Week 9: 君の名は - Your Name (Intermediate Book Club)

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君の名は - Your Name Home Thread

Week 9

Start date: April 10th
Previous Part: Week 8
Next Part: Week 10

Reading

Week Start Date End Phrase End Page Page Count
Week 9 Apr 10th 俺は、いったい、なにをしている 129** 9

Discussion Rules

  • Please use spoiler tags for major events in the current chapter(s) and any content in future chapters.
  • When asking for help, please mention the chapter and page number. Also mention what version of the book you are reading.
  • Don’t be afraid of asking questions, even if they seem embarassing at first. All of us are here to learn.
  • To you lurkers out there: Join the conversation, it’s fun!

Participants

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(Please feel free to update your status whenever you like!)

  • I’m reading along
  • I have finished this part
  • I’m still reading the book but I haven’t reached this part yet
  • I am no longer reading the book

0 voters

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Aww man, I’m not good enough to read something like this, but I watched the movie and really liked it. Hopefully by next year I’ll be able to!

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Why though? Maybe I’m just beeing annoying af here, but I think it’s never too erly to start reading. Of course if you know some grammar, that is. It’s not like waiting until you know all the kanji and all the grammar really helps. I’d say it’s exactly the opposite - reading helps your overall… well… education and comprehension of the language. Just use something like Yomiwa for the kanji you don’t know and don’t expect to perfectly understand everything you are reading. That’s what I do at least. And by the end of the book you’ll see that you have learned something. Go in your own pace :upside_down_face: :hugs:

4 Likes

I’m only like halfway through the N5 grammar on Bunpro, I think it’ll be a little while before I feel like I can grasp enough of the sentence structures. Not too long though. :slight_smile:

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You can start reading whenever you feel up to the task, but you’ll avoid frustration for sure by at least having some (or most/all) N4 grammar under your belt. No matter what though, you will be drowning in unknown vocabulary for a long time. I eagerly long for the day that I can reliably read a light novel without constant dictionary spam.

In my experience though, there’s an internal logic to the structure and composition of Japanese that doesn’t begin to click until you force yourself to really interact with the language (i.e. native material). Just try to find a nice balance of challenging yourself with things above your level, and traditional grammar study. :smile: When you’re ready of course.

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Try reading Reberu Betsu if you have time. Those are greaded readers. I started with the lowest level when I was like half way through Genki 1. Reading really helps to grasp grammar better, I think

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The scene in this section where the diary entries spontaneously disappear always irritated me in the movie. The swaps were real, they’d effect real changes on the world - they’d forget what happened when they returned to their own bodies because time spent swapped is like a dream to them, but the changes they made persisted. Mitsuha patched Okudera-senpai’s skirt, Taki built a “cafe” for Saya-chin, et cetera.

That Mitsuha’s diary entries spontaneously disappear from Taki’s phone right at the moment he pulls it out to confirm they exist… it feels like it breaks the rules that have been established.

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Yeah, that part kind of rubbed me the wrong way, too, but I didn’t think about it too hard. I’m glad you pointed it out though, because now we can use that to generate a much darker interpretation of the ending. Perhaps the world in which he saves her was just a dream, and will fade away, too. More on this later, I guess.

1 Like

Never tought of it this way though… I felt it was a given. To kinda earase her from the memory. And phone is the memory of sorts. Also we don’t know if the pachwork on the skirt disappered or not, so I’d probably not go as far as saying that any rules were broken. Also also as far as Okudera-senpai knows Taki patched the skirt. AND Taki knows that Mitsuha left the diary entries, so if some (magic?) decides to earase Mitsuha it’d be just right to leave no trace of her in the future. And Taki’s trace in the past is (was?) in the past, and what more, he is (was?) alive at both points in time.
For me it creates kinda pressure and makes character want to “beat the clock”… The disappearing things, I mean. You have to have an opposing force, otherwise the “big fat happy end” feels artificcial. It’s like playing on easy mode… :thinking:

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A bit too extreame, no? :sweat_smile: That’s make the sad story even sadder. But I say it shouldn’t be “and it was only a dream”. Feels as if authour cheated you, in stories like that I mean. Except “Brazil”, that one was good in all the terrible ways it meant to be.

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Hahaha, true. I like dark stories. Maybe I’m just masochistic. Someone suggested that at the end of Breaking Bad Walter White froze to death in his car, and just dreamed that he freed Jesse. Though I guess that’s definitely not the case given the follow up movie, El Camino, I still prefer that ending. Also, I loved La La Land, but my sister hated it saying, he’s supposed to get the girl in the end!!!

La La Land, oh yeah… I hated it as well and no he wasn’t supposed to get the girl 'cuz they have nothing in common. Sometimes characters like real people are allowed to be humans on their own and pursue goal on their own even if they are pretty. I heted it exactly beause the ML was so selfish and… so meh. Also dark endings if they are suitable for the thing in overall context are fine. Happy endings are also fine. Everything is fine as long as it’s deserved and logical. And the darker ending for Your Name would be out of place. Because there’s a dark thing right in the middle. Also, it’s not the ending is so much lovey-dovey. It’s just sorta there. We can just guess…

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If either timeline would be a dream, I’d say more evidence points to the Bad End being the dream. For instance, when they meet up on top of the mountain, Mitsuha remembers dying the first time around. But yes, more on this later. :stuck_out_tongue:

1 Like

Hey Guys,
I’m terribly sorry to tell you that I’m out for 君の名は. For my Ph.D. thesis I’ll move within Germany and I’ve been searching for a nice place to live, but didn’t find anything. Therefore I decided to start something like an alternative living project on my own. I don’t quite know which exact forms this project will take in the future, but it starts to warm up and eat an increasing amount of time.
I really hope to join into the book club at some successive books!
Thank you very much for the nice time, motivation and discussions,
~T :lion:

Edit: Plus writing my master thesis. Plus writing a scientific paper. :man_facepalming:

5 Likes

It’s also really odd to me that he doesn’t remember the comet hitting Itomori a mere 3 years ago while he was in middle school. I mean, a meteorite hitting the earth and wiping out an entire town (even a small one) would be international news. Especially since, according to the text, said comet was already eagerly awaited by the entire world because of its lengthy orbital period. Such an ironic twist of fate (a celebrated arrival turned tragedy) would not be soon forgotten. Obviously Tsukasa and Okudera immediately recognized the event.

I had a feeling that the story was headed in this direction after the reading 2 weeks ago. I did think they were living in different time periods/dimensions once it was clear they couldn’t contact each other outside of the dreams, though I didn’t suspect that she was actually dead.

I have so many questions now though! I’m excited to keep reading.

So sorry to see you leave, but good luck in your studies! Your questions each week were always so thoughtful and really pushed me to dig further into the text than I might have otherwise. :smile:

3 Likes