[orion]

Originally Posted by Utsuro no Hako

Though both scenes came as the Library was saying that immature bonobos engage in mimicry, which I take to refer to the hugging and not anything overtly sexual.

The giant infordump provided surprisingly little useful info -- mostly it just confirmed what everyone had already guessed -- and actually made some of the mysteries worse (i.e., If the villagers are incapable of violence, what are they doing to the kids who get expelled? What are the two syndromes mentioned if not telekinesis? Where are the normal humans?)

The whole thing with the Library is reminiscent of the one Yusuke Kishi novel published in English:

Spoiler for The Crimson Labyrinth:

In the Crimson Labyrinth, nine people wake in a maze with no memory of how they got there. Each one has a portable game device which contains instructions -- if they want survival gear, take the path east; if they want food, go west; if they want weapons, go south; and if they want information, head north. The hero is the only person who has any interest in the northern route, although a woman decides to accompany him since she doesn't trust the people in the other groups. When they reach the first checkpoint on their path, they find a second game cartridge which contains the real instructions for escaping the maze, along with a warning -- while you might think the people who wanted weapons are the most dangerous, it's really people whose first thought is of food that you should be wary of.

So both works have a common theme about the importance of knowledge, and there does appear to be a similarity between the four factions during the dark age and the four paths in Crimson Labyrinth -- the parallel between the small group that preserved technology and the people who took the information path should be obvious, and the hunter/gatherers probably correspond to the survivalist types who sought the equipment. I'd guess that the raiders correspond to the people who went after food, while those who wanted weapons are more like the slave society.

Hmm.. I disagree.

Spoiler:

I would have gone for the food first and then went traveled back to get the info. You can't travel too far on an empty stomach imo and the food can be used to barter for stuff.