Texts and Quotes

     Much to think about

The Future of Sex Lives in All of Us by Sayaka Murata - Opinion piece published in The New York Times; might have one of those paywall pop-ups on it. I read this right after finishing her novel Convenience Store Woman and Googling her to find out some more about her.

"My childhood self had another fervent dream that met a similar fate. I dreamed of loving a fictitious being that lived within a story, and of establishing a sexual relationship with them. I believed that someday science would make that dream come true. However, when I was in college, I remember people mocking a porn video about a girl who had sex with boy characters from anime films. Everyone was laughing at the girl. That wasn’t love, they said, it was just abject masturbation and was creepy, cringeworthy and ludicrous."

♡ On Denpa by Kenji the Engi - An article exploring topical themes in the genre of denpa. I liked this article a lot and wrote a little bit about the quote below on my site here.

"Rather than spending his time on real love, Honda embraces moe, his intense emotions for fictional characters in his favorite anime and visual novels. Honda proudly proclaims, 'Moe is the saving grace of the otaku. It never flirts; it never calculates—it offers perfect uncalculated love. Moe is, above all else, self-sacrificing; it asks nothing in return.'"

♡ Arithmetic by Paul Lockhart - This book is about numbers, and counting, and the love of math. I thought this quote was very, very cute... the author is talking about how much he likes counting machines and watching their numbers roll over when the tens place changes.

"So laugh all you want. I’m sticking with my six-year-old feeling of delight in things that move by themselves. You don’t want to think of an odometer as alive and possessed of a soul, then don’t. But Odometer and I have a beautiful relationship, and when she rolls over, I go to pieces."

♡ Earthlings by Sayaka Murata - This quote comes from near the end of the book. Warning that the book deals with extremely heavy topics, so be careful if planning to read it.

"I had thought my sexual urge was broken and that I would never in my life experience it again. But now that my flesh was in a state of utter relaxation, for the first time a sexual urge was forming. This was a phenomenon that only happened when the three of us were all together.

Long ago, before Mr. Igasaki, I sometimes felt a sweet sexual sensation stirring within me as I lay enveloped in blankets or surrounded by soft toys. This was similar, though I felt reassured by the contact with Yuu and my husband’s flesh in a way I had never experienced before.

But it was so irrational! I should train harder. Yet the sensation that my own flesh had been restored was a blessing for me."