My Thoughts on Kanojo ni Naru Hi Another Chapters 9 and 10
I apologize now for my scattered thoughts. Hopefully I’ll get this post to make some sense before I get to the end.
Okay, starting with chapter 9, the first thing that comes to mind is the insistence that Sagara is physically weaker as a female than she used to be when she was male. Is she now smaller than she used to be? Is the implication that some of her muscle mass got converted into breasts, hips, and hair? Also, if Sagara is so worried about physical strength, then why doesn’t she exercise and lift weights. Being female doesn’t mean you forfeit physical strength. Granted someone who’s 5’3” and 125lbs is never going to be stronger than someone’s who’s 6’2″ and 190lbs. This applies to both sexes. This may also be the same case for men and women who are the same height, but have different muscle and body fat weight percentages. Regardless, there’s no reason that Sagara or Kurokawa should have trouble rowing a boat unless they are out of shape. There’s no reason for Sagara not to be able to do what she used to be able to do if she trained her body. Personally, I think Sagara is just wallowing in the same self-loathing mire as she was when she was male and insecure about her masculinity. I want see Sagara accept herself and then go hit the gym (although something tells me there’s a muscular, fit female taboo in Japan. Maybe someone with more knowledge can speak to this.). Anyhow, it really got to me when Sagara said she wanted to become like Narumi. That’s such a sad thing to say.
Moving onto Sagara’s and Kurokawa’s date. Sagara seemed to think that Kurokawa was taking on the traditional male role. I was having a hard time with this, because it seemed to me that Kurokawa was just being friendly and slowly establishing intimacy such that Sagara would be comfortable. I didn’t see this as male proactive behavior. Rather, I saw it as Kurokawa being Kurokawa. She’s caring and attentive by nature. On the other hand, right now, Sagara is in the position of needing to be cared for until she can figure herself out and care for herself. Personally, I think this is why both Kurokawa and Narumi are attracted to Sagara. They both needs someone to care for. I wonder what will happen when Sagara gets self-sufficient. Will Sagara ever become self-sufficient?
Chapter 10 we finally get a sort of confession from Sagara. During that whole scene, I was distracted with the thought that Sagara never got a chance to button her shirt and that she and Narumi were talking half-naked and hugged bare-skinned breasts to chest. Is Sagara so frantic that she forgot?! And is Narumi not distracted by boobs?! Hahaha! Well… regardless it was a nice moment.
I wanted Sagara to flash those boys in the infirmary and declare herself in front of them. That would have been glorious and that would have shut them the hell up. Sagara is right that they should not stare and judge because of a person’s body.
I wonder if glasses boy will become a new character in the story. And if he does, will he cause trouble for Sagara or be an ally?
And now onto my favorite scenes from the two chapters.
Lovely Manga 
It would make sense that muscle loss happened, as for height…
Can one unheight him/herself? Maybe in the “cocoon” thingy the changes are drastic enough that it may be possible. Not so much for the younger transformations. Did our badass college goddess lose height? It would be interesting to see if that’s the case for the first series.
Aside from some neck shots and breasts the characters that underwent changes stayed relatively the same design and body shape wise. I think it’s mostly because the artist just isn’t taking the effort in having a complex “before/after”. This is not something we actively see in the story.
I do agree that Sagara could just train, she can still be stronger than most men her sizeif she trains. Now if before the transformation, her goal was to smash the olmypic record of a discipline, I could understand the dissappointment. But it’s not the case here. I guess I can sort of understand how Sagara might feel like for X hours of training, the reward will be less because of lesser strength. But that’s not an excuse, even two men of the same weight and height will differ in their experience because of genetics.
I think it’s more of Sagara thinking that since she’s a girl now she will be weak like the girls she sees in school. They don’t exercise, that’s why they’re weak as shit.
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Well… we do know before emergence, Mamiya was taller than Miyoshi. I do believe women attain full height by 18 years and for men it’s around 21 or 22 years. So theoretical Mamiya had some more height to gain if she had stayed male, but as a 17-year-old female she was probably done after coming out the cocoon. As for character design, if all they did is pull bit from the one x they had to fill in the y to make another x, then would most physical characteristics remain?
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Mamiya did not age in her cocoon? I know she was behind in school for obvious reasons but is it said that she’s still 17?
The first X of her pair is obviously from her mother, the Y is from her father. I would assume that since her genetic makeup is more of her mother, because it had to fill the blanks, she would resemble her mother more as a emerged individual beside the obvious fact that they now share the same sex. Which could explain the whole “Wtf am I becoming my evil mother?” a bit more.
About her height, I guess the question is, was her male form already very tall and she shrunk or just stopped growing or grew a tad bit?
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I guess these questions should be directed towards the author, only she has the answers if she thought of them.
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Found it! Yes, Miyoshi had overtaken Mamiya in height before Mamiya’s emergence, but Mamiya wonders if Miyoshi had grown even taller while she was hospitalized.
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That’s a good question. I was referring to Mamiya’s first attempt at emergence. Though knowing what I know about chapter 10 brings into question her return to the cocoon for several years. Augh!!! But let me not get ahead of myself. However as a puddle of goo in a sac for however long, would she age?
Her male form was already tall at 17. After Mamiya’s first emergence she was shorter than Miyoshi. I can’t find anything to indicate height right before emergence, but Mamiya was taller than Miyoshi is middle school. Supposedly after coming back together as a human, the left over bit turn into head hair, so maybe its possible to come out of emergence shorter.
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Kinda feel bad for Kurokawa there but I was wondering when the author was going to axe their relationship and it seems like its fairly soon. Sagara and Narumi’s ship looks like its about to sail but glasses guy seems to be the next obstacle. I liked it all. Holy hell!!! Did Mamiya have a child???
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It sounds like she and Miyoshi had a kid. I wonder if “Kanojo ni Naru Hi” will cover that.
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I hope the author covers that part and the wedding but those two have to confront Mamiya’s issues with her mother. I just love how these stories are interconnected.
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Haha!!! I was thinking the exact same thing!!! Like her boobs are literally still showing since she ddnt even bother to button her shirt up!!! And Narumi ddnt even seem distracted by it. I thought that was strange. Haha. Then there’s that glasses guy. I definitely think he is going to be the next love rectangle??? But more as a rival against Narumi while Kurokawa backs off. OR!! He tries to sabotage Sagara’s life. Can’t wait for the next chapter. xD
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I thought that they said that in the cocoon all the body is recreated a new (all tissue except for nerves is dissolved an formed in a new shape), akin to the process bugs follow.
On the strength topic, I live here in Japan, and I have participated in the Karate Club of the Uni, and even the strongest sempai fall quite short of any of the guys. It’s just a cultural thing. Strong girls are not cute, and cute is all the rage here in Japan. Though is true that Sagara could indeed gain a bit more strength if he wanted by going to a gym. But for some reason I think that wouldn’t end good for him.
Loved the ending of Ch 10. I hope that from now on those two start behaving a bit more in tune with their feelings. Rockheads!
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I feel the same way about the unbuttoned shirt. But Sagara hugged him back so I’m happy! ^_^ I’m glad that Narumi finally realized that Sagara was the one he liked. Sagara in a way realized he liked Narumi too except unconsciously through the words she said. Kurokawa is definitely way ahead of these two. As for the glasses guy, I think he may have a seen a hint of Sagara’s breasts, because of what he said, “Mr. Sagara indeed.” I feel like he’s going to be a villain. Who knows if Kurokawa might turn villain and team up with him so she can keep Sagara and Narumi apart. Just a thought though. 🙂
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Girls are always weaker than guys in mangas.. You can’t expect a girl to be even a bit strong in a shoujo, that almost never happens. How the girl will be save if she’s stroing? Sad but.. And a new character, more drama. Sadly we’ll have to wait a lot to know more.. I like Kurokawa but I want Narumi and Sagara to being together.
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Haha, everyone else has already said pretty much what I wanted to say. About Mamiya and Miyoshi’s kid, glasses guy, and Sagara’s issues. Honestly, I don’t know if I like Sagara as a character. It always bothered me how she keeps denying her emergence, and I am not pleased that she has to be saved every time. “Will Sagara ever become self-sufficient?” That is exactly what I want to know. Her greatest moment in Chapter 10 was when she declared that people shouldn’t judge others’ bodies.
I really like Miki; she’s a refreshing character, and I’m glad she’s been there for Narumi. (Yes, I’ve become a Narumi fan.) I feel bad for Kurokawa, who’s been handling things really well so far. But that’s Kurokawa.
I do agree with what you said about Sagara saying she wanted to become like Narumi being a little sad, but I interpreted it more in the sense of her wanting Narumi’s personality traits. I know I envy people who can leap to others’ aid without hesitation and those who step up to lead when no one else does. Neither of those is necessarily a masculine quality. (Maybe?) It’s interesting that Sagara’s insecurities seem to have carried over from when she was male; the emergence must have exacerbated the issue.
In response to what another commenter said, I think Narumi has known for a while the girl he actually has feelings for is Sagara. It’s a bit jarring to have someone else point it out, though, especially when the “someone else” is the person currently dating your love interest. So yeah… Kurokawa is far more self-aware than Narumi and Sagara.
I was going to ask about the nature of Sagara’s feelings toward Kurokawa and whether they’re truly of the romantic kind, but I think I’ve gotten my answer through writing my own thoughts and reading yours. Just as Kurokawa and Narumi are drawn to Sagara because she needs to be taken care of, Sagara is in turn drawn to them because they provide that care. Does that make sense? It all seems very circular. @_@
It seems we can’t add images of scenes, but my favorites are the ones of Kurokawa stopping Sagara from going to the men’s restroom; Kurokawa still reeling over her Miki-given nickname “Ayaya”, Narumi’s “Skirts go swish swish” line, and the one where the guy says his heart’s beating for some reason (perhaps subconsciously, he knows Sagara’s a girl?). I also like it when the characters’ eyes are like “O_O”, in particular in the panel when Miki announces Sagara’s gone to the infirmary. Haha.
Whew, long post. I had more to say than I thought.
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I accept Sagara’s behavior because she’s 13 or 14 at this point in the story. On top of normal adolescence confusion, she’s had a sudden gender change. Sagara didn’t start out anywhere near as confident as Mamiya, so I think it’s unrealistic to expect her to get out her funk quickly. Does she even have the maturity to deal with emergence alone. I don’t think so, which is why she’s so dependent on Narumi and Kurokawa. It’s too bad her uncle is so detached. An adult could help in this situation too. I think the moment when she was going to declare herself was a huge step, or would have been a huge step. It’s too bad Narumi stopped it.
I predict the next problem that’s going to come up is Narumi frantically trying to keep Sagara’s secret so he can monopolize her. I think glasses guy will provoke that conflict. It’s at that point where Sagara will have to push aside Narumi’s protection and declare herself.
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That’s true. I’ll try to keep that in mind and cut Sagara some slack. Yeah, it would have been neat if the manga-ka decided to take things in that direction, but no, Narumi had to step in.
That seems pretty likely. I think part of the reason Narumi stepped in is he didn’t want Sagara showing her boobies to other guys. >.>
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well from the simplest interpretation my fickle mind could ever made is Sagara is feeling all lovey dovey with Kurokawa is purely as a friend now because Kurokawa provide comfort for her since she’s in a state of denial and trying to hide her emergence, so since Kurokawa know and do provide care and attention to her, she naturally become emotionally attached and comfortable with Kurokawa, but not in a romantic way. While her with Narumi, although Narumi also know of her emergence and do also show care and protective towards her, but instead of feeling comfortable like she did with Kurokawa, she felt uncomfortable because obviously right now she and Narumi have become those of the opposite gender. And she’s aware of that. So in a way I think deep inside, Sagara already accepted that she’s a girl now. And Sagara being jealous if ever Narumi and Kurokawa got together, I do believe it is because she felt jealous for Narumi because she has feeling for him and not the opposite where she felt bad if ever Kurokawa got snatched away by Narumi because she has feeling for Kurokawa. Hahha…was that hard to understand? Yeah, I’m rambling. Just my 2cent though. Thanks for the translation, appreciate it much!
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I understand what you’re saying. It’s interesting that you think Sagara has accepted that she’s a girl. I felt that way at the very end of chapter 10 when she said she was not sad about the physical differences between herself and Narumi.
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I think Sagara’s gonna be fine. She’ll finally come to terms with her feelings for Narumi as well as being a girl, and announce it to the class most likely by coming to school one morning wearing a girls uniform.
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