I like this pace too. I can take time, or slack off and catch up. Which is what I did this week, I just finished chapter 3 and skipped over some parts I didn’t understand. One thing I found really hard to under stand was Ryouichi’s theory of why this was happening. He was saying something about the big bang and if we thought about the whole universes history as one day, then mankind appeared only a second ago, but after that he lost me. Can anyone translate this?
I’ve not been nearly as diligent as you. At most I do highlight and add notes to words that I had to look up in imwa, so that when I do the second read through I can move smoothly through it with stopping to leave the app. But I only read it twice and I don’t study the vocab. (you tryana share that anki? )
As for me, I find the name a little bit awkward to pronounce. Maybe because I shadowed the Kita kaze to taiyou short story and to me when ever I see kita kaze I guess I’m expecting to see to taiyou after but hakshaku is so different it just feels a bit awkward.
This is one of the first times I’ve actually been this diligent myself. I’ve always understood this would be a great way to read, but previously I’ve been far better at the first, quick part and very lax with the second, slower part.
I’d be happy to. Not sure the best way to share an anki deck, though… That’s part of the reason I started a Memrise course for No.6, but the Memrise system doesn’t lend itself as well to this kind of short term usage.
A large number of new cast members are introduced in this section. What are your first impressions of the group of Replayers, especially Ryuuichi and Inukai-san?
Inukai-san describes the 北風伯爵 as a「薄く輝くひらひらとした白い布をかぶったお化け」, comparing it to a bride dressed in white, an enlargened sea angel, and a teruteru bouzu (the latter two of which are pictured below). How did you picture this creature while reading this section? Any other mental comparisons you made?
The various Replayers each have their own take on why the day-repeating is taking place, from natural phenomenon to act of God. It’s prediction time: Any theories about what the reason will end up being, if it’s revealed at all?
I’m not particularily blown away by any of them. I like that the author assembled a nice diverse cast of characters though. Most of them “feel” believable.
I mostly went with the てるてる坊主/ghost image since I’ve seen quite a few of these dolls in my time in Japan :D. The bride description just doesn’t sound frightening to me ^^. Most of them don’t feel really scary to be honest. (Scariest part is probably the description of its movements)
I’m completely lost. Don’t have any idea where the author wants to go with this story or what the conclusion is going to be.
Thanks for discussion questions!
I am reading ahead, so not to accidentally reveal some plot details I’ll put blur. I want to read through the whole story and finish on the 8th November and then read again with more attention to details.
I was very suspisious about them all and at first I thought that they were some kind of a sect with 長老 as their leader. I think that there are only two options for people in this situation: either they just try to live their lives or they go crazy (with some subdivisions, but I think that’s basically it).
By the way, at first I thought that 北風伯爵 was a person (I just assumed that 4 kanji in a row would be a name, so I didn’t even try to translate it) and then I thought that he is a leader of another group of people, the “bad guys” who did some crazy things, but than I understood the nature of 北風伯爵 and was a little bit disappointed (at that time).
And I am actually surprised that there is not much sex and violence under these circumstances.
The 北風伯爵 was scary enough for me. Not because of his appearence, but because of the anomalies that accompanied him.
The reason will be revealed later. At least at this point (chapter 6) there is a plausible explanation, but I still don’t know if it’s actually true.
I like Ryouichi he seems like a real one. I don’t really have an impression of Inukaisan, except the way he talks seems very rough/ causal.
They remind of the Nye from the house of blades, travelers gate series because of his hood and that fact that he gildes.(It’s a very unknown book, so I know that no one knows what I’m talking about. But they’re favorite books ever ) They look like this, so I imagine him as the white version with no chains of course:
When things like this happen, I always imagine it as the universe’s doing. (i.e in the Leftovers, 1% of the population vanished in an instant without a trace. I always thought the universe just forgot the missing people, in that It’s constantly coping us over to the next second of existence, like our cells constantly multiply and die. So i thought that in doing this process, it forgot to copy over the 1% percent of people) In this case, I think the whole universe is ‘glitching’ and that it can’t move past that day and keeps resetting, and as time goes one some people start to notice, and these are the re players. I think the rest of the people are having their memories reset, but the replayers are able to keep them.
Since I’ve read a little bit ahead, my impression of these characters are a little bit influenced by my last reading. But my idea of when Inukai-san was first introduced he reminded me of a coworker of mine. Someone with a friendly, but composed front, but doesn’t present himself as a whole. Ryuuichi seemed to be very attentive. For someone to spend all that time to find Aoi, really says a lot about his personality. I wonder if this would be a potential love interest for the protagonist.
I pictured it like an all-white one of these:
Since I had to look up what a sea angel was and I’ve always seen テルテル坊主 as being pretty harmless, I had to think of something more menacing.
Since this story is from mainly the protagonist’s perspective, I think we’ll never find out.
Don’t worry, you didn’t push me or anything!
I had the idea for the first 2 questions pretty much immediately before we’d even begun reading. : D
I’m behind on this thread, too… so if you or anyone made any comments wondering where the questions were - I haven’t seen them yet! I just posted the questions when I thought it was appropriate last week. … and I’m still just as behind. I set aside time to read on Saturday, too… and haven’t read at all. @_@ And now NaNoWriMo has begun (and I started that late)… there just aren’t enough hours in the day! XD I want to at least get back into it… even if I remain a week or two behind you guys! XD
If I remember I’ll take a picture of it and show you.
With my Suzumiya Haruhi books, the cover under the flashy anime-looking covers is understated and beautiful, great if I wanted to hide that I was reading such a book (which I don’t care to hide, but that’s beside the point). Whereas, I feel like the cover under the dust jacket for 秋の牢獄 is really lame and looks childish, with everything being printed in English and declaring it part of a horror collection. (Instead of the nice art and “mysterious” looking Japanese kanji… since I’m in a multicultural city that largely speaks English… probably some people on the subway could read it, but certainly not everyone.)
Hiding reading a Suzumiya Haruhi light novel? Blasphemy! #Haruhiism
I totally feel you on having too many things to do. I’m casually doing NaNoWriMo as well, plus the two other light novels I’m translating. I think the main thing keeping me on track is that I’m going to be a discussion leader in the coming weeks. Hopefully I can keep my discipline afterward! Good luck on catching up!
You’re not alone. I didn’t expect the last two weeks to be so busy for me. Hopefully I can sort of catch up, but as it is I’m still on the first chapter ( hopefully I’ll start chapter 2 tomorrow). The great thing is that so far, my questions have been answered on this thread.
Inukai san struck me as the friendly uncle, he just seems comforting somehow.
for most of the others there isnt really enough info for me to judge their character, i wonder if it is because they are red shirts in a sense?
I try to imagine them all at once, this shifting mass of white that cant really be defined and is constantly pulsating/flowing/shifting. That seems creepier to me.
As for where it is going, maybe its a karma thing? None of the re-players seem to have anything in common that would point to why these people have been selected, at least not to my understanding. So once they figure out the why, they can finally move on with their lives.
and then read again with more attention to details.
) They look like this, so I imagine him as the white version with no chains of course:
Good luck on catching up! 
Happy November 7th, everyone! 
And thanks for all the work you’ve done for the book club. Hope today’s a day worth repeating over and over 
I hope so too haha
