The second book of Kirino's that I read, and the one that officially turned me into a fan! Every woman can see shades of herself tossed around in the sea of the story as it unfolds. Prostitution, the work both women share as a way to escape their mundane lives above ground, is aptly referred to as "the water business", presenting a metaphor that is so close to life itself that it stirs the guilt of envy within all of us. It is a reason to delve into this shady game that we can all understand for what it is: every person is in need of water to live, just as a prostitute is in need of sex to feel alive, and a woman struggling for freedom is in need of her power over a man to feel fulfilled.

Japan's traditions are being modernized, and yet clung so tightly to that there is no room for give. The head that rises above gets hammered back down. Grotesque's aim is to mock those traditionalists who continually deny the changes in the society, to present a challenge to them, to say people like these women exist below the surface where you can't scratch at. Yet at the same time, it is a lesson. The higher you fly, the harder you fall.