This was an interesting bug…I still feel like this would make for a really fun animated series…
some of these bugs are confusing…glad they semi-explained a little at the end…though now I just have more questions
BTW: Populated the vocab list… Assuming its the same sheet…nothing was setup for this week’s chapter so copied the ch6 that I filled in and went along and filled in for ch7… (imagine so few of the advanced readers even use it…) but if there is some other location let me know and I’ll move it accordingly.
Is that the normal permission-granting てもいい? Something like “Come on, you’re allowed to break!” because he’s getting a bit impatient/nervous?
Page 59
Teo: 避けるのは無しだからな
“Because avoiding it doesn’t exist”? Eh?
Page 60
Pupil: 待って先生いまいいとこなんです！
Is that “Wait, sensei, we’re getting to the good part now”?
Page 64
Kasane: わからない そうなるんだからそうだとしか
“I don’t know, I’m just saying it because that’s how it becomes/is”?
Chapter notes
I guess the fact that a bug like this doesn’t go on too long is also 優しさ - if it would last, people would start having a lot of trouble. Like… food. The only food that you could still eat would be liquid (you couldn’t even chew chunks in soup!), and since you can’t open cans and bottles…
It’s certainly weird how that secondary bug effect drew a line between “Nene getting completely wet” and “Kon getting completely wet” - and also between “hearing the sound made by the balloon popping” and “experiencing the result of the balloon popping (getting wet)”. I’m glad Kon picked up on that being weird too. Much like @seanblue I’m wondering if we just have to accept that “that’s the way it is”, or if that was a setup for a later chapter. Either way - it’s nice that’re finally getting more info on how nobody gets hurt in the more dangerous-seeming bugs, even if it seems a bit handwavy deus ex machinaっぽい for now.
And I learnt that 上がる can both mean “to enter” and “to get out (of water)”. I was briefly confused, but I guess the latter makes sense with the other meaning being “to come ashore”!
無し can also mean “unacceptable”. This is very often in relation to rules of a game like in this case - it’s against the rules to avoid the balloon.
Page 60
I agree with your translation.
Page 64
Not very confident on this, but my understanding here is that this has an implied “言えない” (or something similar) at the end. そうなるんだからそうだとしか ends with the quoting particle と and then しか would mean “except for” . “Because it becomes like that, except for ‘That’s how it is’ (そうだと), there’s nothing else I can say.”
Random story comments
The thing that surprised me the most this chapter is how fast the Extraordinary Phenomena (ministry? bureau?) figured out what the bug was and gave a duration estimate. I mean, the bug had barely started and they had an announcement already. I wish my government was half this efficient.
I’m still catching up, in the first chapter. The last part of page 33: It reads “10 pieces”, but the whole box makes no sense to me. 10 pieces of what, and why is Marukosan seem distressed about it? Thanks！
This is a beginner book club, so even thought I know a lot of you are advanced readers - I definitely appreciate definitions of some of the harder phrases.
don’t know what songs…but spotify does have lyrics for a lot of music now and many are synced karaoke style…depending on the music might be worth a shot
Not sure what to make out of that. “Even though it just started, there is nothing to do…”, maybe? The passive 来る is really weird though, and I don’t know if you can even translate 急に like that.
It feels closer to “Even though it suddenly… was arrived (?), there is nothing to do.”, but that doesn’t make any sense.
Page 72
Kon: 恒成くんすでに週6とかたまに週７ではたらいてない？
I guess 週6 is 6 days a week?
Kousei: ん―つっても
Is that a fancy way of saying “Kind of, but”?
Page 73
Kon: コンビニ行くくらいしかないか
“We have no choice but to do something like going to a Konbini or so, hmm.”?
Or is the くらい something else? If it is “or so”, it seems like it would’ve made more sense to have it behind the コンビニ, making it “going to a [konbini or something similar]” instead of “[going to a konbini] or doing something similar”.
Page 76
Kousei: 店長に提案したら採用された
Is that “When I made the proposal to the manager, I was called clever”?
Page 80
Kasane: たまには恒成くんを冷やかしに来ようかなって
Is that “We said ‘How about coming to tease Kousei-kun once in a while’.”?
If so, I wonder why it’s 来る and not 行く - if they said that while they were still away?
Thanks for all the help, folks! I feel a bit weird being the only one asking questions here, and so many at that, but it’s hard for me to hold back when I’m in a book club. Gotta learn all the things while there’s opportunity!
Honestly thank you for asking the questions. Without questions there is nothing to answer and this book club would be a lot less helpful. I usually do extensive reading so I never really pause to consider things, in favor of just reading on, even if I did not 100% understand everything. By reading your questions I get the chance to have a deeper look at things you point towards!
Page 72
Kon: Yes
Kousei: つっても is a tonal shift for 言っても
Page 73
The くらい in this sentence is stressing the limited selection. Having a conbini near by is quite a common occurence in Japan and only having that open during the night is not a whole lot.
Page 76
Not sure where you took the clever part from. The “採用された” means it was adopted. So in this case:
'When I made the proposal, it was adopted by the store manager"
I am not 100% certain here, but my understanding is the following:
While we call it “passive”, in Japanese it works differently than in English grammar. 急に来られて in this case, I believe means “having (the bug) come to us suddenly”.
Some people call this “the suffering passive” for some reason, though that term seems to be debated. Here’s an example of a “suffering passive”
ケーキを全部食べられた
Basically this means that the person that says this sentence “suffered” having his/her cake get eaten. Notice that ケーキ is followed by を and not が, so this doesn’t translate as “the cake got eaten” - it’s more like “I had my cake get eaten”.
Cure Dolly and Tae Kim disagree with this term. Cure Dolly uses something similar to “receptive” form of the verb. The japanese passive simply means that someone is on the receiving end of the verb, not necessarily directly. In the previous example, the subject of the sentence is receiving the action of their cake getting eaten.
This is what is happening in this sentence. 来られて is Kon (and the others) receiving the action of the bug coming to them.
一見楽しそうだけど 急に来られてもやることないよね => At first glance, it might seem fun, but if it comes suddenly to us there’s nothing to do, right?
Page 80
That’s a good question. Not confident at all, but I feel that this is not a literal quote, but a more flexible one. Just like how in English you could say: “We thought we could come tease you a bit”. Using “go” in that sentence would feel off, even if the thought itself happened before arriving to the place. I feel the same thing is happening in Japanese here.
I agree with @Shadowlauch. We are happy to see your questions. Very often they make me realize things I’ve overlooked, and also investigate deeper into grammar that I thought I had understood when it wasn’t really the case.
Don’t hesitate to ask questions…Someone WILL benefit later…even if it’s a stupid question…like misreading a kanji … someone else will make the same mistake. I’ve even found the wrong kanji entered into vocab sheets for various clubs and it was never in the text haha… (usually happens with the hard to read fonts)…but all in all the questions help!
For me…I often find that some subtle or nuanced meaning was missed when I look over the questions … they benefit everyone…
I used to ask a lot more questions in the past, but I’m learning (albeit slowly) to let some stuff go (for the sake of enjoying the story)
I think I understand the use of the passive now, but what about the ても (even if / even though)? Your translation sounds good and makes sense, but it’s not using たら (or と or whichever one is appropriate here).
Page 80
That makes sense, yeah!
Yeah, that’s how I do it too with easier books (and outside of book clubs). In an active book club it feels to me like I’d waste an opportunity. Any time I decide “Ah, I guess I don’t need to know…” 5 minutes later I’m like “Actually I do, it’s question time”
I meant that it is just a “lazy” way of saying the same word. With つっても you don’t really have to move your mouth. I do not know the exact meaning in this context, I see it mostly as “filler”.
Sounds right though I feel like a bunch of nuance of くらい gets lost when translating.
Sorry, I am not sure I can give you a convincing explanation for this. I just found that there are times where in japanese ても is used in a way that the “even” part just doesn’t really fit.
For a very common and simple example, consider this sentence:
誰でもいい => Anyone is fine.
I don’t see how you could naturally fit “even” in there. “Even if it’s anyone, it’s fine” would be the “literal” translation, but that definitely doesn’t sound like correct in English to me… (disclaimer: English is not my native language).
Or it could just be that I’m missing something. Hopefully someone else can chime in with a better explanation.
I know you all have been waiting, with baited breath (I’ll bet that doesn’t translate well) - to hear about 円子さん’s introduction in book 1. And yes. She is a salary-person (会社員) and the oldest of the tenants. Which is probably why she was going around calling people with the suffix -ちゃん on the end of their names in the 2nd book.
The information can be found on Vol. 1, page 47 on the top left.
Page 76: ようやく (bottom right panel). I’m not arguing with my erudite fellow reader (whomever you are), defining this as “finally/at last”. However, I find it odd that the book’s author chose NOT to use Kanji here. There is one other common usage, and two other (uncommon?) usages.
I’m just curious, because I wonder if it is on purpose? A possible double meaning? Or is it because grammatically, only one fits?
