Review of “Mono no Aware” (2012/2013)
Ken Liu (writer).
Read in 2021.
Japanese reaction to the evacuation of the Earth in the face of natural disaster.
Derivative. The disaster itself, including the name of the asteroid, are from Lucifer’s Hammer (1977). The characters, their attitudes and their fates are easily recognizable, but not from Japanese science fiction like Japan Sinks (1973). Instead, it’s closer to other internationally flavoured US SF like “The Lady Who Sailed The Soul” (1960). It is hard for me to picture a Japanese author making such a facile interpretation of the “piteousness of things” in their plot.
References here: Stowaway (2021).