Poking Around Pt 86 (Patreon)

I have really mixed feelings about this part.   Bo seems to represent my inner critic, calling me out on stalling Kuroki’s job application. He also seems to be reflecting how I see myself: overly blunt and critical. It’s often said art is self-serving… hmm. Oh well. Enjoy for now, the next page is going to be a bit of a doozy, alright. You’ll see what I mean when I get there (if I ever get there… if I ever get there – it’s an old song by Coolio).

But in all seriousness, thank you so much again to everyone for supporting this work. Really appreciate it. TL Notes follow below.  (Reuploaded to fix a typo or two).

TL Notes: 

• “Sordid double-act”: A reference to fast-paced style of Japanese stand-up comedy called manzai 万歳, or comedic duo. This video (and this one too) does a much better job of explaining it than I ever could. Some people have even subtitled some skits on YouTube.
• “Curry our favour”: To do something superficially nice just to get something back in return. The expression has nothing to do with curry the foodstuff, but is instead a misnomer of the medieval poem, The Romance of Fauvel.  It follows a vain horse (a pun in French as fauve means brown – or fawn – and fau vel means a veiled lie) forcing its way up through the hierarchy of the French courts in order to get close to royalty. The poem points out how badly some people can behave in the name of what can nowadays be termed as “clout-chasing” (starting controversies just to be popular).  Anyway, ‘Fauvel’ was corrupted as ‘favour’ sometime in the 16th Century. The curry part is a corruption of conraier, the old French word for “to prepare”. In fact, modern horsing terminology, curry-combing means to brush down or prepare a horse for a show. 
• Cordon Reshramzee: A portmanteau of cordon bleu, this feathery legend, and this fowl-mouthed chef.
• “What the Grook is this?!”: a portmanteau of the aforementioned chef’s catchphrase and this new monkey.
• “Darumaka lunchboxes”: A rather obscure reference to the "this video is sponsored by" stuff on YouTube and  this zen charm daruma doll-inspired monster getting a lot of product-placement in a certain movie.  As part of a Japan-only promotion, you could get a New Year’s bento (lunch) box of the creature. This makes sense in Japan as daruma are often gifted as part of New Year’s resolutions. They initially start out without pupils but you paint them in one at a time; first, when you set out to and then later complete a goal. It’s funny because the first time I ever saw a daruma in the anime, I thought it was one of those Russian Matryoshka dolls. Whoops.
• ご馳走様でした!: Meaning “Gochisōsama”; it’s said after a meal to express appreciation towards those who prepared their food, a holdover from the days of physically running, gathering and harvesting food sources.
• “Nightcap”: A drink consumed just before bed, usually alcoholic.
•  “Lizard Brains”: meaning the limbic system, the most primitive part of the brain that drives all animals to satisfy thirst, hunger, sexuality and territory. In humans, it also takes care of procedural habits, like riding a bike or putting down your keys in the same place. Some say it’s pretty selfish/self-centred though, only looking out for the individual. The neocortex, hypothalamus and other areas of the human brain take care of emotions and abstract concepts like thinking about other people. 
• Inner Kuroki: A reference to what a certain ninja girl was actually thinking when externally, she was putting on a nice-girl act so as not to cause trouble. It’s a somewhat common trope, probably best known as a running gag in that Aggressive Retsuko thing.
  

Original Page Uploads:

The Beginning Bit: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,  13,
The Eatery:  14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. 26, 27 28, 29,
Interlude: 30, 31,
All About Albert: 32, 33, 34,  35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44,
The Long Road Home: 45,  46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54,
Another Interlude: 55, 56,
Saruto vs Tori: 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69 70,
Hinomarusumo: 71, 72, 73,  74, 75, 76, 77. 78, 79 80, 81.  82
Yet Another Interlude: 83 84 85