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Afterword

Hello, this is Wataru Watari.

We’ve finally hit summer, the perfect season for shutting yourself up at home and lying around in an air-conditioned room watching anime and reading manga. Hey, no, don’t get the wrong idea. I’m just a health freak. I avoid direct sunlight and going outside in order to decrease my risk of skin cancer. It is not at all that I have no plans to go out and be social.

But seriously, you’ve got to be careful. They call it summer break, so if you don’t dutifully take a break at home, you’ll actually be treading treacherous waters, legally speaking.

And speaking of danger, summer is full of dangers, you know. There’s the ocean, and then mountains, rivers, wealth… No, wait, that’s an enka singer. There’s an abundance of other dangers, too, you know. Pools and arcades, malls, shopping districts, commuter trains, workplaces, also workplaces, and plus, workplaces. Or even workplaces, too. Oh, and workplaces.

You see these people when you’re on the commuter train—people heading to Tokyo Disneyland. You’ll be on your way home, hand on one of the hanging straps as you start to nod off, and you see these couples wearing nezumimimi mouse ears, or nezu-mi for short…

Seeing them makes me think about things, you know? Like, What the hell was I doing when I was a teenager? or I wonder why I’m working or Why do I have a job? or For what reason am I employed…? You know, all kinds of things.

Recently, I’ve been sleeping about three hours a night on average. But since I finished the draft for Volume 5, I will be freed from that lifestyle for a while. I’m saying good-bye to that old life! Good-bye, days of only being able to sleep three hours a night! Hello, my days of only being able to sleep an hour and a half a night!

…Wait, what?

Yes, well, there are so many people who are enthusiastically shrieking with anticipation for my work… How should I put it, um, I’d like a little more sleep than that, so would someone please be my breadwinner? Any who are willing, please send a letter to the editing department of Shogakukan Gagaga Bunko. I’ll be waiting.

A lot of people have expressed their concern for me, like “Oh, it must be rough!” but I love working and writing, so it’s okay. Right now, I’m just being like, you know, “I—I don’t like working at all! R-really, okay! I-I’m actually totally fine…”

I’ll still keep working hard!

Anyway, as it was announced on the obi ad of this volume—and can you believe it—My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, as I Expected is being made into a TV anime! Yay! People used to tell me, like, “You won a prize, but your books are some of the worst-selling ever,” or “Your sales are so bad, I can’t even understand why you won a prize. Actually, what are prizes, really?” They called me Wataru Watari, Melter of Logic, the Idea General who can even destroy the idea of a book prize! But then my books got a TV anime…

It is thanks to the support of many people that I have managed to come this far. You have all taken me to a magical realm I absolutely could not have reached on my own. It’s all thanks to your encouragement. Thank you so very much. Your happiness and gratitude will be my driving force as from Volume 5 and 6 and onward, I’ll be stepping on the ga-ga-gas!

We’ve been able to see bits and pieces of a lot of things in Volume 5. Hachiman’s heart has moved just a tad; his world has inched forward and taken a step backward and then spun in place just a little bit. You can see that anywhere, of course, but this is his unique story just for him. I wonder how things will go in Volume 6. I’ll get help and piggyback rides and hugs from lots of people for the next volume, too! I’ll work so hard to reply on a higher power, Shinran will weep tears of joy in his grave!

Below is the same old acknowledgments section.

To holy Ponkan : You’ve been doing so much work lately, not only this volume but the extras and everything. You’re doing an 8man job! Thank you for all your hard work. Finally, it’s Totsuka on the cover! Yay! Thank you so much!

To my editor, Hoshino-sama: U-um… I-I’m really…sorry… No, you’ve got it wrong, actually, um…but if I say any more, it’ll just be an excuse, so… A-anyway, thank you very much!

To Watari Wataru-sama: Thank you for your comments on the obi. They were so amazing, you would never know that it was a last-minute editorial decision to make you do it! Wait, what the heck is this?

To all the writers: As you all were just barely blasting through deadlines like Bojack Unbound and I was busy drinking, you came up with stories and alibis for me and worked things out with my editor and everything. Thank you so much. I’ll be counting on you all next time, too.

And to all my readers: Thank you for your continuous support. Every time I get a warm comment or impression from a reader, it makes my sleepiness, my back pain, and my exhaustion all fly away. It’s something of a drug. I think there’s still much to come in this series, so I am blessed to have your unfaltering patronage and encouragement. Thank you very much. I hope you’ll stay with me.

Now then, on that note, I think I will set down my pen here.

On a certain day in August, in a certain place in Chiba prefecture, while admonishing myself for being even sweeter to myself than MAX Coffee,

Wataru Watari

 

 

Translation Notes

 

Chapter 1 … All of a sudden, the tranquility of the Hikigaya household collapses.

1 “Why don’t I smoosh your toe beans, too?!” This is a play on a lyric from the 1980s’ heavy metal band Seikima-II. At the beginning of the song “Rouningyou no Yakara” (House of wax dolls), the lead singer yells out the line, “Why don’t I turn you into a wax doll, too?”

2 “In other words, she is a woman whose future has just begun, and ultimately, she is also the last among her kin: She is the alpha and omega.” The second half of the kanji character for “sister” appears in the word for “future” and “youngest child.”

3 “I love, love, really love, super love you, too.” Suki Suki Daisuki Chou Aishiteru by Outarou Maijou is not a straightforward romance story, but a thoughtful novel on the nature of love.

4 “Gazelles are only supposed to show up on the savanna, at zoos, or in Kinnikuman Nisei.” Gazelleman is the name of a character in Kinnikuman Nisei by Yudetamago, a sequel series to the original Kinnikuman comedy superhero series, also known as Ultimate Muscle in English.

5 The Outer Zone is a science fiction manga by Shin Mitsuhara about another dimension called the Outer Zone, drawing heavily from the American science fiction TV show The Twilight Zone, which was known as The Mystery Zone in Japan.

6 “I guess I’m nothing but a rude and brash fool. I might even end up spilling ashes all over the mortuary tablet at my dad’s funeral.” The legendary general of the Warring States era, Oda Nobunaga, was often referred to in these terms when he was young, and he was said to have deliberately spilled the ashes from incense on the mortuary tablet at his father’s funeral.

7 “Haven’t you heard? You’re living in a haunted house!” In the Studio Ghibli movie My Neighbor Totoro, the young boy Kanta says this to Granny and Satsuki.

8 Frisky Mon Petit is a brand of cat food.

9 The Beast Spear, from the manga Ushio and Tora by Kazuhiro Fujita, is a supernatural weapon. When used, the user transforms with it, and the transformation often involves growing a lot of long hair.

10 A spinning pile driver is one of Zangief’s special attacks, originally introduced in Street Fighter II.

11 “…I didn’t know what to do. Woof, woof, wa-woof.” This is a line from a children’s song called “Inu no Mawari-san” (The doggy policeman). In the song, the policeman encounters a little kitty girl who doesn’t know the way home, and he doesn’t know how to help her. He just says, “Woof, woof, wa-woof.”

12 “I am The Japanese That Can Say No…” The Japan That Can Say No was an essay written by the politician Shintaro Ishihara in 1989. The gist of the essay was about taking a hard line with the United States in negotiations instead of playing a yes-man to America.

13 “It’s like that old saying, ‘He’s full of eight hundred lies.’ Except with me, it’s eighty thousand. ’Cause I’m Hachiman.” Hachiman’s name is a pun on the number eighty thousand. In Japanese, “eight hundred lies” is an idiom meaning “full of lies.”

14 “Am I a certain former spirit detective now…?” Hachiman is referring to Shinobu Sensui, the main antagonist of the Chapter Black Saga of the shonen battle manga YuYu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi. Sensui has a particular loathing for the human race.

15 “Friends, I like cats… I love every single cat that lives upon this earth.” This is a parody of a speech from the Major in Hellsing by Kouta Hirano. In the original speech, he is talking about how much he loves war.

16 “I hate anyone who doesn’t value life!” This is a characteristic quote from Therru in the Studio Ghibli movie Tales from Earthsea.

Chapter 2 … Sure enough, he’s forgotten Saki Kawasaki.

1 “My goal for now was the Center Test.” The National Center Test for University Admissions is a standardized test used by some universities in Japan to determine admission, held once a year for two days. Those who do poorly must spend another year studying to take it again.

2 “Position the Center as target and pull the switch…” This is a reference to episode 3 of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Shinji agrees to pilot the Eva but really doesn’t want to do it. With a hollow look in his eyes, he does target practice, repeating, “Position target in the center and pull the switch.”

3 “‘Idiot! You hid the enemy with your own smoke!’” After the target practice scene in episode 3 of Evangelion, Shinji goes in to battle the Angel Shamshel, and that’s when Misato yells this at him in an attempt to snap him out of it.

4 “Blood Type Blue!” In Evangelion, Blood Type Blue indicates that an entity is unambiguously one of the mysterious and deadly entities known as Angels.

5 “Her hair was so blue, I thought she was a Gagaga book.” Gagaga is the label that publishes this series. The spines on all the books they publish are deep blue.

6 “Make your square head round.” This is the slogan for Nichinoken, a cram school that mainly prepares elementary school students for middle school entrance examinations.

7 “TONE Coca-Cola Bottling should team up with somebody…” Established in 1962 as Tone Beverages and later bought out by Coca-Cola, TONE Coca-Cola Bottling was previously located in Chiba, Ibaraki, and Tochigi prefectures, making many Japan-only beverages such as MAX Coffee. It has since been merged into Coca-Cola East Japan.

8 Tora no Ana is an otaku-goods chain that sells manga, doujinshi, and related merchandise.

9 “From here on out, the game will belong to Stealth Hikki, yo!” “This is Stealth Momo’s time to shine!” is a quote from Momoko Touyoko in the mah-jongg manga Saki by Ritz Kobayashi. She calls herself “Stealth Momo” because she is so often ignored and unnoticed.

10 “Then I’d just have to put up some on-screen text to reassure everyone that *the staff ate it all afterward!” This line is generally an empty placation used on TV shows where they waste food in this way. Often, older viewers who remember the postwar austerity get angry when they see food wasted.

11 “I could actually feel my soul gem darkening.” In Magical Girl Madoka Magica, soul gems are the source of magical girls’ power, and when they turn black due to emotional disturbances, the magical girl becomes a witch bent on destruction.

12 Sano Yakuyoke Daishi is one of three temples built in worship of the Buddhist leader Ryougen, while Kawasaki Daishi is the name of one of three temples built in worship of Kuukai. Both temples are situated in the Kanto area.

13 “Stop looking at my face. Look at my body.” This is a quote from Sannen B-gumi Kinpachi-sensei (Mr. Kinpachi from class 3-B), a TV drama about a middle school teacher and his ninth-grade class that originally began running in 1979, with multiple spin-off series running up until 2011. This particular quote is from the character Reiko Yamada, a delinquent girl, in the original 1979 run.

14 “The Law of the High School Student” is a parody of the oath of the Shinsengumi, a special police force organized by the military government in 1864. The vice commander of which, Toshizou Hijikata, was known for his brutal reputation. He was the son of a wealthy farmer, and not of the samurai class (the nobility).

15 “These days, I also like to say Know others and know thyself, and thou shalt retreat from one hundred battles.” The original Sun Tzu quote is, of course, “Know others and know thyself, and thou shalt not be imperiled in a hundred battles.”

16 “What an open and honest opinion. I’d like to present him with a variety pack of axes.” This is in reference to Aesop’s fable of the honest woodsman. The story involves a woodsman who is rewarded for his honesty with the present of a golden ax.

17 “First, I’ll destroy that screwed-up illusion of yours!” This is a quote from Touma Kamijo in the first volume of the light novel series A Certain Magical Index by Kazuma Kamachi. His magic skill is to negate other people’s powers.

Chapter 3 … Saika Totsuka has surprisingly subdued tastes.

1 “Or is it getting a full-time job, or turning twenty?” Twenty is the legal age of majority in Japan.

2 “The laws of the universe mean nothing…” This is a quote from Exdeath, the final boss of Final Fantasy V. It’s become a minor Internet meme, referenced whenever it seems like something incredible or disturbing might happen.

3 “When you mess with August… Totsuka is coming!” In this paragraph, Hachiman is inserting bits of the catchphrases of various characters from Smile Pretty Cure!, released in English as Glitter Force.

4 A Mini 4WD is a miniature race car that runs on a battery pack without remote control. The ones popular in Japan, sold primarily by the toy manufacturer Tamiya, are often hand assembled and highly customizable. You generally have to run them on a racetrack for them to run properly. They are mostly popular in Asia, but they’re also sold in a number of other countries. There was also a tie-in manga and anime called Bakusou Kyoudai Let’s + Go!!.

5 Medal games are ubiquitous at Japanese arcades. They are a sort of simulated gambling, since there are no casinos in Japan (gambling is illegal). You buy medals to play the game, and the game pays out in more medals.

6 “I’ve touched an angel!” “Tenshi ni Fureta yo!” (We’ve touched an angel!) is the name of a K-On! song by Ho-kago Tea Time, the voice actresses from the K-On! anime.


7 “The left hand is just for support!” This is a reference to a line from the basketball manga Slam Dunk by Takehiko Inoue. In one scene, Akagi teaches Hanamichi Sakuragi how to shoot—he’s describing holding a basketball. The quote has spawned an Internet meme, used to tag images whenever a left hand is cupping anything.

8 “The ever-obnoxious movie thief’s wiggly anti-piracy dance didn’t get on my nerves that day.” The movie thief (eiga dorobou) is an anti-piracy mascot, a man in a suit with the head of a digital camcorder who does a mime dance. In ads, he is often paired with a man in a policeman’s uniform with a police light for a head. Anti-piracy ads featuring this duo are ubiquitous in Japanese movie theaters. The movie thief and movie cop have become popularized in fan art, parody videos, and even yaoi doujinshi.

9 “I call this stage Black RX.” A reference to Kamen Rider: Black RX, the ninth installment of the classic show that ran from 1988 to 1989.

10 “Was it Shinkiba? …Well, I don’t care if he’s a Zaimoku or a Kimuraya or what.” Shinkiba is the name of a station in Tokyo. Zaimoku means “lumber” or “wood.” Kimuraya is a bakery chain store. All three words have the character for “wood” in them, like Zaimokuza’s name.

11 Lafcadio Hearn (1850–1904) was an international writer best known for his books about Japan, most famously Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, about Japanese ghost stories. His Japanese pen name was Yakumo Koizumi.

12 Kyouka Izumi (1873–1939) was a prewar novelist and playwright; much of his work features a certain supernatural element drawing on folklore and popular literature. Kunio Yanagita (1875–1962) was a folklorist particularly interested in local village customs and the lives of the common people, publishing a handful of books on folklore. Shinobu Orikuchi (1887–1953) was his disciple, a folklorist and writer.

13 “She Who Must Not Be Named is far more fearsome…foy.” The character Malfoy from Harry Potter is often referred to on the Internet by Japanese fans as “Foy,” and it has also turned into a humorous sentence-ending particle, foy.

14 The Pomera is a minimalist device purely used for notes and writing, with no apps or distractions attached. It’s about the size of a tablet, but with a built-in keyboard.

15 “I’m not Inventor Boy Kanipan.” Hatsumei Boy Kanipan (Inventor boy Kanipan) is a 1998–1999 anime about a young boy on a planet where humans and robots live together aiming to become an inventor.

16 “And just so you know, if they bring up ED, then they’re Pelé.” The former Brazilian soccer player starred in an advertisement about erectile dysfunction, which became quite popular on the Japanese Internet.

17 “They should write that he was cute in times past in Konjaku Monogatari and teach it in schools.” Konjaku Monogatari (published in English as Japanese Tales from Times Past: Stories of Fantasy and Folklore from the Konjaku Monogatari Shu) is a collection of stories written during the Heian period.

18 “‘I had it outfitted with a real hammer. In a head-on collision, it would destroy any opponent without exception…’ I also attached the marking pin from a sewing set onto my Ray Stinger.” In the Bakusou Kyoudai Let’s + Go manga and anime series, Mini 4WD competitors often attached real weapons to their cars in order to take out their opponents. Ray Stinger in particular was outfitted with a needle.

19 “I was inches from punching the air in front of me and yelling out Go! Maaaaagnum! Wait, that’s Galactica Magnum.” Magnum is the name of one of the two main cars in Bakusou Kyoudai Let’s + Go! Galactica Magnum, on the other hand, is the name of a special punch in Ring ni Kakero, the classic boxing manga by Masami Kurumada.

20 The Avante model Mini 4WD by Tamiya is an older “classic” model Mini 4WD originally released in the 1980s. By contrast, Beak Spider and Brocken Gigant are from the 1990s.

Chapter 4 … Unfortunately, nobody knows where Shizuka Hiratsuka’s red thread went.

1 “A real stay-at-home wife hands her husband a five-hundred-yen coin for his lunch…” Traditionally speaking, the wife handles the family finances in a Japanese household. The husband hands her his paycheck, and she handles the bills and gives him an allowance.

2 “I’m a full-wallet alchemist.” The original Japanese here was kogane no renkinjutsushi, meaning “pocket change alchemist,” in reference to the manga by Hiromu Arakawa, Hagane no Renkinjutsushi (Fullmetal Alchemist).

3 Takeoka-style ramen is a type of shoyu ramen where the base is boiled with the Japanese variant on char siu (barbecue pork). Katsuura tantanmen is a slight variation on the Szechuan dan-dan noodles, a spicy noodle bowl with minced pork.

4 “I was not preoccupied with a single spot. I saw everything in its entirety…effortlessly. That is what it means to truly ‘see,’ or so I hear.” This is a quote from the manga Vagabond by Takehiko Inoue.

5 “Drop dead, amen…” This is from the lyrics of the song “Wedding Bell” by Sugar, a song where a woman is resentful about a man and a woman getting married.

6 “The spiritual pressure…disappeared…?” This line is repeated over and over in Bleach by Tite Kubo, especially in reference to Chad. Among Japanese fans on the Internet, it has been shorthand to describe someone dying or being knocked out.

7 “Ramen! Do people do that?” This is a reference to a line from Kodoku no Gurume (The lonely gourmet) by Masayuki Qusumi and Jiro Taniguchi. The original line is “Takeaway! Do people do that?” when he sees a man taking pork miso soup as takeaway. He thinks since it will get cold, it won’t be any good.

8 “Does she have a full ABCD encirclement going on here?” ABCD encirclement was the Japanese name for foreign nations against Japan in the 1940s, including America, Britain, China, and the Dutch.

9 “…I would whirl them around, call the move Tsubame Gaeshi, and then tell everyone it was a family trade secret.” Tsubame Gaeshi, meaning literally “swallow’s return,” or sometimes “turning swallow cut,” was originally a move invented by the famous swordsman Kojirou Sasaki. The term has since been used to describe a variety of martial arts moves, both real and fictitious, from a real judo move to a special attack in Fate stay/night to a tennis strike in Prince of Tennis.

10 “Unfortunately, I’m more into the future boy than the boy detective.” Detective Conan, known as Case Closed in North America, is an extremely long-running and popular manga by Gosho Aoyama that began running in 1994. It’s about a high school detective trapped in the body of a child. Future Boy Conan is much older—it’s a 1978 TV postapocalyptic science fiction anime directed by Hayao Miyazaki. The two Conans are totally unrelated; they just have the same name.

11 “…with the texture of a flounder dancing on your tongue.” In the Japanese, Hikigaya says shakkiripon, a made-up word from the manga Kodoku no Gurume (The lonely gourmet). The word is supposed to mean “the texture of a flounder dancing on your tongue.”

12 Kyuuri means “cucumber,” which sounds somewhat like the name Kiryuu. Kiryuu Bannenchiten is a character from the harem manga Mamotte Shugogetten (Protect me, Shugogetten) that ran from 1997 to 2000.

13 Pepsi Ice Cucumber was a short-lived Japan-only product that was distributed in 2007 and cancelled the same year.

14 Iekei ramen is the name of a style of ramen with tonkotsu soy sauce base and thick straight noodles, originating with the shop Yoshimuraya in 1974. Ramen shops that serve this kind of ramen generally append ya at the end of their names, like Yoshimuraya.

15 “When you take the meat radical and add delicious to it, you get fat.” Miss Hiratsuka is talking about the shape of the Chinese characters.   (meat) plus   (delicious) equals   (fat).

Chapter 5 … Komachi Hikigaya considers that one day, her brother may leave.

1 “Bancho Sarayashiki” is a classic ghost story. While there are a number of variations on the tale, all versions of the story involve the ghost of a woman counting plates and always coming up one short.

2 “If I put a circle on the calendar, that would be Takoyaki Manto Man.” “Karendaa ni Maru” (Circle on the calendar) is the name of the ending theme song of Takyoyaki Manto Man (Octopus ball Cape Man), an anime about takoyaki fighting crime.

3 “Hey, did you do a time leap?” This is a reference to The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, a novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui that was originally published in installments from 1965 to 1966. It has been adapted many times, most famously into the 2006 animated film directed by Mamoru Hosoda.

4 “Kamakura snorted a funsu! and stood from where he was sprawled over my feet.” Funsu! is the characteristic snorting noise that Yui Hirasawa from K-On! makes when she’s getting fired up. It originally appeared in the sixth episode of the anime.

5 The catbus from the movie My Neighbor Totoro has an especially large mouth.

6 “I promptly began howling toward the future.” “Mirai e no Houkou” (Howling toward the future) is the name of a song by JAM Project, which featured in the H game Muv-Love Alternative.

7 “Why do the fireflies die so quickly?” This is a quote from Setsuko in the movie Grave of the Fireflies, foreshadowing her and her brother’s death. In the Japanese, her Kansai accent makes this line all the more iconic.

8 “…Oh, this reminds me of the Showa era!” The Showa era spanned the years 1926 to 1989, corresponding with the reign of the Showa emperor, Hirohito. The current era is the Heisei, beginning when Akihito ascended to the throne.

9 “It’s like how you’ll learn moves faster if you cancel evolution with the B button.” Hachiman is referring to, of course, evolving Pokémon.

10 “Komachi and I stopped, waiting there for Sablé to finish literally chewing the scenery.” The original Japanese is “Sablé was literally eating grass by the roadside,” a Japanese idiom that means “wasting time.”

11 “…but if some random hippo suddenly showed up to greet me and recommend me some mouthwash, I would not feel blessed at all.” This is a reference to a 1995 ad for an Isodine (isojin), a gargling solution to prevent sickness. A woman comes home, saying, “There’s no one here to welcome me home…” and she’s greeted by a couple of miniature hippos (mascots for the brand), and they gargle together.

12 “What is this loneliness you speak of? Is it something you’ll go check out, something you’ll go find in your neighborhood Akihabara?” Hachiman is referencing a 1990s ad for the Sato Musen electronics company (merged with Yamada Denki in 2008). The ad features a pair of leopards (the company logo featured a leopard) riding skateboards and enticing the viewer to come check out, come find a wonderful something in your neighborhood Akihabara. They use the English word something, which Hachiman is trying to rhyme here with samishii (lonely).

13 “I’ll stay at home until I get married off… Then until I get married on.” Japanese has a number of different words for “marriage” that are gender specific. Totsugu, the first word he used, is for women, as she leaves her family to become a housewife in her husband’s family. Mukogu is a made-up word from the word muko, meaning “son-in-law,” and references the practice of mukoiri, in which a man with no sons adopts his daughter’s husband as his heir instead, and the son-in-law adopts his new father’s surname. This is fairly rare, but it does happen on occasion.

14 “They’re so good, they could even work on the Ant King.” The Chimera Ant King is the antagonist of one of the later arcs of the manga Hunter x Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi.

15 The Siege of Osaka was a series of battles near the end of the Sengoku era undertaken by the Tokugawa shogunate against the Toyotomi clan—Tokugawa won. Osaka Castle had two moats around it.

16 “Sheeeh!” is a comic pose that originated from the character Iyami in the classic manga Osomatsu-kun by Fujio Akatsuka. The pose became something of a fad in the 1960s and onward.

17 Ray Sefo is a New Zealand kickboxer, boxer, and mixed martial artist, famous for letting his guard down to taunt his opponent, telling him to go ahead and take a shot.

18 “Itchy. Tasty.” is a famous line from a journal in the original Resident Evil game. The journal describes an animal keeper slowly becoming infected with the zombie virus and losing his mind. The only thing written on the very last page is Itchy. Tasty.

Chapter 6 … And so Yui Yuigahama disappears into the throng.

1 Hamtaro is the protagonist of a children’s manga and storybook series of the same name by Ritsuko Kawai, with a very popular anime adaptation. He’s a hamster.

2 “The only thing I can think of that’s this silent is Seagal.” In Japanese ads for the movies starring the old action star Steven Seagal, his character was often described as “The silent _____.”

3 Kabaya is a Japanese confectionery company. They have a line of products called “Ju-C.”

4 Toei Animation is one of the most famous and successful animation studios in Japan, producing many hit long-running series that are popular with small children, such as the franchises of Dragon Ball, One Piece, and Pretty Cure. Their parent company, a film and television corporation, also does live-action sentai series such as Kamen Rider. These series in particular are often featured on cotton candy bags to appeal to children.

5 Jewelpet Pretty Cure is a crossover series between Pretty Cure and the Jewelpet franchise, and Pretty Rhythm is an arcade game based off Pretty Cure. Both are rather obscure spin-offs of what is a massive, sprawling franchise marketed at little girls. As with any magical girl show, though, there is an adult male following.

6 Tokumei Research 200X was an old TV variety show that ran from 1996 to 2004. It mainly focused on occult topics.

7 “I’ll become a tree!” This is a reference to a line from the character Eru Chitanda from the Kotenbu series of mystery novels by Honobu Yonezawa, which was adapted into the anime Hyouka. She has the habit of saying “Watashi, ki ni narimasu!” (“I’m curious!”). Hachiman has punned this (as this line so often is), reading the line as “I’ll become a tree!” by changing the kanji for ki to mean “tree.”

8 “Why are you making it sound like the All-Girls Swimming Show?” Yuigahama is talking about Doki! Marugoto Mizugi! Onna Darake no Suiei Taikai (Heart pounding! All swimsuits! The all-girls swimming show!), a spin-off of the Swimming Show idol pop star variety show that began in 1970, with swimming as a theme. 1988 was the first season of the all-girls edition, which continued until 2003.

9 “It’s a habit of mine to walk without making a sound.” This is a quote from the character Killua in the long-running shonen manga Hunter X Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi. Killua was trained from birth to be an assassin.

10 “…like I was dodging wooden men to become a Shaolin monk…” Shaolin Wooden Men (1976) is a Jackie Chan film. The scene Hachiman refers to is the graduation ceremony of Shaolin monks, which involves passing through a corridor while dodging kicks and punches from wooden men all along the way.

11 “She tugged my ear just like Sazae does to Katsuo.” The classic manga Sazae-san began its run in 1946 in a regional newspaper, finally ending in 1974. The anime series began in 1969 and continues to this day, making it the longest-running animated series of all time, beating out even Doraemon. It’s essentially a domestic comedy about a housewife, Sazae-san, and her family. Katsuo is her younger brother—over ten years younger than Sazae—and she often grabs him by the ear like that. Nakajima is Katsuo’s best friend, and Katsuo often invites him to go play baseball.

12 “I am not playing the field… It’s not gonna happen.” The original text here was something to the effect of “Playing around? Getting serious? No way would that ever happen. That’s about as implausible as Motivation! Energy! Iwaki! I don’t know what she wanted me to say, but it can’t be anything good~zaki!” In Japanese, it’s a series of words ending in the syllable ki. First is uwaki (cheating/playing around) and honki (serious). Then it’s followed by a play on the campaign slogan for the former LDP member Nobuko Iwaki: Yaruki, genki, Iwaki! (Motivation, energy, Iwaki!). Finally, he references a phrase from a political ad for Takenori Kanzaki, Sou wa Ikanzaki! (That’s Ikanzaki!), which itself puns on the phrase Sou wa ikan zo! (We can’t have that!)

13 “There were so many dodonpas, I was like, are you Mercenary Tao or what?” In Akira Toriyama’s manga Dragon Ball, Mercenary Tao is the first character featured using the skill Dodonpa, which is sometimes translated as “Dodon Ray” or occasionally “Boom Wave.”

14 “That’s beyond a fortified armor shell; that’s basically a Gundam.” A “fortified armor shell” is the name of the mecha suit from the manga Apocalypse Zero by Takayuki Yamaguchi. It’s small and fits the human body—about the size of an Iron Man suit. A mobile suit from the Gundam franchise is far larger—giant-robot sized.

15 “Yep, this sauce is indeed a boy flavor.” This is a reference to a line from the manga Kodoku no Gurume (The lonely gourmet).

Chapter 8 … Yukino Yukinoshita stands in place, just for a moment.

1 “When weekdays and weekends cross paths, that is where I wish to close the curtains on the story of Hachiman Hikigaya.” This is a play on the tagline from the A Certain Magical Index series by Kazuma Kamachi, the original being “When science and magic cross paths, a story is born.”

2 “The period at the end of a holiday has so much Bad Energy stored up, it’s bad enough to take the whole world to the Worst Ending.” This is a reference to the main conflict of Smile Pretty Cure, the ninth installment of the Pretty Cure franchise. The villains are from a place called Bad End Kingdom. They travel to earth to collect Bad Energy to inflict the Worst Ending on all the worlds in the universe.

Afterword

1 “There’s the ocean, and then mountains, rivers, wealth… No, wait, that’s an enka singer.” Yamakawa Yutaka is an enka singer whose name is spelled with the characters for “mountain,” “river,” and “wealth.” Enka is a genre of Japanese music favored by older generations that stylistically resembles traditional Japanese music.

2 “I’ll work so hard to reply on a higher power, Shinran will weep tears of joy in his grave!” Shinran (AD 1173–1263) was a Buddhist monk and the founder of the Joudo Shinshuu sect of Buddhism. This school preaches reliance on another power, that is to say relying on the Amitabha Buddha, rather than engaging in specific acts.

3 “As you all were just barely blasting through deadlines like Bojack Unbound…” He is referencing the ninth Dragon Ball Z movie, Bojack Unbound. The first part of the Japanese title, Ginga Girigiri, means “galaxy at the brink,” and in this case, they were at the brink of their deadlines.



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