#lost decade

Directed by Japanese filmmaker Shunji Iwai,(Rirī Shushu no Subete) is a monumental experimental psychological thriller and coming-of-age drama released in Japan on October 6, 2001. Set in the city of Ashikaga, Tochigi Prefecture, the story revolves around the lives of fourteen-year-old teenagers whose fates intertwine around the enigmatic and ephemeral pop singer, Lily Chou-Chou.

Director Shunji Iwai, whose films traditionally originated from his own 200–300-page novels, faced a profound creative crisis during the screenwriting phase. Feeling that the story simply wasn't coming together, he temporarily stepped away from the project, drawing the ire of producers Naoki Hashimoto and Koko Maeda. However, the soundtrack—conceptualized alongside composer Takeshi Kobayashi-was already complete, and Iwai needed a platform to showcase it.

Thus, on April 12, 2000, a mysterious website titled Lilyholic, dedicated to a fictional singer, surfaced on the internet. The site featured music snippets, fake news reports about fans dying at her concert, and most importantly, a system of electronic bulletin boards. Over the course of three months, Iwai serialized his novel in an interactive format, allowing real internet users to communicate directly with his fictional characters.

All About Lily Chou-Chou is set during an era known in macroeconomics as the 'Lost Decade'-a period of profound stagnation that followed the burst of the Japanese asset price bubble in 1991. The film's multi-layered narrative unfolds around a group of middle school students, whose characters and actions form an unflinching psychological portrait of a generation. The youth of this historical period, often described as the 'lost generation,' found themselves trapped between a shattered past and an uncertain future. Exacerbated by a ruthless 'pressure cooker' educational system, the teenagers' frustration spilled over into unprecedented levels of juvenile delinquency, school bullying, and alienation.

In exploring this alienation, Shunji Iwai rejects the binary opposition between the internet and reality, presenting cyberspace as an ontological dimension deeply interwoven with the characters' subjectivity. The central philosophical pillar of this paradigm is the concept of the "Ether"-an invisible musical medium that shields the damaged subject from the repressive demands of society, acting as a healing "amniotic sac." Nevertheless, the director exposes the paradoxes of this phenomenon with brutal honesty: the byproduct of the Ether is not merely salvation, but also violence.

Yuichi Hasumi embodies the absolute loss of agency: in real life, he is a passive victim of bullying, yet on the internet, he is the deeply sensitive administrator of a Lily fan forum under the alias 'Philia'. His former friend, Shusuke Hoshino, represents a complex psychoanalytical labyrinth. Having survived a near-death experience in Okinawa and coping with his family's bankruptcy, Hoshino weaponizes his victimization into sadism, seizing control of the school at knifepoint. Online, however, under the moniker 'Blue Cat', he is capable of profound empathy toward Philia. His inability to translate this empathy into the real world culminates in the tragedy at Lily's concert, where Hoshino tears up Yuichi's ticket, never recognizing him as his spiritual brother. Shiori Tsuda becomes the target of brutal blackmail by Hoshino, who forces her into prostitution, ultimately driving her to suicide from a cell phone tower. In stark contrast, the pianist Yoko Kuno, having endured an assault orchestrated by Hoshino, refuses to submit to victimhood, demonstrating a radical act of resistance by shaving her head.

Composer Takeshi Kobayashi and the young singer Ayako Mori, who later rose to prominence as Salyu, crafted the music of Lily Chou-Chou at the intersection of dream pop and shoegaze, drawing fundamental inspiration from the classical works of Claude Debussy. The released vocal album Kokyū and the instrumental soundtrack Arabesque became full-fledged participants in the narrative, exploring motifs of healing, existential paralysis, and escapism.

The film's unprecedented visual style was crafted by the brilliant cinematographer Noboru Shinoda, who employed an innovative cinematic grammar. Rough, shaky handheld shots during moments of visceral tension contrast with weightless camera movements when the characters immerse themselves in the music, while aggressive overexposure functions as a manifestation of Lily's cleansing radiance. Jarring time jumps and Dutch angles constantly strip the viewer of a comfortable perspective, perfectly mimicking the paranoid, unformed rhythms of adolescent life. Only in the film's finale does the color palette warm up, symbolizing a tentative hope for reflection.

"Isn't being alive a sad event in the first place? The greatest emotional wound for humans is existence." — Lily, 2000年03月27日 BOUNCE

Train Man / Densha Otoko (2005) : The Movie

"I am an anime and video game maniac who always wander around Akihabara. I always thought, is it really possible for a guy like me to find love? This is how I met her."

Inspired by a true story of an Otaku that found love on a train in the 90s, during the aftermath of Japan's Lost Decade or economic bubble crisis which leave many graduates unemployed.

A time when hikikomori (social recluse of graduates due to social pressure and broken dreams), and karoshi (death from overwork in order to retain their highly competitive jobs) became prominent.

Before the arrival of social media, there were chatrooms where singles talk about their woes, including the man whose username is "Train Man" as he commutes to work and home daily by trains.

A post went "viral" attracting many online users who find the story fascinating. "Train Man" told the story of how he accidentally save a young woman from being harassed by a drunkard salaryman.

He has been pestering the passengers who are mostly women but none dare to stop him. It wasn't until he harass a woman sitting across the "Train Man" that he summoned to courage to stop him.

Despite being terrified as he never confronted anyone before and do not know whether he is armed, he asked the drunkard to stop which caused them to struggle for a short time before others start to help.

They end up at the police station to clarify what happened as the women stepped forward as witness to save "Train Man". The young woman thanked him and asked for his address to send gifts.

Shocked by the incident, "Train Man" rushed home to share his story with online users of gamer addict, social recluse, neglected housewife, burnout salaryman and divorced nurse.

"Train Man" later received said gift from her: an expensive set of cups made by Hermès. Flabbergasted, that the tea set was too expensive to be a mere thank-you gift, he asked online users for advice.

They began giving grooming and dating tips, like getting a clean haircut (no more long hair), nice clothing (no more jeans and anime t-shirts), scouting for dining places (no more cheap ramen shops).

Feeling encouraged and thankful, "Train Man" consistently post updates on his daily situation asking for advice from the enthusiastic and chaotic users who find his new life development interesting.

They push him out of his comfort zone and wish for him to succeed as they hope he will be their inspiration to change their respective lives to find their own happiness too. If he can make it, so can they.

The story starts to get funny, wholesome and heartbreaking, as "Train Man" discovers the joys and hardships of relationships and his first taste of love as he learns that it's not as easy as he thought.

When Alex walked into the Wild Pony on New Year’s Eve, the party was already in full swing. Maria had bought the Pony a few months ago and had decided to host a big New Year’s party. She had begged Alex in multiple emails to come and, much to his surprise, he had actually been able to move his leave around and be in Roswell for New Year’s. 

For the occasion, he had even embraced his former teenage self a little and bought new eyeliner. It had felt really weird, but also oddly comforting to put it on for the first time since the day he had left Roswell to join the Air Force. 

Aside from the eyeliner, his teenage self would probably be disappointed in his outfit. No black nail polish, no jewelry beyond the dog tags hidden under his shirt. His shirt was black and his jeans on the skinny side, but no one would consider his outfit punk or emo.

He still felt more like himself than he had in a long time, but also slightly alien in his skin as he walked through the bar. He had only visited the Wild Pony as a patron a couple of times while he was on leave, yet it felt incredibly familiar to him. Mimi DeLuca had sometimes let him, Maria, Rosa and Liz visit her there when the bar had been closed. 

He spotted Maria behind the bar and walked over to greet her, absentmindedly checking what familiar faces he saw around the bar. 

Maria squealed when she spotted him reaching over the bar for a somewhat awkward, but very tight and enthusiastic hug. 

“Alex, you made it!” She looked him over once she released him. “And you’re wearing eyeliner! What a throwback. I love it, you look amazing.”

Alex laughed. “Thank you, you look amazing too. The Wild Pony suits you. Congrats on buying it, by the way.” 

“Let me do my job then, what do you want to drink?” Maria asked with a grin, “best friends who I haven’t seen in way too long drink for free tonight.” 

“Well, I’m not sure how good of a business decision that is, but I’ll start with a beer,” Alex said with a laugh. “On the topic of long lost best friends, did you manage to persuade Liz to come?” 

Maria’s smile dimmed a little and she shook her head.  “No, when I invited her she said something about a work thing that sounded a lot like she’d just made it up. I get it though, there are too many memories of Rosa and her mom here.” She handed him a beer. “Have you heard from her lately?”

Alex sighed and took a sip, “I don’t really hear from anyone. The internet is never great, not all of our private communications are as private as I would like them to be and it’s not exactly easy to engage in smalltalk doing what I do. You’re pretty much the only one I hear from semi-regularly.”

Well, for a while, on and off, he’d heard from someone else, but he pushed that thought down as far as he could. 

Maria nodded, but before she could answer, one of the other bartenders called her name. “Sorry, I have to go check on that, we’ll catch up more later, okay? Enjoy the party!”

Alex raised his beer to her as Maria hurried off to take care of whatever had come up.

Turning a little to rest his elbow on the bar, Alex looked around. He’d seen some familiar faces earlier, but no one he knew well enough to be interested in catching up. That would probably only lead to someone awkwardly thanking him for his service and then a lot of tense small talk because they wouldn’t know what to ask and Alex wouldn’t really be able to tell them anything about his job anyway.

It wasn’t as if he had a personal life worth discussing and most of the people here would still remember him as the kid who was rumored to be gay. Neither the military nor his sexuality were topics he wanted to discuss with almost strangers. 

To his surprise, he spotted Isobel Evans not too far from him at a table. He definitely hadn’t expected to see her here, unless something changed since the last time he’d been in town, Isobel and Maria couldn’t stand each other. Of course, where Isobel Evans was, Max Evans was never far. Alex spotted him carrying drinks over to the table Isobel sat at. 

After spotting the Evans twins, Alex decided to stop looking for familiar faces, in fear (or hope) of finding one in particular. Instead he focused back on his beer and waited for Maria to come back over. 

His strategy didn’t work, only a few minutes later he heard a laugh he could recognize anywhere. Whipping his head around, he spotted a painfully familiar head of curls sitting with the Evans twins now. 

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You can find the amazing gifs made by @manesalex to go along with the fic here.

Spoilers for 4.02

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pulse (2001) dir. kiyoshi kurosawa

7. “This isn’t goodbye”

The words had haunted him throughout the night. The distant sound of Alex’s guitar and his voice, the echo of it in the desert as he played to the stars and to Michael, seemingly asleep in the Airstream next to him.

Michael had fallen asleep with Alex in his arms and had woken up to the cold night air and music on the wind.

It’s not goodbye when I want to be anyone, anywhere with you

Alex’s voice was as beautiful as it had been a few years ago, playing emo standards in the back of Michael’s pick up as Michael tried hard to ignore the thrum of pain in his left hand.

This wasn’t a emo standard, that Michael knew. He had no clue if it was something new, he hadn’t changed his station from the classic country station since Alex left. He had changed it to avoid the songs he knew only because of Alex, just as he had avoided everything in his life that Alex had touched.

He didn’t even remember seeing Alex’s guitar when he pulled up in his rental car. They hadn’t really wasted a moment. Alex had stepped out, duffle bag in hand, and Michael had thrown it to the back of the Airstream and had pulled Alex into his arms.

And it’s not goodbye when I say I have to go because everywhere I carry a little piece of you. And every time I leave a little bit of me with you.

Michael glanced at the clock. 5 am. Alex would be leaving soon, Michael knew. That’s how they did this. Limited time, no goodbyes. Just Michael waking up in the morning to silence and the vast empty desert, nothing but the stars and his loneliness for company. This was a change, waking up before Alex actually left.

He wasn’t sure if it was better.

And it’s not goodbye because I’ll miss you every day and it’s not goodbye when I still your face, even a thousand miles away.

Was it better to know Alex didn’t want to leave, just as much as Michael didn’t? Was it better to know that Alex didn’t spend his last few hours with Michael at his side, instead he left to sing to the stars about how hopeless they were?

Michael rolled over. The pillows were thin, but Alex wasn’t singing loudly and the gusts of wind would cover up anything else. It would have to do.

Michael closed his eyes and tried to sleep. Tried to ignore how much he hurt at the thought that Alex never said goodbye, never said I’ll see you again. Michael could hear the strum of the guitar stop. He heard Alex’s card door slam. He braced himself for the sound of the engine as it started.

It never came. Instead, the Airstream door opened and Alex slipped off his jacket, then his jeans. His cold body slipped under the thin sheets. Michael shivered. Alex pulled him in tight. Michael kept his eyes closed.

Alex hummed and kissed his shoulder. He hummed the melody he had been singing. Michael let his body relax. Alex kept humming as Michael drifted back to sleep.

And it’s not goodbye because I keep coming home to you.

---

Don't know if I'm the best choice to go in-depth. Other more fanatical fans might be able to shed more light on the subject. Still I can easily offer my outsider's opinion and I do love talking about stuff I'm not qualified to talk about.

Hickman places the "Lost Decade" as starting from Avengers vs. X-Men and lasting until the start of his run essentially. Arrogant as hell but accurate as well by my assessment. I'd even stretch it further, as a non-hardcore X-Men fan there's really nothing worthwhile that happens within the time period stretching from the end of Whedon's Astounding up until House of X/Powers of X. That entire time only gave a few worthwhile ideas, Gillen's campy Sinister, Cyclops becoming more militant, Magneto basically joining with the X-Men, etc. But there's nothing in that time period that really endured and fueled the franchise the way that Claremont, Morrison, and Whedon did, at least not that I can see. Hope's storyline of being the first post-M-Day mutant, being fought over by mutants and humans and struggling to deal with everyone viewing her as a Messiah figure, ended anticlimactically on account of it being undercut by Marvel. Their wanting to establish the Avengers as superior to the X-Men ruined her storyline. Instead of being about her and the mutants AvX really became about the Avengers and the Phoenix Five. After that story Hope and the other new mutants basically disappeared entirely until Hickman bought her back and made her important again.

What's hilarious about these hero vs. hero stories Marvel does is the writers ALWAYS fucking rebel against what the editors want, and so do the readers! You're supposed to see the Avengers as the designated good guys of the conflict, but Bendis of all writers has Cyclops basically call them out on never being around when the Sentinels show up to kill the mutants. Not a fair criticism, that's like Batman complaining that Flash doesn't just clean up crime in Gotham for him, it would ruin the status quo people want to read, but it sure as hell made readers feel like the Avengers were bullies. Plus the P5 basically make a paradise on Earth, didn't start losing control until the Avengers kept attacking them, wouldn't have even EXISTED in the first place if the Avengers hadn't mucked things up, and there's really no good reason to fight against them other than a need to go back to status quo (and also I suppose how unsettling it is to have a world get Miracleman'd). Hence why "Cyclops was right!" became a meme, readers rejected the stance Marvel pushed of Cyke being a villain for stuff he did under the influence of the Phoenix, something Bendis ended up running with as well. If Jean can get off for killing a world than Cyke can get off for killing Xavier while Dark Phoenixed.

After AvX is when shit really hit the fan however. That's when the mandate changed from Quesada's "make this like the comics I read when I was a kid" to Perlmutter's "fucking Fox won't give us the rights back, make the Inhumans our new top franchise". Mutants just spin their wheels doing NOTHING under Bendis who starts strong with a really great premise. Sincerely believe the basic idea of the O5 is brilliant. What if the young, uncorrupted original X-Men come to the present and to them, THIS is a bad future like Days of Futures Past or Age of Apocalypse? Cyclops killed Professor X, Jean is dead, Beast is a hypocritical asshole blue furry, Angel is whatever, and Iceman is still irrelevant! Shit is insane and completely not what they thought their futures would be like. So they stick around and try to unfuck the future before going back.

There was a ton of potential there and Bendis wasted all of it on boring storylines that went nowhere. We never got Scott's Mutant Revolution, it was all just empty hype. O5 did nothing meaningful at all except Bobby came out as gay, yay for him. Still funny to me that Bendis went out of the way to establish that the O5 couldn't just wipe their minds and time travel home anymore because of temporal shenanigans, but Marvel basically said fuck that and sent them home that exact way regardless. Really annoyed we never got the story of how Cyke got a Phoenix Egg by Time Runs Out in Hickvengers, but I doubt Bendis could've told that story well anyway.

Meanwhile you've got the Inhumans getting pushed but in their usual hilariously incompetent way, Marvel editorial completely botches their handling of that franchise as well. Instead of leaning into what makes them unique, they chose to make them diet mutants and copy the whole "hated and feared" part. Also they have the brilliant idea of making it so the Terrigen Clouds that create nuHumans also kill mutants, thus making the Inhumans a threat to mutants in-universe and out. So of course the X-Fandom hates these new guys for killing mutants and stealing their spotlight, nobody cares about diet mutants when you've got the real thing, their handling of the one Inhuman people liked in Black Bolt sucked, and the Inhumans show was dogshit and basically killed the franchise. Was a total failure that's more or less ended with the Inhumans banished, but it really was a terrible time for both franchises. By the end Cyclops and Wolverine were both dead which feels symbolic of the state of the franchise. Two of the biggest male mutants were killed off and nobody cared, everyone was just praying things would get better soon.

Oh Christ that quote on the cover has me rolling. Benefit of hindsight is that Rosenberg came in and did exactly what he needed to: burn the franchise to the ground so Hickman could come in and rebuild. He brought Cyclops and Wolverine back to life after Jean had been revived as well, setting up the return of the OG Mutant Trinity for the first time since Morrison killed Jean off. Emma came back and revealed herself to have always been working for the benefit of mutants still, due to Marvel abandoning their idiotic plan to make her evil again. But he killed a bunch of mutants off apparently, and in ways that made Twitter pissed.

Ebook on Lulu

Essays on Japan's Lost Decade and Cinema Vol 1