Futari Bus - Ch. 19 - Things You Like

[Kaarme]

One of these days bus driver-san will give these two the push they need

Or is a good answer

The bus driver is working extremely hard for them. He's the one giving them the familiar place where to meet every day.

 

[Dnpslow]

I can hear the captions in my head speak out to me

 

[laeus]

An seems to be the stubborn type she'll do anything to convince herself that feels nothing sabotaging herself in various ways

 

[DementisXYZ]

That's one glowing review from another mangaka!

 

[lolfacesayshi]

God fuck this is so powerful

It can power cities of months on end with a single page

 

[IblisTheEvil]

This youthful love is so beatiful. I hope they will love each other.

 

[Silfir]

Some compelling use of the medium there! Always keeping An's eyes just out of frame.

One possible interpretation is, as @Ropoloid suggests, that she studied his reaction and was happy to realize he's lying. But the other is that her heart broke, even if just for a moment, and she had to fight back tears. By the time Shunpei finally looks in her eyes, there's no way to tell; even what she said about both of them feeling the same way can be taken multiple ways. He averted his eyes - and because he's the viewpoint character of this chapter, so did we. Frustrating, isn't it? Shunpei is frustrated with himself, too, I'll bet.

The bus driver is proof positive of the mangaka's mastery of the medium. A character who never says anything, barely even shows any motion, but simply through his strategic placement in key panels towards the end or beginning of the chapter he became enough of a presence in the mind of the readers that when he got a chapter all to himself, no one was confused, and everyone was happy. Never seen more unanimous cheering in discussion threads or comment sections, and I imagine it was no different in its home demographic.

It's no wonder at all other bigshot manga artists are enjoying the hell out of this. Maybe we can dream of a crossover with Masuda Eiji's current work? (Same premise at the core, yet completely different in theme and execution, because it's a crowded train in the city, rather than an empty bus in the countryside. And Masuda is no less a master of his craft.)



EDIT:

Also a favorite moment of mine in this chapter is the very blink-and-you'll-miss-it way An managed to get out of handing the profile page back to Shunpei after filling it out. I don't think there was anything that came after the love corner (this sort of thing is ALWAYS at the end, come on!), so between "she is not done filling it out" and "she does not want Shunpei to see", which is more likely? You may have tricked Shunpei, but I'm onto your feminine wiles! Ha ha ha. I'm so lonely.

Shame we probably won't see Lulu's reaction the next day when she asks for the page back and Shunpei tells her An is going to send it to her by letter.

 

[coyote_vdb]

Thanks for the translation.

 

[caliche9700]

This pair is giving me the deabetus

 

[BCS]

So she doesn't like him. Pack it up boys, this story is over

 

[Umbrum]

I'm not really sure what she means by "the same" here. Did she not pick up on his lie? Or did she actually pick up on it? but's weird cause her reaction to his statement about not putting what you actually feel made it seem like she answered honestly.

That would mean she has no one she acknowledges as a romantic interest, maybe the circled "or" answer is actually what the both of them answered? After all she did say "we are the same then", maybe rather than falling for his lie she actually figured out Shunpei is the same as her, not yet sure if they would call it "love" or "like".

I don't think she was supposed to look sad, I think it was just portrayed in a way that we'd find confusing.

 

[Siddy00]

Thanks for the chapter! ^^

 

[Akahashio]

Iirc one of the last pages the scan says the manga won't be able to keep going if it doesn't sell. I wanted to support the author and buy the Vol.1 but they don't deliver to Brazil

 

[draxdeveloper]

An-chan is grateful because MC still doesn’t have a girlfriend, but An-chan answer is kinda confusing since the circled part is the OR. at least there’s still a big chance wide open for you, Shunpei-kun

thank you for translating

I was confused, the OR was Shunpei or An answer?

 

[Pragadish138]

Takagi Saaaan!!!!

 

[Sekraan]

Iirc one of the last pages the scan says the manga won't be able to keep going if it doesn't sell. I wanted to support the author and buy the Vol.1 but they don't deliver to Brazil

You can buy online version via Bookwalker: https://bookwalker.jp/defc358b85-8d1e-4a93-98ab-03f8753484fb/

 

[Sekraan]

I'm not really sure what she means by "the same" here. Did she not pick up on his lie? Or did she actually pick up on it? but's weird cause her reaction to his statement about not putting what you actually feel made it seem like she answered honestly.

That would mean she has no one she acknowledges as a romantic interest, maybe the circled "or" answer is actually what the both of them answered? After all she did say "we are the same then", maybe rather than falling for his lie she actually figured out Shunpei is the same as her, not yet sure if they would call it "love" or "like".

I don't think she was supposed to look sad, I think it was just portrayed in a way that we'd find confusing.

I suggest reading back to Ch. 8, starting here, for An's perspective on "liking" someone: https://mangadex.org/chapter/c07b3dbe-e19a-41ac-8698-09df96a78d2f/10

It's consistent with this chapter, with her comment that a simple Yes/No is kind of blunt for her liking.

Also, in this chapter she starts sweating and nervously clicking the pencil when reaching the love questions.

The manga has been pretty consistent that they're just kids who aren't sure about these new feelings and are trying to sort things out at their own pace.

 

[TalaTH]

I'm not really sure what she means by "the same" here. Did she not pick up on his lie? Or did she actually pick up on it? but's weird cause her reaction to his statement about not putting what you actually feel made it seem like she answered honestly.

That would mean she has no one she acknowledges as a romantic interest, maybe the circled "or" answer is actually what the both of them answered? After all she did say "we are the same then", maybe rather than falling for his lie she actually figured out Shunpei is the same as her, not yet sure if they would call it "love" or "like".

I don't think she was supposed to look sad, I think it was just portrayed in a way that we'd find confusing.

Shunpei saying he wouldn't reply honestly implies that he DOES have someone he likes but didn't check yes on the sheet.

An therefore is subconsciously bothered if he actually has some other girl that he likes so asks him if he has someone in mind.
Though she doesn't realize exactly why yet, she's relieved when he says no, enough to 'slip up' and say よかった('that's good' here, but if you've watched enough anime you'd know that it holds the meaning of relief. Yokatta~).

Shunpei is almost perceptive enough to catch that An being relieved that he doesn't like a girl other than herself points to her probably being interested in him so reacts accordingly, connecting the dots but still being unsure as he's still a kid.

 

[andrybak]

The more I know about Shunpei, the more I go

Thank you for the translation! On page 19/21, in the annotation, the letter "w" is missing in "who ended up at different middle schools." Update: this was fixed, thanks!

 

[Umbrum]

An therefore is subconsciously bothered if he actually has some other girl that he likes so asks him if he has someone in mind.
Though she doesn't realize exactly why yet, she's relieved when he says no, enough to 'slip up' and say よかった('that's good' here, but if you've watched enough anime you'd know that it holds the meaning of relief. Yokatta~).

Oh, so it's something that's missed a bit on the translation? in a way I feel like "yokatta" is more ambiguos than "that's good" altho I can definitely see how it'd read that way.