So, I re-watched the first episode of the anime to see if I could deal with it better - I couldn’t tolerate how much of it was just still shots and uncanny-valley CGI on my first viewing, so I wanted to see if, now that I’ve read (part of) the manga and watched the Netflix drama, I could look past the cheap animation. And, well, it wasn’t too bad. By pure coincidence, the episode happened to be based on this chapter (and the next two).
Though I did notice one curious thing: in the manga, the geiko house is called 市. In the anime, though, it’s 松, and in the Netflix drama it’s 朔. Honestly curious as to why it’s different for every adaptation.
But that was still a flashback, so yeah I guess this is her first appearance in the present!
It’s definitely easier now (so far) than at the very start, like stuff like “ねん” and vowels changing don’t make me pause anymore. But there’s still some stuff I’m not completely sure of, like “どねしよ” (page 10, middle left panel), which I assume is like “どうしよう”?
Thank you @ChristopherFritz for hosting this spin-off club! Still enjoying this series a lot and looking forward to continuing to read it with everyone!
The closest I can find to a potential meaning is on this page:
From what I can tell, this article is about regional differences in expressions between the northern and southern parts of the Fukui Prefecture, which borders the Kyoto Prefecture (to the southwest).
Here, they list 「どねしよ」 as a southern phrase, with a meaning of 「やってしまった(失敗など）」.
Considering that south Fukui touches Kyoto, the meaning may be the same for the two. (This is just conjecture on my part.)
The page gives a negative to this phrase, like in English saying, “Now I’ve done it” or “I’ve really done it” when you do something bad. However, Su-chan’s expression here does seem to carry a 「どうしよう」 feel to it rather than a 「しまった」 feel.
I don’t see 「どねしよ」 used in any other manga I’ve read.
I gotta admit, this chapter annoys me a bit. Can’t tell if it’s a general Japanese work culture thing or a specific maiko culture thing, but literally everyone has noticed that Sumire is skipping multiple meals in a row in order to get in some extra practice… and instead of someone sitting her down and going “look, getting proper nutrition - or in fact, any nutrition - is an important part of practice too”, somehow it’s down to Kiyo to fix the problem by making a meal she can’t refuse? And this offscreen meal seems to be the resolution to this little tension too - peeking ahead at the next few chapters, it doesn’t seem to come up again.
This chapter made me sad too. How everyone is only complimenting Sumire on working so so hard, when doing so is wearing her down.
It’s not completely the same, but it kinda reminds me of how people at my old workplace would often give shoutouts to compliment people on working overtime in the evenings and weekends. I think this kind of mentality is definitely present outside of Japan too.
Took me a little bit of time to figure out why Kiyo’s putting the cooked rice in her own bed. It’s because when making amazake, you need to keep the rice warm for a very long time - this recipe specifies 60°C for eight hours (though also suggests the use of a yoghurt maker or rice cooker).
Aww Sumire looks happy with her new hair! It’s a good thing she has those three loose strands so we can still recognize her. Sleeping on that pillow looks so uncomfortable though.
It feels like we’re maybe starting to see more progression plot-wise now (?), with Sumire advancing in her maiko journey!
Seimei Shrine pictured on page 55 is here, though I confess I’m not too clear as to why this shrine in particular is the place to divine a name. In the drama version, they go with the “take a kanji from the mentor’s name” option - the drama has a new character, Momoko (played by Hashimoto Ai), a full geiko who serves as a mentor for Sumire.
Finally got caught up with a day off yesterday, just in time for a rather short chapter.
Since it’s winter time here too and the snow, this chapter was giving me a lot of cozy vibes, with the snow. Sumire watching Kiyo shovel the snow is so cute.
Looking Hittsumi up, it’s regional to Aomori. Looks pretty easy to make too. Maybe I’ll try it before the winter ends.
If anyone’s wondering, the locations shown on the title page are, from top to bottom, Hokan-ji, Kinkaku-ji and Kiyomizu-dera.
So are pretty much any of the dishes that you see Sumire Momohana getting particularly excited about. If there’s a flashback in a chapter, you can basically guarantee that the dish to follow will be an Aomori regional specialty.
What bits of dialect do you see this week that you know/understand by now?
