Page 5
Plot:
Here we are introduced to マサラタウン (Pallet town in the West).
A young girl is trying to catch a ニドリーノ (Nidorino), while getting teased by a Bug Catcher. She throws a few pokeballs at the Nidorino but fails to catch it. レッド (Red/Ash) explains you need to weaken a pokemon first, then throw a ball.
Vocab:
- くそう - damn,shit a generic curse
- はじかく - to repel/bounce Young girl has thrown a few pokeballs at the nidorino but she can’t catch it, it keeps ‘repelling, rejecting’
- 捕まえる - to catch learn this word on the first page, I expect I’ll see it again at least once or twice
- そんなんじゃダメだよ - “not like that!”/“that’s not how you do it” more of a full phrase than a vocab point, Red comes in and tells the young girl that’s not how you catch a Pokemon then proceeds to go on to describe the correct way
- つと - quickly straight up wrong!
Grammar:
- けり - not sure on this yet, need to ask some people cleverer than me. Apparently it’s an old term for passing off second hand information.
- や - pretty sure this the ‘non-exhaustive’ and. It’s used in the interesting sentence below! wrong again!
Interesting Sentence:
ポケモンを捕まえたけりや、もつと弱らせてからボールをなげるもんだぜ。
My translation “To catch a pokemon, you also have to weaken it quickly then throw a ball.”
As mentioned above, I don’t really understand what the けり does. From what I gather, it’s a way of passing off something as second hand information. I’ll be interested to see what the short grammar thread has to say.
Page 6
Plot:
Ash shows everyone how to catch a pokemon! He sends out his ニョロズ (Polywhirl), and attacks with water gun. Nidorino is visibly weakened (I see a very stylised くそう!) so Red throws a pokeball!
Vocab:
- こんな風にな！ - set phrase, “like this”/“this is how you do it”
- ニョロズ - Polywhirl! (our 1st pokemon name if you don’t count the chapter title!)
- みずでっぽう - watergun literally the words water and gun
- そうして - “like that”/“in that way” basically Red is pointing out “just like that, the pokemon is weakened” See interesting sentence
Grammar:
- Nothing to note on this page for me
Interesting Sentence:
こうして弱らせておいて、これを投げる。
My translation “And just like that, it’s weakened now throw a ball.”
Causative form of 弱る, てある form “it has been forced to become weakened” in essence. I don’t understand why を is used with これ here.
Page 7
Plot:
Red succesfully catches the nidorino. He shows off to the adoring crowd as he is showered with praise.
Red starts to introduce himself properly. He’s a pokemon trainer who lives in マサラタウン。There’s not a trainer in town that can match him.
What are pokemon you ask? Well, pokemon are non-human creatures that live in the forests and lakes.
Vocab:
- ニドリーノ - Nidorino same name in both English and Japanese, easy!
- さすが - as you would expect the Peaky Blinder is saying “of course Red would catch it”
- かなう - to match, to equal as in match in skill or ability
- 奴 - person, guy, thing very derogatory, Red is using this to brag and put others down
Grammar:
- ニドリーノいただき！ Red uses a lot of slang and brags a lot, interesting to me he uses いただき here, but then I don’t know better
Interesting Sentence:
ポケモンつてなにかって
My translation - I didn’t, I had to run it through a few translators to get an understanding of it.
つて is 伝 I believe, however I don’t think I fully get the sentence at all. I can’t be sure if it’s つて or って at the end. って would suggest Red is quoting you. He’s basically saying, “you’ve never heard/come across/met a pokemon?” Tough one.
Phew that took longer than expected. I think I learned a word or two though!