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はーあほらし  なんかイイ具合に緊張したのにさ  まったく俺らなんで付き合い続いてんだろうな  正反対なのに

(since it's from a manga, I put spaces to indicate separated balloons)

Context: two friends have just had a discussion (as they often do) before a decisive battle against their enemies. One said that he will stop his friend if he tries to kill people during the battle. Here you can see the pages in question (the sentence with 具合に is at the beginning of the second page).

I found on a dictionary that よい具合に means 'fortunately', but it doesn't make sense to me in this case. Even if I translate it as "in a nice way", I still don't get the meaning. Could it be that the sentence is not connected to the next one (まったく俺ら...), so I'm not getting the right meaning? My attempt:

It's ridiculous. Even though we are tense in a nice way(?) and we are the exact opposite, why do we continue to be friends?

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  • Basically it's actually "nicely". A broader context is needed, not just "two friends had a discussion." Keeping a sense of tension was favorable in some way or another in this context.
    – naruto
    Feb 9, 2017 at 4:34

4 Answers 4

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I doubt this いい具合 refers to the strength of their tension. I would say this いい具合に means something like "in a way that is favorable/convenient to me". I don't know if there are sentence adverbs also in Japanese, but this いい具合に here is semantically closer to "to my joy," "thankfully," "luckily," etc. いい感じに also has a similar usage. Such a usage of いい具合に/いい感じに is fairly slangy.

Judging from the context, the guy in the manga seems to have said いい具合 because he thought what happened before this scene that made him nervous (a serious discussion?) was a good chance to build a better relationship between the other guy.

Examples:

  • いい具合にいなくなってくれた。
    Luckily they disappeared. / They disappeared at a convenient time (to me).
  • (while playing a video game) よし、いい感じに死んだ。
    [The enemy] died (and that made me happy).
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  • Thank you for your answer! I agree that イイ具合に doesn't refer to the strength of their tension. Your suggestion that this イイ具合に means something like "in a way that is favorable/convenient to me", gave me an idea: could it be that the sentence is ironical? Considering the fact that the character says "ridiculous" just before the sentence, the facial expression of the character and the general tone of the conversation, it could be translated ironically as "Ridiculous. just about the perfect time to get tense" (since they're going to fight a decisive battle). What do you think?
    – Marco
    Feb 10, 2017 at 5:16
  • @Marco Keita ODA took this as an irony ("good tension enough to break us up") and that can be a possible interpretation. It depends on the story line, which you should know best. I read this under that assumption that they are actually getting well and want to get well with each other.
    – naruto
    Feb 11, 2017 at 2:30
  • I think Keita ODA's interpretation is different from mine. His interpretation basically means "we were tense enough/in the perfect way to break up (but we didn't)", thus referring いい具合に to the quality of the tension. My interpretation is something like "It's really the perfect moment to get tense", so I consider いい具合に as a kind of time adverb. Is it ok if I post my own answer explaining this?
    – Marco
    Feb 11, 2017 at 4:17
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Edit: The OP has provided additional information which has changed my answer. What you see now is the new answer. Old answer is further below for reference.

Thank you for providing additional information. With more context, the translation changes a bit.

Note that the conversation in the first page (on the right side) indicates that there was a tension-breaking moment between the two, where the man in the black coat (hereinafter Black Coat) said to the man in the white coat (hereinafter White Coat) "That's fine, you do what you think is right, and I'll do what I believe is right." Then you can see at the last cut in the first page that White Coat has relaxed considerably, and is now playfully basically saying "Dude, you say that now but don't go getting all pissed off and telling me to get out of your way later, aight?"

Right afterwards is where the conversation you quoted in your original question takes place. Here, White Coat is playfully lamenting the fact that he no longer feels as tense as he did moments before, which is kind of unfortunate because he was just at the right place where he wasn't overly nervous but he was in high gear and ready to go kick some ass, and also laments about the fact they are still friend despite being polar opposites, which he obviously doesn't actually mind.

White Coat's monologue there roughly translates to "Man, I feel so stupid now (Because he was all worked up, but now the tension's gone). I was in a good place, too (He was in high gear and ready to kick some ass). " Then he thinks to himself, 'But that's fine.' Then he says, "Dude… Why are we still even friends, anyway? We're like polar opposites. You know what, never mind, whatever. Let's go have a XXXX (An after-party, maybe? I couldn't see the 漢字here, resolution was too low)" The dialogue that follows is evidence that they are no longer feeling tense, since they are discussing going to McDonalds after "cleaning up" aka kicking ass. Note that 「まったく」 in this case is a comment on its own and not a part of another sentence, an expression of lamentation like "Man…" "Dude…".


Old Answer:

To be more accurate, 「具合」 in itself merely refers to a condition or state of being. 「いい具合」 can be translated as being convenient, lucky, healthy or happy depending on the context, but what it literally means is "a good condition" or "a good state of being". So let's try and apply this to your specific situation.

"(I was) nervous in a good state of being/condition"? Somewhat awkward, but you can get a grasp of what they are trying to say. "(I was) nervous, but in a good way."That person was nervous, but not in the nerve-racking, anxiety inducing kind of way, but in a more positive way, such as waiting to see what gift your rich grandparents bought you for your birthday.

From the conversation you provided, it sounds as if the two were anticipating something good happening, but unfortunately it did not pan out and now they are playfully taking jabs at each other for it ("Dude, why are we still even friends?") in a way that only close friends can do.

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    Thanks for the answer. I added more context for a better understanding.
    – Marco
    Feb 9, 2017 at 8:46
  • Thanks for the additional information. I have changed my answer accordingly. Feb 10, 2017 at 0:05
  • I couldn't see the 漢字here 「[祝勝会]{しゅくしょうかい}」ですね・・ところで吹き出しに入ってない言葉は、伊吹じゃないほうの人(Black Coat)のモノローグです
    – chocolate
    Feb 10, 2017 at 5:47
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I'm not sure the context but I could draw a mental picture as the following.

They are friends. They often have discussion or quarrel with each other. They have quite different characters but warm to each other.

If they have huge fight, they might part company with each other for ever. However, they can't go that far. "いい具合に緊張した" have such nuance. "いい具合に = not too much not too little."

"いい具合に緊張した" is a rhetorical expression. We never use this kind of rhetorical expression daily.

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I think fortunately is not a good translation of よい具合に in this case.

具合 means "condition", so "in good condition" would be more direct translation.

Well, it can sometimes mean like "fortunately" when the condition is made accidentally. For example, よい具合に彼に出くわした。 (Fortunately, I bumped into him.)

And, it can also mean nicely or "not too much not too less." For example, よい具合に焼きあがる。 (It is grilled nicely.) 風呂加減がよい具合だ。(The bath is not too hot not too tepid.)

In this case, it also means "in good condition", but good in a sense "to make something happen."

So, in this case, イイ具合に緊張した implies "The relation was strained. It was in 'good/perfect' condition to make them fight or break up."

はーあほらし

What we were doing was ridiculous.

なんかイイ具合に緊張したのにさ

Even though we have been tense (enough to break up), but we haven't.

まったく俺らなんで付き合い続いてんだろうな

I wonder why we continue to be friends?

正反対なのに

even though we are the exact opposite.

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