Middle school students Nishikata and Takagi sit next to each other in class. Takagi, who is in love with Nishikata, enjoys teasing him with embarrassing pranks and jokes. In response, Nishikata creates plans to get his revenge, but they always fail when she identifies his weaknesses and capitalizes on them.
Schedule
Week
Start Date
Chapter
Page Numbers
Page Count
Week 1
October 2nd
Chapter 1 (18) - 肝試し
1 - 18
16
Week 2
October 9th
Chapter 2 (19) - 質問
19 - 34
16
Week 3
October 16th
Chapter 3 (20) - 背比べ
35 - 50
16
Week 4
October 23rd
Chapter 4 (21) - 席替え
53 - 68
16
Week 5
October 30th
Chapter 5 (22) - 英訳
69 - 84
16
Week 6
November 6th
Chapter 6 (23) - 逆上がり
85 - 100
16
Week 7
November 13th
Chapter 7 (24) - わき腹
101 - 116
16
Week 8
November 20th
Chapter 8 (25) - 習字
117 - 132
16
Week 9
November 27th
Chapter 9 (26) - 尾行
133 - 148
16
Week 9
November 27th
Bonus - おまけ
150 - 153
4
Discussion Guidelines
Please don’t hesitate to ask questions, even if you think it’s a silly question. Helping each other learn is what book clubs are all about!
When asking for help, please include the ‘ chapter page number ’. This makes it easier for others to help you and it makes the information in this thread more searchable. The ‘chapter page numbers’ are the ones in between the panels on every page, not the ones that occasionally appear at the bottom of the page (those would be the volume page numbers).
Please blur out major events in the current week’s pages and any content from later in the book/series by using spoiler tags: text here.
I noticed the vocabulary spreadsheet was using manually styled rows. I’ve updating them to auto-styled alternating row colors.
This means if someone adds a row in the middle (for example, if there are 20 words, and someone adds a line between rows 8 and 9 to put in a missed word), the row colors will continue to work. (With manual styling, you end up with two of the same color in a row when adding in the middle.)
For anyone curious on how do style like this in Google Sheets:
Select a header or data cell within a “table” of data like we have in the vocabulary sheets.
Select the Format menu, then Alternating Colors.
From the “Alternating Colors” panel that appears, select the style you want to use, then select Done.
The style applies only to the content already in the table, but when a new vocabulary word is added to the bottom, it will automatically extend the style to include that row.
Thank you for fixing that. I honestly didn’t notice because I just borrowed the format from the very first Takagi-san sheet. I should have double-checked that!
I’m sure we’ll have a few more people as people check for the new thread etc - though I guess the club’s probably going to stay fairly small for now and that’s fine (seeing as it’s usually the same set of people talking about the chapters it’s quite nice to see familiar profile pictures and names if you ask me haha)
I just finished up with the chapter! I’m certainly glad to be jumping back into Takagi-san with everybody!
I did run into a couple snags while reading the chapter this time. It seems like Takagi-san had a lot more dialogue this time around, or else, just longer sentences. I had to spend more time breaking down what she was saying. That’s a swap from the usual; Nishikata’s monologues would usually be the more difficult bits of texts, but since we’ve gotten so familiar with his patterns of speech/thought, they are pretty easy to parse by this point. Not necessarily so with Takagi-san’s longer spiels.
So with that in mind, I want to make sure I understand this bit.
Chapter 1, Pg. 5
「私、昼からそのまま遊びに行く予定だったからさ。帰るの面倒だし昼まで時間つぶすのつき会ってよ。」
How I read this:
“I had plans to go out for lunch. Returning home would be a pain, so would you accompany me to kill the time until lunch?”
I just can’t shake the feeling like I’m either missing something, so just posting to get y’all’s thoughts on it.
Aside from that, I didn’t leave any of the other pages feeling like I had overlooked anything!
Story Comments
It is a bit fitting that we would read a chapter with a test of courage and some “spooky” bits in October, eh? That timing worked out pretty well.
This panel gave me a good laugh; it’s like this is the first time he realizes Takagi-san is actually cute, such that he thought she was somebody else entirely.
For those of you who are also in the Ayumu club, you’ll probably know right away why I’m posting this panel… Here’s ちょい again, though this time in it’s mimetic usage, instead of tied to an expression. Just thought it was funny to see it come up again right away. That oughta help it stick, eh?
My impression was that 昼 was being used as time marker in this case, since 昼から implies that from 昼 and going forward. However, I can see any of those translations work.
The から plus the そのまま would imply that one happens right after the other.
昼からそのまま遊びに行く予定だった => I made plans to go play right after noon/lunch.
Nice to be back to Takagi-san, especially since I’ve had less time overall for reading since uni started up again - nice to have something I know I can have a good time with without too much trouble. I think the page 5 bit that’s already been discussed was the only thing I’d want to ask about too
Just finished reading this chapter. Seems some (including myself) had a bit of a snag on that page 5 part My main confusion came from the usage of そのまま; I don’t think I’ve been exposed enough to ～まま in general to get a feel for the intended meaning yet. Other than that, it seemed relatively straightforward.
Yes, that Cure Dolly video really helped clear up my doubts with the usage of まま, in this case i think it’s used like “in the state that things are now, my plans are…” or more englishy “right now, my plans are…”.
I also have a small doubt of my own on the Page 5 conflict sentence
Summary
「私、昼からそのまま遊びに行く予定だったからさ。帰るの面倒だし昼まで時間つぶすのつき会ってよ。」
I don’t really understand the からさ ending, what role does it play in the sentence?
I think it marks the stuff before as being the explanation for the stuff that comes afterward. Because she has a playdate in the afternoon, going home would be a pain. Therefore, Nishikata should help her kill time until then.
Just finished up with the chapter. I had couple hiccups while reading, but it was me forgetting things I already knew, and a quick search through some of my notes resolved any lingering questions.
Right out of the gate, I love the artwork for the chapter title. The pair of them dressed up in old west clothes gave me a chuckle, and it was super cute.
This (from Pg. 3) is the look of a dangerous predator who just spotted exactly what her prey is up to. One could be forgiven for looking at those doe-eyes thinking that she has no idea, but it’s a deliberate ruse that Nishikata never fails to fall for. Haha.
I love the use of “Dandy” as the descriptor (name?) of the character from the film. It’s certainly fitting, given that a dandy is all about appearances, or as my grandpa would always put it, “The boy’s all hat and no cattle.” (see alternately: “He’s just an asphalt cowboy.” (the derogatory term, meaning somebody who has a 4WD truck, but never takes it off Main Street, for example, not the one referring to long-haul truckers), or any other number of cliché country sayings. Sorry to say, people do actually talk like that once you hit the boonies. ). Poor Nishikata, that description certainly applies to him in this chapter.
This isn’t the only example of it, but it is one of my favorites. I loved how throughout the chapter, they did the characters from the film in the backgrounds of the panels. It was a cool effect, and done well!
It never fails to make me laugh how casually she moves in for the kill. The chapters where she is literally leading the horse to water like this are my favorites, because Nishikata is so dense that black holes are jealous, and I can’t help but shake my head a bit and laugh at his expense.
A little late this week, but I just finished reading the chapter. Surprisingly for me, I actually got through this one relatively more quickly than with previous chapters. It’s nice to be able to recognize most of the grammar and only have to look up the occasional vocab word here and there.
Story comments
I really liked the background characters being drawn as well. It helped solidify the feeling of them reciting lines from the movie. That being said, Nishikata should know that no matter what he does, he cannot escape from being teased by Takagi.
There are 16 volumes of this manga so I think it’s safe to say it’s going to take a while for him to finally get the hint.
My main confusion came from the usage of そのまま; I don’t think I’ve been exposed enough to ～まま in general to get a feel for the intended meaning yet. Other than that, it seemed relatively straightforward.
). Poor Nishikata, that description certainly applies to him in this chapter.
