[Quarkboy]

First, a character guide.


Grammar note: This page is written using standard Japanese written grammar. Verbs are in short form, and instead of using です as the copula, the more formal (but less polite) である is used. Other differences will be highlighted in the individual sections.

Spoiler for Section 1:

小説家: novelist
一家: household
存在: existence
現実: reality
一面: a side/an aspect
-的: (makes nouns into "na" adjectives)

Sentence 2 is a compound sentence that uses で to link stand alone predicates. This implies a slight linking of ideas, but no causal connection (unlink ので).
Similar to the english "and".

Spoiler for translation:

Eldest Daughter Hitomi

A "teenage romance" novelist. Serving as the household's mother, she also has a practical side.

Spoiler for Section 2:

体育会系: jock-like (team athletics-like)
体力: physical strength
恐い: scary
気弱: timid

知らず- This is the written grammer form of 知らない. Any verb can be written in this literary negative, by replacing ない with ず. It is not used in spoken Japanese, however.
ところ- This is used here in the temporal sense (A place in time).

Spoiler for translation:

Second Daughter Futaba

A powerful jock of an office lady. With her physical strength she knows no fear, but actually she also has some times she's timid.

Spoiler for Section 3:

睡眠: sleep
ちゃっかり: shrewd
要領の良さ: knack

Here, a "," is used instead of で in the second sentence, because the two thoughts aren't connected.

Spoiler for translation:

Third Daughter Mizue

A college student who loves to sleep and takes things at her own pace. Always laying around, her strong point is that, at times, she has a knack at being calculating.

Spoiler for Section 4:

メス犬: female dog
希望: wish

Goro is a boys' name .
で- Here, this particle is used as "the means of action". It can be made clear by a more literal translation: "It was _through_ the dad's insistent wish that she got that name"
になった- became. This is the past tense of the common になる, meaning "to become." In english, we don't refer to someone "becoming" a name, however.

Spoiler for translation:

Goro

Actually a female dog. The dad insisted that she have that name.

Spoiler for Section 5:

冷静: calm, composed
スルドイ: sharp
離れる: to be seperated from
末っ子: youngest child
姉妹: sisters

ながら- Here, this doesn't mean "while doing" but is used as a contrast connection (similar to が).

Spoiler for translation:

Fourth Daughter Yomogi

A composed, sharp grade-schooler. Despite the age difference of being the youngest, she's the most reliable sibling.

Spoiler for Section 6:

女所帯: house consisting of only women
肩身の狭い: feel inferior/small
優しい: kind
見守る: to watch over

で- here is not a sentence linker particle, but a place of action.
見守っている- A basic verb conjugation, indicating an action currently in progress. E.g. 私はリンゴを食べている - I am eating an apple.

Spoiler for translation:

Father

In the all female Noda house, he's the patriarch who sometimes feels a little inferior. He kindly watches over the four sisters.