Maou (2008)

This has to be one of the best series I have ever seen.  The story was just so absorbing and suspenseful.  The central characters were all interesting and magnetic.  A wonderfully delivered plot, plus great performances, plus a smorgasbord of themes, made this an intensely gripping and emotional story. 

The title is literally translated as “devil king”.  That’s because the central character is a lawyer who’s being dubbed as “angelic” for his reputation for clearing accused people who were really innocent of their purported crime.  In truth, though, this lawyer is very carefully manipulating his clients and his entire career in order to stage a vengeance that took him eleven years to plan and execute.  When he was seventeen years old, Manaka Tomoo’s brother was accidentally stabbed by a classmate named Serizawa.  

It all began there.  Slowly but surely with each episode all the events that led up to Manaka’s bitter search for vengeance unfolds.  Death comes one by one to people who were related to the case.  Serizawa, who now has become a police detective, tries to unravel the mysteries surrounding the deaths caused by a mysterious figure called Amano Makoto.  Eventually Serizawa finds out the truth about the deaths that seem to be hounding his friends and family and their connection to the painful past that he has been trying to overcome since the unfortunate incident eleven years ago.  Unfortunately, the tides cannot be turned anymore.  Manaka and Serizawa must confront each other and face the consequences of their actions, and the series comes to an appropriately tragic conclusion.

The series dealt with some very serious themes, including guilt and atonement, closeness to one’s family, loyalty to one’s friends, betrayal, justice, sacrifice, and the redemptive power of forgiveness.  It also had a supernatural element, represented as a psychic ability possessed by Manaka’s love interest.  That particular aspect of the story gave the entire series even more depth because although Manaka finds love and the hope of happiness, he ultimately sees himself unworthy of anything good – love, forgiveness, or joy.  I was truly enthralled by the story, its twists and turns, and the unexpected ways Manaka delivered his vengeance.  He was so dead set on it that he gave up his entire life for the fulfilment of his crusade.  The pacing was excellent, and the characters were all flawlessly portrayed.  I highly recommend this series to all who are looking for something of a detective thriller/mystery, because you will definitely get much more than you expect.  Maou has quickly become one of my most favourite series of all time.  

More information on Maou.

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald

This is probably the third or fourth time that I’ve read this book, and it still unfailingly captivates me.  I was in high school when I first read it and I’ve loved it ever since. I decided to reread it because I saw the trailer for the new Baz Luhrman movie that’s coming out soon.  I can’t wait to watch that film, and see for myself if it does the book justice.  I’ve heard this book deemed as the “great American novel” before, so that movie has a lot of expectant pressure riding on it.

So many things have been said of this book, so I won’t go into its nitty-gritty anymore.  Suffice it to say that it’s definitely one of my favorite stories, and I’ve always had a crush on Jay Gatsby.  I’ve always felt that Daisy didn’t deserve him.  But then, I don’t think Gatsby would be so enigmatic and charming, and everything else he is, without Daisy to motivate his actions. 

I love the lyricism of the story, the images that the words conjure.  I love the vivid detail that went into the description – music, the sounds of wine glasses and high heels, the smell of cigarette smoke, the sultry stares of the partying guests at the mansion, and the fancy cars.  You fall into that world, and you feel the characters’ excitement, their longings, and their regrets.  It’s a wonderfully colorful, thoughtful, and tragic world.  Please read it and enjoy, as countless others have. 

More on this:

An analysis of The Great Gatsby
More on F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea - Yukio Mishima

The premise goes:

The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea  tells of a band of savage thirteen-year-old boys who reject the adult world as illusory, hypocritical, and sentimental, and train themselves in a brutal callousness they call “objectivity”.  When the mother of one of them begins an affair with a ship’s officer, he and his friends idealise the man at first; but it is not long before they conclude that he is in fact soft and romantic.  The regard their disappointment in him as an act of betrayal on his part, and react violently.

This book reminded me so strongly of another favorite, William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies because of the particular feature involving youths exhibiting unrestrained cruelty.  In this book, the scene where they brutally slaughter the cat is one of the most horrific that I have ever encountered.  As I read it my heart pounded madly and goosebumps rose on the skin of my arms – it was rendered in such gruesome detail and the narration felt like it would never end.  I asked myself how anyone could have justified what felt like such an unnecessarily violent scene, but as I read the book to the end I realized of course that it was important and was actually a stroke of genius on the author’s part.  Mishima was indeed a great literary master.

The main characters are Noboru, a thirteen-year-old boy with a fascination for ships and the sea.  He belonged to a gang of smart, yet disillusioned boys of the same age, led by “The Chief”.  Noboru’s widowed mother, Fusako, runs a shop that specializes in western luxury fashion items.  She enters into an affair with Ryuji, a Second Mate, when she and her son tour the ship that he works in.

The novel is very much character-driven.  You feel that the story moves because of the very nature of the lives that people it.  And although it is quite a depressing, emotionally taxing tale, I couldn’t help but admire how gracefully it was delivered.  The language was just so poetic; and I’m sure that even more beauty had been lost in translation.  You get to know the characters, how they thought, the motives behind their actions, their loneliness, their anger and frustration, and the way they cope with the world they are faced with.  You feel for them and come to understand them somehow, even those lost boys who feel that they have no hope and no other choices left but to do what their lives have led them to believe must be done.  Some people say that this novel is largely allegorical, that this is how Mishima saw Japan during his time, and it is how he expressed his disappointment with his country.  Perhaps they are right, because if you look closely enough there certainly are many parallels.  Ideas such as fascination with western luxuries, the abandonment of Japanese traditions, trading off one’s ideals and dreams of glory, the feeling of helplessness and being compelled to move along and face the “realities” – these are all represented in the book.  If this was indeed Mishima’s way of venting his anger at Japan, then he did it through such a thought-provoking and unforgettable masterpiece.  I recommend the book for the provocative insights it gives, and the emotional turmoil that it allows you to experience.  For what else is a good book for, if not to disturb your soul? 

More on this:

Information on Yukio Mishima 

Another review of "The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea"