A review by umbrellatrees
Sanshirō by Natsume Sōseki

3.0

So you're telling me Natsume-sensei gave us a bildungsroman with an eager but spineless protagonist that starts university, feels like a constant outsider, meets a group of cool people, discovers academic life is not as romantic nor as interesting as he expected, obsesses over the aforementioned group's internal dynamics and gets involved in petty antics caused by his new 'friends'; all while the author makes tons of references to Japanese literature, art, and the terribly pretentious status quo surrounding university life...

... and nobody calls "Sanshirou" a dark academia book? Please.