It’s not that I disliked it, I just didn’t quite understand the rave reviews that I saw around it. It kind of gives Hemingway vibes but with more one-dimensional characters in that at the end of the day it’s about a Strong Stoic Man who gets what he deserves because he’s Honorable and True. It’s enamored with tradition. And it’s not even that I expect it to conform to today’s views of gender - that would be useless… it’s just that it felt like the characters were kind of flat because they were set up to personify specific virtues and little else. Shinji is young but good, and then brave and true. He does The Right Thing. Hatsue is beautiful and just happens to be wealthy, and is kind of framed as this ideal that is meant to be Shinji’s because he’s earned it. Good things? I loved the description of the setting, and I enjoyed the atmosphere that Mishima created. I felt like I could smell the sea and was walking along with the characters on the paths of the village (like I felt like I was being navigated quite well through the world, if that makes sense). It felt immersive in this regard, and with little details about tradition and the natural setting/weather… it felt like a portrait in time.