The Quintessential Quintuplets: Complicated/complex/difficult: How different are 複雑 (fukuzatsu) and 大変 (taihen)?


In the anime adaptation of the manga [The Quintessential
Quintuplets](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/93612/the-
quintessential-quintuplets-
aka-%e4%ba%94%e7%ad%89%e5%88%86%e3%81%ae%e8%8a%b1%e5%ab%81-is-%e5%b1%8a%e3%81%8f%e3%82%93%e3%81%a7%e3%81%99-it-
reaches-a-mondegreen), as well as the corresponding manga, there are these 2
scenes:

  1. [Scene 1: (S01E04)](https://youtu.be/qZRy5Lt8Gts?t=663) Miku Nakano (a member of identical and the eponymous quintuplets) says that 'Being quints is complicated.' This is translated from '複雑な五つ子心.' (I guess:' Fukuzatsuna itsutsuko kokoro'?) 'Complicated' here is '複雑' (Fukuzatsu).

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/rechd.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/rechd.jpg)

  * **Context of scene** : Miku is with fellow quints Itsuki and Ichika at a fireworks festival. Itsuki tells a story to Miku and Ichika about how Ichika got preferential treatment in shopping due to Ichika's attractiveness while Itsuki didn't even though Ichika and Itsuki look identical. Miku then makes the above remark.

  2. [Scene 2: (S02E11)](https://youtu.be/OSy6R8elm4I?t=43) Raiha Uesugi says 'Things are complicated for quints.' This is translated from '五つ子のみなさんも大変なんだね.' (I guess: 'Itsutsuko no minna-san mo taihen nan da ne'?) 'Complicated' here is '複雑' (Fukuzatsu).

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/TNhKa.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/TNhKa.jpg)

  * **Context of scene** : Fuutarou Uesugi (in the middle) is shopping for clothes with Fuutarou's imouto Raiha Uesugi (on the left) and with 2 quints Yotsuba Nakano (on the right) and Itsuki Nakano (off-screen, getting measurements taken). Fuutarou thinks the quints have the same measurements since they're quints. Yotsuba wonders aloud if Itsuki's boobs are getting bigger than the other quints. (Itsuki is the imouto quint, if this makes a difference.) Then Raiha makes the above remark.

**Question 1** : How different are '複雑' (Fukuzatsu) and '大変' (taihen) ? I
guess...it as different as 'complex/complicated' and 'difficult', which are
exactly the resp translations.

  * **Question 1.1** : Do you agree with the translation of 大変 as complicated?

  * **Motivation** : In S01E04, Raiha was standing behind Miku when Miku said this. I'm conjecturing Raiha had remembered Itsuki's story in S01E04 and Miku's remark afterwards and then is repeating Miku's remark near-verbatim. The 1 flaw is the 複雑 vs 大変. I guess I might argue a 9yo child is more likely to say 大変 than 複雑. Certainly, I think 9yo children are more likely to say 'difficult' instead of 'complicated/complex'.

**Question 2** :
[Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%A4%87%E9%9B%91), says the
'adnominal' of '複雑' is '複雑な', which is what Miku says. What exactly does
'adnominal' mean, and what is its relevance here? (Please don't judge me that
I'm a monolinguist but don't know the meaning of 'adnominal'.)




The primary translation for 大変 in a context like this is, as [jisho.org
says](https://jisho.org/word/%E5%A4%A7%E5%A4%89), _difficult_ , _hard_ ,
_challenging_ or _tough_. Something complicated is usually also challenging to
deal with, but the opposite is not necessarily true. Something simple (like
washing your hands before each meal) can often be tough, too. But I won't say
"thing are complicated for quintuplets" is a mistranslation, either; it's
perfectly understandable as a free translation.

"Adnominal" means "noun-modifying", just as "adverbial" means "verb-
modifying". 複雑 is a na-adjective, so its noun-modifying form is naturally 複雑な.
五つ子心 (read いつつごごころ; こころ becomes ごころ due to
[rendaku](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/2526/5010)) is a noun phrase
meaning "mind(set) of quintuplets", so it has to be modified by the adnominal
form of 複雑. The literal translation is "(Oh what a) complicated mindset of
quintuplets...".




The primary translation for 大変 in a context like this is, as [jisho.org
says](https://jisho.org/word/%E5%A4%A7%E5%A4%89), _difficult_ , _hard_ ,
_challenging_ or _tough_. Something complicated is usually also challenging to
deal with, but the opposite is not necessarily true. Something simple (like
washing your hands before each meal) can often be tough, too. But I won't say
"thing are complicated for quintuplets" is a mistranslation, either; it's
perfectly understandable as a free translation.

"Adnominal" means "noun-modifying", just as "adverbial" means "verb-
modifying". 複雑 is a na-adjective, so its noun-modifying form is naturally 複雑な.
五つ子心 (read いつつごごころ; こころ becomes ごころ due to
[rendaku](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/2526/5010)) is a noun phrase
meaning "mind(set) of quintuplets", so it has to be modified by the adnominal
form of 複雑. The literal translation is "(Oh what a) complicated mindset of
quintuplets...".

