#mai kawakami

[a-titty-ninja]

「舞先輩！」 by ジャムペン | Twitter

๑ Permission to reprint was given by the artist ✔.

[shanks]

郁(IKU)

[ianime0]

Musaigen no Phantom World | Ep 11 | Since we don't know when you'll be back to normal, we'll have to do some shopping.

[vrwmilion]

[fooloftheunknownworld]

This Mai is fun, even if her balance is questionable.

[poppyies]

I made a custom thing for my Tomie dvd

[justsescape]

@widestwaistlines Cow-akami

"You know, just because I'm in a cowkini and hooked up to the milking machine doesn't necessarily make me a cow."

[battle-of-the-persona-arcanas]

[painted-leap]

More of an update! This time, I've drown 2/3 of my BNHA OCs! I still have about 7 more that need re-visiting, but I'll get there... eventually XD

Also includes some doodles of To/mura Shiga/raki in an AU I have with a friend!

[cocksuki2]

breasts and eggs by mieko kawakami is so uniquely woman. not in a feminine sense, or a gender-identity sense, but in the sense that i can feel the soul of womanhood in it, which i have rarely ever felt in other books. 

it captures the experience of being labelled “woman” so precisely that it’s startling and there were several times in the novel i had to put it down and take really deep breaths. 

natsuko, a 30 year old and unmarried woman living in tokyo, experiences the challenges of female bodily autonomy and questions what it means to be a woman and what it means to have children. the novel raises questions about family, sexuality, child-rearing, and womanhood through the eyes of its protagonist who, 10 years later and at the age of 40, grapples with wanting to have a child of her own without a partner. 

in the novel, natsuko, while working on her book, begins to question what it means to raise children, as well as the possibility that she would like to have a child of her own. however, she faces roadblocks on account of strict social norms in japan and the lack of bodily autonomy of women.

the novel, deftly and beautifully, traverses across women’s reproductive rights while posing questions about not only the ethics of anonymous artificial insemination, but of having children in the first place. posing it as both delight and misery, natsuko navigates her way through conflicting ideas about life, death, and birth as a single woman. 

the story deals a lot with natsuko’s own ideas of romance, sex, and loneliness, as well as her own image of herself. she questions her own family and history, reminiscing often on the time she spent with her mother, grandmother, and sister in her childhood, as well as what it meant for her to grow up poor. she considers cycles of poverty, as well as the cycles of mother and daughter, through the lens of a woman with no desire for a longterm partner or sex. 

natsuko, is asexual and sex repulsed. it’s a large part of the story, though it’s not a defining trait in who natsuko is as a person. still, she experiences the desire to have a child. she calls her own womanhood into perspective, doubting it on account of her lack of sexual attraction, detailing it as it “being as if the sexual part of her never grew up”. she states often that she has breasts, that she gets her period, that she is as woman as any other woman, yet still feels that some part of her womahood is missing because of her lack of sexual attraction. 

the novel raises challenging questions of self discovery, as well as details the frustration in being labelled “woman” in society. it beautifully captures the thoughts and burdens that come with womanhood, as well as gender identity and bodily autonomy. 

there are so many aspects of this book i could go into. i truly could not get enough of it while reading. not just because i found the protagonist to be both relatable and interesting, but because kawakami’s voice as an author is so gripping and emotionally real. reading the book, it felt as if natsuko’s thoughts mirrored my own and often, after finishing reading, i questioned whether i had actually read lines in the book or if i had thought of them myself as part of my own inner dialogue. 

it’s so beautifully layered, to the point that i think it would take me multiple posts just to cover what i’ve picked up on the first read-through, and reads like you’re looking back on a life i could have lived at some point. it’s delightfully human but also, uniquely woman. it touches on many of the unspoken (and often unaddressed) trials of being a woman that otherwise would go unheard about. 

i don’t think i’ve ever read anything like it. it touched me in a way no other novel has and detailed an account of womanhood that i felt in a very deep part of my being. this may sound cheesy, but in a way, i felt a large kinship with a lot of the women in the story. whether it was their experiences with men, their experiences with children, or their experiences simply moving through the world, i found connection in all of them. 

[apollos-boyfriend]

i do think it’s funny how many people end up adopting akira by the end of persona 5 in one way or another. he’s world’s most found-family coded boy fr

[ianime0]

Musaigen no Phantom World | Ep 11 | Maybe we should have just stayed at your place instead!

[agender-wolfie]

Trying to finish Tomie and it’s a chore. She’s such a cunt, no wonder terfs love her 🙄

[letsrilakkusu-blog]

Favorite recent reads - Part 2

Finishing off my list of favorite books read in the past two years!

Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami

Breasts and Eggs is a two-part novel with a woman named Natsu as the center. The first part focuses on a summer when she is visited in Tokyo by her older sister, who is looking to get a breast enhancement procedure done, and her niece, who for reasons unknown has stopped speaking. The second part takes place years later as Natsu contemplates her options to pursue motherhood as she grows older without a partner.

I was profoundly impacted by this story and its discussions of identity, as a woman, as a mother, as a child. One of the characters holds the view that giving birth to a child is essentially an act of violence against them, because the child never asked to be born and you cannot guarantee that it will live a safe, happy, healthy life. While extreme, this tapped into my concerns about bringing a child into the world in its current state, and it strengthened my resolve that a child is a blessing to you as a parent. The child owes you nothing because you wanted to have them, and you should be doing everything in your power to make them feel happy and loved.

The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

I always thought of myself as more of a contemporary fiction reader, but The Mountains Sing opened my eyes to the beauty and intrigue of historical fiction as well. This epic tale spans three generations of the Tran family as they navigate life in Vietnam through various harrowing historical events, such as the Land Reform, the Great Famine during the Japanese occupation, and the separation of the North and South and the resulting Vietnam War. Each generation of the family experiences loss, suffering, and sacrifice of unimaginable scale, but they continue to endure and build themselves back up each time with inspiring grit and grace. The importance of family, forgiveness (for others, and yourself), and staying true to your values were heavily instilled in me. The prose is beautiful, poetic, and paints a picture of Vietnam that I never knew, and I gained a greater understanding of the history of this embattled country that was never taught to me. Also, it had me craving pho the entire time I was reading it.

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

I saw The Mountains Sing often being compared to Pachinko, which was published a few years earlier, so I decided to make this my next read and it confirmed that I do in fact love sweeping historical sagas. The central character is Sunja, but the story starts in 1910 with her parents and follows the family all the way to 1989 with Sunja's grandson. I was aware of the atrocities that the Japanese committed against Koreans both in Korea and in Japan, but seeing it laid out on a more detailed, personal level was eye-opening and devastating. As pointed out by Sunja's mother, a woman's lot is to suffer, and so do all the women of Pachinko. They work endlessly and sacrifice everything for a better future for their children, and despite that, things don't always work out the way they wish. But it is the strength and resilience of these woman in the face of adversity that keeps the family marching forward, its flame never extinguished no matter how hard the winds may blow.

As a side note, the television series adaptation by Apple TV+ was ambitious and really well done. It took a lot of liberties with the plot but kept the important points, and the way it tells the story with parallel timelines is very interesting and effective. I live for Steve Sanghyun Noh as Isak, and I look forward to the seasons to follow.

Bonus: Greatest disappointments

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig - Predictable, painfully awkward, and preachy. I read it because it was in like every book club and receiving all kinds of hype but it was a huge letdown.

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki - I was excited to read Ruth Ozeki's newest novel after loving A Tale for the Time Being so much, but this wasn't it. The premise was interesting but it felt really long and a little too meta, and Benny wasn't a very likeable main character even though I know it's not really his fault.

[folkfreaks]

does anyone have any french contemporary lit recommendations for enjoyers of elif batuman mieko kawakami carmen maria machado etc etc merci beaucoup

[vashtijoy]

terms of address: maruki

I was asked how the squad refer to Maruki, so here goes.

first, the normies

Many of the cast refer to Maruki exclusively as "Dr. Maruki": 丸喜先生 Maruki-sensei. These mentions are universally in kanji.

Ann has 41 of these, and often uses sensei by itself;

Haru has 26 of these, and uses sensei alone a couple of times, during Maruki's Palace;

Makoto has 27 of these. She uses sensei alone quite often;

Yoshizawa has 41 of these total, 14 as Kasumi and 27 as Sumire. She calls Maruki just sensei often.

Noticing anything? Yeah: they're all the girls. These particular characters consistently seem to have relatively colourless and unmarked speech. This may in itself, of course, be a form of marking, since expectations around gendered speech in Japan can be so strong.

the relatively boring

Ren appears to always use "Maruki", apart from one instance very early on when an option, "Ask about the counsellor", includes Maruki-sensei. He also always uses kanji; protagonists don't have to be polite.

He calls Maruki sensei alone once, during his confidant. Kawakami gets it more often, while Takemi gets it constantly.

slightly more edgy

While Futaba always uses "Dr. Maruki", she slurs it a little, making it slangier: 丸喜せんせー Maruki-sensee. She always uses kanji for "Maruki", except in the text chat after he visits Shujin, where she's only heard his name spoken!—which is a cute detail. Occasionally she uses せんせー sensee by itself, which is distinct from her 先生 sensei meaning "a teacher".

Ryuji, again, virtually always makes it "Dr. Maruki", usually Maruki-sensei in kanji; a few mentions very early on, when they're still talking about the new counsellor guy, are just straight "Maruki". Also, in his counselling session, Ryuji almost just calls him that!—ultimately deciding to make it "Dr. Maruki":

Ryuji なあ、丸喜⋯センセーってよ、よく『変わってる』って言われね? naa, maruki... sensee tte yo, yoku "kawatteru" tte iwarene? Hey, Dr. Maru— ah, I mean, Doc. Anyone ever tell you you're kinda… not normal?

The meaning is a little lost in translation here, with Ryuji cutting from the normal form of address to a nickname. Also, in Maruki's Palace, he recognises Maruki on one of the videotapes, and starts off in hiragana before finishing in kanji. It feels a bit as if he isn't initially sure what he's seeing:

Ryuji まるき… 丸喜先生？ maruki... maruki-sensei? Maruki... Dr. Maruki?

He uses sensei by itself a couple of times, far fewer than you might expect; his "Doc" is usually either glossed in, or was originally Maruki-sensei, "Dr. Maruki".

He also uses 大先生 daisensei, "great leader/teacher/artist" etc, as a term of abuse, aimed at palace bosses such as Shido and Madarame. 獅童大先生 shidou-daisensei—"that stuck-up bastard Shido!".

the slightly outlandish...

Morgana overwhelmingly uses katakana for names, and Maruki is no exception. He talks about him a lot, always in katakana, as マルキ Maruki. He never uses any honorifics for him.

He has only one use of kanji, 丸喜 Maruki, in "will you meet with this confidant?" text, around I think rank 5, which looks like it may be a slip.

the strangely polite...

Akechi, of course, fails to grace Maruki with his title of "doctor"; he's just plain "Maruki". The localisation sometimes makes it "Dr. Maruki", but that's a gloss; Akechi never once uses sensei (or any other honorific) about him.

But he uses an honorific to Maruki, once:

That "isn't that right" is ですよね desu yo ne, which might seem startlingly polite for third semester Akechi. In fact, he's rather consistent about his masu forms to Maruki—and only to Maruki—during the third semester.

He has no uses of desu or -masu/-masen, for instance, to anyone else in the third semester. It's actually rather cute, because it makes it clear a number of his lines in the 1/2 and 1/9 Palace are directed not to Ren or Yoshizawa, as it might seem, but to Maruki.

So this looks like a sardonic little aside, and I'm sure there's a lot of that in it—"Maruki-san". But this is also the only time Akechi ever addresses Maruki by name. And since he has all these desu and -masu forms going on around Maruki, then maybe he just calls him Maruki-san, full stop.

Did I mention he's a weird boy?

...and the downright weird

That leaves us with Yusuke, who (as nobody will be surprised to hear) does his own thing that raises some fascinating possibilities.

Yusuke only appears to address Maruki by name once, when they first meet in the courtyard, and as you'd expect, he calls him sensei—丸喜拓人先生 Maruki Takuto-sensei, "You are Dr. Takuto Maruki, correct?".

But every other time Yusuke uses sensei in the script? He's referring not to Maruki, of course, but to his sensei, Madarame. That initial approach to Maruki, stranger to stranger, face to face, is the only time he uses it to anyone else.

So what does Yusuke call Maruki? He calls him 丸喜氏 Maruki-shi.

what is shi

氏 shi is a very formal and exclusively third-person term, usually seen in writing, or heard from newsreaders. It's often translated "Mr X", which can be very odd to hear in media that retains honorifics like -san and -kun; "Mr. Akechi's coming on!" is an example, from 6/10. And Akechi is, in fact, usually mentioned as Akechi-shi on the evening news.

Yusuke's Maruki-shi is universally translated as "Dr. Maruki", as if he'd just said Maruki-sensei like everyone else. Which is a little bit of a shame.

Yusuke also uses shi for one other person—the art patron Kawanabe, in his confidant, before you meet up at the sushi bar. Most of the rest of the time, before and after, Yusuke just calls Kawanabe "Kawanabe" in third-person, with no title; he pulls out a Kawanabe-san at rank 10, after he's won the contest—face to face, of course, since shi is only third-person.

On the other hand, Yusuke never mentions Maruki at all without a title.

the other time yusuke uses sensei

Okay, I lied: Yusuke has one other instance of Maruki-sensei. This, like Morgana's single lapse into kanji, is in prompt text: "Are we going to Maruki's Palace today?" Again, I think this is likely an error.

revision history

Click here for the latest version.

v1.0 (2023/12/29)—first posted.