Week 5 俺物語! ・ My Love Story! 🍰 (Absolute Beginner Book Club)

[mgevaert]

Welcome to Week 5 of 俺物語!! ・ My Love Story!!

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Week 5	October 4 2025
Start page	33
End page	43
End phrase	つかえ！
Last week	Week 4
Next week	Week 6
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.

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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

[ChristopherFritz]

Tip for the details tag:

When using the new visual editor, whether a details box is open or closed is how it will appear in your post. If you have spoilers, be sure to close the details box before you post!

(@mgevaert This applies to the first post of the thread as well, in case you want the last panel image to be hidden by default.)

[Avengerzanna]

Page 37 (たけお's bathroom soliloquy)

I’m pretty lost on this whole page, but especially: 人の心というものは 自分の心でさえ 思い通りにならないのか

Why… Something about people’s hearts… something about his heart… doesn’t become as one wants?

And I couldn’t even get a general idea for this one: 困らせるだけだいかんと思うのに

[2OC3aOdKgwSGlxfz]

Page 37

@Avengerzanna

I’m pretty lost on this whole page, but especially: 人の心というものは 自分の心でさえ 思い通りにならないのか

I’m not completely sure myself, but this is my interpretation.
人の心 => people’s minds
というものは => this means something along the lines of “when it comes to” or “talking about”.

人の心というものは => when it comes to people’s hearts

自分の心 => one’s own mind.
でさえ => is a grammar structure that means ”even”, though it has some other uses. Here are the full details if you want to dive deeper.

人の心というものは 自分の心でさえ => when it comes to people’s mind, or even one’s own mind.

思い通りに => “as one likes” or “as one wishes”
ならない => won’t become, won’t turn out
の => particle that sets the tone of the sentence as an explanation ( also known as explication-tone の, which I believe has been mentioned before in this book club ).
か => this particle usually marks a question. However, it has another use:

In addition to questions, か can also express uncertainty about something, without strictly being a question.

which is how it’s used in this case.

人の心というものは 自分の心でさえ 思い通りにならないのか => when it comes to people’s minds, or even one’s own mind, things won’t turn out like one wishes, do they?

心 is usually translated as mind, but I feel “heart” would also fit pretty well in this particular case.

The point that Takeo is making is that other people’s feelings don’t always go like one wishes, and even one’s own feelings cannot be fully controlled.

This is referring to the fact that he likes Yamato, but is convinced that Yamato likes Suna. He’s expressing his frustration at the fact that he has no control over who Yamato likes, and not even his own liking of Yamato.

@Avengerzanna

And I couldn’t even get a general idea for this one: 困らせるだけだいかんと思うのに

Let’s start by clarifying that 困らせるだけだ is a separate sentence from いかんと思うのに.

So, before this sentence, he says “好きになっても仕方ない” => “I can’t help liking her”. Both 困らせるだけだ and いかんと思うのに are additional commentary over this particular fact.

困らせる => this means to “cause trouble for” or “to inconvenience” someone.
だけ => particle that means “only”.
だ => Verb “to be”

困らせるだけだ => This (the fact that he likes Yamato) will only cause her trouble.

Now let’s get to the next sentence.

いかん => this is a very common informal version of いかない. One of the meaning of いく is “to go well”, and いかない is the opposite: something that won’t go well.

と => the quoting particle, which is quoting the “It won’t go well”
思う => to think
のに => particle that means “despite”

いかんと思うのに => Despite thinking “It won’t go well”.

As mentioned before, this is also in relation to the fact that he likes Yamato. He can’t help but like her, despite knowing that things won’t go well for him (because she likes Suna, not him).

[Avengerzanna]

Thank you! This is very helpful.

[sanshoo]

Today I have read just a little as it was a slow day for me and I tried to do some grammar.
I read 3 pages (33-36) and have some questions:

A thing that often confuse me in my reading is んだ and its different uses. I thought I had it down as an “explanation” signifier, but on page 33, a lot of things I could not comprehend.

For exemple they used “なんだけど” : with a lot of research I could understand that it is んだ formed with a noun, is that correct ?
I learned けど recently, and its less common use as open ended sentence, but what would mean んだけど, the two together ?

On the next page (p.34), 武雄 says " なんだこれ" so here I also do not understand the use of なんだ
is it a different なんだ? I think I remember one that is used to say “this kind of thing” (not direct translation)
So it could mean what is that ?

Or is is 何 + だ ?

Thanks a lot for your help!

I actually asked chatgpt (i dont use it often) for the difference between んだけど and けど, and it told me amongst other things that the difference was very subtle, んだけど being softer. That’s very interesting!

It’s interesting that a lot of times I revisit stuff I finally understood after some research, and either I will have to re-remember / look into it, or it will be a dramatically different “use” of the same stuff. Japanese is not easy

[mgevaert]

@sanshoo

だけど

This is a good article about the various uses of けど

けど: Why Are Japanese Speakers Always Ending Their Sentences with "But"?

You’re mostly correct about it being an explanatory particle and a softener, but this breaks down some more of the nuance.

@sanshoo

なんだこれ

This one I remember hearing in anime a lot as “what the heck” lol (or なんでそれ)

[sanshoo]

@mgevaert

“what the heck” lol (or なんでそれ)

it was translated as “what are those!” in my version, so it is 何 variant ?

Thank you for the article, actually it is where I learned けど recently (tofugu articles are underrated imo)! But there wasnt an explanation for んだけど sentence ender or at least I didnt find it.
But it’s okay since I found it by myself : けど vs んだけど is the difference between
“I got a test, but I didnt study” and “I got a test soon… but… I didnt really study..” (implied : i need help)

It’s the same but different tones (grossly)

[sanshoo]

I had an epiphany / cool moment ! Goes to show that even 3 pages are enough to make big progress!

I was able to realize by myself that んだけど was not related to だけど but to のだ+けど (which seems very tricky for a beginner like me lol), and that だけど was a different use of けど on its own.

Kinda cool! I learned a lot today with these few pages. I also hope it’s okay for me to talk so much about grammar.. the story is good, i recommend the anime! I like the character of 猛男 and that they help each other out instead of having a weird triangle

[sanshoo]

Read 3 more pages tonight. Progress has been rough because of juggling grammar + reviews today was not easy, so havent been able to read much today aside of this, but it’s okay!

The vocab and structures were far more unknown in these pages than yesterday! It was less pleasant, but let’s try to learn a few things from it

I got a few questions (as always…) because some things really were illegible to me.

P.37

いかんと思うのに

So this might be because of my yomitan results not being good, but I truly didnt understand this sentence at all, aside from 思う…

P.39

失恋して泣いたら
So して is a “if”, it means if she was heartbroken, she would cry ?
So たらis a “would” continuation, this is an interesting grammar point!

つくってきて
Make and come ?
then why is “もらえない” receive in negative ? I would think it would be can you make and bring more or something.
Also why is “だろうか” used there ? What is the intent / tone

I also struggled a lot on んだけれども which seemed like some sort of Resident Evil hybrid monster, but I found this :
“けど(informal)<けれど(only in writings)<けれども(polite/formal)<ですが(very polite/formal)”

Thanks again for the help! a bit burnout so once i have leveled up to 16 I will take a day break from lessons :).

I hope I am not asking too many questions, but I would rather ask real people than A.I as much as I can

[mgevaert]

@sanshoo

いかんと思うのに

Didn’t know this one either but I think it follows on from the previous phrase (困らせるだけど, “I shouldn’t cause trouble but”) and Jisho has いかんと(も) as “not in any way” so “I shouldn’t cause trouble but I don’t think there’s any way…”

@sanshoo

then why is “もらえない” receive in negative ? I would think it would be can you make and bring more or something.

This is a politeness thing, like “won’t you please make some more?”

@sanshoo

I also struggled a lot on んだけれども which seemed like some sort of Resident Evil hybrid monster, but I found this :

These are the funniest grammar things to me where three different endings just get grafted on one after another

These are good questions - I always learn something looking up responses to people’s questions too!

[mgevaert]

@sanshoo

Also why is “だろうか” used there ? What is the intent / tone

I would read だろうか as sort of “I wonder…” so I think Takeo is asking her to do this again somewhat tentatively.

[sanshoo]

@mgevaert

いかんと

Arf, see the issue is Yomitan was giving me いかん which didnt make sense much. with いかんと, it makes a bit more sense.. What is のに doing there then ?

@mgevaert

won’t you please make some more?”

Ohhh right, quite.a basic grammar point, too. I have already forgotten my genki first lessons, sadly.

@mgevaert

These are the funniest grammar things to me where three different endings just get grafted on one after another

Not gonna lie, those are scary as hell lol

Thanks a lot for your help, glad you are finding out relevant stuff too. I can relate doing same thing in other areas was always useful to me.

[sanshoo]

“I hope”! sounds good
It’s hard to choose when a word has so many meaning, at first I do not find anything that fits

By the way, since I will probably finish earlier, I think I will re-read the chapters will all these posts in mind, maybe twice, one faster than the other. I heard this will help things “stick” so it’s probably good on these slow reading exercices

[helentang]

Page 33

• What’s the けーご in 「もうけーごはいいから」. Does けーご here refer to “keigo” like the polite form? As in, “no need to be so polite” or something?

[sanshoo]

It is what I have understood as well! And the traduction was exactly this.

[sanshoo]

I actually re-read from page 39 and found new things / questions about it ! I think I read it very late so I didnt remember it well or didn’t think about it much back then.

Page 39

できるものなら協力してやりたい
At first, this confused me so much : able to do / if i could / collaboration / してやりたい : to do for someone

Then after research and help of Chatgpt (I really dont like using AI, but it is very useful for grammar and gives me exactly what I need), I found out that Yomitan isnt picking up して as する in てform, which probably explains a lot of confusion on my end.

So then I translated properly and got :
できるものなら : If I could do it. Here again できるもの is the “thing” of being able to do, it’s interesting and probably will take time to adjust to もの things
協力して やりたい: to help + do for someone in volition form (want to)
I want to help you.

If I could, I would like to help you ?

Page 40 : Nightmare Number Two

使わねんだって
Here I totally panicked, and I actually want to bring this up more than the grammar, because it happens to me quite a bit. I might have been able to remember that って is used to quote /bring up something someone said, if I did not instantly panic in front of what seemed to me a mumble jumble of particles

This kind of thing can feel overwhelming / out of reach forever, which is of course not true, but I wonder if this thought makes sense.
That situation reminds me of the @ChristopherFritz ABBC “how to” post about accepting uncertainty, which is usually fine for small particles etc. here and there, but these cases usually feel more « omg I will never be able to do this ».

I had to use ressources again :
ねん being actually negative ないの compressed familiarly. 使わないの → 使わねん
and んだ as usual is an explanation, so I could have maybe found out by myself about ねん if I chilled for a sec. It is a pattern and wondered if people could relate ?

Meaning : She said she wasnt using it

Then p.41/42 easy nice feeling, we are cruising easy peezy.
I liked this story, even in the anime, with these kind of scenes going against the cliché / usual drama!

I also learned a lot of stuff that I do not mention in my posts, grammar closer to my level, that I was able to use throughout these chapters, which feels nice! Especially な particle, the volition form, and using って multiple times helped me remember it.

[mgevaert]

@sanshoo

so I could have maybe found out by myself about ねん if I chilled for a sec. It is a pattern and wondered if people could relate ?

I feel like contractions are some of the hardest constructions to notice (and probably totally natural for a native speaker). I had actually never heard of ないの being shortened to ねん lol

I’ve had success lately checking grammar stuff in Bunpro. I also like the textbook Japanese the Manga Way but I’m unfamiliar with Genki so maybe the same material was already covered there. It covers pretty much every verb tense and a lot of other stuff.

[ChristopherFritz]

@sanshoo

A thing that often confuse me in my reading is んだ and its different uses. I thought I had it down as an “explanation” signifier, but on page 33, a lot of things I could not comprehend.

I might have linked to this in a previous thread, but if you haven’t seen it, I have a bit I wrote about this grammar, with examples from manga:

Reasoning with 〜のだ

(The page is adapted from a post I did on the forums here, with different examples.)

The の portion takes a clause and treats it as a noun.

Example of a verb as a noun in English.

In English, consider the sentence, “I am eating right now.” Here, “eating” is a verb.

Consider the sentence, “Eating is my favorite activity.” Here, “eating” is a noun.

Generally, a Japanese noun sentence (a sentence defining something as “noun”) ends with だ.

If you turn a clause into a noun with の, and that’s the noun at the end of the sentence, you would then put だ after it. This results in のだ at the end of the sentence. の to turn the clause into a noun, and だ because that is what goes after a noun at the end of a sentence.

What if the clause that you want to turn into a noun already ends in a noun? If I have 山だ (it’s a mountain) and I want to turn this into a noun, I can’t just say 山だのだ. The だ in the clause becomes な before adding の. This gives us 山なのだ (it’s that it is a mountain).

Colloquially (that is to say, as spoken), のだ often comes out as んだ.

And likewise, なのだ becomes なんだ.

But you want to be aware of the other なんだ:

@sanshoo

On the next page (p.34), 武雄 says " なんだこれ" so here I also do not understand the use of なんだ
is it a different なんだ?

The aforementioned なんだ comes in at the end of a sentence:

But there is a completely unrelated なんだ that typically appears at the start of a clause or sentence:

This one is indeed 何 + だ.

---

@sanshoo

I was able to realize by myself that んだけど was not related to だけど but to のだ+けど (which seems very tricky for a beginner like me lol), and that だけど was a different use of けど on its own.

When けど is added onto a noun sentence (which ends in だ), you get だけど. Technically, the だ is part of the sentence ending in a noun + だ.

んだけど is a combination of a clause ending in の to turn it into a noun, then だ (because that is what attaches to a noun), and then けど.

Example of けど following an adjective.

Note: 言う is a verb, but ない acts as an adjective for grammar purposes.

Example of けど following a noun.

噂うわさだ + けど

Example of けど following a (not noun) clause+の.

分わからない + の + だ + けど

Example of けど following a noun clause + の.

I couldn’t readily find an example with の that didn’t become ん, so we have that:

残念 + だ + の + だ = 残念なのだ

残念なのだ + けど = 残念なのだけど

It’s all right if it doesn’t all sink in or make sense just yet.

@sanshoo

I also hope it’s okay for me to talk so much about grammar..

Talking about grammar is the best part about the ABBC. Especially for people who are reluctant to post, or don’t have time to write up a post, they can benefit from reading the discussion.

@sanshoo

It was less pleasant

It can be that way in the beginning.

Then as you understand more grammar and vocabulary, it gets easier.

So long as you don't read chapter 32.5 from Soul Eater.

I don’t even want to know what this looks like in Japanese!

@sanshoo

P.39

失恋して泣いたら
So して is a “if”, it means if she was heartbroken, she would cry ?
So たらis a “would” continuation, this is an interesting grammar point!

Some nouns can become a verb by attaching する. 失恋しつれん is one of those words. The して here is する in its て form, which is connecting two actions sequentially. “If Yamato’s had an unrequited love and she cried…”

@sanshoo

I have already forgotten my genki first lessons, sadly.

The more you read, the easier they are the remember!

@helentang

Does けーご here refer to “keigo” like the polite form? As in, “no need to be so polite” or something?

You are correct. Speaking けいご can feel a bit distant, or it can feel like you are receiving undue respect from the other person. It also shows an unequal relationship.

If anyone didn’t notice, when Takeo says タメ, that’s short for タメ口ぐち.

@sanshoo

Page 39

I found out that Yomitan isnt picking up して as する in てform

Yup, 協力 きょうりょく is another noun that can have する attached to make it into a verb.

Ichi.moe is good for breaking a sentence into its parts.

Tip: the “vs” on there (and in other dictionaries) means it can become a verb by attaching する.

---

For those who’ve finished this week’s reading, did you take notice of the 「たたたたたたた ドン！」sound effect and what it conveyed? (It makes more sense when viewing the next panel on the next page.)

[sanshoo]

@mgevaert

hardest constructions to notice

Yeah maybe I am too harsh on myself for this lol, but I wish it would impact me a lot less!
Did you have “panic” moments as a beginner ? When you felt maybe intimidated by the task at hand ?