chivalrous spirit

The Japan Newsから、現在大人気連載中のコミック『俺物語‼』についての記事から取り上げます。

KANTA ON MANGA / Ugly guys don’t always finish last

In “Beauty Pays: Why Attractive People Are More Successful,” well-known labor economist Daniel S. Hamermesh writes that better-looking men in the United States earn an estimated 17 percent more than ugly men. Another statistic shows that good-looking people feel happier than those who are not. In other words, to be born good-looking or not is apparently a real-life disparity issue!
Takeo Goda in “Ore Monogatari!!” is a giant Hulk-like high school student. He is a nice guy with a chivalrous spirit, but far from a type desired as a boyfriend due to his gorilla-like face. Using such a plain guy as a girls’ manga hero is unheard of. One day he saves a girl named Yamato from a groper on the train. Yamato approaches Goda, but he thinks she does this because she is actually in love with his buddy Sunakawa, who is Goda’s super-handsome childhood friend. Goda tries to help her, but her real desire is …

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002317537

今回取り上げるのは、“chivalrous spirit”という表現です。“chivalrous”をLDOCEで調べてみると、“a man who is chivalrous behaves in a polite, kind, generous, and honorable way, especially towards women”という定義が載っていました。さらに『ジーニアス英和辞典G4 大修館書店』では、「〈男性が〉女性に親切〔丁寧〕な」「騎士道にかなった、礼儀正しい」といった意味がありました。今回の記事では“spirit”という単語が合わさり、“chivalrous spirit”で「男気、侠気」を意味します。(ninetails)