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What’s in a Title: The Detective is Already Dead

お客様の中に、探偵の方はいらっしゃいませんか？

お客様（おきゃく　さま）

So we start off with some keigo here. This is a very polite way to address someone. 客 just means “customer” or “guest”. 様 is a suffix given to a name or in this case a customer. Think of it as a very polite version of さん.

の中に（の　なか　に）

When you see this pattern の中に it usually means “among” something. When you place a noun before it, it will mean among that noun. 

For example:

アニメの ジャンルの中に、謎のジャンルが一番いいと思います。

Among the anime genres, I think that the mystery genre is the best.

探偵（たんてい）

The first kanji 探 can mean “search” or “look for”. The second kanji 偵 just means “spy”. Spies looking for something. A person secretly looking for something. This has gotta be “detective”.

の

A possessive particle. Beside a noun it can mean to add an apostrophe s to the noun preceding it. In other words it would make the word detective turn into detective’s. 

However if we look at the next word…

方（かた）

This is the polite version of 人（ひと）or “person”. Put together with ”探偵の” it roughly means a “person who is a detective”. We can make this even more complex by adding our previous translations up till now to the mix. By doing so we have “Among the guests, a person who is a detective”.

は

Almost done. This one is easy. は is a subject particle. Just think of it as the English version of “is”.

いらっしゃいませんか

Final stretch. This is another keigo word. This verb comes from the verb いらっしゃいます. It is the keigo version of the verbs 行く “to go”, 来る “to come” and いる “to be”. In this case, it is best to go with the latter, いる to translate this.

いる can be translated to “to be”, “to exist”, “there is”. Of course this verb can only be used for living things. (Note: Flowers may be alive but the Japanese catagorize underneath ある the verb with the same meaning as いる. So perhaps animated objects, or objects that can move on their own is a better explanation.)

However it is being put into negative form with a question particle か at the end.

Now what could this mean? When you see a pattern like this, the speaker is asking one of two things: 

1. Is someone here? いませんか？

2. Inviting someone to do something. ？？？

Fortunately, we can deduce which is used in this context from the rest of our translation. Number 1 is the best choice. As for number 2, I’m not sure how that would work. With this word, number 1’s translation is most commonly seen and used for いませんか and いらっしゃいませんか(in relation to the verb いる).

So all together we have “Among the guests, is there a person who is a detective?”.

So, with that done let’s see how Funimation translated it.

I had it somewhat right. However, this is a matter of knowing the context of the episode before translating. At first, this episode takes place on a plane. 

So, of course with that info, you would put passengers instead of guests or customers. And instead of asking if “there is a detective here” or something of that sort, you would be asking if “there is a detective on board (the plane)” as Funimation has done so here.

This anime title comes from 「探偵はもう死んでいる」or The Detective is Already Dead. Not to be confused with a certain fighter’s phrase that became a meme.

The story follows a trouble magnet of sorts by the name of 君塚 君彦 Kimizuka Kimihikio who has been forced to take a plane and become a delivery boy for a mysterious case. While in flight, an employee asks if there is a detective on board. Fortunately, for them there is. Unfortunately for Kimizuka, a detective is sitting right next to him and gets him wrapped up in the case. And this begins the story of Kimihiko and the mysterious detective シエスタ Siesta. 

Had an over 40 minute first episode and I loved every moment of it. The title kind of already spoils what the show is about but, I was intrigued with how the detective died at the time. Alas, the series as a whole didn’t live up to the expectations that the first episode offered. Supposedly the light novels are good but I think that I will refrain from picking them up for now.

If you are interested in the anime here’s a PV:

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What’s in A Title: Kageki Shojo!!

桜舞い散る木の下で

（さくら　まいいちる　このした　で）

桜（さくら）

If there’s one thing about Japan that comes to my mind, it’s gotta be cherry blossoms. This is what this word means. If you didn’t know, now you know where Sakura from Naruto probably got her name from. You know with the pink hair and all. 

Random note if you put this kanji with the kanji for meat 肉（にく）it becomes horse meat. Yeah pretty weird.

Another random note: Cherry blossoms are one of my favorite flowers.

舞（まい）い散（ち）る

The first kanji means dancing or dance while the second kanji in verb form means “to fall (like leaves or blossoms from a tree)” or “to scatter”. Put it together we have something like “to fall as if dancing”. And if we add 桜 we get “Cherry blossoms falling as if dancing”.

木の下（このした）

This is just an expression putting the kanji for tree 木 and below 下 together between the possessive particle の.  It literally means, “under a tree”. Not underneath it of course but under it. Like this:

で

In this context the particle で means that something is acting upon the previous word. Kind of like this sentence: 

木の下で少女が寝てる。The girl is sleeping under the tree.

So in this situation we have something like “Cherry Blossoms Dancing Under the Tree”. And that will take care of the translation on my part. Now let’s see what Funimation cooked up.

More poetic take but the meaning is still there. Love how they did this one.

This episode title comes from the first episode of Kageki Shoujo. I’m back to watching seasonal anime again. Had to recover from speed running the My Anime List 2021 Anime Challenge back at the end of May. I’ve watched some good stuff in this Summer 2021 anime season. Like Kanojo mo Kanojo, Bokutachi no Remake, and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni SOTSU. I ended up watching about 9 or 10 shows from this season alone. They were bangers when it came to first impressions. But, enough of the tangent. Let’s discuss Kageki Shoujo a little bit more.

This anime is about girls attending a prestigious acting school with desires of becoming a top actress. I honestly said “背が高い過ぎる！”, when I first saw one of the main characters. I enjoyed watching this show. Kind of reminded me of Revue Starlight. Well not the fighting during a musical but the core of going to an acting school to become the best actress. That kind of thing.

Here’s a PV of the anime if you are interested:

What’s in a Title: Haganai

[活動記録４：ギャルゲエの世界にようこそ]

活動（かつどう）

This word means “activity”. From what I’ve gleaned from Persona 4 and this manga, this is what they usually call club activities in school. So I’ll tweak the translation to go with that same feel. So, “Club activity” it is.

記録（きろく）

You might recognize the first kanji from Rei’s Journal segment. It can mean “record” or “history” while the second kanji can mean “record” or “transcript”. There are a few meanings and since we know that this discusses activities in a club, we can translate this as “record”. 

Minutes seems too stiff for a club involving what looks like a character is about to play a video game. 

Put this with 活動 and we get “Club Activity Record”.

ギャルゲエ

This is a loan word meaning. ギャル just means gal. There are two things that come to mind with this word and Japan. One is the fashion style where girls tan their skin, dye their hair, etc. There are also different types which you can find more info on here.

The other is gal games, a dating sim with a cast of beautiful women.

 Since the next word seems to be some variation of game, it is safe to say this word means “Gal Game” or “Gal Games”. It is also known as a Bishoujo Game.

On another note, I found it weird that they wrote this way when it is usually written as ギャルゲー instead. Perhaps the ー can be interchangeably used with エ to lengthen out the ゲ in this word.

の

Just a possessive particle in this context. So with Gal Game we get “of Gal Game” or “Gal Game’s” depending on the next word and considering how it flows.

世界（せかい）

This word simply means “world”. Put with what we have so far we get “Club Activity Record #4: World of Gal Games”

に

Looking at where the context of this title is going, it is safe to say this is a destination particle “to”, in this context. 

ようこそ

And lastly, this simply means “welcome”. 

So our translation is “Club Activity Record #4: Welcome to the World of Gal Games”.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a copy of the official translation. I’m only reading the Japanese version. Surprisingly, the English version does not list the contents like they do in the Japanese version. I’m only seeing this on the same page:

It would be rough trying to make the English titles vertical. I do wonder if they could have lined the numbers up (instead spelling out volume #. I wonder what happened when they got into the 10s? Ah I see they just grouped the number in one circle.) sideways then given the titles. Hmm… oh well. 

According to the wiki the official English title is “The Wonderful World of Bishoujo Games”.

So not off the mark. Perhaps I should put a creative flair to these translations as well but I think it’s best I don’t stray too far so things don’t get lost in translation. Especially since this is supposed to be an exercise on my part and a learning moment for others.

I finally started reading the manga. Since I am nowhere near the level of reading a light novel, this manga has been a fun read. Plus unlike the light novels, these were released in English and are complete. I remember when I was reading fan translations of the light novels a few years ago since no one picked up this series. After reading a few volumes, I noticed they never translated the final light novel. So now that I know some Japanese, I can read this in the manga form. But wait, why did I choose the Japanese version over the English version? A few reasons:

  1. It’s cheaper.
    • English: One volume costs $9.52 on bookwalker ($8 or above on Amazon) 
    • Japanese: Bookwalker has them at  ￥５９７(around $6) on volume 1 – 18 and ￥７１５ for the last two volumes.
  2. Learning experience.
    • Would be fun to see how the manga is written in both languages but due to reason 1, I’ll refrain from that.
    • Get to gain more vocabulary and test how much of the language I know.
  3. No longer reading manga in dub format is pretty fun.
    • Ever voice your characters in your head when you’re reading something? Yeah. I’m that type of person. So, now I get the full experience of RAW anime viewers instead of depending on English.
    • Still want to read English manga though. Using the dubbed voices for the characters in the Yu-Gi-Oh manga has been so much fun. 

What’s in a Title: Hitoribocchi no Marumaruseikatsu

絶好のカレーパンケーキ

絶好（ぜっこう）

It can mean to break up a relationship（絶交）. The first kanji in this context can mean “discontinue” or “sever”. The second kanji,  交 (which can mean association), is different from the one we are looking for (好). 

So let’s break down that kanji compound. The first kanji can mean “beyond” while the second one can mean “to like” or “pleasing”.  It’s beyond pleasing.

 Now you can sort of see how it can be used to mean “Best” or “Ideal” or “Perfect”.

の

A particle that can describe a noun being possessive (like an apostrophe s). You can also translate it to “of”. Another way you can use this particle is by turning verbs and adjectives into nouns. Luckily our previous word is an adjective so we can just put it together with 絶好 and just means “Best” or “Ideal” or “Perfect”.

カレー

This word just means “curry”. Never had it before but I would like to try it one day. Preferably not too spicy. 

パンケーキ

Another word in katakana. This word means “pancake”. You know those things that Akechi from Persona 5 likes so much. 

It’s kinda funny because in this episode they actually make hotcakes, which are just a fancier version of a pancake, I guess (?).

Put it together and you get something like “Ideal Curry Pancake” or “Perfect Curry Pancake”. Never heard of a curry pancake before but since I’m imagining it with syrup it does not sound too appetizing. But who knows maybe I’ll give it a shot one day.

BONUS: Before this scene with the girls, there was a sign that reads
調理室（ちょうりしつ）or “cooking room”.

Think of it as a home ec classroom where you can cook food. 

And now let’s take a look at Crunchyroll’s translation.

Pretty good. Missed the plural on pancake but I think that’s fine. From my knowledge, Japanese doesn’t have a way to make things plural. The singular noun (pancake) for something can also mean the plural form of it as well (pancakes).

This anime is from the called ひとりぼっちの○○生活 or Hitori Bocchi’s ○○ Life. Not sure but I think the two circles(which is read as まるまる) can mean something like blank or 。。。that shows up in anime. Most likely pointing out the fact that Hitori’s new Middle School Life is kind of undecided or unsure.

Anyways, this show tells the story of a girl who had only one friend in elementary school. Since they are going to different schools, her friend said she wouldn’t be her friend until she made new friends in her class. Not just a few but the whole class. Now our shy protagonist, Hitori Bocchi, has to make friends with all of her classmates at her new middle school to become friends with her again.

Here’s a PV: 

I also like the anime due to the word play with the characters’ names. I know that these names are just basically giving away their characters but I am a sucker for when it comes to puns and wordplay.

一里 ぼっち （一人（ひとり）ぼっち）＝ All Alone

砂尾 なこ（すなお　なこ）＝ Honest Child

本庄 アル（ほんしょう ある）＝Has a true nature

ソトカ・ラキター（外（そと）から　来た（きた））＝Came from outside(the country)

倉井 佳子（暗い過去（くらい　かこ））＝Dark Past

八原 かい（柔らかい・やわらかい）＝Soft/subtle

押江 照代　先生（おしえ・てるよ　教えてるよ）＝I’ll teach you. She was destined to be a teacher.

Speaking of word play, 完璧のカレーパンケーキ would’ve been nice to translate to. Means the same thing and it rhymes.

I don’t know if this show will get a second season but the manga is finished. Plus, it’s only 8 volumes. Perhaps I’ll add that to my BOOK☆WALKER collection.

How Anime was Changed Back Then

日本語の練習 第167週
Japanese Practice Week 167

2023年月04日09「日」第167週 

日本語のイベント／EVENT IN JAPANESE

小さいころ、帰りに来て、KidsWBという子供向けのチャネルでアニメを見ました。放課後、ロックマンエグゼをワクワクしながら見ました。このアニメにはゲームもあります。実は、カプコンのゲームソフト『ロックマンエグゼシリーズ』をざっくり原作とするテレビアニメです。

あの時、ロックマンエグゼ３BLUEだけやっていました。

クリスマスにもらったPETをまだ持っています。

そして、来週アドバンスドコレクションを買ってやるつもりです。

このCMは懐かしいなあ。

『ロックマンエグゼ アドバンスドコレクション』WEBCM「あの頃のネットバトラーたち アニメ篇」

20年後に、ついにこのアニメを見ることができますが、日本語で見ています。結果、あっちこっちの違いに少し驚きました。たとえば、音楽とか検閲です。しかも、キャラクターの名前も変わりました。それは、まあ、。。。残念ながらあの時は普通でした。

JPN: Rockman EXE Opening 1 Ver 2 Creditless

EN: MegaMan NT Warrior Intro

この動画も観ました。英語だけど、彼はあっちこっちの違いの事を話します。気になれば、ごらんなさい。

How Viz Media Changed The English Dub Of Mega Man NT Warrior | WWW Arc | Part 1

対話／DIALOGUE

Even though it’s spring… 🥶

[天気がやばいね]

A: もうー、天気がなんだよ？

B: そうだよな。もう４月なのに、まだ寒い。

A: 作文を書いたかい？

B: ううん。あの嵐でうちのアパートが停電しちゃった。

土A: あ、大変。デッドラインはいつ？

B: 明日。あまり難しくない。もう少しできたのに、停電が。。。

A: パソコンをあげるよ。ファイルをアウトセーブできる？

B: たぶん。

A: 喫茶店に行こう。おごりだよ。

B: ありがとう。まって、あんずのアパートは停電したの。

A: うん、停電しなかったマンガ喫茶に行った。

B: それを考えればよかった。(-_-;)

[The weather’s been crazy, huh]

A: Geez, what’s up with this weather?

B: Right. It’s already April and it’s still cold outside.

A: Were you able to get your paper done?

B: Nope. That storm took the power out at my place.

A: Ah, that’s no good. When is the deadline?

B: Tomorrow. The paper isn’t that difficult. I was almost finished but then the power went out.

A: I’ll let you borrow my laptop. Do you know if the document autosaves?

B: I think it does. 

A: Then let’s head over to a cafe. I’ll treat you to some coffee or something.

B: I appreciate it. Did the power go out at your place, too?

A: Yeah, but I went to a manga cafe that still had power.

B: I wish I would have thought of that.😓

救世の大冒険／KYUUSEI’S ADVENTURE

第４２回

こらホウオウか。強そうだがみんながいれば、捕まえる。速くて強いから、スタティックはホウオウをマヒさせた。それで、攻撃力が下がった。あかん！あいつは回復したか。まさか自己再生できるのか！？ハナビと入れ替えて煙幕を張った。あいつの攻撃力が下がって、ほぼ見えなそうくせに、ホウオウのせいなるほのおという技でハナビ大ピンチだ。炎なのに、ハナビさえ暑さが強すぎる。いいキズぐすりを買っておいてよかった。

スタティックに入れ替えて、かみなりパンチでホウオウを殴った。モンスターボールを４０以上使ったのに、掴みにくいや。ハナビがホウオウを倒してしまった。掴めなかった。。。少し悲しいけど、楽しかった。どこかにホウオウみたいなポケモンがいるかな。

チョウジタウンに飛んできた。４４番道路でトレーナーたちと勝負した。鳥が好きなトレーナーは伝説の鳥ポケモンの事を聞いた。ホウオウの事を話した。でも、フリーザー、サンダー、ファイヤーが主に話しているらしい。あ、そうや。カントの伝説の鳥ポケモン。彼はこの地方に伝説の鳥ポケモンがいると言った。それは、どこかにこんなポケモンがいるっけ。バトルのあとで、洞窟を発見した。合図によって、氷の抜け道と呼んだ。ほんまに？まためちゃ寒いところかよ？！

＃４２

So this is Ho-oh. It’s strong but as long as I have everyone with me, we can catch it. It is fast and strong so I used Static to paralyze and lower the Ho-oh’s attack. Darn it. It healed itself. Don’t tell me it can self regenerate?! Switched Hanabi and made a smokescreen. Even though its attack was lowered and it can barely see, Ho-oh’s Sacred Fire move almost took down Hanabi. Thank goodness I got these super potions before coming here. 

Switched back to Static and he hit Ho-oh with Thunderpunch. I used over 40 pokeballs to catch it but it was so hard to catch. Ended up taking it down with Hanabi. I’m a bit sad that I couldn’t catch it, but it was fun. Wonder if there is another Pokemon like Ho-oh out there. 

Flew to Mahogany Town and battled a bunch of Pokemon trainers on Route 44. A trainer asked me if I knew about a legendary bird Pokemon. Told him about my fight with Ho-oh. But he was mainly talking about Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres from Kanto. He did say there were some here in Johto so maybe there is another legendary Pokemon somewhere. After battling him, I found a cave. From what the sign said, it is called Ice Path. Not another cold place. 

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！

Digimon Adventure 02 Getting a Movie?!

日本語の練習 第166週
Japanese Practice Week 166

2023年04月02日「日」第166週 

日本語のイベント／EVENT IN JAPANESE

去年デジモンアドベンチャー０１を見ました。小さいころ、アドベンチャー０１を見ましたから、日本語でこんなに懐かしいアニメを見ることができるなんて、うれしいです。今年は好きなデジモンシリーズ、デジモンアドベンチャー０２の映画が発表しました。正直に言えば、『デジモンアドベンチャー：』（リメイク）と『デジモンアドベンチャーtri.』あまり好きではありませんでした。だから、この映画が上手くなってくれればいいと思います。

対話／DIALOGUE

Nothing like a good book to keep you up at night.

[本がすごいね]

A: おい、おまえ、午前3時だよ。まだ起きているなんて、何をしてる？

B: 。。。

A: おい、聞こえるか、リョウ？！こっちの政界に戻ってこい〜！

B: あ、ごめん。耳栓を付けた。どうした？

A: 午前３時だよ。何をしてる？

B: やべえ！そんな時間？！いいところだったから、つい。。。

A: まあ、春休みだから、いいよ。何の本か？

B: 名探偵コナンから紅恋歌。

A: そんなノベライズある？

B: うん。『ハロウィンの嫁』があればいいけど。

A: あ、そうか。残業だから、俺たちは見なかったな。

B: 2週間後に公開される映画を見たいなあ。

A: 灰原のやつの？最高みたい。見に行けない？

B: いいよ、読み続けていい？

A: うん。読み終えたら、その本を借りさせてほしい。

B: ハイハイ。

[Books are great]

A: Dude, it’s like 3 in the morning. What are you still doing up?

B: …

A: Hey, Earth to Ryou!

B: Oh, sorry man. Had earplugs in. What’s up?

A: It’s 3 in the morning, dude. What are you doing?

B: Oh shoot! It’s that late?! Got to a good part in this book so…

A: Well I guess it’s fine since spring just started. What book is that anyway?

B: Detective Conan Crimson Love Letter.

A: They have novelizations of that?

B: Yeah. Wish they’d do the Halloween Bride.

A: Oh yeah, you didn’t get to see it because we were doing a lot of overtime.

B: Hopefully I can watch the new one coming out in a couple of weeks.

A: Oh, the one with Haibara. Looks like it’s going to be awesome. Let’s go see it.

B: Sure, can I get back to my book now?

A: Yeah. And let me know when you’re done. I want to read it.

B: Yeah yeah.

救世の大冒険／KYUUSEI’S ADVENTURE

第４１回

虹色の羽の事が知りたいから、エンジュシティに飛んでいった。ロック・リーもうなくなったから、パソコンでバッブルズはゲットだ。かいりきという技を覚えてよかった。後で、便利になったかも。もっと強くなりたいけど。みんなの中で、今のバブルズは最後のジムリーダーに勝てない。それに、スズの塔の屋根にいるポケモンがいるそう。

あ、そうだ。具合が悪いミルタンクがいる牧場だ。モーモー牧場だっけ？木の実を食べさせて、元気になった。それで、５００円でモーモーミルクを買った。おいしそう。バブルズがちょっとだけ強くなったから、スズの塔に行こう。

ここはまるで、迷路のように見える。階段、段差、ワープパネルがたくさんある。こんなところで坊主たちはどうやって迷子にならないのか？途中で、あきらめたくて、あなぬけのヒモを使いたいが、続けることに決めた。まあ、坊主たちはポケモンが屋根にいると言ったから、カッコイイポケモンがいるはず。すごい。。。めちゃでかい！やっぱり、このポケモンの羽は虹色だ。よっしゃ、行こう。

＃４１

Flew to Ecruteak City to find out more about this Rainbow Wing. Now that I’ve lost Rock Lee, I got Bubbles out of the PC. Thank goodness she can learn Strength. It might come in handy later. Need her to get stronger though. Compared to everyone else she doesn’t stand a chance against the last Gym. Plus there seems to be a Pokemon on top of the Tin Tower. 

Oh yeah there was a farm around here with sick Milktank. Gave it some berries and it became healthy. Bought some of its milk for 500 yen. It looks tasty. Bubbles got a little stronger so I think we can head to the Tin Tower. 

This place is a big maze with stairs, ledges and teleportation panels. How do the monks not get lost in this place? I was about to give up halfway and use an escape rope but I decided to keep going. Besides, they said that a Pokemon is up here so it better be a cool looking one. Oh… this thing is freaking huge. Yep, this Pokemon has the same feathers as this Rainbow Wing. We are ready 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！

What’s in A Title: After the Rain

白雨

白（はく）

This kanji is the word for white. It can be read as しろ、はく、 はっ、etc. 

雨（う）

This kanji is the word for rain. It can be read as あめ、あま～、 う、etc. So together, we have a “white shower”. Could the white be coming from the white clouds? Surely it’s not raining milk. So perhaps…

Put together it means a “rain shower” or “sun shower”. In other words, rain that falls when it is sunny and white clouds are in the sky.

Simply put this was a fairly easy translation. However I wanted to discuss the anime’s title and break that down to some degree as well.

恋は雨上がりのように is what it is called. I’ll break down the title as well.

恋（こい） means love. And we know that は is a particle that is used to talk about a topic. In this case love. In short we can read this as “Love is” for now.

雨上がり（あめあがり）

It has the kanji for rain, 雨 and the kanji for rise, 上がり. When put together, it means “after the rain” which is what the official translation has given us as the title. However, as you can see from the “Love is” there is more to this title than just that.

の in this context is a possessive particle but when put with ように it ends up translating to “like” or “similar to”.

So a more direct translation would be “Love is Like After the Rain”.

I’ve been wanting to watch this show for many years. Unfortunately, the show was on Amazon’s anime streaming platform Anime Strike when it aired. Had to be an Amazon Prime member and had to pay an extra fee in order to watch the anime that they licensed. Pretty crappy on their part but I digress.

HiDive has licensed it, so I was finally able to watch it. Now that I have some books under my belt and my reading skills have improved, I’ll buy the manga on Bookwalker since it ended back in 2018. Plus, it only has 10 volumes. 

The show follows a former high school track star who ends up falling in love with her manager at the diner she works at. They have quite the age gap and yet she still is in love with him. For these types of relationships to be explored in one of my favorite mediums is interesting to say the least. I’ve enjoyed what I saw. An 8/10 score for me.

Book Review: Top Secret

Decided to read a new series about spies. This book was written by あんのまる and the illustrations are done by シン. The series is relatively new (only 4 volumes).

Here’s a brief synopsis of the plot.

The book started off with getting to know some background about the school. It is an academy for spies and our female protagonist Nano （ナノ）wants to be the best spy in the world. But her grades aren’t the best. As for the male protagonist Reo （レオ）, he’s a successful student but still hasn’t risen to the best class the academy has to offer. Together these two must go on a mission to save their academy.

If you are interested in checking this series out after reading this review, you can find it on Bookwalker. The first 3 volumes are on sale until April 6th (JST).

ENTERTAINMENT

It was a slow at first but it gradually picked up speed when the mission started. The story is told through the point of view of Nano. She can be somewhat of an unreliable narrator at times. Like when she doesn’t want to bore herself explaining Reo and her abilities. The action scenes are pretty good and the mysterious vibe from some of the characters you meet in the book make you want to learn more about them.

The main characters Nano and Reo seem to butt heads quite a lot during the mission due to their different ideals. Nonetheless, their character dynamic is good and I look forward to see what is in store for them in further volumes.

LANGUAGE LEARNING

As this was this first book, it was a bit difficult getting into the writing style. I can see this being the same difficulty as a Kaito Red novel. The grammar isn’t hard and considering there is furigana on each kanji, it makes things easier to look up. Looked up 97 words while reading. Here are some interesting words I found while reading:

勘（かん）のいい　＝ perceptive, intuitive, quick on the uptake

見（み）まくる　＝ to watch over and over again

  • 見 = see, watch
  • まくる = to do something over (this is a handy grammar point)

見（み）せしめ　＝ make an example of, setting an example

腐れ縁（くされえん）　＝ an undesirable but inseparable relationship

欠（か）かせない　＝ indispensable, fundamental

A SMALL JAPANESE REVIEW

最初は、面白くないと思いましたが、だんだん面白くなりました。ナノとレオなどは不思議な存在です。まあ、スパイを目指しますから、当たり前ですね。もっと知りたいです。理想だけ見るナノと現実だけ見るレオ＝水と油。でも、二人なら、ミッションを達成できそうです。どんでん返しはすごかったです。

ちょっと気になります。もしかして。。。学園はワシントンDCにありますかなあ。

NEXT BOOK…

My first official light novel will be 『おまえをオタクにしてやるから、俺をリア充にしてくれ！』or “I’ll Make You An Otaku, So Make Me A Normie”. This books is fun so far. It kind of reminds me of Oreimo (minus the sibling thing). This book came out back in 2011 so I can see why it does. I’ll be taking my time with this one, so I’m breaking away from monthly reviews for now.

What’s in a Title: Doruma-san

残念妖精ドルマさん

残念（ざんねん）

This word can mean bad luck, regret, disappointment. When someone is going through a rough patch in life you could harshly say this to mean “that’s too bad”. (Note: A better less socially inept way to say it would be “かわいそう”). I will go with the word “disappointment” and see if I have to change it slightly according to the next word.

妖精（ようせい）

The first kanji can mean “attractive, bewitching, calamity”. The mascot for this manga is kinda cute (attractive) but kinda creepy at the same time. The second kanji can mean “ghost, fairy”. From the definition itself it can mean sprite or elf as well. However, I’ll go with “fairy”. Put this together with the first word and you get “Disappointing Fairy” or better yet “Pitiful Fairy”.

On another note, 妖精さん can mean an older worker who doesn’t have much to do anymore. If you ever read the first chapter of this manga, this character is basically a washed up magical girl mascot character (notice the poor stitch-job in the picture).

ドルマさん

 This is just the name of the fairy aka mascot of the magical girl. It reads Doruma and さん is just putting respect on the little guy’s name. Unfortunately (残念), it doesn’t get much respect in the manga.

So put it all together, you get “Pitiful Fairy Doruma-san”. Since this manga is relatively new (meaning no official english release at this time) I can only give an unofficial translation. Hopefully, they come up with something better if it does get picked up. 

So far from reading the first chapter, it is about a magical girl mascot character looking for a new magical girl to team up with. However it doesn’t look as cute as normal characters in this profession are. On top of that it’s comically large. I love how avant garde the design is. Usually in magical girl anime the mascot character is supposed to be small and cute but…

Anyway, Doruma meets this girl who is just trying to buy some stuff at the convenience store and wants to make a contract with her. If she signs the contract she also gets a wish (I’m getting Madoka Magica vibes here). Especially since she’s the only one who is able to see Doruma. It’s got some good comedy and you’ll be surprised what she wishes for so she can become a magical girl.

If you are interested in reading it (it has furigana), you can find it on Comic Newtype.

There’s also a volume of the manga on Bookwalker. Here’s a PV:

Made a Bilingual Detective Conan Tribute Page

日本語の練習 第165週
Japanese Practice Week 165

2023年03月26日「日」第165週 

日本語のイベント／EVENT IN JAPANESE

去年HTMLとCSSを勉強し始めました。高校生の頃、こんな授業がありましたが、受けませんでした。受ければよかった(^-^;。コードキャンプというサイトのおかげで、勉強しているから、それでいいです。これでいろんなことができます。だから、名探偵コナンのページを作ってみました。すごく楽しかったです。名探偵コナンが好きなら、ごらんください。

対話／DIALOGUE

Boruto is finally over… what to do now?

[別れ、ボルト]

A: ボルトはもう終わったなあ？

B: うん。色々あったか。楽しかったがー

A: アニオリがたくさん。

B: そうそう、ほとんどはクソ。いいアニオリがある。たとえば、忍者アカデミー。

A: 確かに。ヒマワリの出番がついに来た。うれしかった。

B: いつ戻るかな？長い時間かかるだろ？

A: まあ、たぶん。マンガは毎月１話を出すから、しかたない。

B: 最初からシーズンを発表した方がいいだろう。

A: ヒロアカみたい？

B: うん。毎年見られる。

A: アニオリあっちこっちがあれば、構わなかった。

B: たとえば、サスケ列伝？

A: それでいいね。まあ、少なくともマンガはまだあるから大丈夫。

B: あ、忘れてた。

A: なんだ？

B: 今月の話を読まなかった。

A: うそ！なんだよ、おまえ？読んだ方がいいよ。

B: そんなにいい話なのか？

A: マジ上手かった。

[Farewell Boruto]

A: Can’t believe Boruto is finally over.

B: Yeah. It’s been going on for so long. It’s been fun but- 

A: There was so much filler.

B: Right, some were good. Like the Ninja academy arc.

A: You’ve got a point. Great to see Himawari get some screen time.

B: Guess it’ll be some time before the anime comes back.

A: Probably. The manga is still coming out monthly so this is necessary.

B: Would’ve been a better idea to just split them into seasons.

A: Like Hero Aca.

B: Yeah. You get one season each year. 

A: Wouldn’t mind some of the filler arcs thrown in.

B: Sasuke Retsuden Arc was good.

A: That would be nice. Welp, at least we still got the manga.

B: Ah, crap. I forgot.

A: What?

B: I haven’t read this month’s chapter yet.

A: No way! What the heck, dude? Go and read it.

B: Is it that good?

A: It’s freaking great.

救世の大冒険／KYUUSEI’S ADVENTURE

第４０回

みんな疲れそうだが、あきらめない。もう一つの幹部を倒すと、終えることができる。コチョウにとってデルビルは強すぎるから、トリヤマに入れ替えた。でも、危うくやられるところだから、ハナビに入れ替えた。デルビルもドガースを倒すことができるが毒された。おまけに、最後のポケモンはやばかった。ロック・リーがいたなら。。。ヘルガーはさっきのデルビルを進化させるフォームみたい。

ハナビが大ピンチだから、スタティックに入れ替えて、終えさせた。いいキズぐすりをたくさん使うあとで、あいつをマヒさせることができて、倒せた。あとで、幹部のやつはロケット団を解散した。まあ、それでいいわ。そういえば、さっきのメンバーはなんでポケモンセンターに行って、ポケモンを回復して、ラジオ塔に戻ってなかったのか？やったら、絶対に負けるじゃん。まあ、こんな行動はあいつらだって、卑怯すぎるかもね？

ともかく、ラジオ塔はもう大丈夫。出かけようとしたら、局長から虹色の羽をもらった。おまけに、このラジオ塔は昔、塔だったんですよって。エンジュシティの塔みたい？工事しながら、これを見つけた。いいやん。虹色の羽があるポケモンがいるのか？エンジュシティに行って、調べる。まず、みんなを回復させないと。

＃４０

Everyone is tired but we can’t give up just yet. One more executive and we can stop them. Houndour seems a bit too much for Kochou so I switched to Toriyama. It almost killed him so I switched to Hanabi to take it down. Hanabi was able to take down Koffing as well but was poisoned. His last Pokemon was the toughest. I wish Rock Lee was here. Houndoom looks like an evolved version of that Houndour we fought a while ago. 

It almost killed Hanabi so switched to Static to finish the job. After many super potions, Static was able to paralyze and take it down. After the battle, the Executive decided to disband Team Rocket. Well, that’s good. Now that I think about it, why didn’t the members I beat go to the Pokemon Center and heal their Pokemon? Couldn’t they have put me in a consecutive deathmatch? Guess that’s too low for them. 

Anyway, the Radio Tower is fine now. Just as I was about to leave, the Director came in and gave me a Rainbow Wing. Told me there used to be a tower in Goldenrod City. Like the one in Ecruteak City? Oh, so the Radio Tower used to be that tower. And they found this while doing construction. Interesting. So there’s a Pokemon out there with rainbow wings? I better go and check that out in Ecruteak City. But first I should heal my Pokemon.

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！