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.
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.
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).
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.
Instructions for Spoiler Tags
Click the cog above the text box and use either the “Hide Details” or “Blur Spoiler” options. The text which says “This text will be hidden” should be replaced with what you are wishing to write. In the case of “Hide Details”, the section in the brackets that is labelled “Summary” can be replaced with whatever you like also (i.e, [details=”Chapter 1, Pg. 1”]).
Hide Details results in the dropdown box like below:
Example
This is an example of the “Hide Details” option.
The “Blur Spoiler” option will simply blur the text it surrounds.
This is an example of the “Blur Spoiler” option.
Participation
Will you be reading along with us this week?
Will you be reading with us?
I’m reading along
I have finished this part
I’m still reading the book but I haven’t reached this part yet
I’m reading this book after the club has finished
I’m no longer reading the book
0voters
Votes are public.
If you’ve already read this book but are still going to join the discussion, please select “I have read this part.”
I know literally nothing about this but the vibes looked interesting!
Week 1
So… not much to say about this week, except that the facility of kids forced to study is giving me big “Promised Neverlands” vibes.
Also I swear that the author’s artstyle reminds me of something but I cannot for the life of me understand what. Looking on Wikipedia I have also not read any of their previous work so it can’t be that.
Anyway! There’s an interesting hook going on in this first chapter. My very first theory is that the kids in the facility are clones of people that live outside…?
Since in the very last page we see a guy that looks like our MC but slightly older…?
That’s all I’ve got pretty much. They seem pretty intent on keeping the kids trapped inside. What for, no idea.
Really hyped for this. I watched the (unfinished) anime a couple of years ago, so I know some stuff to come in the next couple of volumes and won’t be able to speculate much. But since none of the central mysteries got resolved in S1, I fortunately can’t spoil anything important for people who are going into this cold.
A colleague of mine who also skipped to the manga after finishing the anime told me to keep my eyes open for hints from the very start, because apparently this author pays a lot of attention to detail and drops clues in the artwork the entire time.
Chapter 1
This time, the only thing that stood out to me was that the sporty guy seemingly broke the laws of physics by overtaking the ball he’d thrown.
I’ll also keep my eyes open for possible deeper meanings related to the fish with hands.
I’m sure you’re aware but just in case, it’s because it originally said 「カラオケ天国」。 But the fact that the missing part is missing from the prominent sign seems like it could mean something.
Interesting start! Looking forward to knowing more.
Chapter 1
The math test on the tablets was funny. Are they supposed to write down the result of the equation? Cause it just looked like there were check boxes on the side.
And very mysterious with the extra question popping up and disappearing. Too bad he just said “I don’t understand the last question” and not “I don’t understand question 11”.
Also there are at least two people outside outside, boy looking like トキオ, and there’s someone else in the sleeping back next to him
It’s “expand” when used in algebra. “Expand the following equations.” I figure the “check boxes” are answer fields that expand when tapped on, but I dunno.
In case it’s been pressing on anyone’s minds, the answers are as follows:
6x2 + xy - 12y2
x3 + 9x2y + 27xy2 + 27y3
8x3 - 36x2y + 54xy2 - 27y3
a4 + a2 + 1
… skip a few because they never get shown on-panel
Interesting vibes so far. This first chapter is fairly atmospheric. Very sparse dialogue but I do really like how poignant some of it feels. Like トキオ pondering about what 外の外 could possibly mean. Very Plato’s Cave Allegory. It’s clear that most of the people inside the complex are completely unaware that there even is more to the world than their complex. I’m a sucker for a good “your world is much bigger than you realise” premise
The person in the wheelchair who Knows Things did remind me of Stephen from the SMT series (superficially). But yeah we’ve got possible doppelgangers, monsters (maybe one and the same), and a desolate world outside. Very ominous. Love that kind of tone
Seems like ミミヒメ has some kind of ESP or something - she sensed that there would be a test which no one else seemed to know about and it appears she’s got some level of precognition. I’m going to go out on a limb and speculate the others will also have some kind of psychic abilities and their education is secretly serving the purpose of training that. Could be proved wrong later, just idle speculation
Promising start, I’ll be interested to see where it goes from here
I have no particular interest in this manga but I’ve been wanting to join more clubs and this one is starting now sooo よろしくね。
Week 1
Feels kind of like a bog standard YA dystopia plot circa 2010 so far. I feel like there were a lot of these going around after the Hunger Games, but the setup here reminds me a bit more of the Giver. (No one asked, but between the two I much prefer the Giver). Very little to grab hold of at the moment, but the contemplative pace of dialogue at least made for quick reading.
The little cutaway to the drawing of the fish with hands is the thing I’m most curious about so far. It’s a very unique thing to just throw in there. Were those characters featured anywhere else in the chapter? So far I only know Tokio and Mimihime by name.
Yeah, all the way through. The guy’s sitting there drawing the whole time - you see him first on the second page. The girl’s on the first page, but she’s got her back to the camera until the third page.
Huh, I wonder what’s giving you that vibe? I can’t say it’s one that I got particularly so I’m curious as to why you think that. Maybe it’s because I read it recently, but it reminded me moreso of Piranesi. To me this is way more mysterious where a YA novel would be more about struggling against oppressive power structures and/or trying to fit in with a group trying to survive within a world without the safety net of parents etc (sometimes both)
Though it could well turn out like that later on for all I know
I won’t call this a bog standard 2010 YA distopia until a Mary Sue “I’m super good looking and everybody loves me but I’m so socially awkward and not like the other boys/girls but in a cool way” protagonist is established.
Haha I probably would’ve chosen my words differently had I not written them late on a Saturday night after a few drinks. Definitely came off a bit more dismissive than I intended. Specifically though I was thinking of Tokio being Chosen by a mysterious Test to go Outside (maybe it’s just me, but 外の外 reminds me of the trope of capitalizing Nouns to give them significance). Thinking back on it though I’m already coming up with other possible interpretations for those events, so it might surprise me.
I thought it was more clever than that, it’s not a random made up term, it shows that it’s a strange concept to those kids. For them the outside is the walled garden, some of them seem to never have considered that there’s an outside outside. It’s an important worldbuilding element.
It reminded me a bit of the movie Room, where the kid’s entire universe is one small room, a ceiling window showing the sky and “the world inside the TV”.
