I enjoyed this week’s readings and how they seemed to center around the theme of social conformity. Certain stories, such as The Hole and I Want to Kick You on the Back, I found more relatable than some stories we’ve read the past couple of weeks.
As a college student in my senior year, I’ve thought a lot about my future and what my ambitions are beyond being financially stable; I’m trying to figure out how to make my life more meaningful. I think I resonated the most with The Hole in how when I’m not in school or have a full-time job, I feel similarly to Asahi: bored/unproductive but also this irritation with the corporate monotony of work culture. I want to kick you in the back was also a bit relatable in figuring out the kinds of connections I want to have. In high school, I used to like big friend groups and thought that being very social regardless of how well you knew everyone was the expectation; however, when I was around 17 I realized that I much preferred different kinds of friendships that depended more on connecting at a deeper level. The protagonist of that story seemed to be at a similar stage where she was trying to figure out the types of relationships she wanted to be part of.
I did not understand Toh Enjoe’s Twelve Twitter Stories besides that there were twelve stories about the length of a twitter post (unless I’m mistaken?). I couldn’t easily find a connection between each story, so I’m curious to discuss this in class.
Full of Malice felt kind of dark and depressing to me in how the protagonist is forced to conform to a sterile world free of malice. It definitely offered interesting critique on Japanese culture and social expectations, as it highlights perhaps how people really do feel forced to adhere to certain lifestyles. People Who Talk To Animals Are Nice also seemed similar in how Nanamori felt pressured to understand love, or at least be in a romantic relationship, just for the sake of seeming “normal”.
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