Tetsunaki no Kirinji 10

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

We're proud to present you Kirinji 10 and the end of volume 1! I hope we did a good job so far and did the series justice since it's our first series. Of course we will continue with volume 2 regularly. But first we will do another Koizumi chapter! Also I did a small name analysis below, you can read if you're interested.

Thanks to WhITelion for typesetting and cleaning and special thanks to xkime for proofreading!

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"It's like a trash production factory"

There's a constant animal theme going on in Tetsunaki no Kirinji, and it continues throughout the series, having more relevance later on. Here's my interpretation of the references so far. I'll write all the animals mentioned chronologically and analyze them.

1) Shirohebi - 白蛇 - Albino Snake

This one is obvious. Albino-White since he seems generous and good on the outside, giving Rinji a loan from his own pocket, with no interest however, wink, wink ; ). But in reality he's like a tempting snake, trying to lure suckers into gambling. If you look at him, his hairstyle kind of reminds you of a snake.

2) Saruta - 猿田 - Monkey Rice Field

Well, in Japan monkeys don't have a such a negative connotation like in the west, so don't think he's an idiot or something. I think he was assigned a monkey more because he is kind of straight-forward, simple minded, irritable, energetic and just generally a simpleton! The rice field part doesn't mean anything, in Japanese it's a common part of names, an easy way to add ta/da to a name, like a filler. Also his sideburns are kinda monkey-ish!

3) Ari to Kirigirisu - アリとキリギリス - The Ant and the Grasshoper

This one is obvious. Rinji identified with the grasshoper since of his last name, Kiriya-Kirigirisu, and they really are similar. Rinji is the carefree, playful type of guy who doesn't think about his future and doesn't plan ahead, like the grasshoper! Now, who is the ant...

4) Suzume - すずめ - Tree Sparrow

This one is kind of a pun since the kanji for mahjong 麻雀 is composed of hemp+tree sparrow!

5) Vice-Manager - ゴリラ - Gorilla

We never hear his name, he is called V.M. by the staff and Gorilla in their minds. He really is a gorilla, huge, forceful, brutish.

6) Kandata - カンダタ「神立」- Main character from the novel "The Spider's Thread"

I already wrote the explanation of this name in the credits of chapter 6. Kandata is a really famous fictional character in Japan, you might say like Romeo in the west, except they're nothing alike. Kandachi got this nickname for two reasons, his name can be read as Kandata and he is kind of like Kandata. Kandata is associated with bad-boys, tricksters, gamblers, tragic, ice cold criminals, but with a good core hidden, deep, deep beneath their rock-hard exteriors. Kandata is also associated with the spider, so our Kandachi's animal persona can be seen as a spider. Don't get caught in his webs!

~~~***SPECIAL***~~~

Let's look at Rinji's name. 桐谷鈴司 - Kiriya Rinji. His family name is usually read as Kiritani, not Kiriya, and it's rather uncommon. Now his name Rinji is totally unique, the kanjis mean Bell and Ruler. But the real meaning is making his name sound like 麒麟児 - Kirinji which means child prodigy and is in the title of the manga. His online mahjong nickname is KIRINJIPAPA so he's obviously aware of the fact.

Now for Koume! 小梅 is a common girl's name in Japan and it just means small plum!

That's it, next analysis at the end of volume 2!