Week 5 🦎 黒蜥蜴 🖤

Japanese Reading Book Clubs
,
1

Welcome to the fifth 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 5 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:

2 Likes
2

Major Edgar Allan Poe référence this week, and, for me, heavy Arsène Lupin/Sherlock Holmes vibes too. And what will happen to poor 明智 ? I’m guessing he engaged in some cross-dressing of his own…. Or is hiding somewhere else . Between walls, maybe ? Interesting use of katakana to make written messages easier to read from afar, I think, the way we would use print and not cursive.

This is not a mystery novel, it’s an adventure ! Only one thing makes me sad : I’ve realised there’s only two weeks left…

3 Likes
3

Finally caught up to this week, and I’m also wondering how he will manage to get out of this? I was thinking maybe he hid himself in some other furniture, but how would he be aware of the sofa being moved if he cannot feel it? Maybe he can see it though?
Definitely share KuroTokage’s vibe of “why on earth did you remain on this ship” though :rofl: Made me realize what a language partner just told me: Many Japanese cannot swim, and probably back in the day when the novel was written, many Europeans would not be able to swim either…

3 Likes
4

I am late to this reading (work has been tiring and I usually read after :sweat: ) but oooh so good! Looking forward to catching up!

Was it just me or was that whole chair scene super kinky? :rofl: Such a naughty book. I’m also intrigued by how Akechi is going to escape. Not very impressed by Sanae though - she kind of gave the game away. Such contrasting personalities - she reminds me of Junichi almost? And then our lady and Akechi match each other well.

edit to add: this week reached the end of video 5 in the 朗読 playlist

2 Likes