Shimeji Simulation - Vol. 5 Ch. 44 - We are but a stream

[ArgonDorn]

I still think Chiito and Yuu are alive inside the simulation that is the current world. The formula mentioned could be the symbol they find at the end of GLT.

 

[Kyte]

Strikes me as if there’s two kinda conflicting world-views here. At one extreme we have the literal interpretation that everyone is just a human copied or uploaded into a machine. At the other, everyone is a representation of some abstract concept. Ignoring one extreme to focus on the other feels wrong, but the intersection of the two isn’t easy to see. Giving someone a single cause to pursue like order or freedom works for characters like Sis or the Gardener, but this is a story about the human condition, about a loner opening up to other people. I don’t think it’s reasonable to apply just one concept to nuanced characters like Shimeji or egg.

I was kinda thinking of it in a matrix-y "everyone is a real person but also some people are assigned a function" kinda vibe.

It was mostly 'cause Shimeji seems unique in her ability to reject outside influences but also she had that one chapter where she grew a third mushroom and suddenly gained telepathy.

 

[Spooder9]

thanks for the mindfuck, was a great experience

 

[Shcrodinger]

Brain hurty 😫

 

[Drunkendeathknight]

Goated manga

 

[infiniteinterface]

Fantastic chapter. Thanks for your work toward bringing this to english speakers!

 

[viliml]

If provided with reliable evidence that Tsukumizu were a guy, then I'd certainly start using “he/his/him”. I've simply used the gender that I first encountered applied to Tsukumizu. Checking now, I find mostly avoidance of identifying his or her sex.

Source: my uncle works at Comic Cune (just trust me)

this is too unhinged to be fake:

 

[GastrointestinalLot]

Big sis and book girl actually discuss it obliquely in ch 36 pages 7-9. Big sis might be something like "freedom" like how book girl is "knowledge" and the gardener is "order".

Shimeji might be something like this too. Something to do with isolation and connection.


As an aside, I recommend rereading the whole thing. Turns out there's a lot of hints and stuff seeded here and there.
Book girl here in ch 23 page 6 saying she's been here "far before [Shimeji] came here" which would be a joke except it's probably literally true.

Ch 28 page 6 last panel actually shows the same disagreement book girl and big sis have wrt the nature of truth in this chapter.

I reread the series with the angels discussion in mind, and I think the main cast are all models with pointed contradictions.

• Onee-san is freedom, but all we ever see her do is research the rules of the simulation. She even tries to stop her doppelganger from freeing everyone from themselves and turning the world into the present chaos.
• Yomikawa is knowledge, but she insists on remaining an eternal JK, so she will never know what it is like to be a real adult.
• The Gardener is order/control, but she grows to accept that people are happier with the freedom that Onee-san gave them. However, she still satisfies her own desire for order by creating her model city of dolls away from everyone else.
• Mogawa-sensei is apathy, but she has an obsession with making/digging holes. She needs no explanation because the characters discuss this quite often.
• Sumida-senpai is connection, but she struggles to communicate with the original rules. She saves the Hole-Digging club when they're falling by connecting to Mogawa-sensei, then she becomes the best at communication when Onee-san changes the world.
• Ayaka is communication, but her lyrics are meaningless and awful. Onee-san's doppelganger uses her concert to communicate her freedom code to everyone.
• Majime-chan is optimism (sunny-side up), but she isn't actually good at anything. We'll probably see a dejected Majime-chan in this arc.
• Shimeji-chan is isolation, but the series starts with her leaving her closet. She has loner tendencies even though she forms many relationships with the people in the city, then is left alone once again after running away from Majime-chan last chapter.

I think we're nearing the end of the series. My prediction is that Shimeji-chan will reunite for good with Majime-chan at the end of this arc, and the simulation will react because she breaks free from her model of isolation.

 

[495Go]

Seeing Shimeji cry made me really sad...

 

[Hipo]

This was the best chapter so far

 

[CookieMonster]

That transition from manga into novel tho!
One of the most captivating and intriguing manga chapters I've ever read. I'm not sure if this chapter even supposed to be fully understandable, but all these hints, in-universe possible theories and mainly the feelings this chapter gives is what makes it sooo good.

 

[ImNotCreativeEnoughtForThese]

I like the part with the text only, quite immersive.

 

[namecantbebl0nk]

I recommend rereading the whole thing. Turns out there's a lot of hints and stuff seeded here and there.

I'm currently binge-reading the manga from chapter 1, but my brain is too smoll to pick up on these hints ;w;