神さまがまちガえる | Week ８ Discussion

Japanese Language Book Clubs
1

Pages 143 - 174

Chapter 5

Start Date: 24th December
Previous Week: Chapter 4 part 2

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this chapter is the most fun… :smiley:

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I enjoyed this chapter a lot. I thought the bug would be every cat looked like those things or something like that, but alas not.

The atogaki was also interesting. I found it funny that the mangaka recovered from writing やがて君になる with VTubers, movies, games, and food. :laughing:

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I think this has been my favourite chapter so far! Somehow, every time I find a book a bit disappointing it suddenly ends on a high note, leaving me wondering whether I should maybe continue reading after all, haha.

Apart from the cast and the bug itself, I like how this chapter had a bit of of a mystery over what the real nature of the bug was, with hints dropped before Kasane fully explained it. With the pattern I thought it was just the ツチノコ switching to some kind of faster form. It looked like speed tracks in racing games to me :laughing:

I found it very relatable :laughing:

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I’m not entirely sure I’ve fully understood the bug this week. So I got the fact that the creature can transform depending of the belief of the people surrounding him but could any other beast have appeared, like say a Kitsune or was it just about the Tsuchinoko ?

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Yes. I think a student mentions that there were yeti sightings (and something else that I forgot) early on in the chapter, and the bug name also makes clear that it’s not just limited to said snake. According to Kasane’s explanation, the Tsuchinoko is just very, very famous amongst Japanese, and that’s why there are so many sightings of it.

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Scary, there are some creatures I wouldn’t want to cross path with!

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Also, on page 160 it’s explained that little kids that don’t really know common Japanese lore were seeing things from picture books and games instead of the ツチノコ.

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Haha true, given my culture for japanese folklore, for Kitsune I would probably picture just a cute fox :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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I just had a quick question about the 後書き: when the author corrects the はと about the title of the book (神さまがまちガえる - emphasizing the が) is that about pitch accent of the verb 間違える?

I usually use jisho.org for look-ups and so far haven’t noticed if the accent of words is mentioned. Thanks.

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I liked this chapter. I think this might be my favorite bug. Creatures of myth appearing and behaving like we believe them to, whether it makes sense or not. (I originally accidentally posted this for the wrong week, oops!)

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I doubt it has to do with pitch accent. I think it’s just her emphasizing which part of the title she’s changing.

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I agree. I think it’s just branding in this case. I’m not sure what the significance of using katakana is there though.

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I think the が is just bugging out.

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Alright, I’m finally done with the intensive reading of this chapter, the afterword, and the two digital-only bonus pages!

Questions:

Page 148
  • Teo: まだ中間テストなんだしそんなにガチらなくても
    There’s an implied いい at the end, right? “Even if not done, it’s okay”?
  • Kon: テオに言われてもなぁ
    That’s literally “Even if said to me by Teo + なぁ”. What does it mean exactly? Something like “I don’t want to hear this from you (because you’re good at it without studying)”?
  • Kon: 友達連れてっていいのかわからない
    What’s going on with the “てっていい”? I know (ていい)[grammar - Difference between てもいい and ていい? - Japanese Language Stack Exchange], but if it’s that, I don’t know why it’s not 連れていい and what the って is supposed to be.
    Ah, I get it, it’s 連れていく → 連れていって → 連れてって.
Page 169
  • Kon: 逃がすかっ！
    DeepL-sensei translated that as “I won’t let you get away!”, which makes sense, but… how. What’s the かっ? (I assume the beginning is 逃がす in its dictionary form?)
Front bonus page (below the protective cover)
  • 大家に朝ごはんを提供するのも家賃のうちとか
    Is the 家賃のうちとか something like “…is one of the things that is part of the rent”?
Chapter notes

The tsuchinoko is cute! And I had no idea what it was before this chapter. The only time I heard about a tsuchinoko was when playing Yokai Watch (a girl that cannot see the actual yokai all around them is trying to find one), and I had absolutely no context there.

Page 152 is great, haha. It looks like they are playing together with the tsuchinoko :laughing:

I wonder if page 154 is the imagination of the observing characters conflicting. First the tsuchinoko is starting to eat it, then it spits it out.

Ah, and now on re-reading it… the tsuchinoko changes the pattern once the other school girls observe it. Neat.

Page 156… aw, Kon is really getting into it now! :laughing:

Also, I can totally see Kasane figuring this bug out early on, and then telling absolutely no one about it while the bug is going on, while using her knowledge for her own enjoyment.

(And while we’re at it: Kasane could’ve easily told Kon a fact that would’ve made it easy for him to catch the tsuchinoko immediately, but she didn’t because that would’ve been less interesting for her :stuck_out_tongue: )

I wonder how the beliefs of multiple people combine. I’m not surprised that the tsuchinoko grew wings immediately, but I wonder why and how it got up to fly - didn’t it just start playing dead literally seconds ago? (=believed by 6 people - 1 person thought it would happen, and 5 people saw it happen) And on top of that is super lethargic anyway because so many people are watching it? (=believed by 1 person)

Also, it seems that the Kindle version has two bonus pages! Or at least, those are missing in my physical edition. Here you go, physical-only readers:

edit: Removed, because they are in the physical edition too, I just never bothered to remove the protective cover :laughing:

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Page 148

Could be いい, or 大丈夫, or many other things.

ガチる is translated as “to do earnestly” in my dictionary. So basically, “It’s still just a midterm test, even if you’re not that serious, …” (it’ll be fine, you’ll be okay, you won’t fail the class, whatever)

I think it’s more like, even if Teo says that to him he may not change how he approaches the test / studying.

Page 169

The かっ is just か, the question particle. I think I agree with the translation, though I’m not sure I can explain why. I’m racking my brain trying to think of another example to help, but can’t come up with anything.

Those are the front and back covers. :wink:

Digital bonus page 2 (front cover)

I’m not sure… It’s either that it’s part of the rent (as you said) or that it counts as / towards the rent. Hmm… :thinking:

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Thanks for the answers!

Page 169

Ah, I see. Maybe… something like a rhetorical question? Like “Am I going to let you get away? (No, I am not.)”. Maybe better translated as “As if I’m going to let you get away”?

Haha. I never removed the protective cover… :laughing:

Fixed in my post!

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Page 169

I agree with you. I think it’s a rhetorical question.

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