Shinozaki-kun no Mente Jijou - Vol. 9 Ch. 35

[alacaelum]

I like to also think that those "mechanical" explanations might be unique to her- as in, it is how her magic works, but maybe not other people's, since part of her desire (egoism, whatever) is wanting to be able to explain it. Thus, an explanation that works for her exists, even if it won't work for anyone else, or even be accurate to the process at all- which would be unfortunate, considering everything. Of course, that might not be the case, or only the case for part of it (e.g., the thermodynamic transfer part, since that much seems extremely fundamental)... either way, I think it's fun to think about. For her sake I like to think she's at least half-right.

I think she is half-right.

Her understanding of the mechanics is correct, but there are many other little details that simply aren't possible to be put to paper.

I mean... if you think about it... how do you explain a person being able to do magic, not how magic works, but why people are capable of it, this "why" by itself is a factor that has to have an entirely different field of study, which I bet would look more like philosophical phenomenology than mechanical mathematics.

And the fact that all of this is implied by the characters' actions and words without feeling out of place is very impressive for such a whimsical story.

It is probable that if we had a de facto explanation for how magic works here, be it objective or subjective... the charm would die out.

 

[RanmaChaos]

Thanks for the chapter!

 

[Hikineet]

Thanks for the chapter.

 

[koppiki]

I think she is half-right.

Her understanding of the mechanics is correct, but there are many other little details that simply aren't possible to be put to paper.

I mean... if you think about it... how do you explain a person being able to do magic, not how magic works, but why people are capable of it, this "why" by itself is a factor that has to have an entirely different field of study, which I bet would look more like philosophical phenomenology than mechanical mathematics.

And the fact that all of this is implied by the characters' actions and words without feeling out of place is very impressive for such a whimsical story.

It is probable that if we had a de facto explanation for how magic works here, be it objective or subjective... the charm would die out.

Oh, one hundred percent.

I do still question her understanding of the mechanics being "correct," however: recall that when Amaoto (that's the chicken man) was taught about this process and operated within the assumption that that was how his magic worked, he failed to properly cast magic.

Now, you could look at that and say "well, it sorta worked for Yuuyake, so what's up with that?" That's true. I also don't think that her losing control of it was necessarily due to Zatto's explanation, because obviously if you don't do something for years and years and years you tend to not be able to do it very well at all. So, if A is true, and B isn't, what's my thought? Well, just that Zatto's desire to conceptualize and understand the entirety of magic, its fundamentals, its basics, its whatever else... is very similar to Yuuyake's own desires. Similar enough to allow for some education, at least. Yuuyake (ostensibly) wants to be able to understand magic in much the same way as she does machines- that is, as a standardized, repeatable process, in line with her grandmother's perception of machinery (and Yuuyake's own understanding of that perception). That's something that Zatto's explanation certainly aligned with, at least in my eyes.

I think what you said about this effectively being its own study of magic, rather than an extension of whatever lie before (a "why" instead of a "how"), is the best way to look at it for sure. So, yeah. She's probably half-right!

 

[sssr]

Oh, one hundred percent.

I do still question her understanding of the mechanics being "correct," however: recall that when Amaoto (that's the chicken man) was taught about this process and operated within the assumption that that was how his magic worked, he failed to properly cast magic.

Now, you could look at that and say "well, it sorta worked for Yuuyake, so what's up with that?" That's true. I also don't think that her losing control of it was necessarily due to Zatto's explanation, because obviously if you don't do something for years and years and years you tend to not be able to do it very well at all. So, if A is true, and B isn't, what's my thought? Well, just that Zatto's desire to conceptualize and understand the entirety of magic, its fundamentals, its basics, its whatever else... is very similar to Yuuyake's own desires. Similar enough to allow for some education, at least. Yuuyake (ostensibly) wants to be able to understand magic in much the same way as she does machines- that is, as a standardized, repeatable process, in line with her grandmother's perception of machinery (and Yuuyake's own understanding of that perception). That's something that Zatto's explanation certainly aligned with, at least in my eyes.

I think what you said about this effectively being its own study of magic, rather than an extension of whatever lie before (a "why" instead of a "how"), is the best way to look at it for sure. So, yeah. She's probably half-right!

It's probably simpler than that. Zatto simply did exactly what Fuyugare warned against: She taught others HER magic, so it scrambled THEIR magic. Amaoto was still able to cast his magic, but what came out was totally garbled; his drinks became a hot mess. Yuuyake became able to cast magic OTHER THAN HER OWN, but scrambled her own magic (the machines). The chapter was giving three hints that Yuuyake has always been a competent magic user: First, Shinozaki's internal monologue that her machines are practically magical, second the flashback showing Yuuyake heating up a soldering iron (which is actually her magically making a device work without power), and third her scrambling the machines inside Shinozaki. Yuuyake just never understood that her machines are completely, ridiculously, impossible and violate all sorts of physical laws; her magic was the ability to make impossible machines all along.

 

[koppiki]

It's probably simpler than that. Zatto simply did exactly what Fuyugare warned against: She taught others HER magic, so it scrambled THEIR magic. Amaoto was still able to cast his magic, but what came out was totally garbled; his drinks became a hot mess. Yuuyake became able to cast magic OTHER THAN HER OWN, but scrambled her own magic (the machines). The chapter was giving three hints that Yuuyake has always been a competent magic user: First, Shinozaki's internal monologue that her machines are practically magical, second the flashback showing Yuuyake heating up a soldering iron (which is actually her magically making a device work without power), and third her scrambling the machines inside Shinozaki. Yuuyake just never understood that her machines are completely, ridiculously, impossible and violate all sorts of physical laws; her magic was the ability to make impossible machines all along.

While I do like a lot of this, there's one bit I disagree with- those machines aren't Yuuyake's! They're her grandmother's! I also don't agree they're explicitly magic, and in fact have evidence to the contrary (I can't show that evidence because I haven't translated that part yet, so you'll just have to believe me). I sincerely believe this is all just a case of Clarke's third law, since these machines actually being magic would sort of make everything Mahiru (and by extension Yuuyake) stood for with respect to machine accessibility a moot point. It definitely helps having a functionally infinite space to store all of it in, too.

Yuuyake heating up a soldering iron is just application of heat, I don't think it's anything that crazy. Just warming it up so she doesn't have to wait so long after it's been plugged in.

I do like the idea of looking at it as casting someone else's magic. It sorta works, but it's not YOURS, so it messes up. That definitely tracks with what's been said in the manga. There's also something to be said for Yuuyake being able to do a lot with machines, to an extent that is functionally (if not literally) magic, simply because she knows that she can (and thus her magic, or her ingenuity, or whatever else, can flourish). Again, something to this effect IS actually talked about later, sorta... So look forward to it!

Honestly, I think we all sorta agree with each other, and just have different ways of putting it.

 

[Echion]

Yuuyake just having that dead retail worker look all chapter was great

 

[BurntToast]

The kids are always hysterical