I FINALLY FOUND OUT WHY THIS HAPPENS. You see this all the time when there’s a fight or a scrum and suddenly everyone pairs up with a member of the opposite team and they just sort of …hold each other.
Someone on reddit asked about it. And it turns out there’s a logical-ish reason:
all of the other players pair off with their man to prevent anyone else entering into the fight … so it’s a form of self policing.
[…] The players basically want to prevent 2 on 1, etc. fights and by finding a “hugging” partner so there’s no ganging up on one guy, even on accident. They do it because it’s fair. And it’s kind of cute sometimes.
Notes: “Nuzzle” may not be the most accurate translation for “surisuri,” but I thought it had a warm and fuzzy ring to it that fit the imagery better than “rub-rub” or something similar. Also, Fukumaru tends to speak in third-person (lit. “Fukumaru loves being petted,” “Fukumaru thinks so too,” etc.) I considered leaving this in, but I thought it might be a little confusing, for readers who aren’t familiar with the cat’s name yet.There’s not much information about this series available in English, but I hope that changes soon.
I’ve been reading the Ojisama to Neko comics that @sakurai_umi_ has been posting on twitter, and they’re SO SWEET AND CUTE; SOMEONE HOLD ME. I really hope this takes off in Japan and gets popular enough to get an official translation. I’ll buy every volume. PLEASE SUPPORT THE ORIGINAL ARTIST’S WORK ON TWITTER AND PIXIV.