#sutera

Episode 1395: Garula, Shining Hawk

Translator Notes:

Oh god, I love everything about this comic.  This may be my new favorite Grand Blues! comic of the whole series to date.  There’s a lot to talk about here, both about the comic and about the parts of Japanese culture being lampooned therein, so let’s dive right in!

First, why is Garula suddenly a company man?  The answer lies in a pun: his Japanese name is Shain Houku Garura, spelled シャインホーク・ガルラ, but shain is also how you pronounce the word 社員, which means “company employee” (in this case, by “company” think office job).  So he starts as シャインホーク・ガルラ, and then in the fourth panel becomes 社員ホーク・ガルラ.  Obviously, this does not translate perfectly into English, but I did my best to create an English approximation of the pun.

Okay, but what’s going on in the last panel?  Well, in Japan, the exchange of business cards among professionals is a huge deal.  Your business card isn’t just your contact information; it’s considered an extension of your person, so receiving someone else’s business card has a whole ritual associated with it.  The person presenting the business card bows and offers it with both hands; the person receiving it bows in return and receives it with both hands as well.  It’s then customary for the receiver to examine the card, paying attention to every part of it, and to then offer commentary on its contents - for example, one might compliment the font usage therein.  Then one carefully puts the card in a special business card holder, taking absolute care not to fold, mutilate, or in any way deface the business card.  The two then switch roles and the receiver offers his or her business card to the original giver.

So, as a result, Metera’s last line can actually be interpreted in a number of ways - it’s possible that she just intends for Sutera to go through with the exchange of contact information, weirdness be damned; or it might be the case that, despite her personality, she’s merely giving the exchange of business cards the seriousness it typically has in Japan: even though she’s intending to just get her sister to look for guys, she knows that Sutera can’t just reject a businessman’s business card; that would be a serious insult and an extreme cultural faux pas.