Title
"Denominator Change" (分母変 bunbohen) is a pun on Yuriko Miyamoto's novel, "Mica Splitter" (雲母片 unbohen).
First published June 30, 2010.
Opening text (magazine)
It's affecting the maidens, the starry sky on Tanabata.
Page 1
Orihime and Hikoboshi
Common names for the protagonists of the story of Tanabata.
Tanzaku
- I want to be as pretty as Koppe-sama
- Character from HeartCatch Pretty Cure
- I want to be with my big sister forever…Ui
- Side character from K-ON!
- People's lives shall be put first
- Official slogan of the DPJ
- Season 4
- …perhaps a wish for SZS? As of late-2011, wish not granted.
- I want sand. -Hayabusa
- A reference to the space probe Hayabusa. Long story short, probe goes to a small asteroid, tries to land and collect some dust from the surface, things go wrong, and the craft limps home to drop its sample payload in mid-June 2010. Turns out this wish was granted, although not as well as the mission planners had hoped…
- Rank Up. -Erepyon
Page 2
Tanzaku (Panel 1)
"Trust me", quote from former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.
Sign (Panel 2)
"Thank You Party" - a reference to a meet-up with Kazuhiro Fujita.
Toei Mita Line
Subway line in Tokyo.
Page 3
Viene*ta
Reference to Vienetta, a brand of ice cream sold by Unilever.
*zae-san
Reference to Sazae-san.
Tanzaku (Panel 4)
This tanzaku was based on a blog entry by Gotô Saori (Ai's voice actress), which describes a trip to a ramen restaurant by the name of Ramen Jiro.
Page 4
Tanzaku (Panel 3)
- I wanna go to Maihama. - Jong
- A reference to Kim Jong-Nam, who fell out of favor with his father after botching an attempt to sneak into Japan to visit Disneyland. Maihama is the station serving as an entryway to Disneyland.
- We want to make a living in Japan. -WendyS
- Restaurant chain Wendy's.
- I wanna be obedient. -Haru
- Pun on a drama series called "I'm Not Obedient". The main character is named Haru.
Page 5
Tanzaku (Panel 1)
Both of the tanzaku in this panel are a reference to the manga series Gegege no Kitaro.
*zo (Panel 4)
Katte ni Kazio
Page 7
Pino and Icenomi
Pino is an ice cream treat. Icenomi is a kind of ice cream with fruit.
Poster (Panel 4)
"Koishikawa Winter Celebration - Yurukorin" A play on the idol Yuko Ogura.
Page 8
Despair List
- Even if you raise a rare dog, other dog owners will start to whisper if you don't put on an "Out Doggie" seal.
- A common practice of Japanese dog owners is to add a bumper sticker saying something like "My Chihuahua". If you have a rare breed, you're pretty much out of luck.
- Although the number of passengers is different, you say the difference is that the limited express doesn't stop there.
- Disregarding that the character's route has already been told and even though they only have 90 minutes, people want the movie to tell the complete story.
- Refers to the Unlimited Blade Works movie.
- Though the denominator decreases, the pension stays the same
- Although the Japanese population is shrinking, civil servant pensions, which generally require an increase in the tax base to stay budget neutral, have stayed the same, or even gone up for some positions.
- One person buys 100 copies and increases the denominator - denominator fraud
- The music production company Avex is rumored to buy up copies of CDs produced by them to boost sales numbers.
- Using adopted children you haven't even met to boost the Child Benefit denomination - denominator swindle.
- A party with only 1 or 2 members in the Diet claims to speak for every citizen.
Page 9
Sign (Panel 10)
Tahara is a staff member for SZBH.
Page 10
Box (Panel 7)
Although the box translates as "Chinese Tofu", it could also be interpreted as "Manly Tofu", as the character 漢 is sometimes used in Shonen Magazine to mean "a totally manly man".
Page 11
Signs (Panel 10)
Kokugikan is a large sumo hall in Tokyo.
Page 12
Bottles (Panel 7)
E*na is Ekona, a Japanese oil company.
