J-Pop > Pride and Prejudice

Personally, I enjoy listening to Japanese music much more than reading a book like Pride and Prejudice. Sure, Pride and Prejudice is cleverly written, but it's extremely boring to read (I mean watching paint dry is probably more exciting.)
Sure, great classics like Pride and Prejudice have a lot of literary value, but doesn't J-Pop, or just good music in general, have important literary value as well?

This is the point where some narrow-minded people may argue that literature has to be written down. But, let me reminds those individuals that oral literature and storytelling existed far before any written languages. Songs have words and sounds that convey meanings and emotions. In fact, for any good musical piece, every note has meaning, or can induce a specific emotion. They can induce a happy or depressed mood in our minds, even without words. In this way, songs may even have more literary value than written works, because there is the tone of voice conveying emotion along with the actual words.
Most importantly, almost all J-Pop songs tell a story with important universal themes, which is basically what literature is all about. A vast portion of J-Pop songs are about love in one form or another, so you can see from the music itself that this niche of modern Japanese society is quite romantically oriented. As a whole, I personally think that modern Japanese songs now have a lot more work and artistic value put into them than American songs. I prefer to listen to music that makes me feel a mix of emotions rather than just blasting rap or metal into my ears - music which numbs my mind.

Below, I have included 2 examples of typical J-Pop songs below. The first is by a relatively famous singer - Choucho, while the second is by the band Altima, who do a lot of songs for anime series.

This first song is obviously about a failed relationship or forced separation, with the girl reminiscing back and wishing how it could have turned out.
The second song is a bit harder to figure out since there are no english subtitles, but it is basically about the power of love and uniting as one (hinted by the title).

By the way, there's no way you can seriously listen to either of these songs without feeling emotion. Actually, it's probably impossible even if you try.

When the First Love Ends - Choucho

Here's the lyrics (Japanese and English) to "When the First Love Ends" in case anyone is interested.

(http://www.animelyrics.com/doujin/vocaloid/hajimetenokoigaowarutoki.htm)

One - Altima (From Shakugan no Shana Final)

Here's the lyrics and English translation to "One" by Altima in case anyone is interested.

(http://www.animelyrics.com/anime/shana3/shanaone.htm)

Cookiezi the Osu God

I decided to write about this topic as today almost marks the 4 month anniversary of when I was introduced to Osu, a community-based song game that has become popular in Japan. As a result, many of the songs are Japanese or from Japanese anime series. This game is basically Guitar Hero on steroids, played on a PC. You click circles that appear on the screen in rhythm to the music.(Past normal difficulty, you have to use z and x keys to "click" as it gets too fast to click with one finger.)

osu.ppy.sh

Personally, I am ranked #65,634 globally (#4,540 in the U.S.) This means that I'm in the top 2 percentile of the 3,328,154 Osu players that exist.
However, I'm basically trash at this game compared to Cookiezi: a South Korean player who has had the first place position unchallenged for more than half a year. If you have ever played a popular game, then you can begin to understand how difficult it is to maintain the global first place position for half a year. Here are two videos of him playing. The first is Scarlet Rose, a song that I can only get a third of the way through, but he full combos it (miss 0 notes) with the hard rock (smaller notes and less time to react) and hidden note (you have to hit the notes after they disappear) score-boosting mods on. The second song is referred to as unbeatable by most players, and Cookiezi currently has first place on it with 13 million points higher than second place (10 million).

Scarlet Rose

The Big Black

So how does all this connect back to what we learned in class? Well, in the Osu community, Cookiezi's name is basically synonymous with "God." He can get the first place score on any song that he puts his mind to, and has helped his South Korean team get first place in the Global Osu Tournament (Japan would have won if he wasn't playing for South Korea). He is basically in the climax of his Osu career at the moment.

However, nobody can be first place forever at popular games like this. I wasn't there to witness Cookiezi's rise, but I can say that somebody else was in first place before him. Every professional player of any game has an exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution in their career. From when Cookiezi was first introduced to this game, to his rise, his current climatic status, and his inevitable fall and retirement from this game, we can see that this is much like the Dramatic Structure of many literary works.

Now, I wouldn't say that a game like Osu is literature (although many of the songs that osu uses could be considered as literature.) However, it's interesting to note how something real life like this could be so similar to the structure of dramatic literature.

Death Note: More to it than meets the eye?

Recently, there has been heavy discussion about symbolism in the stories that we have read in class. I thought this was a great opportunity to talk about symbolism in one of the most popular anime series of all time in the U.S. and Japan: Death Note.

http://liewithdeath.tumblr.com/

In Death Note, there is a Shinigami (God of Death) named Ryuuk who follows around the main character (Light Yagami) and gave him a Death Note (A notebook that all Shinigami have. Any human's name who is written in it dies in 40 seconds of a heart attack unless otherwise specified in the Death Note after their name.)

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/ryuk?page=98

Light Yagami is the main character and an anti-hero who has his own idea of justice by killing criminals, and later on, generally whoever stands in his way. He is careful to hide his identity, and everyone generally refers to the mysterious murderer as "Kira." L is the world's best detective and the main character who opposes Light throughout the story, by attacking him psychologically. For example, L first had a publically announced global news broadcast where he put a prisoner on Death Row with the nameplate of his name by him on the screen. He then has the criminal claim to be L and give a provoking speech that belittles "Kira." (L has yet to reveal his true identity or face to anybody at this point in the story) Light is provoked and kills him with the Death Note. L later reveals that he only broadcasted that TV program in a certain region of Japan, so he immediately finds out Kira's general location. He also figures out from this that Light/Kira needs a name and a face in order to kill. L's and Light's ideas of justice are very different.

Justice has many underlying meanings. If there was a poll asking all the people on the planet "what is right and what is wrong?" the majority will probably say something similar to what is stated in the 10 Commandments. L says that Kira has a childish concept of right and wrong. (although this is primarily to provoke him)

In the series, before Light has Rem (another Shinigami that Light gains control over by endangering a human that it cares about) kill L, L receives premonitions of his death in images and dreams. In the same way, Jesus prophesied that He would be betrayed and killed. Jesus also washed the feet of his disciples, including Judas, just before Judas betrayed Him. L actually washed Light's feet after their conversation in the rain about lying. Clearly, L is representative of Jesus Christ in this series.

http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/l/images/1392623/title/death-note-photo

There are many other symbolic things and events that occur in Death Note, but one of the symbols that stands out the most, and one of my personal favorites, are apples. Apples can have a lot of different meanings depending on the context. They can represent knowledge, luxury, happiness, or death. In Greek mythology, Hera received an apple as a gift of fertility upon her engagement to Zeus. Apples were the first symbol of temptation and "Original Sin." According to the bible, if someone ate the forbidden fruit, they would become smarter and their eyes would forever see the world in a different way.
Ryuuk (the Shinigami/Death God) didn't care about the human world at first. But he had a liking to apples for some reason, and as he stuffed himself with apples throughout the story, he slowly developed feelings for humans and saw the world in a different way, just like when Adam and Eve came into a new conscious by eating the forbidden fruit.

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/ep8

http://ryuk-theshinigami.tumblr.com/page/3

http://www.demotivationalposters.org/ryuk-death-note-ryuk-apple-shinigami-light-demotivational-posters-57328.html

Are Japanese TV Shows Literature?

Are Japanese TV shows considered literature? I believe that they may have a greater claim to that title than most other genres of TV shows, especially because many anime series are born from light novels.

The answer to this question depends substantially on your definition of literature. The word literature literally means 'things made from letters', but according to freedictionary.com, the first definition of literature is "Written material such as poetry, novels, essays, etc., esp works of imagination characterized by excellence of style and expression and by themes of general or enduring interest."

I think that literature can take other forms besides written on paper. If someone was to read a literary work out loud or even make a TV show out of it, the 'elements' of literature shouldn't disappear from the work. This is why I believe that Japanese TV shows could definitely be considered literature, since many are based off written stories, and almost all anime series have a main dominating theme of "general or enduring interest." You can usually tell pretty quickly if a show is going to be interesting, or if it is just missing the crucial parts that make it worth watching, similar to how you can tell if a piece of writing is good enough to be considered literature, or if it's garbage.

For example, the anime series Sword Art Online was based off of the Sword Art Online light novel series, and they both share identical universal themes of the power of friendship and the power of love (and also to be wary of new technology in case your mind becomes trapped in a virtual fantasy fighting game for two years.) It should be considered literature because it tells a story that has excellent style and expression, and we as watchers (or readers) can relate to its themes, characters, and conflicts.

Personally, I think that as we use technology more and more to tell stories that would previously have been written, we need to redefine what literature actually is. Is it really important for it to be actually written? If what's important is there, then shouldn't things like TV shows and even other unorthodox forms of storytelling be considered literature?

Sword Art Online Volume 1 Cover (Light Novel)
http://baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Sword_Art_Online

Sword Art Online Anime Series (DVD Cover)
http://bushiroad.fm/post/en/2369/Sword+Art+Online+English+Release.html

http://www.wallsave.com/wallpaper/1920x1080/sword-art-online-anime-x-id-915752.html