Shūichi Yoshida (吉田 修一) was born in Nagasaki, and studied Business Administration at Hosei University. He won the Bungakukai Prize for New Writers in 1997 for his story "Saigo no Musuko", and the Akutagawa Prize in 2002 (the fifth time he'd been nominated for the prize) for "Park Life". In 2002 he also won the Yamamoto Prize for Parade, and for winning both literary and popular prizes Yoshida was seen as a crossover writer, like Amy Yamada or Masahiko Shimada. In 2003 he wrote lyrics for the song "Great Escape" on Tomoyasu Hotei's album Doberman. His 2007 novel Villain won the Osaragi Jiro Prize and the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award, and was recently adapted into an award-winning 2010 film by Lee Sang-il.
I loved the first volume of this series, so I decided to read the second volume. Similar to the first volume, the story continues to revolve around the two main characters - Shunsuke and Kikuo. The silent conflict between Kikuo's talent and Shunsuke's lineage continues. Although Shunsuke is still counted on to inherit the name "Hanai", the difference in talent with Kikuo becomes more prominent, building on his inferiority complex. On the other hand, Kikuo continues to perfect his art with his talent and almost obsessive devotion. Because he is obsessed with becoming the art itself, he has no hesitation with discarding personal relationships and his private life, becoming gradually isolated from the world around him. Instead, his world is reduced to an exclusive, one-on-one relationship with Kabuki alone. The escalating distortion in both main characters' lives as they become swayed by the art is so well written, gradually showing up as numerous events lead to a significant difference in their lives. Although Kikuo lives up to becoming a Living National Treasure, his fate is far from rewarding.
So, what does this second part have to offer? Little, really, it is more of the same as the first part, but not so well done, and there are too many characters to really care about them. Kikou's friend from childhood Tokuji gets sidelined, but he is not the only one. Yoshida seems to have gotten too drunk with his own novel and this could have been three hundred pages less and it would have been better. The plot's big moments feel as staged as a kabuki performance (maybe it is the point?) and so soap opera-ish as to become risible. Also, both main characters are overpowered and female characters play the role of supporting the male because they are ACTORS.