Philosophy School: Tucker Report

SIX-WORD SUMMARY

• What an ugly-ass, unscary Duwang
  • (If you want to consider “ugly-ass” to be a single word, you can throw in a *chew* at the end)

SERIES

• Title:  『詭弁学派、四ッ谷先輩の怪談。』（きべんがくは、よつやせんぱいのかいだん。
  • “Kiben Gakuha, Yotsuya-senpai no Kaidan”
  • Very long and weird. Literally translates to “Sophist Sect, Yotsuya-senpai’s Ghost Stories”
  • Both “kiben” and “gaku-ha” seem to be pretty obscure Japanese vocab. I’ve certainly never seen them before.
  • The “ki” in kiben is spelled with the kanji that means lie/deception, so it kinda has that connotation
  • Honestly not sure how you should refer to the title in English (besides “that hot mess”)...maybe “Yotsuya-senpai’s Ghost Stories”?
• Author: 古舘 春一（ふるだて はるいち)
  • Furudate Haruichi

CHARACTERS:

• Yotsuya Buntarou 四ッ谷 文太郎（よつや ぶんたろう）:
  • Be sure to pronounce the o in Yotsuya like the o in “yo” (not sounding like “yacht”).
  • Make sure to pronounce the ya at the end as “yah” and not “yuh”
  • “Yotsuya” means ‘“four valleys,” and it doesn’t seem to have any special significance as  a name (it’s also the name of a neighborhood in Tokyo)
  • Buntarou also doesn’t seem to have much significance (literally means something like “literature dude”)
• Nakashima Makoto 中島 真（なかしま まこと):
  • A native Japanese speaker, especially when speaking quickly, would probably only pronounce the “i” in Nakashima as a whispered vowel (barely pronounced, but it still is a part of the mora/beat of rhythm). Thinking of the name as being “Nakash’ma” would be a good way of pronouncing this more accurately
  • “Nakashima” just means “middle island” or “middle of the island” (no significance), and “Makoto” means “sincerity” (common given name for both boys and girls)
• Yayoi Hinano 弥生 ヒナノ（やよい ひなの）:
  • Don’t let “Yayoi” freak you out! Split up the syllables…”yah-yo-ee”
• Shinamo 品茂（しなも）
  • Think of “Shina” and “mo” being separate articles (“Shina-mo”) rather than it being like “shi-NAmo,” like how you might be tempted to pronounce it (that’s just part of your brain trying to apply Italian/Spanish pronunciation where it doesn’t belong)
• Tsuchiya
  • Again, the ya at the end is “yah,” not “yuh”

The T is pronounced! Think of it like the sound you make when you say “pots and pans”