Week 2 俺物語! ・ My Love Story! 🍰 (Absolute Beginner Book Club)

Welcome to Week 2 of 俺物語!! ・ My Love Story!! :shortcake:

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Week 2 September 13 2025
Start page 10
End page 14
End phrase 立ってるって通報があったんだけど。。。
Last week Week 1
Next week Week 3
Home Thread 俺物語!!

Page numbers may differ between digital and physical copies.

Last panel

Vocabulary

Vocabulary list (Google sheets)

Please read the guidelines on the first page before adding any words.

Discussion Guidelines

Everybody should feel free to post and ask questions–it’s what makes book clubs fun! But please do not post until you are familiar with Spoiler Courtesy!

Spoiler Courtesy

Please follow these rules to avoid inadvertent ネタバレ. If you’re unsure whether something should have a spoiler tag, err on the side of using one.

  1. Any potential spoiler for the current week’s reading need only be covered by a spoiler tag. Predictions and conjecture made by somebody who has not read ahead still falls into this category.

  2. Any potential spoilers for external sources need to be covered by a spoiler tag and include a label (outside of the spoiler tag) of what might be spoiled. These include but are not limited to: other book club picks, other books, games, movies, anime, etc. I recommend also tagging the severity of the spoiler (for example, I may still look at minor spoilers for something that I don’t intend to read soon).

  3. Any information from later in the book than the current week’s reading (including trigger warnings that haven’t yet manifested) needs to be hidden by spoiler tags and labeled as coming from later sections.

Instructions for Spoiler Tags

Click the cog above the text box and use either the “Hide Details” or “Blur Spoiler” options. The text which says “This text will be hidden” should be replaced with what you are wishing to write. In the case of “Hide Details”, the section in the brackets that is labelled “Summary” can be replaced with whatever you like also (i.e, [details=”Chapter 1, Pg. 1”]).

Hide Details results in the dropdown box like below:

Example

The “Blur Spoiler” option will simply blur the text it surrounds.

This is an example of the “Blur Spoiler” option.

Posting Advice
  • When asking for help, please mention the page number, and check before posting that your question hasn’t already been asked. As the threads get longer, it becomes more convenient to use the Search function, which is located in the upper right corner of the forum. It is the magnifying glass which is near your profile picture! The best way to search is usually to type part of the sentence you are confused about, and select “in this topic”. This will show you all posts within the current thread which has that string of text.

  • Be sure to join the conversation! It’s fun, and it’s what keeps these book clubs lively! There’s no such thing as a stupid question! We are all learning here, and if the question has crossed your mind, there’s a very good chance it has crossed somebody else’s also! Asking and answering questions is a great learning opportunity for everyone involved, so never hesitate to do so!

Proper Nouns

Name Reading Image Notes
剛田 猛男 ごうだ たけお Main character
大和 凛子 やまと りんこ Main character’s love interest
砂川 誠 すなかわ まこと Main character’s best friend

Discussion Questions

What surprised you about the reading this week?

Participation

Will you be reading along with us this week?
  • I’m reading along
  • I have finished this part
  • I’m still reading the book but I haven’t reached this part yet
  • I’m reading this book after the club has finished
  • I’m no longer reading the book
0 voters
11 Likes

Haven’t finished reading yet, but I have a couple questions already.

Page 10

What does 砂川 mean when he says テキトーだな in response to hearing about the date of the high school entrance ceremony?
Is there some wordplay or pun about it being held in the 6th of April? I know school starts in April in Japan, is there some significance about that particular date?
I feel like I’m wildly overthinking this.

Page 11

“の一言を泣かした”
What is the の doing there? Is it acting as nominalizer for the entire description of the girl in the panel before?
“At kindergarten graduation ceremony, the girl I liked, Yuzuha-chan…”
Smash cut to brutal refusal lmao, this guy was savage even as a 4 year old
“… Made her cry with a single word”

10 Likes
Page 10

I understood that he’s calling him sloppy/irresponsible. But it’s such a strange word because it has two opposite meanings, so I guess the second one is sarcasm. And from context, I don’t think it’s a compliment :rofl:

I have the same question about that の :sweat_smile:

And I should probably write down my notes but I’m too lazy right now so I’ll just check people’s questions :smiley:

9 Likes

I have a question about the last panel on page 10.

Page 10

I’m having trouble with this sentence:きっと好きな人にしか笑顔見せないんだよー

My best guess is: Surely, only to people he likes, he shows his smiling face? If that’s right (and I’m not confident it is), why is 見せない negative?

8 Likes

It should be the しか~ない grammar point, which gives しか the nuance of “nothing but, only” when the verb that follows is negative.

Example:
彼は果物しか食べない。
“He eats nothing but fruit.”

11 Likes
Page 10

Suna asked for the date, and Takeo’s response shows he…doesn’t know either. Suna responds that Takeo is being random or half-minded in his replies. Takeo didn’t know the answer for sure and had just responded with what came to mind.

Often that’s what 適当 is…just going with the flow, vibing it, etc. This can be seen as sloppy, careless, or non-committal, which is why you’ll see this as translations in a dictionary.

Page 11

Close. It actually goes with what Suna said:

「オレおまえきらい」の一言で泣かした

Let’s break this down a little:

一言で泣かした = statement made her cry

Here, “statement” is very generic. Was kind of statement made her cry? Was it a statement about the weather? Was it a statement about the zoo? Was it a statement about ancient Greek philosophy?

We can prepend the actual statement, using の to make it act as a noun, to 一言. This modifies 一言 to limit it to that one specific statement, clarifying what the statement was.

「オレおまえきらい」の一言で泣かした

Ah. Yes. That was it. That was the statement. That’s what made her cry.

14 Likes
About this week

Bro is savage.
Them playing the Wii killed me.
Still waiting to see where this is going.

10 Likes
pg10

高校の入学式っていつだっけ
Remind me when the school admission ceremony is?

4月7日じゃね?
April 7th, right?

いや6日?そのへん
Or the 6th? Around there

テキトーだな
Close enough

砂川は女子に大人気だ
Suna is extremely popular with girls

砂川くんてクールだよね
Sunakawa is cool, right?

笑つたカオ見たことなーい
He never smiles

見てみたいよね
I’d like to see it, wouldn’t you?

きっと好きな人しか笑顔
Surely he would smile for someone he likes

見せないんだよ
He won’t show it

かっこいい
He’s so cool!

pg11

幼稚園の卒園式でオレが好きだったゆずはちゃんをの一言で泣かした
At our kindergarten graduation, he made the girl I like, Yuzuha-chan, cry with just one word.

砂川くんが好き
I like Sunakawa

オレおまえきらい
I don’t like you

女を泣かすな
Don’t make women cry!

若かったオレ
This was young me

ごめん
Sorry

いいの
It’s ok

小学校の時、好きだったみさきちゃんも
In elementary school, there was also Misaki-Chan who I liked.

好き
I like you

好きじゃない
I don’t

かよみちゃんも、えりはちゃんも、まおちゃんも
And Kayomi-Chan, and Eriha-Chan, and Mao-Chan…

やだ。だめ。きらい。
Nope. Bad. Don’t like.

みんな砂川を好きになる
Everyone likes Sunakawa

pg12

なぜ砂川と友達なのなとよく聞かれるが、同じマンションで隣どうしで
People often ask why I’m friends with Sunakawa, but we live next to eachother in the same apartment building.

母さんどうしが仲良くて
Our mothers are good friends

よくいっしょに遊んだのだ
We hang out together often

こんにちは、おじゃまします
Hello, excuse my intrusion (set phrase)

入ってください、散らかってるけど
Please come in! Although it’s a mess

イエッフ
Yeah!

男なら戦いだ
If you’re a man you’ll fight!

バトル、バトル!
Battle, battle!

何で戦う、ライダーか、ポケモン、かカードかっ
What are you fighting for? Riders? Pokémon? Cards?

お母さんたちが気が合うからって子供もそうとは限らないが、カンカするほどでもなかった
Just because our moms got along didn’t mean we always did, but it’s not like we were fighting either

くっそーなんでオレばっかり負ける!?
Dang it, why do I always lose?

下手だから
Because you’re no good at it

オレばっかり負けてオレくやしい
I keep losing, it’s frustrating

pg13

そして現在にいたる
And to the present day..

ということが
Rumor has it..

最近このへんで不審者でたらしいぞ
I hear there’s a suspicious person around here these days

何!?
What!?

マジでか!?子供狙いか!?
Seriously!? Going after kids!?

許せんな!
We can’t allow this!

pg14

君…
You…

校門のところにこわい人が立ってるって通報があったんだけど…
There was a report that a scary person was standing by the school gate…

7 Likes
Page 10
  • First panel: What is the って after 入学式?
  • I think I understand correctly that 「笑ったカオ見たことなーい」 means “I haven’t seen him smile” but what is the meaning/use of こと here?
Page 11
  • First panel: What is the purpose of the trailing を in 「オレが好きだったゆずはちゃんを」?
Page 12
  • There are a couple of grammar notes that I don’t quite understand in 「なぜ砂川と友達なのかとよく聞かれるが、同じマンションで隣どうしで」:
    • Is the なのか here a version of んです?
    • Following なのか, what is the と in reference to? (I’m guessing this と means “and”?)
    • I know that どうして is “how” but what is どうしで? Can the て and で be used interchangeably?
8 Likes
p.10 (p12 for me)

that’s is a topic marker like は just more casual.

That makes a noun (or something) out of 見た so it can be used with ない .

9 Likes
p11 / p13

the end of the sentence can be guessed by context, so it’s not unusual to omit it, yoi could try translating it like that
At the gradiation ceremony, that I like yuzuha, I wanted her to… (know)
though i guess it would have been “i wanted to tell her” in the japanese sentence, just couldn’t form an english sentence where i could omit tell.

8 Likes
Page 14

For this sentence:校門のところにこわい人が立ってるって通報があったんだけど… I’m following up until the あったんだけど. Can somebody explain what’s happening in the last part?

5 Likes

It usually helps me to break down the sentence into parts:

校門のところに
At the place of the school gate

こわい人が立ってるって

A scary person is standing (it was said)

通報があったんだけど

(Because) a report existed

So: There was a report that a scary person was standing by the school gate

があった is the past tense of ある, んだけど is explanatory but kind of vague usually? “and so, you know…” けど: Why Are Japanese Speakers Always Ending Their Sentences with "But"?

12 Likes
Page 10

ことない is casual for ことがない, which is こと + the subject-marking が + ない.

This portion essentially means “こと does not exist”.

So, what is こと? It’s a thing.

But you need to know that Japan separates “thing” into two words: こと and もの.

Think of もの as a tangible thing, something you can touch. This kind of thing can be a carpet, a table, a moose, a tree.

And then こと is an intangible thing, something you cannot touch. This is more along the lines of an abstract thing or an experience.

こと on its own doesn’t tell us what kind of experience, so we need to modify こと with a clause. In this case, the clause is 「笑ったカオ見た」“saw smiling face”.

It’s the thing of “saw smiling face”, the experience of “saw smiling face”.

Or rather, since it’s ことがない, it’s “not experience of saw smiling face” or “experience of saw smiling face does not exist”.

Consider this scene from another comic. Tsubaki and her friends are shinobi-in-training. They are forbidden from being around males, to the point that they don’t even know what one looks like.

Tsubaki uses a shinobi technique to summon a man to them, but mistakenly gets Takagi, a modern-day schoolgirl.

As a couple of the shinobi argue over whether the person they summoned is a man, one of them says, 「男(おとこ)見たコトない」 The argument continues, and Takagi says to herself:

Rather than “They’ve never seen a man,” it’s more like “They’ve never experienced seeing a man.”

In another comic, things haven’t been going well for Kenji:

“Honestly, lately, good experiences don’t exist,” or said a little more cleanly for English, “Honestly, nothing good has happened lately.”

You can’t simply translate こと to “experience” and have it translate well every time. Remember, こと is an intangible thing, and an experience is just one kind of intangible thing. こと has a very wide range of uses, and you kind of just have to learn them as you go.

Page 12

Yes, although I’d word it differently.

At its core, it’s:

  • [sentence] + のだ

If the [sentence] portion ends in a noun (which typically has だ attached), the だ becomes な before attaching のだ.

So you get this:

  • [noun sentenceだ] + のだ => [noun sentenceな]のだ

In polite speech, this becomes (な)のです.

The の may be pronounced as ん, resulting in:

  • [sentence(な)]んだ (casual)
  • [sentence(な)]んです (polite)

As a question, the ending か replaces the ending だ. But for a polite sentence, だ is already replaced, and か goes onto the end:

  • [sentence(な)]のか (casual)
  • [sentence(な)]のですか (polite)
  • [sentence(な)]んですか (polite)

This と marks the end of a quote. Imagine the same line with quotation marks such as:

「『なぜ砂川と友達なのか』とよく聞かれるが、同じマンションで隣どうしで」

Here, よく means often and 聞かれる mean to receive asking. “(I’m) often asked …”

Then we have が at the end of a clause, which connects two (usually contrasting, but not always) sentences. This is similar to “but” in English.

“I’m often asked ‘why is it you are friends with Sunakawa’, but we’re next-door neighbors.”

This one’s a tricky one because it looks like something you recognize, but it’s a little different.

となり同士どうし means “next-door neighbor”.

For whatever reason, it’s written as 隣どうし here.

If the sentence ended here, it would be:

「...同じマンションで隣同士だ」

However, the sentence doesn’t end here. That’s the end of one clause, but there’s another clause in the next narrative box that continues from this sentence. When a sequence of two or more clauses occurs like this, they’re connected with the “て form”. You might hear about that with verbs, but it exists for nouns as well: だ becomes で.

In the top panel, the four narration boxes are all one long sentence. It essentially reads as:

Box 1) [clause], but…
Box 2) [clause] and [clause] and…
Box 3) [clause] and…
Box 4) [clause].

Notice also that box three ends in the て form of an adjective.

15 Likes

I think this is the biggest issue I have at the moment when trying to translate the boxes. After reading your comment it made a lot more sense.

You really have to watch for those extending particles (which the Japanese also love to just leave at the end of open sentences :slight_smile: ).

8 Likes
Summary

does that really happen? :sweat_smile: i was really surprised by the bonus chapter of tsubaki they threw in with my book 9 version of takagi-san, so I’m totally inclined to believe it now. and i just watched the tsubaki anime the other day. feel free to spoiler me.

4 Likes

The good news is you get used to it over time. Just need to keep with the input, and ensure you build up your understanding, then your brain’s pattern recognition eventually kicks in and you notice, recognize, understand it without even thinking about it.

For some of us (me), it maybe took longer than it should have.

It’s an おまけ at the end of the first volume of Tsubaki. The full volume gets free trial periods from time to time (not at the moment, though) so keep an eye out for it on sites like BookWalker, and you might be able to read the おまけ for free sometime.

5 Likes

I found this week quite challenging! Please feel free to provide any correction or suggestion.

Page 10

高校の入学式っていつだっけ
I forgot when is the senior high school admission ceremony…

4月7日じゃね?
July 4th, right?

いや6日?そのへん
No, 6th? Around there.

テキトーだな
Careless…

砂川は女子に大人気だ
Suna is very popular among girls.

砂川くんてコールだよね
Sunakawa-kun is so cool, isn’t he?

笑ったカオ見たことなーい
I never saw him laughing…

見てみたいよね~
I want to see it, don’t you?

きっと好きな人にしか笑顔
Certainly he doesn’t smile to anyone but his loved ones.

見せないんだよー
???

かっこいい~
Cool…

Notes
(!) The particle け (or っけ) can be translated as “remind me”, “I forget” or “was it?”. Jisho.org: Japanese Dictionary
(!) The vocabulary その辺 (or そのへん) can be translated as “around there” or “near there”. Jisho.org: Japanese Dictionary

Doubts
(?) Can the vocabulary いや be translated into something like “no” or “nah”?
(?) What is the function of って in 入学式って?
(?) Who’s Suna is calling “careless” (テキトー)? Takeo or himself?
(?) What is the function of て in 砂川くんて?
(?) Does 見せない mean “not show”? What does the girl is referring to, that Suna doesn’t show his smile?

Page 11

幼稚園の卒園式でオレが好きだったゆずはちゃんを。。。
In kindergarten graduation ceremony [he made] the girl I liked, Yuzuha-chan…

砂川くんが好き
I like Sunakawa-kun

オレおまえきらい
I hate you

。。。の一言で泣かした
…cry with [just] a few words.

女を泣かすなー
Don’t [you] make a woman cry!

若かったオレ
Young me

ごめん
Sorry

いいの
That’s ok

ほらあやまったぞ
Look, I apologize

あやまってくれた
I [forgive] you!

小学校の時好きだったみちきちゃんも。。。
[Also] Michiki-chan, who I liked during the elementary school days…

好き
I like you

すきじゃない
I don’t

。。。かよみちゃんも。。。
…and Kayomi-chan…

やだ
No way.

。。。えりはちゃんも。。。
…and Eriha-chan…

ダメ
Nope.

。。。まおちゃんも。。。
…and Mao-chan…

キライ
I don’t like it.

。。。みな砂川を好きになる
…all of them fell in love for Suna.

Notes
(!) 幼稚園 = kindergarten
(!) 卒園式 = kindergarten graduation ceremony
(!) 一言 = a few words
(!) キュン = onomatopoeia describing someone choked up (with emotion)

Doubts
(?) I did not understand the function of の in の一言で泣かした? How can I connect both sentences (幼稚園の卒園式でオレが好きだったゆずはちゃんを and の一言で泣かした)
(?) Can ほら be translated into “look”?
(?) Why あやまった is in the past? Should I translate it accordingly, like “I apologized”?
(?) Can あやまってくれた be literally translated as “Apology was given”?

Page 12

なぜ砂川と友達なのかとよく聞かれるが
“How is it [that you’re] friends with Suna?”, I’ve heard [that] a lot

同じ マンションで隣どうしで。。。
[We were] next-door neighbors at the same apartment building

こんにちは おじゃまします
Good morning! Excuse me…

入ってください散らかってるけどー
Please, come in! But don’t mind the mess…

。。。母さんどうしが仲良くて。。。
Mom

。。。よくいっしょに遊んだのだ
and we often played together.

男なら戦いだー
If you’re man, let’s battle!

バトル バトル!!
Battle, battle!

何で戦う
With what will you battle?

ライダーか
Riders?

ポケモンか
Pokemons?

カードかっ
Cards?

母さんたちが気が合うからって子供もそうとは限らない。。。
When mothers get along, kids not always do to…

Wiiで
With a Wii.

。。。が。。。
But…

くっそーなんで
What the…?!

オレばっかり負ける!?
[Why] I always lose!?

下手だから
Because you’re awful.

。。。ケンカするほどでもなかった
…we [hardly ever] fought.

Notes
(!) なの = is it
(!) マンション = apartment building
(!) 隣どうし = next-door neighbors
(!) 温度差 = different moods
(!) からって = just because
(!) 限る = to be the only way (to)
(!) は限らない = not always (go as expected)

Doubts
(?) How the sentences なぜ砂川と友達なのかと and よく聞かれるが connect?
(?) What does イエッフ mean?
(?) Is 戦いだ an invitation, like 戦いましょうか?
(?) What does the きっ in 温度差きっ mean?
(?) How can I translate ほどでもない?

Page 13

そして現在にいたる
And arriving at the present day.

ということだな
[Or at least it seems like]…

なあ。。。最近このへんで不審者でたらしいぞ
Hey… seems like there was a suspicious person around here recently…

マジでか!? 子供狙いか!?
You’re serious?! After the kids?!

許せんな!
That’s unacceptable!

Notes
(!) 現在にいたる = to arrive at the present day
(!) ということだ = it appears as if…
(!) 不審者 = suspicious person

Doubts
(?) Is そして現在にいたる something like “and that’s how we stay until now”?

Page 14

君。。。校門のところにこわい人が立ってる通報があったんだけど。。。
Hey you… There’s been a report of a scary person standing around the school gates so…

Notes
(!) 通報 = report

9 Likes
Page 10

These two go together, so the sentence reads:

「きっと好きな人にしか笑顔(を)見せないんだよー」

If you re-read it this with in mind, does the latter part make sense?

You’ll encounter this one quite a bit over time, as you keep reading Japanese material.

Here's an example from another manga.

Note: 「おまえん」 is 「おまえのうち」.

As an interjection (as it’s being used here), I’d say “no” is the perfect translation.

He’s referring to Takeo’s uncommited response. Takeo’s answer probably sounded confident…then he just suggested maybe it’s this other date. So Takeo’s just kind of winging it.

Page 11

A good analogue for this one in English is “swoon”.

『キュン』

I wrote a bit about this one, so be sure to check it out!

“Look” or “See” are good translations.

It may translate differently in other contexts, such as “Hey!” here:

There are other translations for other contexts as well.

Correct, he’s saying he apologized.

Suna: “Sorry. (Look, I apologized.)”

When there’s text outside a word balloon like this, it’s often (but not always, depending on the author) an aside text that isn’t necessary being said to the listener of the word balloon. If anything, this is a side remark to Takeo.

I’d probably translate it literally as “(Suna) apologized to me.”

When a verb is in the て form with くれる after it, it means the action (here, apologizing) was done as a favor or benefit to the speaker. As such, “apologized for me” would make sense as a literal translation as well, but it doesn’t sound as good to an English speaker.

くれる is one of those things that you get used to over time. Remind yourself when you see it that the action was done by someone else to the benefit of the speaker, and it sinks in slowly over time. (Hopefully not as long for everyone else as it did for me.)

Page 12

と marks the sentence before it as a quote. 聞く is often used with quotes to say something was asked. (And よく is used here to say it’s asked often.)

「『なぜ 砂川と友達なのか』と よく聞かれる」

Lil’ Takeo’s just making sounds in his excitement. You’ll probably never see this again in anything you ever read.

The official English translation went with “Yeeah!”

I would translate 「男なら戦いだー」 as “If you’re a man, fight!”

It’s less an invitation and more a call to action for men (because they’re men [sort of]).

ほど tells the “extent” or “degree” of something.

But, the extent of what? You can place something in front of extent to say what is to an extent.

「ケンカするほど」 = “to the extent that we fought”

There’s a lot to learn about でも (which is the particle で and the particle も together), but for now consider that it means “even so” in this context.

「ケンカするほどでも」 = “even to the extent that we fought”

Then なっかた is “it wasn’t”, so:

「ケンカするほどでもなかった」 = “even to the extent of fighting, it wasn’t”

This one is difficult for me to properly explain further, but he’s essentially saying, “The extent to which we fought wasn’t significant.” In English, we might write this as, “It wasn’t like we fought that much.”

Page 13

I might translate this as, “And then we arrive at the present.” The English release of the manga went with, “And here we are today.”

10 Likes
p10 about って and っけ

I think that wasn’t answered yet.
It’s a casual topic marker, it functions like は, just more casual. I often see it used together with っけ ending particle like in this sentence: 高校の入学式っていつだっけ I don’t think they have to be paired, but sentences ending with っけ somehow come often with って instead of は, I guess it’s the same level of casualness.

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