Ringing in the New Year 2022 with Koupen-chan
Originals
Translations
C: Yours and Koupen-chan’s New Year’s Holiday
Morning of December 28th
“New Year’s Decorations”
You thought today was going to be another day of work and housework, but speaking of which, starting today you were going to spend the holidays with Koupen-chan! That’s right…!
K: That’s right…
K: Good morning! Hey~! Good morning!
sfx: tap-ta-tap-ta-tap <— Skipping
K: Good morning! Would you like to put up the New Year’s decorations?
C: Yours and Koupen-chan’s New Year’s Holiday
Afternoon of December 28th
”Errands”
A: We’re in the middle of cleaning up the house, so you two go pick up the mochi for us *piercing stare*
E: Even though it’s cold, sorry…
…Is what those two said…
K: Is the mochi shop around here, I wonder?
Paper: memo
K: You know, Adelie-san said, “Use the change to get some daifuku to eat, too.”
C: Yours and Koupen-chan’s New Year’s Holiday
Night of December 28th
”Bathing Together”
I think there are also people who don’t like anko (red bean paste), so everyone please imagine your favorite daifuku.
K: Fuu… Paradise, paradise…
K: Hey, the daifuku we ate today was delicious, wasn’t it~
K: In the end, we bought some for everyone, huh
A: You got some for us too? Looks delicious!
E: Thank you very much!
P: It looks delicious
Y: Ku ku ku… How thoughtful
Red text: Everyone’s in high spirits…
C: Yours and Koupen-chan’s New Year’s Holiday
Morning of December 29th
”Promise to Play”
K: Good morning~! You got up, that’s great!
K: Hey! Later, let’s go to the kotatsu and play cards together~!
C: Yours and Koupen-chan’s New Year’s Holiday
Evening of December 29th
”Relaxing in the Kotatsu”
Koupen-chan is trying the game they just learned, Sevens.
K: What to do… Hmm.. Wait… Hmm…
C: Yours and Koupen-chan’s New Year’s Holiday
Morning of December 30th
”Being Half-asleep and Sleeping again”
K: Munya… Sevens… One more time…
C: Yours and Koupen-chan’s New Year’s Holiday
Early Afternoon of December 30th
”Going Out Shopping”
Adelie-san invited you to the supermarket.
A: Even though it’s cold, thanks for comin’ along
(Everyone’s busy making osechi…)
*osechi is traditional Japanese New Year’s foods.
C: Yours and Koupen-chan’s New Year’s Holiday
Evening of December 30th
”Going Home”
You take a short detour with Adelie-san.
A: I want to eat this with you on the way back from shopping, and it’s deeelicious…
A: You know, thanks for always gettin’ along with the lazy mizu manjuu… ah, I mean Koupen-chan.
C: Yours and Koupen-chan’s New Year’s Holiday
Morning of December 31st
”New Year’s Eve”
Koupen-chan seems happy that they’re able to welcome the New Year’s eve with you.
K: Good morning! Somehow I’m getting a little nervous about New Year’s Eve~
C: Yours and Koupen-chan’s New Year’s Holiday
Night of December 31st
”Toshikoshi Soba”* (aka Year-crossing Soba)
E: There are seconds, just so you know~
K: Let’s eat year-crossing soba together!
C: Yours and Koupen-chan’s New Year’s Holiday
Late Night of December 31st
”New Year’s Eve Temple Bell”*
Happy New Year’s!
Please take care of me this year, too.
SFX: Gong… Gong…
K: I’m happy I was able to greet the New Year with you…
C: Yours and Koupen-chan’s New Year’s Holiday
Morning of January 1st
”New Year’s”
K: Happy New Year’s! Let’s make looots more memories this year!
C: Yours and Koupen-chan’s New Year’s Holiday
Afternoon of January 1st
”Osechi”
K: The datemaki is delicious~ (rolled egg omelet with fish paste)
C: Yours and Koupen-chan’s New Year’s Holiday
Morning of January 2nd
”Long Distance Relay Race”
I meant to paint an electric carpet, but it accidentally ended up looking like dirt… Please imagine it’s an electric carpet.
K: The long distance relay is starting!
P: You can lean on me
\The pace has increased again!/
C: Yours and Koupen-chan’s New Year’s Holiday
Night of January 2nd
”Relaxing New Year’s TV Show”
K: Let’s watch it together~
SFX: *clap clap* *clap clap*
\ Welcome!~ It’s Hanamaru Amazingly Great~ ! / *(see TN)
C: Yours and Koupen-chan’s New Year’s Holiday
Late Night of January 2nd
”Dinnertime Drink”
Looks like Adult Penguin and Adelie-san are staying up late a bit.
E: * Dozing off *
A: How about you have a bit too
C: Yours and Koupen-chan’s New Year’s Holiday
Morning of January 3rd
”Kite-flying”
K: Look, look! Wooah
C: Yours and Koupen-chan’s New Year’s Holiday
Evening of January 3rd
”First Shrine Visit of the Year” (hatsumoude)
Red Flag: Hanamaru
Offertory box: Hanamaru 4-Leaf Clover* (thank you mimimi!)
C: Yours and Koupen-chan’s New Year’s Holiday
Night of January 3rd
”Returning Home from the Shrine”
Sign: Hanamaru Temple
K: It’s a temple! (Buddhist temple)
K: So this is where we heard the New Year’s temple bell on New Year’s Eve…
K: …Were you able to properly hear the New Year’s temple bell? I was dozing off a bit…
K: So next time I want to be wide awake and listen to it with you!
C: Yours and Koupen-chan’s New Year’s Holiday
Late Night of January 3rd
”Bed”
With this, “Yours and Koupen-chan’s New Year’s Holiday” comes to a close!
Thank you for coming along.
K: I hope there will be a lot of happy things with you this year… Good night~!
Translator Notes
年末年始 (nenmatsu-nenshi), or “New Year’s Holiday” more accurately means the period encompassing the close of the old year and the start of the New Year.
Toshikoshi soba means “year-crossing noodle” (wikipedia), and is traditionally eaten on New Year’s Eve. It is said that long soba noodles symbolize a long life, which is another reason it’s eaten. I actually had this last year to try it out, and it was good. This year I was too busy to plan anything, sadly… I managed to eat some kirimochi, though!
The temple bell was the phrase “除夜の鐘” (joya no kane) (Jisho), literally “temple bell rung 108 times on New Year's Eve.”
Explanation of this tradition on matcha-jp.com. To paraphrase, this stems from the 108 worldly desires according to Buddhism, and the bell is rung 107 times on December 31st and once more on the New Year when the clock strikes midnight as the 108th time. Check the link for more details.
Long Distance Relay Race (ekiden) (Jisho)
Night of January 2nd
Pretty sure this part is referencing Osaka comedy duos, although I’m not too familiar with it past a surface level exposure through the Jimmy Onishi docu-drama on Netflix. My best guess here that hanamaru sugoi erai is the name of the show because it doesn’t make a lot of sense otherwise and the title references a TV program.
Evening of January 3rd
I googled images of Japanese offertory boxes, and multiple had the word “better fortune” (開運 - kaiun) on them, which kind of resembled the text in the image, but not exactly. So I’m not exactly sure what it’s supposed to say, and any feedback would be appreciated and mentioned here!
Update: I got some feedback from mimimi on Twitter, and they said it looks like it could say yotsuba (四葉). Considering the trend of Koupen-chan and 4-leaf clovers, I say this is a solid guess based on the drawn shapes.
