Koufuku Graffiti [3] running out, habit etc

正月（しょうがつ）the first month of the year (January), but apparently it also refers to the period when people celebrate New Year (New Years' day)

借り（かり）debt, owe (as in owing someone), favor (as in return the favor)

切れる（きれる）this intransitive verb means to break, but in contexts such as おミソ切れてる, it means to run out. In this case, it's 'running out of miso' (i.e., not totally run out yet but almost)

煮込み（にこみ）stew

ひとり言（ひとりごと）speaking to oneself
癖（くせ）habit

ひとり言の癖付いちゃいます means 'I'm getting the habit of speaking to myself' (lit. the habit is 'sticking' to me). I think 私に is being omitted/implied in this sentence.

Speaking of 癖, 寝癖（ねぐせ）means bed hair. The sentence is also similar; 寝癖がついてる means 'I'm having bed hair' (つく is probably the same as 付く, but in this case, only the hiragana is used).

Koufuku Graffiti [2] character memo

人物（じんぶつ）character
町子（まちこ）Ryou Machiko's surname
けなげ（健気）this word to describe a person has several meanings, and they're all good ones: courageous, dedicated, admirable, healthy etc etc.
料理上手（りょうりじょうず）good at cooking
一人暮らし（ひとりぐらし）lives alone. Note the く change into ぐ.
森野（もりの）Kirin Morino's surname. Note that 野 is a common kanji for 'no' in Japanese names.
年齢（ねんれい）age
子供っぽい（こどもっぽい）like a child
大食らい（おおぐらい）glutton
力持ち（ちからもち）strong
椎名（しいな）Shiina's name
通う（かよう）to commute, to attend (to go to the same place and then return home every day)
予備校（よびこう）prep school
謎多き自由人（なぞおおきじゆうじん）free person full of mystery
おばあちゃん granny. Note that おばさん (no あ and must be さん instead of ちゃん) is auntie.
お世話になっている（おせわになっている）to become acquainted with
方々（かたがた）people

Same with
To say the same as someone else, e.g., age (年齢), add 同じ before the word (同じ年齢）, then add と and the person with the same age (リョウと同じ年齢）.

In prep school example, we have 予備校に通う女の子, a compound word which means 'a girl who attends prep school'. We add 同じ and と and the other persons, and we get リョウ、キリンと同じ予備校に通う女の子.

The different 気 words

気がつく to notice, to become aware of
気をつける to be careful
気になる to feel uneasy about, to worry, to be unable to stop thinking about it
気にする to worry about, to care
気が会う to be compatible
気が変わる to change one's mind
気が進まない to be unmotivated
気がする to have a mood or feeling of
気に入る to like, favorite
気を使う to be considerate
気を悪くする to feel annoyed or displayed

Yaki Kit Kat

Recently I came across this new Kit Kat that you can bake in a toaster oven

I tried it and it tastes very good (it's プリン味). Well, eating it the normal way is already good, but the baking changes the texture, the crispiness and the experience.

If you don't have a toaster oven, you can substitute it with electric oven (but not microwave oven), though the result might not be as good.

Here's the homepage: http://nestle.jp/brand/kit/bake/ . If you can find it, I strongly recommend you to give it a try.

Anime: Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun [7]

In this scene, Nozaki-kun said 「とりあえず今日の経験を踏まえて描いてみたんだが…」

経験を踏まえる（けいけんをふまえる）to base on experience

Note that both 書くand 描くare かく, but 書くmeans to write while 描くis to draw. But 描くcan also be pronounced えがく. When pronounced this way, it has additional nuance of describing; depicting. Another kanji for えがく is 画く.

In this scene, Sakura said 「だせぇ…‼︎」. だせぇ is just a slang for ださい, which means lame or uncool.

In this scene, Sakura mentioned モテ要素（もてようそ）. モテ means popular, well-liked while 要素（ようそ）means component, element. Nozaki took it literally by introducing a scene where the girls fought for the bicycle seats ^^;

Thermos vacuum mug

Recently I bought a vacuum insulated mug, so that I can slowly sip my coffee while it stays hot for a long time.

The mug I bought was a Thermos brand.

サーモス Thermos
真空（しんくう）vacuum
断熱（だんねつ）insulation
ケータイ portable
マグ（まぐ）mug

So the full name of the product, サーモス真空断熱ケータイマグ means 'Thermos vacuum insulation portable mug'.

Anime/Manga: Koufuku Graffiti

Nozaki-kun anime has ended (but I'm pretty sure there'll be a 2nd season).

I find an upcoming anime (would be aired in first quarter of 2015) that has the potential to be as interesting as Nozaki-kun is 幸腹グラフィティ（こうふくぐらふぃてぃ）. Just like Nozaki-kun, the source material is a 4-koma manga.

It's basically about girls eating lots of foods. I like pretty girls, and I like foods, so this series is a double-win for me.

P.s., I also enjoy TV programs where they show pretty girls eating lots of foods in eating competitions (just search for 大食い　なでしこ in YouTube）.

Note that the proper kanji for こうふく is 幸福 (happiness). But they change the 福 into 腹（はら stomach）which the kanji is also pronounced ふく in some words (such as 腹部 ふくぶ abdomen). So it's a kind of wordplay; 幸腹 means 'happy stomach'.

The manga has reached 3 volumes, with only the first volume being available in digital bookstores. It's serialized in a magazine called まんがタイムきららミラク (Manga Time Kirara Miracle). I don't think this magazine is as popular as say Jump, which is it why might not be as easily available overseas.

Characters

町子 リョウ（まちこ りょう, Ryou Machiko）At the start, she is a 2nd-year middle school student studying for high school entrance exam held next year. Her parents work overseas, so she grew up with her grandmother. But her grandmother passed away and she now lives alone. At the request of her aunt, her second cousin Kirin stays at her house every Saturday. She is applying for art high school and goes to an art prep school. There she meets Shiina. When she does enter high school, she becomes classmates to both Kirin and Shiina. She's good at cooking.

森野 きりん（もりの きりん, Kirin Morino）She's Ryou's 'second cousin' and of the same age. She is applying to the same high school as Ryou. For that reason, she stays at Ryou's home every Saturday to prepare for the prep school, which is every Sunday. Very polite but shy and child-like. She's short, can eat a lot and has surprising physical strength. She passes the entrance exam and goes to the same high school as Ryou. She dislikes carrots.

椎名（しいな Shiina) Went to the same prep school as Ryou and Kirin and is now classmates to both Ryou and Kirin. Her surname is unknown so far. Cool, mysterious and also sickly.

In the next posts, I might talk about the terms or words used in this series, just like what I'm doing with Nozaki-kun.

Yomiuri sections

読売新聞（よみうりしんぶん）is one of the newspapers in Japan. I'm trying to see if I can get used to reading Japanese news by reading its online site yomiuri.co.jp

It has many different sections, so here I list the ones that are new to me:

政治（せいじ）politics, government (an easy way to remember this is to associate it with 正義（せいぎ）justice)
選挙（せんきょ）election
経済（けいざ）economics, business, finance
社会（しゃかい）society, public (note it's the reverse of 会社（かいしゃ）company)
国際（こくさい）international
地域（ちいき）regional
環境（かんきょう）environment
社説（しゃせつ）editorial
五輪（ごりん）the Olympics (lit. 5 rings)
教育（きょういく）education
医療（いりょう）medical care (the りょう here looks like 寮 dormitory, but it's slightly different)
住まい（すまい）residence

I'm still not sure about 大手小町（おおてこまち）and 発言小町（はつげんこまち）. Gotta ask sensei.

Eating crabs

Recently I ate crabs with sensei so I learnt a few new words about crab.

蟹（かに）crab.
I think since the kanji is difficult, they usually just use the hiragana or katakana カニ

殻（から）shell
剥く（むく）peel

So 蟹の殻を剥くmeans 'to peel a crab's shell'.

Crab's pincer is called かにのはさみ. はさみ means scissors. The reason we add の is because かにはさみ refers instead to the special scissors used to break crab shells.

Anime: Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun [6]

チャリ通（ちゃりつう）it means to go (to a place) by bicycle
乗っける（のっける）this is casual form of 乗せる; it means to give someone a ride

荷台（にだい）for bicycle, this is the luggage carrier at the back. Sakura was saying Nozaki's bicycle might not have it. It's quite freaky the solution is to stand on the frame though... what if you touch the wheel? ^^;

４輪チャリ（よんりんちゃり）4-wheeled bicycle
二人乗り（ふたりのり）two people on the same vehicle

レジャー（れじゃー）leisure
信頼感（しんらいかん）trust

In this scene, Nozaki said 「そうか…後ろが漕いじゃいけないんじゃないか？」

漕ぐ（こぐ）means 'to pedal'.

How did it become 漕い in the sentence? The te-form of 漕ぐ is 漕いで, and じゃ is slang for では, so I think it was originally 漕いでは (te-form + は topic marker).

Besides the common では→じゃ, there are also ければ→きゃ, ては→ちゃ. There may be more but those are what I can recall in my mind.

In this scene, Sakura said 「自分だけ何もしてない罪悪感ハンパないよ‼︎」

罪悪感（ざいあくかん）feelings of guilt
ハンパ（はんぱ）this means things like fraction, incomplete, not full etc. If I remember correctly, if you put the word はんぱ to an action, it means that it's not done wholeheartedly. If you watch anime enough you might have come across this word. It's often said to a character who is hesitating.

In the sentence, it's ハンパない, so it's the reverse meaning. If I were to translate 罪悪感ハンパない literally to English, it would probably be 'the feelings of guilt are not mere/minor/small/light!!'

In this scene, Nozaki asked Sakura to 腰に手を回す（こしにてをまわす）which means to put her arms around his hip. His back is too far for her though and hence the result ^^;

Anime: Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun [5]

In this scene, sakura said 「これはあの伝統的ラブイベントの前フリですか！！」

伝統的（でんとうてき）traditional, conventional
前フリ（まえふり）prelude

In this scene, Nozaki said 「それ今は道路交通違反だから…」

道路（どうろ）road
交通（こうつう）traffic
違反（いはん）violation (of the law)

Notice the white-outs in the illustration (to remove inking flaw). Nice detail.

Anyway, チャリ, which means the same as 自転車, is apparently short for チャリンコ. How the word チャリンコ came about is quite an interesting read (in short, it comes from the bell which sounds like ちゃりんちゃりん). I don't intend to translate the article, but I'll just leave the page here:  http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1410373389

Anime: Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun [4]

締め切り（しめきり）deadline

ぼろぼろ tattered
寝不足（ねぶそく）lack of sleep (note it's not ねふそく)
湿布（しっぷ）compress
腱鞘炎（けんしょうえん）tendonitis
肩コリ（かたこり）stiff shoulders

不良（ふりょう） delinquent
首ばっかり狙われる（くびばっかりねらわれる）keeps being targeted
セオリー（せおりー）theory
ネタ（ねた）material
健全（けんぜん）health
無理あり（むりあり）'there's a limit to overdoing it'
法律違反（ほうりついはん）violation of the law

Anime: Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun [3]

In the manga, the girl in this scene actually has a name and it's 井上（いのうえ）(although her design is also different). In the anime, Nozaki just calls her with おい.

Anyway, Nozaki was telling the girl that her underwear is showing through (her thin shirt) and that she should wear additional cloth. To say that underwear is showing through in Japanese, it's 下着は透ける（したぎはすける）. The additional cloth (coat, jacket etc) is 上着（うわぎ）. Notice the 下 and 上 (there's no such thing as 中着).

'This month's issue' is 今月号（こんげつごう）.

Nozaki told Sakura that he has previously set his eyes on her (目をつける). Sakura thought that he has an interest of her, but the reason is that she draws posters well. はみ出し（はみだし）の少ないポスター means the colors in the poster rarely bleed through the lines, i.e., clean and tidy (which is why she would also be a good person to do beta). Nozaki only looks at her skill, which in Japanese is 技術目当て（ぎじゅつめあて）- targeting the skill.

Anime: Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun [2]

As promised in the first post, I'm here to bring some words or terms that appear in the series. More will be coming later.

When Sakura confessed to Nozaki, she said that she wants to be always together with Nozaki. When she regretted her choice of words, she was afraid to be thought of as 思い子（おもいこ）, which basically means spoiled or pampered child (lit. child of affection).

When Nozaki said Sakura coming over helped him because he didn't have to 'catch anyone', Sakura's thought was いつもは女の子連れ込み放題なの！！？. 連れ込む（つれこむ）means to bring someone to a place (連れる just means to bring along). 放題（ほうだい）means 'as much as one likes'. 食べ放題 is 'eat as much as you like', for example.

Sakura's job is to paint beta (black parts in manga). In Japanese, it's ベタを塗る. 塗る（ぬる）means to paint. 塗り潰す（ぬりつぶす）means to paint the (marked) area entirely. 潰す (to crush) can be added to some verbs to add extremity. For example, 押す is to push while 押し潰す is to squash.

Nozaki mentions that his work is 月刊誌で一応連載している. 月刊誌（げっかんし）is monthly magazine. 一応（いちおう）means tentatively. 連載（れんさい）means serialization.

The manga version differs on how Sakura found out about Nozaki's work. She was flipping over her shoujo manga magazine, mentioning that she only reads shoujo manga (i.e., she doesn't read other genres like shounen manga). Nevertheless, she tried searching for Yumeno Sakiko, Nozaki's pen name, quickly found it, and was surprised. In anime, she remembered the name Yumeno Sakiko on her way home and quickly rushed to her room.

Yumeno Sakiko is described as 繊細な心理描写と華やかな画面で大人気の作家. 繊細（せんさい）means delicate, subtle. 真理描写（しんりびょうしゃ）means psychological description. 華やか（はなやか）means gorgeous, brilliant. 作家（さっか）means author.

The next description is 乙女心を大切に描き、女の子の心の代弁者とも言われる. 乙女心（おとめごころ）is maiden's heart. 描く（えがく）means to depict. Note that it's the same kanji as 描く（かく）which means to draw. 代弁者（だいべんしゃ）is spokesperson.

More coming in the near future!

Lyrics: This Silence Is Mine

This is the final credits song of Drakengard 3 / Drag On Dragoon 3

私に見えるのは
遠い 遠い 過去の渕
私に見えるのは
ひどく ひどく 凍えた眼
私に見えるのは
そっと覚醒た羊の夢
私に私に見えるのは

雑音の狭間 揺りかご
誰にもこの肌には届かない
雑音の狭間 揺りかご 緋の跡

THIS TATTOO
THIS, THIS PREVIEW
THIS HEARTBEAT
沈黙の最中よ

WHERE IS MY GEAR?
WHERE, WHERE ARE MY STAIRS?
WHERE IS HEARTBEAT?
THIS SILENCE IS MINE
THIS, THIS SILENCE
…silence…silence…

私が祈るとき
それは熱を帯びる
私が叫ぶとき
それは それは 声を奪う
私が生きるとき
それは 乱れ舞い 放つの如く

THIS TATTOO
THIS, THIS SCREW
THIS HEARTBEAT
灯りと正義よ

WHERE IS MY GEAR?
WHERE, WHERE IS MY CHOIR?
WHERE IS, WHERE IS MY HEARTBEAT?
THIS SILENCE, THIS SILENCE

哀しみを捨てて
心を失って
思いを犯して
先に行ければ ああ それでいい
身体が囁く 囁く 囁く 囁く 囁く
(your symphony is never-ending)

THIS TATTOO
THIS, THIS PREVIEW
THIS HEARTBEAT
沈黙の最中よ

WHERE IS MY GEAR?
WHERE, WHERE ARE MY STAIRS?
WHERE IS, WHERE IS, HEART, HEARTBEAT?
THIS SILENCE IS MINE
THIS, THIS SILENCE

THIS SILENCE IS MINE


単語
過去（かこ）past
渕（ふち）abyss
凍える（こごえる）to be frozen
雑音（ざつおん）grating noise
狭間（はざま）interval
揺りかご（ゆりかご）cradle
肌（はだ）skin
緋（ひ）red, blood
沈黙（ちんもく）silence
最中（さなか）in the middle of
帯びる（おびる）this word has several meanings; in this context it seems to be 'to contract' (fever)
乱れ（みだれ）disorder
如く（ごとく）like, as if
犯す（おかす）to violate
囁く（ささやく）to whisper

Anime: Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

月刊少女野崎くん（げっかんしょうじょのざきくん）might need no introduction for anime watchers; it's probably one of the most critically acclaimed anime this season, and it's sadly coming to an end this week.

I quickly became a fan of the series and I've also read the manga. In the upcoming posts, I would like to introduce some words and terms that are mentioned in this series.

For starters, 月刊少女 (lit. 'monthly publication girl') refers to the fact that Nozaki-kun is a shoujo manga (manga for girls) artist and his manga is serialized in a monthly publication magazine.

Next, let's take a look at one of the protagonists' name.

佐倉 千代（さくら ちよ）her name is interesting because the 'sakura' here is not that 桜 flower. And 佐倉 is indeed a valid Japanese name, i.e., not some made-up name. Also, Japanese puts surname first followed by given name, so Sakura is her surname. This might trip people a bit, since there are also Japanese named Sakura where Sakura is the given name.

Geisha

Recently I came across this word

手芸（しゅげい）handicrafts

when I was visiting a Japanese bookshop. It's a section where they put books for knitting etc.

芸 is apparently a kanji that means art, craft, performance etc.

What's interesting is, just like 忍者（にんじゃ）, 'person of stealth',

There's also 芸者（げいしゃ）

This kanji is indeed for that geisha:

So geisha literally means 'person of art'.

Game: 超次元アクション ネプテューヌU [4]

外す（はずす）to remove

悲報（ひほう）sad news
速報（そくほう）fast news
朗報（ろうほう）good news
批判（ひはん）criticism, judgement
絶好調（ぜっこうちょう）in perfect form

慰める（なぐさめる）to console, to comfort (note: this sounds like 殴られる, the passive form of 殴る, which means 'to be hit')

破ける（やぶける）to get torn, to wear out, to break (note there's also 破れる, but 破れる seems to be limited to tearing only)

良心（りょうしん）conscience

企業（きぎょう）corporation

Game: 超次元アクション ネプテューヌU [3]

加える（くわえる）to inflict (in this context. Other meanings include 'to add', 'to increase', 'to include')
切り替える（きりかえる）to switch over

枚数（まいすう）the number of flat things
応じる（おうじる）to respond
特典（とくてん）privilege

種族（しゅぞく）race, tribe, species

効果（こうか）effect

獲得（かくとく）acquired
経験値（けいけんち）experience points
倍（ばい）-times
上昇（じょうしょう）rise, ascension, climb

Hello Kitty furikake

Just bought Hello Kitty furikake:

Furikake is a dry seasoning meant to be put on top of rice to add flavors.

It contains 20 small packets and there are 5 different flavors: たらこ (cod roe), かつお (bonito), さけ (salmon), のり (seaweed) and たまご (egg).

I was introduced to Anpanman (another cartoon character) furikake by my sensei. I found it but I bought this one instead.

I looked around the package to see if there are words I don't understand.

単語
小袋（こぶくろ）small packet
豊富（ほうふ）abundance (the package's promoting that the furikake has lots of calcium)
種類（しゅるい）variety, type
蛋白質（たんぱくしつ）protein
脂質（ししつ）fat
炭水化物（たんすいかぶつ）carbohydrate
ナトリウム（なとりうむ）sodium (Japanese call it natrium instead)
食塩（しょくえん）table salt
相当量（そうとうりょう）rough estimate amount
栄養（えいよう）nutrition
成分（せいぶん）ingredient, composition