Again?
You're pathetic.
Think he's doing it deliberately?
If there was a girl watching, I'd be taking this more seriously.
Don't make excuses.
I mean it!
What's important is your concentration, right?
If you can only do your best when a girl's watching...
You're helpless anyway.
Panty flash!
What do you want to eat?
Some sit-down restaurant chain?
No.
I mean which chain.
"Exhibition of Unforgettable Literature" I vote ramen.
"Exhibition of Unforgettable Literature" Ramen doesn't count.
Yoji!
What are you doing?
Sorry, sorry.
"Exhibition of Unforgettable Literature"
"Setting Sun"
Settling... Sun?
You missed your stop?
And that's why you're late?
Were you too focused on your video game?
No.
Then was there a pretty girl?
No!
"Library"
Settling... Settling...
There're too many books! I have no idea where it could be.
"Ango Sakaguchi" "Sakunosuke Oda"
"Sakutaro Hagiwara" Wait, it's organized by author?
Settling Sun... Who wrote it?
Setting Sun.
The name of the book is Setting Sun.
How could you get that wrong?
Who are you?
The author is Osamu Dazai.
You don't know him? He's incredibly famous!
Dazai?
Remember the name.
Dazai.
Da. Za. I.
It's over there.
He was weird, and weirdly dressed.
"Setting Sun"
Wake up!
I can't believe it!
You fell asleep reading one of my books? Impossible!
How did you get in here?
Finish the damn book.
Someone with a brain like yours is going to forget it all immediately.
So you need to read the whole thing at once or you'll just forget.
Wh-Who are you?
If you don't finish the book, you won't be able to talk to them, right?
Shut up.
And anyway, you...
Huh?
"Setting Sun"
That book...
It's great, huh?
We've got similar tastes.
"Exhibition of Unforgettable Literature"
Osamu Dazai was born to be an author.
"Chuya Nakahara" Osamu Dazai was born to be an author.
He caused no end of trouble for friends by going into debt.
When he couldn't pay his bar tab or inn tab,
he left Kazuo Dan at the inn and went to Tokyo to get money,
but Dazai never came back.
Why?
When Kazuo Dan got annoyed and went to Tokyo to look for him,
he found him playing shogi with Masuji Ibuse.
Like he'd forgotten he'd ever left his friend behind.
What a dick!
Shut up!
I didn't forget!
"Osamu Dazai"
There's no end of episodes
from Osamu Dazai's life that show what a degenerate he is.
He failed at two lovers' suicides,
killing both women.
What a loser.
Yeah.
There's no denying he's a loser who couldn't get along with others.
But...
...his works are wonderful.
Did he write all these?
If you ask me, it's simple.
Osamu Dazai just lacked the ability to get along in society.
But even so...
No, because of that,
he was able to leave all these wonderful works for the world.
He could write books because he was a loser?
Someone who's a slave to society could never write a work that shocked it.
That's what I think, anyway.
Wait!
When night falls, the moon feels so close here.
Even without the streetlights, you can read books by the moonlight.
You really like books.
Is that weird?
No.
It's like...
I'm jealous.
Of books.
Of books?
You only care about books.
I'll leave you behind!
I was happy... when you said you liked Setting Sun. The book.
This world is overflowing with entertainment.
Just looking at your phone will connect you to the world.
You have access to the finest works the world's ever produced.
In the modern world, it's so rare for people to choose books...
I'm not like that.
It was just chance.
No matter what the reason is, it's wonderful that you like books.
And if possible, I want you to read more.
More?
Every type of creative work is a light that makes your life wonderful.
For me, that light was books.
I'd be happy if that was true for you.
Today, let's learn about the writing of Chuya Nakahara.
Nakahara? He was in that exhibition.
I'm a big fan of his.
And if you asked me what makes him special,
I would say it's his skill at picking words.
He uses a limited amount of words to describe
an incredible amount of meaning.
Nobody has his level of talent when it comes to this...
That guy gets it.
What's wrong?
No, nothing.
You idiot! You got this part wrong!
How dumb do you have to be to screw up my poem?
Fix it!
Read books besides those of Osamu Dazai.
I wonder which one fits you best.
That's my book! You've got good taste!
Boy, a man's life is defined by his failure.
If you want to learn more, I suggest you read my books.
Listen, Ango, not everyone wants to live like you do.
What?
Corruption is the one constant of life.
In every era and every place,
man is condemned to corruption.
I say he should know that there's more to life!
If you have a path to follow, you don't need other possibilities.
You want a fight?
Do you?
"Setting Sun"
Listen, I still think I should've won the Akutagawa Prize.
Why?
Because I respect him the most!
What's that got to do with the prize?
A lot!
But I don't know if that justifies writing a four-meter long
letter to Haruo Sato!
How'd you know about that?
It's a famous story!
It is?
My delicate and stylish image!
Did I imagine it?
"Setting Sun"
The only reason I didn't break down crying here was books, maybe.
I'm a failure too, you see.
At living in this world.
With all its entertainment, this world has no end of fun things.
Many people share that fun with others.
They connect with them and find satisfaction within that happiness.
But for some reason, I can't be a part of that.
I can't find fun or value in that.
I don't have the right to deny the majority their fun.
I'm sure it's the ones like them,
who share their entertainment and connect with one another,
who are living their lives properly in this world.
I'm the one who's wrong.
That's not true.
And it was when I was upset about this that I met Osamu Dazai.
The first book I read was No Longer Human.
When I finished... no, even when I was reading it...
My heart was enraptured.
It was strange.
I'm nothing like the protagonist of that story.
I can't sympathize with him.
But the way he had no choice but to live his life as a fool and then die...
It felt so noble to me.
Noble?
Yes.
He may have been a failure as a human,
but the way he lived his life was attractive to me, and noble.
At least, that's how it felt to me.
Which means...
Perhaps,
I could change my failure of a life into something that I found attractive.
Even if to the rest of the world, I wasn't even human.
Meeting that one book changed how I thought.
That's amazing.
Yeah. Osamu Dazai is really wonderful.
I thought my life was worthless, and he gave it value.
No, it's you who's amazing, Haruka.
Me?
If you got all that from a single book,
it must mean you have an amazing heart.
Yoji?
Value, huh?
Maybe I found value in books, too.
Because they brought me to you.
Hey.
Thanks.
For what?
Nothing.
"No Longer Human"
Today we'll be learning...
What, again?
"The Circus"
Haruka! Haruka!
Yoji?
Something's wrong.
What should be here isn't... But I don't know what it is!
Yoji...
But I know it was here!
Something that taught me something important!
Something that created something inside me.
Yoji... I'm sorry.
Haruka?
I don't want to talk now.
Haruka!
Why?
How?
Haruka...
The phone number you have dialed is unavailable or not in service...
Haruka...
Something inside me disappeared.
It disappeared from within everyone else as well.
Why?
My heart feels so dry.
Why?
Haruka!
I'm a failure...
"Dumbass" ...at living in this world.
But even so... something gave me hope.
Made me think my life had value.
But it's gone.
It's nowhere to be found.
I'm no longer...
Haruka?
What is literature?
It's not something you need to live.
But this is what I think.
The world's literature is making someone's heart a wonderful place.
Literature isn't necessary.
But a world without literature must be a very boring place.
"Portrait of Hell" But a world without literature must be a very boring place.
"Japanese Literature" But a world without literature must be a very boring place.
That sense of stifling confinement, I think,
will slowly destroy the world...
A dream?
You finally woke up?
I'd love to go back to bed if I got the chance.
I'm afraid there's no time.
Look around you.
Unbelievable.
I'm never the first to awake.
So I'm in a book?
Yes.
After delving, you were almost immediately defeated by a Taint...
...and devoured by the world.
I had to go inside your minds to awaken you.
The method I chose was a dream.
It wasn't clear if it would work.
Why was I the only one to dream?
I don't know.
Perhaps you're more closely connected to the Alchemist than the others.
So the Alchemist created that dream?
Yes.
A world where books were tainted and destroyed.
Whether that despair was imaginary or not, for the Alchemist...
Gods of Agni, will you lend me your aid?
No more explanation.
Tell the Alchemist I want a better dream next time.
It was quite unpleasant.
But that's why it must be saved.
Indeed.
I entrust the fate of this book to you.
"Howl at the Moon" I entrust the fate of this book to you.
Huh? Akutagawa-sensei?
Where are we?
--Hey! What are you doing? --What is this place?
Oww! Oww! Don't pull me!
Stop it!
"Howl at the Moon"
Literary Gourmet!
The Ultra-High-Calorie Beef and Rice Chapter!
If only I had more muscles...
You there, who wants more muscles.
What do you want, peach flower boy?
I've got the perfect meal for you!
Beef and Rice!
"Beef and Rice" "A rice bowl loaded with delicious beef. Got its start when somebody put beef on rice." Yeah, it looks like an easy source of protein!
We start by adding butter.
Then fried pork and curry.
French fries.
Chicken wings.
Then top with mayo!
And it's done!
I can't eat that!