Chapter 190 - Scatter, Scatter and Gather

Title

"Scatter, Scatter and Gather" (散る散る・満ちる chiru chiru michiru) is a pun on Bocho Yamamura's fairy tale collection Chiruchiru Michiru.

First published on July 29, 2009

Title Page

The rocket says "Fake", a reference back to Chapter 178. Kitsu Tane is holding a 1 shou (~1.8L) bottle of sake. Oscar the Grouch is in the trash can beside Tane.

Page 2

Beer

The beer Tane is holding is "Z Beer", a type of light beer sold by Asahi between 1991 and 1997.

Piles and piles of trash

A lot of stuff here. Going through Tane's room is like going through a bunch of clutter trying to find that *one thing* that you absolutely need at the moment, only to get sidetracked as you dig out a bunch of other stuff that's really interesting, and before long you're just digging through piles, trying to escape the bigger mess you've created by rifling through the clutter, simulataneously amazed at the neat stuff you thought you lost and horrified by the thought that you may never escape.

A couple of magazines are present. These are: "Chorus", a josei manga mag; "Herbivorous Men", a reference to a generation of Japanese men that are less masculine than previous generations - less competitive with jobs, more concerned with health, and less romantically aggressive.

There's a bottle of medicine "Kyabe", a reference to a digestive medicine called "Kyabejin".

The seat next to the Christmas tree says "Rodeo", a reference to the exercise machine "Rodeo Boy", which supposedly gave the same kind of workout as a good bull ride. Famous mostly for its adverts. Chiri has one of these in Chapter 74, where she is imagining her life as a 28 year old Xmas keiki.

The shirt on the bed says "Ocean", which is like the one the character Yui wears in K-ON!

A box beside the Christmas tree says "Asukure", which is an office supply company.

Some CDs: "Hiroshi's Songs" - A reference to a mini-album that Hiroshi Kamiya put out on August 26, 2009, entitled "Harenohi"; "Gyaruneku" - a reference to the band "Girls Next Door", known to their fans as "Garuneku"; "Aoyama Terumo" - Aoyama Teruma is a singer, Aoyama Terumo is a manufacturer of medical equipment such as thermometers.

Books on bed: "The Night is Short" "So Walk On" "You Maiden" - collectively make up the title of a novel by Morimi Tomihiko (see title pun for Chapter 184.

Poster: partial poster for "FANATIC◇CRISIS", a band active from 1992-2005.

Magazine: "Anegyan", play on a women's fashion magazine published by Shogakukan, "Anegan".

"Gure Wrap" is a pun on a brand of plastic wrap called "Kure Wrap". The bottle behind Tane's forearm says "Yotchan Squid", a reference to some candy that has a squid for a mascot.

Most of the stuff on the table at lower right is cosmetics with minor name changes, i.e. "8+4" is a an antiperspirant "8x4".

Boxes (Panel 3)

"Kenko Com" is a reference to Kenko.com, a mail order health food site. "Scottish" is a play on Scott tissues, which apparently reign supreme in Japan.

Page 3

Garbage

The bottle by Tane's foot says "Kintry", a portmanteau of brewing companies Kirin and Suntory. This is based on a report in July 2009 that that the two were negotiating a merger. They subsequently scrapped their merger plans the following February.

The magazine Chiri is holding is "Cat's Heart", a Japanese version of "Cat Fancy".

Page 4

Magazines (Panel 1)

"Mail Order Life - It's Tuesday" is a mail order magazine/web site that updates on Tuesdays. "-SSEN" - part of the title of NISSEN, another shopping catalog. "DINOSU - New specials" is yet another shopping catalog.

Magazine (Panel 2)

"SHADY Catalog" - another retailer.

Panel 4

Oh hey look, it's WALL-E.

Page 5

Poster (Panel 7)

"Three Dumpling Bros.", reference to some NHK children's show.

Page 6

Notices

"Giving away unused eclipse glasses" - Refers to the eclipse of July 2009, which was the first solar eclipse visible from the Japanese islands in 46 years. Most of Japan was clouded out.

"Join in the radio exercises, Taeko!" Okajima Taeko is the main character in the Ghibli film Only Yesterday.

Page 7

Dude (Panel 4)

The guy with the sign on his head is former Minister of Defense Shigeru Ishiba. The sign says "secrets".

Page 8

Woman (Panel 4)

Shout out to Hata-kun and "Hayate the Combat Butler". The envelope has "school lunch" crossed out and replaced with gambling. Hayate's mother gambled away the family's money.

Page 9

Nameplate (Panel 1)

The nameplate says "Miyamoto (Yuki)", a shout-out to SHAFT animation director Yukihiro Miyamoto.

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