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Book Review: Demon Slayer Volume 1

For January’s book I decided to challenge myself with novelized version Demon Slayer. The full title is called 鬼滅の刃　ノベライズ　～炭治郎と禰豆子、運命のはじまり編～ or roughly translated to English “Demon Slayer Novelized Tanjirou and Nezuko, Beginning of their Fate”. You can find this book on Book★Walker.

This book goes over the first part of the Demon Slayer anime. It ends on the Tsuzumi Mansion Arc.

ENTERTAINMENT

Throughout the book Tanjirou has fights with several demons with different powers, so it kept things very interesting. If you like the anime or the manga, then this book will be great for you. Speaking of the manga, instead of the usual illustrations that come in light novels, these books take pages from the manga. Really adds more style to the book while bringing up key moments that tie in with the plot.

LANGUAGE LEARNING

Honestly, at my current level, this book was hard to get through. According to Learn Natively, the level of this book is sitting at Level 30 at the moment. It could change in the future when more people read and grade it. Even so, I can see why it ranked as a N2 level book.

The grammar wasn’t to bad, but there was a ton of vocabulary that I didn’t know. The series is in the Taisho Era so perhaps that has something to do with it. Nonetheless, in this book alone I had to look up 138 words. This book does come with furigana on each kanji so it made looking things up very easy. Here are few words that I found interesting:

  • 威圧感（いあつかん）- Intimidating air, sense of intimidation.
  • 生殺与奪 （せいさつよだつ）- To have a life-or-death power over something.
    In other words, to hold an absolute power over something or someone.
    Like a boss having the power to hire (life) or fire (death) an employee.
  • 笑止千万（しょうしせんばん）- utterly ridiculous or absurd. This Yojijukugo was used as a description of Tomioka Giyuu’s attitude when he was telling Tanjirou to give up on Nezuko.
  • 真っ二つ（まっぷたつ）- in two equal parts.
    This was used when Tanjirou split the boulder in half during his training to join the Demon Slayer Corps.
  • 夢遊病（むゆうびょう） – sleepwalking.
    Used to describe the woman who were kidnapped during the Kidnapper’s Bog Arc. This could also be a good way to describe Zenitsu when he shows off his true power. If only he could always be like that.

I’m sure that these vocabulary words don’t come up often in conversation or for tests but they were interesting. The dialogue was easy to follow but when it got to action, I found myself getting lost here and there. Luckily, if you have seen the anime you’ll have some foundation to build on.

To summarize, this book might not be the best to learn Japanese. It is a good way to test how far you have come and you get to see some interesting words. I would recommend this book to test yourself or just for enjoyment.

A SMALL JAPANESE REVIEW

鬼滅の刃というアニメ を見てから、ノベライズを読んでいます。楽しかったけど、少し難 しかったです。比べてみれば、この本は「少年探偵団」の難しさとほとんど同じです。アクションシーンはちょっとわかりにくいです。でも鬼と戦っている炭治郎みたいに頑張ろうって、本を読み終えました。

NEXT BOOK WILL BE…

怪盗レッド－５　レッド、誘拐される☆の巻

Decided to take it easier and catch up on one of my favorite series, Kaito Red. Plus, that will give me time to read more of the Detective Conan manga. Maybe I should start doing reviews for that 😉 . Speaking of manga, now I can catch up with my manga in English that I’ve been putting off this month.

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What’s in a Title: Millionaire Detective Balance: UNLIMITED

輝くものすべて金にあらず

輝く（かがやく）もの

輝く is a verb that means to shine or to light up. もの means thing. When a verb or noun or adjective is put together with もの it usually means “____ thing”. For example, 甘いもの (Sweet thing -> Sweets). So if we put 輝くもの together we get “Shiny thing”.

すべて

This means “all”. It also can be seen in it’s kanji form as 全て. Put together with 輝くものすべて can mean “all things that shine”.

金（きん）

金 can mean “money”.  With nouns like this, you will sometimes find it has an お before it. That is just to put some politeness and softness to the words. Women commonly say お金・お酒・お風呂 while men usually drop the お to make it sound rougher from what my Japanese teacher use to tell me.

Anyways, what is really being said here is the word “gold”.

にあらず

あらず　means “it is not so” or “no” or  “never mind”. When put with に it is suggesting that we are talking about something in particular that is not something. When connected with 金 it will mean “it is not gold” or in a shorter term “is not gold”.

So putting everything together we get… “All things that shine is not gold” as a rough translation. However, this sounds awfully familiar to an idiom that I know. So a more accurate translation would be…

This title came from episode 2 of 富豪刑事 バランス：アンリミテッド (The Balance: UNLIMITED part is actually written in English in the original title but I just wanted to type it in katakana) or in English, Millionaire Detective: Balance: UNLIMITED. An anime adaptation of a novel is quite rare. Plus, I like a good mystery so I wanted to check this out. It was a pretty interesting story and the main character shows off his wealth in every episode (he even splurged ￥100,000 to make his own cup ramen company after eating it for the first time.)  

Unfortunately Funimation didn’t translate those when they got it. Checked out Crunchyroll to see if they worked their magic but it’s the same thing I found on Funimation. Must be when they acquired this show from Funimation.

If only we knew what he paid for in these episodes T_T

I gave this anime a 7/10. It was good but it had some problems. Perhaps if it had more episodes to flesh out the characters and the motivations of the antagonist I would have scored it higher. The ending song by OKAMOTO’S is pretty good. Couldn’t find just the ending theme on YouTube so here’s the music video for it.

Kind of reminds me of Black Eyed Peas “Let’s Get It Started”.

The opening song by SixTONES is really good, too:

If you are interested, here is a trailer:

Learning translation with Onimai

日本語の練習 第157週
Japanese Practice Week 157

2023年01月29日「日」第157週 

日本語のイベント／EVENT IN JAPANESE

冬２０２３のアニメをたくさん見ています。今日は「お兄ちゃんはおしまい」の事を話したいです。このアニメとツレカノは同じ翻訳者なので、ぜひ見習いたいと思います。

また、このアニメはユーチューバーのToki Madoushiさんが非公式な翻訳者ノートの動画を作っています。翻訳とか日本語の事が気になれば、動画を見てください。

対話／DIALOGUE

Driving tests can be nerve wracking.

[超緊張してる]

A: 琴子、大丈夫？

B: 全然大丈夫じゃないよ、玲子。

A: どうしたの？

B: 来週、テストがあるので、ちょっと緊張してる。

A: 何のテスト？

B: ドライビングスクールでドライビングを練習してる。でも、縦列駐車は苦手。

A: ああ、大変だね。じゃあ、一緒に練習しない？十分な時間があるので、できると思う。

B: いいの？

A: いいよ。今日は暇だし。

B: サンキュー、玲子。免許を取れたら、一緒に旅行しよう。

A: 楽しみにしているよ。とりあえず、縦列駐車の練習を始めよう。

B: うん！

[Totally Nervous]

A: You okay, Kotoko? 

B: Nope not at all, Reiko.

A: What’s up?

B: I have a test next week, so I’m a bit nervous.

A: What’s the test for?

B: I’ve been practicing my driving at a driving school. But, I’m not good at parallel parking.

A: Ah, parallel parking is rough. Well, how about we practice together? We have enough time so I think you can do it.

B: You sure?

A: Yeah it’s fine. I don’t have anything to do today.

B: Thanks, Reiko. When I get my license, let’s do some traveling.

A: I’ll be looking forward to it. Let’s start practicing for now.

B: Yeah!

救世の大冒険／KYUUSEI’S ADVENTURE

第３２回

パスワードを知ってるロケット団員に勝った。あいつはなんか変。変な笑ってた。パスワードはラッタのシッポか。思ったより簡単だったよ。ちなみに、ワタルはいったいどこに行きやがったのか。僕に汚れ仕事をさせている？ついにボスの部屋に到着した。この瞬間、啓二は僕に向かってきた。ワタルに負けた事を話した。それで、ワタルはポケモンへの愛と信頼が足りないって。それをしたら、たぶん勝つかもね。長々と話し終わったら、あいつは僕にぶっ投げた。上等だ。。。また会える、リベンジしてもらう。とりあえず、あいつらを倒す。

短いむらさき色の髪の男と戦った。あまり強くないから、コチョウとウズマキはあいつのポケモンを簡単に倒せた。ロケット団のボスはサカキだったのか。あいつらはサカキにもどってほしそうみたい。サカキには理由があるはずだから、こんな行動は無茶してるわ。ともかく、部屋を出る前に、テーブルにぶつかった。けっこうおもろい。じゃあ、どうすればいいのかなあ？ん？ポケモンがちゃべた？！本棚のそばにいるヤミカラスは他のパスワードの事を話した。「パスワードはサカキ様　バンザイ」って。何だやねん。このパスワード何を使うのかなあ。お、そうか。あの階には開かないゲートもある。ワタルを探さなきゃあ。
ゲートを開いて、部屋に歩むとき、ロケット団の幹部二人は僕に邪魔した。ワタルと一緒にロケット団の幹部と勝負した。コチョウのねんりきの攻撃でアーボックを倒す。スタティックのかみなりパンチでヤミカラスをＫＯだ。それで、ハナビのひのこでクサいハナが倒れた。あいつらに勝ったけど、ロケット団の狙いはもっと大きい。しもた、あいつら逃げた。お、なるほどな。ワタルは僕が頑張って戦っているのを見て、ちょっと出番を待ってみた。なんだか照れるなあ。でんぱを止める方法は、マルマインを気絶させようみたい。あかん、自爆しないで。

＃３２

Fought another Team Rocket Member that had a password. The guy was kind of goofy. He had this weird laugh. The password is Raticate Tail. That was easier than I thought. Matter of fact, where is Lance, anyway? Am I just doing his dirty work? Finally I reached the Boss’s room when suddenly Keiji came up to me. He talked about how he lost to Lance and Lance lecturing him about caring for his Pokemon. I mean… maybe you could win if you did, ya know? After his rant, he pushed me and left. Alrighty then… I’ll get him later for that. For now, I gotta take care of these guys.

Fought this guy with short purple hair. He wasn’t tough so Kochou and Uzamaki took care of his Pokemon easily. So Giovanni was Team Rocket’s boss, huh? And they’re trying to bring him back. Seems like he left for a reason so it’s kind of pointless to go through all this trouble. Anyways, before he ran out of the room he ran into the table. That was kinda funny. So now what? Hmmm…this pokemon talked?! A Murkrow is by a bookshelf talking about another password: Hail Giovanni. Wonder what I have to use that for? Oh right. There was a gate on that floor. Better find Lance.

I opened the gate and as soon as I walked in, two Team Rocket Executives stopped me from going further. Teamed up with Lance to take them down. Kochou took down her Arbok with Confusion. Static knocked out Murkrow with Thunderpunch. Then Hanabi took down Gloom with Ember. We defeated them, but it looks like they still have more plans. Oh so he just let me take care of the problem since I’m competent… alright then. To stop the radio signal, we have to defeat some Electrode. Oh no, I hope they don’t explode.

In conclusion, I hope that this series is helpful with your journey to learning Japanese and/or taking an interest in the country’s culture. Until then… また来週！

What’s in a Title: Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!

 第５話　鉄巨人あらねる！

第５話（だい５(ご)わ）

This is used as a counter for the episode. The kanji 『第』can mean “No.” or residence. The kanji『話』in this context is used as the counter for the episode. So put together we have something like “Episode No. 5” or “Episode 5” for short.

鉄巨人（てつきょじん）

『鉄』just means “iron”. If you are familiar with Attack on Titan (進撃の巨人) you will be familiar with 巨人. If that isn’t the case then, 『巨人』 literally just means “giant person” which can be shortened to just “giant”. So together we have “Iron Giant”. Reminds me of that movie that marathoned on Cartoon Network a lot when I was a kid.

Just in case you don’t know what that movie is here is The Iron Giant trailer:

あらわる

This is a verb. A verb so old it follows the nidan verb grouping when they had more different verb groups than we do today. There are only three groups now, ichidan (いるーverbs and えるーverbs), godan (うーverbs) and the irregular verbs like 来る and する. This is the first time I’ve come across an archaic verb so I had to look this one up. It just means “to appear”.

So all together we have “Episode 5 – Iron Giant Appears!

From what the professionals have it’s not too bad. This show is pretty good. This anime was quite the ride. It is about these three girls who want to create anime. The strangest thing that sticks out to me in this show is how some of the main girls talk. They sound like old men. This title makes it even more evident that is what they are going with. Kind of jarring yet interesting to pick up on.

Here’s a PV:

Playing Persona 3 Portable in Japanese

日本語の練習 第156週
Japanese Practice Week 156

2023年01月22日「日」第156週 

日本語のイベント／EVENT IN JAPANESE

『ペルソナ３ ポータブル』（P３P）と『ペルソナ４ゴールデン』（P4G）は発売中です。Steamでペルソナ４ゴールデンもう買いましたから、ペルソナ３ポータブルしか買いませんでした。ポータブルですから、Switchで買いました。PSVitaでクリアしたのは２回にすぎないですが、女子主人公のルートをクリアできなかったから、楽しみにしています。

「FES」という別のバージョンを聞いたことがありますけど、やったことがありません。「FES」は「ラストアンサー」というエピローグがあるので、このリマスターで「FES」を入れてくれていれば満足ですが、「P3P」でいいと思います。

対話／DIALOGUE

A nice encounter

[あ、落し物]

A: あ、すみません、落し物です。

B: ありがとうございます。

A: すみませんが、聞きたいことがあります。

B: はい。

A: そのストラップはコナンですか？どこで買いましたか？

B: 買いませんでした。これを手に入れるため、謎解きゲームをクリアした。

A: あーそうか。

B: 名探偵コナンは好きですか？

A: 好きです。「名探偵コナン」がなかったら、日本語を勉強し始めることはなかったと思います

B: へ〜すごい。いつから日本に来ましたか。

A: ３ヶ月間です。日本語はまだまだなので、日本語学校に参加しています。

B: ＬＩＮＥしていますか？

A: しています。

B: じゃあ、LINE IDを交換しませんか？

A: いいですよ。

[You dropped this]

A: Oh, excuse me. You dropped something.

B: Thank you very much.

A: May I ask you a question?

B: Yes.

A: Is that a Conan strap? Where did you buy it?

B: I didn’t buy it. I finished a mystery-solving game to get this.

A: Oh, I see.

B: Do you like Detective Conan?

A: I do. If it weren’t for Detective Conan, I don’t think I would have ever started studying Japanese.

B: Wow, that’s great. How long have you been in Japan?

A: Three months. My Japanese isn’t good enough yet, so I’m attending a Japanese language school.

B: Are you on LINE?

A: Yes, I am.

B: Then, would you like to exchange LINE IDs?

A: Sure.

救世の大冒険／KYUUSEI’S ADVENTURE

第31回

その怪しい店でワタルを見つけた。ワタルのポケモンはさっきの男を襲った。地下への階段を発見。あ、ここはロケット団の実験を行う場所だ。この像はなんか怪しいなあ。まさか、目にカメラが入ってる？！このあいつら。。。どうりで僕の位置がバレたわけだ。バトルのあとで、したっぱは僕にスイッチの事を伝えた。このスイッチでカメラを消せる。消さないと、あいつらはまた来る。あいつらはウザイから、スイッチをはやく見つけなきゃ。

研究者と勝負した後で、彼のパソコンでスイッチを見つけた。あ、なるほどな。ここはもともと忍者屋敷だった。２種類の色がある床があった。１種類は普通色。別の色は濃い色です。別の色床を踏んだら、ポケモンが出てきた。コチョウはビリリダマを自爆したけど、ギリギリセーフだった。危なかった。次の階へ行く。

ワタルは僕を待ってくれたみたい。それで、彼はポケモンに薬を分けてくれた。この階はゲートがありそうだな。さっきの階みたいにスイッチがあるのかな。見つけたら、ゲートを開ける。ワタルによって、パスワードが二つで、一部のロケット団員だけに知らされてるらしい。ここで、最強の団員はパスワードを知るチャンスが高い。長い赤色の髪の女と戦った。あまり強くなかったが、一つのパスワードを持っていた。よし、あと一つだ。

＃31

I found Lance at the sketchy store. His Pokemon attacked that suspicious guy that was whispering earlier. We found some hidden stairs. So this is where Team Rocket is running the experiments. These statues are a bit suspicious. Are those cameras?! No wonder these grunts know where I am. One of them told me that there is a switch to shut them off. Looks like they’ll keep appearing if I don’t shut it off. Better find it fast, these guys are annoying.

After beating this scientist, I found the switch to the security on the computer. Ah, so this place used to be a ninja hideout. There was a floor that had a different color. When I stepped on it, Pokemon came out. Kochou almost got killed by Voltorb’s Self-destruct. That was a close one. Onto the next floor.

Looks like Lance was waiting for me. He healed my Pokemon. Looks like there are gates on this floor. Wonder if I can find a switch or something to open them. According to Lance, there are two passwords. Better find out who has them. Probably the strongest Team Rocket members in this place. Fought a woman with long hair. She wasn’t that strong but she had one of the passwords. Slowpoketail… got it. Just one more password to go.

In conclusion, I hope that this series is helpful with your journey to learning Japanese and/or taking an interest in the country’s culture. Until then… また来週！

Watching MegaMan NT Warrior (ロックマンエグゼ) in Japanese

日本語の練習 第155週
Japanese Practice Week 155

2023年01月15日「日」第155週 

日本語のイベント／EVENT IN JAPANESE

ゲーム会社というカプコンは４月にロックマンバトルネットワーク（ロックマンエグゼ）を発売するよていです。だから、カプコムはYouTubeでアニメをアップすることに決めた。字幕がありませんが、リスニングの練習にはいいですよ。

ちっさいころ、子供向けに番組を編成するために設定した放送時間帯というKidsWBでこのアニメを見たから、これは懐かしいアニメです。それに、法的に見ることができるサイトので、うれしいです。アニメを見たいなら、５月末まで見ることができます。

対話／DIALOGUE

Dreaming in Japanese can be weird.

[夢はちょっと変]

A: サトシ、どうして早く起きたの？

B: 変な夢を見た。

A: え？変？

B: ラーメン屋でラーメンを食べた。

A: うん。

B: でも、俺のラーメンネジが２本入ってた。

A: え？！もしかして飲んじゃったの？

B: いや。それでは、店長さんに文句を言って、返金してもらった。

A: 変な夢ね。

B: ですよね。

A: 残念ながら。新しいラーメン屋に誘うつもりだったのに。

B: いいよ。行こうよ。

A: え、なんで？変な夢を見たのに。

B: まあ、夢のラーメンはおいしかったよ。

[That Dream was a Little Weird]

A: Satoshi, why are you up so early?

B: I had a weird dream.

A: Weird?

B: I ate ramen at a ramen restaurant.

A: Uh-huh.

B: But my ramen had two screws in it.

A: What? Don’t tell me you swallowed them?

B: Nah. After that, I complained to the manager and got a refund.

A: That was weird.

B: I know, right?

A: That’s too bad. I was going to invite you to that new ramen place.

B: That’s okay. Let’s go.

A: What? Even though you had that weird dream.

B: Well, the ramen in my dream was delicious.

救世の大冒険／KYUUSEI’S ADVENTURE

第30

いかりのみずうみでトレーナーに勝った時、啓二の事を話した。あのやつ。。。あの強いポケモンの話しをまた言っているのか。僕たちに勝ってないのに。湖に行って、赤いギャラドスを見た。あれ？普通は青だっけ？あのギャラドスに向かって、あいつは僕を襲ってきた。

スタティックのでんじはであいつをマヒさせた。それで、コチョウのいとをはくはあいつの素早さを減らした。掴みにくかったが、できた。ウズマキと名付けた。必ずウズマキのリベンジしに来るわ、ロケット団め！戻ってきたら、ケープをつけている男に出会った。名前はワタル。やっぱ、ロケット団の仕業だ。コイキングをギャラドスに進化させた原因は電波だ。ワタルに調査を手伝ってほしそう。仕方ないなあ。賛成して、彼はどこかに逃げた。

釣り人に勝った、スタティックはデンリュウに進化して、かみなりパンチを覚えた。よっしゃー！この瞬間を待っていた！強くなったポケモンと僕と一緒にロケット団を倒しに行く。

ワタルはどこにいるのか？

＃30

After battling a trainer at the Lake of Rage, he told me about how he met Keiji. Sounds like that guy is still going on about strong Pokemon. Even though he can’t even beat us. Went to the lake and saw a red Gyrados. Huh? Those are usually blue, right? When I approached the red Gyrados, it started to attack.

Static was able to paralyze it with Thunderwave and Kochou lowered its speed with String Shot.  It was hard to catch it but we did it. I’ll name him Uzumaki.

I’ll make sure it gets revenge on Team Rocket. When I got back to land, I met a guy wearing a cape. His name is Lance. So Team Rocket is behind this. And those radio waves are causing the Magikarp to evolve into Gyrados. Lance wants me to help with the investigation, so I guess I have no choice. After I agreed he ran off somewhere.

After a battle with a fisherman, Static evolved into Ampharos and learned Thunderpunch! Nice! I’ve been waiting for this.

Now that we have gotten stronger and added Uzumaki to the team, let’s go take down Team Rocket. But where did Lance run off to?

What’s in a Title: Tonari no Onigiri-kun

となりのおにぎり君

となりの

となり can mean “next to” or it can mean a neighbor. While no is of course stating a possession on となり. You can see this type of pattern in other shows and movie titles (e.g. となりの関くん which can be translated into “My Neighbor Seki”). 

おにぎり

This is a food that usually has something in the middle wrapped in rice and seaweed wrapping at the bottom (🍙like so). Basically it is a sandwich but it uses rice instead of bread to hold the contents in. 

If you grew up watching Pokemon you may have gone up to your parents asking for jelly donuts.

Unfortunately, I don’t think there is a good enough translation for this word so it is usually kept as Onigiri.

君（くん）

This kanji may look familiar to you if you have seen the kanji 君(きみ). They are the same, however it takes on a different meaning here. When put together with a name it gives off a honorific tone such as ちゃん、さん、様（さま）. It is usually thought of as the boy equivalent to ちゃん. This also doesn’t have a direct translation so it will be kept as is.

So put together we have “My Neighbor Onigiri-kun”. This title comes from a few shorts made by Studio Ghibli, who also made “My Neighbor Totoro” （となりのトトロ）.

Looks like they were taken off of YouTube. However, if you are interested in watching these shorts you can find them on the web.

What’s in a Title: Boruto

野良犬

野良（のら）

From the first kanji 野（の）can mean rustic, field, etc. But in this context it comes from the word wild. The 良（ら）comes from the kanji good, so I’m somewhat confused on how it makes up this word. Maybe they are describing something that can survive in the wild. Nonetheless, together it means “stray”.

If you have watched a certain anime called Noragami or ノラガミ then you may be familiar with this word. Even though Noragami is written in katakana in the show’s title, it means “Stray God”.

ノラガミ　＝　野良神（のらがみ）

犬（いぬ）

This word just simply means “dog”.

So put all together, you get “Stray Dog”.

Here are my past thoughts on Boruto:

This title comes from the 191st episode of Boruto. The show is good and like how they try to flesh out the story where the monthly manga fails to do (which is understandable since they are monthly and want to stick to the main plot). Especially now since a certain character has appeared that many have been waiting to see in the anime. The last episode’s art was dedicated to the manga art-style which made it pop and look so much better. Unfortunately, they went back to the old art style in this episode.

I’m a bit disheartened that they gave us something like that and then went right back to the usual art. I like this but I love the other art style that reflects the manga’s art. Besides if they did that every week, I’m pretty sure that would turn out to be a problem in a production sense. Speaking of Boruto, the manga chapter for this month has come out and I better go read it after this since it’s the aftermath of a fight.

As of now, it seems Boruto is starting to do some interesting things starting this year. We have the Sasuke Retsuden arc which has a manga adaptation in the works. Plus, we’ll be back to more manga canon episodes after that arc is done.

Learning Kanji with WaniKani

日本語の練習 第154週
Japanese Practice Week 154

2023年01月08日「日」第154週 

日本語のイベント／EVENT IN JAPANESE

ついに、WaniKaniのライフタイムメンバーになりました。このウェブアプリを使ったことあるが、お金がないから、レベル３ぐらいに辞めました。今年は日本語はうまくになりたいと思いますから、アカウントをゼロから始めます。とりあえず、今年の終わりの前に、レベル１０に上がるかもしれません。

ライフタイムメンバーになりたいなら、ちょうどいいですよ。セールは１００ドル割引があります。つまり、今、このメンバーシップは２００ドルです。明日は最後の日です。

対話／DIALOGUE

Want to be J->E Translator but…

[翻訳者の道]

A: あ、アイザイア君、あけおめ。

B: あけおめ、綾瀬ちゃん。今年は何をする？

A: 英語を勉強し続ける予定。アイザイア君は？

B: まああ、日本語を勉強し続ける予定だが。。。

A: だが。。。

B: 翻訳者になりたいけど、まだまだ。

A: N3に合格したっけ。

B: うん。でも、日本語能力が足りなくて。

A: なんで？

B: だって、N2かN1は必要ないだろう？いま、N2コースを受けている。

A: じゃあ、N2コースを終えたら、夏に日本語能力試験を受ける。

B: あ、ほんとうだ。

A: そういえば、翻訳者ワークショップの事を聞いているのか？

B: ううん、初耳。

A: じゃあ、後で、リンクをメールするね。

B: ありがとう。

[Path to be a Translator]

A: Oh, happy new year’s, Isiah.

B: Happy new year’s, Ayase. What are you going to do this year?

A: I’m going to continue studying English. How about you?

B: Well, I plan on continuing my Japanese studies but…

A: But…

B: I want to be a translator, but I’m not at that level yet.

A: Didn’t you pass the N3 Exam?

B: Yeah. But isn’t N2 or N1 needed for that? I am taking a N2 course right now.

A: Then, if you can finish it, you can take the N2 exam in the summer.

B: Oh, you’re right.

A: By the way, did you hear about the translator workshop?

B: No, first time hearing about that.

A: Then, I’ll send you the link later, kay.

B: I appreciated it.

救世の大冒険／KYUUSEI’S ADVENTURE

第２９

階段を上って、ミカンに薬をあげた。あかりちゃんはもう大丈夫そうだから、ミカンはジムに戻るつもりだ。手持ちのポケモンははがねタイプポケモンと聞いた。だから、ミカンに挑戦する前に、ハナビはもっと強くならいないと。このシティに行くの途中でトレーナーを戦わなかったから、いい訓練だった。

こんな経験値が足りない。ハナビは強くなるために、別の町に行った方がいいな。エンジュシティに飛んだ。それで、池で新しい街に到着した。途中で、トサキントを捕まえた。名前をつけるのを忘れちゃった。後で、できるかなあ。

ともかく、チョウジタウンに到着したが、でかい男はジムの入り口の前に立った。ジムリーダーはここにいないのか。でかい男はいかりのみずうみを観光に行くのがおすすめだった。じゃあ、そうする。この町はレンドリィショップがないじゃん。なんか怪しい店があるけど。だって、店の店長はヤドンのシッポを売るから。それに、怪しそうな男はコイキングの実験についてぼそぼそしている。そういえば、赤いギャラドスの事を聞いたから、たぶん関係ある。いかりのみずうみに行ったとき、ロケット団員のしたっぱの二人は僕に１０００円を取った。エントリー料金？！あいつらはここにいれば、悪いことをするはずだわ。

＃２９

After climbing the stairs, I gave the medicine to Jasmine. Amphy looks like it’ll be okay now, so Jasmine is going to return to the Gym. I heard that she has steel type Pokemon, so I better go train Hanabi before we challenge Jasmine. I avoided a bunch of trainers on my way to Olivine City, so Hanabi can fight their Pokemon.

Don’t seem to be leveling up fast enough. Maybe I’ll go to another town. That way Hanabi can get stronger. Flew back to Ecruteak City and swam across to a new town. Caught a Goldeen on the way. Darn I forgot to name her before she got sent to the PC. Wonder if there is a way to change the name later.

Made it to Mahogany Town but there’s this guy in front of the Gym. Looks like the Gym leader isn’t in so he recommended me to go do some sightseeing at the Lake of Rage. Looks like this town doesn’t have a PokeMart. It does have this suspicious looking shop though. The shop owner sells Slowpoke tail and there’s another guy talking about an experiment on Magikarp. I did hear about a red Gyrados at the Lake of Rage. Maybe that’s what that guy is talking about. I went up to Lake of Rage but two Team Rocket grunts took 1000 yen from me just to enter. If they are here, then they must be up to no good.

In conclusion, I hope that this series is helpful with your journey to learning Japanese and/or taking an interest in the country’s culture. Until then… また来週！

What’s in a Title: Haganai

僕は友達が少ない

僕（ぼく）

This is a pronoun usually used for guys. For example, you can see that I use it quite a bit in this blog. It just means “I”.

は

This is a particle that just means “is”. It is used during to put focus on what is being talked about. So, for example with 僕 it can mean “I am”.

友達（ともだち）

Let’s split up these two kanji. 友 can be derived as a friend, or a companion. 達 is an interesting kanji that allows us to put a plural touch on people and animals. So together it just means “friends”

が

Like は, が is another particle that can show what object you are talking about in a sentence. In other words, が is acting upon the word for friends.

少ない（すくない）

The kanji少 from 少ない can mean “small”, or “little”, or “few”. In this context it is best to go with “few” instead of the other translations.

So together you have 僕は友達が少ない　⇒　I Have a Few Friends.

So, the translation by Funimation is Haganai I Don’t Have Many Friends. The Haganai comes from the end of some words from the Japanese title.

僕 は 友達 が 少 ない => boku ha tomodachi ga sukunai

This is the first anime that I watched subbed. It didn’t have an English dub at the time but I wanted to watch it because it seemed fun. This is probably the only show that I have watched subbed and then dubbed afterwards for both seasons. I have watched the first season without subtitles on Animelon this year as well.

On another note, the only thing that bothers me about this show is that it never got a conclusion. The light novels have not been translated officially into English. Plus, there is a slim chance they are going to do another season after so many (10?) years even though the material has been done for so long.

Here’s an excerpt from a past rant about the manga and the light novels:

They have a manga but the art style kind of throws me for a loop. If I get into the manga, it will just take getting used to but, I prefer to read the light novels. If my Japanese gets better, I wonder if I could read it in its original language instead.

I started reading the manga volumes in Japanese last year. The art-style took some time to get used to but this seems to be the only way for me to finish the story right now. At my current level the light novels seem like a daunting task so the manga is a great option.

If you’re interested in finishing this series, you can find them all on Bookwalker. In fact, it is on sale till January 5th so it’s the perfect time to get some of the volumes.