魔女の宅急便 (Kiki’s Delivery Service) Discussion Thread: Chapter 7

[LucasDesu]

「とたんにどうしたわけか負けられないっていう気持になっちゃって。」

I’m not sure if you’ve surmised this, but the bolded portion means for some reason (or another).
Here’s my pathetic effort to explain it literally,
どうした what happened
わけ reason
And か makes “the reason why it happened” uncertain.

In any event, @seanblue and @jstrout are on the right track using the context to make sense of the girl’s apology: she was putting on airs to seem like she was more worldly, adult-like, etc., when in reality she wasn’t. I think the point of the chapter was to show how Kiki allowed a personal rivalry to challenge her personal beliefs.

I’m guessing there is also some pun involved in the second line, but does anyone know what sort of laughter is meant by かぶるかぶると笑う？

I actually asked a friend about this a while ago, he told me that he had no idea, except that it a was probably a play on words to personify the hat. Beyond that, he couldn’t really understand the word choice. The best logic I could think of is how some animal sounds are not really the sounds they make, but the actions they do (e.g., rabbits go ピョンピョン “hop-hop”)

I know Lucasdesu said something about this, but I thought Jiji was asking “Are you saying I’m in the way?” and Kiki replies “Yes, you’re a nuisance”

I think you’re on to something as that をじゃまにする can mean to be a bother. The only thing that made me think otherwise was that in previous points in quoted dialogue (specifically in the last line ending the quote) a question mark is included in contrast to statements that don’t include periods. I amend my initial interpretation and defer to “Am I bothering you (by being here)?” because it makes a little more sense based on Jiji’s confusion about why Kiki’s motives.

[seanblue]

I can see that the first line is a pun on the word くつ, with くつくつと笑う meaning laughing while trying to stifle the laugh, so I’m guessing there is also some pun involved in the second line, but does anyone know what sort of laughter is meant by かぶるかぶると笑う？

The best logic I could think of is how some animal sounds are not really the sounds they make, but the actions they do (e.g., rabbits go ピョンピョン “hop-hop”)

That’s what I think too. Little girl Kiki probably thought it was funny that shoes can make a laughing sound that could be interpreted as “shoes shoes” if you looked at the くつ individually instead of as くつくつ. So she probably thought it would be clever to copy that concept over to the hat by repeating a word related to the hat. Though I’m surprised she didn’t make the fake word ぼうしぼうし instead of かぶるかぶる.

There is a word ぶるぶる, meaning “trembling (with fear, anger, etc.); shivering (with cold); shaking; quivering​”, but that could just be a coincidence.

[Kyasurin]

Hoorah, I finally made it to the end of the chapter!
My 2c/２円 worth of opinion on the last part of it:
「とたんにどうしたわけか負けられないっていう気持になっちゃって。」
All of a sudden, I had the strong feeling that I didn’t want to be shown up.

I think in the Western context this is really a complete storm in a teacup, but possibly in the Japanese context where it’s more important to maintain face, and showing negative emotions is not well regarded, it was more of a big deal.

So the moral of this chapter is… always be nice, children, even when confronted with people who can spend more money on clothing than you can.

[Toyger]

I’m finally reading on again… Just a «little» late
But wow what a difference a year makes!

If I remember correctly the no furigana versjon didn’t include images? I also added two from the Swedish version

Japanese Book

Swedish Book

[Kyasurin]

I started adding in some of the pictures, but I don’t remember from which chapter. It’s interesting that you have a different set of pictures though, specifically for the translation!

[Radish8]

Repeat Club Discussion (Week 12) Starts Here!

Chapter 7 Part 1

V1: Pages 151 - 163
V2: Pages 136 - 147
BookWalker: ?

Last line:
「散歩でもしたら？おともだちのねこじゃらしが、ほら、土手にいっぱいあるわよ」
とくりかえしました。

12 September 2020

Please briefly check whether questions have already been answered above before posting them, but otherwise don’t hesitate.

• I’m reading along
• I’m still reading but haven’t reached this part yet
• I’m dropping this book
• I’m a superhero who’s read it before but is here for chatting

Kiki's Delivery Service Vocab

[Aislin]

My impression about the very beginning of the chapter is similiar to @seanblue’s from 2 years ago:

@seanblue

It’s getting into too much teenage girl drama at this point.

[Tonina]

For the first time, this week there are more people behind than reading this week’s chapter. I wonder if it’s time to take a break so that some people can catch up.

[NicoleRauch]

This might sound a bit cruel but in previous bookclubs we’ve discovered that taking a break often sounds like a good idea but does not really help for some reason So I’m not convinced it might help here either.

Plus, a few of the people who are behind are in principle capable of reading along quite fine (I’d say at least valkow, Kumirei and myself, and maybe some others as well but I don’t know them well enough), so I suspect other reasons (maybe life got in the way, or personal decisions) to be the root cause here, which cannot always be fixed by a short break.
(E.g. in my case I’m currently prioritizing some other reading for personal reasons, I’m planning to catch up in 2-3 weeks.)

Instead, maybe we could ask those who are trailing behind whether there is something that could be done to support them?

[Aislin]

@NicoleRauch

This might sound a bit cruel but in previous bookclubs we’ve discovered that taking a break often sounds like a good idea but does not really help for some reason So I’m not convinced it might help here either.

Oh, I was wondering if it was tested before. Interesting to know it was.

Well, there was this discussion in 多読 thread that for some the problem is not the speed, but “a heavily fragmented experience” (also @NicoleRauch quote). Because it’s not that they cannot keep up with this particular book, they just started reading too many different ones.

[NicoleRauch]

@Aislin

Interesting to know it was.

Yes, the last time we did it was in the “Mysterious town behind the Mist” book club. I just happened to find the post that describes the effect of the break:

霧のむこうのふしぎな町 ・ Mysterious Town Beyond the Mist (BBC)

Update: Week On chapter Behind Actively reading (sum) Delta 1 46 - 46 - 2 27 4 31 - 15 3 25 5 30 -1 4 22 8 30 +0 5 20 7 27 -3 6 17 4 21 -6 So, the week of break seems to have equally impacted the reading along and the “behind” categories. I wonder if there’s a procrastination effect (even if you are late, the extra time makes you slow down even more and eventually drop) while some people who were actually reading along just forgot about the book and went on to read other t…

(There was of course more discussion further up in case somebody is interested.)

@Aislin

Because it’s not that they cannot keep up with this particular book, they just started reading too many different ones.

Yes, right. (That’s part of the reason why I am behind: I want to defragment my reading.)

With my question I was aiming more at those who are genuinely trailing behind (maybe even while just reading this one book). If they had an idea for something that might help them improve their reading experience, maybe it would be worthwhile trying it out?

[Aislin]

Thanks for finding the example of the break effects!
digs into discussion & statistics

@NicoleRauch

If they had an idea for something that might help them improve their reading experience, maybe it would be worthwhile trying it out?

Mm, I understand. And of course I am also open for suggestions/helping/improving, if there will be any ideas.

[kmurgs]

I JUST caught up and evened it out!

[Tonina]

Reading is getting so much easier! And knowing we are more than half way through helps too.

I have a little question though!
On page 138 v2 (and a few other times) we have アイ君 as in the sentence: アイ君とは小さいときから知ってるのよ。My question is about アイ. Is it I?

[Aislin]

It’s a name.

[Cathm2]

@NicoleRauch

life got in the way

Yep.

Though reading Kiki is a stretch for me, so once I’m behind it’s a bit tricky. Still aiming to catch up!

[valkow]

I have no real reason I’m behind but I find this discussion very motivating to catch up, lol. I will do my best to focus!

[Redglare]

We got no choice but to catch up this week

[NicoleRauch]

Hmm… maybe you’re right after all

[slither]

I’m behind a few weeks because of the fall semester starting. I’ve just had a lot on my plate so reading kinda fell by the wayside. I’m not too far behind and will probably catch up in 2 weeks or so, I just need to find some time. So don’t mind me