Week 4 🦎 黒蜥蜴 🖤

Japanese Reading Book Clubs
,
1

Welcome to the fourth week of 黒蜥蜴！:lizard: :black_heart:

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
Week 1 - June 9 Read through ホテルの客 25 13%
Week 2 - June 16 Read through 暗闇の騎士 34 27%
Week 3 - June 23 Read through 怪老人 32 41%
Week 4 - June 30 Read through 塔上の黒蜥蜴 40 58%
Week 5 - July 7 Read through 水葬礼 35 73%
Week 6 - July 14 Read through 人形異変 31 86%
Week 7 - July 21 Read through うごめく黒蜥蜴 (end) 32 100%

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 4 of 黒蜥蜴?

  • 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:

1 Like
2

I was reading this week’s section thinking man this all seems to call back to 人間椅子 doesn’t it? Does Ranpo have a thing for this or…? And then Akechi went and right out referenced the book :rofl:

Also I started laughing when the dad was like ‘my daughter isn’t a ふたなり！’ and my book feeling the need to give me a footnote explaining the meaning of that word. Thanks, I already knew it :sweat: Also what a thing to say!

By the way, if you’re listening to the playlist, this week ends on video 4, 45 minutes in.

2 Likes
3

Yes, I was chuckling too. Nothing like a little self-promotion ! Breaking the fourth wall, as when he adresses the Dear Readers, is always risky, but 江戸川 makes it work perfectly !

3 Likes
4

Haha I enjoyed this a lot as well :rofl:

Regarding our case at hand, I guess Akechi is so confident because he is the one who swapped Sanae for the double? As we still don’t know who hired her, or did I miss that one? :thinking: It was just that one chapter, and ever since we are left in the dark as to who was that and what happened to the swap. :thinking: First I thought it might have been Iwase himself, to protect his daughter, but all points to Akechi right now.

4 Likes
5

I thought that was the Black Lizard herself who did that…. Because the whole set up felt so weird and sadistic. I think it might link to the 大水槽 part in week 6, but maybe I misread something there…

4 Likes
6

I have just finished week 4 so I cannot comment yet on anything that happens later - I’m really curious how this is going to play out in the end :rofl:

2 Likes
7

So much for catching up to this book club before the end… But I did just finish this week’s section!

I was also laughing at Ranpo’s self-promotion of 人間椅子. Akechi’s confidence also has me intrigued, I was sure that the part with the double was 黒蜥蜴’s set up, but now I have to wonder… And with half the book still left, I can’t wait to see what happens next!

3 Likes