Hooray! I was just all excited to participate this time around without having read the pick before, minus the worry about accidentally hinting at future things like I had with 容疑者Xの献身. Then I remembered I’ve seen the drama. Maybe next pick! I wonder how much will come back to me while reading. Either way, I will be careful.
Finished chapter one today! As with all advanced book club weekly readings, it was longer than I expected. Someday my brain will calibrate to this faster pace.
I pressed what felt like a ton of katakana words to add to my anki later. It also felt like with some of them, there was a strong tendency to drop the last ー. (Some of them I know are variants, but some of them my dictionary refused.)
I found this first chapter readable and mostly interesting. I was more interested in learning more about 真賀田四季 than how viruses work, but that part gave a good introduction to the dynamic between 犀川 and 萌絵.
Question for the class from 犀川助教授: Are computer viruses 生物?
I‘ve noticed that tendency in other books by 森 as well. He seems to dislike the trailing 伸ばし棒.
Occasionally, he uses non-standard kanji as well. For example, in 森‘s Wシリーズ, he constantly uses the kanji 躰 instead of 体 or 身体.
Done as well! The first chapter reads pretty nicely, although the beginning was kinda confusing. But it’s so nice to have the list of names!
I’m slightly miffed that all three female characters are described as 美人. Does every woman have to be a 美人 to be worth being in this book?? Meanwhile, there’s nothing about the men being イケメン or anything.
Question: when 博士 is after a name, like 真賀田博士, is it read はかせ? Or はくし?
OMG I didn’t even pay attention to that, and it turns out I have some of those right now! I was gifted a box of sweets from Japan the other day, and this is one of them :o
Except mine have a caramel center. Aaaand they taste ok but not my favorite.
Glad to see that there actually is discussion going on! I was stranded back in the home thread before @NicoleIsEnough discovered me.
Just for reference, this is what I said over there:
I just finished the first chapter this morning. The later parts with Saikawa sensei were much clearer to me than the opening parts with Magada. Especially the part about the doll. I read that a few times and it still didn’t make much sense to me. I guess we’ll find out more about that later. Also, all of the talk about whether or not computer viruses are living things seemed to have some connection to a doll being used as a surrogate for a murder (potentially).
I only read the first part so I’m quite a bit behind. I’m having a hard time keeping myself interested, since I have no idea who these people are or what is going on. Absolutely zero context.
Context will be introduced during the course of the chapter/book.
I’m not sure if I’m going to like this book yet either, but I’m willing to find out.
I think I didn’t actually comment on the chapter yet, so here be spoilers before I move on to chapter 2.
What struck me as slightly odd was the connection between バーチャル・リアリティ and 建築 that was brought up during the interview a few times. As well as 真賀田四季’s notion that physically going to different places and meeting people would become unimportant/unnecessary/antiquated/(I’m having trouble finding the right word here) just does not compute. I can sort of see where it comes from, but it doesn’t match with my thoughts and feelings at all, so it’s hard to identify with/accept as a theory for me.
Maybe next pick! I wonder how much will come back to me while reading. Either way, I will be careful. 
Someday my brain will calibrate to this faster pace.
