This takes quite a turn or two.

75. Earthlings – Sayaka Murata

Natsuki is another female protagonist who is apart from the world she inhabits, but, it’s sort of forced on her by her family (in particular her mother’s constant put downs) instead of something she uses to be extremely useful to society like in Convenience Store Woman. Natsuki has ideas of wanting to be “brainwashed” so she can be a useful cog in the “Factory,” which essentially means giving up who she really is (according to her, she’s an alien) and just getting along. But that comes later, first, you see how Natsuki and her cousin Yuu, both treated like they’re not welcome in their own families, grow to prefer the idea of being aliens rather than people. It’s not hard to understand how someone as emotionally neglected as these two, especially Natsuki, who is also preyed upon by the teacher her friends think is “Cool,” would prefer not to be an earthling and only see agency in being an alien who maybe murdered that same cool teacher.

There’s also a time jump so we see Natsuki as an adult who really hasn’t progressed emotionally from childhood and her continuing efforts to be who she thinks society wants her to be on the outside. When she finds out Yuu is living alone at their grandparents’ former house on the mountain where they used to actually enjoy life and talk to each other about being aliens and where the spaceship to take them back could be, she finds a way to bring her equally alienated from society husband there and it gets very weird and dark and transcendence through cannibalism makes them all pregnant. Yep.

 

Pickles is pretty sure Belvedere’s not an alien and is her brother, but, she’s also suspicious.