scale in the panels afterwards: 「そりゃそうだ」「人間が生まれてるんだから」. (“Even though nobody notices, it’s without doubt a large-scale bug. Of course it is. Because humans are being born.”)


Questions for the new chapter:

Page 144

Teo: 言うじゃん 人間は忘れる生き物とか何とか
Is the 言うじゃん something like “Don’t they say:”?

Page 145

Handwritten kanji alarm in lower right panel. 助けてくだいさい!

Fuku: 真っ直ぐ帰れって言われる系かぁ
“Being told ‘Go straight home’?”
…what’s the 系?

Page 148

Government official: さすがにズルだったか…
What’s the ズル?

Also, more handwritten kanji. Help, please.

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