Back from Kumeta's summer vacation.Shibuya Near Family chapter 139: Ikko longs for earth>Just as I thought...>Humans are not meant to live on asphalt.>We should be living>on earth and soil.>What gave rise to these thoughts, you ask...?
>(*Buzz buzz*)>I think>it should be longer.>What should?>Summer vacation.>I mean, isn't it weird?>Top to bottom: Setagaya Ward, Shibuya Ward, Nagano Ward>Take last year. Even though the other wards started school on September 1st,>we had to start it August 30th.>That's true.
>I think there's a good chance>that they're giving us a wrong starting date on purpose.>Indeed.>I think the date we're given is earlier than the true date, like with manga deadlines.>Even though they could actually wait this long,>Top to bottom: Deadline, real deadline, true deadline>the limit is placed here, instead.>(*Buzz buzz buzz*)>I wonder...>How long does the real summer vacation last?>In my opinion,>Top to bottom: Summer vacation, real summer vacation, true summer vacation>it probably lasts all the way to September 6th.
>That...>Probably depends on your "status".>"Status"?>What do you mean?>In simple terms...>The deadlines they give to mangaka...>Are not all on the same on day.>Manga magazines have sections of differently-colored pages, right?>Clockwise from top: Pink, green, yellow>They print each of those sections separately,>so they all have different deadlines.>And they might wait until *this* long for *this* author...>Or they'll give *this* much time to *that* guy...>The deadlines differ>based on the "status" of the authors.>*Dad's personal opinions may not reflect reality>(*Shocked*)>Then...
>Elementary schoolers with more "status">get to start school later?>The length of an our summer vacation>depends on our status?>I wonder how an elementary schooler's "status" is determined.>Well...>I suppose it's based on stuff like your parents' incomes.>(*Shock*)>I mean, kids who go to places like Hawaii on their vacations>casually come back to school as late September 3rd, don't they?>Th->that's true.>Besides that,>I guess there's things like "grades"?>(*SHOCK*)>Assuming...>You're right...
>There's a good chance>that MY new school term has already started!>Where are you going?>School.>For a low-class elementary schooler like me,>summer vacation ended a long time ago!>I can't get in.>What do I do?>I can't lose my perfect attendance record! It's one of my few redeeming qualities!>Now that it's come to this,>I have no choice but to work on raising my "status" as an elementary schooler.
>Elementary schooler "status"?>Back in the old days,>it was all about how good you were at fighting and stuff.>Fashion sense, maybe?>I can't find anything...>There's not a single category I can raise my status in!>An elementary schooler's "status">has nothing to do with their parents' income or their grades.>Uh,>that's not very convincing coming from a high-status lady like you...>Think back.>There is definitely be something you can shine in,>a category where you can reach the top of the ranks with ease.>That's it!>Wow!>Ikko-chan really is on a whole different level!
>>281847557One of those mangaka is definitely himself. Wonder who the other three are?
>That's a huge mud ball!>And look at that sheen!>Ikko-chan can't be beat when it comes to this!>The "status" of an elementary schooler>is determined by how big of a mud ball they can make.>I lose this time, Toka Ikko.>(Heh)>I wonder...>Why did she think this was going to lengthen her summer vacation?>If I want a longer summer vacation,>I'll need to make an even bigger one...>But...>There's no mud here in Shibuya...>Shibuya Duty Diary - The size of the kneaded erasers you make is important, too.>Sidebar: The beautiful sphericality, the smoothness of the mud... It all seems to be first-rate. Good luck with your earth-hunting!Thanks for reading! Are you a high-status individual?Also, volume 5 came out the other day! I'll post the extras from it a little later.
Chapter 138: Torii-sensei is made to stand in the hallway
And that's all from me for today. Thanks for reading!
>>281847688I don't think I am at this point. I mean, I'm hanging around here, that's probably not the mark of someone high-status. Thank you for translating, as always. It's been a hot minute since the last chapter, and I was worried he'd be gone until September. Glad he decided to come back before then.
>>281847965Thank you for typesetting, as well. >If they made our summer vacations last 90 days the teachers would get more rest, tooAsk any American teacher that and watch them scoff.
>>281847965Thank you for typesetting.And here are the volume 5 extras. This volume includes chapters 72-88. First, the cover.
The pages with the Shibuya Duty Diary entries didn't have any new Ikko drawings this time, so I'm skipping them.>If you look at the billboards of Shibuya...>You can clearly see what sorts of things>the industry is trying to popularize.>Seems like Coming Soon is going to be popular next.>(Mental image)>Is that a singer for LDH?LDH is a prominent Japanese talent agency. I guess the joke is that many of their musical acts have silly English titles like Honest Boyz or Dance Earth Party?
>Hachi.>Isn't it strange that they went straight to number eight?>What do you mean?"Hachi" means "eight" in Japanese.>I think there must have been a number of prototypes before the eighth version.>Then, in the future...>You sure are dreaming big.
>In Shibuya, every available space>Stairs: Tasty tea>Poster: SALA Hair>Truck: Resignation service MOOMIRI>is used for advertising.SALA is an apparently defunct hair product brand from Kanebo Cosmetics. Moomiri has appeared before in chapter 124 — see there for details.>They've finally gotten to the point>that they've even added ads to my backpack.Banesse is a play on Benesse, a correspondence education company.>Amateur.>I already have *seven* of those.>Uh, those aren't sponsors, though...>Well, I suppose a shrine's basically as good as a company.There's a bit of untranslatable wordplay here: Ikko says she has seven "sha" (社) on her backpack, which can be an abbreviation of either "company" (会社, "kaisha") or "shrine" (神社, "jinja"). In other words, the tags on her backpack aren't the logos of sponsoring companies, they're talismans from various shrines.
>What are you doing?>A slumber party.>Since Shibuya kids tend to have such small apartments,>we're sleeping on trees, instead.>Oppose the cutting down of trees!>Protect your children's slumber parties!>That's the reason you're going with?More like a LUMBER party, am I right?
>What's with these raggedy jeans?>These were all the rage in Shibuya back in the day.>Raging fire in Shibuya!?An untranslatable pun: Mom abbreviates Shibuya Casual (an 80s fashion trend) as Shibukaji, and Ikko interprets the "kaji" as 火事, meaning a "fire" or "conflagration".>Someone's still inside!>So, these are from back then...>Yeah, from back then.
>Kumeta Kouji>Damn it. Now that I've gone and made a manga like this, there's no way I can move out of Shibuya anymore.>I got driven out of my apartment the other day. They're rebuilding it due to how run-down it is.>With the recent increases in real estate prices, rising mortgage rates, and manuscript payments staying the same, moving from Shibuya to Shibuya is just too hard.>How long will I have to keep drawing unprofitable manga here in this high-priced area?>Maybe I could move to Kouza-Shibuya in Kanagawa... Or Machida, known as the "Shibuya of the West"... Or Kashiwa, known as the "Shibuya of the East"... >Or maybe Tochigi, where they have that Shibuya film set.>No, none of those will do. It wouldn't be convincing at all.>Maybe I shouldn't go against the flow. If I take the classic route of drawing an easy-going manga about raising children in the countryside, I might still be able to earn some sympathy.>But, then again, maybe ending the serialization due to increasing real estate prices would be funny, too. That's it. I'll end it due to increasing real estate prices.>That way, it won't be axed due to "not being popular", it'll be axed due to "increasing real estate prices".>It's definitely not due to being unpopular... Definitely not.>I guess the single-story house in Nakamegure from one of my older series, "Kakushigoto", would be pretty expensive today, too.>The story would have been quite different if Gotou-sensei had had the means to live without working, wouldn't it?>With no accident, and no losing his memories, it would have been a happy ending with them living a carefree life in a high-rise apartment somewhere.>No, wait. If he had been swindled by a land fraudster, it might have become an even more tragic story.
>Going on a field trip to see "the dark side of society"... Purposefully seeking to "regress" instead of "evolving"... Going from "shodo" and "sado" to "Hokkaido"... Receiving acting training to play dead in case of a bear attack... Building a second Hachiko, the faithful dog Pachiko... Shibuya children run the world!The last bit is apparently a play on an idiom that loosely translates to something like "hated children will run the world", i.e. those who are treated harshly will often end up thriving in society, which can be interpreted negatively or positively depending on context.And that's all for today. Sorry about those unmarked Kakushigoto spoilers, I guess.
>>281849050Well, now we know how the story ends. Maybe dad's car will be stolen, too.
Oh yeah, this is a new piece of art for an upcoming Sunday event: Ikko as a hair stylist.
>>281852446Oh shit, I didn't know she existed in color.
>>281852474The series doesn't generally get color pages, so it's mostly limited to volume covers and group covers in the magazine. Here's a sample for a store bonus for volume 5, I think.
>>281852519They need to give Kumeta more color pages. They didn't even give him color for Ch 100…
>>281849117Thank you for posting and translating.
