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Could you please help me out with the last bit of this sentence:

> 「ええ。弓道部は問題児も多いし、巧いのが一人減ったからね。四月の新入生獲得の為に、少しぐらいは見栄えを良くしとかないと」

I've been wondering about the last bit, namely the usage of 少しぐらい and negative
ending + と.

One definition of 少しぐらい that I found was 規模が不十分であることを示す表現, i.e. an expression
to demonstrate an insufficiency in scope (please correct me if I'm wrong).

So if 少しぐらいは is the subject (I may be wrong here, as I've seen adverbs + は
before but haven't seen grammar rules about it yet), then じておく (negative) + と
- does it work like じゃん (isn't it)? Anyhow, does 少しぐらい add a negative (as in
"we don't have enough!") or a somewhat positive implication ("little by
little") in this kind of casual speech? That is, I'm not sure if she's
complaining or being more positive.

Sorry if this sounds a bit confused.

Thank you for your patience.
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meaning
少しぐらいは and 少しぐらい usage in casual speech
While 少しぐらい can be used to limit the degree of something like you said, in
this case it means "for a little while".

「V~ないと」is a shorter form of the grammar construction 「V~ないといけない」 which
translates as "have to/ must"

As stated in l'électeur's answer to [this
question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/21812/does-%E3%81%97%E3%81%A8%E3%81%93%E3%81%86-mean-
what-i-think-it-means-in-casual-speech), the 「V~ておく」 construction:

> 1) Expresses "performing Action A in advance (so it will help one perform
> Action B in the future)".
>
> 2) Expresses "leave something as-is" or "let a situation continue".

しとく is a contraction of the しておく and so therefore, 「見栄えを良くしとく」 should be
interpreted along the lines of "Keep up appearances (in preparation for
something)"

Basically, the final conjugation came about as follows:

「見栄えを良くする」→

「見栄えを良くしておく」→

「見栄えを良くしとく」→

「見栄えを良くしとかない」→

「見栄えを良くしとかないといけない」→

「見栄えを良くしとかないと」

Altogether, 「四月の新入生獲得の為に、少しぐらいは見栄えを良くしとかないと」 roughly means: "We have to keep
up appearances for a little while, in order to get freshmen to join in April
(lit: for the acquisition of freshmen in April)"
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### 少しぐらいは

少しぐらい（少しくらい） usually conveys a nuance like "wouldn't matter (to subject) with
just a bit", that means the speaker is inclined to it.

> 少しぐらい分けてくれてもいいのに。 (implies they refuse to share a slightest bit to the
> speaker)  
>  少しぐらい遊ぼうか。 (implies they couldn't play for some reason while they've longed
> to)

With this sense, 少しぐらい is adverb and rarely stands as a noun, so it's
impossible to interpret it as a subject (the underlying form isn't 少しぐらいが).
The real subject of this sentence should be "we" or "you" (but I can't decide
from your context). The は is practically emphasizing the limitation, say,
"compared to nothing".

A general tip is that you can't expect a subject should be manifested (or even
some priority is given to) in Japanese, since the subject is one of the most
inferable part unless you drastically change the topic.

### しとかないと

It consists of "Verb + ておく (contracted) + ない + と". The last と is not
"quotation" one but "conditional".

This part roughly means "must keep V-en (have V-ing done beforehand)". How
come it means _must_? Actually, Japanese lacks a word _must_ and we usually
combine three elements `(negation) + (conditional) + (word means "no good")`
to express "must / have to / have ~ to do" kind of meanings. The last part is
often omitted in conversation, thus when you see a sentence ending in
`(negation) + (conditional)`, you can take it as a _must_ with 95% confidence.

> 学校に行かなきゃ。  
>  もう起きなければ。  
>  買い物しないと。  
>
> [生きねば。](https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=%E7%94%9F%E3%81%8D%E3%81%AD%E3%81%B0&tbm=isch)

### Conclusion

> 少しぐらいは見栄えを良くしとかないと  
>  lit. "We(?) must improve the appearance beforehand however little it
> differs (because I think it's good)."  
>  → _I think we ought to make there looks a bit neater, at least better than
> nothing._

(Sorry if my English translation is awkward.)
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