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The sentence is from a manga in which the character, after saying this :

> オレの細胞がてめえみたいなみにくいバケモノに使われているなんてショックだぜ。
>
> What a shock that my cells were used for an ugly monster like you.

Says this :

> もうすこしなんとかならんかったもんかね...

The translations I have are along the line of "It could have become something
better." "I wish a better job had been done."

I know that もうすこし can mean "a bit more" or "a bit longer", can it mean "a bit
better" too?

From what I know ものか is used to strongly state the opposite of what precedes
it like :

> 知るもんか！
>
> How the hell would I know? ; No idea! ; I don't care!

Assuming I'm right, I don't get how ならんなかったもんか can be translated as "could
become"...

EDIT :

Or is it along the line of :

> There is no way (もんか） that somehow (なんとか) it did not become (ならなかった) a bit
> better (もうすこし).
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2014-05-15T11:07:13.053
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2015-11-21T14:51:19.973
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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question
translation meaning colloquial-language manga parsing
Structure and meaning of もう少しなんとかならんかったもんかね
Your first translation, "It could have become something better." is very good
translation.

Literally, reading just one phrase `ならなかった`, it means "did not become".

> (これは)もっと[安]{やす}くならなかった。  
>  (It didn't become more cheaper.)

In other cases - connected with `ものか(もんか)` for example - the meaning of
`ならなかった` will change.

> (これは)もっと[安]{やす}くならなかったものか。  
>  (This could have become more cheaper. / I wish it could be more cheaper.)

Meanwhile, as you say, `もうすこし` can have a meaning "a bit better" in this case.
But, it's not enough to mean "a bit better" with just this phrase.

It can be understood that `もうすこし` means "a bit better" because a word `なんとか`
is connected after that.

> これはもう[少]{すこ}しなんとかならないのか。 -> これは (it)|もう少し (a bit)|なんとか (better)|ならないのか
> (couldn't be)|。
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2014-05-15T12:12:33.897
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2014-05-15T12:33:51.680
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answer