“It’s French!”
Maruko squinted. “Sa-ka… no… kage? ‘Shadow’? He’s talking to his shadow? That’s weird, even for me.” Chibi Maruko Chan Japanese Subtitle
Post-credits scene: The next day, Maruko tries to make her own silent film with a red beach ball and her little brother, Nagoro. Nagoro pops the ball with a stick. Maruko chases him around the yard, screaming. The Japanese subtitle that would appear, if one existed, reads simply: 「姉妹愛は複雑です。」(“Sisterly love is complicated.”) “It’s French
(“Only those who know true loneliness can find true freedom.”) if one existed
That evening, at dinner, Maruko was uncharacteristically quiet. Her mother, Hiroko, worried she had a fever. Her father, Hiroshi, wondered if she’d broken something.
“I’m bored to death,” she whispered. “Even the flies are moving in slow motion.”