Week 8 ゆびさきと恋々・A Sign of Affection 💕 (Absolute Beginner Book Club)

Welcome to Week 8 of ゆびさきと恋々・A Sign of Affection :two_hearts:

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Week 8 July 26 2025
Start page 85
End page 100
End phrase 上げられなかった
Last week Week 7
Next week Week 9
Home Thread ゆびさきと恋々

Page numbers may differ between digital and physical copies.

Last panel

Vocabulary

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.
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Proper Nouns

Name Reading Image Notes
糸瀬 雪 いとせ ゆき Main character
波岐 逸臣 なぎ いつおみ The other main character
藤白 りん ふじしろ りん Yuki’s friend from university
波岐 京弥 なぎ きょうや Itsuomi’s cousin and manager
芦沖 桜志 あしおき おうし Yuki’s childhood friend

Participation

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5 Likes

These were the cutest and funniest Yuki expressions so far! What a great chapter :slight_smile:

Vocab:

ぼろい - run-down; beat-up; shabby

マイペース - (doing things at) one’s own pace; one’s own way

はやめに - a little early; ahead of time

ぎこちない - awkward; clumsy; stiff

気に入る - to like; to be pleased with

かもしれない - maybe; might; possibly

I thought I had a handle on this chapter, but then I looked at the English:

On the first page I thought Yuki was speaking about herself (“what should I do now” to occupy myself while he’s gone), but she was wondering about Itsuomi (“Who is he meeting? what is he seeing?”)

And then again, on the last page, I was baffled by the 顔 in the middle of the page without realizing it’s all supposed to be one sentence lol

なにか話してるかもしれないけど顔上げられなかった

(something he said)(maybe)(but)(I couldn’t lift up my face)

It can be very tricky to figure out an omitted pronoun! or figure out where a sentence begins or ends.

6 Likes

Is the text at the end explaining how JSL has different grammar than Japanese, but it can be used in a sort of hybrid with Japanese grammar, though that’s of course weird, like using English words with Japanese grammar or vice versa?

4 Likes

I hadn’t thought about it but the Wikipedia article on JSL is pretty interesting: Japanese Sign Language - Wikipedia

" As in other sign languages, JSL (usually called simply 手話 shuwa, ‘hand talk’) consists of words, or signs, and the grammar with which they are put together. JSL signs may be nouns, verbs, adjectives, or any other part of a sentence, including suffixes indicating tense, negation, and grammatical particles. Signs consist not just of a manual gesture, but also mouthing (口話, kōwa; ‘mouth talk’) (pronouncing a standard Japanese word with or without making a sound). The same sign may assume one of two different but semantically related meanings, as for example in home and house, according to its mouthing. Another indispensable part of many signs is facial expression.

In addition to signs and their grammar, JSL is augmented by ‘finger letters’ (指文字, yubimoji), a form of fingerspelling, which was introduced from the United States in the early part of the twentieth century, but is used less often than in American Sign Language. Each yubimoji corresponds to a kana, as illustrated by the JSL syllabary. Fingerspelling is used mostly for foreign words, last names, and unusual words. Pantomime (身振り, miburi; ‘gestures’) is used to cover situations where existing signs are not sufficient.

Because JSL is strongly influenced by the complex Japanese writing system, it dedicates particular attention to the written language and includes elements specifically designed to express kanji in signs. For either conciseness or disambiguation, particular signs are associated with certain commonly used kanji, place names, and sometimes surnames. Finger writing (空書, kūsho; ‘air writing’) (tracing kanji in the air) is also sometimes used for last names or place names, just as it is in spoken Japanese."

5 Likes

I think this is, ‘He might be saying something, but I couldn’t look up’ because she needs to look at him to read his lips and know if he is speaking at all.

6 Likes

The anime school drama film A Silent Voice (Koe no Katachi (聲の形) lit. ‘The Shape of Voice’), released in 2016, features a prominent deaf JSL-speaking character, Shōko Nishimiya. It was produced by Kyoto Animation, directed by Naoko Yamada, written by Reiko Yoshida, and featured character designs by Futoshi Nishiya. It is based on the manga of the same name written and illustrated by Yoshitoki Ōima. The film premiered in Japan on September 17, 2016.

A manga series titled A Sign of Affection (ゆびさきと恋々, Yubisaki to Renren) by the author Suu Morishita which features several JSL-speaking characters including the main deaf character Yuki Itose was adapted into anime series on January 6, 2024, by Ajia-do Animation Works.

3 Likes

I just started working through it, and it seems like it’s explaining the difference between Japanese Sign Language and something else called Japanese Equivalent Sign Language. Right now I’m adding the words from the text to the vocab sheet so others can check it out if interested.

7 Likes
page 1

I just looked at this to see if I could help with some clues about how to tell she’s talking about itsuomi and not herself…

今 どこで何をしているんだろう

To me, I wouldn’t read the だろう here as inward facing ‘what should I do, I wonder?’ I think inward facing would probably be phrased differently, maybe 何をするべきだろう

I think the other clue is the どこで because we’re talking about another location, like, right now, 今, at で somewhere どこ, he’s doing what, I wonder. She hasn’t traveled or gone anywhere so I don’t think どこで for herself would make sense either.

6 Likes

Thank you for that! I saw this was highlighted, so I added what I’m pretty sure is right for コマ but anyone please correct if I’m wrong! ^^

4 Likes

Ooh, yeah, コマ as in manga panel totally makes sense! Thank you!

4 Likes

It is astounding how much better I am than I was in week 1!

One question this week:

Page 87

ぼろい is written in the vocab sheet as run-down; beat-up; shabby but it can also mean the opposite: lucrative; easy-money; big-money; cushy​ (ぼろい - Jisho.org)

So uuh, which one is it? I assume run-down since いつおみ says the signal is 弱い and he’s a student, but paying for wifi seems like something an expensive hotel would do. Is there a good way to know for future sentences or it is just like “bad” in English that could sometimes mean good?

4 Likes

Hooray for progress!

Page 87

I assumed it was run-down since he was complaining about the weak wifi, and since the stay was only 7 dollars. (Not sure if that’s USD, but you’d only bring it up if it was cheap). I’m pretty sure the 7 dollars is referring to the hotel and not the wifi. (7$のぼろい宿)

Both versions of ぼろい are new to me, but the fact that they have different jisho entries implies that they’re unrelated homophones rather than different senses of the same word. Regardless, in cases with contradictory meanings like this you kind of just have to go by context, or failing that see what the official translation went with (they just called it a hostel).

5 Likes

That sounds right - on jisho the “rundown” meaning has a listed kanji form 襤褸い that’s “rarely used,” but the “cushy” entry only lists kana. I actually bought a dictionary that tells you, for example, all the possible meanings of おれる

I’m sure there’s more Japanese homophones out there.

3 Likes

The Kodansha Kanji Usage Guide: An A to Z of Kun Homophones: Halpern, Jack: 9781568365596: Amazon.com: Books This one if anyone is curious, I haven’t used it much yet

3 Likes

Hey all, I’ve been reading along since week 1 but haven’t really posted anything yet. I’ve been so thankful for all of your questions and answers! They’ve been a huge help as I go back and try to clear up what felt confusing to me when reading ahead the week prior. I figured it was finally my turn to try my hand at offering my own translations (more like, how I have understood the section). I have not used any translators (DeepL, Google, etc), but have used the vocab list, jisho.org and bunpro.jp to help with figuring it out.

Two other upfront caveats:

  1. I’m still very much a beginner and so believe these to be bad and most likely riddled with mistakes, so if you’re reading this to understand, don’t rely on my translations, rely on any helpful corrections (should anyone offer them).
  2. I wanted to write my understanding/translations before checking any other posts in the thread so there very well could already be explanations/corrections to my bad translations already :smiley:

Thanks again for reading along with me/us everyone!

Pg. 85 gave me a lot of trouble, my understanding of the page is pretty fuzzy (clearly shown by my translations in the dropdown lol)

pg 85

決められるものなのなら…
If I truly get to decide…

今 どこで何をしているんだろう
now what am I doing where?

(note: I had a hard time with this one… どこで何をしているんだろう was one of those things that felt like “I know all those words but can’t figure out how they’re working together”. The where and what together tripped me up.)

誰かと出会って何かを見て…
I stumble into meeting someone and see something…

(note: I’m definitely missing the nuance here)

pg 86

え!? 逸臣さん こんな所があるんだ…子供かわいい
Huh?! Itsuomi-san. In a place like this… Cute kids

知らない ぜんぶ見たことない
Strange. I’ve never seen any of these before

pg 87

雪: すごいですね
These photos are amazing

逸臣: 今日7$のぼろい宿Wi-Fi弱い
Today I paid $7 for this run-down hotel’s lousy Wi-Fi

雪: 7$!? あれ?$なの? 色々聞きたいけど…
7$!? Wha? Dollars? I have some questions I want to ask but…

逸臣: 寝る。じゃ
Going to sleep, see ya

雪: マイペースだなぁ…
I’m doing this at my own pace, right?

pg 88

逸臣: あ 明後日大学へ行く
Oh. I’m going back to Uni the day after tomorrow

雪: 帰って来る…会えるかな きやー:heart::heart:
He’s coming back… could we meet up? Squeee—!

pg 89

早めに出ちゃったまだ通勤の人多い…
I left a little early, there’s still so many people commuting to work

あ あれ, 逸臣さん
uh, huh? Itsuomi-san

pg 91

おはよう… 自分のゆびさきぎこちない
Good morning… My fingers are still stiff

pg 92

あなたが現れてひろがる世界に
you appeared and broadened the world

このため息さえ優しく染まっていくようで…
even my sighs have been gently changed

(note: this one definitely needs some help)

pg. 93 was another tricky one

pg 93

これが恋で会ってほしい
this is a desired encounter with love

恋がいい
love is good

(note: calling back to the earlier choice between romantic feelings or a crush, I interpret these two lines as something like… “I want this to be love, not just affection, love is my choice.”)

pg 94

あいさつの手話覚えてくれたんですかとか
You learned how to say hello in sign language for me?

いつ日本に着いたのとか
When did you arrive back in Japan?

あ、スマホかノート…
Oh right, I should use my phone notes

ききたいことがありすぎて
I have too many questions I want to ask

逸臣: 手 出して
Hand. Put it out.

pg 95

雪:
わ 何を… わわわわわ〜
Wha— What is… Wha wha wha wha whaaaaa

pg 96

逸臣: ラオス
Laos

土産
Souvenir

雪: お土産
Souvenir

逸臣: 気に入った? 気にいたない?
Do you like it? Do you not like it?

雪: どうしてこれを選んだんたろう…なにかの神様?
I wonder why he choose this one? Is it some kind of god?

だけど
but

1周回って来たような…
I feel like, all things considered, he came back..

pg 97

雪:
はい!気に入れまった!
Yes! I like it!

pg 99

雪:
なにか話してるかもしれないけど顔上げられなかった
He might be saying something, but I couldn’t lift my face up (to see)

8 Likes

Did another reread of up to this week’s chapter. It feels good to be getting faster at the early pages

4 Likes

This is really good! Definitely feel you on translating Yuki’s inner monologue pages - I think it’s just disjointed and ‘poetic’ on purpose lol

One comment -

I think this is a comment on Itsuomi “wow, he’s definitely someone who does something at his own pace/marches to the beat of his own drum” since he ended the conversation so abruptly. The drawing shows Yuki looking kind of annoyed even haha

6 Likes
Page 85

I took these as 雪 wondering about 逸臣 and what he is doing.

今 どこで何をしているんだろう
I wonder where he is and what he’s doing right now.

誰かと出会って何かを見て
Who he’s meeting, what he’s seeing.

I’m not too sure about second sentence, but since it’s her inner monologue it seems like she’s just listing things out he could be doing.

I am also still quite new, too! This book has had a lot of new concepts – especially the train of thought sentences.

7 Likes

Well, well, well, look what came up in my new vocab today :laughing:


(The transitive version of 染まる)

6 Likes

wow huge thanks to whoever added the ending text page to the vocab spreadsheet - I had initially skipped it but just went back and read it with the help of the guide~

6 Likes