I am fascinated by Osamu Dazai, especially his work 'No Longer Human.' I started reading Manga recently and found out that the title also has a manga. So I am wondering if I should read the novel first or the manga.
After publishing The Setting Sun and No Longer Human, Dazai may have felt that he had exhausted the material and inner turmoil that had driven his writing, leading to his sense of emptiness and loss of purpose. He changed his mind on Goodbye and chose not to finish it.
For Dazai, literature became a reflection of anguish: he transformed destructive thoughts, alienation, and nihilism into creative expression. I can suggest he didn't choose to be a writer. Yet this work offered only temporary relief. Writing gave him a limited and unstable purpose, while leaving unresolved the deeper question of what else he had to live for. His life was like a cherry blossom. After finishing his mission, he simply parted. Dazai was influenced by psychological writers such as Dostoevsky and Akutagawa, whose works were often more formally fictionalized, more distant than Dazai’s closer, raw approach.
This is just my interpretation, "enjoy" the books ! 📔
The only Adaptation of No longer human beside from manga and anime. I managed to come across it and watched it fully.
Links for it : https://youtu.be/Ch8z2Vnpg-c?si=CMdgx77ss_y8ksRw
https://youtu.be/G9eE9u6t10I?si=D4VR54D3Grecs6Uc
Now onto my review of it.
I think it is a flawed adaptation of the novel. I personally thinks the set design and accuracy to the time of the novel is done great alongside the cast especially of Yozo and Horiki actors are very charming and what I expected for them to looked like in the novel.
As for the story. It is mostly the same aside from the adaptation of the first notebook And the ending which I will get into later. The first notebooks adaptation or the childhood of Yozo seems rushed out especially his relationship with takeichi. Who seems to be only a nuisance and if taken out of the story won't change much.
The second and third notebook are done fascinatingly well besides some issues. The sets and lighting are great especially the bars and street of Tokyo. The added filler or scene of the movie is also great as we get to see more about Yozo. (and there's an interaction of Yozo and a drunken nakahara chuuya that is accurate to their real life counterpart)
The soundtrack of the movie is very great. The Composer, Nobuyuki Nakajima did a very great job at the atmospheric soundtrack and brings the movie a nice vibe or aesthetic.
The link to the soundtrack of the movie : https://youtu.be/06yi4FmMTDQ?si=2vlZ2QwayXoV1BEw
The main issues of the movie are Yozo lack of inner monologue. Which is the main thing in the novel. Yozo seems awkward alot of the times and it doesn't help since we're stuck watching him stay quiet in scenes where he was more vocal in the novel like the shizuko scene. You really need to reread the book if you haven't because you will be lost due to it.
The next issue is that the ending is abit lackluster as when Yozo was in the countryside. He seems to find peace but returns to the city and continues his self destructive behaviour. Which in theory sounds good but lacks in execution.
So overall. I would give this movie a 6.5 or a 7.4 on a good day out of 10