luxucore's review
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
goal of 2023: start writing reviews of books i’ve read but mostly in russian ‘cause i really want to get in touch with russian again
«I think that deep down most people would be tempted to destroy themselves—as long as it didn’t involve any real, bullet-to-the-brain kind of pain.»
удивительным образом японские книги, от которых ничего не ожидаешь, как всегда попадают в самую точку
1) я до третьей части не могли вообще представить куда это уйдёт сюжетно, а такое бывает редко и это надо ценить
2) последние недели я много думаю о том, должно ли искусство, создавая некую метафору внутри себя, проговаривать «вот это метафора!» и еще к тому же добавлять ее расшифровку
раньше мне казалось, что так делать это вообще плохой вкус и это показывает неуважение автора к читателям, но после попытки вставить в один свой сюжет большую метафорическую линию до меня наконец-то дошло, что вообще-то достаточно сложно простыми словами описать то, что в твоей голове существует как метафора
собственно тут очень круто работает метафора, которая билдапится 2/3 книги и ты не понимаешь что это вообще, а потом она резко раскручивается, ты наконец-то понимаешь и дальше читаешь «краткое резюме» метафоры
и удивительно но это работает Очень Хорошо и тебе совсем не кажется что автор держит тебя за дурака — он наоборот сразу несколькими средствами доказывает свой поинт
3) а теперь про поинт!!! боже как он хорош —
Spoiler
мы коллективно создаем монстров, кто-то делает это причиняя вред другим (и запуская у них создание монстров внутри), а кто-то делает это у себя в голове в масштабах horrors beyond human comprehensionи мы не можем осуждать такое поведение, ведь мы все замешаны в этом, осудить сможет только бог, а единственные два взгляда на него в книге: он мёртв или же он настолько compassionate и patient что прощает даже самые страшные вещи
тема с собиранием асуры из детей и тем что реальный убийца-антагонист-ужасный-человек делает это менее жестоко чем главная-героиня-девочка в своей голове — chef’s kiss
хоррор части искренне страшные
zimbellina's review
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
sanamun's review
4.0
Not what I expected it to be, which is not a bad thing. It starts out as a thriller-type deal about a serial killer and a teenage boy's disappearance, before taking a rapid turn into surreal horror, shared conciousness, and a tangent about a Swedish girl named Kerstin who was previously introduced as the main character's alter ego. Its weird, and kind of confusing and hard to follow, but it (mostly) works. Aiko isn't exactly nice or even a particularly good person for most of the book, but I really liked her voice, and it feels pretty true to that of an unstable 17 year old.
kakuzo's review
4.0
“They told me it would be okay, so I went ahead and did it. But of course it got messed up.”
Some quick thoughts after reading Maijo Otaro’s Asura Girl.
Context:
This book was Maijo’s second attempt at writing “pure literature,” (preceded by his short story collection “place of the bear) and it found success by winning the 16th Yukio Mishima Literature award. This is also, quite sadly, his only officially translated novel in English. Other of his works officially translated into English include The Faust short story Drill hole in my brain, and manga series Like ID: INVADED #BRAKE BROKEN, and spotless Love: This Love Cannot Be Any More Beautiful.
Story:
Sex, violence, destruction, youth.
Aiko, the protagonist, is living in quite a weird time. People are rioting in the streets beating and killing middle schoolers in search of the Round-and-round Devil, a murderer who has been tormenting the city of Chofu. One day Aiko’s classmate disappears and she’s the main suspect, and on top of that someone has asked for her head in a social media site called the Voice of Heaven, what the hell will happen?
Enjoyment:
Well, it was a nice book.
A very short read, but some amazing moments.
I can’t say I didn’t have a lot of fun reading it, some of the scenes had me incredibly on edge, wondering what the hell would happen next and how much more bizarre the entire thing would get.
It was a fun read, for the most part, these are my favorite chapters in order(best to worst):
1. Armageddon (amazing, the end of the chapter was so amazingly good).
2. Kickstart my heart (also quite good, it wasn’t as crazy as the other ones but the conclusion really stuck with me. Also, the name of the chapter is so raw).
3. The gate (quite a lot of fun, it had 3 subchapters, the first one was quite tedious and boring, the second one was such a good horror thriller, and the third one was very great).
Translation:
This is the first time I read a Maijo novel in English (and if this tells you anything, I'll definitely have to give it a reread in Japanese).
Before this I’ve read in Japanese Maijo’s: “Smoke, soil or sacrifices” “The childish Darkness” “The world is made out of locked rooms” and “Jorge Joestar”
The translation of Asura girl is great, it does a perfect job of making the book have a good fast flow, and in general quite a great experience.
The only things that I found of the translation tilting me the wrong way were very minuscule:
-In the end, on the author’s profile, Maijo’s first work “Smoke, soil or sacrifices'' was wrongly translated as “smoke, soil or food.” This makes me quite mad as it’s one of my favorite Maijo books, and just spending 30 seconds looking up the book on the internet would’ve shown the correct name for the book. (as the cover of the Japanese edition of smoke soil or sacrifices has the title already in English). Spend some time doing research.
-A reference to Maijo’s Natsukawa saga was lost in translation. In the context of Asura girl this was a perfect translation, but taking into account Maijo’s previous works it was a wrong way of approaching it. I won't type it out as it would spoil smoke, soil, or sacrifices, but it’s a name whose meaning got lost when translated the way Snyder did it.
-The name of the second chapter was translated to “The gate”. In Japanese, the name for this chapter was 三門 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanmon). I agree, a translation of “Sanmon” is quite complex, but come on, in the context of asura girl, and the contents of the chapter just translating it as “Three gates” would’ve been thematically perfect. As Aiko has to go through “3 gates” through the chapter.
The verdict:
Good book, had quite a lot of fun, and more than anything I’m excited to see how it fits in the context of the maijoverse.
Not the best Maijo book I’ve read (At the moment I would place it at the very end on a list from best to worst, but also, I've only read like 4 Maijo books aside from this one).
Maijo definitely can write amazing stories, but in my humble opinion this wasn’t the Maijo book that should’ve gotten officially translated, it has quite a lot of things people who haven’t read Maijo before may not like, and it’s not a great introduction to his works. I can totally see why people gave it such bad scores in Goodreads.
In any case, it had some amazing moments that I really really loved, and Aiko as a narrator is quite interesting, she doesn’t have the best personality nor makes reasonable choices throughout the story but damn are her monologues fun to read.
I’m definitely going to give it a reread in Japanese when I get my hands on a copy. When I do, I don't think my opinion on the book may change, but I’ll definitely see if more things regarding how it was translated into English pop up.
Asura girl by Maijo Otaro is a 7/10 (ooof, it hurts me to rate it so low when I’m such a Maijo big Maijo fan),
Some quick thoughts after reading Maijo Otaro’s Asura Girl.
Context:
This book was Maijo’s second attempt at writing “pure literature,” (preceded by his short story collection “place of the bear) and it found success by winning the 16th Yukio Mishima Literature award. This is also, quite sadly, his only officially translated novel in English. Other of his works officially translated into English include The Faust short story Drill hole in my brain, and manga series Like ID: INVADED #BRAKE BROKEN, and spotless Love: This Love Cannot Be Any More Beautiful.
Story:
Sex, violence, destruction, youth.
Aiko, the protagonist, is living in quite a weird time. People are rioting in the streets beating and killing middle schoolers in search of the Round-and-round Devil, a murderer who has been tormenting the city of Chofu. One day Aiko’s classmate disappears and she’s the main suspect, and on top of that someone has asked for her head in a social media site called the Voice of Heaven, what the hell will happen?
Enjoyment:
Well, it was a nice book.
A very short read, but some amazing moments.
I can’t say I didn’t have a lot of fun reading it, some of the scenes had me incredibly on edge, wondering what the hell would happen next and how much more bizarre the entire thing would get.
It was a fun read, for the most part, these are my favorite chapters in order(best to worst):
1. Armageddon (amazing, the end of the chapter was so amazingly good).
2. Kickstart my heart (also quite good, it wasn’t as crazy as the other ones but the conclusion really stuck with me. Also, the name of the chapter is so raw).
3. The gate (quite a lot of fun, it had 3 subchapters, the first one was quite tedious and boring, the second one was such a good horror thriller, and the third one was very great).
Translation:
This is the first time I read a Maijo novel in English (and if this tells you anything, I'll definitely have to give it a reread in Japanese).
Before this I’ve read in Japanese Maijo’s: “Smoke, soil or sacrifices” “The childish Darkness” “The world is made out of locked rooms” and “Jorge Joestar”
The translation of Asura girl is great, it does a perfect job of making the book have a good fast flow, and in general quite a great experience.
The only things that I found of the translation tilting me the wrong way were very minuscule:
-In the end, on the author’s profile, Maijo’s first work “Smoke, soil or sacrifices'' was wrongly translated as “smoke, soil or food.” This makes me quite mad as it’s one of my favorite Maijo books, and just spending 30 seconds looking up the book on the internet would’ve shown the correct name for the book. (as the cover of the Japanese edition of smoke soil or sacrifices has the title already in English). Spend some time doing research.
-A reference to Maijo’s Natsukawa saga was lost in translation. In the context of Asura girl this was a perfect translation, but taking into account Maijo’s previous works it was a wrong way of approaching it. I won't type it out as it would spoil smoke, soil, or sacrifices, but it’s a name whose meaning got lost when translated the way Snyder did it.
-The name of the second chapter was translated to “The gate”. In Japanese, the name for this chapter was 三門 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanmon). I agree, a translation of “Sanmon” is quite complex, but come on, in the context of asura girl, and the contents of the chapter just translating it as “Three gates” would’ve been thematically perfect. As Aiko has to go through “3 gates” through the chapter.
The verdict:
Good book, had quite a lot of fun, and more than anything I’m excited to see how it fits in the context of the maijoverse.
Not the best Maijo book I’ve read (At the moment I would place it at the very end on a list from best to worst, but also, I've only read like 4 Maijo books aside from this one).
Maijo definitely can write amazing stories, but in my humble opinion this wasn’t the Maijo book that should’ve gotten officially translated, it has quite a lot of things people who haven’t read Maijo before may not like, and it’s not a great introduction to his works. I can totally see why people gave it such bad scores in Goodreads.
In any case, it had some amazing moments that I really really loved, and Aiko as a narrator is quite interesting, she doesn’t have the best personality nor makes reasonable choices throughout the story but damn are her monologues fun to read.
I’m definitely going to give it a reread in Japanese when I get my hands on a copy. When I do, I don't think my opinion on the book may change, but I’ll definitely see if more things regarding how it was translated into English pop up.
Asura girl by Maijo Otaro is a 7/10 (ooof, it hurts me to rate it so low when I’m such a Maijo big Maijo fan),
rachelcabbit's review
3.0
What a crazy book. It starts off as I expected from a Japanese novel - gritty, open with a flawed and believable teen narrator with serious issues.
Then it all goes a bit too weird.
Aiko has an alter-ego she retreats to sometimes -a Swedish girl called Kirsten. At one point we get a crazy over-long, dream sequence, followed by a gruesome fairy tale starring Kirsten.
I found it both difficult to follow and yet interesting but by the end it all sort of made sense and came together - even if it was a bit rushed. However, it bothers me that a plot point remained unresolved.
Good read though. Weird, but I find most Japanese novels gave a slight eccentricity to them!
Then it all goes a bit too weird.
Aiko has an alter-ego she retreats to sometimes -a Swedish girl called Kirsten. At one point we get a crazy over-long, dream sequence, followed by a gruesome fairy tale starring Kirsten.
I found it both difficult to follow and yet interesting but by the end it all sort of made sense and came together - even if it was a bit rushed. However, it bothers me that a plot point remained unresolved.
Good read though. Weird, but I find most Japanese novels gave a slight eccentricity to them!
felizacasano's review
3.0
(Read the full review at Girls in Capes.)
Asura Girl opens with Aiko reflecting, in the first person, on the loss of her self-respect because she’s just had sex with a boy in her class out of sheer curiosity, and he ended up being a creep. Needless to say, this is sort of an odd start to a book, especially one that — based on its description — I’d assumed was supposed to be aimed at a young adult reader.
I realized by the end of the third page that this book definitely wasn’t intended for what the US considers the teen market, though I wouldn’t be shocked if it worked for the Japanese market. The language is rough the way a scrappy teenager’s language is always rough, and the violent and sexual content makes it much better for older audiences.
Asura Girl opens with Aiko reflecting, in the first person, on the loss of her self-respect because she’s just had sex with a boy in her class out of sheer curiosity, and he ended up being a creep. Needless to say, this is sort of an odd start to a book, especially one that — based on its description — I’d assumed was supposed to be aimed at a young adult reader.
I realized by the end of the third page that this book definitely wasn’t intended for what the US considers the teen market, though I wouldn’t be shocked if it worked for the Japanese market. The language is rough the way a scrappy teenager’s language is always rough, and the violent and sexual content makes it much better for older audiences.
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