あなたも殺人犯になれる! ❗ (IBC) - Week 5

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あなたも殺人犯になれる! :exclamation:
Intermediate Book Club
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41GF53P6MAL

Week 5 November 18th, 2023
Chapter(s) #8 & #9
Start page 66
End page 86
Page count 21
Previous week week 4
Next week week 6

Vocabulary

Discussion Guidelines

Spoiler Courtesy

Please follow these rules to avoid inadvertent ネタバレ. If you’re unsure whether something should have a spoiler tag, err on the side of using one.

  1. Any potential spoiler for the current week’s reading need only be covered by a spoiler tag. Predictions and conjecture made by somebody who has not read ahead still falls into this category.
  2. Any potential spoilers for external sources need to be covered by a spoiler tag and include a label (outside of the spoiler tag) of what might be spoiled. These include but are not limited to: other book club picks, other books, games, movies, anime, etc. I recommend also tagging the severity of the spoiler (for example, I may still look at minor spoilers for something that I don’t intend to read soon).
  3. Any information from later in the book than the current week’s reading (including trigger warnings that haven’t yet manifested) needs to be hidden by spoiler tags and labeled as coming from later sections.
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Name Hiragana reading Notes first mentioned in
赤川次郎 あかがわじろう the author cover
岡本聡美 おかもとさとみ main character, manga course participant chapter 1
箱根 はこね town in Kanagawa chapter 1
戸沢 とざわ secretary general from S Publishing chapter 1
七ツ谷むらさき ななつたにむらさき the female manga teacher chapter 1
菅野尚子 すがのなおこ course participant chapter 1
山名武三 やまなたけぞう the prisoner chapter 2
田所隆 たどころたかし the police officer chapter 2
中島 なかじま local policeman chapter 2
ミキ みき middle school student chapter 3
笠原信二 かさはらしんじ ミキ’s father, course participant chapter 3
百合子 ゆりこ ミキ’s mother chapter 3
宇部果林 うべかりん course participant,『か』of 『カバカ』 chapter 4
馬場しのぶ ばばしのぶ course participant,『ば』of 『カバカ』 chapter 4
加藤ジュン かとうじゅん course participant,『か』of 『カバカ』 chapter 4
富田丈一 とみたじょういち 尚子’s fiancé (full name in chapter 5) chapter 4
堺法行 さかいのりゆき course participant chapter 5
相沢弥生 あいざわやよい course participant chapter 5
宝塚 たからづか Takarazuka Revue chapter 7
長谷川清美 はせがわきよみ lodge keeper/employee? chapter 7
河本さつき かわもとさつき course participant chapter 7
安楽深雪 あんらくみゆき course participant chapter 7
真田万里 さなだまり course participant chapter 7

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I found these chapters to be pretty easy to follow. Was able to get the reading done during just one train commute the other night.

Chapter 8 & 9 thoughts

So… we all know this 中島 is definitely 山名 pretending to be a cop? It seems obvious to me but I want to confirm I’m not just reading what I want into it. Did not see it coming that he’d be a fan of 七ツ谷’s though, that’s a delightful development and I look forward to seeing where that goes.

I’m sorta mixed on the course attendees, but have always liked the gloomy goth humor archetype and it seems like 河本さつき is exactly that. Enjoyed her bit about how she’s not scared of a murderer on the loose because life is short anyway! Paraphrasing, of course :smiley:

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Aww :frowning: I hadn’t considered that 中島 may actually be 山名. I hope not. I was happy to see that 中島 somehow survived

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That’s how I read it too. The description of the guy in the lodge fits the prisoner much better than how the cop was originally described, sadly.

Or, not so sadly imo. This way is much more exciting. :eyes:

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Yeah. I agree it is more exciting. I guess I just feel silly for having missed it. I must have skimmed over the description of “中島” when he entered the lodge…

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I think it’s not the physical description of him entering the lodge but more the description in the early chapters about how a charming guy he was, an insurance salesman (保険の営業マン) before being a murderer, that gives away that the “nice detective” (やさしい刑事) is not the real 中島

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中島ˋ ˋ
, what is it called when dakuten furigana notes a difference between what is written and reality? If they’re not dakuten they sure look like dakuten. In any case, I read the usage here as the author spelling-out that although they may have said, 中島ˋ ˋ といいます this is not actually the case. Plus all the character trait tie-ins mentioned of course.

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Those dots by the side of text are emphasis; they often indicate similar things to use of italics in English text, and as with italics the exact thing the author is trying to do with them can vary. Occasionally they seem to be used to mark an unfamiliar noun written in kana when it appears in the middle of a run of other kana, to help the reader in parsing the sentence. They’re not specifically for “saying one thing and meaning another” like furigana; though certainly the author wants to draw your attention to the name here. In an English translation I guess the name might be put in quotes: – “Nakajima” sighed.

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Yes they seem to be used like English would use bold or italics. I just interrupted the emphasis as a mark of surprise that a character we were certain was dead, was infact not. But if course I didn’t consider it could have been 山名 at the time…

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Chapter 8&9

That’s my take as well :rofl: If it were the real 中島 then he would at least be seriously wounded (I don’t think 山名 is such an idiot that he manages to shoot at 中島 and miss him completely, tbh). Also, the details of how the car fell into the water was more than somebody from inside the car - while playing dead - would be able to grasp so easily, is my take. So yes, I also believe it’s 山名 in disguise.

Wow, you do remember that? :exploding_head: I just went with the likelyhood of him having been able to escape uninjured, plus the slightly obnoxious emphasis markers next to 中島’s name on the first three or so occasions :sweat_smile:

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He has to be! Unless they are setting up a double fake-out!

I’m glad you elaborate because thats what I thought but I wasn’t sure!

Also, this is technically the longest reading week we have (20 pages), and I’nm surprised at how easy it was to get through them! I’m probably just getting used to the style, though it seems other people think so too!

also yay I’m actually on time this week! :partying_face:

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