Ep.4 A Japanese-Korean Half Reads 'Mad's Crazy Youth'📚

Good morning☀️ Good afternoon🌥️ Good evening🌙
This episode ismy first post about a book review✍
I have loved reading since I was a child, but since this is my first time posting a book review, I wonder how it will turn out🤔
I have packed in what I, as a Japanese-Korean half, felt and wanted to convey, so please read until the end🍀

⚠️This blog contains expressions regarding lookism, history, and gender.

1. Basic Information & Synopsis🕊️

Basic Information🍀

Title:'Mad's Crazy Youth'
Author:Saeko Saneishi
Genre:Standalone Literary Fiction

I'm so sick of this face!
Because of her excessively perfect looks,
high school girl Mad attracts the jealousy and resentment of those around her.
Bullying, online backlash, suspension—the price of being too beautiful—
as if that could ever be true!
A brilliant work that vividly depicts the wavering hearts of teenagers and unconscious lookism!

Synopsis🕊️

"Is this all my fault?"
Akari Diana Makishima, who attends Prefectural First High School, is called "Mad" after the initials of her name. Her overwhelming beauty stimulates all kinds of emotions in those around her, causing turmoil. Groups of girls who view her as an enemy, boys who fawn over her, social media that blows up on its own, entrance restrictions for the school festival... "This is Mad's fault, right?" "Don't get full of yourself!" Classmates hurl heartless words at her, but when they touch upon the anger and sorrow Mad harbors inside, they realize their own prejudices and egos—
A youth ensemble drama depicting the struggles of young people who cannot escape their appearance!

2. What Miju, a Japanese-Korean half, felt💌

① About the work📙

I read this work because my mother recommended it to me, and first of all, I thought it was a very good theme.
I am truly very grateful to the author, Saeko Saneishi💌
I really felt saved, and it felt like scratching an itch that I couldn't reach before😌
It was a work that clearly spoke for what I and the people around me have felt until now📕
I want more people to read this work, and I think it will be a trigger to think about the lookism lurking in our daily lives that we don't notice🎀
I thought the way the work ended was very thought-provoking; it was like a work that would appear in a textbook🙃 (I feel like I'd be asked things like, 'Write what the protagonist thought at this time,' or 'Why did the protagonist say this?'💭)

② The "Mads" right beside us🌈

Here,I will talk about the "Mads" living in reality that I have actually experienced and felt📖
In the class I belong to at the school I attend, there are various kinds of kids.
Their origins are
🇯🇵×🇰🇷 (Japanese-Korean) ⇽ That's me
🇨🇳×🇨🇳 (Chinese)
🇧🇩×🇧🇩 (Bangladeshi)
🇯🇵×🇬🇧 (Japanese-British)
🇯🇵×🇳🇿 (Japanese-New Zealander)
🇯🇵×🇺🇸 (Japanese-American) (former classmate)
and it is diverse, and

there are kids who believe in various religions (some kids wear hijabs🧕).
Perhaps because they were interested in us, at the beginning of the school year, classmates from other classes and kids from other grades would come to peek at us👀
In particular, the kid with roots in America was very popular, and she had many fans👥
For a while, she was even stalked by a kid in the same grade (they would persistently try to talk to her or take secret photos).
Maybe they wanted to show off their global side, or maybe it was just lookism, but the kid from the UK, the kid from the US, and I were even appointed as school models (I'm not cute, though)📸
In my case, although I don't stand out by appearance, after I publicly announced that I was a Japanese-Korean half during self-introductions, many kids from other classes and grades would talk to me saying, "You're the Japanese-Korean half kid, right?"👤
Every time that happened, I thought, "Everyone is approaching me because I'm a Japanese-Korean half, right?
"How many people here are interested in 'just Miju'?
Everyone just wants the status of 'me, who is friends with a Japanese-Korean half kid'"
😕Of course, that desire is also essential as a human being, but there was a part of me that couldn't completely agree and nod deeply😐
At that time,
I ended up giving a speech in front of the entire grade at the school speech contest💡By the way, by the way,
the result was 1st place in the grade & 2nd place in the whole school🎖️(Yes, applause👏) ← noisy lolThis is the manuscript from that time ↓
(The reason it says 'Experience ver.' is because I was debating until the very last minute whether I should talk about this)

Before I knew it, the topic shifted from lookism to diversity💦 Big reflection)
And I touched on quite a delicate part❤️‍🩹
I apologize if I offended anyone🙇‍♀️)
To summarize what I want to convey,
"Everyone's common sense and basic values can become lookism"is what it is🍀
Perhaps I am also making lookism-related remarks or thoughts unintentionally in this blog without realizing it (if I have made such remarks, I am sorry🙇‍♀️).
Everyone has a different sense of beauty, and the criteria for preference are also different, butI think it is important to look at each other's essence and respect each otherI can't change the world 180 degrees by taking one big action right now, but
I believe that one daily word of encouragement, one action, will lighten someone's heart a little💐

3. Finally🪽

Message📮

Since I focused mainly on the work this time, I decided to write the message at the end📝
This song isLESSERAFIM Yunjin-unnie's self-composed song 'I≠DOL',[I am not a doll]is the meaning included❤️‍🔥
We are not beings who are active in public, but
"Yesterday they said I was like a puppet, today they say 'for a girl'"
(Yesterday = listening to what others say → "like a puppet"
Today = expressing my own opinion → "for a girl..." )
I thought these lyrics represent the current gender situation in Korea and are a wonderful expression✨

At the very end🕊️

Thank you for reading until the end😌
I feel like I wrote too much this time, and I want to keep reading various works in the future...
I hope you all have a wonderful day today too🎁
See you in the next episode🌷