i just cannot get into these characters ..... there's something a little tiring about the way this is written, too, to me. getting past the footnotes is bothersome to me as well - I know, I know, I don't need to read them, but they might just have something relevant to the story... anyways, I've got more interesting things to read right now. 

my one slightly nitpicky thing is the way Ruth the character "translates" — no, babe, writing mobile phone out in romaji isn't necessary. in fact, most of the words she keeps in romaji and then adds a footnote to explain what it means simply don't need to be kept in romaji—theyre universal concepts and a japanese mobile phone really isn't that different from an american one. it just gave "thing in Japan" vibes, although I understand that Ruth is meant to be all about the heritage thing (wanting to reclaim anti-japanese American history, joking about WW2 alliances with her German husband, wanting to translate as a way to connect to her heritage) all of that just felt stupid to read. if the footnotes were meant to read like her personal translation notes, the tone and contents should've been different. the way it's done sounds like she's "um actually"-ing me about what the etymology of otaku is when I just mentioned I went to shibuya once and met someone else who liked the same anime I did. annoying as hell actually