OMG! Something just hit me

[megami-tsuki.livejournal.com]

For those of us who have ever taken a Japanese Lit Class...


It's just another display of Japanese Culture

I remembered something my Japanese Lit. teacher Setsuko told our class. "The Japanese love Losers."
She told us this while showing us a statue in Ueno Park of some Samurai General who lost some battle rather Spectacularly

Code Geass is kinda like The Tale of Heike!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tale_of_Heike

The Heike Clan rose to power at the very end of the Heian Period...and then were completely wiped out 50 years later in an epic battle. The Japanese LOVE this tale. There are epic songs and plays about the tragic ending of this clan.


And taking Japanese Lit from Setsuko I recall the many books we read which are considered great and classic bits of Japanese lit... mostly all of them have sad and or tragic ends...but they also had a way of being sort of deep and thoughtfull

This is just another display of Japanese Culture and their love of tragic, yet epic and biter sweet endings ^_^

OMFG, talk about Mono no Aware (Lit: Things of sorrow) Which is considered one of the staples of Japanese Society "Understanding the Beauty of Sorrow"...The cherry blossoms are only beautiful because they last for so short a time, so we must appreciate them while they are in full bloom for any sudden gust wind will blow them out of existence. It is sad, but alas, such is life...

or something like that

I'm so sending Her the last ep and be like "Here's you're Mono no Aware Setsuko." If I was still in her class I'd wight a report on it and she's so give me an 'A' XD

So even though Lulu "died... maybe" an tragic death at the hight of power...there's so gonna be a huge statue of him built in the middle of New Tokyo XD

Comments

[sora-morikawa.livejournal.com]

oh, great info
o..o But Is he dead?? I mean ... I don't want to I bet he was with C.C.
u..u I hope!

[megami-tsuki.livejournal.com]

Well i said "Died...maybe."

Weather he's really alive or really died, the world believes he's dead and that he died tragically...thus it counts as a Japanese ending in my book XD

This is also why I thing Sunrise didn't give us any for sure hint that Lulu was alive...like a better shot at the wagon guy or Lulu responding to CC final dialog...people who want to believe he's alive can and people who want to believe he's dead can...

[sora-morikawa.livejournal.com]

*sniff* T__T
All hail Lulu~

[voguebishoujo.livejournal.com]

Well, whether we think he's dead or not, I'm pretty sure pretty much everyone in the actual series believes he is. So they could make a statue for him and it'd be legit.

Maybe I'll erect a statue of him in my backyard LOL

[tomoyohime8.livejournal.com]

really? i never knew that. *but then i've never taken a lit class, so...

love of tragic, yet epic and biter sweet endings - i'm not japanese, but that describes me perfectly. i love stories that are powerful enough to make me cry. *winter cicada, for example.

would they put up a statue of him? even if he's the hated emperor? only very few people know/suspect the true story.

i'd like to think though, that in those people - the ones lulu cared about the most (who were still alive, anyway), lulu found his peace.

[megami-tsuki.livejournal.com]

Yes really. Japanese lit has it's own special kind of Melancoly. They`ve taken the Epic Tragity to a whole new art. Most of the books we read ended tragicaly or bitter sweet...
Tale of Genji, Tale of Hekie, Some Perfer Nettles, The Waiting Years, Snow Country, Kokoro, The Golden Pavilon, The Bunraku Play `Love Suicide`...I mean with a title like Love Suicide, Romeo and Juliet's got nothin on this one. Now that I think of it, many Classic Beloved Bunraku Plays are Love Suicide stories.... wait...I'm tring to think of one we read that didn't have a sad ending...Hmmm...Maybe The Sound of Waves by Akira Mishima...but ya.

If you like Bitter Sweet I'd recomend Norigean Wood by Haruki Murakami and Kokoro by Natsumi Soseki is rather powerful and heart wrenching.

well if not a statue for Lulu an epic play for sure XD It'd be intresting to see the casting auditions for Lulu's part XD

[tomoyohime8.livejournal.com]

i've seen haruki murakami's books for sale over here, but not that other author. thanks for the rec. ^^

do you know where i can get a translated copy of the tale of genji online?

[megami-tsuki.livejournal.com]

umm...Amazon.com...ebay. Don't get the abridged version... they leave out a key chapter...

[tomoyohime8.livejournal.com]

thanks. ^^

[faye-naruse.livejournal.com]

That makes complete sense to me!<3 Especially the part about sakura cherry blossoms ^_^

I love epic and bittersweet endings as well :'D

[chibibananachan.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's just Japanese lit, but I've always thought all these anime where the main character dies was all based on Greek tragedy. I didn't know that the Japanese love tragedy like that too, heh. Guess you learn something new every day =)

[megami-tsuki.livejournal.com]

Well, You have to remeber this, Japan was Isoalted for close to 1000 years in total. They closed of conetions to the mainland during the Heain Period (4th or 5th century) and then opened breifly to trade with Pourtugal in the late 1500's only to close themselves again during the Tokugawa Era which lasted 300 years. They stayed cloesd and secluded until Perry forced Japan to open trade in the 1800`s. Untill then Japan had had minamal contact with the Western World not to mention Western Lit. Until then the only western laguage they had conact with was Poutuges and some Latin they picked up from the Priests, but when Christanity was baned and the Preists exiled nearly everything to do with that was destroied.

Japan had mastered the Tragic, Epic end long before they knew what Greece was let alone know of Greek Tragedy. Sure now they might draw some things from Greek Tragedy, but the reason they may like and ues it so much is because it paralles with thier own origonal love for this type of story.