'Soul Eater' manga ~ some like it hot, huh?

It would be unfair if I said that this is one of the best shounen manga I have read. In fact, I've never read anything bad among long shounen series. 'Kenshin' was astonishing, I read the 28 volumes of it in my native language in some 4 or 5 days. 'Letter Bee' was a very serious intoxicating thing and I'm waiting for it to be completed so that I read it to the end. 'Jing' was an extremely weird and extremely interesting adventure.

Therefore, it's better to put it this way: 'Soul Eater' is the next item in my collection of wonderful shounen pieces, which proves once again that this genre is a source of extremely rare gems.

story and characters

Call me sexist or whatever, but female mangakas never create stories like this. Even if they make a fantasy story, it'll be about a cute girl in a beautiful dress and a bunch of hot knights. The best thing that ever managed to get away from it is 'Slayers'. Of course, there are a few other examples. But surely, you won't see an androgynous child say 'do you know where true hell is? it's inside your head'. In katakana.

Of course, a male mangaka means that there'll be something for boys to enjoy...

But that doesn't mean there's nothing for girls to enjoy. Unlike most shoujo, shounen does not mean that an extremely lame male character saves the world and gets all the girls. No, instead there are enough naked male torsos to look at

and occasional surprises to have a nosebleed with.
I mean, isn't he hot?
Isn't he?

 In case he's too young for you, have a few high-schoolers for dessert.

But that's not the point. Of course, it's not. The point is that the left side is lower than the right, and the symmetry is broken!

Okay, okay, enough with that. To be honest, this manga won my heart with a long black dress of the Heroine

You've got me, I was just kidding.
To sum it up, 'Soul Eater' is complete madness. Madness is the main theme of the manga, madness if the greatest enemy of the protagonists, but in fact, madness fills up every single page of this work.
And in the end, the true madness is really inside the head - inside the head of the author. However, this is the case I'll gladly follow it.
What I wanted to say with all these images is that this manga is gorgeous. Because the characters are hot because they are cool (now this was a real coincidence). Because they are hot exactly because they are strong, because they are ready to support each other whatever happens, because without those things whey could not win. Because when some sh*t happens, the author makes us laugh at some stupid detail like that symmetry thing or silly actions of major characters. Because right after something stupid he again makes the reader shiver and long for more, because it's impossible to let go of those wonderful people, each having his own personality and therefore personal reasons and motives, in a pinch.
I mean, this is epic.
And you know what I liked the best? The fact that, unlike most happy-ending stories, this happy end was not entirely happy like in 'happily ever after'. I don't like tragedies and dramatic bad ends, but that does not mean I like those kinds of stories where everything comes to an end and there's nothing more to tell. The greatest thing in 'Soul Eater' is that the enemy is not completely defeated, which means there will be more adventures ahead and there are still some goals not yet achieved, and the story does not end here where we part with the characters. That's much more positive and promising than when mangaka shows us how happy the characters are to finally settle down and never ever have to fight again.

graphics
It is almost strange and difficult now to recall that the first volumes give an impression that the author is 'slightly' inexperienced or at least has a very strange style. In general, the graphics gets only better with time, and every next volume makes the style more and more sophisticated, which I personally think to be important for a mangaka.
It's a rare phenomenon for me that a mangaka does not simply draw nice lines and clear contours, but bothers to create an explicit impression with his work. When necessary, mr. Ookubo even uses unusual for manga bold brushstrokes.

 When necessary, he emphasises that what needs to be felt rather than simply read.

And does not spare black colour, when necessary, writing monologues and inner thoughts of characters to make the reader taste them better.

And my favourite trick would be one page filled with black and covered with strange white stripes. At a closer inspection, it seems to be the author's fingerprints covering the whole page. But I won't show it to you because that's something you'd better find and examine yourself.

language
I would separately mention the wording in the manga, too. What I noticed it that the author was frequently using phrases that were tasty to pronounce like this line by Tesca Triptoca:
とことん混沌 (tokoton konton) - 'a complete chaos'
Another pleasant aspect for a person who understands the original language is repetitions of words and phrases that have key meaning for the story:
月だって歯が抜けてかみ合わないのに (tsuki datte ha ga nukete kamiawanai no ni) - 'even the moon cannot do it well (does not 'gear' well) because it lacks teeth' - the verb 'kamiau' that literally means 'bite each other', which was used several times with the meaning 'complement each other', 'get along well', here is used in relevance to the moon that literally lacked teeth, which made the verb have a double meaning.

conclusion
Were there any minus points? Oh yes, there were. Some meaningless deaths that are explained by nothing else but the fact that it's a shounen and it has to deal with this topic, otherwise it won't look like a real war. That's what one would have to put up with. However, I'm sure you've noticed already, I do love this manga. It was one of the best things I've ever read, let's not say anything about its genre. The perfect balance between different aspects of what manga is makes it stand out greatly. Incredibly interesting story with profoundly elaborated characters and unexpected twists, a hint on romance between some charactesr, but before that - other feelings, devotion, belief, trust, friendship and support, sacrifice and peace-making.
And the humour that made me ROFL from the 1st to the last volume.
Because, you know...
If you thought there would be something here, you're an idiot!!

 Even if you turn the page over, it's the same, you idiot!!

Now this page is extremely 'natsukashii' - nostalgic for me, because I still remember so well my first visit to Osaka with its symbol.

Oh, and personal thanks to mr. Ookubo for introducing Russia into the plot.

'Special A' manga ~ that awkward moment when you realise you're actually sad that it came to an end, though you're happy you've finally finished reading

If you look at the back of the volume, you'll see this manga described as 'rabukome', or love comedy, it's how this genre is called in Japan. However, in case of 'Special A', there is much more comedy than there is love, and that's why it's surely not my favourite.

story and characters

Well, I can't help comparing 'Special A' with 'Maid-sama'. There are too many similar situations and aspects. However, 'Special A' lost to 'Maid-sama' in all possible ways.

If in 'Maid-sama' all 'transformations' and all silly situations could be somehow explained, even though they were created entirely for fun, in 'Special A' the level of absurdity was reaching to the sky.
I do admit those situations were hilarious and the way the mangaka dealt with them was worthy of praise, but you cannot live on humour when you're reading shoujo. It's not just a comedy, it's a love comedy.
So here it comes - the main point. If in 'Maid-sama' the romance bloomed soon after the beginning, in 'Special A' the Heroine was even more dumb and the Hero was much more scared of scaring her (pun intended) with his feelings and much less self-confident. Let's take the confession by the Hero. When did Usui make it? Volume 1, chapter 4. When did Kei properly make a confession? Volume 8. Even when mangaka happened to show mercy and draw something that was supposed to be romantic, it was not. At least not in the way that makes a girl feel that dokidoki thing, sigh with envy or hold her breath.
Okay, maybe the author was busy with something else? Of course she was, instead of one major couple she divided her attention to a number of couples. All Hikari's friends had their eyes set on someone. To be even more precise, as soon as a character happened to be single for some reason, miss Minami felt her divine duty to make him or her find a partner. Even minor character like Alise were not left aside. On one hand, it's much better than a manga centering on two people and leaving no space for others. Of course, I liked the fact that there was more interaction between characters who were not involved in a relationship than it usually is in a shoujo (even in 'Maid-sama'). Like the fact that SA members were all good friends, or how Aoi, Finn, Sakura and Yahiro and others were welcomed into their group.
And though this seems just right and kind of the mangaka, it's not an entirely good thing. Not only this fact, but also the fact that there were a lot of not-so-necessary fillers was making the manga just boring. I mean, when the reader wants something to stir his mind and to penetrate his skin down ho his nerves, it's not a chapter about one more school festival where Hikari one more time helps some random girl (believing that she must have her own reason) that the reader wants to see. Moreover, even if other couples are introduced, there must be at least some progress in their relationship, too, because otherwise there's no meaning. However, romantic moments were scarce - if those count as romantic at all, most relationships were only hinted at, and that's surely not enough to feel any compassion.
I must praise miss Minami's sense of humour, not to let you think it's completely unworthy of reading. I liked a lot Hikari's attitude like '- Hey, Hikari, do you have any business in this class? - Why should I? I was just passing by'

However, all that image was spoilt by occasional 'she's just a girl' scenes. While my favourite Misaki was never shown to be a loser, even in moments when it was apparently impossible for her to win, Hikari was constantly getting into such situations, and moreover - giving up, such as when she was pathetically crying for help at Aoi's house.

And though I was not disappointed very much with such image, finally Hikari was just a cheerful positive cute girl.
One,

 two,

 three,

 four,

 and many more times.

In fact, exactly like Usui in 'Maid-sama', Kei also admitted it's impossible to win to Hikari because she's so stubborn and never-giving-up. However, while Misaki was an undoubtedly standing-out heroine, in 'Special A' Hikari was dangerously close to those good-for-nothing girls whose role is limited to lighting the Hero's way with their broad smiles.

graphics
And graphics in 'Special A' is a thing that's the most mysterious in Minami Maki.
First of all, her style looks like she made no progress even after creating 17 volumes. Even if you look at the last pages of this manga, there will be the same lame faces like in the first one. However, it's not that she is a completely bad artist. From the very beginning she proved she is able to create extremely detailed beautiful pictures that look as if there is real movement in them.

 And just a few pages away there are frames that make me thing I opened the wrong manga.

 But then she demonstrates her ability again.

And you see this wonderful frame...

and then you slide down the page and see a lame picture again.

And then I think, maybe she was drunk? Or at least tired? Or maybe she is a kind person who sometimes lets her assistance draw some frames instead of her?
What I do acknowledge is that she, like other mangakas whom I respect, is able to convey the characters' feelings with the way they look.

Miss Minami surely did a great job capturing moments that were important for the story, together with the characters' feelings inside and making those moments last just a bit longer for the reader than they did in reality.

There were also attempts to create unusual visual images, like on this chapter cover.

But what I want to mention here is that she is obviously a fan of different kinds of inscriptions, and I'm grateful for that.
'WHY? - it's in American. Nice!'

 'here's a helicopter'

Sometimes she was even expressing thorough sarcasm towards the genre she's working in
'shoujo-manga eyes with not a single cloud in them' (and it's a boy)

and sometimes she used grotesque-styled images that really fit the comical situations she created.

conclusion
I'm never giving any points out of ten or stars out of five. So it's not about the mark I give. If I were asked whether this manga goes by plus or by minus, I'd give it a plus. I laughed a lot and I began to think the characters dear to me so that I was even sad when I saw the last page. That, however, does not erase the fact I have been reading 17 volumes for 5 weeks, which is extremely long.

Man with a Mission ~ one of the few artists featured in J-melo that I'm not ashamed with

Of course, wearing wolves' heads makes them stand out even more, but on the other hand, no one knows their faces and it means they surely don't aim to be recognised on streets and thus run after cheap fame.

In fact, I downloaded their albums much earlier than I saw them in J-melo which proves I found them somewhere in the web and even decided to give them a try. Why I decided to listen to their songs 3 weeks ago is just that they were the next in alphabetical order in the list after those I'd already listened to. And I must say, unlike that sh... well, that boring, face-only girls idol groups or boys-bands promoted by J-melo from one week to another as if there's nobody else to tell about, Man with a Mission are a one-of-a-kind band with unique sound. I do like their style a lot, and that's explained by the fact they have not only a vocalist and a guitarist and a drummer, but also a rapper, a DJ and an almost perfect English.

Oh yes, I have to underline that again - three weeks is a long period for me to listen to only one band. MWAM may be proud =)

nomination 'best song for jumping'

If I were asked, what song can be a representative of Wolves' art, I'd name 'Fly Away'. It's an extremely energetic song, and when I heard it for the first time, while walking down the street on a sunny but windy day in early April, I felt I was blown away by the 'YAAAAAAAAY' in its last chorus.

I couldn't sit still or stand still whenever I heard it.

The next song that shares the glory of winning in this nomination would be 'Bubble of life'

nomination 'Best ballad'

It happened the same day, just half an hour before I heard 'Fly Again' as I raised my head to the sky and saw the bright spring sun.

However, it's not my favourite ballad by MWAM, I got bored with it soon. What I choose as the best song of such kind is 'akatsuki'

nomination 'best song ever'

Sometimes there are songs that don't simply inspire or impress, they sound like you've never heard anything better and even if you cease to exist the next moment, you'll have no regrets because you've heard it. 'Babylon' is just one perfect song that consists of several different by melody parts, and is not just a song but more like a short story - from what I understand, a happy ending one, moreover the cover of the album suggest there IS a story. By the way, the short intro of the same album named 'Tales of purefly' is a great instrumental piece and I like it a lot.

Other songs that I'd recommend by MWAM are

'Don't lose yourself'

'Emotions'

'Distance'

and their latest single, 'Seven deadly sins'

A few songs, like 'Hasta la Vista', 'Dance Everybody', or 'Wake myself again' are also interesting.

best cover

No comment... Or so I'd like to say, but in fact I want to say that I consider this a rare example of a cover when the new song does justice to the original but introduces something original and peculiar to the covering artist without spoiling the song itself.

best 'Westernised song'
Surely 'Searching life'

nomination 'Most boring song'

All ballads except for those two and probably 'Moratorium' were too plain for me - especially 'Colours', 'White World' and 'Chasing Sunrise', which does not mean these are bad songs, but it's just that they're so 'westernised' or how should I put it? Just you average, mediocre slow song accompanied by guitar.

conclusion

Overall number of original songs (compilations and best albums are not included) - 61

Number of songs I put to my playlist (in other words, those I didn't become bored with and that inspired me) - 12

Percentage of songs that got into the playlist - 19.7%, which is almost one fifth. An extremely good result.

'The Great Gatsby', book ~ the book that made me love Art Nouveau

I just remembered this fact yesterday. This book is responsible for making me interested in Art Nouveau. The reason is simple, but it's not what you'd expect.

A series consisting of three books with Fitzgerald's novels was published in 1996 and so, I remember it on one of our bookshelves since I was small. Not yet acquainted with Art Nouveau, or Mucha, I was simply drawn to its cover, as a child. I imagined the contents to be mysterious and magical, because such beautiful pictures could not be put on covers of bad books. However, I grew to know who Fitzgerald was and what kind of stories he wrote. And I lost interest to the books. The dream to find a wonderful fairy-tale inside those books was gone.

story and characters

Now that I've read it, I feel sympathy towards Gatsby even less than I did after watching the movie. Call it the chemistry of acting, but maybe it were the crew, the screenplay and directing, the actors, finally, who made the story so attractive.

In the end, I pitied the Gatsby in the book much less than in the movie, and Daisy was much less a woman alive and much more a doll who loved rich life. I mean, she was really crying because of fascination by J's shirts sent from England. And he was really a man who loved her image in his mind, but not her the way she was.

One thing that I consider important in the book in contrast to the movie where this detail was left out, is the schedule of young Getz.

Rise from bed……………. 6.00 a.m

Dumbbell exercise and wall-scaling…… 6.15-6.30 ”
Study electricity, etc………… 7.15-8.15 ”
Work………………… 8.30-4.30 p.m
Baseball and sports…………. 4.30-5.00 ”
Practice elocution, poise and how to attain it 5.00-6.00 ”
Study needed inventions……….. 7.00-9.00 ”

General Resolves

No wasting time at Shafters or [a name, indecipherable]

No more smokeing or chewing

Bath every other day

Read one improving book or magazine per week

Save $5.00 {crossed out} $3.00 per week

Be better to parents

To do without trifle and trite comments about 'American dream', this was one more thing that made me sure about what type of information metabolism Gatsby had. A perfect LIE (ENTj) for you.

style

I guess, this was an easy book for me. Well, since I didn't read it in the original. The style was not boring and was not excessively flowery or artificial, and was not straightforward, too. The only strange thing about the translation was that how they perceive the word cool in the following part:

“Who wants to go to town?” demanded Daisy insistently. Gatsby’s eyes floated toward her. “Ah,” she cried, “you look so cool.”
Their eyes met, and they stared together at each other, alone in space. With an effort she glanced down at the table.
“You always look so cool,” she repeated.
She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw. He was astounded. His mouth opened a little, and he looked at Gatsby, and then back at Daisy as if he had just recognized her as some one he knew a long time ago.

“You resemble the advertisement of the man,” she went on innocently. “You know the advertisement of the man ——”

Was is that Gatsby was cool amidst the hot summer day, like the book said? Or that he was an ideal man, like Daisy said in the movie? Or that he was cool even though he was going to have a serious conversation? Or all of that? I guess, it's left to the imagination of the readers, anyway.

conclusion
Most part of American literature is not for me. Hemingway, Shaw, Dreiser... Such books just feel like an obligation, because it's classics, it's not good not to know them. Now Fitzgerald joins the row. However, I cannot possibly deny that it's educating. And I guess I don't have any regrets.
Still, to be honest, I'm not sure I'd decide to read it, finally, if not for the movie.

'The Great Gatsby' ~ I won't write 'will you still love me' in the title, ok?

Probably the second time (ever?) I like a realistic story with a not-so-good ending, to leave my post without spoilers.

story and characters

Like I said, I'm not a fan of stories about how harsh the reality is. I'm a fan of fantastic stories of how harsh the reality is. Or fantastic stories about how great it is to live. Or not fantastic, but stories about how great it is to live.

And still 'Gatsby' is a story that does not leave that terrible aftertaste of 'I don't want such stories to exist' or 'make me unsee it'. I guess the main reason is that the story was extremely logical and there were no 'odd' details, nothing unnecessary, no fillers that didn't affect the finale.

However, it does not mean I liked it very much. It's not that I felt any respect to Gatsby himself, because he's a typical 'American dream', or to Daisy, who's just a 'pretty woman', or Nick, who's just an ordinary man overly impressed with one neighbour because he wasn't ordinary. And as a love story, I prefer different kinds of stories.
And what I didn't like at all was the fact that though separate scenes were good, the general narration was not smooth enough and didn't create an impression of a whole movie. Looked like the people responsible for gluing everything together had no time.
And by the way... it does not make a movie 'true to the original' if you simply use quotations from the book. Just in case you wondered.

acting

My Mom warned me that DiCaprio is a good actor. So I was prepared. I mean, I did think of him as of some handsome guy who knows he's handsome and there's nothing more to it. Until my Mom told me he's actually good. And I had no reason to distrust her perfect sense.

So I was prepared... but I wasn't ready. So I was surprised. Or at least, I was pleased to see it's true. That's a rare gem - a person who can express emotions with something other than repeating words written in the script.

I think I'd also note Elizabeth Debicki, who turned out to be much younger than I thought, but who was like a moving poster from twenties.

Others didn't impress me very much.

music

Since I knew how the creators treated the epoch, I wasn't surprised to see the party dancing to some club music, or to hear 'Crazy in love' turned into a jazz song. And I have to say I'm not against such experiments.

By the way, I didn't understand what 'Will you still love me' has to do with 'Gatsby'. I mean, the lyrics have nothing in common with the story. The song is beautiful, but it's just that I'm not sure in this choice.

visual

Many people are dissatisfied with costumes, interiors and exteriors in the movie. I'll disagree. It's not a classical historical film. It's an experiment that wants to show the world as seen by the director, not how it really was. I guess the idea of the creators reached my mind, and I appreciate that they conveyed their own view to me.

conclusion

The movie is very good. From what I see, people who didn't like it either complain about the story which was written by Fitzgerald, not screenplay writers, or didn't understand the vivid atmosphere which was created on purpose, and not to make fun of the original.

Nevertheless, I guess I'll read the original. I mean, it's embarrassing to say I only know Fitzgerald by movies.

Хочешь есть - съешь грушу. После целой, сладкой груши есть не хочется вообще. Да и вообще ничего не хочется. Так что хочешь чего-то - съешь грушу.

нет большего расстройства, чем когда ты узнаешь, что серебристый корпус смартфона, о котором ты так мечтал, сбоку отделан золотой полоской

Пособия по японскому собственного производства ~ Кто умеет - делает, кто не умеет - учит других

Если смотреть на объективные показатели, то может показаться, что я знаю японский. Это совсем не так. Таким образом, следуя завещанию товарища Шоу, я предпочитаю второе.

А теперь, когда я это сказала, все недовольные приглашаются в сад.

Немного скучной предыстории

Когда моя знакомая попросила меня заниматься японским с ее сестрой, которая увлекается японской культурой, у меня и в мыслях не было брать в руки существующий учебник и идти строго по нему. Конечно, часть распечаток я брала из университетских учебников и в интернете, но давать чужие задания было для меня просто неинтересно. Я могу, конечно, долго описывать, что я избрала индивидуальный подход к ребенку и поэтому делала задания, основанные на просмотренном аниме, но если честно, я просто не упускала шанса повеселиться самой. Это же относится и к моей мотивации при составлении справочных материалов. Мне просто было интересно находить примеры на разные случаи.

Всякие там "Минны" - это прекрасно, но сколько можно читать диалоги специалиста Майка Миллера из Америки и какого-нибудь студента из Азии?

А я объясню. Потом эти люди, которые прошли "Минну" или что там еще у нас берут, начинают думать, что они знают японский, и делать субтитры или сканлейт, вводя весь фан-клуб в заблуждение своим переводом, путая похоже звучащие слова, не замечая залогов, не зная сленговых выражений или используя дословный перевод по словарю, делающий выражение неживым и даже неуместным.

Мое мышление, как и у всех рационалов, - от частного к общему, я не могу последовательно обучать человека, которому просто надо уметь представиться, рассказать о себе и обсудить "Поющего принца", ну или договориться о покупке пары подержанных Тойот, потому что я не могу, объясняя тему, рассказать лишь об одном ее аспекте.

В связи с этим то, что я пишу, нельзя считать учебником - это, скорее, справочные материалы для тех, кто уже немного в курсе, но хотел бы уточнить, освежить или закрепить. И еще для тех, кто не боится сразу окунаться в тему с головой, не переживая, что чего-то он еще не знает.

Последний подход я считаю вполне нормальным. Вовсе необязательно знать все, что встречается в примерах, - переводы даны рядом, а грамматики сложной в них нет.

В общем, вот ссылки.

Сарказм, сленг, разговорные выражения, придуривание и прочая гадость присутствует.

Все материалы постоянно редактируются и совершенствуются, поэтому финальной ни одну из представленных версий считать нельзя.

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Объяснение принципов, которые позволяют отнести глагол к тому или иному спряжению, и разницы в подходах к такому разделению. А также куча негодования по поводу преподавания глаголов в вежливой форме.

fits perfectly. Man with a Mission and sunny April afternoon

Climbing uphill towards the sun. It's July in the song, but it's April around me. It's raining in the earphones, but it's sunny today. Who cares if the song makes the scenery look so beautiful. There is another song - 'akatsuki', and it's about April sakura, which would be more suitable. But I cannot lie to myself. The song that fits this day perfectly is 'Rain of July'.

associations. a white song

If you ask me what the colour of this song is, I will say - it is white, with some golden sunshine mixed. It is the colour of my teenage, of bright afternoon after school, of calm and peaceful days.

I do respect Enya a lot and this feeling has not changed. But I doubt I will ever be able to listen to her songs again.

Those white days are gone.

Banana Yoshimoto's 'N. P.' ~ this was the first attempt and will be the last

Every time I give a Japanese novel a try, I feel like I'm about to throw out I'll never try to do that again.
Have you ever seen silent moments in Japanese films or anime? Like, blue sky and cicadas singing in the background to create an image of summer? Or hydrangeas close-up with raindrops flowing down the flowers? That's what Banana's story is full of - she's constantly describing details and surroundings to convey what situation the heroine was in, what she heard, what she saw, and therefore felt, and therefore remembered. And that's a good thing, because such memorable moments are exactly that what deserves to be written about.
'A cupboard on the left.
A green refrigerator.
A wall with pictures necessary for work.
A bed by the window.
A bottle with coins.
A big parrot.'
However, do such descriptions make up for all the other faults of the book? Nope.
Do other aspects of the book spoil the little positive impression that those meticulous depictions sometimes succeeded to make? Oh yes.
It was all good to read about pink and silver advertising posters hanging down from street lights on the street the heroine was crossing, until it got really boring because there were too many of those 'posters' that were described so precisely it was really meaningless. We all joke about how teachers of literature in Russian schools explain to us what the author was trying to convey by introducing a blue curtain or a big oak into his story, but this is the opposite: those street lights, those voices of children interfering with the phone talk, those faces with dark eyes or faces like sunflower, were all vain, trite, tasteless and unnecessary. They all lead to nothing, and were connected to nothing, and contributed to nothing.
But Banana's of course considered to be a ground-breaker with her bold usage of themes that are supposed to be a taboo. Supposed only, because they are simply thrown into a big pot like whole uncut vegetables, and we never actually learn what they taste like. Because nothing happens. And one cannot feel satiated with only blank pictures trying to create an atmosphere. Well, if you're creating an atmosphere it should at least be worthy of creating. I can understand it when Hugo describes roofs of Paris, but who cares if the posters the heroine saw were pink or orange?
So what do we have inside the soup? The heroine is a girl whose boyfriend committed suicide while translating a novel written by a man who also committed suicide after writing a story about a father who sleeps with his daughter, which is based on his own experience of sleeping with his daughter, and leaving copies of it to his son and daughter who later sleep with each other, too, and look like they are about to commit suicide, too, with the daughter trying to kill the heroine before dying because she didn't want to die alone. Say that again?

Even those Western novels I've read, like Zweigh's stories or Shaw's Nightwork, that I considered boring when I read them, seem to have more meaning in their contents than this book.
'...endless string of street lights,
multicolored lights of cars,
beeps,
distant barking of dogs,
some noises on the road,
people's voices,
their steps,
the sound of shutters rattling in the wind,
hot air,
asphalt heated during the day,
distant smells of summer.'
So what?
And if you're hoping that dialogues can change the mood of this book then you're wrong. It's not entirely a delirium, but it's a 'stream of consciousness', and that consciousness just fails to make any particular impression or explain what the emotions or thoughts of the characters were. It's not a complete word salad, because sentences make sense (haha), but that's almost on the verge of being an example of schizophasia.
'- Got burnt a little. - Otohiko smiled, and then said: - It must be because lately I have spoken almost to nobody.
 - Or maybe because of the fire.
 - Or because of the wind.
 - Sea makes one reveal his mind and soul.
 - It's so nice to talk with you, even about trifles!
 - Whatever you speak about, the waves carry away your words.
 - It makes you feel free!
 - So true. The wine is warm, but tasty.
 - I'll put it in the fridge.
 - There already is one.
 - It's good that I went with you.'
erm...
I guess I'm not cut out to read Japanese fiction at all.

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