Afterword
Good evening, this is Wataru Watari.
How are all you readers spending this time, near winter’s end, when the new season is coming? For me: work.
This is nothing new, but ever since I started working, around New Year’s, so many things come at once, and it’s quite miserable, and this time has been no exception. As usual, I am spending every day on nothing but work. I blame everything on the end of the fiscal year and editing. (Can you feel my indignation?)
However, perhaps it’s this sort of flurry that makes life exciting, and each day the richer for it… Kidding! If you can start saying that, you basically pass as a corporate cog! Yay.
Speaking of the mundane, there is a tendency for that word to refer to days with truly nothing out of the ordinary, no ups and downs at all. But I think even without any big incidents or accidents, even just the repetition of similar days can be occupied with all sorts of feelings and dealing with many struggles. For example, even during the day in, day out of work, work, work, you’ll be like I’m gonna knock him out or I’m gonna sock her or I’ve already punched that one. Such a fluctuation of emotions. Every day is a day as a corporate cog.
And during that everyday life, what did he think, how did she feel? What sort of expressions do they have as they remember those days and talk about them?
And so, on that note, this has been My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected, Volume 10.5.
And below, the acknowledgments.
Holy Ponkan : Irohasuuuu. With Iroha on the cover, it’s been like, this volume has been all Irohasu! Irohasu 100 percent! It was the best! Thank you very much, Irohasu.
To my editor, the great Hoshino: C’mon, I can get the next one on time, ga-ha-ha! The Wataru Watari who has said that is dead. Gone. I’ll do a proper job this time! I’m not lying this time! Thank you very much. Ga-ha-ha!
To everyone involved with the media franchise: As always, thank you very much for your help. I’ve continued to cause trouble with the TV anime and other things, and I’m very sorry. I hope you will continue to support me.
To all my readers: I’m very sorry for always making those of you looking forward to the new book wait. I’m making steady progress on the main story as well, so I would be happy if you would watch over me warmly for a while. I would be extremely glad if you would continue to support My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected in the future as well, with the TV anime that’s starting in April, the manga adaptation, and other media.
Now, I’ve used up my page count about here, so I’ll lay down my pen. Next time, let’s meet again in My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected, Volume 11!
On a certain day in February, while drinking the nutritional tonic MAX Coffee, friend of all-nighters,
Wataru Watari
Translation Notes
Chapter 1 … One of these days, we’ll probably find a simple job even Yoshiteru Zaimokuza can handle.
1 “I was only liable for Totsuka—down to the tiniest details. Call me ‘Tiny Tots’ for short. Everyone knew I was a hard-core Totsuka stan. If he had concerts, I’d bring a homemade fan with his name on it. You know, ‘Tiny Tots’ is kinda cute.” The original Japanese gag here is on Totsuka tantou (in charge of Totsuka) abbreviated to Totsuka-tan, and then he says, “But when you write Totsuka-tan in hiragana, then it looks abnormally cute.” Tan is a childish suffix, more diminutive than chan.
2 “Someone get this guy a Happy Meal. Do they make a Slaphappy Meal…?” This whole section hinges on the fact that medetai in Japanese means both “happy” and “naive.” So when he pulls out the English word happy, he’s actually calling Zaimokuza naive.
3 “In a world like ours, where you can’t even have little dreams…” is a line from a song with a title that can be translated as “Poison: this world where you can’t say what you want to say.” It’s famous for being the OP of the Great Teacher Onizuka live-action drama—GTO is basically a quirky inspirational teacher show.
4 “…send an e-mail to whoever’s ranked at the top on Let’s Do a Novelist…” Zaimokuza says Shousetsuka wo Yarou, a blatant riff on Shousetsuka ni Narou (Let’s be a novelist), a website for self-published fiction that has been the birthplace for many light-novel series, such as Re:ZERO, Konosuba, etc.
5 “…enough to give you nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea? Pepto-Bismol!” In Japanese, they use an old ad slogan for famotidine, a drug discovered by Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical: “Stomachache? Heartburn? Yamanouchi!”
6 “’Tis true that it’s difficult to get hired straight out of university. But changing jobs is another matter! When you’re on my level, you can slip into an editing agency or smaller publisher and get hired at a better company after you have sufficient experience.” Traditionally speaking, full-time workers in Japan are hired straight out of university and employed for life. It’s less common to take someone from another company, because it’s believed you’re used to one way of doing things, and you’ll have difficulty blending in with the company culture.
7 “…I could get insta-hired at Gagaga Bunko, at least…” Gagaga is the Japanese publisher of this series.
8 “Say what you will, Shogakukan was still one of the Big Three…” The Big Three in Japanese publishing are Kodansha, Shueisha, and Shogakukan, with Kadokawa cutting in to make it four.
9 “A true partner who could see and hear the same things as I…” This is a quote from Tales of Zestiria that was used as a tagline in a bunch of promotional material.
10 “Isono, let’s play ball!” is a line that Nakajima, the best friend, is always saying in the long-running anime Sazae-san.
11 “Things like Shirakaba and Garakuta Bunko were in textbooks.” Shirakaba and Garakuta Bunko were literary magazines in the early twentieth century and late nineteenth century, respectively.
12 “…or even on how to win a game of rock-paper-scissors that followed a Sunday anime.” The anime Sazae-san started the trend of the title character engaging in a game of rock-paper-scissors with the audience after the next episode preview.
13 “Did you know, Raiden?” is a line that comes up repeatedly in the 1980s martial arts manga Sakigake!! Otokojuku (Charge, boys’ school), whenever the bystanders needed to explain things happening in a fight. It was one of the earliest manga that did that a lot and was a bit of a trope-setter.
14 “Isn’t that, like, a brand of gummy bears?” The original Japanese gag here was on the slang term chiiremu, which comes from “cheater harem,” which does not mean infidelity, but rather an overpowered hero with a harem. Isshiki assumes it’s related to Chiitara, a brand of 7-Eleven cheese snacks.
15 “I can see right through you!” Sukesuke daze! is the catchphrase of Keigo Atobe in Prince of Tennis.
16 “These ‘16 No-Nos’…” “Nai Nai 16” is the name of a song by the 1980s boyband Shibugaki-tai. The “16” here probably refers to sixteen years old, and the lyrics are about not having love and whatnot.
17 “Enduring the heat and cold in the summer and the winter…” Comiket is held twice a year, once in summer and once in winter, and the lineup to get into the building can be very long.
18 “About the only people with this much energy have got to be the Kinki Kids, or Yoshida Terumi.” “Kinki no Yaruki Manman Songu” (Kinki’s super enthusiastic song) is the name of an OP for the Chibi Maruko-chan anime by the Kinki Kids. Yoshida Terumi no Yaruki MANMAN! (Yoshida Terumi’s super enthusiasm) was a long-running radio show.
19 “You’re talking about SPA!…” SPA! magazine is a men’s weekly entertainment magazine with articles ranging from sex tips to financial advice.
20 “…that’s practically like Seele. That’s beyond impact; that’s Second Impact.” As any good otaku should know, this is an Evangelion reference.
21 “Zaimokuza emphatically agreed with a dramatic flutter of his coat like William Smith Clark…” William Smith Clark was an American professor whom the Japanese government hired as a foreign advisor in the Meiji period, and there’s a famous statue of him in Hokkaido, which is most certainly what this line is referencing.
22 “Gotcha—which is short for I’ve got no idea what you’re chattering on about.” The Japanese here is dropping some manga slang, saparan, short for “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
23 “Talk about a winner…” This particular wording, kachigumi yan ke…, is a quote from the fairies in Humanity Has Declined.
24 “Don-Don-Donuts, let’s go nuts!” This is what the girls in Shirobako swear around a box of donuts when they commit to making an anime. It’s an anime about the anime industry.
Chapter 2 … Surely, Iroha Isshiki is made of sugar and spice and everything nice.
1 “I don’t know everything. I just know what I know” is a quote from Tsubasa Hanekawa of the Monogatari series.
2 “And then she gave me the kind of bold grin that made me feel uncomfortable… Guess there’s two sweaters here now!” In Japanese he said, “And then she grinned boldly… ’Cause sweater, get it?” He’s making a pun between nitto (grin) and nitto (knit sweater).
3 “That’s some really blatant Toki Soba there.” Toki Soba is a traditional rakugo narrative (a comic anecdote) that uses that same trick of number distraction. Basically, this is a trick that’s literally hundreds of years old.
4 “You still have a long way to go!” This particular expression is the catchphrase of Ryoma Echizen, protagonist of Prince of Tennis, which he says when he beats his opponents.
5 “If we’re just talking mental fortitude, she’s stronger than the Japan National rugby team…” This is a reference to the mental coach Kaori Araki, who trained the Japan National team. She wrote a book about it called The Way of Mental Training That Changed Japan National Rugby.
6 “Miss Hiratsuka would be ready and willing to have Naritake, if it would only nari-take her.” The Japanese gag here is fairly nonsensical. It says Miss H is enthusiastic (norinori) about eating at Naritake, and she’d even be narinari taketake about it. This means nothing; it just plays off some other terms for excitement that are based off sound effects.
7 “What the heck? Who does she think she is? Princess Kaguya?” “Princess Kaguya,” or “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter,” is a classic folktale. Princess Kaguya has a bunch of suitors, and she makes impossible requests of them for her hand in marriage.
Chapter 3 … There lies the deadline they absolutely cannot fail to make.
1 “What was it, ‘People are nice’? Places to hang ooout and good fooood and cute cafés are waiting, right? The only part that fits is the food, huh? Guess I’m wrong.” Hachiman is wildly misremembering a song from the children’s anime Manga Nihon Mukashibanashi that goes, “Good snacks and warm food are waiting for the children’s return.”
2 “I can just see her imagining cake… It’s not a Swiss roll.” The Japanese gag here is on keihi (funds) and keihi (cinnamon bark), and Hachiman says, “With your intonation, that’s completely Chinese medicine.”
3 “I was totally raring to go, like, Leave the camera work to me, snap-snap-snap…” This is a reference to an Internet meme with ASCII cats that go, “Leave the paying to me! Riprip [the sound of a wallet opening].” Baribari can also mean “working hard.”
4 “As I nodded, I also went Capisce! with a sideways peace sign to acknowledge…” This is the catchphrase of Laala Manaka from the Pretty Rhythm spin-off anime PriPara.
5 “There’s a thing called temper for steel and men…” is a line from Kunihiko Kimishima in s-CRY-ed, the impactful one-liner shortly before his death.
6 “…if I could make it now, then the laws of the universe meant nothing!” This is a quote from Exdeath, the final boss of Final Fantasy V. It’s become a minor Internet meme, referenced whenever it seems like something incredible or disturbing might happen.
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