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ミシン [Missin'] #1-2
Missin' (Novel)
L to R (Western Style). How far can you go to get what you want before you lose your mind?Enter best-selling author Novala Takemoto's world, where music and the lost art of maidenly virtues walk hand-in-hand with madness. His characters stress, obsess, and sometimes get what they want...but often the life they thought they wanted is not always what they expected!
300 pages, Paperback
First published August 18, 2009
About the author
Novala Takemoto
39 books71 followersNovala Takemoto (嶽本 野ばら) is the professional name of Toshiaki Takemoto (嶽本 稔明), a Japanese author and fashion designer. Takemoto has been one of the most active promoters of the Lolita lifestyle and remains fascinated with the Rococo era in particular. He was nominated for the Yukio Mishima Literary Award twice, for his novels Emily (in 2003) and Lolita (in 2004).
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 14, 2019
The first book in the two-book set, Missin', contains two stories about similarly lost and jaded protagonists who have no idea what they're doing until they stumble upon beautiful, captivating young women.
In "The End of The World", the first story, the unnamed protagonist opens a junk shop at a loss after quitting their job, as a favor to their old landlord. When the landlord dies, however, they are evicted, and the one regular at their shop, a high school girl with a birthmark who doesn't talk, well...they fall in love (in lust? in like? it's hard to tell) with her and then the two run away together. The story lacks clarity (when is the girl lying? what is the narrator talking about?) but it has a flow--it's more a character study, of Takemoto getting into the narrator's head as they try to navigate the world passively and figure out their feelings.
In "Missin'" and "Missin' 2", the protagonist is a highschooler, alias Kasako, who aimlessly floats through life wishing desperately for a girlfriend with whom she can have a relationship like those described in 18th- and 19th-century novels. The first half of the first story is another interesting character study, where Kasako falls head-over-heels for a celebrity, Missin', and becomes totally obsessed. Rather than turning the story dark and realistic, as he did in the crash-to-earth ending of "The End of the World", he turns it into dark and joking, in totally weird ways. I, for one, find it hard to accept Kasako's lack of guilt over wishing for Ryunosuke's death, especially when it happens--and stealing his old job. She turns into a rock star the way someone would in a fanfiction: she has no talent, but Missin' takes a liking to her, and there are no responsible adults to reel in anyone. In the second book, it just falls over the edge when Kasako magically learns to play the guitar (sort of) and has a big moment on stage--it seemed too derivative.
I also found it a bit difficult not to yawn through the fashion descriptions--apparently Takemoto is a fashion designer, though that shouldn't be an excuse for the books being ten percent about the main characters' clothing (why should a young writer-turned-store-proprietor know so much about Vivienne Westwood anyway?)
To his credit, though, Takemoto is good at characterization. No matter how much or little I identify with the characters when they change it's plausible and all their unrealistic feelings and actions are plausible when you consider what we know of the characters themselves. Every character is distinct in the ways they would be when seen through the narrator's eyes.
In "The End of The World", the first story, the unnamed protagonist opens a junk shop at a loss after quitting their job, as a favor to their old landlord. When the landlord dies, however, they are evicted, and the one regular at their shop, a high school girl with a birthmark who doesn't talk, well...they fall in love (in lust? in like? it's hard to tell) with her and then the two run away together. The story lacks clarity (when is the girl lying? what is the narrator talking about?) but it has a flow--it's more a character study, of Takemoto getting into the narrator's head as they try to navigate the world passively and figure out their feelings.
In "Missin'" and "Missin' 2", the protagonist is a highschooler, alias Kasako, who aimlessly floats through life wishing desperately for a girlfriend with whom she can have a relationship like those described in 18th- and 19th-century novels. The first half of the first story is another interesting character study, where Kasako falls head-over-heels for a celebrity, Missin', and becomes totally obsessed. Rather than turning the story dark and realistic, as he did in the crash-to-earth ending of "The End of the World", he turns it into dark and joking, in totally weird ways. I, for one, find it hard to accept Kasako's lack of guilt over wishing for Ryunosuke's death, especially when it happens--and stealing his old job. She turns into a rock star the way someone would in a fanfiction: she has no talent, but Missin' takes a liking to her, and there are no responsible adults to reel in anyone. In the second book, it just falls over the edge when Kasako magically learns to play the guitar (sort of) and has a big moment on stage--it seemed too derivative.
I also found it a bit difficult not to yawn through the fashion descriptions--apparently Takemoto is a fashion designer, though that shouldn't be an excuse for the books being ten percent about the main characters' clothing (why should a young writer-turned-store-proprietor know so much about Vivienne Westwood anyway?)
To his credit, though, Takemoto is good at characterization. No matter how much or little I identify with the characters when they change it's plausible and all their unrealistic feelings and actions are plausible when you consider what we know of the characters themselves. Every character is distinct in the ways they would be when seen through the narrator's eyes.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 5, 2025
Це оповідання про самотність, одержимість та моду, про лоліт та панк-рок, витонченість та шаленство й якщо це здається вам протилежностями, ви помиляєтесь. Тут варто трохи відволіктися та зазначити, що Такемото Нобара - не лише письменник, а ще й дизайнер одягу з власним брендом, а ще він пише про субкультуру лоліт поза одягом, пише про неї так, наче це релігія та (отут правда) - стиль життя. І його героїні раз за разом доводять, що мають власну думку й мереживна сукня не має ховати характер, а радше підкреслювати його. Також варто зазначити, що стільки про брендовий одяг з розрахунку згадувань на сторінку тексту я не зустрічав ніде й це багатьох відлякує.
Минуло багацько років з мого першого знайомства з цією книгою й дух підліткового бунтарства з мене вивітрився (лишилося достобіса впертості), зараз текст резонує набагато менше, але він власне розрахований на підлітків та трохи старше й попри це якщо вас цікавить щось абсолютно ні на що не схоже досі файно читається. Одна з тих дивних книжок та авторів, які дуже важко комусь рекомендувати, але звернути увагу радив би.
Минуло багацько років з мого першого знайомства з цією книгою й дух підліткового бунтарства з мене вивітрився (лишилося достобіса впертості), зараз текст резонує набагато менше, але він власне розрахований на підлітків та трохи старше й попри це якщо вас цікавить щось абсолютно ні на що не схоже досі файно читається. Одна з тих дивних книжок та авторів, які дуже важко комусь рекомендувати, але звернути увагу радив би.
May 14, 2015
Wow. What a ride. Not unlike Shimotsuma Monogatari, the main stories featured an unlikely friendship between two girls, one femme and one punk. But Missin was so much more than that. It was dark, it was gloomy and yet so very, very fun. I love Novala Takemoto.
And The Little Shop called The End of the World was sweet and sad all at once. Damn, Novala. <3
And The Little Shop called The End of the World was sweet and sad all at once. Damn, Novala. <3
November 29, 2014
Novala returns with more stories of extremely terrible humans dressed by alternative clothing brands! Vivien Westwood and MILK are the clothes of choice this time
(Missin' 2 was also lame and took away the edge of the 1st one. This is the least spoilerific way to put it)
(Missin' 2 was also lame and took away the edge of the 1st one. This is the least spoilerific way to put it)
September 10, 2009
Two books, one ISBN. No review this time since I edited one of the stories.
August 30, 2012
The stories have a few interesting aspects, but his style of writing is hard to follow and a bit strange.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews