This update was great, I loved all the story and character developments/reveals. Still, this also feels like Tanjui might have dropped some acid part way through.

I will forever be amazed at authors that can consistently put out fantastic comedy! Somehow this series gets better and better!

This update was great, I loved all the story and character developments/reveals. Still, this also feels like Tanjui might have dropped some acid part way through.

That's a level of weird beyond what we've got here.

last edited at Nov 28, 2016 12:27AM

I really enjoy the dynamic between the main characters, but I've been taught that staying persistent after your confession has been turned down can have bad consequences. Is a romance (which I assume will come later) like this truly realistic after a rejection like that?

The animal part was bizarre, though I still enjoyed it haha. Basketball chapter is gonna be gooood. Loving this as always~

So if that dude has a stomach ache from Sun Jing giving him bad yoghurt, will mophead have to sub in?

I really enjoy the dynamic between the main characters, but I've been taught that staying persistent after your confession has been turned down can have bad consequences. Is a romance (which I assume will come later) like this truly realistic after a rejection like that?

It's a good point, but there you go. Most ideas about how people should act are, as the pirate fella said, more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules. So much depends on the specifics. Those two have a unique dynamic together and Sun Jing has a particular personality that seems able to get away with it. Wouldn't work for me, but she pulls it off with style.

last edited at Nov 28, 2016 4:40PM

Ok, I've been reading the discussions about this work for a while and being someone that has been following the Chinese updates (someone fluent in Chinese) I just HAVE to make an account and clear some things up.

1. The manhua's original name is "SQ: Beginning with Your Name". (S for Sun Jin, Q for Qiu Tong). In case anyone's wondering.

2. Qiu Tong (Written: 秋瞳) is NOT pronounced as Tsiou (there's no such sound in Chinese as Tsiou) but more like Cho. (I must confess, I honestly cannot fathom why "Q" was chosen for "Ch" sounds and "X" for "Sh" sounds... But alas, I'm not the one to have designed Pinyin.)

3. By the same logic, Qi Fan (Written: 祁放) is pronounced Chi Fun (For the vowel sound in "Fan", think of the beginning vowel sound in the word "Encore".) And Qin Xiong (Written: 秦雄) is pronounced Ching Shong.

4. Sun Jing is in 1st year of high school. That should translate to grade 10, not grade 9.

5. "Xiao" (Written: 小) in the context of this work is used as endearments to people. As others before me have said, you can think of it as "chan" or "kun" from Japanese. If you put it in the context of English, it's like calling your friend "Alex" instead of the full "Alexandra", I guess.

6. Sun Jing' confession. In Chinese, if A likes B and is actively trying to win B's hand by doing things that please B, we will say "A在追B". A direct translation would be "A is pursuing B". But, please, CONTEXT is all when you are translating. Due to the natural evolution of languages, the "A在追B" is actually a shortened form of "A在追求B", which really means "A is chasing after B / hoping to win B's favor by doing things that pleases him/her". (Chasing in this context as if someone is chasing after a dream. NOT chasing after a prey, like how the translation led a lot of people in this thread to think about. I must confess I was screaming a little when I saw all the comments saying how "scary" Sun Jing was, or how she's going to "scare her off"... all because of the way her confession is translated word-for-word without given the proper context!)

The following page too:
Sun Jing didn't ask: "Am I annoying you?" She was asking "Do you dislike me now?" And while it may seem like she's smiling, you can see in the next panel that she has her hands in fists from nervousness behind her back. She's scared to hear that QT is repulsed by her declaration of love, and she's literally standing there wondering if the worst will come. When QT didn't reply right away, SJ then asked: "So you don't dislike me?" To which an embarrassed QT replied: "Dislike!" (though it's pretty obvious it's a tsundere moment.)

Maybe this is a cultural difference thing (?), but when I first read the part of her confession and the consequent chapters, I thought it was really adorable. Like some of you have said, Sun Jing is creating a basis of attraction, because if she doesn't say anything, Qiu Tong will likely never see her as a romantic interest due to them being the same gender. I am sure Qiu Tong is attracted to Sun Jing already, prior to the confession on the bridge, but I don't think she realized it for what it is. As is shown in more recent chapters, QT is actually quite lonely at home. As for at school, while she is cute and kind, that doesn't contradict her statement of being not good at socializing or being around other people. To QT, SJ is special. She is the one who went out of her way to befriend her. Her introduction of "Hello, my name is Sun Jing" was the beginning of their relationship and to show that she is grateful for SJ to come into her life, QT reciprocated SJ by saying "Hello, my name is Qiu Tong.".

SJ's insistence on accompanying QT home didn't seem pushy, as QT was flustered but wasn't really mad from her confession. My heart went out to SJ a bit, actually, cause she was trying to be as optimistic as she can. She knew she was going to be rejected by Qiu Tong, but she still faced her feelings up front. She needed to follow QT, because she needed to know if QT is repulsed by her confession, and she needed to ease up the mood to prevent QT from avoiding her forever in the future. And even after QT shouted "dislike!" at SJ, she tried to ease up the mood for both of them by purposefully saying: "I like you and you dislike me, we're perfect then, our feelings complement each others!"

Then, it starts raining and SJ's first reaction was to use her bag to cover QT. And QT's reaction was to cover SJ's arm so her wound wouldn't get rained on. This caring action cheered on SJ, and is the reason why she was smiling to herself -- because all is not lost, even after her confession, QT is still willing to care for her.

QT's declaration at the end is confusing because SHE HERSELF is confused. She knows at that point that she doesn't like SJ in the way she hopes, so in order to not give her false hopes, she decided to let her know clearly that she can't reciprocate her feelings. It is precisely because she really does treasure SJ that QT wants to let her know right away that she doesn't like her in that way. She doesn't want to let things slide and end up leading SJ on falsely, only to one day turn back and say "I only ever saw you as a friend.". She doesn't want to hurt SJ, whom she cares.

SJ is relieved that QT cares for her still, so she teased her for a bit. (I mean, flustered QT is sooo cute, who wouldn't want to tease her a bit? XD) And then she said: "You don't need to reciprocate my feelings. You can be passive, you don't need to reject me (as in, you don't need to worry that by not rejecting me now you will end up hurting me in the future), you don't need feel obliged / responsible to return my feelings."

"I just need to you to not reject me (as in, not shut me out completely, and that will be enough.)."

QT got teary-eyed and asked SJ: "Are you an idiot?" because she's moved by how far SJ is willing to go for her. SJ's literally telling her: "I will keep on liking you and caring for you even if you never return my feelings. As long as I get to be with you, then that is enough."

Hopefully that long-winded explanation help clear up the situation a bit. SJ is not being "creepy" or "pushy" or whatever scary traits you've attributed to her -- she's actually just the adorable dork that she's been since the beginning of the series.

1. The girl's confession to Qi Fan. "I have a good feeling about you". ...Wut. If any of you are wondering who the heck would say this in a confession... you're right, no one would. This is, once again, a word-for-word translation. In Chinese "我對你有好感" may be translated literally like ^, but really, it means "I like you.". CONTEXT IS ALL.

I think this is all, for now. I hope this helps. God, it's just so frustrating when things get lost in translation and misunderstandings about other cultures occur. It's like, if the only North American TV show being aired in Asia is about teens partying and getting pregnant at 16 with no idea who the dad is, and the people in Asia believe that all of North America is like that. shudders.

last edited at Dec 4, 2016 4:59PM

Hopefully that long-winded explanation help clear up the situation a bit. SJ is not being "creepy" or "pushy" or whatever scary traits you've attributed to her -- she's actually just the adorable dork that she's been since the beginning of the series.

That's subjective within ANY culture. This post was extremely informative and I commend you for that. However, if Sun Jing wasn't such a charming and attractive person by nature, Qiu Tong might not be quite as receptive to her friendship. In practice it looks like things are turning out well for the two, but I don't think it's unreasonable to interpret Sun Jing's actions as 'potentially' pushy and scary.

That's subjective within ANY culture. This post was extremely informative and I commend you for that. However, if Sun Jing wasn't such a charming and attractive person by nature, Qiu Tong might not be quite as receptive to her friendship. In practice it looks like things are turning out well for the two, but I don't think it's unreasonable to interpret Sun Jing's actions as 'potentially' pushy and scary.

True, I was more addressing the issues with the translation, but yes, I agree that it isn't unreasonable for people to think of her actions as pushy. Thank God that Sun Jing is the charming person that she is ;)

noice just noice

That's subjective within ANY culture. This post was extremely informative and I commend you for that. However, if Sun Jing wasn't such a charming and attractive person by nature, Qiu Tong might not be quite as receptive to her friendship. In practice it looks like things are turning out well for the two, but I don't think it's unreasonable to interpret Sun Jing's actions as 'potentially' pushy and scary.

True, I was more addressing the issues with the translation, but yes, I agree that it isn't unreasonable for people to think of her actions as pushy. Thank God that Sun Jing is the charming person that she is ;)

Well thank you for addressing issue with the translation at any rate, it was a delightfully informative read.

Those animals xD It was so sudden I had to go back a page to see if I missed anything and Sun Jing is so cute as a dog.
She's an idiot though, she totally sabotaged her team for the game.

As for the excessively long post:
Thank you for the informative post. I'm chinese (and can read pingyin) so I never had any troubles with the culture and the names and if anything, I was more confused at people thinking that Sun Jing was pushy but maybe it's the difference in culture haha

Thank you for shedding some light on the pragmatics and semantics of the original.

I just re-read the confession scene and some updates before and after it, but I always thought that what Qiu Tong said implied that she had someone else she likes and Sun Jing would just be the third wheel and that that was another reason she couldn't accept Sun Jing's confession. While re-reading I could find no trace of that (just that QT said she had someone she likes a couple of updates earlier and when QT asked her who it was, didn't say anything) and now I have no idea why I even thought that. Did the translation get updated or does my memory simply fail me?

last edited at Jan 8, 2017 4:38PM

Thank you for shedding some light on the pragmatics and semantics of the original.

I just re-read the confession scene and some updates before and after it, but I always thought that what Qiu Tong said implied that she had someone else she likes and Sun Jing would just be the third wheel and that that was another reason she couldn't accept Sun Jing's confession. While re-reading I could find no trace of that (just that QT said she had someone she likes a couple of updates earlier and when QT asked her who it was, didn't say anything) and now I have no idea why I even thought that. Did the translation get updated or does my memory simply fail me?

I'm getting that vibe too with this... like, "did i read something different?" kinda thing.

While i still enjoy this manga, i can't help but get the feeling that this manga is kind going a lttle more towards comedy rather than romance.

Still comedy was a part of it from beginning but it is now governing most of the story.

But i still enjoy it regardless.

Oh boy... that basketball match is going to be epic.

that was very… very… jumbly

This series has and will always be simply amazing.

last edited at Jan 22, 2017 10:41PM

Hehe, isn't that the reality of it? Even though I'm pretty tall now, I still suck as much at basketball as I did before I grew tall! And, yeah, I agree that it felt... really jumbled, and I don't really see the need for this random new dude. BRING ON THE YURI, NOT SOME WEIRD BASKETBALL THING... but this basketball thing will probably lead to some yuri, at least, I'm willing to bet.

and I don't really see the need for this random new dude.

It's the Class Pres. He's pretty cool. Like Jonathan Joestar except Chinese.

and I don't really see the need for this random new dude.

It's the Class Pres. He's pretty cool. Like Jonathan Joestar except Chinese.

Which is pretty ironic since Jonathan was pretty racist towards Wang Chen. Then again, that's probably only because Japanese people are pretty racist towards Chinese people.

Speaking of which, no offense, but Chinese people are, on average, not very tall, so when it says that these dudes are crazy tall, how tall are we actually talking here? I have cousins who are 6 ft that were such a rare sight when they visited China that strangers would ask for pictures with them.

last edited at Jan 23, 2017 9:53AM

Seriously this president guy is, like, around 3 meters...Because he is almost double the size of the other guys, who I assume must be around 1.70-1.85.
Gay senpai is also extremely tall.

Speaking of which, no offense, but Chinese people are, on average, not very tall, so when it says that these dudes are crazy tall, how tall are we actually talking here?

I actually like sports manga, even more so if they're yuri. Looking forward to the match. >w<

Speaking of which, no offense, but Chinese people are, on average, not very tall, so when it says that these dudes are crazy tall, how tall are we actually talking here? I have cousins who are 6 ft that were such a rare sight when they visited China that strangers would ask for pictures with them.

I don't think it's genetic, because kids of Chinese extraction in my city (of which there are tons cause this is Vancouver) are the same height as everyone else. Meanwhile, this school seems to be firmly in the "burgeoning new Chinese middle class" category, so probably most of the kids there grew up on a more Western style diet, with more calories, meat and so forth. So they're probably mostly Western-size, no doubt towering over both their elders and poorer kids, and when they get old will have Western rates of heart disease etc.