Questions about punctuation in a light novel


I have the first time of No game No life in Japanese. However, there are some
things that puzzled me quite a bit about the punctuation. As you can see in
the photo, I don't understand the reason why some words are in square brackets
(which I have circled in yellow). Also, I don't really see the usefulness of
the black dots that are to the right of kanji and kana (indicated by a red
arrow).[![No game No life, page 11,
prologue](https://i.stack.imgur.com/tchzS.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/tchzS.jpg)




Both methods are for emphasizing something, but they are used a little
differently.

Brackets are used to emphasize important keywords and words with non-standard
meanings. Their role partly overlaps [scare
quotes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scare_quotes) in English, but Japanese
people tend to use them extensively just for highlighting words ([example
1](https://twitter.com/ozantinnippon/status/554800778188042240), [example
2](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/29341/5010)). In light novels, you'll
notice magic spells and skill names are commonly enclosed in them, too.
Various types of brackets are used according to the writer's preference (eg
`「」`, `『』`, `【】`, `《》`), and there is usually no significant difference.
They're used really often, so you'll get used to them soon. In this case, the
words 願望/噂 _may or may not_ have some special meaning in the story. You'll see
as you read on and understand his writing style.

On the other hand, those dots are technically called
[[圏点]{けんてん}](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/15270/5010), and they mark
something important in the story. Their role is pretty much the same as
italics or bolding (or sometimes all-caps) in English. Sometimes it works as a
foreshadowing, so you may want to read and think twice. Less commonly, they
are also used to highlight an uncommon kana word (e.g. dialect) to reduce
misreading.




Both methods are for emphasizing something, but they are used a little
differently.

Brackets are used to emphasize important keywords and words with non-standard
meanings. Their role partly overlaps [scare
quotes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scare_quotes) in English, but Japanese
people tend to use them extensively just for highlighting words ([example
1](https://twitter.com/ozantinnippon/status/554800778188042240), [example
2](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/29341/5010)). In light novels, you'll
notice magic spells and skill names are commonly enclosed in them, too.
Various types of brackets are used according to the writer's preference (eg
`「」`, `『』`, `【】`, `《》`), and there is usually no significant difference.
They're used really often, so you'll get used to them soon. In this case, the
words 願望/噂 _may or may not_ have some special meaning in the story. You'll see
as you read on and understand his writing style.

On the other hand, those dots are technically called
[[圏点]{けんてん}](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/15270/5010), and they mark
something important in the story. Their role is pretty much the same as
italics or bolding (or sometimes all-caps) in English. Sometimes it works as a
foreshadowing, so you may want to read and think twice. Less commonly, they
are also used to highlight an uncommon kana word (e.g. dialect) to reduce
misreading.

