Everybody should feel free to post and ask questions–it’s what makes book clubs fun! But please do not post until you are familiar with Spoiler Courtesy!
Spoiler Courtesy
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.
Posting Advice
When asking for help, please mention the page number, and check before posting that your question hasn’t already been asked. As the threads get longer, it becomes more convenient to use the Search function, which is located in the upper right corner of the forum. It is the magnifying glass which is near your profile picture! The best way to search is usually to type part of the sentence you are confused about, and select “in this topic”. This will show you all posts within the current thread which has that string of text.
Be sure to join the conversation! It’s fun, and it’s what keeps these book clubs lively! There’s no such thing as a stupid question! We are all learning here, and if the question has crossed your mind, there’s a very good chance it has crossed somebody else’s also! Asking and answering questions is a great learning opportunity for everyone involved, so never hesitate to do so!
Live Readings
The next weekly live reading session will be 2023-05-07T12:30:00Z Join the Japanese Book Club Discord to either read or listen!
Proper Nouns
Name
Reading
Notes
高崎暦
たかさきこよみ
The main character
ユノ
ユノ
His grandfather’s dog
瀧川和音
たきがわかずね
A top student in 暦’s class
虚質科学研究所
きょしつかがくけんきゅうじょ
Institute of Imaginary Science
佐藤綾子
さとういとこ
The founder of imaginary science
Participation
Will you be reading along with us this week?
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
If you’ve already read this book but are still going to join the discussion, please select “I have read this part.”
Don’t forget to set this thread to Watching in order to stay abreast of discussion!
If I’m following correctly, I think that アインズヴァッハ seems to be the name of the machine that allows for shifting by choice, but…what is the name supposed to be? Is it a reference to something?
It seems to be the name of the capsule’s inventor. The kindle translator gives ‘Einswach’s cradle’. It’s not a known person, perhaps an allusion to Einstein?
As far as the reading goes, am I getting this right?
They’re secretly experimenting with voluntary shifts so that Koyomi can become comfortable with 001 Kazune in case they get swapped during the wedding so they can be OK with that?
Bit late, but all the good things in life come at least 1 or 2 days later than they are supposed to, like all the packages I am foolish enough to order locally.
thoughts
Very cute part. Absolutely love the idea of loving each and every possibility of someone else, that’s just a good phrase even for us (possibly) non parallelized individuals. This is sofar my favourite part of the entire book, actually properly mixing together romance and sci-fi concepts.
Interesting take about how fixing the IP number in place (I usually do that in my router, but the tech mumbo jumbo they came up with about recording spin vectors and the 1984 they decided to enact on the subatomic particles of someone could also work) makes the whole universe basically deterministic. That’s a proper though inducing idea. Though if apparently universes don’t drift apart (guessing from how Calendar said that he already met 001 Kazune), that still sounds somewhat deterministic.
One thing I noticed is that the author seemingly stretches the meaning of being one parallel world apart. Like it started with an eraser being placed in the left cupboard instead of the right. Then there was the 20th birthday explanation of placing the table or wine glass or whatever on the table in a slightly different location. But now someone from the neighbouring universe might have completely different breakfast in the morning. Like correct me if I’m wrong, but that sounds way more serious than an eraser being misplaced.
Love the series, can’t wait until everything goes to s**t. This ending phrase already seems ominous enough.
I am actually liking where the story is heading and I think it’s finally picking up pace in terms of suspense.
On voluntary parallel shifting
I think the scientific explanation behind shifting in and of itself is quite reasonable, but considering that as it was explained before that only the person’s conscience shifts, it doesn’t really make sense, unless we’re attributing physical properties to consciences and entering Ghost in the Shell levels
The other problem I see is that the moment the voluntary shifting tech enters testing phase, things can go to shit, because if someone decides to conduct the experiment in universe 0, any of the other universes can do the same and our 暦 0 can end up literally anywhere. This is way better explored in one of Philip Dick’s stories where he points out that the mere conception of the technology already has an impact on the timeline.
