JBC's NO.6 's Discussion Thread

Can’t say for sure what it means in the context of this series, but can confirm I’ve come across “cherry” in the titles of several BL (and non-BL) works with the same connotation it can have in English. From this Wikipedia page, seems this particular meaning was borrowed along with the word. So, for instance, チェリーボーイ= cherry boy = virgin. Now that you mention it, I wouldn’t discount this as a deliberate hint.

Ooh… I completely missed this thread somehow. I’m still at the point where he expresses his hate for the dome shaped building in the center of the city.

Learned some interesting vocab in that bit.

Well hello, furigana.info !? That’s a very cool site, thx for sharing!

While we are discussing furigana, did anyone notice on p19 when :mouse: says 擦過射創… it’s given with furigana: さつかしやそう?

Pretty clever what the author did there, portraying Nezumi as a WK forum noob who hasn’t read the FAQ.

Thanks for the share! I’ve actually been thinking a lot recently that I need to understand more about mimetic phrases—especially after reading the section about it in DoBJG.

This sentence was a N3 grammar bonanza and I want to see if I’m translating it right:

体重の増加に比例するように、母さんは、面倒くさいという言葉を頻繁に使うようになった。

It had become the case that my mother’s incessant use of the phrase “pain in the ass” was increasing in equal proportion to her bodyweight.

or something?

That’s how I understood it.

Can anyone help explain the use of ところ in the following sentence from p31?

(僕とお母さんは)神経質なところも、人付き合いが苦手なところもよくにている。

I’m not familiar with ところ being attached to な adjectives in this way, and searching for grammar explanations didn’t bring anything up (other than the many ways ところ attaches to verbs).

Overall it seems pretty clear that he’s saying him and his mother are alike in that they have nervousness and are bad at personal relationships (socializing?)… I’m just wondering what the added nuance is with the way ところ is added.

The way I interpreted this passage was that ところ refers to the English word “point”.

“My mother and I are quite similar in that we both have points (in our personalities) where we are high-strung and bad at being around people.”

I would even dare to refer to ところ in this use as “tendency” even though it isn’t explicitly a correct literal translation. But I’m sure someone would know a better equivalent than this or “point”.

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Oh cool I see that – in fact now that I just look up ところ in my dictionary (as opposed to assuming it was more of a grammar thing), the 5th definition in the list is “point, aspect, side, facet”

So it sounds like it’s a way to describe a facet or a side of one’s personality. Makes sense.

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I’ve often been tripped up by this usage, too, though now I’ve started to feel like I get it. Sometimes it’s even shortened to とこ in these sorts of contexts, just for a little extra confusion.

サンポ is a great name for a robot… or a puppy!

:walking_man::dog2:

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Took me a little while and several re-reads to work out quite what was going on in that bit. I actually think the first part of chapter 2 is one of the toughest sections to follow. The first time I read it I was completely lost - I thought the man had been found in a rubbish dump.

Something I’m noticing as I read is that slow going in some ways makes a book better. I read the part where Shion speeds off on his bike through the park today and because I’m checking so much, I’m always wondering, Have I got the right idea here? and Why are we being shown this? which makes everything a bit more real. In English I’m pretty sure I’d have just skimmed over the cycling part, waving my hand going: yes, yes, on with the story. Because I have to focus so much in Japanese though, I appreciated much more how little details (eg the speed limits) are worked in to the scene as a bit of unobtrusive world building.

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Hey we’re right around the same place. Yeah the opening of chapter 2 was tricky!!! “wait where are we who is this what’s going on.” I loved the cinematic way it foreshadowed though – like giving the reader a glimpse into what the characters aren’t seeing for a moment.

I’m with you on going slow, one thing I love is to just inch through everything looking up every single word and grammatically deconstructing sentences, but then go back right away and read a page or two, or a really dense paragraph all at once at normal speed. It’s surprising how much more meaning just kind of falls into place.

One of the hardest things for me when going slow is actually just keeping track of who is speaking!

Actually, I’m kind of curious how everyone else is reading:

  • Reading quickly - if I get the gist, that’s enough
  • Reading at a moderate speed - I’ll only check things that seem important
  • Reading slowly - I want to understand everything
  • Reading quickly then going back and reading slowly
  • Reading slowly then going back and reading quickly

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Mental katakana on pg 60.

ヒエラルキー

Finally got it after reading it out loud. Think it’s the long キー that really throws you.

Edit: I wonder if there’s one guy whose job it is to decide katakana spellings. Sitting there going アース… mah, close enough.

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Speaking of mental katakana, p55: anyone know what ユーウツ means???

「ユーウツな顔してるわけ?」

Might be 憂鬱. It’s kind of stuffy looking in kanji, so it wouldn’t really fit the rest of the sentence’s tone that well written that way.

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Ah, that’s definitely it – the same word was used a page or two before in kanji. Thanks!

Damn my timing… I’m on book 3 and am leaving them behind when I go to Japan in a month (I can’t justify taking most of a series with me).

I wish you all luck with the massive number of 灰色の瞳 mentions in the first two books. Also ”ネズミが吹き出す” cause Shion thinks it’s news that Nez is alive…

When you get to Beyond (or if you want to work on Arslan) I’ll join in enthusiastically.

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