Monogatari Series - Volume 21 - Chapter Aft

Afterword

As oft mentioned in this book, the danger of ‘as long as one works, one’s dreams will come true’ is more than ‘“will” being an overstatement’, but also that ‘effort could not only lead to unfulfilled dreams, but a loss of reality’. The cons of ‘effort’ are also obvious. The path towards the future is also the path towards destruction, and possibilities of failure in challenges must be kept in mind. To give one’s all, and end up with injury or missing one’s big chance, that has happened so many times before; ‘I studied all night for the test!’ leading to ‘sleeping during the test’ is no rare occurrence. Overall, only in times such as these would the reminder of ‘rest is also a part of hard work too’ surface, making one think: you could’ve said something so important earlier! When reading biographies of the greats, one comes across lives of misfortune disproportionate to their greatness, but such misfortunes were probably the product of pushing their sacrifices and paying their prices elsewhere, as they were working towards that greatness. This kind of hard work is often held up as a virtue, yet when practicing it, one must first understand its demerits. A statement such as ‘hard work will never betray you’ would only be responded with a depressing thought such as ‘yeah, your efforts may be kind only to you…’. Yet one must also not forget the cons of not working hard. One must confirm if these are cons are manageable before setting out to work.

Anyway, this book is about a young girl coiled by hard work, or a young girl working to reveal her fangs; a tale whose main character is Sengoku Nadeko. It has been a long time since writing the Monogatari Series, so the happenings back in chapter four of Bakemonogatari, ‘Nadeko Snake’, were a distant memory; however, to have made such an entrance in the First Season, then to transform into what she became in the Second Season, the fact that I could still write Sengoku Nadeko as she appears this time makes me grateful towards being able to continue the Monogatari Series. When drafting this book, in addition to Sengoku Nadeko’s new beginnings, I also had plans to write in Hachikuji Mayoi and Ononoki Yotsugi’s new beginnings (traces of which were left in the finished book), but the five Sengoku Nadekos took up all of my time. Quite like her, actually. For one person to fill up an entire book, is this a first for the Off Season? With that, here is a novel composed of a thousand percent Sengoku, Nademonogatari, ‘Chapter Zero: Nadeko Draw’. [16] As for ‘Mayoi Even’ and ‘Yotsugi No Side’, those will have to wait another time. [17]

This book features all sorts of Sengoku Nadekos, but VOFAN-san decided to draw her at her earliest on the cover, and her at her most recent in the insert. Thank you so much! And as for the remaining volume in Off Season, Musubimonogatari (‘Tied Tale’), hmmm… from the title, could it be the tale of Araragi-kun and Senjougahara-san tying the knot?

NISIOISIN

Notes

008

[1] 行くぞ (ikuzo) translates as ‘let’s go’. In the original, Ougi literally switches to English ‘let’s go’, which would work in all translations except English, so here I pulled out the reverse card.

010

[2] うち (uchi) in the original Japanese. In this context this means ‘I’; feminine, informal, intimate (in-groups), typically used in Kansai dialects (both women and girls) and by young teenage girls. Note also that pronouns appear much less frequently in Japanese compared to English; in the original, uchi only appears once in Fawning Nadeko’s entire paragraph.

[3] ご神体 (goshintai), literally ‘sacred god (kami) body’, the place/object where a god resides, and by consequence, the object(s) of worship.

012

[4] Originally a pun between 手ブラ (tebura, ‘hand bra’) and 町ブラ (machibura, ‘walkabout’, ‘walking around town’).

[5] Japan refers to female gym shorts as ‘bloomers’. Ougi is shortening ブルマ (buruma) into ルマ (ruma) as prefix, to fit in with the two-syllable prefixes used for all shikigami Nadekos.

[6] It should be noted that gym bloomers largely fell out of use in its ‘girls sports uniform’ context since the early-1990s; hence the association of bloomers with the Shōwa era (1926–1989).

016

[7] Reference image. The original uses the accompanying phrase おひけえなすって！ (ohikeenasutte!), roughly meaning ‘please allow me to introduce myself’. Originally a respectful phrase and act meant to humble the speaker and indicate their righteousness, it is now exclusively associated with the yakuza (and is used increasingly rarely there too).

019

[8] The original makes reference to ayu fishing, a specific Japanese fishing method comparable to fly fishing.

[9] Specific cultural reference. 健康児 (kenkō-ji) in the original. The image of a ‘healthy child’ in Japan is somewhat influenced by the now-abolished 健康優良児 (kenkō-yūryō-ji, ‘children in superior health’) Commendation Programme during the twentieth century, a semi-state-sponsored programme in finding the ‘ideal’ child. Widely-circulated images of it typically featured shirtless boys in gym shorts; later when the programme included girls, school PE wear remained the primary associated image, with a very-short-sleeved blouse. This footnote itself is of course a massive oversimplification.

[10] Forced adaptation. As if Nadeko would call someone by their given name. The original Japanese features a pun between 懐疑 (kaigi, ‘suspicion’, ‘doubt’) and 貝木 (Kaiki).

020

[11] 手水舎 (chōzuya): the place to wash one’s hands prior to worship in Japanese Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples.

022

[12] In the original Japanese, 撫公 (nade-kō). 公 in this case is used as a familiar suffix, if not slightly disrespectful (plus a portmanteau of Nadeko and kō). This is one of the few cases where keeping a name suffix could be more confusing, so I anglicized it. It’s conveniently one letter away from Maddie.

029

[13] The Japanese for ‘victim’, 被害者, translates literally to ‘that who is harmed’, where 被 indicates the passive voice. In different contexts (and with different pronunciations), 被 can also mean ‘(to) cover’, ‘(to) wrap’, such was the wordplay used here.

[14] A pun between 闇の中 (yami no naka, ‘within the dark’) and 紙の中 (kami no naka, ‘within the paper’).

031

[15] The original gag is between きつく (kitsuku, ‘lesson’) and 木靴 (kigutsu, ‘wooden clog’). Leçon and chaussure are French for ‘lesson’ and ‘shoe’ respectively. Close enough (well, closer than English). Still not close enough to avoid being footnoted. 

--Afterword--

[16] ‘Sengoku’ literally translates to ‘a thousand stones’, hence a thousand percent.

[17] ‘No side’ is a Japanese borrowing from English, ‘no side’ being the archaic expression for ‘full time’ in rugby.

Additional Notes

002

{A} Blah-di-blah-di senpai

Ougi uses ほにゃらら (Honyarara), a placeholder name in Japanese. That the Japanese for ‘John Doe’ shares two syllables with ‘Araragi’ — was this planned the whole time?

{B} Mess of a sentence

The original sees Nadeko saying ご遠慮します (go enryo shimasu), which is directed towards the object (Ougi, in this instance); the correct usage should simply be ご遠慮ください (enryo shimasu), directed towards the speaker.

003

{C} Bashful bashing

The Japanese for ‘bashful’ is 照れ屋 (tereya); the first kanji on its own (照る) can mean ‘to shine’, ‘to illuminate’. The rest of the two sentences are otherwise accurate (read: I can’t believe this works).

005

{D} Nibs

Both nibs are commonly used for manga (nib pens in general, actually). G nibs are highly flexible, whereas spoon nibs are more rigid.

006

{E} Toriyama & Toriyama

The former an eighteenth-century scholar and ukiyo-e artist of Japanese folklore, the latter the creator of Dragon Ball (among countless other things).

{F} Nadeko, Nadeko, Nadeko, Nadeko!

I follow the original Japanese’s scheme of ‘Nadeko’ preceded by two syllables. When If an official translation comes out, there is a high likelihood that the names will be different.

i. Gentle Nadeko

おと撫子 (otonadeko) in the original Japanese, shortened from おとなしい (otonashii, lit. ‘adult-like’), meaning docile, quiet, meek, trustworthy, mild, gentle (in the sense of ‘gentlewoman’).

ii. Fawning Nadeko

媚び撫子 (kobinadeko) in the original Japanese; 媚び (kobi) means flattering, cajoling, prone to giving out compliments. Alt. translation: Flirty Nadeko, but I did not want to encumber the book by adding in unnecessary sexual connotations.

iii. Anti-Nadeko

逆撫子 (sakanadeko) in the original Japanese; 逆 means reverse, inverse, opposite, sometimes in the context of ‘going against’, ‘disobey’, or ‘rebel’. Alt. translation: Psycho Nadeko.

iv. Divine Nadeko

神撫子 (kaminadeko) in the original Japanese; 神 means god.

v. Present Nadeko

今撫子 (imanadeko) in the original Japanese; 今 means present, current.

{G} Eyes are the windows to one’s soul

Idiomatic substitution; the original Japanese is 目は口程に物を言う (me wa kuchi hodo ni mono wo iu), roughly ‘one’s eyes speak more than one’s mouth’.

{H} Short story reference

See ‘Nadeko Pool’, published in the Bakemonogatari Anime Complete Guidebook (October 2010).

{I} Berserk button

The ‘berserk button’ in question is originally 逆鱗 (gekirin, ‘inverted scale’), itself a borrowing from the Classical Chinese text 韓非子 (Han Feizi) (chapter XII), of a dragon who has an inverted scale on its throat, prone to murderous rage once touched.

{J} Sakanadeko

Refer to the audio commentary track for episode three of Otorimonogatari.

Technically, its first mention is in ‘Nadeko Mirror’ (September 2013), not the audio commentary for episode three of Otorimonogatari (March 2014) as suggested, but said short story is never mentioned in this book.

{K} DJ Nadeko

Whilst she technically never appeared in the anime per se, she has appeared in some previews and the anime audio commentaries. Refer especially to the audio commentary for episode nine of Bakemonogatari and the ‘inner’ audio commentary (track 2 or track B) for episode one of Nisemonogatari. Consider it an Easter egg.

012

{L} Picky quickly

Originally a (sort of) play between 四の五の (shinogono, ‘picky’; idiomatic, lit. ‘four or five’) and 一か八か (ichikahachika, ‘all-or-nothing’, lit. ‘one or eight’). This is not the only instance of Nisio’s trademark wordplay, but it serves as an example of how I will deal with them. Explaining wordplay is one thing, but maintaining subtlety is also important.

013

{M} Flashing one’s faults

The original term uses 露悪 (roaku, ‘boasting one’s faults’, ‘playing down oneself’) and plays it with 露出 (roshutsu, ‘to expose’, ‘exposure’).

{N} Diff.

The original is a play between 変わったわね (hen watta wa ne, ‘changed’) and 変わった子ね (hen watta ko ne, ‘weirdo’).

016

{O} Sengoku L. Jackson

I take extensive liberties with Anti-Nadeko’s language, who I incidentally modelled after Malcolm Tucker and his invocations of ‘violent sexual imagery’. The goal was to heighten the contrast between regular Nadeko(s) and this Nadeko, much like Hanazawa Kana did so memorably in the anime adaptation. Note that whilst I have added swear words plenty, the feculent sentence is the only one where I have tacked on an insult in addition. The rest of her outbursts (excluding the intensifiers) have barely changed.

017

{P} In for a penny, in for a pound

Idiomatic substitution. The original Japanese is 毒を食らわば皿まで (doku wo kurawaba saramade), roughly meaning ‘if one eats poison, might as well lick the plate clean’.

018

{Q} Solid as a rock

Phrasal substitution. The original Japanese compares the solidity to 鉄板 (teppan, iron plate).

019

{R} Sugita Genpaku

杉田玄白 (Sugita Genpaku, 1733–1817) was a Japanese physician, known especially for his work in anatomy, dissection, and translations / introduction of Dutch studies (蘭学, rangaku) into Japan.

{S} Head to toe, come to think of it

Substitution. Instead of saying ‘from head to toe’, the Japanese phrase (徹頭徹尾) would translate as ‘from head to tail’, and the original paragraph here was Nadeko remarking that Yotsugi doesn’t have a tail.

020

{T} Playing weak hands and dead hands

Substitution. The original references the thirty-fourth of the famous Chinese military text, Thirty-Six Stratagems:

苦肉の策 (ku-niku no saku, lit. ‘the strategy of suffered / bitter meat’) is most often translated as ‘inflicting injury on oneself to win the enemy’s trust’.

This is played with in the next paragraph as 死肉の策 (shi-niku no saku, lit. ‘the strategy of dead meat’).

023

{U} Speedo Nadeko

クール撫子 (kūrunadeko) in the original Japanese, derived from the クール (‘cool’) in スクール (‘school’), itself in ‘school swimsuit’. I am sticking with the two-syllable scheme used so far, plus not using ‘swimsuit’ in the name.

026

{V} ♪

The ‘hI’m’ makes more sense when said out loud.

The original has Divine Nadeko laughing with ふ (fu), transitioning to ぶ (bu), finally smoothly ending with ぶっ殺すんだ (bukkorosunda, ‘I’ll kill you’).

027

{W} Where traces remain

A fragmented quote from the classic Edo Japanese text Oku no Hosomichi (1702) by renowned Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694); specifically, the haiku

夏草や兵ども夢の跡

(natsukusa ya | tsuwamono domo | yume no ato)

Roughly (not translated line by line):

Summery flora

Where traces remain

Of stalwart warriors past

028

{X} Chinou Nomi

A character in Nisio Isin’s Densetsu Series (2012–2018).

029

{Y} Driver’s license

The minimum driving age for vehicles in Japan is 18 years old (nationwide), which typically translates to third year in high school or first year undergraduate.

031

{Z} The very last sentence

‘Shoes on a snake’ is a literal translation of the Chinese (later borrowed into Japanese) idiom of 画蛇添足 (gada tensoku, ‘adding feet to a snake’), meaning ‘gilding the lily’, ‘superfluous’, ‘unnecessary’, because snakes… don’t have feet. Further shortened to 蛇足 (dasoku), as it appears in this book. Also a call-back to the final sentence of ‘Nadeko Snake’ in Bakemonogatari.

Translator’s Afterword

撫 — to caress, to stroke, to pat, to touch, usually in the context of consolation. Only twice did it appear in this book, and both times… oh no… where did these teardrops come from all of a sudden…

撫物 (nademono) — an accessory used by onmyōji within 祓 (harai), a purification ceremony. Shaped like a doll (which can be folded from paper, or more historically made from straw or wood), it transfers one’s 穢れ (kegare, roughly ‘defilement’, ‘uncleanness’) onto itself upon touching, and is later washed away into a river or sent somewhere to be purified.

撫物語 (Nademonogatari) — this book, the third in Monogatari’s Off Season, and the twenty-first volume overall.

‘Nadeko Draw’ is first and foremost, in Kurt Vonnegut’s terms, a ‘Man in Hole’ story, a story of redemption and growth. One may even go so far as to say Nademonogatari qualifies as a Bildungsroman, though I would only say it is the first half of one. All children have to grow up and work someday — preferably in that order. Everybody has their own path to adulthood, some more fantastical than others. Given that this afterword is at the very end, you can be the judge of what Nademonogatari is — a long-awaited developmental arc to a main character à la Hanekawa’s Nekomonogatari (Shiro), Nisio pandering to Nadeko fans, a[nother] challenge to Shaft (especially given 025), a Bildungsroman, half a Bildungsroman, redemption, or simply, ‘Man in Hole’.

Of course, some may put forward the argument that Sengoku Nadeko is an irredeemable character (and she would probably agree with you), to which I shall borrow a maxim from Hellsing: humans can redeem themselves, monsters can’t. Could this be one subconscious reason why our gamer girl decided to give up being god? Who knows? Probably. It is, after all, quite a manga-esque statement. Given this book, whether Nadeko would be a fan of dark storylines such as Hellsing is left as an exercise for the reader.

That said, despite her protestations, ‘Nadeko Draw’ is not exactly saccharine either; the only part that can be described as such are Shinobu’s doughnuts, and even then, they were accompanied with a bite of our main character’s papery imitations. Come to think of it, Nadeko didn’t eat any of them. She did have instant ramen, but those things are saltier than the Dead Sea. Nadeko may remind us that even fictional characters are living, breathing creatures, but there is a certain self-awareness, if not irony, of that statement appearing in a series where food breaks are… sparse, shall we say. Translating Yotsugi eating ice cream (in the summer, no less) is making me crave the stuff though. I should go out and buy some. Treating oneself is part of hard work, after all. 

Speaking of, this is a loose translation, where not every word maps one-to-one with the original. Owing to fundamental linguistic and cultural differences, some things will be inevitably lost, some substituted, some added. Yotsugi’s use of masculine 僕 (boku), wordplay subtlety, and Japanese’s infrequent pronouns were definitely lost. Certain phrases, ‘Naddie’, and Fawning Nadeko’s voice were definitely substitutions. Anti-Nadeko, meanwhile, hmm, I wonder… it is worth noting that voices (accents?) were pretty much the only thing that was spiced up, and from a different perspective, one can consider it as preserving overall tone. Some things I also tried hard to keep, such as avoiding personal pronouns before Ougi’s gender reveal in 002 or when discussing Mayoi in 019, or keeping ‘I/me’ vague throughout 027, such that when it is re-read, it still makes sense even with knowledge of the reveal. Translation is ultimately an art, and the last thing I wanted to do is to transform ‘Nadeko Draw’ into a boring read, which it was not intended to be. It does seem that Nadeko’s arcs are where Nisio experiments the most with narration. Even as I proof the thing, this book hits hard, and I hope I have at least conveyed that well; it’s the least a translator should do. This is a translation I did one hundred percent as a hobby. Thanks for reading and I hope you have enjoyed it.

It is worth noting that Sengoku’s narrating voice is once again markedly different from all other narrators, even from herself in Otorimonogatari. Two points of note:

First, like Otorimonogatari, Sengoku’s narration is filled with teineigo (polite honorifics), e.g. ending statements with desu instead of (e.g.) the informal da, or ending verbs with the polite masu instead of (e.g.) the dictionary u/ru. As with many things Japanese, much of it is inevitably lost in translation, further complicated by having to preserve small bits of suspense, and Sengoku being a middle school girl and not exactly Shakespeare (and more to the point, neither am I).

Second, and completely different from Otorimonogatari, Nadeko speaks and narrates in the first person with 私 (watashi, first-person neuter singular, formal). She also no longer spells words out in kana (rendered as misspellings in the Vertical English release), or at least does not emphasise that she is spelling those words out. Considering what Nadeko tells us what being a deity did to her intellect (027), it could have been an Otorimonogatari exclusive (itself a post hoc narration). The resulting style of prose is generally drier, more formal and distant from the reader. Despite what I said about voices, this aspect of narration is something I tried in keeping, via e.g. lack of contractions and use of past tense.

These two, when combined, can unfortunately sometimes give the text a dry or repetitive impression. I offer my profuse apologies.

‘Are you saying sorry just so you can end the conversation like Gentle Nadeko did (030)? Playing the victim, huh?’

Oh no, I’ve been found out…

‘Stop doing this, you have to face reality someday too. Have you seriously not learnt anything from this book?’

Gotta go, toodles!

»sawa«

June 2020

Note

All names are given family name-first in kana spelling. Most honorifics are preserved.

Japanese is not italicised in general, except in notes.

This book uses British English.

This book uses a two-tier note system:

Untranslatable concepts and puns that would benefit from some explanation will have notes ordered numerically with square brackets. (e.g. [5])

Decently-translated puns, references, trivia, in-depth explanations comparing the original Japanese with English etc. that are not necessary to understand the text will have notes ordered alphabetically with curly braces. (e.g. {P}) It is recommended to either view them after finishing a section, if not the whole book.