Afterword
Hello, this is Wataru Watari.
It’s almost spring, isn’t it? And spring is the season of meetings and partings. I would like to part with work hell already.
Good-bye, life of an hour and a half of sleep a night! Hello, cardiac arrhythmia and physical reexamination! There has been some stress, too, but I’m doing all right. I’m okay with staying up all night tonight again, too!
And so, this has been Volume 7 of My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected.
The moment you think the story has nothing to do with them, it is, in fact, their story, and in truth, when you probe deeper, it was their story all along. I don’t understand what I’m saying here.
And so as such, starting from here, the story moves in fits and starts.
And now, the acknowledgments:
Holy Ponkan : I’ve got to think of a title greater than Holy soon! How about Supreme Kai? Your work in both the regular edition and the special edition was absolutely amazing. Thank you very much.
To Sou Sagara: Thank you for miraculously writing comments on the book band for me during that busy period when the anime was being broadcast at the same time. And while I’m thanking you, I’ll make sure to advertise the anime: Starting in April, the anime My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected will be on TV! Please see it!
To all the staff involved with the production of the drama CD: I’m very sorry for forcing such a terrible schedule on you. All your efforts have made this drama CD really fun. Honestly, thank you so much.
To all the cast: The way you’ve breathed life into the characters has made them feel even closer to my heart. During each dubbing session, I was so filled with emotion! Thank you very much.
To all the writers: You guys never invite me drinking. But that’s because I shouldn’t just be waiting for an invitation, right? Thank you very much for all the consideration you’ve shown me.
To everyone involved with the media franchise: I feel deeply obliged for all the trouble I continue to cause for you. I’m really looking forward to being able to see new adaptations into various media forms. Thank you very much. I’m grateful for your continued support.
And finally, to all my readers: We’ve finally reached the latter half of the battle. I’m incredibly thankful: It’s because of all of you that I’ve been able to continue writing this. Thank you so very much. I hope you will continue to stick with me.
Now then, on that note, I will set my pen down here.
On a certain day in February, in a certain place in Chiba, under warm sunlight, while sipping hooot MAX Coffee,
Wataru Watari
Translation Notes
Pre-Field Trip Study Report
1 Sugawara no Michizane was a scholar, poet, and politician of the Heian period. He’s revered today as the god of learning (Tenman-Tenjin). Due to political maneuverings of a rival, he eventually lost his position and died in exile. Various natural disasters followed his death, leading people to believe it was the doing of his vengeful spirit, and seventy years after his death, he was deified.
Chapter 1 … Hachiman Hikigaya’s life at school is, in fact, extremely peaceful.
1 Superhuman Hardness is a measure of the hardness of Chojin/Superhumans in Kinnikuman.
2 “You said diamond is unbreakable, didn’t you?” Diamond Is Unbreakable is the name of an arc in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.
3 “I wouldn’t even get a bit on Where Are They Now?” Ano Hito wa Ima (Where are they now?) is a TV show about old celebrities and what they’re doing now.
4 USJ is Universal Studios Japan, the theme park.
5 “A punchline from the home o’ comedy, y’all!” Osaka is famous for manzai, a form of stand-up comedy done in pairs, and the home of some major manzai theaters. Osaka is so deeply associated with comedy that it’s common for Kanto people to put on an Osaka accent to try to be funny.
6 “I reckon Conan said somethin’ ’bout that.” Hachiman is referencing a line from Detective Conan where Conan is teasing his detective rival, Heiji, by making fun of his Kansai accent. The line has since become something of a meme.
7 “…and you’re Cell telling Vegeta to laugh.” This is from Dragon Ball, when Cell mocks fun of Vegeta for treating him with contempt. Now Cell is so powerful that Vegeta can’t damage him at all.
8 The Bon Odori is a celebration of the dead that falls in either July or August. It traditionally involves a folk dance.
9 Sispuri is the portmanteau of Sister Princess, a dating game / visual novel about a boy who lives with twelve sisters. It’s basically Sister Complex: The Game.
10 “Totsuka’s seriously an angel.” This is a reference to an Internet meme, “ is seriously an angel.” It originated with an Angel Beats! joke about the character Kanade Tachibana that went “Angel-chan is seriously an angel” and expanded from there to include pretty much any cute character. It’s generally not something you’d say about anyone 3D.
11 JSDF is the abbreviation of Japan Self-Defense Forces.
12 “‘Well, I guess we need to find another couple of people without a full group yet and dock with them.’ Of the ones left over, whoever left the most vivid impression would carry out the operation with us.” In the anime Vividred Operation, “docking” involves two girls merging into one super-being.
13 “Domo, greetings, it is I, the ninja Hikigaya.” This section is referencing Ninja Slayer, a series of novels published piecemeal on Twitter. They claim to be a (shoddy) translation of some English novels, but this is just part of the fictional backstory. The story is deliberately American-style pulp, the kind of novels Americans would write about Japan around the 1980s, and everything is spelled out in katakana with lots of strange slang to make it look American. Kinkaku-ji Temple in Kyoto is relevant to the plot of the story.
Chapter 2 … Nobody knows why they came to the Service Club.
1 Ryotaro Shiba is most well-known for the novel Ryoma Goes His Way, about Ryoma Sakamoto, a pivotal revolutionary of the Meiji period (Kyoto was the capital city until the Meiji Restoration, and so much of his activity was there). The Tatami Galaxy is a modern-day novel set at Kyoto University.
2 “Though actually, the names are about all that’s similar about them.” Kyoto Tower is a thin, pointy tower somewhat like Toronto’s CN Tower, placed atop a nine-story hotel, while the Chiba Port Tower resembles a triangular prism. They don’t look anything alike.
3 Kinkaku-ji and Ginkaku-ji Temples are some of the most well-known temples in Kyoto. Kinkaku-ji’s nickname (Temple of the Golden Pavilion) comes from how it’s literally painted gold. Likewise, Ginkaku-ji was initially planned to be painted silver, but this never happened.
4 The Philosopher’s Walk is a pedestrian path along a canal lined with cherry trees, popular with tourists during the spring in particular. Its name comes from how the Kyoto University professor and philosopher Kitaro Nishida is said to have used it for his daily meditation.
5 The Shinsengumi was a police force in Kyoto during the Meiji period and is a popular subject in anime and historical dramas. The Ikedaya Inn was the site of a famous armed clash known as “the Ikedaya Incident” in 1864 between the Shinsengumi and some revolutionary-minded former samurai of various clans.
6 “Myrrh? Are you planning on embalming someone?” Tobe’s original groan here is “Mu…” Mu is a monthly magazine focusing on occult subjects, like UFO cover-ups, astrology, and ESP. Hikigaya obviously makes the connection.
7 “…the rage was about to give me an awakening…” In Dragon Ball, Saiyans awaken to their powers due to anger.
8 “…hearing that from you feels so unsettling. What’s up?” In the Japanese, he’s quoting lyrics from the opening theme of the anime Kill Me Baby: “Doushita no wasa wasa.” It’s a play on words, where wasa wasa both means an unsettling feeling and also sounds like “what’s up, what’s up?” And doushita no means “what’s up?”
9 “Why do they always have to stick multiple commercial breaks in these moments?” Japanese variety shows on TV are known for dragging out minor revelations, often through commercial breaks, in an attempt to keep the audience in suspense.
10 Pierre Littbarski is a German soccer manager and former player who played in JEF United Chiba, a soccer club.
11 “…you teach me, and I’ll teach you…” From the English Pokémon theme song. The original Japanese line here was a reference to the original Japanese Team Rocket speech, which is quite different from the English one: “If someone asks you something, the world’s mercy is to answer.”
12 “Phew~. I’m tired (lol).” is the first line of a long Madoka copypasta. The writer is tired because he put all this effort into writing the copypasta, apparently.
13 “…what exactly do you want me to rock? This town? Your world? Around the clock?” This was an obscure joke based on associations with the word yoroshiku (which, in this case, would translate to something like “glad to be working with you”), referencing the 1980s car-racing anime Yoroshiku Mechadoc (Hello Mechadoc) and the lyrics of the opening song to Space Sheriff Gavan: “Farewell, tears! Hello, courage!”
14 “…he’s so attractive, you can’t help but say Whoa!” This is a reference to “Uho! Hot guy!” a line from the infamous meme-king bara manga Kuso Miso Technique of yaranaika (why don’t we just do it) fame. In Japanese, ii otoko can mean both “good guy” and “hot guy.”
Chapter 3 … Kakeru Tobe is just hopelessly shallow.
1 “…know thine enemy, know thyself, and you’ll give up on a hundred battles.” The actual saying is “Know thine enemy, know thyself, and you will never lose, in a hundred battles.”
2 “…maybe if you got a Shiny one and put it on your head, the masses would flock to you.” Shiny Pokemon are extremely rare recolors of Pokemon.
3 “He was unquestionably a background NPC.” In Japanese, this line is half in English, with “mob of the” in English, making it clear it’s a reference to the Mob of the Dead mode in Call of Duty, which retains its English name in the Japanese edition.
4 “…is it the rotting that makes her Ebina?” Rot here refers to the word fujoshi, which literally means “rotten woman” and is translated in this series as “slash fangirl.”
5 “…I was mentally betting on Super Hitoshi.” This is a reference to the TV quiz show Hitachi Sekai Fushigi Hakken (Hitachi world mysterious discoveries). It involves betting on one of a few dolls, the normal ones called Hitoshi-kun, with one called Super Hitoshi-kun. You’re less likely to win when betting on Super Hitoshi-kun.
6 “Oh man, I’m uriouscay as ellhay about that.” In the Japanese, Tobe is using “Shokotan-go,” a manner of speaking made up by the celebrity Shouko Nakagawa.
7 “I hear there are more attractive, outgoing types at those sorts of events than you would think.” Hachiman means BL fan comic events, which are held for various fandoms, mostly in the Tokyo area, pretty much every weekend. 801-chan refers to Tonari no 801-chan, a manga about a yaoi fangirl, and Genshiken is about otaku culture in general but also fangirls specifically.
8 “If you want to shoot the general, first, give up.” The actual saying is “If you want to shoot the general, first, shoot his horse.”
9 “Divine resignation in the darkest of times.” The actual saying is “Divine supplication only in dark times,” referring to people who only show piety when something bad happens.
10 “How to Get a Girl in Four Days.” The movie is called How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, a romantic comedy.
11 “I bet she’d be good at mah-jongg.” Hikigaya is most certainly talking about the mah-jongg manga Saki by Ritz Kobayashi.
Chapter 4 … At the end of the day, Hina Ebina is rotten?
1 “We’re producing, Producer!” This is an Idolmaster meme based off Haruka Amami’s line “It’s (Tokyo) Dome! The Dome!!” The pattern “Producer-san! It’s ! !” is used to emphasize whatever you’re excited about.
2 “A Man’s Journey Alone: The Kyoto Arc or The Ten Warrior Conspiracy Arc or Trust and Betrayal.” Aside from the “man’s journey alone” bit, these are all Rurouni Kenshin references: to an arc of the anime/manga, one of the PS1 games, and one of the OVAs, respectively.
3 “Just call me Flip Turner.” Flip Turner is the English name for Tokunosuke Hyori in Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL. His deck revolves around Flip Effect monsters. The original joke here was a wordplay between Hachiman skipping pages and the nonsense catchphrase of Yuuma Tsukumo, the protagonist of ZEXAL, which is Kattobingu da ze, ore! dubbed as “feeling the flow.”
4 “Stop the romance!” “Romantic ga Tomaranai” (The romance doesn’t stop) is a 1985 pop song by the band C-C-B. They perform the song while wearing wedding dresses.
5 Arashiyama is a popular tourist area in northwest Kyoto city, while Toufuku-ji Temple is a large Zen temple in southeastern Kyoto. Both are staple spots for seeing the landscape and fall leaves. Fushimi Inari Shrine is a very popular shrine dedicated to Inari, god of rice. The shrine is most famous for its long row of red torii gates.
6 “‘Hey,’ I responded, reminiscent of a certain NHK character.” Hikigaya says domo, which is also the name of the NHK mascot, Domo-kun.
7 “This will ruin the love triangle!!” The Japanese here says “Triangle Heart” instead of “love triangle,” a reference to the eroge better known for being the source of the far-more-popular spin-off Magical Lyrical Girl Nanoha.
8 “We were completely dumbfounded. Not just astounded or confounded but dumbfounded… We had found all the dumb there was to find.” The Japanese wordplay here was on a phrase meaning “speechless” and similar-sounding words referring to five- and seven-lined poems. The word, pronounced zekku, is then followed by the line “If you write it as ZECK, it sounds kind of like a band manga,” in reference to the manga BECK by Harold Sakuishi.
9 “Guh-heh-heh-heh-heh…” In Japanese, Ebina laughs like fu-fu-fu, with the fus written with the character “rotten” from the word fujoshi (slash fangirl). Replacing fu syllables with the “rotten” character is a common sort of wordplay among fujoshi.
10 “…I want you to take them all at once, right to the bottom…of your heart.” The word Ebina uses here is sasoiuke, which is typically used in BL circles to refer to a bottom who initiates sex.
11 “This was the feeling of overwhelming despair you get when there are still two more transformations left.” This is a reference to Freiza’s transformation power in Dragon Ball.
12 “You’re a fail bottom.” Fail bottom / hetare uke isn’t a term that’s actually used, because ukes are often sort of incompetent by nature, so this is double emphasizing Hachiman’s loserdom. Hetare seme describes a guy who tries to be a top but isn’t very good at it.
13 “Is there any love there?” is a famous line from the 1993 TV drama Hitotsu no Yane no Shita (Under one roof).
14 “Crawling with love, I might hope.” Crawling with Love is the English subtitle for Nyaruko: Crawling with Love, by Manta Aisora. The Japanese joke here was a pun on the word juuoumujun (meaning “everywhere”) and Juuou Kaishin-geki (Beast King Critical Hit), the special attack move of Crocodine from the manga Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibouken.
15 Nama yatsuhashi are mochi-based sweets with various fillings that are a local specialty in Kyoto. They look like little flat dumplings.
Chapter 5 … As you can see, Yui Yuigahama is doing her best.
1 “’Sup! I’m Hachiman! I’m goin’ to Tokyo!” The first two greetings are a reference to an iconic line from Dragon Ball from Goku, using his particular country-bumpkin manner of speech. The last sentence is Ora Tokyo sa iku da, which is the name of a song by the artist Yoshi Ikuzou, a name which is itself a pun meaning “Okay, let’s go!”
2 “I was swept along by the crowds so much, I started wondering if someone was going to occasionally scold me from afar for changing.” This is a reference to the lyrics of the pop song “Sotsugyou Shashin” (Graduation photo) by Yumi Matsutouya: “Sometimes you scold me from afar as I change, swept along by the crowds. You are my youth itself.”
3 “Even in this crowded station, I’ll be what I am, a solitary (Hachi)man.” This is a line from the Neil Diamond song “Solitary Man.” In Japanese, here Hikigaya describes the station as Hacchi Bocchi Station, a pun on Hotch Potch Station, the name of a children’s educational show with puppets that ran from 1995 to 2005, and his own name and the word loner (bocchi).
4 Mount Kurama, near Kyoto, is the site of Kurama Temple, and it’s said to be where the tengu taught swordsmanship to Minamoto no Yoshitsune, a military commander of the Heian and Kamakura periods and one of the most famous samurai in Japanese history.
5 “Time to activate my shadow skill.” Shadow Skill is the name of a 1990s fantasy-action manga and anime. Within the context of the anime, “shadow skills” are a focus on kicks and footwork, though.
6 “Encounters in Space!” This is referencing the PS2 game Mobile Suit Gundam: Encounters in Space.
7 “What a nice day for a trip!” “Ii Hi no Tabidachi” is the name of a 1978 ballad by Momoe Yamaguchi, and it was adopted by Japanese National Railways as a slogan encouraging people to travel.
8 Nio are two wrathful, muscular guardians of the Buddha whose statues stand guard at the entrance of many temples in Japan.
9 “I wondered if this was a Pokémon talking…” As in, the Pokémon Ditto. In Japanese, Ebina says da ne (yeah), with the Pokémon in question being Fushigidane (Bulbasaur).
10 “…that’s what you do at a shrine.” In this scene, Hachiman and Yui are in a Buddhist temple, so Yui is mixing up traditions. When at a Shinto shrine, the proper way to pray is to put money in the offertory box, ring the bell, bow twice, clap your hands in prayer twice, and then bow once more.
11 Daikokuten (Great God of Darkness) is one of the seven lucky gods and often portrayed with a black face. He’s a god of commerce and prosperity, and he usually carries a bag of goods.
12 The iron geta (traditional sandals) in Kiyomizu-dera Temple are very heavy, and it’s said that managing to walk while wearing them brings good fortune.
13 “Gaia must have been whispering at him to shine more.” This is a play on the slogan from the fashion magazine Men’s Knuckle, which has been memeified and parodied many times.
14 “…kinda like that show where you get a million yen if you can perform some difficult stunt.” If You Can Do This, You Get a Million Yen, also known as Sports Bakka, is a TV game show that involved various physical challenges somewhat like Takeshi’s Castle (and starred many of the same people).
15 “It’s a-me, Wario.” This is a reference to a Wario spin-off manga called Ore Dayo! Wario Dayo! (It’s me! It’s Wario!) by Yuki Sawada. In Japanese, Mario and Wario don’t talk with the fake Italian accent, making this bit a little less strange.
16 Shochu is a distilled spirit most commonly made from sweet potato, barley, or rice.
Chapter 6 … Surreptitiously, Yukino Yukinoshita goes out to town at night.
1 King Crimson is a Stand power in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure that can erase time.
2 “…rambling about pon and kan and ponkan.” Pon and kan are terms used when playing mah-jongg, and Ponkan is the artist who illustrates these light novels.
3 “I’m not that sort of pervert or a prince, though…” This is a reference to the title of the light novel series Hentai Prince and the Stony Cat.
4 “…in the casual sort of way that Isono invites Nakajima.” These are little kids from the long-running newspaper comic Sazae-san. Isono is constantly inviting Nakajima to play baseball or soccer with him.
5 “Listen, Hachiemon. They’re so mean!” Zaimokuza is imitating Nobita, the protagonist of the children’s anime Doraemon. Nobita often whines to his friend Doraemon, looking for help.
6 “Don’t say it like it’s Crayon Kingdom.” The Dream Crayon Kingdom is an anime for small children. The opening theme song includes the nonsense lyrics mmm paka paka. Dokapon Kingdom is a PS2 RPG–board game hybrid that takes four players.
7 Momotetsu is short for Momotaro Densetsu, a series of board game–style video games revolving around trains and transportation. Much like Monopoly, it can bring out the worst in people.
8 “Shut up with your r-r-r-r-reverse; do you think it’s time to d-d-d-d-duel or something?” The original joke here was a wordplay on the Yuuji Oda pop song “Somebody Tonight,” which includes a portion that goes “never, never, never, never,” which, slurred and incorrectly pronounced, sounds vaguely like riba, riba, riba, riba (riba = reverse).
9 “Dirty as I expected, Zaimokuza, dirty.” This is a play on a quote from a notorious FFXI player Buronto: “Dirty as expected, ninja, dirty.” Buronto is the source of many memes, such as Kore de katsuru (With this, I can win!), a meme that has appeared in these novels before.
10 Tsumo is when you win in mah-jongg with a concealed hand from a tile you drew rather than taking a tile from someone else. It’s a rather early-game sort of win.
11 Gagaga is the name of the imprint this series is published under in Japanese.
12 Hayama arrows are lucky charms shaped like arrows; they’re rather bulky and delicate items to be bringing home in a backpack.
13 Musashi Miyamoto is possibly the most famous swordsman in Japanese history, and it’s said he fought over a hundred duels and never lost. He’s perhaps best known for authoring The Book of Five Rings, which is about combat and philosophy. The Yoshioka style is a school of sword-fighting martial arts.
14 “Taxis are fast. Faster than Salamander.” This is a reference to the SNES-era Square RPG Bahamut Lagoon. The heroine, Yoyo, says, “It’s faster than Salamander!” when she rides on the dragon belonging to the general of the enemy forces, comparing it with Salamander, the dragon belonging to the protagonist. The line has been latched on to as a joke.
15 “Yes, Tenkaippin. Not Dera-beppin.” He’s referring to Deluxe Beppin (Deluxe beauty), an adult magazine.
16 “…gazing at the storefront of Tenichi with sincere passion.” Tenichi is a nickname for Tenkaippin.
17 “C’mon to Kamogawa Sea World!” This is an aquarium in Chiba that coincidentally has the same name as an area in Kyoto. C’mon to Kamogawa Sea World is their advertising slogan.
Chapter 7 … Unexpectedly, Yumiko Miura is actually paying attention.
1 Yoshiwara Street was a designated zone for male and female prostitutes in Edo (the old name for Tokyo) during the Tokugawa period.
2 Oiran were prostitutes and entertainers, generally distinct from geisha in that geisha were not technically prostitutes (though it was common for them to sleep with clients for various reasons). Over time, oiran came to be more elaborately made-up and more exclusive than geisha, who tend to be dressed in a more restrained way. While geisha still exist, oiran do not, since prostitution was made illegal in 1958.
3 “…screaming Sooooi! Soi! Sooooi!…” The cry of “Soi!” is a meme that originated with the gag manga Pyu to Fuku! Jaguar (Make It Toot, Jaguar). It doesn’t mean anything.
4 “His pretty smile was curing me with the glittering force of all the stars. It made my heart pound, bringing the feelings inside me to a new stage.” This is just a string of Precure references, from Smile Pretty Cure! to Doki-Doki Precure (localized as Glitter Force Doki-Doki) to Pretty Cure All-Stars and All Stars: New Stage.
5 “I glanced at the shop and saw Ebina rapt and panting at the Shinsengumi goods…” There is a phenomenon of rekijo in Japan, young women with a particular interest in Japanese history, and tourist shops go out of their way to appeal to these types with their merchandise. In the same way you might see the romance section of an American bookstore crowded with Regency-period romances, Meiji-period historical dramas, manga, and novels featuring the Shinsengumi are so popular, it’s a cliche that girls are only in it for the handsome men and BL potential.
6 “Mentally cackling…” He’s using a particular type of laughter, kue-kue-kue, a reference to the gag manga Ah! Hana no Ouendan (Oh! The Flower Cheer Squad). The main character laughs like this.
7 “She’s kind of housewifely… She was being pretty strict about money…” Traditionally speaking, family finances are the wife’s duty in a Japanese household, and the stingy wife refusing to let her husband spend money on things is a centuries-old stereotype.
8 “I’m the fun-money alchemist.” Referring to Fullmetal Alchemist. In Japanese, this was kogane no renkinjutsu (pocket change alchemy).
9 “Or if it’s Conan, it means someone will die.” Hachiman is referring to the anime/manga Detective Conan. Literally hundreds of the episodes involve locked-room murder mysteries.
10 “I have an established reputation for playing defense.” This is yet another reference to a line from the basketball manga Slam Dunk that has since become a meme: “Ikegami, who has an established reputation for playing defense.”
11 “…Tsurezuregusa, which often shows up in textbooks.” Tsurezuregusa, also known as Essays in Idleness, are a prominent piece of twelfth-century literature by the monk Yoshida Kenkou with heavy Buddhist themes.
12 Ryouan-ji and Tenryuu-ji Temples both contain the character for “dragon,” while Konkai Koumyou-ji and Kyouou Gokoku-ji Temples really just have alliteration and length. Adashino Nenbutsu-ji Temple is mainly notable because adashi is an unusual reading for the character used. Adashino is the name of the district of Kyoto where the temple is located, and nenbutsu (or nembutsu) is a particular type of Buddhist invocation.
13 Manga Nihon Mukashibanashi (Manga Japanese Folk Tales) is a series of animated shorts from the 1970s featuring classic fairy tales like “Momotaro” and “Tsukihime.” Many scenes in the show involve bowls of rice piled abnormally high, such that a “folk-tale serving” has become shorthand to mean a “giant serving of rice.”
14 Sunday GX, a magazine in the Shonen Sunday line, is the manga-serialization magazine that the Oregairu manga runs in.
Chapter 8 … Even so, Hayato Hayama can’t make a choice.
1 “There’s a lot of stuff in Nagoya besides that, like tenmusu and the Mountain café and stuff.” Tenmusu is onigiri/rice balls with shrimp tempura filling. Mountain is the name of a famous café in Nagoya that serves inventive desserts.
2 “And people from Nagoya end their sentences with mya, so perhaps Yukinoshita thinks they’re felines.” This is slightly exaggerated for comic effect. Nagoya dialect involves ending sentences with ya rather than the northern copula da. Sometimes, this results in mya-like sounds for certain words.
3 The Bakumatsu years refers to the final years of the Tokugawa period (before 1868). It was a time of great political upheaval, when Japan opened its borders after hundreds of years of isolation from the world, and it’s the subject of a lot of popular fiction.
4 “…Honnou-ji Temple is deeply disappointing…” Honnou-ji Temple is famous for being the site where Oda Nobunaga (the notoriously brutal wartime general) committed seppuku, surrounded by the forces of the traitor Mitsuhide Akechi. This scene has been replicated in a lot of pop culture. However, the real temple was burned down, and it was rebuilt in another location, and on the site of Nobunaga’s demise there is now nothing more than a stone monument. It really is very disappointing.
5 Ema are little pieces of wood with a horse on one side and a wish written on the other. They’re hung up on stands at shrines.
6 “…Yuigahama had tamed a wild fox squirrel.” Hachiman is referencing a scene early in Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind in which Nausicaa tames a wild fox squirrel. It bites her finger, and she chants at it, “There’s nothing to be scared of, nothing to be scared of,” until it ends up licking her finger.
7 “I was feeling kind of on edge myself, although I’m always on the edges of any social situation, really.” In Japanese, he says, “I was feeling kind of nervous enough that I think I could have killed some mosquitoes,” a pun on nervous (kinchou) and Kincho, a brand of insect spray.
Chapter 9 … His and her confessions will reach no one.
1 “Because I’m rotten.” The word Ebina uses here has a bunch of different meanings that are basically impossible to convey at once in English. It can mean perverted, especially in the sense of a fujoshi (literally “rotten woman”) who likes m/m fiction. It can also mean rotten in the sense of depraved, something that has lost its purity and is spiritually degraded. Hikigaya is often described in these terms.
Bonus track! The girls will rock you.
1 “Like not having to use conditioner, or how it’s got moisturizer in it, or how foaming it up turns it into a duck.” Merit is the brand name for a line of hair products.
2 “You know the old wisdom. Article the first: Softness of menma is to be valued. Article the second: Sincerely revere the three treasures—noodles, broth, and toppings.” This is a parody of Prince Shoutoku Taishi’s Seventeen Article Constitution written in the Nihon Shoki in AD 604. The real articles are: 1) Harmony is to be valued, and the avoidance of wanton opposition to be honored. 2) Sincerely revere the three treasures: the Buddha, dharma (his teaching), and sangha (Buddhist community).
3 “Just who the hell do you think I am?!” Kamina’s iconic line from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
4 “Why so reckless? Are you Botchan?” Botchan is the titular protagonist of a Natsume Soseki novel. The very first line of the book describes him as reckless. Botchan is generally translated as “Young Master.”
5 Okonomiyaki is something like a savory pancake, usually with pork and cabbage in it, but you can put anything you like in it. Monjayaki uses basically the same ingredients and set-up (they’re both served on a flat grill on the customer’s table), but monjayaki is a more liquid, scrambled version.
6 “Burrraaah!” This particular yell is a reference to Cell in Dragonball Z, and also to his voice actor, Norio Wakamoto, who is famous for doing such yells.
7 “Prostrate thyself before me!” “Prostrate thyself before me” is a line most associated with Mito Koumon, a super-long-running historical drama that ran from 1969 to 2011, about Tokugawa Mitsukuni, a retired vice-shogun who roams Japan.
8 “Is that your Solomon Style?” Solomon-ryuu (Solomon style) is the name of an educational/documentary TV show.
9 “…it started with the climax.” This is a reference to the catchphrase of the protagonist of Kamen Rider Den-O, Ryotaro Nogami: “From start to finish, I’m always at a climax!”
10 “Put the two together, and they’re Twenty Million Powers.” Twenty Million Powers is the name of a tag team in Kinnikuman/Ultimate Muscle.
11 “But mixing black and black just gets you more black… It’s just like Gin said, really…” Gin is a villain from Detective Conan, the member of the Black Organization who made Shinichi swallow APTX 4869 to turn him into a kid.
12 “Yuigahama stared into thin air with a cute little noise and thought back.” The noise here is hoeee, Sakura’s characteristic moe noise in Cardcaptor Sakura.
13 “So this is the Tenchi-matou! Defense, Attack, and Magic all in one stance!” The Tenchi-matou stance is the ultimate stance used by Vearn, the villain of the manga Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibouken (Dai’s great adventure). It’s supposed to counter any and all attacks.
14 “The dream situation… Bandai, the company that brings good times!” Bandai-Namco’s corporate slogan is Dreams, fun, and inspiration, while premerger, Bandai’s corporate slogan was Dreams and creation. Both of them sound rather like “dreamy situation.”
15 The Yamanote Line is the loop train line in downtown Tokyo. It’s an alternate name for the game they’re about to play because “stations on the Yamanote Line” are a common subject for the game.
16 “That’s way too basic… You could turn that into a programming language.” The original joke here is “That’s more ZAQ than the opening of Sasami-san,” a pun on zakkuri (rough, sketchy, basic) and ZAQ, the band that does the opening of Sasami-san@ganbaranai.
17 “Your sense of humor is pitch-black! Are you the coffee sisters?” In the original, Hikigaya asks if they’re gum, a reference to Lotte Black Black caffeinated gum.
18 “…this is bait!” In the original, this was a reference to an ASCII-art character originating on 4chan. English speakers would know him exclusively as Pedobear, but on 2ch, he was used as a response to posts that were “fishing” for attention. Thus, his iconic poses include running toward the “bait” and his mouth being caught.
19 “It’s great when Wataru and stuff is on.” Mashin Hero Wataru is a 1980s kids super-robot anime.
20 “…on weekends, after Super Hero Time…” Super Hero Time is a weekend time slot for tokusatsu/sentai shows.
21 “My Classmates and Acquaintances Fight Too Much!” This is a parody of the light-novel series My Girlfriend and Childhood Friend Fight Too Much, also known as Oreshura.
22 “Cat and dog fight, ready, go!” This is a parody of “Gundam fight, ready, go!” from G-Gundam.
23 “Ah! Hikki, you like Chiiba-kun, and he’s a dog!” Chiiba-kun is the prefectural mascot of Chiba prefecture. He’s a strange-shaped red dog with a pointed nose, designed after the shape of Chiba.
24 “Welcome to the Underground…” This is something that’s “whispered into the ears” of people who access 2ch for the first time.
25 “In the name of the moon, they’ll punish you!” Referring to the catchphrase of Usagi Tsukino, the heroine of Sailor Moon. Her first name means “bunny.”
26 “And there’ll be more fan service, too!” Misato says this during nearly every next-episode preview in Evangelion.
27 “Ngh! The ultimate three-way choice between cool, passion, and cute…” Cool, passion, and cute are categories of idols in the Idolmaster games.
28 “Love live!” Love Live is a major multimedia franchise based on the theme of cute idol stars.
29 “I-is there a regulation length for modified electric glow sticks?!” Zaimokuza is talking about a little hack that fans of idols do that involves replacing the light for an electric glow stick with a stronger bulb. It’s typical to wave glow sticks of a certain color at idol concerts, as an idol will have a theme color. Idol fan clubs will regulate various things about audience participation, including the type of glow sticks used and fan chants.
Afterword
1 “How about Supreme Kai?” Supreme Kai is a rank for certain individuals with godly powers in Dragonball Z.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login