It’s not in my Kojien, which is a bit surprising for something that has so much usage apparently. Maybe in the next revision?
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I asked a Native (with business background as I figured that might be relevant here
)
Thank you so much for looking into this! I really appreciate it.
actually a very good idea to search like this
Good point, I’ll try that out next time I get stuck like this.
よく学校のクラブ活動で聞くね。
運動部と文化部の掛け持ち。兼部とかね。
そうなんですか、、I never knew.
My friend said that he would need a bit more of the dialogue before that point to say exactly what it relates to, so if you need more help, it would be great if you could upload a bit more.
I wish I could but the set up for this moment (like the explanation of how and why he’s working with the 営業部) stretches across multiple episodes iirc so idk if I can do that given copyright
Thank you for your help! I’m mostly just surprised it’s not in the dictionaries I use, but maybe it’s just a newer term or more casual.
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Oh nevermind then! If it makes sense to you then I think it’s not necessary anyway.
Same here 
Maybe it’s a newer term, just like you said.
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I just saw this writing on a wall in a japanese coffee shop. But in my mind this doesn’t really make sense.
There also isn’t anything else written near it, so it seems there is a missing noun in front of the は particle. Am I wrong or does this not make much sense?
I agree, this is an incomplete sentence.
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Isn’t the moon component also backwards…?
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I’ve seen Japanese omit parts of sentences to get the reader to fit in their own interpretations. By omitting the noun, what is wonderful? By putting nothing, it almost invites literal “everything” in its place.
When I look at this I think “everything is wonderful” which is actually quite fitting for coffee shop vibes.
Another example is in the game Cyberpunk 2077 where you will see signs saying “その目で未来を”. They omitted the verb “見る”. What I think they are trying to do is say that “with your own eyes, see the future” but in present tense. You are actively looking at the future. You are witnessing the future.
At least that’s my interpretation. Maybe I am overthinking it and giving too much credit to whoever wrote it.
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True, but that typically omits a verb, or omits a noun plus its particle. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a noun dropped but the particle remain.
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True hahaha. And thanks for you guyses input. I thought as much ^^
If they didn’t leave the particle then I wouldn’t really think about a noun. I’d just think of “it’s wonderful” which would be a bit odd but whatever.
The particle indicates that there is a missing noun. And the reader would likely notice that. So it invites the reader to think of something that can fit in as a noun that best completes the sentence.
Leaving that particle just screams to me “something goes here” with a big red circle and a couple arrows.
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Yeah, if you were trying to be artistic or poetic, maybe? As a thing that is typical? Nah. Not in the way that omitting verbs is.
An equivalent in English might be writing “ing is wonderful” on the wall.
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It’s on a wall, in a coffee shop, displayed almost as a piece of art. So I think it is trying to be artistic. It may not be typical, but does language always have to adhere to a strict set of rules? I don’t think words on a coffee shop wall are aiming to be entirely correct grammatically. I think they are trying to invoke some thought. Art sometimes breaks the rules, that’s what makes it interesting
Now I will mention I am at fault for putting English translations in my responses. What would have been more appropriate is the feelings and ideas it invokes rather than the translation. Because I think if we keep trying to translate into English we lose nuance.
In my other responses, I mentioned that the missing particle indicates there is a missing noun. And a reader would likely notice that. It screams “something goes here”.
So rather than looking at this sentence and going “it’s grammatically wrong”, which yes it is, why not think what could go in that missing spot. Life is wonderful. This cafe is wonderful. Today is wonderful. Now is wonderful. Nothing is wonderful?
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If you go back to the café you should ask them. I wonder if they have no idea themselves and just bought it because it looked cool. 
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Not the original poster, but yeah that would be insightful.
“It says ‘wonderful’ and thought that was cool”
Could just be like the red door meme, where it’s just a red door and nothing more and I am way overinterpretting it.
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I did wonder if it was intentionally incomplete. But the whole thing feels sloppy (the backwards moon radical, the crooked ら and misaligned い, the slightly off angles on other characters) which makes me lean toward the theory that it was originally a longer sentence but got messed up somewhere along the way.
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Note that in English “it’s wonderful” is also pointing you at a missing noun – the “it” pronoun is standing in for one.
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What books that explicitly discuss the nuance between different words cover enough ground that they might be worth including alongside dictionary searches?
Cross-posting this question from Natively just so some more eyes see it:
I’m wondering if someone could help me with this? Character 1 and Character 2 have just been involved in an explosion and have died, and afterwards are having this conversation as ghosts:
Chara 2: キミは特別な死者なのだ。だから、”特別なチカラ”がある。
私たちが協力すれば、彼らを助けるコトができる。そして…キミ自身の死も。
(彼ら refers to other trapped friends.)
Chara 1: 来たッ！”選ばれし死者”ってヤツね？そういうの、選ばれがちなのよねー！
それで？どうすりゃいいの？
It’s Character 1’s response that I’m not sure about.
- First , is 来たッ！ some kind of stock exclamation? Or is it being used in a “[the chosen one] has come!” kind of sense?
- For the second sentence, I’m assuming either that they’re referring to themselves as 選ばれし死者 (because they’re 特別な死者なのだ。だから、”特別なチカラ”がある。) or they’re referring to Character 2, since Chara 2 says they can restore Chara 1 to life (キミ自身の死も). Does that ヤツ give any good indication?
- And because I’m not sure who’s being referring to in the first part of the second sentence, I’m not sure who is 選ばれがち here. D:
Anyone able to weigh in?
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Used in the sense of “there it is!” or “it appeared!” when there’s something kinda cliched going on or something to be expected is happening. Kind of when a trope appears and you recognize it or you had a hunch something was going to happen and it does indeed happen.
It’s based on the phrase 選ばれし者. The し at the end stems from classical Japanese (I think) and can be found in set phrases. Basically the same as 選ばれた者. In this case I’d say it refers to Chara 1 since Chara 2 said キミは特別な死者なのだ. The ヤツ in this case is “thing” or “concept”.
選ばれし死者”ってヤツね？ = 選ばれた者ということね？
A bit unsure, but I think Chara 1 is referring to either themself or to ”選ばれし死者” in general.
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Ah, perfect, thank you! So taking all of that together, would this be a reasonable translation of the unknown sentence?
“Oh, I get it! I’m one of the special few, huh? I always was special!”
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