Tonari no Youkai-san - Vol. 1 Ch. 7 - Obon

[MangaDex]

 

[red_bean_casserole]

Hey all - I slapped on an explainer at the end since I thought it'd help. I try not to mess with the pages too much, but I thought you'd all appreciate some background for the chapter. Sorry if some of the info is inaccurate though.

 

[pockettrash]

You can't pull a dead parent card all of a sudden like that ;-;

That was a fun and interesting take on obon tho

 

[justforthelulz]

@red_bean_casserole
Cultural notes are always appreciated. Are the shouryou-ushi always made from eggplants?

 

[Tersione]

I was wondering if this cozy slice of life was gonna bring out the feels or not.

It's surreal how their traditions for honoring the dead include actually being visited by the dead.

 

[Simkin]

I'm a total sucker for these bittersweet moments.

The kyuucumber horse was cute, though.

 

[tickub]

oof, reminded me of naru and her dad for some reason

 

[Georg-Prime]

Oof sudden feels u_u. Seems this manga could be somewhere in between Flying Witch and Natsume, and I'm here for that.

@red_bean_casserole: thank you for your work, always only love for some notes, that was indeed very much appreciated, I personally didn't know about the spirit mounts and their vegetable representations for Obon.

 

[leusee]

I really like the depiction of their souls, just being seen through the corner of peoples eyes but never directly. Their presences being felt but not really ever being completely there.

 

[red_bean_casserole]

@justforthelulz I can't say for certain. I'm not Japanese after all.

Here's an excerpt from the top result I found on Google for お精霊牛:

どうして「なす」と「きゅうり」なの？

夏野菜としてお盆の時期に多く収穫され、入手するのが簡単だったためと考えられています。
旬のお野菜ということで、お供え物として適していると考えられていたようです。

So why eggplants and cucumbers?

It's believed that since both eggplants and cucumber are harvested in the summer, the same season in which Obon is held, they are both readily available. And as seasonal vegetables, it seems all the more appropriate to use them as offerings during Obon.

 

[NinkNikkita]

@red_bean_casserole I LOVE the notes. Thank you so much ❤

 

[BCS]

"is made of cucumber (hence its frequent kyuu-ning)"

TIL cucumbers go "kyuu"

 

[red_bean_casserole]

@BCS It's more of a coincidence that cucumber and きゅうり (cucumber in Japanese) start with the same sound. It's a Pokemon cry, if anything.

 

[Blacky]

phew that turn...