Tamiyo’s Yoga Flyer Concept

Riku stars in a Cartoon show

When I snapped out of it, Riku had just walked into the living room.

I couldn’t begin to understand what had just happened. For lack of anything better to say, I said “You’ve not just been in that cartoon show by any chance, Riku? Please never do it again because it’s dangerous!” Riku didn’t seem to know what the heck I was talking about.

Now whenever I can, I’m going to keep an eye on my little brother when he watches cartoon shows or he again gets swept up in the fun and turns into a cartoon character. Since this morning, I’ve been having this feeling that some of the big name cartoon characters kids adore all over the world were once real little boys and girls, you know, with big sisters, classmates and smelly sneakers like Riku. If Riku ever turns into a cartoon character, however popular it may be, my parents-especially mom would be devastated. They really love that kid. So I can’t ever tell my parents that Riku starred in the cartoon show. They’d kill me. As a responsible big sister, I can’t let my little brother lose himself in watching a cartoon show and turn into a cartoon character.

snap out　我に返る

keep an eye on　…から目を離さない

adore　…に憧れる、…が大好きである

turn into　…に変化する、…になる

devastated　非常にショックを受け悲しんで、精神的に打ちのめされひどく落ち込んで

 Riku stars in a Cartoon show

He wasn’t hurt though, and thanks to the show creators, none of the cartoon characters was. Riku and the gang of cartoons changed into these really cool cowboy and cowgirl outfits complete with large hats and side pistol bags with pistols in them. They entered into these large rooms crowded with people having piles of fun on pachinko machines and tables with colorful wheels on top of them. Riku and his cartoon buddies won stacks of green money. They didn’t have any blue or brown Japanese money in that room. All they had was these green notes and shiny gold coins.

A fight started in one corner of the large room and very quickly spread all over the room. Everyone including Riku and his band of cartoon characters was hitting somebody or something or being hit! The conflict soon spilled over onto the streets. The police quickly arrived to stop the disturbance from turning into a world war. Everyone had pulled out a gun and people who’d run home to get weapons were back with them. “It’s the Asian kids who started it!” said a guy who looked like a rock star with a bloody face. It wasn’t true! Riku wasn’t anywhere near the spot where the fight had broken out. “Where’re they?” said a large police officer with a piggy neck. “Right over there, little scam bags posing like cowboys. Let me smoke ‘em rascals before they cause any further ruin to the town!” shouted a cowgirl in pink boots waving a long pink pistol as a flying boat with FUTSUBISHI AIRBOATS written on it touched down to lift Riku and the cartoon characters to safety. “They’re getting away!” someone shouted. “Who has a big gun I can borrow?” said the large police officer with no neck. “John Wayne!” the crowd shouted. An old man of about seventy-five or older, stepped forward with a very large weapon. He looked pretty buff despite his advanced age, I’d admit. But I wondered what in the world John Wayne a grandfather, was doing with such a weapon in his house. The world can be a very dangerous place, especially in the cartoon shows. “OK John Wayne, said the neckless police officer. Aim and shoot that thing down when you’re ready.” “I don’t need to aim. This baby can shoot god, Satan, the angels, demons and the goblins down from heaven,” said John Wayne and took a shot. In shock, I closed my eyes! John Wayne shot a bunch of large flashing neon signs clean off the city missing the Futsubishi airboat by meters! “Holly dog’s droppings!” the crowd said calling the dog’s droppings by their real name in English (that starts with a fashionable letter of the alphabet called “S”) and they all spat on the asphalt as they watched the flying boat get away, only to hit a large cube of ice placed in its way by a bunch of malicious cartoon aliens with red teeth, fish eyes and chicken legs somewhere over Hokkaido. I think I feinted.

outfit　(一揃いの)服装、衣裳

get away　逃げる

a bunch of …　…の集団、大勢の…

feinted　フェイントをかけられた、陽動作戦をかけられた

Riku stars in a Cartoon show

In the scene he was flying with a bunch of cartoon characters in something that looked like a flying boat. He wasn’t a cartoon, but he spoke in a cartoonish voice. He was having a ton of fun! They flew over this large crack in the ground I think it’s in America or Brazil and ended up in a desert town full of cowboys and Indians running around and riding horses in the dust. The cowboys were shooting pistols in the air and just being disorderly all over the dusty town. I guess cowboys weren’t really cool in the past. In the scene, their behavior was totally unacceptable by any standards of coolness. They were ruining everything. Some of the cartoon characters almost got shot! It was a wrong place to hang out for a Japanese cartoon character and a boy for that matter and that boy was my own brother.

The scene changed suddenly to a city full of lights and buildings full of pachinko and other game machines. Riku and the cartoon characters were about to land into the city when…out of nowhere, a mean-looking cartoon character came riding on a really sleek looking flying boat and BANG! It slammed into Riku’s flying boat. It happened so quickly. I couldn’t get the words “watch out Riku” from my mouth fast enough! I was really terrified! I thought that my brother had been killed in the cartoon show!

a bunch of   大勢の

a ton of   すごく

a desert town   砂漠の町、荒れ果てた町

dust   (舞い上がる)埃

totally unacceptable   全く受け入れられない

hang out   つるむ、ぶらつく、遊ぶ

mean-looking   意地の悪そうな

terrified   おびえた(terrify: …をおびえさせる。terrifiedはその過去分詞形)

                                                 Saturday, July 17

 Riku stars in a Cartoon show

Mm… How and where should I start? How about this…?  Yesterday was my birthday. I turned 10. I think my dad forgot it was my birthday because Riku and I went to bed before he came home. He’s always busy. All my friends’ dads are.

 My life has gotten pretty exciting and sometimes scary or a little weird. I guess this is the major reason I’ve started writing stuff in this notebook.

Today is Saturday, so there was no school. Riku and I didn’t get up until 9:30. Outside, the summer sun was starting to roast the neighborhood and the cicadas’ song was deafening. Summer break begins next week! It’s a wonderful feeling!

It was almost unbearably hot but mom wouldn’t let us turn on the A/C because it was not 11:30 yet. It is the rule. A terrible rule, if you asked for my opinion.

We had rice balls, scrambled eggs and milk for breakfast. We dumped the dirty dishes into the kitchen sink after the meal and turned on our electronic babysitter known as television. Mom left home on a short errand. I don’t know what it was exactly.

On TV, they were showing this stupid cartoon show called AA. I think all the kids at my school watch it. Riku and his friends are crazy about it. They talk about it all the time.

I had a chance to pull myself away to go to the bathroom during a commercial break. When I got back to the living room, the TV was turned off and Riku wasn’t in the room. Well, I thought maybe he’d stepped out for a few minutes he’d be back. I turned the TV back on and…Riku my younger brother, was on TV! I mean…the kid was acting in the cartoon show!

weird   不気味な、奇妙な

cicadas   せみ

deafening   耳をつんざくような(耳を聞こえなくするような)

unbearably hot   我慢できないほど暑い、暑くてたまらない

on a short errand   ちょっとそこまでの用事で

a commercial break   コマーシャルによる番組の中断、コマーシャルの時間