four-panel comic strip; yonkoma
being at cross-purposes from the start; getting off on the wrong foot; (lit.) doing up one's buttons wrongly
indeed; really; absolutely; truly; actually; very
evil; wickedness; (role of) the villain (in theatre, etc.); the bad guy
spell (that restricts one's movements); binding spell
to use up; to exhaust; to devote oneself (to); to do one's utmost (for); to do to exhaustion; to do completely
finger marks; dirt from the hands
to be smeared; to be covered
within the limits (framework, boundaries, price, etc.)
emotion; feeling; atmosphere; mood; spirit
to shake; to jolt; to shake (e.g. the political world); to disturb; to put off a batter (by varying one's type of pitch)
to need; to call for; to require
purification; cleanup (e.g. of politics); purge
to turn (one's face) away; to avert (one's eyes)
pure; innocent; pure; unmixed; long kimono made from the same plain-coloured cloth
that way; that direction; that (one); that person; there; over there
precondition; prerequisite
lever; agent (causing something to happen); instrument; assistant; helper
contortion; distortion; warp; kink (in one's character); twist
subdivision; segmentation; fractionalization; fragmentation
moment (of force); momentum
to boil down; to concentrate (soup, milk, stock, etc.); to reach a conclusion; to conclude a discussion
stagnation; deposit; sediment; faltering; hesitation; pause
numb; insensitive (e.g. to pain); apathetic; insensitive; indifferent
reality; real state of affairs; true state of affairs; true form of all things as they are; ultimate reality
investigation (e.g. academically, of the unknown); close inquiry (enquiry)
beneficial; profitable; useful; helpful; instructive
going side-by-side; going abreast; running concurrently; occurring at the same time; keeping pace with
riddle; puzzle; enigma; enigmatic; mysterious
elucidation; explication; explaining; unravelling; clarification; understanding
hard to understand; Byzantine fashion
binoculars; field glasses
naked eye; the physical eye
House of Representatives (lower house of the National Diet of Japan)
in full force; in great numbers; in droves; large-scale project; grand plan
candidacy; standing as a candidate; bidding (to host an event, e.g. the Olympics)
electoral district; precinct