Welcome to the Nihongo Lesson feature. We strive to give you useful manga-based Japanese language tips and maybe even a glimpse into the translation process. This week’s lesson will once again focus on Lycopene the Tomatoy Poodle, one of the funniest JUMP START series we’ve had! Chapter 2 ramped up the humor with an avalanche of puns, making for a very difficult job for the translator. Having to explain a joke often ruins it, but Lycopene has so many things going on that you can’t help but chuckle when reading each chapter.

HADAKA (はだか)

HADAKA means “naked.” Some of the funnier moments in the first two chapters have revolved around Lycopene’s girlfriend, Calo. Calo happens to be a carrotoy poodle, a toy poodle born from a carrot, obviously. She may look cute, but she’s awful in a hilarious way! She shows no gratitude for the birthday gift she receives from Lycopene in chapter 1, and in the second chapter she accuses him of peeping on her while she’s HADAKA. But she’s always HADAKA!

KANGEIKAI (かんげいかい)

KANGEIKAI is a “welcoming party.” Lycopene is kind enough to offer to hold a KANGEIKAI for Meh-Meh, but the animals in Cuteopia all have ridiculous reasons for why they can’t attend. Calo has a hair-removal appointment, the rainbow parakeet septuplets need to go to the dentist and a number of the animals want to watch YouTube videos instead. But it turns out they just wanted to surprise Meh-Meh! Maybe Cuteopia isn’t so bad after all.

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