Jungle no Ouja Taa-chan 21

There are some people who are in love with animals...and then there are those who are enough in love that they don't realize how great they are with them until someone from the outside points it out!

No. 21: We’re Vegetarians

36.
Jane: Bring these melons I’ve placed on the dish to Helen-chan.
Narrator: It is rare, but Jane does want to make meals.
Jane: Pardon me.
Ta-chan: Hahaha, Etekichi is nervous having come to Helen-chan after a long time.
Caption 1: Side Diagram
Caption 2: If he falls, he’ll be hit by Jane.

37.
Helen: It…it’s tasty. They’re easy to eat since you’ve cut them thin.
Jane: Right—
Helen: I thought of this since before, but both Ta-chan and Jane seem to be vegetarians.
Ta-chan: ?
Jane: Advocates of a vegetable diet.
(TN: Actually, the bit here involves Helen using the English term of “vegetarian”, but Jane needing to use the Japanese term for Ta-chan to understand it. The Japanese term is literally “Saishoku Shugisha”, with “Saishoku” being “a diet of vegetables” and “Shugisha” being a term for an “advocate for a theory” or “ideologist”. Thus to make the bit work, I had Jane better explain it to Ta-chan in other words instead of just keeping the “English-to-Japanese” joke of the original)
Caption: Rhino
Jane: In short: we have a life where we don’t eat meat or fish and our staple foods are fruits and vegetables.
Ta-chan: Ah.
Helen: I really can’t copy that after all. You have a magnificent protective spirit.
Caption: Chimpanzees are omnivores
Ta-chan: That’s—how it is. Both I and Jane in truth…
Jane: Ehem.

38.
Ta-chan and Jane: HERBIVOROUS ANIMALS.
Caption: Herbivorous Animals
Jane: Who’s an animal!?
SFX: Zui
Jane: In truth I did eat meat and fish when I was in New York.
Jane: But I’m living in Africa and have come to live with Ta-chan; and understand the miserable life of living in a city where you can’t live if you don’t kill and eat cute animals.
Helen: Huh? Fish bones in this place…
Ta-chan: Ah, Jane picked that up in the river and uses it as a comb.
SFX: Nade tsuke
Helen: Even living in Africa seems to be quite miserable…

39.
Jane: Immediately get tonight’s fruit without saying too much!!
Ta-chan: Ye…yes.
Helen: By…by the way, Jane-san, you were a top model of New York long ago.
Jane: Well—then, I’ve gotten a tad fat but
Helen: Ta-chan said that you had a luxurious living in a high-class mansion that was many thousands of dollars.
Jane: Oh—well.
Helen: Are you happy that you’ve come to Africa?

40.
Jane: Obviously.
SFX: Zui
Jane: Well, half of the fruit that is piled up over there the animals possessed.
Jane: Where we live here, we have the many animals of Africa. Animals don’t tell lies like humans and if you save them, then someday they will give thanks in some form. This living isn’t there in New York.
SFX: Pak paki
Ta-chan: I’m back—well, today I discovered fruit that we don’t have nearby.—I’ve brought transporting helpers.
Caption: Dung Beetles
(TN: The “Dung Beetle” refers to beetles of the superfamily “Scarabaeoidea”, also known as the scarab beetle, including the famous beetles of Egyptian lore)

41.
Narrator: Several days after that…
Helen: Jane-san will be pleased for certain. Right: I’ll go to nearby, stop the car and secretly bring this.
Helen: However, I don’t believe it now, but did she get fat so quickly like that through vegetarianism?
SFX: Gokkun
Jane: It seems tasty.
Caption: African Buffalo
(TN: The “African Buffalo” refers to “Syncerus caffer”, a large bovine of Africa close to the genetics of the domesticated Asian Water Buffalo, but not domesticated)

42.
SFX: Koso koso
Jane: You Helen-chan, you said a stylish thing in being a vegetarian, but I can’t get physical strength with just vegetables and fruit.
Jane: So then, shall I have some?
Helen: She’s going to eat an animal!!
SFX: Ba
Helen: What is this thing!! Aren’t Ta-chan and Jane big liars!
SFX: Beki (Break)
Ta-chan: Is it tasty?
SFX: Chu—
Narrator: Milk makes a body healthy!!

43.
4. Happiness
I’m happy when I read fan letters.
I come to reach a feeling of persistence. But
I’m sorry that I get busy and don’t send replies.
I precisely read all of them and take them as valuable.

Tokuhiro: Eh, it’s from a stewardess of an international air-route. I’ll reply to this express……

Letter:
I read “Jungle Ouja Ta-chan” every week with pleasure, but I have to talk of a minor thing in issue 9. You can’t have tomatoes of summer and cabbage of the cold be harvested in the same period. Well tomatoes typically can be rolled into (can’t read this) like a squash as a vegetable that can be as butterbur. I feel you should “study more”! Thanks
(TN: I really couldn’t read this letter well due to how the kanji can get screwed up with the scribbles. I tried my best but it didn’t work very well)
Tokuhiro: Well.

TN: Again, I really feel ashamed at some of the script and captions I can't translate. I would prefer the help if I can get it, just like something I have to adjust in the previous chapter when I get around to it.

Well...I think that maybe "herbivore" works better than "vegetarian" for Ta-chan like he admitted. I'm not really going to get into a whole "vegetarian" vs. "meat-eater" vs. "omnivore" war that some seem to bring up in these sorts of contexts, but it makes sense in the concept: if Ta-chan loves animals, why would he really eat them? As for Jane...well, at least we know she isn't a vegan. (yeah, milk is still fine for regular vegetarianism but vegans do away with that too...gets a tad much I guess but how am I supposed to know) Though there were a lot of great bits here, I really did like some of Jane's incite to Helen regarding her life and how she's changed due to marrying Ta-chan. In a way, there are many things that are hard living in the jungles like she is now, but the fact that the animals are there and they love them just as much as Ta-chan and Jane love them.