Berlatarkan Jepang setelah Perang Dunia II, "The Setting Sun" bercerita tentang Kazuko, anak perempuan tertua dari sebuah keluarga aristokrat yang kehilangan hartanya akibat perang. Kazuko dan ibunya pindah ke daerah pinggiran setelah perang selesai dan mulai menjalani kehidupan dengan bekerja di ladang dan memperoleh makanan lewat pembagian jatah. Setelah Naoji, adik laki-lakinya, kembali d…
Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human narrates a seemingly normal life even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. Oba Yozo's attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a "clown" to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide a…