Medaka Box [Manga]

[Wolfenstein]

Originally Posted by RedKey

I decided on a whim to try and translate the brief opening Anshin'in-san speech in Good Loser Kumagawa for those who are interested. Please, don't take this as a sign I'll be translating the entire novel - I haven't got enough time because of college/real life stuff, translating weekly chapters is hard enough for me at the moment, and it's Nisio writing, so i'm not even sure I wouldn't give up halfway

No sweat, bro. I'm sure any amount of effort that you put into this is more than deeply appreciated by all of us.

Originally Posted by Melty

Wow....
I can't tell if she likes him, or is teasing him, or is just trying to be tsun.
But then knowing her character, probably trolling.
Seems like a good read.

Yeah, I'd wager she's half-trolling, half telling the truth.

On one hand, she did say to him, once, that she loved him. On the other hand, recently, she said she thought of him as a brother.

So we could probably balance that out.

[Randrak42]

She loves him...as a brother?

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Wolfenstein

No sweat, bro. I'm sure any amount of effort that you put into this is more than deeply appreciated by all of us.



Yeah, I'd wager she's half-trolling, half telling the truth.

On one hand, she did say to him, once, that she loved him. On the other hand, recently, she said she thought of him as a brother.

So we could probably balance that out.

only half?

[kenjtr]

I actually agree with the professor since no matter how much zenkichi loves medaka there is no need for him to endure her bullying , problem of zenkichi and medakas relationship is medaka since zenkichi compromises medakas bad sides and accept her as she is while medaka doesnt even want to see zenkichis bad sides . Medaka also does lots of idiotic things but zenkichi never try to correct her since thats part of her personality but medaka seems to detest bad parts of zenkichi which is the real problem .

[Randrak42]

Well...Zenkichi is no saint either...just saying, it's not all on Medaka.

[Sol Falling]

No reason a lady can't be hot for her little brother, lol. Not that I would take Ajimu x Kumagawa particularly seriously.

As for the way Ajimu treated Kumagawa in that message, I don't think it necessarily had anything to do with liking him or trolling him or anything, lol. Moreso it ultimately seems like she's just talking down to him, because she knows that things are going to happen soon at Hakoniwa Academy, and she's going to make Kumagawa go there, regardless of his feelings/intentions. Although Kumagawa might put up resistance, ultimately there's not even a question of whether he'll obey her--because he's Kumagawa, and she's Ajimu. Although Ajimu might talk about having "expectations" for Misogi, those expectations are about what Kumagawa can do for her, as her pawn, or her chess piece--not about whether he can achieve his own goals, or his own happiness.

However, at the same time, I think she probably does believe the things she says about rooting for him, or believing that Kumagawa is suited to be a leader, etc. That she would be glad if he won, that it'd be good for everybody. It's just that compared to Kumagawa's loser curse/destiny, Ajimu's transcendental/'stand above everything' curse/destiny is even stronger. So we could say that while Ajimu roots/wishes for Kumagawa to win, because she has already proven that she could easily make him win if she supported him with her powers, there would be no meaning in her helping him. For her own sake, Kumagawa trying meaninglessly to win on his own would be more useful. So she ultimately uses Kumagawa as a pawn, and given that one of Ajimu's principle features is her cynical understanding of the reality behind everything, she fully expects Kumagawa to lose.

Under this understanding, then, rather than saying that Ajimu likes Kumagawa or is trolling him with that message to him, I'd rather just take the practical route and say that she's manipulating him. Everything she says is manipulation aimed at making Kumagawa react in the way she wants/needs him to. Because manipulation itself, and treating her world like an artificial/fictional reality that she can change however/whenever she wants to, is just what Ajimu does--up until her attempted suicide.

[kenjtr]

Originally Posted by Randrak42

Well...Zenkichi is no saint either...just saying, it's not all on Medaka.

Sry but zenkichi only stops medaka when she is wrong but her also accepts her characters quirks , on the other hand medaka should understand zenkichi isnt so smart by now but she just slaps that on his face everytime without considering his feelings . From the beginning of the manga all we see was zenkichi doing sacrifices for medake but medaka didnt do anything for zenkichi once , for example zenkichi likes to go movies and normal stuff like that but medaka never does these things with him . On the other hand zenkichi goes death traps everytime because medaka likes it , if medaka was a little good friend there would never be a need for shiranui . From the beginning shiranui looked more like a real friend to zenkichi while medaka looked like oppressing boss .

[DawnEmperor]

Originally Posted by kenjtr

Sry but zenkichi only stops medaka when she is wrong but her also accepts her characters quirks , on the other hand medaka should understand zenkichi isnt so smart by now but she just slaps that on his face everytime without considering his feelings . From the beginning of the manga all we see was zenkichi doing sacrifices for medake but medaka didnt do anything for zenkichi once , for example zenkichi likes to go movies and normal stuff like that but medaka never does these things with him . On the other hand zenkichi goes death traps everytime because medaka likes it , if medaka was a little good friend there would never be a need for shiranui . From the beginning shiranui looked more like a real friend to zenkichi while medaka looked like oppressing boss .

Well, I'll just play Devil's Advocate here. Does Medaka really ask for all this? While that shouldn't mean treating someone like crap, Zenkichi does know that he does things in the end because he wants to. If doing certain things really bothered him that on principle, love shouldn't be able to exonerate that(of course, that's just me).

Blaming Medaka all the time goes against Zenkichi's character as well, because he's someone who forges his own responsibility and determination. Twisted as it is, it is kind of his responsibility when it comes down to it.

[kenjtr]

Sry but i dont think medaka did anything for zenkichi since before the election she was so busy with saving people and for that she even throw zenkichi away , i dont think she has bad intencions here but in the end thats just like admitting zenkichi is shackes to her . From the beginning of the manga medaka always seemed to do opposite of what zenkichi suggested or simply destroyed his thesis and never respected his opinions .

I also dont understand zenkichi since no matter how much i love somebody i cant be a person like medaka for gods sake whats good about her other then causing trouble . Anyway as long as zenkichi stays near medaka he will just be her bimbo , thropy boyfriend thats all . People actually like and respect zenkichi so much but his obsession with medaka destroys his character , if zenkichi wasnt in love with medaka he would have been more popular then kumagawa .

zenkichi medaka realationship recemble kenichi miu relationship alot since miu is an also overpowered mary sue and i hate her but i respect kenichi since he isnt living just for miu and he has a purpose in life other then being someones bittch . As long as zenkichi follows medaka he will be weak but if he finds a pupose in life and follow it then even medaka wont be able to beat him . Even tough ajimu said all these to zenkichi but it seems his love for medaka is so blinding .

[Iby]

Spoiler for ch.88:

[DawnEmperor]

Updates for this week's chapter?

[RedKey]

Originally Posted by DawnEmperor

Updates for this week's chapter?

Didn't get the raws yet, but in the meantime... eh... I did it again...
thanks to Ouverture for his help

Images

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Spoiler for Good Loser Kumagawa:

Chapter 1 — The Loaded Bullet Present of Kumagawa Misogi

Hey ya Kumagawa-kun, long time no see.
We haven't met each other in a long time, you know?
Why won't you ever die? I can't even do anything about wanting to see you again.
After all, I'm the one who hopes for your death the most.
Well, no matter if you want or don't want to die, I still have the complete freedom of visiting you in your dreams like this, but seeing that you avoid me so glaringly hurts me.
You shouldn't hurt girls, Kumagawa-kun.
You should learn to be a little gentler. I'm joking, I don't know anyone gentler than you in this world.
That was obviously another joke.
Are you feeling well?
By the way Kumagawa-kun, you've become the Student Council President of Suisou Academy, right? I see you're fated to have connections with this organization called Student Council too.
It unexpectedly suits you, wouldn't you say?
If you're wondering what am I talking about, I think it's standing above other people. No, no, I'm not joking now, it's a pretty serious thought.
You may deny this, but I actually think that the ones that should be on the top of the hill are Minuses like you. If you ask me, those who stand above others and those who support others from below are equally the same thing.
Maybe, or should I say from the beginning, seeing that you didn't refuse that seat, and that you haven't left Suisou Academy yet, Kumagawa-kun, could it be that you noticed that too?
Nah, I'm kidding.
Well, it doesn't matter wether you're cut for working in the Student Council or not, or that you're cut for being its President or not.
It's just that I'm worried about you. Will you ultimately remain in that school? Will you be at ease, there?
Taking Suisou into account, I don't know how many schools and legal procedures you passed through, in your journey searching for a skill and its skill holder that would be able to defeat me. Maybe it's an endless number, but still, Kumagawa-kun, isn't this your first time remaining in a place for so long?
So? So? Did you finally give up?
Or could it be that... you finally, finally found it? A skill holder able to defeat me. If so, I want you to come here to settle the matter once and for all.
I don't know how much longer I'll remain half-sealed like this, you know? The double seal from All Fiction and Bookmaker is fairly amusing and surely effective, but a short time from now many things will begin to move in what may possibly be called my headquarters, Hakoniwa Academy.
Therefore, Kumagawa-kun.
I don't know how you plan to act as the new Suisou Academy Student Council President, but I decided to go and stir thing up in that school.
And I'll be meddling in your life.
I bet you're happy, right?
You already know about my terminals dotted all around the world, right? My seven hundred million terminals.
It goes without saying, but many of them are mingled between the students of that Suisou Academy. Of the 561 students commuting there, exactly 80 of them are my terminals. Oh, those 80 obviously won't do something as rude as attacking you at the same time.
If they did that, they'd just be doing what you want them to do. Anyway, Kumagawa-kun.
Student Council President Kumagawa.
I'd like you to first pay a visit to a girl in class 2-3, seat number 18: I've entrusted her with a message for you. She's a feeble girl that hasn't got any real power, but I thought that it would suit you better like this, and I obviously believe that having lent her one of my skills she'll be able to somewhat put up a defense by herself, so be kind to her.
This time, the final goal of my challenge, Kumagawa-kun, is to pressure you to leave Suisou Academy as soon as possible - taking the Student Council President title and your place in the school register of that school that I don't know very well and that for some reason you decided to cast anchor into away from you.
That is my goal.
Therefore, let me do my best to make your life hard.
I've got high expectations for you, Kumagawa-kun.
I've never met anyone like you in my long life, so I'd like you not to betray those expectations of mine... or I'd wish to say that, but I know you would blatantly ignore it, so I'll just keep that to myself.

“Please don't betray me”, as if.
If you didn't live up to the expectations of people since you were born, you'd never have been able to betray them right after.

****************************

From the moment Kumagawa-kun transferred, it was a matter of days before he took control of Suisou Academy — no, that’s wording it wrong, but anyway people whispered about how he had harshly punished the Student Council President who reigned over Suisou Academy, Jakago Aki.
At any rate since I, Sukinasaki Saki, was on the scene by chance and could witness that incident, I ended up being enlisted as part of the Student Council (as the General Affairs Manager) by Kumagawa-kun, as if I had somehow took part in it — from that moment, every task for the executive committee of the Suisou Academy Student Council was entrusted to the two of us (they called us something like the Council of Two), but contrary to expectations, Kumagawa-kun was a very docile person.
Thinking back to the great fuss that came after the first day he transferred here, that attitude was actually quite unsettling I thought, surprised, but the thing was, Kumagawa-kun that day was a totally different person.
On Monday, he was reading his Weekly Shonen Jump without going to class as usual, in his self-declared personal room that once was the headquarters of Suisou Academy, the Student Council room but, after school, I went there.
— 「Saki-chan」
he called in his usual fake, lying tone
— 「Do you know who’s number 18 in class 2-3?」
— Huh...?
— 「I think it’s a girl, if that helps.」
— I, I wonder...
Even if you ask me so abruptly right after meeting...
— What’s that, Kumagawa-kun? Do you like younger girls?
I asked back dumbfounded.
— 「Younger, older, I have interest in almost every girl. No, as the Student Council President, I must remember my duties and get to know every student of this school.」
— .........
Wanting to know the students better as the Student Council President was something commendable, but if that was really the case, it’s odd that he would ask info on one of them specifically with such precision.
I couldn’t help but have a bad feeling about that.
It's just that more than having a bad feeling, this classmate of mine named Kumagawa Misogi was a transfer student that made you feel sick himself, therefore maybe it’s stupid to say that now.
— Wait a second, really, just a moment.
I said while collecting my thoughts.
He took me by surprise, but there’s no way Kumagawa-kun asked me that without a reason.
He asked me because he knows that in the old Student Council I had Jakago under my control and I was in a position that allowed me to know everything about everyone.
Well, even without relying on me, if you know class and seat number, you only have to put some effort into finding the one they refer to. I think that’s the reason why he's such an irritating President.
— Number 18 of class 2-3? I suppose it's Teppou-san.
— 「Teppou-san?」
— Yes. Teppou-san. Teppou Uchi-san. She's famous.. well maybe not, but a lot of people know her. Actually, when Jakago was in power she was kept under special surveillance: enough to have Sakanoue Kae-san, her secretary, put her in the first page of her "Black Black List".
She was considered as "Danger level 23".
Anyway her "urgency level" was just 4, lower than that of a normal student, so it was not an urgent matter. Even the former President Jakago simply declared she was an oddball and decided to keep an eye on her without acting, for the time being.
— 「Danger level 23... I don't even know how that ranking works anyway」
— I thought you had got the documents from the previous Student Council, Kumagawa-kun...
— 「Oh, those papers. I burnt them all」
He simply replied
It really sounded like a joke, but I got the impression that he wasn't joking.
We had known each other for a little while, but I could already understand that he wasn't the kind of person who would crack a joke like that. No, maybe I should say that all reality was just a joke to him.
— 「It's like that common saying that goes "burning of books and burying of scholars", isn't it?」
— No, I think that has a totally different meaning...
— 「Well, anyway, I hate those kind of walkthroughs. Monster lists, item lists.. I hate them. Life is more boring if you don't know what the next enemy to appear before you will be, wouldn’t you agree?」
— I-I suppose so... Huh?
Shouldn’t that sentence have ended with "is more exciting"? But again, maybe Kumagawa-kun thought about boring things as the funniest ones.
Finding satisfaction in destroying the cartridge of a game that was so hard he couldn’t beat it, finding happiness in throwing the gamepad at the TV screen: this was the third-year student Kumagawa Misogi.
— 「Actually, I thought about burning the school down too, but I already did that once so I quit it」
— ........
I think that was a joke. I hope it was.
— 「Anyway, Saki-chan. Shall we go visit this supposed classroom 2-3?」
— Why supposed? Class 2-3 is just class 2-3...
I don't think he said that with a special meaning.
Still, maybe for Kumagawa-kun the very thought of giving it a meaning was absurd.
— Huh? Wait, wait, wait Kumagawa-kun. What do you mean "shall we go"? Are you going to look for Teppou-san? To meet her? I still don’t get what’s going on... Do you even plan to explain that to me? What's going on? Do you have business with her?
I had already given up halfway about getting a serious answer, thinking that he would reply with something like 「I’ve got business with every girl」, but he actually decided to answer me.
— 「I'm not the one who’s got business to do」
That was his answer.
— 「On the contrary, it seems like she has something to say to me, a message for me that she was entrusted with.」
— ......
Even if he answered me, it didn’t change the fact that I didn't understand a word of what he was saying.
— What? What do you mean? Did you and Teppou-san already know each other?
— 「No, no, we’ve never seen each other before, and I don't know her, but it seems like she knows me」
I understood even less.
Well, there wasn't a single student in the Academy by now that didn’t know Kumagawa-kun, the Student Council President, but the way he put that seemed to have a slightly different meaning.
Rather, in his carefree and impossible to understand attitude, I saw a glimpse of something like preparing to meet a fated person.
Surely, no one beside me could have been able to sense that determination, and when I told him about it, Kumagawa-kun obviously played dumb.
— 「If you don't want to come, then don't come. I think that this isn’t going to be a pleasure ride」
— What a thing to say... You're so good at completely depriving people of their willpower. No, I'll go too, I'll come with you. Even if I'm getting used to hear it from you by now, I'm still the General Affair Manager of the executive committee of the Suisou Academy Student Council, ....I must follow my President.
— 「Huhuhu. I suppose that with ‘follow’ you mean you’ll be keeping an eye on every movement of mine, right?」
— No I-I didn't mean to play with words like that!?
I frantically explained using totally wrong premises, and I continued,
— ...And I mean, it's not like I don't have any responsibility in you becoming the Student Council President.

— 「Pft. I really don't get it. That sense of responsibility, that sense of duty. I'm not going to meet her as the President, you know. Anyway」
Kumagawa-kun rose from his chair and opened the window behind him.
For some reason, it seemed like he wanted to leave the room that way, instead of using the door. He really is the most unpredictable man in the world.
— 「If I keep remaining carelessly still like this, it seems like I'm going to be chased out of this school. I’ll take that challenge. It looks like even playing with Anshin'in-san after such a long time will be boring, after all」
And after saying something that made me unable to understand a single word, Kumagawa-kun nimbly jumped out of the window. By the way, this is the third floor.
It goes without saying that I couldn't follow him, so I got out of Student Council room from the door and I ran through the corridor and down for the stairs, and left the school building to meet up with him.
I know I said "I ran through the corridor", and that it’s a serious violation of school rules for a member of the Student Council, but with a President like that, please give me a break just for this time.

****************************

[Ouverture]

I'm glad to help you

[Ilidsor]

Thank both of you very much

You should put it on baka tsuki and then hopefully somebody will see it and finish it.

[Tyabann]

Her narration reminds me a lot of Hanekawa's for some reason.
It's odd, because they're completely different characters.

[Clarste]

It seems odd that her of all people would be the narrator, but in retrospect there was no way we were ever going to see inside Kumagawa's head.

[RedKey]

If spoilers are true,

Spoiler for 171 quick rundown:

Fukurou wants to let Medaka's group pass, but Hansode doesn't want to meet them, so she asks Fukurou to send her away. He sends Joutou to meet them, and Hansode thinks about her relationship with the Princess. She says that the tears and feelings she showed were true, but at the same time she isn't totally sure about it, because she spent too much time lying to people.
Meanwhile, Medaka's group goes further into the hospital
"Wow, what an eerie hospital" "Don't say that Zenkichi, it's the fated place where we first met" 「Yeah yeah, it's the place where Hitomi-sensei and I first kissed!」
the more they walk, the more they get younger and younger, until they return to their kid selves (short-haired Medaka, Kumagawa with his plushie etc.). At the same time, having become younger, they don't have the injuries from the battle with Iihiko anymore. Medaka thinks this is a hint about the style that will defeat him.
Namanie says that this is Joutou's style, and that she's a Nusery Rhyme user.
Also, it seems that since Kamome didn't meet Fukurou before, he developed his prototype style on his own, lol

[Homura7]

Thanks for the spoilers.

Spoiler for spoiler:

To all you who said we wouldn't be seeing the styles of the other two suitors... IN YOUR FACE!!

Sorry if it sounds a bit rude, but I just can't stand it when folks jump the bandwagon without waiting for further developments

[Kurosu]

Not gonna say I told you guys so

Spoiler for 171 spoiler:

Originally Posted by Kurosu

You know, my theory is that Kotobuki (her style being one possibly relating to childhood/infancy) turned Momozono into a child, or something along those lines.
I'm not buying that Momozono is an actual child.
?

But, called it! Sorta.

[Wolfenstein]

That was actually pretty impressive, Kurosu.

And these spoilers seem promising.

Only one thing, though:

Spoiler:

Oh God, Nishio. Please don't ruin Shiranui. Please, tell us she was lying and dosen't care.