シャドウ Week 2 👻

Japanese Reading Book Clubs
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Welcome the second week of シャドウ !

Home thread for announcements, wiki, etc

We are following the below schedule (page counts may vary based on your medium):

Week Up to Approximate Pages Approx. Percent Paperback page
Week 2 - June 17 Read through end of chapter 1 23 20% 69 (文庫本)

I will generally copy this information over thread to thread each week for ease of finding - you can always expect the schedule at the top of any weekly thread :slight_smile:

:policeman: Law and Order :policewoman:

  • Any reveals, for the current chapters must be behind spoilers or detail curtains. When we get further in you don’t need to hide details that were revealed in previous chapters.
  • Questions on vocab, grammar, nuance, and the like are both welcome and encouraged. If you’re not sure if it’s a spoiler, assume it is and use one of the above options to hide the text.
  • You are encouraged to speculate and guess wildly
  • Be kind about other peoples’ wild guesses :sparkling_heart:
  • Even if you don’t read the chapter(s) in time, you are still encouraged to post in the thread for that reading once you have finished it. I advise not reading ahead in the threads as you may see spoilers.

To gauge participation - a poll!

Are you reading week 2 of シャドウ ?

  • Yes, I’m planning to read along/am reading along this week
  • I’m reading, but not at the same pace as the club
  • I’m just following the discussion :popcorn:
0 voters

Happy sleuthing! :male_detective:

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Let me get this straight: Aki’s mother has been suicidal for some time, and finally went through with it. Aki’s dad has been depressed for some time, and apparently did something unforgiveable, according to his wife? He avoids home for no reason, drinks, and is sure his wife is cheating. Meanwhile, Aki was molested by the boy’s dad? Or rather, this has probably been happening for a while, or she wouldn’t react like that to his touch in public.

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That’s also how I read it,

but also he hurt her (Aki said she’ll have bruises?) this last time? Like did she usually get hurt like that - how did her parents not notice? Also Aki’s dad is hallucinating animals…?
So far as I can tell the thing the wife couldn’t stand about the husband was his accusations of cheating? And honestly the vibe I got before was that the MCs dad was sleeping with Aki’s mom, not that he was molesting her so very out of left field.

And Aki seeming like she was transgender until it was like “no I just hate being human”. Poor kid.

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Well, the father was entirely absent, both physically and mentally, and the mother often absent and also suicidal. Not a lovely family situation however you look at it. The mother was indeed fed up with the cheating accusations, but it seemed to me that the trigger for their relationship to deteriorate was something else entirely.

And yes, I also thought that Aki might be trans, and even that she might be the boy in the “movie”, but apparently she just doesn’t want to be either victim or predator. Understandable.

A female horse and some other animal in a green field, or something, right? And then the story about the constellation that MC’s mother was obsessed with. Are we meant to decipher the symbolism? :thinking:

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Reading this weeks section, I wondered if the title シャドウ refers to the relationships of the characters. They have so many similarities besides Aki being a girl and Osuke a boy. Now Megumi is out of the picture, follow Sakie who originally died of cancer. Aki said some sinister things about being abused and wishing she had the little body of a boy. It’s all very cryptic and creepy. Osuke’s dad seems the most balanced, despite his wife recently dying, but what’s up with the scream poster?

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I just felt so bad for Aki this week. I hope things improve for her, but at the rate it’s going that doesn’t seem likely. So far it’s been one death per week and I get the feeling that there are more disasters coming.

That’s an interesting theory. There are quite a few parallels between the families. I guess we’ll see if the trend continues. Or maybe it’s meant to refer to the shadow that these families cast over each other’s lives?

I’m wondering about that as well. Though I’m not sure I would call him the most balanced exactly. Sure, on the surface he seems to be dealing with it, but the way I read it he molested Aki? And that didn’t feel like an isolated incident to me. If so, that is quite a shitty way to deal with the stress that comes from having a sick/dead wife.

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Just finished this week - not sure Youichirou really molested Aki. There’s too much still in the dark (shadows!) yet and quite some time would have passed between her going home and the event being over, but something is definitely going on there.

Her reaction could have just been a general response to an (older) male. Which… That one classmate looks very mature for his age and he’s interested in her, I’m almost certain that’s going to play a role at some point.

Now, having read the first half page of the next week… A possible side effect of forgetfulness - memory lapses, anyone?

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