Kare Kano 1-10, Masami Tsuda

For whatever reason, reading this finally convinced me to start reading Kare Kano a few weeks ago. Maybe I have self-destructive impulses, I don't know. I'm now up to volume 10.

Reactions in order of intensity:

1) AWWWWW CUUUUTE possibly too cute

2) Oh my god this is edited badly. There are repeated pages, obviously-missing pages, misnumbered pages, Japanese text left in untranslated, text bubbles left empty, translated text misaligned so that it's printed over dark screentone and unreadable - ugh.

3) AWWWWW POOOOOR ARIMA/ASABA/MAHO/TONAMI

4) Oh, god, there are translation mistakes so glaring that I can spot them without access to the original Japanese text. Asaba is obviously referring to Arima in that sentence! He is not calling himself cute! There is clear visual evidence to support this in the form of Arima and Yukino's reaction to the statement!

And Son Goku is not a priest! Sanzo is the priest! You can tell this even without recognizing the cultural reference (which you should know if you are translating manga for a living), simply because one of the two of them is dressed like a priest! Bad translators, very bad!

5) OMIGOD MOOMINS REFERENCE I don't think Snufkin would really have a scimitar but WHATEVER MOOMINS REFERENCE VOLUME 8 PAGE 63 TOTALLY TRUE

6) Oh, geez, Maho. That's gross. (Why is it simultaneously "grown-up" and "disgusting" for a high-school girl to date a man twelve years her senior? Is the girl "grown-up" and the guy "disgusting?" How misogynistic is this, on a scale of Princess Tutu to Platinum Garden? (Answer: a lot.) Just what is the cultural dynamic that makes this paradox possible?)

7) ARIMA'S ANGST IS SO LOVELY yet strangely abbreviated

I really hope ILL doesn't start failing me now that I've pushed this far in. I'm not going to be happy until Arima's angst gets at least a volume to itself.

EAST 3XX - 14:30-15:50 - THE CONFUCIAN CLASSICS

Professor Portentous: Now if everyone will look at passage 20 -

1: I don't think it would be very authoritative (ren) of us to have class today.

Prof: You don't?

1: I think it would better demonstrate our love of learning (haoxue) if we went outside and applied our concentration (zhong) to, you know, watching the pretty birds and refining our empathy (shu) for them.

2: Yeah, that would be pretty appropriate (yi), you must admit.

3: And also sweet.

1: Possibly even exemplary (junzi)!

Prof: Well, as Zhu Xi says, study for class should only account for twenty percent of your learning as a whole. Right now it's time for that twenty percent. Now everyone turn to passage 20.

2, stage-whisper: I thought that that suggestion was very much in line with ritual propriety (li).

1, stage-whisper: So did I!