24th November we start Webnovel レモン味のラムネ Informal Reading Club

Japanese Reading Book Clubs
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Informal reading of the webnovel レモン味のラムネ

There’s some here reading as part of the Web Novels Informal Book Club on 24th of November but since it’s an informal reading people can join in or leave as they want whenever even long after we’re reading something else lol

Title and Link to work: レモン味のラムネ
Platform: kakuyomu
Current status: 27 Chapters, 103,133 Characters, Completed

Content warnings

Not that I know of any

Short Synopsis

Satou Ikutarou, a salaryman who is tired of his job, was supposed to go on a trip to Kyoto to use up his paid vacation days.
However, after nodding off while riding the bullet train, upon waking up he finds that he is in a train station in a place he has never seen or heard of.

会社勤めに疲れたサラリーマン・佐藤幾多郎（さとうきたろう）は有給休暇を消化するため、京都に旅行に出かけたはずだった。
しかし行きの新幹線の車中で居眠りをして再び目が覚めたとき、見たことも聞いたことのない駅にたどり着いてしまう。

Discussion Rules

(based on @omk3 s rules for the ハサミ男 Informal Reading Club)

  • Please mention which chapter your comment is meant for and use spoiler tags liberally, both for referring to the novels contents and for speculation of your own.
  • When asking for help, please mention the chapter and reference the full sentence (adding a link is always a plus).
  • Don’t be afraid of asking questions, even if they seem embarrassing at first. All of us are here to learn and have fun :smiling_face: :heart_hands:

And that’s all folks! :rabbit: :carrot: If you’re interested in trying out more webnovels or just want to hang out with some of us make sure to visit over at the Web Novels Informal Book Club :computer: :bookmark_tabs:

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Was really looking forward to this book club, gonna start reading today!
Not totally sure what I pace I should go at, because it’s informal, but I’ll figure it out :saluting_face:

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Finally finished reading the first chapter! It was more difficult than I expected.

Spoilery thoughts

The beginning of the chapter actually reminded me of the beginning of Stardew Valley a little bit - because of the awful working conditions and the atmosphere that they produce.

The fact that the initial use of 休ま「さ」せていただきます made me go hmm, but I put a pin in that to look into later, and then it was literally addressed later in the chapter made me smile :slight_smile:

Did not understand pretty much anything of that strange dialect that was spoken on the train, but I’m assuming it’s intentional on the author’s part.

Was surprised to see スマートフォン and not just スマホ, and in the same vein was surprised that ホーム is platform! Seems unusual for the abbreviation to come from the second half of the word and not the first.

Overall, there were a lot of very cool expressions that I’ll make note of (probably by going through the chapter one more time a bit later) and the last sentence was very intriguing. Excited to continue!

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my thoughts on your thoughts on the first chapter

I didn’t consider that lol, good point!

do share when you do that go through! I would love to hear what you’re going around searching (I have a tendency to not question things properly so it’ll actually be helpful to me if you do :joy:)

IS THAT what that game is about??? I thought it’s some kind of animal crossing vibe game :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

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I don't think there are actual spoilers for the chapter here, but let's be consistent XD

Okay, will do! I’ll try to make a list I think :thinking:

Stardew Valley is actually a chill/cozy game about farming and befriending people, so your impressions are absolutely correct. However! It does start with the protagonist leaving their job because of how awful that corporation is and going to live on their grandfather’s land. It’s just one cutscene at the very beginning of the game, but that’s the association my brain went with, I don’t know why lmao.
The cutscene in question, in case you wanna see what I’m talking about.

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Promised list of phrases/words that caught my attention in the first chapter

In order of appearance:

  • 目には濃い疲れの色
    When I tried to look this up, results for 疲労の色が濃い showed up instead, this for example.
  • ぶっきら棒 - curt; blunt; brusque​
  • 霞が関の人間が机上の空論で何か決めたところで、企業体質なんて簡単に変えられるはずがあろうか。
  1. 霞が関 - government ministries (of Japan)
  2. 机上の空論 - armchair theory; impracticable theory
  3. 企業体質 - corporate culture
  • 給湯室 - office kitchenette; room with facilities for boiling water​
    Seems useful for things with office settings.
  • 目を凝らす - to strain one’s eyes; to look closely; to stare at​
  • 初老 - past middle age; nearing old age; near-elderly​
    Very funny word to me - oh, you are starting to get old, let’s point this out explicitly :grin:
  • 苦虫を噛み潰したような顔
    Pretty literal and straightforward, but still fun to imagine :slight_smile:
  • ガツンと言う - to tell a person (something) emphatically; to let a person have it​
    Might come in useful someday
  • 先ほどのことは水に流したと言わんばかりに話しかけた
    I like the imagery of water washing away an unpleasant thing. Also, didn’t know the んばかりに grammar, it’s N1 according to bunpro!
  • 英気を養う - to restore one’s energy; to restore one’s spirits; to recharge one’s batteries​
    Once again, didn’t know this one and it seems useful.
  • とりつくろう (取り繕う) - in this case it seems to be to smooth over (a mistake, fault, etc.); to gloss over; to varnish over; to patch (things) up; to palliate​
  • 台無しにする - to spoil; to ruin; to destroy; to make a mess of​
  • 雨粒 - very cute word for raindrop
  • 途方に暮れる - to be at a loss; to be puzzled​
    Wonder why it means what it means. It gets dark on the way? You are lost in thought on the way? Dunno.

Going through the chapter for the second time was much easier, which is not very surprising. Some of these are just words/phrases that seemed useful and which I don’t remember seeing before, and some of them are just super fun to think about :slight_smile:

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