Ooh, I see! に決まって is an expression, that means something like “for sure”. It’s meaning is not, that someone decides anything 
And I wouldn’t have thought, that 代わり映え ist just an expression -,-’
1 Like
I’m sooo behind this week. I only just read the first few pages of these chapter. I have one question so far, on page 49.
ベストの下には白いシャツを着ていた。肩から伸びた両袖が風であばれないように、数ヵ所をバンドで止めている。
So it’s possible I figured it out, but I still want to double check. Is this basically saying that in order to prevent the sleeves from flailing about in the wind, Kino tied them down with bands in several places?
Is “tied down” a reasonable word to use here for 止める here or is the meaning slightly different?
(I think the relevant Japanese definition is probably 固定して離れないようにする。)
1 Like
I haven’t even started reading 
(I’ll probably read this week’s stuff tonight, though).
Kino was the first book I attempted to read in Japanese but I abandoned it, not because of difficulty, but because of boredom. The first few chapters are very much…formulaic. Chapter 4 was just too many fight scenes.
But I think going along with a book club this time and being able to discuss stuff will be better!
Also reading this the 2nd time around vs. the first time is like night and day.
I’ve been perusing 日本語の森’s N1 Grammar playlist and just learned this one myself! It’s funny because I already knew 言わんばかり as set phrase so it was nice to finally connect the dots!
2 Likes
I think there is a similar reason why I’m still not done with this weeks chapter. My only two reasons to keep going at the moment are: I want to follow along with this book club and I paid for it so I might just as well use this opportunity and read it.
I hope I find the time to catch up with all of you soon.
4 Likes
This book should be renamed キノのパースエイーダ。I swear it gets the most screentime
8 Likes
I just read this week’s part, and I don’t see why you are both so harsh on the book 
The writing is decent. That’s two countries in a row with a similar setup (even the pictures in the table of contents look similar), so yeah, it could get annoying soon, but I’m having a good time so far 
5 Likes
I thought someone more knowledgeable would want to answer that, but this is my understanding as well. Corresponding meaning from Jisho is “to fix (in place), to fasten, …”. According to some dictionaries this meaning should be written as 留める (read as とめる), but 止める seems to be possible as well. Sample sentence: 彼女はカレンダーを壁にテープで留めた She taped the calendar to the wall.
2 Likes
And I am totally happy, that I have to read along. Without some pressure of the book club, that will continue reading with or without me, I need to read every (or every second) day!
So here is my second set of questions for this week:
Q1, p.54
時たま通りの真ん中で
once in a while at the middle of the street?!?
I just don’t get it…
Q2, p. 55
一応たき火の後をきれいに始末する。
He ended the cleaning of the many rests of the bonfire.
Doesn’t make that much sense…
Q3, p. 56
いつの頃かは知らないけど
At some (uncertain) point of time, we don’t know, but…
Thanks again for the (very useful) replies 
~T 
Not exactly. きれい modifies the verb here (始末する) (to dispose of, in this context). I don’t know where you got the “many” from. But yeah, it’s just “cleaned the remnants of the bonfire”
For question 3, that’s about right. “The exact time/period is unknown, but” sounds better, I guess, but means the same.
I need to check the book for Q1, but I’m already in bed, so someone else will probably take care of it.
1 Like
That’s actually correct. They spent the night in the middle of the street. Then, ゴーストタウンの夜は静かだった。時たま通りの真ん中で、「暇だなー」小さくつぶやく声が聞こえるだけだった。The night in the ghost town was quiet, only occasionally in the middle of the street a faint muttering could be heard, “I am so bored…” (probably by Hermes)
3 Likes
Oh no
At least everyone waited awhile to start ragging on 時をかける少女, but we seem to have gotten an early start this time!
6 Likes
Oh no, I feel like I started it 
I only wanted to say something about the book more generally, outside of asking/answering questions. I’ll keep it more positive, the buck stops here!
Well I really enjoyed the first chapter. We’ll see if that continues.
3 Likes
Hah I don’t think all commentary needs to be positive. I’m just surprised at just how harsh we can be to books that don’t really seem to claim to be literary masterpieces. We’re not here reading Souseki or anything, and they’re not, like, aggressively bad.
I think a slower reading pace makes us expect more value per page, though.
I think this series of books is like Star Trek. Go somewhere, experience a problem, fix it and/or wax philosophical about it, go somewhere else. Repeat.
Our continuing mission, to explore new life and new civilizations. To carefully go where no talking motorad has gone before.
12 Likes
I want to check some things I’m not sure about.
Towards the end of page 51 is エルメス saying that no person could kill キノ since (she?) has the guns and can defend herself?
And right after at the beginning of page 52 are they saying that they can’t just stay there forever so they decide to risk entering anyway (and run away if something happens)?
It does seem like they go in afterwards, but I want to make sure that’s the logic.
Sometimes I can’t shake the feeling that I’m just making it all up in my head and I have it all wrong…
I mean the alternative is that I’m reading a book in Japanese and undestanding it and that’s just not possible.
5 Likes
Basically. He’s saying that there aren’t many people who can kill Kino (キノを殺せる人間は、そうそういないよ), and even if they draw a パースエイダー and aim at Kino from behind (たとえ後ろからパースエイダーを抜かれても), she can turn around and shoot most people dead (たいていの相手は振り向いて撃ち倒せる).
Yeah. Kino says that if anything happens, instead of fighting back they better fly.
We can’t have that happening, not on my watch!
6 Likes
Ah, that clarifies a lot of nuances I didn’t get / had wrong, thanks!
A true hero.
2 Likes
This is all I ever do. I try to get the broader context as best as I can. And whenever I encounter a sentence, whatever the japanese is, I try to figure out what it means based on what I think the reasonable options are. “it ought to mean this, so I guess this is how you say it”-kind of reasoning… so really I’m just making things up and praying I’m not too far off.
4 Likes
I think that’s an effective approach in a lot of cases. Of course, it works best if you see the same thing in different contexts enough to correct any possible mistakes in your assumption.
Or sometimes you find out later that you were wrong all along… but fair enough, you can’t have everything 
3 Likes