Rin-ne Story Time

Cool hair.

Looks pretty cute.

Have a note from Furinkan.

"When Rinne puts on his fake smile the sign says "eigyou sumairu/営業スマイル" his "business smile"."

The life of luxury.

Rika continues to do what she does best.

Fun bit with the different art style.

shit i'm hooked

Furinkan has a note regarding the girl's name that I forgot to post:

"The girl Rinne is seen with is Natsumi Matoba (的場ナツミ). The "natsu" of her first name can mean "summer" hence the "summer festival". Matoba (的場) is a "target area" in archery or the "range" when firing a rifle, which is a reference to the target-hitting game ... to win the stuffed animal."

Hm?

Who could this be?

An odd distinction being made in the caption, but it is accurately translated. "フツーの人たちに老人霊は見えていないのだ。"

The situations where ghosts are visible to ordinary people seem relatively arbitrary.

End of chapter! How cruel!

The original title is クマちゃんの思い出. It is basically the same, but the teddy bear is referred to as クマちゃん or "Kuma-chan" where "kuma" means bear.

August 4th, 2010. Author's note:
"Q: Have you ever loved a particular manga character? If so, what series were they from?
A: Ashita no Joe's Joe Yabuki. He's so cool!
Webmasters' Note: Dennou Yuuki Club's Shin Ogasawara listed female Ranma as his favorite, stating "Female Ranma. She was a great dream of mine at the time.""

So cute.

Also, I usually edit "Webmasters' Note" to say "Furinkan's Note" so you know who wrote it, but I forgot this time. Sorry!

Term translated (accurately) as greenhorn is 青二才.

so is it Sankai or Sangai?

Summer chapters means beach chapters.

August 18th, 2010. Author's note:
"Q: When you were a child, were there any manga or picture books that made a lasting impression on you?
A: Guri and Gura (known as Guri and Gura's Picnic Adventure in English)."

Miho loves this stuff.

三界. But yeah, every other translation says "sangai" so I assume Furinkan made a typo or mistake.

Classic.

That's a lot of ash. Also, crucifix on the bag.

Zooom. Also, I assume the watermelon ghost is in part a reference to the watermelon yokai thing in Urusei Yatsura, but it doesn't really resemble it so maybe not.

they look like they're having a great time

I've never seen rokudo-kun look so happy before

becoming a whore like his deadbeat father
can't trust halfbreed gingers for nothing
wow they went right up to him

every year, i go with my boyfriend

where is he now

Looks pretty cute.

but full of evil
every year it taunts that poor boy, and one day it will kill him
the horror...

ectoplasm

was it just an engrishu loan or another word?
sorry girl, your time is up to hold his hand
please make another deposit if you wish to keep holding hands

Hehehe. His little outfit.

Rika continues to do what she does best.

she's going to drain him dry
E V I L

rokudo and his girl

his girl

heh, hehehe

they're awfully close

rinne whoring himself out in public shaking-my-head my head

who are you talking to?

i feel like this has been directed to tsubasa the most so far
they must've seen the watermelon right?

Butterfly swimsuit. Also, while we can't really tell with the Rumic art style, if you trust Ageha, she's got Sakura Mamiya beat in some proportions.

Oh, good question. It is actually both! It says 霊体 with エクトプラズム as furigana. So, "spirit body" with "ekutopurazumu" after.

Google Lens played nice. The soda sign says "ラムネ" or Ramune, a type of soda sold in Japan and associated with summer. And the other one is cut off, but based on the first characters, I assume it is 焼きそば or yakisoba (a type of fried noodles).

Also, I messed up the comment chain. Sorry.

Hehehe. Also, I just noticed Rokumon's uniform is a pawprint inside a 6. Because he's roku mon, 6 mon.

Got the requisite couple's frolic from Ranma 1/2 (and others).

great haunted carnie face

August 25th, 2010. Author's note:
"Q: Please tell us some things you loved about your hometown.
A: The rice and fish are delicious!"

Back to it.

So, we get a little bit of world building here. Funny way to explain post-summer exhaustion.

Gotta be a bit more discreet.

The boy's name is 藤波タツヤ in Japanese. I don't see a pun, but he does share a last name with Ryuunosuke Fujinami, but I think it is a fairly common name.

so is it Sankai or Sangai?

i know we've seen it on signs, but has there been a speech bubble or narration box that has the term with furigana next to it?
i want to say the maid cafe from a previous volume has a narration box but i'm not sure...

Summer chapters means beach chapters.

there was a wednesday's diary entry (this is a weekly shonen sunday column where authors get to speak that began in 2019) from rumiko where she draws nanoka in a bikini because she says depicting a scene like that in the main story seems unlikely
and indeed there has not been a beach episode in mao

Q: When you were a child, were there any manga or picture books that made a lasting impression on you?

A: Guri and Gura (known as Guri and Gura's Picnic Adventure in English).

she mentions this again in the future, it's a picture book

The stone is surrounded by 標縄 or shimenawa (enclosing rope). These are used for ritual purification in Shinto and often have shide (紙垂), zig-zag paper streamers attached to them. Objects with shimenawa surrounding them are often yorishiro (依り代) as in, objects that are capable of attracting spirits.

Not necessarily what's happening here though, since yorishiro stickers are a whole other thing in Rin-ne.

The term Sakura Mamiya used was "目印" which translates more to "landmark", apparently. But she is using it to refer to hiking markers, obviously.

I'll double check if I remember after this dump.

I guess I sort of just glazed over the fact that he does training with a pro-wrestling association.

Not smart even beyond the spiritual issues.

How tragic.

Heavy.

Roppongi Hills (六本木ヒルズ) is a mega-complex in Tokyo, apparently. It presumably features a lot of very expensive restaurants.

Dog ghost.

The sound effect was just "フィーバーフィーバー" as in フィーバー (feebaa) twice. So, yeah, loanword from English for fever.

Oh wow, so now we're just using the word "yokai" untranslated? We go through all of Inuyasha with "demon" and now we are just going with "yokai". I mean, it was 2010 by this point. You can get away with it. And yes, the Japanese didn't just say kitsune. It specifically said yokai kitsune.

I might post Furinkan's explanation for male hosts in a few pages.

Also, VIZ finally started bolding the text in the big bombastic caption panels. It looks way better and matches the Japanese text way closer this way.

A fair amount of them.

i see sakura brought the big gulp with her
also it just clicked why her bikini is decorated with cherries
sakura = cherry blossoms

ba dum tss

("cherry" is sakuranbo btw)
drowning in ghost pussy and they don't even realize it

sacred ashes!

ENTER

if you party too hard on this beach, you'll be dragged into the sea

oh noes

I can't believe I'd run into you here

uh-huh, is it really a coincidence or...?

crucifix on the bag

have to protect his supplies from those pesky siren ghosts after all

I'm so glad I got this part-time job at ghost beach

oh, so it is a coincidence

I assume the watermelon ghost is in part a reference to the watermelon yokai thing in Urusei Yatsura, but it doesn't really resemble it so maybe not.

that's pumpkin head's cousin, melon head

ageha's bikini is a butterfly pattern

in case anons don't remember, ageha written another way means "swallowtail butterfly"

It says 霊体

that's not what i expected for the translation of ectoplasm
i mean, i guess ghosts are (allegedly) made of ectoplasm, but the depiction is usually more... gooey...
霊体 feels rather...dry

This "scam" has come up in Rumiko Takahashi's work before, actually. Dom Perignon featured in One-Pound Gospel as a plot point in a male host club situation.

Here's that long winded note by Furinkan about male hosts in case you are confused:

"Male hosts pour drinks and will often flirt with their clients, more so than their female counterparts. The conversations are generally light-hearted; hosts may have a variety of entertainment skills, be it simple magic tricks or charisma with which to tell a story. Some host clubs have a dedicated stage for a performance, usually a dance, comedy sketch, etc. Hosts' ages usually range between 18 and the mid-20s. They will take a stage name, usually taken from a favorite manga, film, or historical figure, that will often describe their character. Men who become hosts are often those who either cannot find a white-collar job, or are enticed by the prospect of high earnings through commission. While hostess bars in Tokyo often have designated men out on the streets getting clients to come into their clubs, some hosts are often sent out onto the streets to find customers, who are referred to as catch (キャッチ, kyatchi), but these are usually the younger, less-experienced hosts. A common look for a host is a dark suit, collared shirt, silver jewellery, a dark tan, and bleached hair. Pay is usually determined by commission on drink sales with hosts often drinking far past a healthy limit, usually while trying to hide their drunkenness. Because the base hourly wage is usually extremely low, almost any man can become a host regardless of looks or charisma (depending on the bar). However, hosts who cannot increase their sales usually drop out very soon, because of the minimal wage. The environment in a host bar is usually very competitive, with tens of thousands of dollars sometimes offered to the host who can achieve the highest sales."

End of chapter. Time to go home. Here's a bit regarding the Dom Perignon segment in One-Pound Gospel that Kazuto Yoshida (her editor at the time) mentioned in an interview:

"One night, in the middle of that summer, it was decided that final storyline will consist of five chapters, and at the end, Sister Angela decides to quit being a nun. It was decided that a host would be the one to play the role of Kosaku's opponent. When I invited Takahashi-sensei to go to the host club for an interview, she quietly refused, saying, "I know most of them." I wanted to say to her, "Don't tell me you've been going to the host club? You were out yesterday... Surely you didn't give them any money," I just couldn't bring myself to ask. I remember delivering Dom Perignon Rosé for drawing references later, and she started sketching away."

And Rumiko's response to that bit:
"The Dom Perignon Rosé was delicious later with the staff."

Cool. Another cover that's a panel. Right, the scythe snapped in half when Kain did his thing to Rinne. Though VIZ decided to just have the translation note on the cover this time. I can't really tell what the other parts say, but I do know the bottom left sign says べっこう あめ or "bekkoame" or "tortoise shell candy". This is an old-fashioned hard candy.

Original title was 祠の声 (Hokara no koe). This translation is accurate, but Furinkan has some details as Hokara is a specific type of shrine:

"A "hokora" (祠) is a small shrine usually on a the side of a street to enshrine kami (spirits) that are not under the jurisdiction of a larger Shinto shrine. Typically the kami that are enshrined at a hokora are dosojin (道祖神), kami associated with the protection of travelers."

September 1st, 2010. Author's note:
"Q: Are you a dog person or a cat person? Or is there some other kind of animal that you prefer?
A: Dog person."

I'm sorry guys, I don't really have it in me to translate all this signage.

Hm.

Zooom.

Cute feet

Skipped the art spacer. This chapter cover was originally in full color.

September 8th, 2010. Author's note:
"Q: Please tell us a task you would like to attempt.
A: To sleep."

Be careful out there.

I guess I can post a bit from Furinkan regarding foxes and tanuki. In general though, they're often seen as counterparts or rivals in folklore.

"According to Japanese legend certain animals are created with supernatural powers. They can transform themselves into anything they desire, and can even acquire other magical abilities. The Japanese raccoon (tanuki) and the fox (kitsune) are the most popular animals attributed with magical powers. They have similar roles in folklore. They are pictured as mischievous rogues who often get themselves into trouble. They can, at times, be frightening creatures, and at other moments be capable of making a negative situation positive. Sometimes they are treated as godly figures and become cultural heroes."

I think they got this from a site that doesn't exist anymore, given the further reading link didn't seem to take me anywhere.

Furinkan notes the following about the names. And this page.

"The two bakeneko are named "Akamaru" (赤丸) and "Toramaru" (虎丸). Akamaru means "red circle" due to his reddish fur. Toramaru means "tiger circle" due to his tiger stripes.

In the flashback showing Akamaru and Toramaru making mischief during the Edo period, they are stranding in front of a Jizo statue."

丸 or -maru is often a suffix for names in period pieces. It is also often used for ships.

Hehehe.

Pulling out the new gear.

Hehe, convenient powers. That's for sure.

That they do.

Outclassed. Poor baby.

Good catch.

Natsumi's hairstyle is nice. She could be the star of her own manga with that design.

The top page features a henohenomoheji-style doodle face that shows up sometimes that resembles an old man. The only name for it that I have managed to find is "tsurunihamarumarumushi".

I don't know if it is accurate. I struggle to find much of anything regarding this doodle face.

I googled a bit and there are places selling about 8 ounces for 50 bucks.

Cool cover.

September 15th, 2010. Author's note:
"Q: Please tell us an athlete that you like.
A: Hanshin's Lin Weichu."

Good morning.

We get to see her mom (age 39) in person.

Her safe haven.

Did Rinne pick a Star of David theme to fuck with Jumonji?

oh that's the color page that was in the inner sleeve of the previous volume
even though the chapters in that volume did have a color page

Oh, that was the last page of the chapter. Whoops.

September 22nd, 2010. Author's note:
"Q: What's your favorite thing to snack on while you work?
A: Bread brought in by the staff."

Is Ageha staring at her tits? Is that what she means by winning?

Rumiko mentioned in an interview that assistants got to design background shinigami scythes.