Like quite a few of the stories we've read so far, Realizing Fun Things Through Water was a prime example of how important open communication is in any relationship. I was in genuine disbelief at how little these two had discussed their life plans and their views on romance before getting engaged. I can somewhat understand Hatsuoka not communicating well, as her plans for her future with Hakozaki are a little further from what's conventional, but Hakozaki had such terrible communication skills that it made me wonder if he was doing it on purpose. All public proposals and proposals that aren't previously discussed have a slight "evil" connotation to me. I know that a huge part of proposal culture is the surprise, but proposing very suddenly while out in public and without discussing anything beforehand creates a lot of factors pushing the other person to say yes when they might actually want more time to think. I question where people find the nerve to propose before discussing marriage beforehand, and even more incredulously question how one could go 6 whole years in a committed relationship without talking about marriage at all. I wonder if Hakozaki had intentionally proposed in this way to get Hatsuoka to agree, as he was seemingly trying to "fix" her by having her live with him.
Sea Horse made me oddly emotional for how little I felt I understood the metaphor. There were clear tones of misogyny and sexual assault/assault in general, with the way that she was "handed over" from man to man, chained up, beat, starved, and shoved into a crate, but I felt like I was also missing something deeper—some kind of metaphor in regards to the sea in general or perhaps seahorses. I know that with seahorses, the males are the ones who get pregnant and carry the children, so maybe it was made to show the contrast between the way the human world functions through the eyes of a female seahorse originating from an opposite society. Her daughter specifically (rather than her sons) seeming to take after her and yearning to be in the sea instead of on land might support this as well. I was also wondering if her last husband was perhaps from the sea or some sort of sea ancestry (?) as he seemed to be "longing for something" when they went to the ocean and due to the fact that her half-bred children with her last husband hadn't survived but she managed to have four healthy children with her current husband.
Convenience Store Woman was a fun read with how endearing Furukura is. She showed many signs of being neurodivergent, and I was surprised that nobody caught that in her early childhood; perhaps Murata was showcasing or making a comment on how girls are often diagnosed much later than boys, if they're diagnosed at all. This is definitely not an original reaction, but I was so disgusted by Shiraha, especially his unprompted comments on Furukura's "reproductive abilities". I hope something "extraordinary" comes his way.
I enjoyed reading Dissecting Misogyny: A Live Demo! and liked how though it was just the announcer speaking, Matsuda managed to paint a vivid picture of the scene through the dialogue. I also enjoyed the metaphor about the bones of misogyny being flimsy and disconnected like how typical arguments for/based in misogyny and weak and often have many holes. There was also some nice irony with the line “Goodness, what delicate flowers we all are, ladies!” (103).
Picnic was quite interesting, and I was unsure of whether I should believe the man on his reading on Kyoko or if it's just all in his head. I sort of lost him when he started talking about her being a witch. But that's not to say that nothing she did was atypical, as forgetting your husband's name is no small feat. I wouldn't say that I liked either of the characters, but I did like a lot of the similes in the story such as
“Serious as a hangnail” and “…air me out like a futon”. I also found the descriptive imagery and overall strangeness to help with keeping me engaged.
I liked the discussion of religion in Tomo-chan's Happiness, and thought that Tomo-chan was a very lovable character. Yoshimoto summarized it in a way that resonates with how I tend to think about the idea of the christian God. It just strikes me the wrong way that if someone's life is saved through say a 24-hour surgery, everyone thanks God and gives him all of the credit, whereas if the person dies, nobody blames him. Or when a perfectly innocent year-old baby dies, that's just "God's plan". As Yoshimoto portrayed at the end, it seems more logical and productive to appreciate the regular beauties of the earth and the things/people that we can actually perceive.
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