Afterword
Good evening, this is work. Whoops, my bad! I made a mistake, there! Work has been so brutal for me, the characters for “Wataru Watari” looked like work. Hello and good evening, this is Wataru Watari.
Lately, I’ve been so occupied with business, I don’t meet people outside work. I hardly answer the e-mails, phone calls, or invitations to drinking parties that I occasionally receive. Well, the excuse I’m busy with work is pretty convenient for avoiding anything annoying, so I find myself using it a lot, though. When I actually want to go, I will drop work to do it after all!
Everyone tells this lie—to others and to themselves. Well though, you know, me being busy isn’t at all a lie—it’s just reality.
But sometimes when I promise something with sincerity, it will ultimately end up becoming a lie. I’ll go and say, Tomorrow? I’ve got plenty of time, gwa-ha-ha! and then later calmly say, …Can you make it next week? Even if it’s not my intention, and even if I don’t say it out loud, sometimes it will end up becoming a lie.
That’s why everyone—and of course I include myself, the author—lies. Or maybe it becomes a lie when someone determines your words are false.
Therefore, you shouldn’t readily declare, I’ll finish writing it early next time for sure, fwa-ha-ha! Keep your mouth shut and don’t talk. Some things can only be communicated that way. The judgment of whether what you communicated was a lie or the truth will be yielded to the receiving end, though.
And so this has been My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected, Volume 8. Well then, let’s meet again in Volume 9! Buuut that might be a lie, huh? Kidding! Tee-hee!
And below, the acknowledgments.
Th-this part isn’t a lie, okay?!
Ponkan : Thank you so much for doing this work alongside the illustration collection! It’s great! It really feels like, This is the heroine! Wonderful as always! Thank you very much!
My editor, Hoshino: I know I’ve caused a lot of trouble for you with my hellish progress. It’s like, you know, don’t get the wrong idea. It was late because, like…i-it’s not my fault! Society is at fault. Thank you very much!
Everyone who contributed to the illustration collection: I’m so very glad you’ve drawn this new side of the world and characters of Oregairu. All the illustrations are amazing and have brought happiness to my eyes and heart. They’ve healed my blue light–induced eyestrain. Thank you so much.
And to all my readers: I’m very sorry for the long wait since Volume 7. Thanks to your encouragement, I’ve been able to keep writing the series. Thank you very much. The off-course wanderings of this teen romantic comedy will continue on a little longer. I hope very much you will stick with me to the end.
Now then, I’ve about hit my max page count here, so I will lay down my pen.
On a certain day in October, blown around in the cold night wind, while sipping hooot MAX Coffee,
Wataru Watari
Translation Notes
Chapter 1 … Needless to say, Komachi Hikigaya’s wrath is there.
1 “What? Are you Mameshiba or something?” Mameshiba is a character that’s both a dog and a green bean, and its routine involves popping out in weird places to say, “Hey, did you know?” before inserting weird facts.
2 “Or maybe she’s Hakoiri-Neko, since she’s sheltered. Or no, she might be Rice Monster Pappu, since we’re eating right now. There’s no way she could be TapuTapu the Panda…” Hakoiri-Neko (cat in a box), Gohan Kaijuu Pappu (rice monster Pappu), and TapuTapu the Panda (flabby panda) are all names of various other mascot characters that feature in animated shorts similar to Mameshiba. Hakoiri, literally meaning “in a box,” also refers to a child who’s lived a sheltered lifestyle.
3 “Though I doubted there would be any tea stems floating to the surface…” A tea stem floating up to the top of your tea is considered an auspicious sign.
4 “Autumn has deepened…” This haiku, “Aki Fukaki,” is by Matsuo Basho (1644–1694), the most famous poet of the Edo period.
5 “How beautiful it is to have good friends” refers to the name of a famous 1951 painting of vegetables by Saneatsu Mushanokoji, artist and writer of the Taisho and Showa periods.
Chapter 2 … For some reason, Iroha Isshiki smells of danger.
1 “What kind of pop-idol story is this?” Otaku-oriented idol groups like AKB48 are run by fan popularity polls, so who gets into a music video, for example, is based on voting.
2 “…mistake due to one’s youth…” The particular wording of this line is a reference to a quote from Char Aznable in the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime.
3 “Even Grander Musashi doesn’t get bites like that…” Musashi is the titular hero of the fishing manga Grander Musashi.
4 “By we, she must have meant the election management committee, not that old Nintendo console.” The original Japanese gag here was a pun on the abbreviation for election management committee (senkan) and battleship, referencing the ships Mutsu, Nagato, and Kongou, popularized by the Kantai Collection games, of which the author is a noted fan.
Chapter 3 … Haruno Yukinoshita is thoroughly unfathomable.
1 “Pedaling away as I hummed, ‘Princess, princess, princess’…” This is from the fictional opening to the fictional anime Love Hime from the cycling anime Yowamushi Pedal.
2 Animate is a general otaku goods chain, while Tora no Ana is more specialized in comics and also sells doujinshi.
3 “You have to value your teatime, you know?” is a quote from the character Kongou in Kantai Collection.
4 “…if they’re hurt by some minor thing someone said, eating something sweet’ll make them happy.” This is a rephrasing of a line from the titular song “The Idolmaster” from the Idolmaster franchise.
5 “Perfect superhuman,” or “perfect choujin,” is a reference to a certain set of choujin from the manga Kinnikuman, or Ultimate Muscle.
6 “What the heck is ‘I donuts you’?” This is a line from “Donuts Song” by Tatsuro Yamashita, a pop song from the 1990s.
7 “A pose like a certain commander” refers to Gendo Ikari’s iconic pose in Evangelion. Hikigaya also adds a cutesy way of saying commander used by Yukikaze in the Kantai Collection games.
8 “It’s what they call servant service.” Servant x Service is a slice-of-life anime and manga about public servants working in a government office building in a fictional city in Hokkaido.
9 “In order to do a Tribute Summon…” Hachiman is referring to the Yu-Gi-Oh! trading card game in which the player sends a monster to the Graveyard to summon a higher-level monster.
10 “What’s up with that? Is it a greeting, like ‘meowning’?” Nyanpasu (sometimes translated as “meowning”) is the nonsense word that Renge Miyauchi uses to greet people in Non Non Biyori.
11 Kadokawa is the name of another light-novel publisher and rival to Gagaga Bunko, which publishes this series.
12 “…Silver Spoon-ish kibble they say makes cats come running…” Silver Spoon is a manga about farming and raising farm animals. “Cats come running” is the slogan for the Kal Kan brand of cat food.
Chapter 4 … Quietly, Yukino Yukinoshita resolves herself.
1 “Nwhooaaaaa! This medishine is shoo gooood!” This is what’s known as Misakura language, as featured in hentai manga by the artist Misakura Nankotsu. It involves a lot of slurring and extended vowels.
Chapter 5 … Right to the end, Hayato Hayama just can’t understand it.
1 “If we’re talking about Saturday, it’s gotta be about that. It’s the day before Super Hero Time.” Super Hero Time is a time slot on TV on Sundays mostly for tokusatsu shows from the Kamen Rider and Super Sentai series.
2 “…he must have been talking about Jewelpet Sunshine and Pretty Rhythm.” Jewelpet Sunshine and Pretty Rhythm (a Sanrio-created cute animal show and an anime based off an arcade game series, respectively) are both shows typically for young girls.
3 “Going to hang out? That was no one I know.” This is riffing off a line from Akagi in Kantai Collection. She says, “Reppuu? That’s no one I know.”
4 “This wonder trade thing is such a godly system—and so kind to loners.” Introduced in Pokémon X and Y, a Wonder Trade is a feature that allows players to trade a Pokémon with a random player online.
5 “It’s aaautooomaaatiiic.” These words are from the hook in Utada Hikaru’s song “Automatic” on her 1999 debut album, First Love.
6 “I couldn’t even become Saran wrap. Nor could I become Baran and fire off Draura.” The Japanese pun here is on jinzou baran, which is the plastic fake grass included in boxed sushi combos and is used to separate items in boxed lunches. Ryuumajin Baran is a character from the manga Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai, and Draura is one of his signature spells.
7 “I wasn’t really going for the yamato nadeshiko thing.” The yamato nadeshiko (yamato being an old word for the Japanese people, and a nadeshiko being a type of flower) is the traditional ideal of Japanese femininity; she is demure and always walks a few steps behind her husband. This idea is considered old-fashioned.
8 “…and they just simply exist. Please do not expect too much out of them.” This is a parody of the opening message of Minami-ke: “This story is a simple illustration of the three sisters of the Minami household. Please do not expect too much out of it.”
9 “…Miroku Bodhisattva in the half-lotus position…” Sitting with his right elbow leaning on one knee, right hand posed in a sign, his right leg crossed over his left, which is hanging straight down.
10 “…the movie thief began his wiggly dance.” The movie thief (eiga dorobo) is a character wearing a suit with a video camera for a head that is ubiquitous in Japanese movie theaters, appearing in advertisements warning people against piracy.
11 “…like they might tell you in Hot-Dog Press.” Hot-Dog Press is a defunct magazine for young men that was once a popular source of dating advice.
12 “I—I hope my clown act was good for you…(eyes rolling back)” The “I hope it was good for you” bit is a line from an adult video called A Midsummer Night’s Lewd Dream (Manatsu no Yoru no Inmu) in a gay porn series that ended up being made into a meme.
13 “Why am I doing a mystery tour in my own hometown, non?” Adding non to the end of sentences is the verbal tic that Renge uses in the Non Non Biyori manga series.
14 “Man, Nanpa Street is a horrible name, huh? There’s also a bridge called Nanpa Bridge…” Nanpa means both “shipwreck” and “picking up girls.”
15 “Even if you come to hate me, please don’t hate Saizeriya!” This is a play off a quote from the celebrity Atsuko Maeda, former AKB48 member, who said, “Even if you come to hate me, please don’t hate AKB!” when she left the group.
Chapter 6 … And so Yui Yuigahama declares.
1 “…the l’Cie of the Pulse fal’Cie would cause the Purge, and Cocoon would…” This line is in reference to Final Fantasy XIII, a game notorious for having a confusing plot if the player does not read the in-game dictionary (or the spinoff novels).
Chapter 7 … Needless to say, Komachi Hikigaya’s kindness is there.
1 “…so this was probably not love but Nisekoi: False Love.” Referring to the romantic comedy manga Nisekoi by Naoshi Komi.
2 “I could be at ease, build my Gundam, and fight!” The Japanese uses all English words here, making it clear this is referring to Gundam Build Fighters (whose Japanese title is also in English).
3 “Order whatever you like, be it peperoncino or Pepelotion.” Pepelotion is a brand of lube.
4 “…Kawaguchiko? No, was it Yamanakako?” Both of these are the names of lakes in Japan.
5 “…like it’s kill or be killed or Kill la Kill…” Kill la Kill is an anime about students who wear clothes that give them special abilities, and in some cases, the clothes are sentient as well.
6 The Meat to the Tigers Plot is referencing the Chinese epic The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The adage instructs people to throw one piece of meat to two tigers so they fight each other instead.
7 The Empty Fort Strategy is from the Chinese Thirty-Six Stratagems, an essay on politics and war. It involves using reverse psychology to deceive the enemy into thinking an empty location is full of traps and ambushes to induce them to retreat.
8 “…now that it’s come to this, with our backs to the river…” “With our backs to the river” means, idiomatically, “with our backs to the wall” but is in reference to the Battle of Jingxing, also known as the Battle of Tao River, between the armies of Han and Zhao.
9 “Just like Gen after he was told, ‘You’re wheat! Become wheat!’ he straightened his back once more.” Gen is the protagonist of Barefoot Gen, a manga about a child surviving through World War II and the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. Gen is told to become wheat because it straightens up again and again, no matter how many times it’s trampled, and this is used as a metaphor for resilience in the face of adversity.
10 “Silence, you!” This is a famous line from Kong Ming in the 1967–1971 Suikoden manga by Mitsuteru Yokoyama (an adaptation of the Chinese classic Water Margin / Shuihu Zhuàn).
11 “I am Sun Tzu, I am Sun Tzu…I’m some zoo? In other words, rather than fighting, the wisdom of victory can be found at the Chiba Zoo, huh…?” The original Japanese gag here is a play on the fact that the kanji for “Sun Tzu” and “Abiko city,” a city in Chiba prefecture, are identical. He says, “In other words, the fact that Abiko city exists means that Chiba won without fighting, huh…?”
12 “…maybe it’d be nice not to be bound by the rule that is civil code volume 4, article 2.” This is the section of Japanese law that restricts marriage to legally only be between a man and a woman.
13 “No man is above the law…” Hou no Shikaku (Blind spot of the law) is the Japanese title for the Steven Seagal movie Above the Law.
14 “The duels of the strongest duelists are always fated. A duelist can even create the cards they draw.” This is referring to the Shining Draw card in Yu-Gi-Oh! which the protagonist of ZEXAL uses several times to draw the card he needs during a duel.
15 “’Tis what I assumed you meant, ding, ding!” Zaimokuza is imitating the manner of speech of the titular character of Ninja Hattori-kun. He ends his sentences with the typical ninja de gozaru, a somewhat archaic version of the verb for “to be.” He also adds the meaningless nin, nin! which is sometimes translated as “ding, ding!”
Chapter 8 … When the time is ripe, Hachiman Hikigaya makes his speech.
1 “I’m really getting used as a pretext here. You might as well paste me in at the beginning of this book.” The original Japanese pun here is on the word dashi, which both means “soup stock” and “pretext.” He says, “It wouldn’t be strange for me to be lined up with kombu and katsuo,” which are seaweed and fish flakes, ingredients used for making soup broth.
2 “What is this, Ramenman?” Ramenman is a character from Kinnikuman / Ultimate Muscle. One of his nicknames is Instant Death Dealer.
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