Machikado Mazoku - Vol. 4 Ch. 45 - Mother Nature! Sakura Chiyoda's Spring

[Reiba1925]

@Evron
@MoonlightwolfchanX
Thanks!😁

 

[Robot_Ditto]

The Archer class really is made out of Shamikos

 

[1412]

Shamiko's weapon is really way too OP if she can copy Mikan Weapon like that, considering Shamiko has a low Mana pool.
Yet Shamiko has a terrible sense of battle, she can not even infer the obvious weakness of the Youkai Youkan. 😃
Chiyoda Sakura is so rich, not only bought Mikan factory, but she also has the whole mountain as her property

Also isn't Momo's phone is broken in the last chapter? does she buy a new one?

 

[giraffemangome]

Thanks for doing these as always! I'm sleep-depraved, but here goes. Feel free to point out questionable points. All major errors are bolded.

Page 2, Strip 1, Panel 1:
"For the ceiling is right there". "There" instead of "here", and "over" seems excessive with "right" being right there.

Panel 2:
I'm not sure what the "one-" stands for. I'm really just kind of confused on this one. The original was just a "ひいっ"(Hii), the sound someone makes when taken back or frightened by something. It does sound very strange when directly translated, so change is needed, but I'm somewhat confused by the current choice.

Panel 4:
I guess "Exactly!", or "Precisely!" would be better translations than "Obviously!". Obvious as a word doesn't quite flow as well when no specific context is given.

Strip 2, Panel 2:
Most of the time when Sion mentions Sakura, the original text adds a (sis) after Chiyoda-san. I'm sure it's not neccessary to tell, but it's just something the Japanese version does.

Page 2, Strip 2, Panel 4:
"Chiyoda-san is pretty much dyed black already, so make sure to dunk yourself in the spring... It will help". Sion is telling Momo to do it, not to avoid it.

Page 3, Strip 1, Panel 1:
Sion doesn't exactly have a polite speech pattern, and "Please" is quite uncommon in her vocabulary. Removing the "please" would be more characteristic of her.

Panel 2:
Similarly, Shamiko doesn't often state her opinions as facts, so adding a "I think" in the beginning would make it less strange.

Panel 3:
Mikan asks for permission to stay, "The moutains... Sorry, can I pass this time?". I used "pass" because it's written in Hiragana in the original.

Panel 4:
"JK MIkan Alt." would be the original title of not-hobo Mikan. The translation doesn't change much, but I like the title "JK Mikan Alt." so I'm putting that here.

Strip 2, Panel 2:
"It's a bit of a hike from here, but we should be able to make it by following the mountain paths". "only" is not mentioned.

Panel 4:
"However...in the first place" would be better translated as "It's not like anyone besides my relatives will come here anyways!"

Page 5, Strip 1, Panel 4:
"I got suddenly shoved into a battle!" is "急にゴリゴリのバトル展開！" in JP, meaning "A sudden battle development!". It doesn't actually, since I ignored the "ゴリゴリ” due to my absolute lack of knowledge regarding Japanese onomatopoeia. However, it does mention "development", as in a development in a story. I have no real idea if it sounds any better when put this way, but I typed it down because it technically is a bit lost in translation.

Page 7, Strip 2, Panel 2:
Momo seems a bit more aggressive with her line. The JP text translates literally to "Shamiko becomes an annoying character type once she gets attached to you, doesn't she?". She's referring to the character archetype of someone who always has something to say and do, most likely annoying someone else(or the viewer) with the excessive dialogue and action. Trying to make this sound better in English, I guess "You're an annoying character once you get attached, Shamiko!!" would do the job.

Panel 4:
Nothing important, but "However" should probably be switched to something like "But". I could be a me problem, but the word "however" never really flows right in casual speech with me.

Page 8, Strip 1, Panel 1:
Momo didn't say a transitional word, so no "Anyway". "Because it's a kitchen" does sound pretty funny-dumb, but this line is referring to her line in page 2, with the same structure, so "For the kitchen is right there".

Panel 4:
It's unclear what Shamiko is trying to say when she's cut off, but it's most likely, "It's my treasure", which gets cut off midway.

Page 8, Strip 2, Panel 4:
"And I think I'll have her leave for the rest of the day." is what Momo says.

Edit: added full index for bolded entries.

 

[bobbybiracial]

Felt bad for Shamiko

 

[BugDemon]

Wow these translations are suddenly lightning fast! This chapter has so much interesting stuff again.
-Ceiling Ogura watches you do Yuri stuff
-The station Shamiko ended up at all the way back during their run actually became relevant. Proving once again that Ito absolutely makes every tiny scene count. This is why theories even about the smallest detail somehow don't seem impossible in this story.
-Momo shrieking "Nyaaa" and the fact that Shamiko thinks its cute (she is correct).
-Sakura actually put a ladder and an emergency phone into the pit in case whoever fell got hurt... It's almost ridiculous how much she prepares.
-Shamiko tracing Mikan's crossbow. Although it must be considerably weaker. A lot of people jump to conclusions and call Shamiko OP, but that crossbow is a cheap knockoff. It doesn't have Micheal's poison arrows and even after hitting that super weak familiar point blank it didnt even give it a scratch, it just tore the cord for the stone. So please keep a cool head and not overestimate Shamiko's power here. The Whatever Staff still uses mana, and Shamiko has very little, so her projections are also weak.
-Shamiko's first victory! Although it was a familiar that even a normal human could defeat easily, she still won. She just needed to tear off the stone, but I guess her method worked too lol
-The magic springs (I got a whole lot to say about those, but it's just speculation so it goes into the spoiler for those who care (you shouldnt)).
-Shamiko getting excited over cool stuff again, like Momo standing under a waterfall like a martial artist for training 😁
-Ogura stealing the stone like it's nothing. Don't worry, the drug she makes is pretty damn good, so it was worth Shamiko's tears!

Spoiler

So about those magic springs. I love their inclusion, but also have a lot of thoughts about them.
There doesn't seem to be an upper limit on how much mana they can recover or at least it would regenerate quickly as long as moonlight hits it at night. This opens up some possibilities honestly.
So we all know that to break Lilith seal they need LIght Clan mana (the blood is just the best waya to transfer it). Then wouldn't it be easy for Momo to give Lilith her blood over and over again and then recharge it at the springs? I am sure Shamiko would hate to see Momo bleed herself out and exhaust herself over and over, but to free Lilith reasonably without sacrificing anyone that seems to be a pretty harmless solution.
Then there is Sakura's core. I am almost 100% certain that if Sakura hadn't saved Shamiko's life by fusing with her, she would have been able to go to the spring and recover her mana in cat form and regain herself. So she did have a Plan B this entire time.
This also opens up the question of whether Shamiko can go under the waterfall and recover mana for Sakura's core so they can talk again. I suppose as a demon the water would not help her or even harm her over time though (then again she put her feet into the spring without repercussion).

LIke I said, it was a awesome inclusion, but Ito set herself up for a lot of plot holes here because she didnt explain it well enough.

 

[Loona_Roses]

I know the Shamiko gettIng excited about Momo "training" under a waterfall is mostly just part of Shamiko's obsessions for old games, anime, special attacks and such.
But the fact that she mentioned get naked let alone mention it first (hopefully) has to be a thing about Shamiko's inner desires.
Also the fact that only Momo fell for the traps and the sign says "A member of my family" as in Sakura seemingly has multiple family members. Makes me feel like Sakura had planned for Shamiko long in advance.

The one thing that worries me about this manga is how, Momo's feelings towards Yuko are clear. It is no joke and not hidden that Momo loves Yuko. But we never get that same feeling from Yuko. She always seems to want to do everything with everyone, not just Momo. She is always happy for everyone. It is normally her that says she wants to be friends, and repeatedly mentions how Momo is a friend, a rival, or a vassal. The way she acts towards Momo is also similar to other characters. Calling them cute, wanting to touch them. Getting randomly aggressive when she is excited. Wanting to see them smile and so on.
So... I can see why Momo would be terrified of openly confessing and why she hates Yuko being alone with others.
In the end Momo treats Yuko specially. Other than wanting her to be a vassal, Yuko treats Momo exactly like she treats everyone else.

 

[BugDemon]

@Loona_Roses
Okay that entire part about Shamiko is really not true. Shamiko actually never calls Momo a friend, she doesn't even allow herself to admit that. She is 100% tsundere in that sense. She insists on being rivals and enemies because she doesn't want to admit her actual feelings (both friendship and romantic) to herself.
Shamiko is way more social than Momo, that's for sure, but she does not treat everyone the same. That's just straight up false. There is nobody, not even Ryo, who Shamiko treats like Momo. Momo is the most important person to Shamiko in the entire cast and this has been proven countless times. She is a good person so she is glad when everyone is happy, but Momo is the only person that Shamiko actively wants to seee smile. She made it her number 1 priority out of anything, even more than unsealing Lilith and lifting the curse from her family. Her strong desire to make Momo her vassal can be found nowhere else. She never wants Mikan to fall to darkness and doesn't try to recruit anyone else. Momo is the only one she wants to belong to her.
Shamiko does not have a such a strong touchy reaction with anyone at all. Calling them cute? When did Shamiko ever do that except with Momo? She admires Mikan's girlishness level, but she doesn't basically lust after anyone like she does for Momo's tummy. The sheer jealousy Shamiko feels by the mere idea that someone else makes Momo their vassal is super telling too. She even gets upset if Lilith was the one to recruit Momo.
Momo's genuine smile literally made Shamiko cry, that's how much she cares about her.

Spoiler

During Shamiko's birthday she gets presents from everyone and while she is super happy about all of them(especially Riko's PS2), she only treasures Momo's purse so much that she never wants to remove it from her drawer as if it was a sacred trophy. She doesn't even allow Lilith to touch it.
When Shamiko wants to get a smartphone to play gacha games she is super excited about the idea of having the same model as Momo. She would have even taken Momo's suggestion for a cheap basic cell-phone if Momo had bought the same. She would rather have the same phone as Momo than get her gacha game that was actually the point of it all (she also later reveals to have bought the phone Momo suggested too, for emergencies).
Shamiko loves special attacks and stuff, but she only has a super strong reaction to Momo getting undressed. She covers her eyes, but peeks through her fingers. If it had been anyone else she would either not have bothered to cover her eyes or would have not peeked. Shamiko's lewd feelings towards Momo are getting more obvious every arc.
When Anri says that Mikan is attractive and popular, Shamiko agrees nonchalantly, but when Anri says that Shamiko still goes after Momo despite that, Shamiko gets super embarrased and tsundere about... and still says she thinks Momo is beautiful/attractive anyway! She can't even deny it when she is in tsundere mode!

Point is, Shamiko only acts this way around Momo. She is absolutely special. Momo's obsession with Shamiko is more obvious, because she has tunnel vision and doesnt interact that much with the others, but Shamiko is head over heels for the peach. There is no denying this for the audience. The only one in denial about it is Shamiko.

 

[ascendedLight]

A bit to nitpick:
Pg 3:
Deeper Inner Tama Station
Like Tama, 奥多魔(Okutama) refers to a real place (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okutama,_Tokyo ) at the western tip of Tokyo Prefecture and adjacent to Yamanashi. Thus 奥奥多魔 should be translated to "Inner Okutama Station".

 

[Loona_Roses]

@BugDemon
I didn't know the spoiler bit. But now my mind is at rest. X'3
I find it quite easy to write of most of Shamiko's behaviour towards Momo so far as just, Shamiko being kind to the person who clearly needs it the most. If my friend hadn't smiled in a decade, and suffered from ptsd and depression I would drop everything to help them find reasons to be happy too. And the Vassal stuff can easily be seen as a continuation of the war with Momo and undoing the family seal.
She has also been there for Mikan at every point Mikan needed someone. Even in the background of scenes Shamiko can be seen comforting Mikan.
Btw, Shamiko has referred to Momo as a friend a couple of times at least even if it was a slip of the tongue.
There have been too many seemingly yuri stories that end up being one sided love. ;~;

 

[BugDemon]

@Loona_Roses
Lots of people around Shamiko need help, but Shamiko puts effort into making Momo happy outside of emergencies or requests, unlike for everyone else. She helps people in need sure, but so does Momo, yet you don't think Momo is treating everyone the same.
The vassal stuff can NOT be seen that way, because as I already pointed out, then Shamiko would not be acting like this. She would be trying to get everyone to be her vassal, Mikan too. She would not be jealous over other people making Momo their vassal. If Lilith made Momo her vassal, the seal could still be broken, yet she hates that idea. Also she put breaking the family seal behind making Momo happy... so that isn't a priority at all. The moment they found out magical girls can fade away if you take their mana, both Lilith and Shamiko gave up on that method.
All your points contradict each other. They only work in a vacuum.

The only time I remember where Shamiko called Momo her friend was when they pretended to be friends in front of Ryo. That's pretty much the only time Shamiko actively said it. Every other time she corrected herself right after, which is what I mean by her being in denial.

I get that you've been traumatized by yuri bait and subtext endings, but sheesh, if you can admit that Momo is obviously in love, then you can't write off Shamiko's feelings either.

 

[thofheinz]

@BugDemon

I think you're right, and it hit me a few moments before the hair clips incident. When Shamiko found out that Momo had gotten all dolled up because she thought it was a date, and Momo began to retreat into herself, Shamiko scrambled to say they should start again because they needed to be together more, just for the sake of togetherness. This was new.

So when she gave Momo the hair clips, she was staking a claim after having realized a need for intimacy with Momo and temporarily abandoned her tsundere routine because of that.

I think that was huge. Not just the poignancy of the turf-marking with the hair clips, but also her sudden sensitivity to Momo's emotional needs and her role in meeting them.

And she has to stop this "enemy" shit. At some point, it could cause some real hurt.

 

[Reiba1925]

@thofheinz
"And she has to stop this "enemy" shit. At some point, it could cause some real hurt."
Amen

 

[MidnighTea]

Oh, Shamiko absolutely is madly in love with Momo. She is friendly to everyone, yeah, and I would say she's a warm person overall. I think like a tsundere character, she's in denial that she's in love with Momo though. That's why she keeps contextualizing it as Momo being her enemy whom she must defeat and make her vassal. She writes off all the intensity of her feelings like that, like "boy I must REALLY want to beat her! I can't lose if I feel that strongly about it!". Like the comment below says, that's... going to cause some real hurt in the longrun, though, if it's not done so already.

Momo on the other hand is... mostly honest to herself about her feelings, emotionally, but isn't used to either mentally processing or expressing them. In fact hurting herself thinking about them is how she wound up in a spiral. She's been isolated emotionally for so long that she needs a lot of practice in communicating again. It's actually pretty telling how little she allows Mikan to support her, let alone sinister (but often surprisingly reliable) allies like Ogura or Lico.

 

[1412]

@BugDemon

A lot of people jump to conclusions and call Shamiko OP, but that crossbow is a cheap knockoff.

I think you miss the point, the very fact that Shamiko's weapon can copy Mikan crossbow itself is OP, it is the weapon who is OP, not Shamiko, Momo acknowledges this when they first found it.

The cheap knockoff that Momo mention refers to the design, Shamiko only copy the overall shape but can not copy the exact design so she makes up some parts with her imagination, and Momo also said that EVEN if the design is a cheap knock off, the performance is about similar.

We don't know how far that weapon could go, but for now, it is limited ONLY by Shamiko's lack of imagination and magic level. But imagine if such weapon wielded by cunning and battle adept momo or mikan who have high mana level.

(btw, on the side note: I think Mikan has higher mana level than Momo, so in Mahou shoujo term, Mikan is stronger than Momo, but Momo has her physical prowess, that is why Momo always said that she is in weak side among Mahou Shoujo while also say that Mikan is strong and a great ally)

 

[Reiba1925]

@1412
I think you got a little confused. BugDemon was not saying that "whatever staf" (the weapon) is not OP, he / she was saying that Shamiko (the user) is not OP 😅.

 

[1412]

@Reiba1925

Is that so? haha... my bad,

Sorry BugDemon 😗

 

[BugDemon]

@1412
It is as Reiba says, I meant Shamiko is not OP, but that goes hand in hand why her version of Mikan's crossbow isnt.
You see, the strength of Mikan's shots is proportional to how much mana she puts into the bolt. So even if the performance is similar, Shamiko can't put the mana into the shot that would make it lethal, let alone snipe someone from 2 kilometers. She also doesn't have the one-hit kill poison from the navigator frog Michael. As I mentioned, the familiar didn't even receive any damage. If Mikan had shot at it with a decently charged bolt, it would have had a hole inside it or been half-vaporized. Shamiko used an AoE explosion to merely cut some string. It's because her battle sense is honestly the worst lol

I'm fully aware of how OP the Staff itself is. Impossibly reality bending, a true cheat weapon. Even Shamiko can make quite crazy use of it in the dream world at least where it takes significantly less mana and skill to use.
Someone who can imagine anything as a stick, has enough mana to fuel anything and can understand combat use of each weapon they project would be terrifying with it. Too bad the Dark Clan is a bunch of dorks.

 

[thofheinz]

@BugDemon

I may have missed something in previous reading, but I think you revealed a spoiler. I didn't know who Michael was or what he did. It's okay. I still don't know. I thought you'd like to be told, though.

 

[BugDemon]

@thofheinz
https://mangadex.org/chapter/722299/6
He was already introduced back in Volume 3.