Tonari no Jii-san - Ch. 15

[fatto_catto]

Hm. I definitely dont think the old man is 'creating' the head-syndrome. The manga brought up a lot of specific instances of parasites where the parasite turns the host body into some form of bait, or otherwise causes the body to die to get to where it needs to be. So that would indicate the old man is in some way the next stage of it's reproductive cycle....

so then where, from there, does it start infecting people.....? it has to go from the old man to... somewhere...

The kabuki mask and the priest are relatively new to the village, said to move from north 30 years ago. People that went into tunnel would have been kids back then or just getting born, so I wouldn't be surprised if the source hides there.

Unrelated to this discussion, but this actually reminds me of the real world problem of depopulation in villages. You have older folk holding onto the illusion of the good old times, others trying to revitalize the village with tourism, and the young talent moving out to get lost in the one big organism of large cities.

 

[friendly]

The kabuki mask and the priest are relatively new to the village, said to move from north 30 years ago. People that went into tunnel would have been kids back then or just getting born, so I wouldn't be surprised if the source hides there.

Unrelated to this discussion, but this actually reminds me of the real world problem of depopulation in villages. You have older folk holding onto the illusion of the good old times, others trying to revitalize the village with tourism, and the young talent moving out to get lost in the one big organism of large cities.

Ah, funnily enough I'm from exactly that kind of area! I think it's part of why this series hits me particularly hard. In a town that small you really do know Everyone even if its in a passing way. The way whatever this is takes some of those very few people, and doesn't just kill them, but leaves everyone thinking they're so happy and successful somewhere else?

It's just... brutal feeling. It's so cruel to me. Plus the heroine kind of experiences another real life Small Area problem- feeling totally Othered from this tight knit community.

Also i think you're right about the priest/mask. I wonder if whatever the start of this parasite loop isn't something that can hibernate or dry out for a long time.... hidden in something like the mask from ancient times.

 

[Kushikime]

Thanks for the chapter

 

[Lunkli]

Is this even a parasite?
Cause this feels more like sound.
Cause then the immunity of the two mcs can be explained

To me, it feels like a parasite that is controlled via sound. The tunnel monster is like a "queen" that sends sound signals to tell the parasites to grow, go dormant, &c. then eventually to go to the tunnel to be consumed.

Also, Yuki became "immune" after being told to ignore her preconceived notions and look at the world objectively. It doesn't seem to unlikely that Mr. Baseball got similar advice. So I'd say they're probably "immune" because they've learned to ignore the "faulty signals" the parasite is sending to their brain.

This doesn't really mean that they've been "cured," though, so it's actually totally possible that one of them will still develop into a balloon head.