I have some problems with this all-purpose verbs like かかる. Depending on context they can mean everything and nothing. In this context, does 「眉にかかるくらい」 mean something like ‘the amount the eyebrows are hanging’ or is it a special expression?
I cannot make very much sense of 「無造作と造作の６：４」. First the vocabs 無造作 and 造作 seem to not fit very good, second I have no idea what this ６：４ is trying to say me
I suppose, this「どうも」in the beginning rather gives the sentence a certain feeling, than having a certain meaning itself?!
This 『ムー』 it totally unfamiliar to me. Has anyone seen something like this before? Why is it in quotation marks? Would it not be enough to use と as the quotation particle?!
I love it, that there is a single character for in Japanese fonts! In Germany students learn at school to never ever use this outside of colloquial speech, however in Japan it’s so official that they even have a singular character for it!
I think I do not really get the gist of this チンピラ scene
So this チンピラ guy walks into the Italian restaurant and says to 瀧 「ピザにさ、楊枝が入ってたんだけど」(I take a pizza, but with a toothpick (??) sicked in.)
Okay, this is quite confusing, but thankfully the author explains a little closer what is meant here:
チンピラさんがつまみ上げたバジルピザの最後の一切れには、断面に「さしたよー」という感じで爪楊枝がぷすりと刺さっている。
So this guy REALLY wants a basil pizza with a toothpick sticking diagonally in the last piece. The latter part of the sentence I do not really get, btw.
Naturally, 瀧 is confused and チンピラ continues:
「これ、喰っちゃったら危ないよね？俺が気づいたら良かったけどさあ。…どうすんお」
“If I ate this, it would be dangerous, right? But if I recognized this, it would be good. what will you do?” or so would be my translation for this sentence. What exactly does チンピラ mean here?
After 瀧 is not responding, he gets really angry, the other waiters help him out and bring him to a secure place. One of the waiters says to him: 「－－－それは大変失礼いたしました！」(this was terribly rude!). Which ones behavior was rude in this situation? Of course, チンピラ was spoiling for a fight, but a short while ago in the chapter, 瀧 has been criticized a lot. Therefore, it creates the feeling, that 瀧 did something rude here (?!?). If this is right, what exactly has he been doing wrong?
I’ll start by trying to answer your questions about the first two sentences:
this is modifying the 髪形 right at the end (眉にかかるくらいの[…]髪形。)
I would interpret this as “hair hanging down to his eyebrows”, or maybe even “covering his eyebrows”.
First: the 6:4 is indicating a proportion. In English you might say 60% 無造作 and 40% 造作, or 無造作と造作 in the proportion of 6:4.
If you look up 無造作, you actually find lots of hair-related pictures and articles. It refers to a kind of simple, casual, easy-going (気軽な) hairstyle.
He’s aiming (狙った) for a hairstyle that’s 60% casual, easy-going, maybe even unintentional, and 40% for a more intentional, time-consuming, skillful hairstyle. If that makes sense.
In my impression どうも is often paired with らしい. (Just like adverbs like まるで are paired with のようだ). It simply emphasizes the らしい a bit more, and creates this certain “feeling” (that らしい also gives) right from the start of the sentence.
I am really not sure about this one, but to throw in a wild guess, it might be used here as a “bleep”, basically a censoring sound.
(in Japanese you would usually use ピー. The technical term is 自主規制音). I couldn’t find any source indicating that ムー is also used in this sense, but it makes sense in context?)
Found a better explanation: ムー is a monthly magazine about supernatural occult stuff. Apparently the author is a fan of that magazine as well.
I don’t think と is a quotation here; it’s simply とか (meaning “and the like, etc…”). The 『』 are just for emphasis, I think (and, going by my interpretation above, to make clear it’s used for censorship here).
The double brackets (in contrast to 「」) are often used to indicate titles of books, magazines, etc.
チンピラ scene
チンピラ refers to a kind of hooligan, rough, gangster-looking dude. Jisho says it can also mean “small-time yakuza”.
I’m going off of my memory from the movie here, but the guy doesn’t come in and says that to Taki, but he’s already eating the pizza and then calls Taki over, saying “In the pizza, there was a toothpick”
In the last slice, that the hooligan/punk dude picked up, there was a toothpick sticking out.
「さしたよー」という感じで this is kind of hard to translate, but basically, it looks like the toothpick was deliberately pierced into the side of the pizza.
You had a small typo there.
“If I were to eat this, it would be dangerous, right? Luckily, I noticed it, but… What are you gonna do about it?”
The other waiter basically apologizes for the toothpick in the pizza, and (from what I gather) also for Taki just standing there not responding properly to the situation.
(if a customer tells you there was something dangerous in the food like a pointy object, you probably shouldn’t just respond with 「え…」)
Thank you very much for the super helpful response!
Wow, I totally got this wrong! From the 「ピザにさ」I deducted something like「ピザにする」 (I decide for a pizza). And therefore the complete scene made no sense anymore
But yeah, with this interpretation the complete scene makes WAAAY more sense
So probably this チンピラ put the toothpick in there himself to complain about the meal and not have to pay for it…
さ is just a typical male sentence ender, here used to introduce a pause, like in English you might say „In the pizza, well, …“ or something.
Also the sentence ending 「たんだけど」gives the impression that he‘s complaining or at least criticizing something. That would not be a typical sentence end for an order. Together with the さ it gives the impression that it is something that’s difficult to say.
Thanks to this week’s reading I keep thinking about what would happen if someone just woke up in my body one day. Like, how would they know when and where to go to work or keep any other appointments I have? Makes me feel like I should leave some obvious clues lying around my room, just in case lol
Also, if I was in that situation and got a call to show up to work, I would probably just call in sick to avoid exactly what happened in this chapter, and hope everything goes back to normal asap
Yep, it’s the same magazine that Tessie was reading back a few sections ago when he was babbling about his different theories as to what’s going on with Mitsuha. From the week 2 reading:
読みさしのオカルト雑誌『ムー』を私たちの鼻先に突きつけ、泡を飛ばす勢いで言う。
That’s why Mitsuha is confused in this chapter when 司 and 高木 are chatting about architecture:
In her experience of the world, high school guys are supposed to be interested in stuff like Mu.
in Japanese fonts! In Germany students learn at school to never ever use this outside of colloquial speech, however in Japan it’s so official that they even have a singular character for it! 
