So, when you see komainu or inari or nio at shrines and whatnot, typically one has its mouth open (usually the one on the right), and the other has its mouth shut. The open-mouth pose, called 阿形, is speaking the sound “ah”, and represents the beginning of all things; the closed-mouth pose, 吽形, is speaking the sound “un” and represents the end of all things. Together, they form the sacred sound “om”. Point is, page 86, Right has an 阿 in his mouth, and page 89, Left has the 吽, uh… floating over her shoulder?
Though weirdly, in stone form, they both have their mouths closed.
You’ve overshot by a few pages there. The final page of the chapter is 106.
Having watched some of the anime, I feel like the manga is much better paced. I liked the shot of the fake Asa and Granny - what are they gonna get up to now? And Yuru pointing out this Asa is bigger and her responding defensively that the lower world has better nutrition, lol.
The tourists making up an isekai where someone is whisked away to a hidden village when the opposite is happening was pretty funny
Grammar point: lotta sentences ending in し this time so I looked this up to refresh myself: 〜し for "Not Only…but Also…"
マヨイガ on p. 102 (or The Lost Village, 迷家) is an anime series (aired in 2016) about a group of people going on a bus tour to a shadowy village with an urban legend of being a utopia. Upon arrival, they discover the village has no inhabitants, with small signs of life that are slowly deteriorating.
I think there is a lot of slang and grammar points. Would a list of it be helpful? Or we can just write about some of them like @mgevaert did.
Ah yeah, in past book clubs I would pick out a handful of interesting vocab words or a grammar point that appeared in the reading - there hasn’t been as many this time, but it can be a fun thing to look for!
The Lost Village sounds spooky… While reading I definitely thought they were saying “Lost!” dramatically to punctuate their story lol
loved the insight, thanks! I will not be able to remember 右さま and 左さま anyway, but that’s on me. I have always been AWFUL with names in manga and anime
Btw I discovered that at least in these first readings I need to take my time and open my laptop. Not like study time, but almost as… it is not something I can do on my phone before sleeping like reading a book, but I will get there. Being in a relaxed state also improves a lot my guessing with words I do not know. Getting words without looking up them up in the dictionary first felt GREAT.
I noted down some words from this chapter, hoping they will be helpful to somebody else:
呼ばわりする to brand somebody as
命令 order
獲物 prey
安全な safety
手をかける to lay hands on
見逃す to overlook
捕まえる to catch
無事 safety
Additional recurring words:
戻る to go back
結界 barrier
下界 underworld
Additional notes I understood or searched for, please feel free to comment:
安全 vs 無事
The first focuses on the environment, the latter on the situation (e.g. escape unharmed from asituation or battle)
捕まえる vs 捉える
The first focuses on the physical act, the second is more abstract (e.g. an idea or impression)
Also interesting thing I found out about the words is that 下界 is used as a strong contrast against the heaven.
みぎ has an even number of kana, and an even number of horns, while ひだり has an odd number of both. Alternately, “Right” has more letters in English, and more horns.
Also, when they’re both in a panel together, Right generally (though admittedly doesn’t always) stands on the right side.
Or you could just remember that Right is the male one.
Or we can just write about some of them like 
