0

This one middle page in between these three (link) has been weighing on my mind for a good while. The character would seem to be commenting on a brave/chivalrous aerial battle going on overhead, and it's the only line he has in the chapter.

However I haven't been able to come up with an interpretation of his lines there that satisfies me, mainly as I can't figure out how the これ程とはね、認めよう and ...空、 空か segments are interacting. Is he acknowledging/認めよう'ing the fighters/their bravery himself? If so what is the 空、 空か bit meant to convey? Or is he saying the sky itself is acknowledging them? Though 空が instead of か would make much more sense then. Or is it something else entirely I'm missing?

Also the characters often speak in literary/slightly archaic Japanese, so that 認めよう may possibly be the conjectural sense (認めるだろう) instead of the usual volitional sense I guess, still leaves me confused then though.

Thanks for any help.

Improve this question
3
  • 2
    It's impossible to tell what these actually refer to unless one truly understands the story. 認めよう is "I will admit" and other interpretations are very unlikely. There is nothing special in 空か; it's "It's (in) the sky...", nothing more.
    – naruto
    Mar 23, 2016 at 5:06
  • Thanks for the response. But yeah sadly that's about all the context there is to explain that line, again it's that character's only line in the whole chapter, just interspersed between the aerial combat scenes, nothing really to give any more clues as to meaning besides the situation as described. The vagueries of a heavily context dependent language like Japanese really are painful sometimes.
    – PurePlebian
    Mar 23, 2016 at 7:23
  • 1
    If you're sure you understand the story, don't worry about this too much :-) It's probably a monologue which is intentionally vague after all, and it may not mean much. I can assure there's no special idiom or grammar concerned here.
    – naruto
    Mar 23, 2016 at 9:28

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

認めよう sounds like it is spoken from a point of superiority - "I'll acknowledge (you)." or "I'll give you credit for it."referring back to his first words of これ程とはね

I would interpret the middle character's words simple as "The sky...the sky, huh" as the character ponderings on aviation possibilities - what can we do in the sky? This, because the pictures before it seem to indicate aerial action/scene(?) where one of the characters was trying to stop the plane (or whatever he is flying) from burning up when they go higher and the pictures after seem to indicate that the plane crashes.

Although the character fails, the middle picture indicates the person there acknowledges the other character's potential because of this and perhaps wonders what else might be possible in the sky.

Improve this answer
1
  • Thanks, guess it really can't be interpreted as anything but two separate statements/vague internal monologue then.
    – PurePlebian
    Mar 24, 2016 at 7:59

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .