Help making sense of a light novel passage

Japanese Language Grammar
1

Hey all, I’ve been reading this light novel recently, and I’ve spend the last 20 minutes trying to figure out this passage, I think it’s time to suck it up and ask for some help. First, here’s the passage:

「クラスの女子って脳内じゃないの？」
「実在するっつーの！」
「……どうせ、性別が女というだけでゴリラみたいな外見の……」
「そんな外見の女探す方が逆に難しいわ！ 普通 に 可愛い 娘 たちだっつーの！」
俺の言葉に、なぜかあかりは顔を真っ赤にして 怒り出し

The context is that a highschool kid is getting ready for an outing with some people from his class, and his sister and mom are accosting him. Here’s the points that are giving me trouble.

性別が女というだけ…

Is this simply his sister making fun of him for his appearance? Like “Just because they’re girls (who you are going to see) you are looking like a gorilla” (Like, making fun of how he is dressed up?)

そんな外見の女探す方が逆に難しいわ

Maybe something like “on the contrary, looking for girls like that (looking like a gorilla) would be difficult!” Seems like a weird way to respond so I just have a feeling I’m misunderstanding this.

娘 たちだっつーの

I thought っつー was similar the same as っていう, but nobody has talked about the girls he’s going to hang out with at all, so “I/you said they are cute!” doesn’t make any sense. I’m sure I’ve butchered this :sweat_smile:

難しいわ … 俺の言葉に

And this is the final kicker. I assumed the mother must have been speaking in the sentence with 難しいわ. The main character has not spoken effeminately or anything like that, so it seemed a safe assumption. But then “俺の言葉に”, which I am reading as “by my words” has totally confused me. What did he say that flustered his sister?

So, that’s kind of a lot, it’s one of those passages where I’m sure I’m building an understanding on a flawed translation and just further confusing myself. Big thanks to anybody who takes the time to help me sort through it.

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Of the person he is going to meet. “Anyway, it’s just her gender being female, and she has the appearance of a gorilla”

Yep

It is! But it doesn’t have to have been actually said, っつーの or variation can be used to emphasize that something is common knowledge (in this case, that girls are generally cute, not gorilla-looking)
Edit: reading the passage, it’s just “I’m telling you” (they are regularly cute girls)

Edit: wait I was reading too fast what you said! It’s not him speaking last, it’s his sister (? I guess)

Edit2: based on further context it is him. The sister is expressing anger in the next sentence, not included here. (See conversation below)

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Thank you! Very big help, that one was giving me trouble. Glad to see I wasn’t too far off.

Much appreciated

4

I think the parts with っつーの are spoken by the sister. It fits the register of language. In that context, he is the one doubting the existence of those/that girl(s) and making fun of their potential appearance. And then doesn’t get why she gets angry.

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Hmmm, that’s an interesting theory, but if that’s the case I don’t understand why he would be doubting the existence of the girls he is just about to go meet up with. For additional context, it’s just a few girls from his class.

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Hm, you are sure they are from his class, not her class? Also, are the characters from Kansai or something similar? わ an de っつーの are usually female speech patterns in the Kanto area.

Also, the last sentence sounds angry, which fits the 怒り出し (say something angrily), but the one before doesn’t really (because of the trailing tone).

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Yeah, it’s definitely people from his class, I’m pretty confident about that, that’s where the story has been leading.

And that’s a great observation, thank you! They are absolutely from Kanto, they are actually meeting in 池袋駅, and there are references to 秋葉原 and the 山手線.

I agree the tone shift is pretty confusing, that’s partly what lead me to think maybe it was the mom and sister alternating?

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Hm, but he mentioned saying things, so he is obviously one of the speakers, and he mentions his sister being the other one…
Do you think that part would be in an online preview of the book? I’d like to check what comes before and after.

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I don’t think it’ll be in a preview, but I’m reading it on kindle so i’ll capture more context in a note and paste it here, gimme one sec

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OK, apparently there is a copy limit so I had to type a bit by hand, hopefully there’s no typos >.>

The passage I chose to copy starts when he is at the bathroom sink getting read to go out

後ろ から 暴言 を 吐い て くる 我が 妹 に、
「うっせ、 歯 ー 磨き たい なら 流し台 で やっ て くれ や、 俺 は 今 必死 な ん だ」
だが そんな 反論 も むなしく、 妹 の あかり は 俺 を 押し退け 歯 を 磨き 出す。
そこ へ、 母親 が 声 を かけ て き た。
「直輝…… なんだか 最近 髪の毛 とか いじり だし てる けど、 もしかして、 彼女 でも でき た の？」
「ん な わけ ない じゃ ～ ん！ こんな キモオタ の 直 輝 に 彼女 なんか できる わけ な いっ つ ー の！」
…… 妹 よ、 お前 だって 同じ オタク だろ う が。
「違う……。 だが、 今日 は クラス の 女子 たち と カラオケ へ 行っ て くる」
「え ぇえ!? 直輝…… 良かっ た わね、 ママ ずっと 心配 し て た のよ、 直輝 が 実在 する 女の子 とは 会話 とか でき ない ん じゃ ない か って…… 直輝 と カラオケ へ 行っ て くれる 女の子 が いる なんて……」
心配されているのか馬鹿にされているのかよく分からない。
あかりに至っては 怪訝 な顔をして、
「クラスの女子って脳内じゃないの？」
「実在するっつーの！」
「……どうせ、性別が女というだけでゴリラみたいな外見の……」
「そんな外見の女探す方が逆に難しいわ！ 普通 に 可愛い 娘 たちだっつーの！」
俺の言葉に、なぜかあかりは顔を真っ赤にして 怒り出した。
「ムカつく！ 直輝のくせに！ クラスの女子たちとカラオケ!? 何なの鼻の下のばしてデレデレして！ キモいっつーの！」
言いながら、俺を足で 蹴飛ばしてくる。
「いてっ！ 何なんだよ 突然、いいだろ別に……ってやべ！ もうこんな時間！ いってきます！」

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Okay, yes it was the first reading I gave (so it’s indeed sister-him-sister-him). The 怒り出した refers to the next sentence which was missing.
Also, he is using や (first sentence) which is also a Kansai thing. So, it’s possible he is using わ as well.

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Ahh yeah in hindsight that context does explain it. There was a page divide there so that might have thrown me a bit (making excuses…)

That is a really nice tidbit about the や usage. So, if I understand, わ is used widely by women outside Kansai, and by women and men within Kansai?

Thanks again for all your help, I appreciate all the time spent figuring this out.

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