I’m rereading this for the n-th time (I’ve read some chapters in fan translation, some in magazine, some as eBook and everything in physical, and I think I reread it in one medium at least once, so n>=3, making this the 4th or 5th read? You’d think I know this by hear now, but no.).
So I decided to make an effort to read everything, not just the speech bubbles. Like the katakana sounds, background conversations, signs. I’d even read the afterword (which I usually skip because it’s harder to read and often in hand writing). Luckily there isn’t an afterword… I’ll also try to pay attention to speech style and stuff.
So, my first language note is from the back:
田舎のまったりスクールライブ。
I thought, "what is リスクールライブ. Re-school? Re-schooling sounds something like re-education. An interesting word with many meanings (see Wikipedia, in Germany it apparently can refer to the de-nazification though the allies). But no, the リ is actually hiragana り from まったり meaning “laid-back, relaxed, comfortable”.
I think I’ll need to hold back a little on observations regarding personality and stuff not to spoil anything.
Chapter 1
I think the name 小春 fits her very well. 小 As in 小動物. And maybe 春 for her bright personality.
真冬 has a season kanji matching 春. The winter kanji matches the cool-beauty impression in her first appearance.
実里 fruit and country side? She is the slightly taller one of the duo with brighter hair.
I don’t think ななちゃん has her proper name revealed in this chapter. Spoiler: it’s 七椰 (ななや). I can’t find anything interesting to say about her name.
Their excitement to see each other again matches my own excitement to meet those characters again.
I stumbled a little on the use of ん instead of の. I’m more used to this for the の ending particle. It also sounds a bit rough, isn’t this more typical for male speech?
I’m always confused when I read the beginning. How come they are bestest of friends even they only meet once on a camping trip, years ago? (I assume there have been other occasions).
As I understand it なな and 実里 were the only pupil in their school, kind of like in のんのんびより, and they occasionally joined 小春s school?
一階渡りろうかを渡った左手に
Didn’t recognize 廊下 in hiragana at first.
Who is Karin?
I didn’t understand this panel. I’m not sure who is speaking or what なった means here.
I think this is a wordplay based on paste-based food and 練 meaning “to kneat”?
And so they resolved the drama in one panel that other series spend more time on than this one runs in total. Which makes this very iyashikei in my mind.
