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Here is a line from a story:

でもまぁ結局この着物も、隣を歩く美咲が恥ずかしくねぇように、ってことだろ？

I'm quite familiar with the use of the も particle, but I am puzzled by what it's doing in this line. If I break it down:

でもまぁ - correct me if I'm wrong but I was told that this doesn't have any particular meaning, though you could translate it to 'well'

結局 - after all/in the end

この着物 - this kimono

も - also/too/even if

隣を歩く - walk next to

美咲が恥ずかしくねぇ - Misaki won't feel embarrassed

ように - in order to/so that

ってこと - I read that this = 'you/I/it mean(s)'

だろ - you know?/isn't it?

Now putting this all together I got:

"well, it means that in the end it's this kimono so that Misaki won't feel embarrassed walking next to me isn't it?"

As you can see I haven't incorporated the も particle in the translation at all, I just don't understand how it would fit here? If the も was referring to its 'too/also' definition then wouldn't it come afterように instead?

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    も means also here. If you want a better answer you should give more context: who's talking to who ; what was said a little earlier/after ; etc.
    – 永劫回帰
    Commented Feb 22, 2017 at 16:24
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    So many people here blindly believe that も always means "too" or "also" when it is a MUCH more nuanced word. I have, in the past, tried to dissuade them of that misconception without success. I will not do it again.
    – user4032
    Commented Feb 23, 2017 at 13:49

3 Answers 3

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I imagine there is another/other things like "this kimono". For example, it looks too flashy though he took into careful consideration what he should wear to go out with her. And he had his hair cut, but it is eccentric and doesn't look good on him. He doesn't have good taste and they both actually make her feel embarrassed against his will. this kind of situation let me use も in conversations.

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でもまぁ結局この着物も、隣を歩く美咲が恥ずかしくねぇように、ってことだろ？

Here 「も」 implies that this kimono is a measure taken so 美咲 won't feel embarrassed by [the speaker].

(Elaboration: This could be in addition to other things...

What those "other things" could be:

  • Something known from context about the speaker
  • other things that the speaker could do that 美咲 could possibly be embarrassed about (past events, or things that could go wrong in the speaker's imagination, etc.)

... but the real-world usage doesn't necessitate this as a pre-requisite. As @user4092 has pointed out this can show contrastive nuance or exclamation as well.)

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    It seems l'électeur's comment misled that this answer was not good. Surely, always translating も into "too/also" is not necessarily appropriate but that meaning is the base of several other usages like so called 詠嘆の「も」. If you somehow are not content with that, you can consider it a substitution for は, which could not be appropriate because of its contrastive nuance.
    – user4092
    Commented Mar 25, 2017 at 8:14
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    I misunderstood that I was downvoted, sorry about that. I clarified my answer a bit since l'électeur's raises a point I think I should have addressed. Very good points, especially 詠嘆・contrastive nuance.
    – virgil9306
    Commented Mar 27, 2017 at 7:35
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I would say that you might translate も in this sentence as "even", as in "Even in this kimono, ...". It's kind of an extension of the idea that も means "too" or "also", and also relates to the similar meaning of にも or でも.

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