Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is unique in that it presents two separate, though connected, narratives. Perhaps the biggest difference between the two worlds are rates of change. Hard Boiled Wonderland moves remarkably quickly, like the world is in a hurry: the Calcutecs seem remarkably well established and respected, but the narrator reveals that “it’s been less than 10 years since the whole Calcutec profession began” (51). The Calcutecs constantly up their security, while the Semiotecs are constantly improving their counter-technologies. Moreover, it seems as though this change is characterized as being inherently negative: “evolution’s always hard. Hard and bleak. No such thing as happy evolution” (49). Sound is quite literally in the process of being removed from the world. On the other hand, the End of the World is characterized by its stability. Like its wall, the entire city is perfect, or at least perfect in its imperfections. Rules that no one controls govern how everything works, and the inhabitants themselves operate like clockwork, doing their jobs as the rules say to do. There is nothing and nowhere else: the narrator is at the End of the World. The contrasts between the two different places makes one wonder about a middle ground. What is Murakami trying to say by having two such vastly different worlds? I am interested to see what Murakami’s commentary on the worlds is as the novel continues.