三ツ星カラーズ — Week 2 Discussion (ABBC)

三ツ星カラーズ Week 2: Pages 9–14

Start Date: 20th of November

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Characters

The following characters appear this week.

Week 2 Yui  結衣(ゆい)

Week 2 Sacchan  さっちゃん

Week 2 Kotoha  琴葉(ことは)

Week 2 Saitou  斎藤(さいとう)

Week 2 Oyaji  おやじ

Page Numbers Guide

Due to a general lack of page numbers, it can be difficult to know which page you’re asking a question on. You can use the thumbnails below to see at a glance which page number each is.

Thumbnails with page numbers for this week's reading. (Spoiler warning!)

Read Online

If you don’t have a copy of the volume yet, you can read this week’s material online for free.

Vocabulary List

Chapter one’s vocabulary is all on one tab, so we’re continuing with the same tab for this week.

Please read the editing guidelines in the first sheet before adding any words!

Discussion Guidelines

  • Please blur / hide any major events in the current week’s pages (however early they occur), like so: [spoiler]texthere[/spoiler]
  • When asking for help, please mention the page number, and check before posting that your question hasn’t already been asked
  • Join the conversation — it’s fun!

Participation

Mark your participation status by voting in this poll:

  • I’m reading along
  • I’m planning to catch up later
  • I’m no longer reading

0 voters

If you’ve read it before but will join in the discussion (or have read ahead), please select “I’m reading along”!

Vital Information

Does the city you live in have a city center or downtown area?
  • Yes
  • No
  • I don’t know

0 voters

Have you been reading sound effects on the pages?
  • Yes
  • No, although I’ve seen them there
  • There are sound effects?

0 voters

How do you feel knowing week two will be harder than week one?
  • I’m ready for it!
  • Wait, what???

0 voters

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Since chapter one has been split into two weeks, here is a summary of week one’s material.

Summary for Week 1

The chapter opens with Yui running through Ueno distract, and to the hidden away hideout where the group Colors gathers. She bursts in, calling out that she has big news.

Sacchan responds with a joke, then changes the subject to a pair of toy glasses she found in the hideout.

Yui steers the conversation back to her big news: she found a cat that looks like a panda. Sacchan releases the spring-loaded eyes of the toy glasses, prompting Yui to tell her–and Kotoha–to take it seriously.

However, Sacchan disagrees that Yui’s finding is worth the attention of their group, Colors, whose mission is to protect the peace of their neighborhood. She asks Yui, leader of the group, if there isn’t a much bigger case.

Met with insistence from Yui about the panda-like cat, Sacchan asks Yui to draw what she saw. Upon seeing the drawing, Sacchan realizes that what Yui saw is a monster. Yui thinks the cat is great, but Sacchan sees things differently.

When Kotoha sees the drawing, she asks if they’ll be killing it. Yui won’t allow that, even though Kotoha thinks monsters need to be beaten to death. Sacchan suggests they can capture it instead, to which Yui agrees.

— — —

The trio visits the nearby police box, where Officer Saitou keeps an eye on things. Looking over the drawing, he says he doesn’t know anything about it, then admonishes the children for trying to get the police to help with their play-hero games.

Kotoha says they’re not playing, and Sacchan accuses Saitou of being a know-nothing.

Saitou snaps at the kids, saying he doesn’t have time to play their games with them. While two of the girls are unfazed, Yui tearfully apologizes. Saitou recalls that she’s the good one of the group, which makes her hard for him to deal with. He gives up, and tells that girls that while he doesn’t know anything about a monster, he does have some information about a cat that looks like a panda.

Apparently, per Saitou, the cat is a thief. Lately, there have been an increasing number of reports of a panda-like cat snatching things. If the cat were caught, Saitou tells the girls, then maybe the peace of the district will have been protected.

With this information, Yui realizes that a thief cat really is a big case. Sacchan suggests they begin their search on the shopping street. Saitou is thanked for his troubles, and Colors is off to find the panda-like thief cat.

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Quick Links

The following links will take you to previously-asked questions. Because this list is manually put together, some questions may be missing from the list.

Page 10

Page 11

Page 12

Page 13

Page 13

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I mentioned sound effects in one of the polls. Here are some sound effects that come up in week two:

Page 9:

  • 「ガタンゴトン」: Sound of train on the tracks shown on the top left in panel one.
  • 「がや」: General sounds from a crowd of people.

Page 12:

  • 「バョーン」: Sound of springs expanding.

Page 13:

  • 「ペロ」: Sound of licking.

Page 14:

  • 「わい」: Sound of excited cheers.

Forum’s complaining about me posting too many separate replies in a row, so I’m out until we get some discussion in here =D

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Hi everyone! I’m back with a lot of questions. Any help would be appreciated :slight_smile:

  1. Page 8 4th panel: さっちゃん saysこうやって猫の目線になることで. I translated this as “ I can become able to see from the cat’s point of view by this way Sounds a bit off to me :face_with_raised_eyebrow::face_with_raised_eyebrow:

  2. Page 10 3rd panel: 一度してみた かったの これ . Does the sentence mean Try it one more time and I’ll do this? I have no idea what かった means here and の is probably the particle that acts like the noun in this sentence???

  3. Page 10 4th panel, there is a sentence called そんな風に歪んじゃうんでしょ!does this sentence mean In that manner, she is being bent too much, right? Why is 歪む conjugated to become じゃうん in this sentence?

  4. Page 10 5th panel, the sentence is ゲームに害があるみたいに言わないで, and then in the 6th panel of page 10, 琴葉 continues by saying 私は元からこうなの!My translation of this sentence is “ I never said games had an evil influence on me, I was already like this originally does my translation make the cut?

  5. Also, in the 6th panel of page 10, who says 余計にダメじゃん。” You are even more hopeless

  6. In the 2nd panel of page 12, there are two sentences that I’m not quite sure of.

  1. おう カラーズちゃんどおだ. “ Oh, it’s Colours, you came What does どおだ mean here?
    2)アジトで見つけたのとおんなじだ “ The one that I found in our hideout is the same is this translation correct?
  1. In the 3rd panel in page 12, 琴葉 says パンダみたいな猫に盗まれなかったか?Is it translated as “ Can these (glasses) catch a panda-like cat I’m not very sure if 盗まれる is in the potential or passive form and why it is conjugated to the past negative なかった form

  2. In the 3rd panel of page 12, there is also another sentence made by おやじ and it is そうなんだよ まったく困った猫だぜがっはっは I translated this as “ That’s right! An entirely annoying cat (can be caught)Haha Is がっはっは a sound and ぜ a masculine ending particle that sometimes appear in よつばと?

  3. In the 2nd panel of page 13, I have 2 questions.
    1)それでこの子もアジトを住処にしてるんじゃないかって 琴葉が!I translated this sentence as “ Also, this car has been dwelling in our hideout, right, Kotoha! I have no idea why じゃないかって is used here and why Kotoha has to mention her name again (she is the one speaking right?)

2)そしたらまんまとその通り待ちぶせて Does this sentence mean “ And, just like that, it was waiting for the right time to ambush

  1. In the 4th panel of page 12, could someone check my translation
    “俺に預けるとその猫はこの街になるんだ 見たことこお前に懐いてるみたいだし 悪さしないよう しつけてやれ” “ If I entrust you with the cat, it’ll no longer be needed in this town. It looks attached to you ever since meeting you guys. Don’t teach it mischievous manners.”
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Thank you @foxabell as I had many of the same questions lol. Just a heads up, your page numbers of off by one (page 9 is the one without dialogue).

Adding onto this question I’m confused about what the こと represents here. Also, why is there a な after これはな? Is it replacing だ as to end the sentence. As in, “This. I become the cats point of view.”

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Thanks for telling me. I’ve just correct it

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Pg. 8, 4th Panel

That’s similar to the translation I get, though you are adding a “see” that I wouldn’t, and using the なる as a verb “to become,” which I interpreted differently. I translated it as, “This is (implied: the way to find the cat), you know. (This comes from the これはな that precedes what you typed out). Getting the cat’s point of view by doing this.”
なる = to get, as well as to become, so I took that meaning instead, and with the こと suffix, I think it’s a nominalizer, so it turns the なる into a noun.

Pg. 10, 3rd Panel

Let’s break this one down:

一度 = once; one time

して = て form of the verb する, to do. It’s in て form, because it’s conjunctive to the following piece:
みたかった = compound word みる, to experience + たい, which is an auxiliary adjective that means “want to”, conjugated into “past” form.

の = explanatory particle

これ = this, added after the sentence to clarify the subject which would have been unclear.

It’s a lot, but altogether comes out to:

“I’ve wanted to try doing this once.”

Pg. 10, 4th Panel

I translated more along the lines of, “In this way, you are completely warped!”

It is conjugated that way because it’s basically a compound word: 歪んで (conjugated to て form for conjunctive) + じゃう + ん, じゃう is a form of ちゃう, which is to do completely, and の, contracted to ん, which I think is the explanatory の rearing its head again, though I could be mistaken, and am open to correction.
Sacchan is essentially telling Kotoha that her personality is warped/twisted.

Pg. 10, 5th Panel

Close. The first sentence is actually a command: “Don’t say things like games are a bad influence.”

Pg. 10, 6th Panel

I actually interpreted that more along the lines of “That’s even worse, isn’t it?!”

余計 = all the more, even more

だめ = not good

じゃん = shortened version of じゃない, meaning “isn’t it?” in this context

“That’s even more not good, isn’t it?!”

English would turn “more not good” into “worse”

Sacchan says it in response to Kotoha saying she has always been like this.

Pg. 12, 2nd Panel

First question: I would actually say “Oh, Colors-chan, how is it going?”

It’s a different spelling of どう, or “how”

Second question: Yep, that’s the same way I read it, roughly.

Pg. 12, 3rd Panel

I would actually say the sentence translates to, “Weren’t (these glasses) stolen by a panda-like cat?”

盗まれる = to be stolen, which I think is what you are misreading as “to be caught”… That would be 捕まる

It’s in the passive form of the verb because the glasses are being acted on by the cat. It’s negative because of the way the question is framed. We often do the same thing in English: “Isn’t that true?” etc, etc. Hopefully that makes sense, I’m simplifying it down quite a bit.

As for the other question on this panel, you have the interpretation right, other than the wrong translation of 盗まれる coming back to haunt you:

“That’s right! (The glasses were stolen by) a seriously annoying cat!”

Regarding the particle, I haven’t read よつばと to say if it’s the same one, but I would guess that’s the case. In any case, it is a masculine sentence ender similar to よ, but much, much less polite.

Pg. 13, 2nd Panel

This is another one that might be easier to just break down:

それで = Because of that

この子も = This kitten (technically child, but they are referring to the cat, so), with the も particle, meaning also

アジトを = Secret hideout, with the を particle marking it as the direct object of the verb

住み処に = habitat, dwelling residence with the に location particle

してるん = する, in て form to indicate an ongoing action, and the の particle, contracted to ん. As before, I believe this is an explanatory の, but am open to correction on that

じゃないか = isn’t it?

って = casual form of quotation particle, essentially a verbal quotation mark

琴葉が = clarification of who said the quote. She is referring to herself by name, which by my understanding is fairly common among young children

Again, it’s a lot, but taken altogether, I get an interpretation along the lines of:

“Because of that (referring to the previous speech bubble), ‘This kitten is using our hideout as its home too, isn’t it?!’, Kotoha said.”

As for the second part of the question, that’s fairly close. I don’t think there’s any indication of “waiting for the right time” in her sentence though. I read it simply as, “And then, just like that, we were successfully ambushing (the kitten).”

Pg. 12, 4th Panel

I would actually say, “If you entrust me with the cat, it will no longer be able to stay in this town. By the looks of it, it’s grown attached to you. Train it not to misbehave.”

The clue for the first part being “If you entrust me with,” is the に particle. That indicates the action is going to 俺, as opposed to 俺 being the one doing the action.

Hopefully I managed to answer everything in there. If not, or if something I said doesn’t make sense, let me know!

@basoomie

こと and これはな

こと is a hard thing to pin down, because it’s so vague, and has so many uses. I’m not 100% confident in how I read it, but for me, the こと is the one that’s supposed to nominalize the なる, changing it into a noun. It’s a subtle difference, but when it has the こと, I would read the sentence as I translated it above.

Without the こと, I would read it more like, “Doing this, I get a cat’s point of view,” which in context would still probably work, but she’s not trying to tell them that she gets a cat’s point of view by doing what she is doing, I don’t think. I think she is trying to say that getting a cat’s point of view is the way to find the cat. I could be off-base, but that’s my interpretation.

To that end, I did read the な in これはな as a sentence-ending particle, yes, that basically means, “You know.” It’s a softer assertive than よ, but still an assertive, emphasizing sentence ender. I could be wrong on this, though, and am open to correction, as always.

Edit: I changed my answer format because it was an awful wall of text… Now it’s several walls of text hidden in sub-blocks, instead. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Great job by @MrGeneric in responding, as it allowed me to not have to =D

And thanks to @foxabell for the questions.

First-time readers, don’t worry about absorbing it all right away. I mean, if you can, then have at it. For people like me who need a bit more time, it’s okay to not take in so many new things all at once. We’re still just past the starting line, and we’ll see a lot of this same grammar coming up again and again, over and over.

There’s still plenty more to ask for this latter half of the chapter, but also if anyone would like further clarification on anything covered, or more information on specific grammar, don’t hesitate to ask.

Before I forget, thanks also to the person or persons who helped get many more vocabulary words filled into the spreadsheet!

Just to be certain, the line here (page 13, second panel, second word balloon) is spoken by Yui. And, as you say, the 琴葉(ことは)が portion is clarifying who said the quote that Yui relays.

The tail on the balloon here does look like it’s pointing to Kotoha, but the starting 「あのね!」 is much too peppy for our little gamer, as we can begin to infer by Kotoha’s dialogue earlier in the chapter.

There's a wide range of usage for こと. (Condensed for length.)

At its core, it’s like the word “thing” in English, with one exception.

In English, we use the word for tangible things (“What is this thing in my pocket? Oh, it’s a ring of invisibility,”) and we also use the word for intangible things ("Why was I late to dinner? Well, the thing is…)

In Japanese, you have the word もの for tangible things, and こと for intangible things.

Intangible things are more conceptual.

If you see someone trying to perform an unknown action, you may ask, “What’s that thing he’s doing?” Maybe he’s trying to juggle. Juggling is a concept. It’s a conceptual thing.

On page 10, Sacchan tells the others to do like she’s doing. Yui asks 「それ(なに)」, essentially “What’s that (that you’re doing)?” Sacchan responds:

(ねこ)目線(めせん)になること」

The word こと is so generic that it’s fairly useless on its own. Sacchan can’t just saying “I’m doing the thing” and be understood. She needs to state what kind of thing she’s doing, and this is done by modifying こと. In Japanese, modifiers go before the words they modify.

Modifier: 「(ねこ)目線(めせん)になる」 “Becoming a cat’s point of view.”
Modified: 「こと」

As a direct translation, we might say Sacchan responds as:

“This, you see. Do it this way, and it’s the becoming-a-cat’s-point-of-view thing.” Or, “…and it’s the thing where you become a cat’s point of view.”

Even though こと is similar in concept to the English word thing for intangible things, the usage in sentences is different between the two languages. This is why such a direct translation is rather “off” in English. (Well, most very direct translations from Japanese to English are.)

TL;DR: こと represents the concept conveyed by the modifier words attached before it.

You’ll see こと a lot, and there’s plenty of time to get a feel for it.

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Oh, sure enough. The tail mislead me. :stuck_out_tongue: I should have paid more attention to whose mouth was open, as well as the speech pattern.

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Real life locations! Most of the backgrounds are probably gonna be too nonspecific to pinpoint, but let’s see how much I can manage…

On page 9, the easiest one to spot is the Ameyoko Sign in the first panel. Panels 2 and 3 are a bit generic, but panel 4 is outside Big Echo Karaoke, though I can’t seem to spot any evidence that they put out signs like this one - there is an entrance facing Ameyoko, but every recent street view image was taken when everything is closed, and all the user-submitted photos are either taken from the Chuo-dori side, or they’re internal.

Third panel of page 10, there’s a sign in the background advertising SK-II, which is a skincare product, so it’s probably outside a 薬屋, though there’s a couple of those along the street. Page 12, I’m pretty sure this guy’s store is completely fictional, though similar stores probably exist somewhere along the street.


Page 10, @ChristopherFritz , you (I presume) have written on the lookup sheet that 捜さ is an interrupted 捜査. I’d more be willing to posit that 捜さぶ is an interrupted 捜索.

Page 13, what exactly is Sacchan doing in the second panel?


I’m pretty sure summaries are usually shorter than the original material. :stuck_out_tongue:

I agree. To that end, I’ve changed which definition of the word is listed on the lookup sheet.

Specifically, ~じゃう is an abbreviation of ~でしまう. (~ちゃう is ~てしまう.)

More of a polite request than a command - ~ないで at the end of a sentence is short for ~ないでください, “please don’t”.

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It’s so hard having all the shops closed on Google Map images, but it’s this place. You’re right that the one in the manga is fictional, but it’s in place of (and somewhat based on) an actual gift shop. We’ll see the resemblance a bit later on.

Thanks for pinpointing the locations =D

Not guilty! But I agree that 捜索 is what she intended to say.

A picture is worth a thousand words. I’m amazed I was able to shorten all those panels as much as I did.

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Yeah, occurs to me I could have checked further on first. Or the anime. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Page 11, panel 6

私は元からこうなの!

is こうな === こんな ?

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It’s こう+なの.

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:blush: oops nevermind

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Page 11, Panel 6

余計にダメじゃん!

It is possible to explain how 余計 was translated to ‘even more’.

When I looked it up on jotoba I saw the initial definitions and picked ‘excessive’ - leading to a mistranslation.

(Yes it’s on the vocab sheet…)

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If you look at 余計 on jisho you’ll see “even more” in definition 3. But even looking at the main meaning, it’s not a long way from “in excess” to “even more”.

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So, if you are wanting to know why I used the “even more” definition over the “excessive” definition, (as opposed to just accepting it at face value), it’s because there is a に attached to the word. When there is a に attached to a な adjective, it becomes an adverb. If you notice the definitions listed on jotoba, the third definition describes it as an adverb, as opposed to an adjective like the other definitions listed. Thus, “even more” is the best definition, given the context.

But you can also just think of it as adding an -ly to the word, as we would do in English, changing it from “excessive” (adjective) to “excessively” (adverb). With that interpretation, you still get “(That’s) excessively not good, isn’t it!?” , which would still be the same overall meaning, because I would still simplify that to “worse,” as I did with the other interpretation.

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@MrGeneric kindly noted the ないで part at the end of the sentence, but my two cents for what they’re worth (i.e. nothing) is that I also agree with the second part of your translation (“私は元からこうなの”, “I was like this from the beginning / I’ve always been like this.”).

I actually thought this exchange might have had a play on words baked into it through “歪みすぎだよ!”, on the one reading this is saying that " (someone) has an excessively warped personality", but perhaps it is not too much of a reach to also read it in parallel as "You are applying too much distortion (to me) / i.e. You are bending me out of shape ".

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