Idol, Burning

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I kept waiting for the story to go somewhere, especially with Masaki’s ‘alleged’ assault, but it never does. It makes for a fascinating coming-of-age story about obsession, and a vivid insight into otaku culture. Miejscami bałem się, że pójdzie w niepotrzebną skrajność i szok, ale na szczęście utrzymuje ten sam poziom całości.

Thus, in the end, you don't get closure, especially since the relationship between her mental struggles and her obsession with her idol was awkward and not well fleshed. Akari, who finds it so difficult to fit in, is within her element when writing on her blog, corresponding with fellow fans. The prose is distant and restrained, and while I usually like this type of style, here it just compounded my disinterest. But Dazai’s novella’s from 1939, whereas Akari inhabits a world in which fandom and social media offer different possibilities.Idol, Burning is a barnburner and a prayer and a testament to the lengths that we'll go to reach for our dreams. Like all J-pop stars, Masaki has his own official storyline, carefully crafted by his management but further honed and modified by his fans. The author also doesn’t really go into cancel culture or death of the author (or in this case singer).

This novella is a fascinating deep dive into Fandom culture - Akari is 16 and totally devoted to her idol, Masaki, a performer in the band Maza Maza. As in j-pop and k-pop, idol and fandom culture is different from the west, I find it fascinating how easily it is to get someone cancelled for something they did in their private life. Ha sido un descubrimiento muy interesante, a pesar de que pueda parecer un libro muy sencillo e infantil.This certainly isn't a book you should be going into expecting an action-packed storyline - or even really looking for answers to the questions it raises - it is more an exploration into what it is to be a modern teenage fangirl, open to exploitation. At the end of the book, I wasn't even surprised why this book won the Akutagawa Award in 2020, because it definitely deserved that title. Mặc dù tôi cũng sẽ tham dự các buổi biểu diễn offline, nhưng nếu phải lựa chọn, tôi vẫn muốn trở thành một người hâm mộ chìm trong đám đông. The title for Rin Usami’s novel, “Idol, Burning,” may suggest that it’s an indictment of idol-pop culture or a commentary on celebrities and fandom.

All in all, this was a nice, short read and provided an interesting take on social media, fandom and the toll of investing your emotional energy in celebrities. Akari's obsession is fatalistic and intense, and Usami's prose (translated by Yoneda) renders it and the hold it has on her tenuous life ably and affectingly.

Offering a vivid insight into otaku culture and adolescence, Idol, Burning is a brilliantly gripping story of obsession, coming of age and the addictive, relentless nature of fandom culture. A vivid depiction of the joys and despairs of teenage fan culture, Idol, Burning is urgent and all-consuming . Very recently he has turned into a fallen teen idol, with our main character defending him religiously, as she did every since he played Peter Pan. Not being able to feel like she is normal, she finds comfort in Masaki, believing that they share a deep connection. although intriguing, I’m not convinced Usami’s symbolism entirely works, sometimes it seemed overly ambitious or just too much for her story to bear.