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I’m reading along
I’m still reading the book but I haven’t reached this chapter yet
I find it rather implausible that no shrines exist in Japan even in 2301, especially not Fushimi Inari…
Page 128, fifth panel, the old lady’s 御方 is subtitled as おんかか, though when Akari said it a few pages ago, it was おかた. I was wondering if maybe it was dialectical, but Jisho doesn’t have おんかた at all, and while Weblio has it, it doesn’t seem to mention dialects. So how is it different from おかた?
Having some trouble reading Akari’s aside comments on page 137 panel 4, and page 141 panel 1.
It’s always bugged me in this chapter how Akari and Aria suddenly teleport outside the torii tunnel on page 146. Maybe the other world is very slightly out of alignment from the human world?
Amusingly, Jisho’s entry for 天気雨 includes the note See also 狐の嫁入り
Slightly spoilerish side note, this is Akari’s only supernatural enounter in the entire manga that does not somehow involve Cait Sith. One idly wonders if it’s actually a bunch of humans putting on a show for her.
Not related to the chapter itself, but I can’t believe we’re already nearly halfway through this volume! It feels like just yesterday we finished the first.
Even with the slightly tedious reintroduction chapters I’m still enjoying it ^^
I didn’t notice. Interesting find! Could the difference perhaps be that おんかた is a jukugo and おかた is just 方 with the honorable prefix お? … So that in theory you could say お御方… As you can tell, I don’t know either. But I think おん is a “legit” reading of 御. I don’t think is dialectal.
I totally missed the one on page 141. So I’ll get back to that one (maybe). But on page 137 I read 手までつないでもらっといて
... and my breakdown attempt of it
I think this is making note of the parcel hanging in a string connected to Akaris hand
手までつないで
I’m guessing this means linked to the hand
もらっといて
I’m guessing this is もらっておいて, received in preparation for the future. I don’t know why it ends in the te-form
EDIT. the aside comment on page 141. I can’t read it either. It looks like 気をしっかり持た◯ば！. ◯ looks a little like ね. But I don’t know what that would mean.
(Alicia-san) went as far as taking my hand (to avoid this situation = me getting lost from happening)
(That’s as far as I’ve been reading, will get back to you all when I reach the other one)
Edit: yep, it’s 気をしっかり持たねば If I don’t pay completely attention edit2 If I don’t stay strong (I’ll get lost again/bad things will happen/THE END OF THE WORLD )
In my edition, she says お方 According to the dictionary, おんかた is also a valid reading, with a slightly different nuance (you can’t use it to talk about someone’s wife, for instance). Beyond that, a thread on chiebukuro mentioned that you wouldn’t find that word outside of a drama taking place in the edo period. (They were obviously wrong)
So it’s not at all dialectical? Just period piece? Because she’s otherwise speaking in a fairly heavy Kyoto accent.
Huh. I figured it was 気を持たす with a しっかり in the middle for emphasis, but I couldn’t work out how the す became ねば. For that matter, nor could I work out the relevance of it.
Actually, I’m still not at all clear on where the ねば comes from. Exactly what conjugation are we looking at, here?
Thanks for clearing this up. This was actually what I first had in mind. Not based on any understanding of the language, but on what the plausible options are given the scene. Holding hands in order to not get separated while quickly escaping, you see that in anime all the time. So I thought that was what was going on. I don’t know why I ditched this idea. Maybe because they aren’t holding hands while fleeing to shelter. They are however holding hands earlier while leisurely strolling. This I had already forgotten or didn’t pay enough attention to. Finally I arrived at my conclusion because the parcel plays a role later in the story. I thought they were planting a seed in the readers mind, so you would get an extra strong “I knew it!”-experience at the end. This wasn’t my only reason, of course. I was also trying (and failing at it) to understand what was actually written. I wasn’t sure about まで. But I don’t know enough so I didn’t think much of it. I just thought “this is what the picture tells me, so this how you say it, I suppose”.
I can confirm the conjugation. Not that I need to or that anyone asked me to. I definitely take your word for it. But I was going to be a smart ass and say “but then wouldn’t it be もたなければ?”. And yes, I suppose it would. But I found out that you can replace the なければ with ねば. I don’t know if this is always allowed or if restrictions apply. But there you go.
On a related note. In a similar way, for suru-verbs, you can replace しなければ with せねば.
Finished my first read-through (finally managing to read things at the weekend again!), and that was a really lovely and chill chapter. Other than glazing over a bit when the kansai dialect kicked in (so I basically have no idea what that lady said ever) it was pretty easygoing to read and still very atmospheric.
I’m sure I have one or two questions still though, don’t worry, everyone
It’s one of the first times I’ve felt like a double-page spread actually benefited from being in black and white though I’m sure colour would have been beautiful as well.
Does she explicitly say that, though? I thought she just said that she’d never seen a real one… I am pretty exhausted right now though so might just have missed that edit: oh wait, does Alicia mention it?
I’m not sure I found them “absolutely terrifying”, but definitely unnerving. And yes, especially that bit. The statues were pretty intense too.
You need a translation into standard Japanese? Only she’s kinda the Ms Exposition for this chapter…
You’ll love Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto, then. In case my post was unclear, the shrine in this chapter is designed after Fushimi Inari. I thought of trying to post some comparison photos, but I don’t seem to have taken photos of some of the background shown.
Guess there’s always Google Street View. Here is where Akari is standing on page 139, and it’s coincidentally as far as the street view extends (barring the isolated photos further up).
Not explicitly, but in modern Japan, you can barely turn around without tripping over one.
I mean, if you’re willing I’m exaggerating a bit though; I got the gist of what she was saying. It’s more like I can’t tell what’s a peculiarity of the dialect and what’s grammar I might be able to understand if I put the effort in, so I tend to just try to get the general idea and not worry about picking it apart. I’m probably missing a lot, but also avoiding headaches
)
According to the dictionary, おんかた is also a valid reading, with a slightly different nuance (you can’t use it to talk about someone’s wife, for instance). Beyond that, a thread on chiebukuro mentioned that you wouldn’t find that word outside of a drama taking place in the edo period. (They were obviously wrong)
though I’m sure colour would have been beautiful as well.
I’m exaggerating a bit though; I got the gist of what she was saying. It’s more like I can’t tell what’s a peculiarity of the dialect and what’s grammar I might be able to understand if I put the effort in, so I tend to just try to get the general idea and not worry about picking it apart. I’m probably missing a lot, but also avoiding headaches 
I love that place too.