A Harta-ful of Manga: Let's Read a Magazine Together ❣

[MaraVos]

@mitrac

Ah you got me excited about these all over again!

How are you reading these, straight through? And you put in so many screen shots which is amazing for discussion, are you just starting a comment here and then gradually adding to it until you finish the volume?

Yay! I actually keep a word document with all my notes, and a folder with all my screenshots. Then when I finish reading (or get close), I paste it into the comment field, edit my notes as necessary and add screenshots.

@rodan

I think I see what happened!

Oh dang, as soon as you wrote out what they said I was like, Oh, yeah, that みよかな obviously means the sentence is about herself. But I totally missed that the first time. Sometimes I just have an off-day in terms of my comprehension, and I guess that was probably what happened there.

Thanks for the investigation! I missed this:

@rodan

The mother has arrived early to this city traveling from Kansai, by train or somesuch, and since she’s arrived quite early, the daughter who was going to pick her up is still at work and worries whether her mom will be able to get to her on her own

almost completely. And I fully did not understand the prelude. Ironically, I found having that explanation up front probably more confusing than if I’d just gotten dropped in to page 1. I’ll just have to keep reading and see if I pick up more on the narrative style. When you only have to miss a few words to have a complete misunderstanding for a whole chapter, that definitely makes for more advanced reading material. But I did really like a lot of things about that first chapter! (Like the giant police officer.) Just got bogged down in the misunderstanding mostly.

And your explanation of what happened in 生き残った６人によると makes a lot of sense. It’s like the opposite of お前はもう死んでる.

Re: spoilers, I kind of figure if you’re sensitive to spoilers you’re probably not reading my comments before you finish the chapter yourself. But you’re right, that was a pretty egregious one. (eta: fixed!) I do try not to post spoiler-y screenshots, or screenshots that could significantly decrease the impact of something in-story.

@rodan

Yeah, the table of contents format in this issue looks jarringly like a first pass looking back (congratulations on making it all the way to the redesign!) as the format I’m well familiar with by now is like this but more condensed, always on two pages, cleaner, spiffier, and highlights 読み切り and 新連載, (and even in the most recent issue, concluding series).

Thanks! And thank goodness, 'cause that table of contents was no help at all!

[MaraVos]

@mitrac

How are you reading these, straight through?

Oh, forgot to address this! I am reading them straight through with a couple caveats.

1. I skip any series that started before issue 74/75.
2. There are now three series that I have ordered physical volumes of. Those ones I tend to read a new chapter of as soon as I start the issue in which said chapter appears. Then when I get to it in my digital copy I flip through and choose my screenshots.

[mitrac]

Thanks for writing about your process! I like your idea of keeping a document of notes. That could help me because there is just so much in there.

[MaraVos]

Issue #86

Another issue that took me longer to read than I would prefer! Also due to summer chaos, including but not limited to a day at the ER. (Don’t worry, besides the extreme pain I am completely fine! And the doctor gave me upgraded painkillers should it strike again.)

So anyway, the point is that this summary post will be a bit rougher around the edges than usual. Thanks in advance for understanding!

(Also, I skipped the YatagarasuHai winners for now.)

新連載

猫のまにまに by 宇島 葉 (うのしま よ)

Better than expected! I liked the backstory bits.

I made a note of this, I think because I wanted to check it out some more? I think this is where she was born or something? Anyway: 根駒ヶ岳

読切

佐平 最後の大仕事 by 野町 達也 (のまち たつや)

Whoa. Strange. I had no idea what to make of this until I read @rodan’s review.

夏のスミレ by 五十嵐 純 (いがらし じゅん)

Really liked this one!!

I enjoyed the running gag about how into spiky accessories Sumire is.

ふわきよ天使 せんたっきちゃん by 細田 曜 (ほそだ よ)

Read about 5 pages then skimmed. It seems to be a spoof of shonen battle manga … And I don’t think I can bring myself to read the whole thing.

マコちゃんと海 by 示 よう子 (しめす ようこ)

Super quick read. I almost lost faith in the middle, but I’m glad I kept reading. I’m not hugely interested in sexual themes, but this one seemed like possibly it was cathartic for the creator, and that kind of thing I am into. Also, maybe it’s freed me just a tiny bit from things society has taught me about sex being bad. Every little bit counts, right?

駆けめぐる青 by 多良見 かな (たらみ かな)

Weird, but good! I liked the drawing style.

モラトリアムの穴 by 吉田 真由里!

Yoshida Mayuri also did Laika no Hoshi and I adore the various designs that they do.

連載

クプルムの花嫁 by namo

? The problem with reading some in bunkobon is that sometimes I forget to take notes or screenshots …

生き残った６人によると by 山本和音 （やまもとかずね）

Whoa, ominous. (It’s been so long that I can’t remember now what I thought was so ominous!)

先生、今日どうですか by 高江洲 弥 (たかえすやや)

Oh yeah, I was wondering what this “ガラ” is …

夜の名前を呼んで by 三星たま (みつぼしたま)

I could not stop at that cliffhanger, read the next chapter as well and finished the volume.

Oh, woops, apparently I’m several episodes ahead now. Because the cliffhanger I read straight through is in the chapter from the next issue.

Anyway, enjoy this lovely new character:

アビスアジュールの罪人 by 冨 明仁 (とみ あきひと)

A villain has shown up … I do highly appreciate Yuki’s sister saving them both!

ホテルメッツァペウラへようこそ by 福田星良 (ふくたせいら)

There was something I didn’t totally understand in this bottom panel. I don’t think I get what they are laughing about?

ことり文書 by 天野 実樹 (あまの みき)

Forgot to take screenshots … Oh yeah, I remember what happened in the last chapter! It was cute! (Naturally.)

ふくふく万福帳 by 伊藤 有生 (いと ゆせい)

Kind of glossed over a few things that I didn’t follow well. This one was good, but not quite as satisfying as some of the previous chapters and the conclusion felt a bit rushed.

あかねさす柘榴の都 by 福浪 優子 (ふくなみ ゆこ)

Another great title page! Really liked this chapter.

シャッター街のさくら姫 by 宮本 怜美 (みやもと れいみ)

I really liked this chapter. It made me want to go volunteer tea-picking. Would they let a foreigner do that? Probably, right? Have to work on my speaking and listening skills!

[rodan]

Sorry about the extreme pain! I hope it does not strike again, or at least that you are now well-prepared if it does!!

先生、今日どうですか by 高江洲 弥 (たかえすやや)

@MaraVos

Oh yeah, I was wondering what this “ガラ” is …

ガラじゃない appears to mean here like, “She/we’re not the type (to celebrate that kind of thing).” He’s declining, saying it doesn’t suit their personality, and she’s protesting that it doesn’t have anything to do with personality.

ホテルメッツァペウラへようこそ by 福田星良 (ふくたせいら)

There was something I didn’t totally understand in this bottom panel. I don’t think I get what they are laughing about?

Partly it’s recalling the earlier page (on 843) where he was bleeding in the same way and they had to take care of him. But checking the first volume he also has a history of not dealing with his own bleeding:

So finally learning at least how to stop his own nosebleed is important positive character growth!

[rodan]

When August’s Harta came out surprisingly early in the month, I was contemplating wrangling a more polished and comprehensive format to share my thoughts about the magazine than just linking to my notes on notion like I’ve been doing, but alas, I just ended up putting off reading it 'til now when the September’s issue is already out!
But I enjoyed the issue very much nonetheless.

ハルタ １１６号

[MaraVos]

Issue #87

For some reason I took a gazillion screenshots this time! Maybe overcompensating for the next issue, which I have in physical not digital? On the other hand, I got a little lazy with my notations, so it took a while to get this post in order. I also didn’t comment on every continuing series this time. (Still most of them though.)

新連載

クラスのアイドルは今日も押せない by 荒木 美咲 (あらき みさき)

Cute!

ナッちゃんテンションで水深が変わる by 中原 ふみ (なかはら ふみ)

Cute. Short. Not a lot going on so far.

読切

海はいかない by 田沼 朝 (たぬま あさ)

Super good. The composition is just so elegant. Felt like I understood 75% again. (Again because this mangaka had another yomikiri earlier that I liked but didn’t fully understand.)

対岸のメル by 福島 聡 (ふくしま さとし)

Highly enjoyable. Liked the art and the braid-sensor.

shortshort (don't remember the title) by 西田 心

Heh. Funny. That was good.

首のすわらない大人たち

Skip for now. Not really my style.

shortshort 星降る夜に by 岩宗 治生 (いわむね はるお)

えっ？ Thought I was reading an adorable slice of life about enjoying the night time … Aww, sad …

Also

I was wondering why she says “is justice” here. Any ideas?

とまりちゃん推理する by 越谷 美咲

連載

司書正 by 丸山 薫 (まるやま かおる)

This chapter was like, oh, you thought you knew some Japanese? Just kidding! Japanese is a foreign language again!

:'( 涙子さまの言う通り by 山本 ルンルン

Meh. The revelation that the leader of the Inukai cult is a high school girl? Just kind of kills it for me. My suspension of disbelief is in the toilet. Not that I think high school girls aren’t capable, but it’s just one more scenario where an adult woman would be more believable and interesting to me, but it feels as if adult women aren’t allowed to be main characters.

猫のまにまに by 宇島 葉 (うのしま よ)

Really liked this chapter. Now I want to name an animal Takosumi Yakichikuwa. Also, this might be a good one for a book club. This chapter had a lot of references to famous authors, I think it would be fun to try to spot/understand them all. (Like “nekosuke”, I can’t quite pin it down but I think it refers to … maybe the author of こころ? Hmm, just googled it, doesn’t seem like that can be right …)

Relatable.

希釈王 by 須川 佳 (すがわ けい)

Didn’t understand a lot, tried to just let it wash over me.

生き残った６人によると by 山本和音 （やまもとかずね）

This chapter was okay, but I’m not actually that intrigued by the whole what-is-Shizuku-hiding scenario. Also don’t really enjoy finding out that their new friend’s husband is dead. Best moment was probably when the one attacker recognized Riri and their whole attack plan completely derailed and they all went inside and ate lunch.

先生、今日どうですか by 高江洲 弥 (たかえすやや)

Another fun shirt.

The day that I read this I read three full-length chapters read in one day! I’ve come a long way!

夜の名前を呼んで by 三星たま (みつぼしたま)

This was the chapter that made me need to keep reading!

アビスアジュールの罪人 by 冨 明仁 (とみ あきひと)

Sad that we are leaving the butt-kicking sister behind so quickly (like, they could really use her skills), but I guess there are only two pills after all so it was sort of inevitable. Looking forward to seeing Yuki transform!!

シャッター街のさくら姫 by 宮本 怜美 (みやもと れいみ)

Nnnn. Mixed feelings. I was all ready to dislike it for being “the makeover chapter”, but then it got pretty cute. But then at the end it swung back around to unlikeable by ending on a gag about how she should have worn date-appropriate underwear (instead of underwear covered in dogs). Can be pretty trying now and then, being a feminist and reading manga at the same time.

I do love Sakura though.

ふくふく万福帳 by 伊藤 有生 (いと ゆせい)

Really wish there was a tankobon! It is sooo cute!!!

I love how a lot of the characters have little ears in their hairstyle. It would look silly in real life, but I love it in illustration.

あかねさす柘榴の都 by 福浪 優子 (ふくなみ ゆこ)

Very sweet.

[rodan]

海はいかない by 田沼 朝 (たぬま あさ)

@MaraVos

Super good.

Ahh, isn’t it though? This is the story I liked enough to translate to share with friends who I thought would like it too.
If you like artfully composed conversation-heavy manga with this kind of tone that’s difficult to understand 100%, you can certainly look forward eventually to monthly doses of Iyahaya, Atami-kun’s kansai-ben when it starts up!

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shortshort 星降る夜に by 岩宗 治生 (いわむね はるお)

I was wondering why she says “is justice” here. Any ideas?

I didn’t go back and look at the context, but “○○は正義”/“X is justice” is a common slangy/nerd kind of… cliche thing to say, I guess, in Japanese from what I’ve gathered over time. It’s basically like… saying (in a sort of meaningless/fun way) that X is the best / you’re all about X and want more of it to exist, I’d say.

Apparently it may ultimately derive from a (sorta meaningless but cool sounding) line in the theme song to Kamen Rider Black: 信じる奴がジャスティス but I get the impression that its permeated at least internet/otaku vocabulary enough that you see “X is justice” fairly sometimes in English-speaking communities adjacent to those.

… Anyway, so here she’s just further extolling the sensation she’s describing! In a cute/fun way.

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猫のまにまに by 宇島 葉 (うのしま よ)

@MaraVos

This chapter had a lot of references to famous authors, I think it would be fun to try to spot/understand them all. (Like “nekosuke”, I can’t quite pin it down but I think it refers to … maybe the author of こころ? Hmm, just googled it, doesn’t seem like that can be right …)

Haha, I’d say nekosuke is just a stock name for a cat! In that sequence, she’s watching all sorts of people spontaneously come up with all sorts of cat names.すけ and たろう are both generic boy name suffixes, so 猫介 and 猫太郎 are natural quick names to address a cat you just met (if you happen to assume it’s a boy, as those two apparently did). Similarly みけ子 is just 三毛 (“calico”) made into a girl’s name with the generic female name suffix 子/こ

The portraits earlier on though are definitely famous author references!
Funnily enough - I actually remember (or at any rate, remembered after hunting down what it was I was trying to recall) asking who the non-Soseki one was when I read it! So that panel floated right into my mind’s eye when I read your comment!

[additionalramen]

Just out of curiosity - have you checked out the Yen Press translation of Atami-kun at all to compare their choices to yours?

[rodan]

I did, yeah, thanks for asking!

Around when it released (which I was looking forward to so I could push it on people), I looked at the preview pages and took some comparisons. It’s definitely interesting! There’s certainly a few places where I made a plain mistake at the time, or where I could have been smoother.

The biggest difference though by far is that the official translator did indeed go for a southern accent to convey the all-pervading kansainess of the dialogue. At first I had a kneejerk reaction of worry about that, to be honest - what makes the series great is how natural but artful the dialogue feels and I always got the impression that it’s how the people around Tanuma actually talked - and so I was suddenly very worried that that naturalness might not survive if the approximating accent ended up feeling contrived.

But after thinking about it, I think it was both the right choice for me translating it personally to not go for putting on an accent and try to convey the dialogue in what felt natural to me, and the right choice for an official translation to do an accent - it would be strange after all if an official translation didn’t do anything with such a big part of the work.

And anyway - the people I was hoping would read and like it read and liked it! And my friend said after reading the official volume: “i expected it to be a comfy read but… it was even more amazing than i expected! definitely comfy, but extremely funny and the dialogue just flows so well and feels natural”
So it sounds like the official translation does the trick, and I didn’t push the series on my friends in vain!

Translation comparison screenshots (no spoilers)

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I was thinking of buying the English edition myself to support it and compare more, but やはり, I ended up feeling most like I wanted to keep an un-influenced interpretation of the Japanese to myself, and leave the door open to maybe translating more chapters someday just for fun and to understand the series better.

I hope someday they translate and release Tanuma’s short story collection so I compare and recommend more!

P.S. one other interesting tidbit I remember about the translation comparison, is I struggled a lot at the time with what to do about the series’ idosyncratic, oddly poetic chapter titles (they incorporate elements that come up in the chapter, but in a strange way) and I was curious how those would turn out in the official translation - it seems like from the table of contents they’re much more confident and direct than I managed with my one attempt, bringing the original chapter titles over directly (where, not confident I understood it, I was more anxious to massage it into something that makes some kind of direct sense), but they do indeed remain strange. But hey - the original ones are strange too.
The title for chapter 1:
好意にカレーはつむじ
my attempt at the time: Curry in Kindness Brings a Whorl
official: In Love, Curry is a Hair Whorl

I should find the time to try more translation! It’s fun and interesting! I wonder if I’d be better at it now, with 2+ more years of reading experience, or if it’s just practice actually doing the thing that would help with that.

[additionalramen]

Thanks for writing such a detailed response and for sharing your own translation! Seeing how different people approach this puzzle is so cool.

The choice (not just in Yen Press’s Atami-kun translation, but in general) to convert Kansai-ben into something like a generic rural or Southern American accent is so fascinating to me. American readers I think will have pretty specific associations with that way of speaking and I have no idea how those associations map onto what Japanese people associate with Kansai-ben. I wonder when/why translators started making that choice.

That’s a really interesting question w/r/t whether reading or translating makes you better at translation. I think you should definitely go for it!

[pm215]

@additionalramen

The choice (not just in Yen Press’s Atami-kun translation, but in general) to convert Kansai-ben into something like a generic rural or Southern American accent is so fascinating to me. American readers I think will have pretty specific associations with that way of speaking and I have no idea how those associations map onto what Japanese people associate with Kansai-ben. I wonder when/why translators started making that choice.

The ADV dub of the Azumanga Daioh anime has this bit in the translator’s notes about one of the characters:

Being from Osaka, she does have an Osakan accent, but it is very soft. The stereotypical Osakan accent is harsher and interspersed with local vocabulary. This is what Miss Yukari and the students initially try to get her to speak. This has been equated to a southern accent from around the Houston area, which shares the business-oriented attitude with Osaka as well as the country image that color both the southern and Osakan accents.

That was 2004, I think, so I guess the “Kansai to southern” choice was still something they thought worth discussing at that point. On the other hand, ADV was based in Houston and apparently sourced a lot of their dub voice actors from the local theatre scene, so a Houston accent was certainly a convenient choice for them…

[additionalramen]

Thanks for pulling that quote! LOL, you’re completely right that it doesn’t seem like a coincidence that a Houston-based dubbing team would equate a Kansai accent with a Houston one. But that answers my question - an Osakan accent does have country associations (but also a “business-oriented attitude”? Interesting). Very cool!

[Jintor]

@additionalramen

an Osakan accent does have country associations (but also a “business-oriented attitude”? Interesting). Very cool!

the stereotypical view of kansai is of a sort of country vibe but of osaka specifically is of a merchant town. This sort of aligns historically with it being the port city that fed Kyoto - so it’s not the centre of high culture in that period certainly, but has all the people you need to actually ship and cook and produce the things the people of high culture need (and make money off them)

[DIO-Berry]

It’s probably also worth noting that Osakaben is the accent of comedy. Like there’s a stereotype that all the best comedians come from Osaka

[rodan]

On the subject, to describe a bit more how いやはや熱海くん specifically uses kansai-ben (since it’s interesting):

I don’t remember there ever being any specific places mentioned in the series - the characters seem to live in a city, but it’s only the way everyone talks that places it in Kansai, and since everyone talks that way it’s not acknowledged within the text at all, it’s just matter-of-fact. I got the impression the author is from Osaka from one of her short stories which was very specifically set in Osaka, but I don’t know if there’s any giveaways in the characters’ accents in いやはや熱海くん as to whether that’s specifically where they’re from too.

I read one interview that included native Kansaiben speakers (one I think is specifically from Kobe) talking about it, contrasting it with artificial Kansaiben where they could spot the author wasn’t from there, and describing it as contributing to the warm and relaxed feeling of the work:

（宇垣美里）私はまず、関西弁母国語者として、この『いやはや熱海くん』の関西弁がちょうどよくて。ちょうどいい関西弁。電車で私たちがしゃべっている関西弁。「なんでやねん」ではない関西弁。ゆるい……。
（つづ井）わざとらしくない関西弁っていうか、ナチュラルな、ネイティブな感じ。
(…)
（つづ井）(…) すごい馴染む感じというか。それがなんか、作品全体のあたたかみにも繋がっていて、すごくいいバランスだなと思います。

(The characters in the story are also pretty much universally low-key and non-outgoing.)

Which is to say I think it’s got its own interesting considerations when it comes to translating the accent vs. the probably more common case of one character out of many having a somewhat exaggerated accent.

It’s not exactly using the accent to signify anything about how these characters would come across to others, so much as it is using the natural cadence of it to make the dialogue feel that much more real and specific (that aspect of the dialogue being the series’ main strength even apart from the accent).

Of course - presumably the accent does still affect how any given reader interprets the characters, so some of the same considerations do come into play and it’s certainly fair to go for an analogue. But I would certainly wonder if, for example, reactions to the translation like the ones in that interview but from readers native to a southern American city might be difficult to come by. It seems like there would be more barriers somehow to reading a translation analogue accent as natural in that kind of way. But I’m not really qualified to know. It’s interesting!

[mitrac]

FYI, I just noticed Bookwalker has another deep discount on Harta - Volumes up to October 2024 are only 100 yen until 26 December by the looks of it (and 50% coinback on purchases over 1500 yen until the 17th)

[rodan]

It’s just explaining the various aspects of the promotion (most of which involve physical bookstores or the Kadokawa app) but I thought the comic associated with this recent discount is pretty cute:

it’s just like the bookwalker freebies thread!

[rodan]

I fell quite behind on Harta, in part because I had been hoping to move away from just sharing my rough notes like I’d been doing, and make some kind of slightly more organized blog-style post format that I could share a little bit more widely, but I was procrastinating on that…

Well, now I’ve done it! I tried to find sort of a middle ground between my usual Harta notes and that exhaustive rundown post that people seemed to enjoy, and I think I like the format so far! I hope other people do too, and find it at least a little bit interesting!

Harta 117

I’m hoping to catch up again in the relatively near future, but my plan now is to stick to a specific time (seems like Monday around noon) and bank draft posts instead of just whenever I happen to finish taking notes on an issue. So anyway, fingers crossed I’ll be back in this thread come some other Monday in the near future!

[mitrac]

That’s gorgeous, thanks so much. There is something magical about Harta that keeps me coming back, and your enthusiastic posts always help

I tend to get more wrapped up in my physical books and scheduled clubs, but over the holidays I started reading the one shots in Harta 75. I jumped the gun on this when I joined during the big sale in 2023, but every now and then I test the waters. I think now it’s doable and actually quite fun.

For me reading and reporting on a whole issue would be quite a big task, but I had a new idea to just check in on what I read in a month. For January, as a realistic start, I’d quite like to read one or both of the one shots in Harta #75