[1-Minute Summary] A log of books that are important again: Why do today's stories need explanations? Human-ness in the AI era as seen through "Asa-chun" (#CreativeTheory #WebNovels #note #Essay #BookAdaptation #GenerativeAI #ImageGenerationAI)

Hello. Good evening.
I go by the name "Ura-byoshi" (Back Cover), and I usually write light novels.

・Telephone card
・Busty (boin)
・Pager (pocket bell)
・Utsurun-desu (disposable camera)
・Japan Record Awards
・Morning shampoo (asa-shan)
・Packet death (data overage)
・Purikura album
・The W Asanos

How many of these did you understand?

If you understood three or more of these, yes, you there.
You probably felt a little "thump" in your heart just now.

But don't worry. That's not aging; it's nostalgia.
There's no need for treatment yet.

Jokes aside, for those who understood everything, you surely know the following term as well, right?

"Asa-chun" (Morning Chirp)

For those above a certain age, this rings a bell.
It is a metaphor for a man and woman spending a special night together.

It was a way of showing things with "implication," avoiding direct expression and leaving it to the reader's imagination.
Surprisingly, this expression was commonly used even in girls' magazines aimed at elementary school students.

I don't know what the level of expression is like in girls' manga for elementary schoolers today,
but having elementary schoolers infer an "Asa-chun" seems like quite bold content.
Thinking about it, perhaps expressions were more extreme in the past.

Come to think of it, during the Heisei era, it was relatively normal for prime-time comedy shows to have extreme dirty jokes.

It's unthinkable now, but things like suddenly grabbing an actress's chest,
sticking one's head inside a skirt,
or clothes accidentally coming undone (for some reason limited to adult film actresses)
were broadcast as if it were perfectly natural.

It is only natural that such actions have disappeared.

However, in the modern day, along with those, for some reason, even metaphorical expressions with "implication" like "Asa-chun" have disappeared.

And conversely,there is now a demand for thorough explanations in every detail.

As a famous example,
the scene in the first episode of Demon Slayer where Tanjiro explicitly says,
"I was saved because there was snow underneath"
is often brought up as a representative example of "explanatory dialogue."

Why have we come to demand explanations to such an extent?

To conclude,
in the modern era,due to information overload, "moving one's emotions" and "thinking" itself
have become a costly burden accompanied by fatigue.

An older, important person might say,

"In our day, we'd say 'Can you work 24 hours?', and it was normal to work at the office during the day, entertain clients at night, and play golf with the boss on days off. Today's young people just talk about 'leaving on time, leaving on time'—they have no guts."

While I might say some strong things,
the density of information has jumped dozens of times higher now compared to those days.

It is said that we modern people
are under such heavy cognitive load that we absorb in just one hour
the same amount of information that people in the Showa era encountered in a whole day.

No wonder people want to leave work on time...

When you are exposed to so much information every day like that,
it is a natural consequence that the energy to be thrilled by unpredictable developments
or to imagine hidden meanings is drained away.

That is precisely why clarity and a sense of security are in demand,
and experiencing 'room for imagination' with one's own mind
is becoming a luxury item.

Furthermore, with the spread of AI,
everything will likely head toward a 'world where everything is fully explained' in the future.

So, in an era overflowing with efficient and perfect explanations,
where does the 'meaning of writing' remain for us humans?

I believe that
the irrational 'human imperfection'
and the 'fluctuations of raw, human-like emotions'
themselveswill become the 'meaning of writing'.

Why did I reach that conclusion?
I am writing about a slightly deeper topic:as we head into an era of 'reading people' rather than information,
how should writers leave their own traces?

※ Read the full article here ▼

(Why have explanations increased in recent stories? Changes in creativity as seen through 'Morning Chuns', and the value that remains in the AI era | Book Publication Log)

Afterword:
Speaking of things that used to exist but have disappeared, it's 'occult (spiritual) programs.' Among them, I loved 'Beat Takeshi's Paranormal Phenomenon X-Files' (lol). This was a program where 'experts who believe in the occult' and 'experts who only believe in science' would battle it out, and Professor Otsuki was truly hilarious... I wish for the occult to be enjoyed as a form of fantasy, but I suppose it's impossible to air programs like that on terrestrial television now. It's a bit lonely.

● If creating becomes painful, head to the back cover note

● Daily note that you can read quickly (includes a daily cat ♡)

● The person behind the screen is like this

――――――――――――
Thank you for reading until the end!
If you liked this article,
I would be happy if you could 'like' or follow.
See you in tomorrow's post.
――――――――――――

◇ ◇ ◇

── Opening the door to the creative coffee shop "Mike".

Clang-clang

We look forward to seeing you again tomorrow at the creative coffee shop Mike♪