Yeah, I guess I just got used to the previous books straightforward storytelling, which was gripping right from the start. And much less mentally strenuous 
.
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Right with you there. Like I said I’m not sure if I like it yet either, because it certainly hasn’t gripped me. I haven’t found any connection to any character so far, and the storytelling is calm and slow, very factual and non-emotional for lack of better words.
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I thought it was interesting! I think Magata-hakase mentioned that not meeting up IRL would be necessary even for the sake of saving energy to, among other things, save the environment and prevent climate change (?) or something like that. That in the future, energy have to be saved for other more “important” stuff than travelling, especially over large distances, when you can just go and meet up virtually.
I’m a bit confused about something in the talk between Magata-hakase and Moe. Both of them lost their parents; Magata killed her own parents, while Moe lost hers in an airplane accident. Somehow I got the impression that Magata-hakase killed them too? How does that make sense… 
Please tell me I somehow misinterpreted that part and that Magata didn’t have anything to do with the accident of Moe’s parents.
As for Gidou Setsuko (in part 4), it seemed like Nishinosono Moe was jealous of her seemingly close relation to Saikawa-sensei? 
Mostly annoyed because Gidou didn’t tell her about herself, but also jealous even if just a tiny bit Am I reading too much into it? 
At the end of part 4, Moe thought to herself, "why didn’t I just tell the lady that Saikawa-sensei is on the floor below, then she could meet him, but for some reason I didn’t… 
"
(part 6) Camping 
(member of the yurucamp book club 
)
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I was quite impressed at that, really! I mean, the book was written in 1996, so 25 years ago, and the author was so clear on this back then already.
Why can’t we have politicians like him? 
I actually didn’t think so… I thought maybe Moe felt somehow close to the professor because they both grew up without parents? (just my speculation here) But it’s totally possible that I missed out on something important here.
I totally got that vibe as well! Also how she reacted when Setsuko kept calling him by his first name. - Curious to see how the relationship between Moe and Saikawa will evolve.
Overall I must say the book did not grip me yet either… I think this mainly is because with the previous book, it was all laid out very straightforwardly, like “here is the murder, that person is the killer, and now the objective is to escape the police” while in this book we don’t even know about the objective yet. So I’m curious to find out where this will take us.
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Same! When I reached that part, I got curious and had to check when this book was written
Ah, probably me misreading it then. The details at the start was a bit confusing to me
Interesting that several people here have the same impression Maybe I’m different because I saw the anime adaption years ago? I can’t really remember the details though, just that I liked the anime, which is how I got eager to read this book! And I haven’t read the previous book yet, but that’s an interesting observation.
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Yes, that part does make sense (even if I don’t like that it does ), but how does staying in your room day and night connecting to everything via the computer save energy compared to, say, meeting your neighbors for tea and a chat? Which is what she was saying, or what it seemed like she was saying to me, at least.
I totally had that impression too! I think it’s because 萌絵’s thoughts about her parents are interspersed with her asking the professor about her ‘killing her parents’ - or the fact that they’re asking about each other’s parents - but mostly I just missed the cues when they said ご両親, meaning the other person’s parents, and when they said 両親, meaning their own. Skimming back over that first part, it’s all in there.
It certainly seems to be the case from everything we know so far. It’s both a bit cute and a bit creepy considering the circumstances.
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Yeah, it doesn’t make sense
ohhh! Naruhodo. This kind of tricky conversation with topics jumping all over the place seems like something that could appear on the JLPT exam
Yeah, I’m not sure what to think 
At least Saikawa knows that something between them is inappropriate in the setting they’re in, demonstrated by him changing his way of addressing her after she enrolled. Moe-chan vs Nishinosono-kun. I wonder at what level Moe knows/has feelings for Saikawa, whether it is just subconscious, and whether it is just respect or something more. Curious to see where the story goes!
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It took a while to finish the chapter because of all the character introductions(and names to remember) and how it didn’t really feel like I had any real reason to care about them or stuff that’s happening yet, since the chapter just kept jumping from character to character and event to event without really diving into anything. At the moment I guess the book so far mostly still just feels like a lot random stuff that isn’t that interesting to read about, but I’m guessing it will probably and hopefully end up becoming more fun to read later when we get to know more about the characters and more stuff actually happens 
(In fact I already found the talk near the end of the chapter a bit more interesting than the start of it).
Anyway… I have now started catching up, so maybe I’ll manage to read the book just fast enough to finish it with the club next week if I hurry 
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