#idol declaration

[masterhandss]

Since HoneyWorks is updating the “I, Idol Declaration” manga with new chapters, I was so desperate for an english translation that I made some myself :)) Here’s Chapter 8, the aftermath of Mona’s debut live (everyone who has seen her MV knows how it’s gonna go...)

-> Read on Imgur | Read on Mangadex <-

Opinions on the chapter below:

In celebration of the release of Mona’s newest MV “17 Years” I decided to speedrun this chapter! I wanted to upload it before the youtube video dropped but clearly I failed lmao. I haven’t even watched it yet qwq

I just want to give my thoughts on this chapter since I had fun translating it.

It’s kinda cool to see the difference between the interpretation I got from “Watashi, Idol Sengen” the song vs. Chapter 8. Maybe it’s the additional context, but I had two completely different interpretations of Mona’s struggles based on two different mediums. 

In the MV, I got the impression that Mona’s struggle is that she felt alienated and unwelcomed in the idol world, which caused her a lot of anxiety and sadness. From the slowly reducing number of glowsticks during her performance to the scowl she received from Yuujirou, I thought that her problem was she struggled to believe that she could be an idol in such environment.

In the Chapter, there is less emphasis on the reducing glowsticks and Yuujirou’s involvement is a whole conversation and not just a scowl. We find out that Mona’s struggle is that she felt too confident, so when she performed in a normal or subpar level, she felt embarrassed by it. I liked the bit where she mentioned that compared to herself, everyone was working to make it a great live for the audience. I mean I feel like Asuna is in the same shoes as her but Mona herself doesn’t know that lmao. 

The MV made me believe that Mona cried because everyone thinks she sucked, but the Chapter reveals that she cried because she felt too complacent about her performance. 

So yeah I think that’s pretty cool! I kinda wanna hear what other people thought of the chapter, I wish mangadex would reinstall comments again on their site qwq

[masterhandss]

I definitely think Mona and Aizou have a strong relationship. In the beginning The Umbrella, well in all the stories we see Umbrella and it's a bit like the story of Mona's parents and also for Sena, she lent an umbrella to Medori. There is a similarity between Mona's father, Aizou and Medori, they are all singers and are good at playing guitar.

I think it's a story that repeats with both the mother and her daughters, and that's a very beautiful thing. Of course, if Mona heard her parents' story, she'd remember what happened between her and Aizou. Sorry for bad English 🙏

That's okay, your english is fine! Mine can be pretty bad too sometimes haha.

// spoilers to the Watashi, Idol Sengen Manga Chapter 10

I won't deny the importance of umbrellas in the Narumi family, and how interesting it is to know that Aizou lends his umbrella to Mona. It was definitely one of the scenes that made me interested in the Watashi, Idol Sengen manga.

There is honestly was more similarities on how the umbrellas are used by Mrs. Narumi and Mona than there are with Sena (which gives the Mona version more points), but knowing how Sena and Midori end up, I guess just having an umbrella is enough XDD I also didn't realize that Mr. Narumi, Aizou and Midori all play the guitar (gotta rewatch some LIPXLIP MVs later lmao) so thank you for pointing that out!

Given that using an umbrella to find love is apparently a tradition in the Narumi family (lmao haha it's so cute), it's no surprise that most of us are making a connection and assuming that Mona and Aizou might have something soon.

But, at the same time I feel like Aizou and Mona's umbrella scene just a red herring (or at least isn’t important in the grand scheme of things). I don't remember where I read that post, it was either here on tumblr or twitter (I'll link it if I find it, if anyone knows please tell me!), but there's a post that explains that Mona might not have a love interest (or at least it's not something her songs will dwell on since she wants to focus on being an idol) because of how she uses an umbrella.

According to that post, compared to Mrs. Narumi and Sena who we see receive and lend an umbrella within the MVs in honeyworks, the instances we see Mona with an umbrella in a song she's holds it on her own which represents her independence.

We have yet to see the umbrella scene with Aizou be represented in an MV, which means it might not be an important event in her life at all, compared to her mother and sister.

If you read the Watashi, Idol Sengen manga, you know that Mona went from someone who wants to be just like her mom and sister to someone who wishes to be identified separately from them and define herself in this world without being a "Narumi". The fact that she's been carrying an umbrella by herself without lending or giving it to anyone might be a representation of wanting to focus on herself.

That's the details in the post I've read, but that's not all actually. I haven't gotten to translating it yet so non-piccoma readers might not be aware but there's more to just that scene than Aizou handing her an umbrella. While Aizou does give her an umbrella and Mona does take it, she doesn't actually use it. She closes the umbrella that Aizou gave her, and continues to walk in the rain.

Even when Aizou was handing it to her, she firmly rejects it since he's Yuujirou's partner. She had no choice but to take it because Aizou walked away before she could return it. After hearing some girls on the streets praise LIPxLIP, Mona's hatred for them grew even more, so she just closed the umbrella and walked back home.

Mrs. Narumi and Sena's umbrella scenes are pretty sweet and romantic. Mrs. Narumi's moment feels like fate, she was in the dumps (emotionally and kinda literally) and someone kindly shields her with an umbrella and shows concern for her despite being a stranger. Sena lending an umbrella to Midori is the beginning of their interactions and a very crucial and heart-throbbing moment for them both. Meanwhile, the umbrella scene between Aizou and Mona is kind of intense, and Mona's constant rejection of the umbrella reflects that.

The fact that Mona doesn’t use the umbrella essentially breaks/denounces the scene as an “umbrella scene”. 

This is why I stand in the line between thinking that the Mona-Aizou umbrella scenes is foreshadowing and thinking that it's a red herring. Aizou's intentions were good when he reached out to her, which makes the scene nice and sweet, but Mona's anger and rejection makes it unlike the umbrella-related experiences of her family.

Who knows, maybe the umbrella scene between Mona and Aizou does mean something, I'm not too sure. Remembering that Aizou likes to play the guitar surely helped to make me lean towards that side, but given the kind of character Mona is, I think getting a love interest is something that won't be portrayed in her stories and MVs. I'm cool with either outcome though :))

Thank you for the ask!!

[masterhandss]

Orange Girl of Fruits☆Sugar, the energetic vitamin girl <3

Reading Watashi, Idol Sengen and got to part where they introduced Asuna!! excited to see more from Mona's rival!!

[masterhandss]

Since HoneyWorks is updating the “I, Idol Declaration” manga with new chapters, I was so desperate for an english translation that I made some myself :)) --> IMGUR LINK <--

If anyone wants to repost it on manga reading sites, I don’t mind as long as you add the first image, I just really want more people to be interested in Mona’s origin story :’’))

[masterhandss]

Since HoneyWorks is updating the “I, Idol Declaration” manga with new chapters, I was so desperate for an english translation that I made some myself :)) Here’s Chapter 7, Mona’s debut live (everyone who has seen her MV knows how it’s gonna go...)

-> Read on Imgur | Read on Mangadex <-

Chapter 2 yesterday and Chapter 7 today, I’m on a roll >:00!! I wanna collect more raws before I translate Chapter 8, so more delays on that one. Some of the next chapters are really dialogue-heavy so I’m just mentally preparing myself for all that lmao

So we have the names of Mona’s rivals! We have the female top idol Mitsuki, and Asuna from Fruits Sugar! Can’t wait to get to the chapters with them~! :DD

[masterhandss]

Since HoneyWorks is updating the “I, Idol Declaration” manga with new chapters, I was so desperate for an english translation that I made some myself :)) Chapter 6 here: --> IMGUR LINK <--

There had been a swarm of Mona-related news recently (an album and physical copy of manga volume 1!!) and it motivated me to pick this up again :DD

You can even tell by the fact that I made a new sparkly info/title card for my translations XDD anyways, I’ll try to update this more often since I actually have a lot raws in hand, and I’m really excited to get to the parts with Asuna in them! Thank you for 100+ views on Chapter 3, I hope at least half of them are now Mona fans^^

[masterhandss]

Since HoneyWorks is updating the “I, Idol Declaration” manga with new chapters, I was so desperate for an english translation that I made some myself :)) Jumped backwards to work on Chapter 2, and here it is^^

-> Read on Imgur | Read on Mangadex <-

Really sorry for the delay with Chapter 7 and 8!! I’ll get to it as soon as I can. The original plan was to push all three chapters out before the Sena Sisters event in hanipre starts, but darn it I feel like I should grind for honey diamonds instead :’’)) and thus more delays. Mona is so cute and funny, I swear once I’ve translated 10 chapters i’ll compile all her funny faces XDD

I’d still recommend reading the other translation for Chapter 2, I wouldn’t have felt like helping translate the series if it wasn’t for their version of the chapter so it has a special place in my heart lmao.

[masterhandss]

Since HoneyWorks is updating the “I, Idol Declaration” manga with new chapters, I was so desperate for an english translation that I made some myself :)) Chapter 5 here: –> IMGUR LINK <–

See, I told you guys Chapter 5 would be fast :DD its just a day or two after Chapter 4! Chapter 6-8 might take a while, since I wanna go back to drawing. I’ll just leave you guys with a kinda-cliffhanger for a while, which makes me sad because I did want to binge-translate the series. I also kinda want to confirm that i’ll only work on this until Chapter 16 or 17, since one of the reasons I became interested in the manga was to find out more about mona’s other rivals :)) or maybe until chapter 23, since Chico shows up there. maybe.