Idol, Burning

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A “salt face” is someone with a thin, pale face, often with double eyelids, a high bridged nose and sharp features–basically, a Japanese man who has fairly “Western” features. (This is opposed to a しょうゆ顔 ( shoyugao), someone with “Japanese-looking” features.) Akari's struggles with reading and writing, and the inability of anyone around her to give her the assistance she needs is captured particularly well. A poignant exploration of fandom culture and escapism. Idol, Burning offers a compelling and thoughtful window into obsession, loneliness, and reasons to live. I stan.”— Emily Austin, author of Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead

I really think that a translator unfamiliar with the language of the internet in fan circles would not have done this book as much justice as Yoneda did. Whilst I'm not into the Idol culture in Japan, I was definitely into the Idol Culture in South Korea and mostly, I'm a weeb that lowkey collects various merchandises from mangas and animes that I like (and in another words , an Otaku but in another form).

Idol, Burning

Haunting and sincere, Idol, Burningsubverts and astonishes.Rin Usami balances humor, obsession, heartbreak, and sacrifice in her English debut, crafting a story that's both enveloping and expansive. Usami's writing is thrilling and deft, and her novel illuminates the shadows cloaking our digital lives, leaving us with honesty and grace in equal measures. Idol, Burningis a barnburner and a prayer and a testament to the lengths that we'll go to reach for our dreams.”— Bryan Washington, award-winning author of Memorialand Lot I love Akari as a character and I loved that she is somewhat trying so hard to stay alive, despite the conditions that she's having. She is a portrayal of a person who is depressed and makes being an Otaku as a coping mechanism. Personally, I can relate to that on how obsessed I can be with books and some comfort animes that I took pleasure watching day by day. Whilst Akari's obsession is unhealthy at certain times, it also shows how hobbies like these had helped saved lives too. Its good to stan someone (especially another fellow human) moderately, but I find that if it helps you to stay alive, just enjoy what you can . My judgment only goes to the stalker (the ssasaengs) and those who will endanger others lives for their own gain. In Akari's case, she's the kind of fan that does this for her own self until the incident of her oshi. The novel that lit the Japanese publishing world on fire: From a breathtaking up-and-coming writer, a twenty-first century Catcher in the Rye that brilliantly explores toxic fandom, social media, and alienated adolescence.

That, by pouring myself into it, and taking the pain in return, I could find some kind of value in my existence.Everything about him was precious. When it came to my oshi, I wanted to offer him everything I had.”