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Entertaining, but maybe not too relatable if you weren't in love with Viggo Mortensen in 2002
A book of essays mostly on daily life, especially Miura’s fandoms (Boys Love manga, shoujo manga, the band Bakuchiku, and the Lord of the Rings movies), friendships, and travel in Japan. The tone throughout is funny, light, and breezy. She was young when she wrote these, in her mid-twenties, and the voice feels young, which can be both a good thing and a bad thing. Her style is creative; her word choices feel fresh and surprising without being too advanced or hard-to-read in terms of the vocabulary. I really like the way Miura writes, but…
But in many of these essays, I found myself wishing for a little more depth, a little more insight, for a point. Miura is such a good writer but very brief essays on going to see a concert, or going to see a movie, do not show her at her best.
She has a few really interesting insights about what it was to be a fangirl in the early 2000s - which I love because I was a fangirl in the early 2000s. I do recommend her essay late in the book, エスパーに遭遇するより低い確率, in which Shion’s mother tries to persuade her to use a matchmaking service, Shion’s brother argues with her about whether she is an otaku, and Shion continues to be hung up on Viggo Mortensen. It’s funny and actually quite tender, and captures well the pressures to get married and the feeling of “Ugh, I’m never going to meet someone, but actually, do I even want to meet someone?” that I felt as a young ace-spectrum person.
Linguistically rich without being difficult, so I would definitely recommend Miura Shion to anyone looking to get some more practice reading essays, but ultimately just a little too breezy and shallow for me to love.
Content Notes: It’s directed at the author mostly, and it’s framed as “funny” rather than “mean,” but body-shaming bothers me and I could have done without the whole essay where Miura goes with a friend to try on swimsuits. Some brief moments of body-shaming in other essays. Some amount of alcohol (socially, in moderation).