Nurarihyon no Mago 137

As it turns out, I returned early from the States due to a family emergency. Nevertheless, due to said emergency, I was only able to begin work on this now. I'm sorry about that.

Also, many TNs this time. Research is a pain :|



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01
☆ The "NuraMago" TV Anime will be rebroadcast on BS11 at 24:00 starting 8th January (Sat)!!
box1: New Year's Eve ---- The youkai too are bustling about busily to welcome the new year
box2: However, it appears that there are youkai that manifest only on New Year's Eves like this one...
b1: Hey, hey, work hard everyone!
left: ☆New Year's at the Nura Clan's..!!
b2: All of this year's dirt's gotta be gone within this year itself! (small brushed text: [top] Alright! [bottom] I'm gonna do it!)
b3: Especially since lots of things happened this year~~ (TN: For any westerners who are confused with this, basically it's an Asian [or perhaps only in Japan or China - I'm Chinese, which is why I know this] belief that spring cleaning must be done at the end of a year to clear out the bad stuff from that year and start the new year on a clean slate, so to speak. Clearly this year was not a good one for the Nura Clan because of all the stuff that happened, hence Nattou saying they've got to clear out all the dust and dirt in the house before the dawn of the next year]
b4: Heeeey, you're still drinking at a time like this!?
b5: Nnn... It's already New Year's Eve?
b6: If you don't hurry up those from the Upper Echelon will be here!
b7: Oh
b8: What's this?

02
small text above youkai: Where? Where?
b1: Ohh, isn't this a painting of a beautiful Edo Youkai?
b2: Hyahaha what do you mean beautiful?
b3: Hm?
box in painting: The Wife of Karasu Tengu
right: ☆ In Jump NEXT! that goes on sale this week (Sat), Rikuo becomes the manager of a certain idol!? Be sure to check it out!!
b4: ARE YOU SERIOUS------!?
big brush text next to bubble: GYAHAHAHA
smaller text: [top] Ehhhh---!? [bottom] This woman---!?
b5: Hey! What are you guys doing in my room!
b6: Jeez, trust them to skive off the first chance they get...
b7: I wonder if this is for real
b8: I want some confirmation too~~
b8: Ah, Kouhaku's started (TN: Kouhaku 紅白 literally meaning "Red-White", is a TV programme broadcast on New Year's that pits male singers/bands [in the White team] against female singers/bands [in the Red team]. It gets excellent ratings every year and it is of the highest honour for any singer or band to be invited to perform at Kouhaku)
b9: Really!?
b10: If you don't hurry up the new year'll be heeeere
b11: Ahhhh, I needa pee
b12: I feel an urge to go after hearing "Toire no Megami-sama"~~ (TN: Toire no Megami-sama トイレの女神様 literally meaning "The Goddess of the Toilet", is a pun on the song by Uemura Kana, Toire no Kami-sama/"The God of the Toilet". Uemura had written it in memory of her late grandmother)

03
left: ☆ Latest tankoubon volume, #14, as well as the long awaited third volume of the novel are on sale to rave reviews!! The comics omake is collaborating with the novel!!
words below sfx on right: Maki-shiiiiiin this is my first visiiiiiiiit
b1: Tch, looks like Kiyotsugu's here
words at bottom from TV: Whaaaat! The beautiful lady (TN: the pun continues as the song mentions that if one cleans the toilet daily, one will turn into a beautiful lady as pretty as the goddess herself)
b2: The God of the Toilet was~~ Actually a Goddess~~
b3: I'd like to see that
sfx in last panel: zu zu zu zu zu

04
huge sfx: zu zu
across the page: ☆ Th... th... There it isssssss~~~~!!

05
b1: EEEEEEEE
b2: EEEEKKKKK
sfx from bird: tweet tweet
b3: Keep going!
b4: su
b5: GYAAAAAAAAAAAA
text: Act 137 The Toilet Youkai

06
b1: Happy New Year, all of you!
b2: As you all know
b3: Nura Rikuo took on headship of the Nura Clan as the Third, on the twenty-third of September last year
b4: Of course, Rikuo will be giving the new year greetings every new year from this year onward
b5: ... The war with Seimei draws near
b6: This year will be a year of battle
b7: But that is that...

07
b1: Today is New Year's Day
b2: So drink up and paint the town red!
b3: We've gotcha, Thiiiird!!
b4: Alriiight, bring the food over
b5: There ain't enough sake!
b6: Jeez, we just cleaned up the place and now it's a mess again
b7: Mezuuu, pour me some sakeeee
b8: Why do I have to!?
b9: Hmph...
b10: Rikuo-samaa, you're looking mighty relaxed, aren't you?

08
b1: No, no, it seems Rikuo-sama's keeping all his trusted subordinates busy fortifying their territories, you know?
b2: Hmmm?
b3: Does he think he can win against that Seimei using just such straightforward tactics?
b4: Straightforward they may be...
b5: A Hyakki Yakou becomes strong only when many "fears" are obtained through strengthening one's bases and increasing one's allies...
b6: You should know the strength of a Hyakki Yakou when it is in its heyday
b7: Hmph... As if things would go so well just like that
b8: Let's leave that be. Besides
b9: You guys... Just what is it with all of you?
b10a: Hm?
b10b: What's wrong?

09
b1: The Third's telling ya to drink and sing
b2: !!
b3: You gotta get back that radiant "fear" of yours, Hitotsumee
b4: Guhgaga
b5: Confiscate that Gyuuki's sake!
b6: Gyuuki is drunk!?
b7: Who's neeeeext~~
b8: I'm sure he's just expressing his joy at Rikuo's succession
b9: Stop him, Daruma!
b10: You've known him for ages, haven't you?
b11: Whaaaatcha doin' acting all cool and stuff, Rikuoooooo

10
b1: Damn you, Graaaamps!!
b2: Mezumaru, are you cross-dressing while serving sake?
b3: Kejourou, we're out of sake
b4: Alriiiiggghhttt!! Let's dance in the nude!!
b5: And Imma hit some drums fer ya!
b6: Uwaaaa, what's with this guy, uwaaa
b7: I'll pour you some sake yo!
b8: I'm sorry, it's all my fault!
b9: Phew...
b10: Well, I guess I can take a breather here...
b11: In that case... I will be returning to Mount Takao until tomorrow night
b12: Ah, I almost forgot
b13: Ehh... We're going back home again?
text next to bubble: Idiot son!
b14a: Of course!
b14b: Mum will throw a fit otherwise!
b15a: Eh!?
b15b: Can we tag along!?
b16: Whatever for?

11
b1: I thought we'd be able to confirm it
b2: Confirm what!?
b3: And here we are at Mount Takao!!
b4: This place is famous for the Tengu!! Long ago there used to be shrines here, and you could see the first sunrise of the new year from here!!
b5: Indeed the spot for a youkai-filled new year!
b6: Look, everyone's here!!
b7: The world's undergoing a youkai boom, huh
b8: I don't think it's got anything to do with youkai (small text: It's New Year's after all)
b9: What's wrong, Maki-san
b10: She said she saw one in the toilet just now
b11: It was so scaryyy
b12: Eh? Toilet youkai!?
b13: It must have been Ganbari Nyuudou!! (TN: Ganbari Nyuudou 加牟波理入道 is a youkai said to spit birds out from his mouth and peek from toilet windows. There are various beliefs surrounding Ganbari Nyuudou, one of which says that if you chant "Ganbari Nyuudou Hototogisu" [時鳥 Hototogisu is a kind of cuckoo bird and is the kind of bird in Ganbari Nyuudou's mouth] in a toilet on New Year's eve, Ganbari Nyuudou won't appear for a year, another that says so doing will actually bring bad luck. Yet another says that chanting that three times in a toilet will cause a head to fall from the ceiling, and if you wrap it up before bringing it back to your room to hold it over a light, it will have turned into gold. The Kasshi Yawa essay collection also recounts the story of someone who called out "Ganbari Nyuudou", and a bald head [a Nyuudou is a monk or bald monster] appeared and when this head was placed in his left sleeve, it came out as a koban [Japanese gold coin]. Also, "Ganbari" is the stem of "ganbaru" which means to do one's best [or things to that effect], hence Ganbari Nyuudou telling Maki to "keep going" when she was on the toilet.)


12
b1: No, it was just the God of the Toilet...
b2: Ganbari Nyuudou is a youkai that appears in toilets on New Year's Eve!
b3: It's even depicted in a work by Toriyama Sekien (TN: Toriyama Sekien 鳥山積怨 was an 18th century scholar and ukiyoe artist of Japanese folklore most famous for his attempt to catalogue all species of youkai in the Hyakki Yakou series)
b4: How could you not know it!!
b5: The God of the Toilet...
b6: Was something like that...?
b7a: What if it appears again?
b7b: Ughh, I've been holding it in all this while so I really need to go nowww
b8: That's simple
b9: Eh?
b10: It seems that if you chant "Ganbari Nyuudou Hototogisu" thrice, he'll disappear
b11: Eh
b12: As one would expect, reading up is essential... If you do that, Ganbari Nyuudou will...
b13a: Alright, got it!!
b13b: Nice one, Kiyotsugu
b14: I'll be back!
b15: Ah
b16a: How lucky~~ Maki-kun, you get to see a youkai
b16b: Can I go see too?
b17: No way, you can't!!
b18: Speaking of which, where's Rikuo-kun?
b19: He said he'd be late because of some stuff at home!! Just what is he up to every time!?

13
b1: With that many people around, there's no way a youkai will appear
b2: Keep going
b3: HE FOLLOWED ME!!
b4: uwa uwa
b5: Wh... What was it Kiyotsugu said just now...
b6: Well, you need to repeat that phrase thrice
b7: And when you do that
b8: GANBARI NYUUDOU HOTOTOGISU
b9: GANBARI NYUUDOU HOTOTOGISU GANBARI NYUU---

14
b1: A head will fall from the ceiling, apparently
text next to Torii: Eh...
b2: Wh... WHAT!? WHAAAAAAAT!?
b3: Then, you need to put that into your sleeve
b4a: You mean
b4b: The freshly severed head...?
b5: IT WENT INNNNN!?

15
b1: And when you take it out
b2: Believe it or not
b3: It'd have become koban...
b4: And the person will have happiness for the rest of the year...
b5: An odd way of exorcism, no?
sfx next to Kiyotsugu: hahaha
b6: Maki's in dangeeeer!!
box1: In the hinterlands of Mount Takao
b7: Heeey, I'm back
b8: Nuregarasu!! (TN: Nuregarasu 濡鴉 literally means "wet crow" and is an expression used to describe the so-called ideal Japanese hair color - jet black aka the color of black crow feathers)

16
b1: Ara... Darling
b2: You've... Come home
text near Nattou: Oooooohhhhh Are you kidding me!? SHE'S REALLLYYY BEAUTIFUL
b3: I told you I'd be home on New Year's
b4a: Fuu... Only once a year...
b4b: Would you be okay with it if I was taken by another man...?
text above other youkai: Hey, hey, she's so pitiful
b5: No, that'd put me in a spot. I love you, after all
b6: How shameless...
b7: Eh
b8: Would you stop doing that in front of the children...?

17
b1: YOU STUPID CROOWWW!! (TN: The kanji used is 極道 meaning evil/immoral, but the reading was baka, which I'm sure we all know means idiot/stupid)
b2: WAAAAAA!?
b3: Wa, wait
b4: You didn't even come back when these kids were born ARGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH
next to Nattou: Gugheh... How bizarre...
b5: Sh... Should we go home....?
b6: Yeah
b7: Sorry to intrude!
b8: Ah
b9: Are you guys running away!?
b10: YOU THREE SIBLINGS TOO!!
b11: Mo... Mother!?
b12: Hm? What is it with you all
b13: Eek
b14: You guys are all youkai of the main house, are you not?
b15: Ugh... This person reeks of alcohol!!
b16: Jeez... Youkai working in the main house are too busy to think of their families much
b17: So you've got to pop home once in a while, alright!?

18
b1: I don't care if you're working in the main house, your home is here on this mountain (TN: The kanji used is 高尾山天狗党 meaning Mount Takao Tengu Faction but the reading was just yama for "mountain")
b2: Got it!?
box1: Nura Clan Mount Takao Tengu Faction, Advisor to Faction Head, Nuregarasu
box2: Faction Head
b3: ANSWER MEEE!!
b4: Eeeek!!
b5: Uuhh... While Dad wasn't around, it looks like Mum did some housekeeping. She ain't one to mess with
b6: I wanna go back to the main house...
text near Nattou: Me tooooo....
in diagram: [first row] Karasu Tengu [second row, starting from the half-cut-off box, left to right] Arawashi Family | Tsurara Clan | Mount Takao Tengu Faction
b7: Yeaa
b8: Every time I go home, I feel I shrink a little
b9: Hm?
b10: Ohh, you
b11a: You're Ganbari Nyuudou, no?
b11b: Eh? Why don't you have your head?

19
left: ☆Your favor this year too!!
b1: Ehhh
b2: And thanks to that...
b3: I see, so you were steadily amassing your fear, eh?
b4: For some reason, my song has become really popular...
b5: ?
b6: Uooo it's the first sunriiiiise
b7: I hope I can meet the Supreme Commander this year (Kiyo)
b8: I hope I can meet that person (Kana)
text next to b8: I've had enough (Maki)
b9: Ah!! What's this!! You're late, Nura-kuuuun
b10: Are? He's with Oikawa-san...
b11: Sorry, sorry
b12: Happy New Year, everyoooone
b13a: And with that, please give your favour
b13b: To the Nura Clan this year, too!