Great debate about literature between Owlgildy and Tail Red. I applaud Owlgildy for his discourse. Owlgildy is the literature monster. He has a literature fetish. Or Bungaku-zokusei. But he laments that literature has died today. According to his argument, because of light novels taking over Japan, especially among otaku, Akiba subculture, that “skin colored” girls on the book cover are everywhere in the book stores, even Kinokuniya in the United States. Yes, light novels are the culprit that killed the Japanese traditional literature or “pure literature” as they call it. Yes, we otaku who adore light novels are the one to blame. I also like light novels. It’s easy to read and funny too. They use the language we use, or otaku colloquial, yes zeitgeist thing. That’s why it’s so funny and get connected. That’s why we love it!
In the old time, people also said literature was dead. Ishihara Shintaro wrote “Taiyo No Kisetsu,” which became a social problem in the 1950s. He was using youth language then. But right now, light novels are even more graphic. “Sadistic Moon” oh my gosh, that light novel recently I read, really crazy. Can’t be animenized because too graphic. Man, that makes Ishihara’s novels even look like children books. Yes, festivity for skin colored girls. Yes, a lot of eros, teen eroticism, cutesy, or kawaii moe moe subculture, destroyed traditional Japanese literature. And Owlgildy is the defender of traditional Japanese literature. The Twintail, a guy actually, or Twintail wannabe, strikes down the owl of literature, or sage of literature, and then thus opens the new era of light novel, obliterates pure literature symbolically, which was sublime. It reminds me of Mishima‘s death.
Yes, the good old days when ppl wrote and appreciated pure literature, pure novels. But today, we worship defiled literature, which is light novels. Full of profanity, sacrilegious literature. That is our time, our youth. Taiyou-zoku is dead, and now mousou-zoku is alive!
Oh yes, Nietzsche once said, “God is dead.” Good bye to superstition and science and technology era opened. Now, literature is dead and bishoujo skin color literature has flooded the book stores and Book Offs. Yes, Hegel once said the Bible is the greatest literature. Yes, the Bible was the standard. But that has died. Thus, God is dead. Now, it’s the light novel praising zokusei, and yes, Twintails! That hairstyle can only be seen among cosplayers, maids, anime manga light novel 2D characters! Yes, that is new literature!
Yes, as the final defender of pure literature, Owlgildy’s final death cry would be surely inducted into the anime walk of fame. Just like Raoh from Fist of The North Star, “There is no single piece of regret in my entire life!” 我が生涯に一片の悔いなし！
Oh, I don’t know. I think literature might make a comeback, if we can spread the Dost(oevsky) obsession around the world again!
It’s Shirobako, the PA Works anime about an anime studio. It’s a quietly effective show and very realistic about working life. And the girls are cute too :)