Tonari no Youkai-san - Vol. 1 Ch. 20 - Buchio Goes to Tokyo

[MangaDex]

 

[RNDM1]

[country bumpkin intensifies]
[heavy gawking]

 

[Rozzak]

This guy is full "a cat is fine too" huh?

 

[justforthelulz]

Hoping for a shot of Buchio riding on Yamagi's shoulders.

 

[Tersione]

They actually let Buchio go on a far away trip all on his own? That sounds pretty irresponsible considering how he's only become a nekomata for like... a few weeks at least? He's doing pretty well so far, though, all things considered.

Still, I'm kinda worried for him since this guy feels pretty shady.

@Rozzak We need not look further than his assistant to figure out why.

 

[Lithe]

A winking cat, lol.

 

[red_bean_casserole]

@Tersione I'd like to think that Buchio being twenty years old means he has the wisdom of a twenty year old (or the stupidity of one, I can attest to that), and that turning into a nekomata simply means he's able to talk and transform stuff now. He seemed to have the mental faculties of a full grown human adult from day one, so why not?

 

[Tersione]

@red_bean_casserole Well, regardless of what his age would translate to in human years, he's still plenty inexperienced about the world and wholly unsure of himself. His demeanor also makes him come off more like an awkward teenager than anything else too.

The suddenness of his trip is also jarring to me as well. Maybe a scene of him talking it out with his family and them sending him off on the train would've made things a little better.

 

[red_bean_casserole]

@Tersione

Well, regardless of what his age would translate to in human years, he's still plenty inexperienced about the world and wholly unsure of himself. His demeanor also makes him come off more like an awkward teenager than anything else too.

Arguably that could describe people in their twenties too. It's been some time since I've had a "teen" in my age but I still haven't graduated from being a young adult. (That, or I'm getting defensive cause he reminds me of me.) Also I imagine the best way to become uninexperienced about the world is to experience the world. Also not growing up in Japan, I have this romanticized notion that anyone of sufficient age is free to roam as they please, with the freedom afforded them by an actual public transportation system.

I'm not sure how much we'd get out of a discussion with his "immediate" family; they all seem laissez-faire raising him, so I imagine it'd be a pat on the back, a "that's great" and a "see you later". It's actually a bit strange since they're probably young parents (judging from Takumi's age) and I imagine would be at that stage where they're overprotective of anyone they considered their child... but I've never had a kid, so what do I know? Maybe there'd be a discussion with his youkai family, but given that Jirou and Gramps/Tazenbou urged Buchio to visit Sanmoto-san the first time they met Buchio, I'm guessing that would've been a foregone conclusion.

I did feel it weird for there to be a one-off for him going to Tokyo. Maybe noho-sensei could've expounded on his "first time"s with him trying to figure out how to navigate a totally different environment. But I also feel like noho-sensei decidedly omitted the more mundane parts of the human experience, though now I wonder what a youkai train station looks like. You could argue that the whole romance thing with the kappa girl is pretty mundane too, but I like romance.

Anyway, sorry if the comment is overly long. I'm trying to sort out my feelings about this manga too.

P.S. in typing this comment, I remembered that 山木-san is Sanmoto-san and not Yamagi-san, so I've hopefully fixed all the occurrences in the chapter.

 

[Tersione]

@red_bean_casserole All fair points. People vary wildly in personalities, after all. Buchio could well have the mental age of a 20 year old, but part of his awkwardness may come from just how jarring his situation must be, going from a normal cat into a supernatural one all of a sudden.

Still, we definitely could've used some scenes before Buchio's departure and before he meets with Sanmoto. What you said would've been nice too, Buchio acting like a complete country bumpkin and stumbling around for a bit.

 

[Gasky]

Kids travel alone so isn't it fair to expect a 20 year old yokai to be able to?

 

[ElBichoRaro]

... Argh, why is Buchio so incomprehensibly adorable?!

 

[freakofnature]

Still, Buchio has somehow managed to get some heavy-hitter yōkai interested in him, eh? His two local tengu, and now an oni. There's obviously something special about Buchio.

 

[justforthelulz]

@red_bean_casserole
山木 - Yamagi (I guess the 木/本 mixup due to his first name being Sakaki/坂木)
山本 - Yamamoto (I've never heard of the pronunciation 'Sanmoto')

 

[ChocoMacchia]

@Tersione The world does look pretty peaceful. I'd expect some crime, such as kidnapping of rare youkai and youkai trafficking, or human-youkai discrimination, or even discrimination within the youkai community if it was the real world.

 

[Tersione]

@ariared26 Sounds like an interesting premise for a darker work. But, I doubt this manga will go in that direction. Maybe it'll hint or mention something along those ideas in passing, but not focus on them.

 

[red_bean_casserole]

@justforthelulz The woman's name is 坂木. You are right though, cause I saw that and 山本 on the same page and immediately went 山木 which is a totally valid name.

The dude's name is Sanmoto though.

 

[justforthelulz]

@red_bean_casserole
Huh, alright then. JP wikipedia says it's the name of an Edo-period youkai leader, which maybe explains why it's not 'Yamamoto' like I incorrectly assumed.
山本五郎左衛門 Sanmoto Gorouzaemon
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B1%B1%E6%9C%AC%E4%BA%94%E9%83%8E%E5%B7%A6%E8%A1%9B%E9%96%80

 

[red_bean_casserole]

@justforthelulz Oof, that wikipedia article is above my Japanese comprehension level (reminder, scanlation is part of my Japanese learning "regimen"). Can't help but think there's a whole fictional youkai canon/continuity that all of these are based off of that I'm missing here.

 

[Nixnaw]

That fact that there are yokai living and working in Tokyo is just awesome. I thought it was like a secret club situation where it was an open secret in the countryside but those yokai working in the city hide their identity, however, I find it so refreshing to see it is just ordinary life for them as well.

I'm so surprised to see chicken rice appear in a manga!