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nouns || adjectives || verbs || adverbs || phrases :: reading demon slayer vocab lists, sorted by part of speech
name breakdown || grammar notes || panel comparison :: reading demon slayer deep dives
to view reading demon slayer posts by chapter, you can search my blog for the chapter tag, which is #rds: ch XXX, where XXX is the chapter number. for example, chapter 1 is tagged #rds: ch 001, and chapter 40 is tagged #rds: ch 040.
駄々をこねる – to be unreasonable, whine, throw a tantrum | だだをこねる
名を馳せる – to win fame, become widely known, make a name for oneself | なをはせる
口(を/が)利く – to speak eloquently, be a smooth talker; to mediate, negotiate; to have great influence over, have clout (with) | くち(を/が)きく
i wasn’t able to easily find this phrase in any j>e dictionaries, so the definitions given here are sourced from the コトバンク entry for 口が利く. in this chapter, i believe the phrase is being used in the second sense, to mediate.
一歩も引かない – not budging an inch, to stand one’s ground | いっぽもひかない
引っ張る – to pull, draw, pull tight; to string (lines), run (cable), stretch; to pull towards oneself (e.g. someone’s sleeve); to drag, haul, tow; to lead (e.g. one’s followers); to take someone somewhere (e.g. a suspect to the police); to tempt into joining, strongly invite to join; to delay, prolong; to lengthen the pronunciation (of a word); to quote, cite, reference; to wear, put on | ひっぱる
群がる – to swarm, gather | むらがる
有り余る – to be superfluous, be in excess, be more than enough | ありあまる
一房 – one tuft (of hair, threads, etc.); one bunch (of grapes, bananas, etc.), one cluster (e.g. of flowers); one segment (of a tangerine, etc.), one section | ひとふさ
上官 – superior officer | じょうかん
突撃 – charge, rush, dash, assault, attack | とつげき
界隈 – neighborhood, vicinity | かいわい
下っぱ – underling, person of low standing, grunt | したっぱ
also written as 下っ端. can also be used as an adjective meaning petty, minor, lowly, humble.
haha, i totally dropped off the map for a while, huh? well, i decided to apply for grad school last fall and so every time i thought about opening my laptop to update this blog, i was instead reminded of upcoming due dates and resumes and essays and emails...and i just left the laptop closed. BUT! the application period has long since passed. more importantly, I GOT IN!!! the program starts in august and i'm very excited to be entering a new chapter of life. sometimes i feel like i'm behind since i didn't pursue a master's straight after undergrad...then again, everyone lives life at their own pace. i don't know if i truly believe in fate or destiny or anything like that, but i do take some comfort in the belief that i'm exactly where i'm meant to be in life at any given time. whatever happens will happen. my job is to deal with things as they come.
anyway, why don't we get down to business? i've got a few panels to compare from chapter 70 today. the first one is of tengen with the butterfly mansion girls.
english:
Say something! You stuck-up pig! // Kyaaah!
japanese:
何とか言えっての‼ 地味な奴だな‼ // キャ――ッ
this one took me completely off guard because tengen 100% does not call kanao a pig or stuck-up in japanese. all he says is "[You're a] quiet one," albeit in a disrespectful tone. being quiet or reserved is, after all, one of the worst things you could be in tengen's eyes. something like "You meek little mouse!" would be closer to the original japanese and a more in-character insult for tengen, in my opinion. seriously, i've never ever, not once in all my years of studying japanese, thought of pig as a suitable translation of 奴. what the hell were they thinking...?
next is a panel of tanjirou yelling at tengen about aoi.
english:
People have different needs and abilities! You can't just use them as you like with no regard for them at all! Let Aoi go!!
japanese:
人には人の事情があるんだから無神経に色々つつき回さないでいただきたい‼ アオイさんを返せ‼
this panel comes after tengen has just said that aoi doesn't look like she'll be useful, but since she's basically a corps member he's still going to take her on a mission anyway. both the reader and tanjirou know aoi feels insecure about her position in the corps, and in classic tanjirou fashion, he indignantly yells at his superior for the transgression.
tanjirou doesn't quite say anything about different needs and abilities or using people as one pleases, though. more literally, his line is "People have their own circumstances, so I'd like to ask you not to callously poke at this and that!" basically he's telling tengen to think before he speaks. i guess the "you can't use people" part is a reference to tengen's plan to use aoi for his mission? having read the japanese version still makes it a confusing choice in my opinion, to say the least.
i'd also like to point out tanjirou's somewhat polite ～いただきたい and the 返せ‼ that comes right after. very funny juxtaposition to me, teehee.
the final panel for today features tengen and tanjirou & co.
english:
So...? // He's tall! // Where are we going?
japanese:
で？// でけえ // どこ行くんだオッさん
firstly, i think "He's huge!" instead of "He's tall!" would've been a better choice for zenitsu's 「でけえ」, but that's just me. the main thing about this panel that got me, though, was inosuke calling tengen オッさん. it's been omitted in the official english version, which i can understand. there's not many good english translations of it that would fit inosuke's character. i've seen it translated as mister, but inosuke wouldn't say that. i've also seen it as pops or bloke, but inosuke wouldn't say that either. if demon slayer were being translated now, they might have gone with unc, which honestly is probably the best option available. unfortunately inosuke is not a black u.s. american and does not live in the late 20th or early 21st centuries, so he still wouldn't say that.
they could've gone with old man and that would've been fine, but whatever. mostly i just wanted to show more people that inosuke calls tengen オッさん. it's so fucking funny to me. "where are we going, OLD MAN?" and the old man in question isn't even 25.
that brings us to the end of this panel comparison. i'll try to get back into reading demon slayer more often, but no promises. thanks for reading, and please look forward to the next posts! 読んでくれてありがとう！次の投稿を楽しみにしてください！
title: 前へ進もう少しずつでも構わないから (まえへすすもうすこしずつでもかまわないから) || it doesn't matter if it's just bit by bit--let's move forward
official english title: move forward--even if just a little
思うように – as one wishes, as one wants, to one’s satisfaction | おもうように
appears in this chapter as the slightly different 思ったように, which according to bunpro has the exact same meaning as 思うように and can be used interchangeably.
～に過ぎない – an expression meaning no more than, just, only, mere, goes no further than. it comes after the phrase it modifies, and usually ends the clause. in this chapter, kyoujurou’s father uses it while drunkenly ranting to tanjirou about sun breathing. he says that all breathing styles go no further than imitating sun breathing. | ～にすぎない
極一部 – very small fraction (of), very small proportion, very small part, tiny bit | ごくいちぶ
may also be written with ごく instead of 極.
敷居を跨ぐ – to cross the threshold, pass the threshold | しきいをまたぐ
may also be written with またぐ instead of 跨ぐ.
馬鹿にする – to make fun of, look down on, make light of | ばかにする
調子に乗る – to get carried away, get overly elated, become over-excited, be caught up in the moment, get cocky; to get up to speed, move into gear | ちょうしにのる
力及ばず – (one’s efforts) not being enough, not succeeding (despite one’s best efforts), not being up to the task, being beyond one’s ability | ちからおよばず
心当たりがある – to have an idea, have a clue | こころあたりがある
言いがかり – false accusation, trumped-up charge, pretext, picking a quarrel; statement that cannot be retracted, saying something one cannot take back | いいがかり
後追い – trailing, chasing after; imitation, imitating, copying, following someone’s example; clinginess (e.g. in babies, toddlers) | あとおい
