Afterword
This volume contains edits of short stories that appeared in Monthly Dragon Magazine’s October 2000 issue, its January, July, and November 2001 issues, and its April 2002, plus one bonus story.
I feel like there’s a theme of immorality to these stories in a different way than usual, but that wasn’t particularly intentional. By the way, everyone in these stories is drinking, aren’t they? How writerly of them.
The month before this book comes out, at 2:28 in the morning of August 5th, the second anime, Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu will start airing. This one draws solely on the comedy shorts. I’ve seen storyboards for a couple episodes, and the Bonta-kun and custodian action scenes are a sight to behold. The scene where the custodian fends off a hundred attacking Bonta-kuns brings up shades of The One, it’s so powerful (just kidding). In order to create the action scenes, the director, Takemoto-san, went to the USA and studied gun fu, as well as Seagal’s brand of martial arts (also just kidding).
All that aside, let’s have a few words about each story.
“A Concealment Full of Holes”
This story ran in DM at the end of September 2001 to coincide with the original anime’s broadcast. We were getting a lot of attention over the anime adaptation, so I thought it would be funny to do a story like this, but the terrorism and delays made it a lot less funny. It was a very memorable episode of my life, though. I’m just going to pray that we don’t get some idiot shooting up a school this time.
“The Self-Serving Blues”
I made Kazama-kun say something very cynical here, but I didn’t want to make our young male readers feel entirely hopeless. Look, facing that reality is nothing but the start of an all new road to walk. Once you break through that initial disappointment, you’ll find so many new things. The road may be long and treacherous, but... Laputa does exist! Absolutely! Surely! Probably! Maybe... (gradually getting weaker.)
“The Turnabout Drunkards”
This is a story about finding out where President Hayashimizu lives. There’s a real-life model for the lodging house described there, but the people who lived there weren’t that weird. Later, a friend said, “It’s a lot like ***son Ikkoku” but I didn’t notice until then. Maybe it was subconscious.
Also, underage drinking is illegal. If you hold a drinking party and your teacher or a policeman catches you, please do not blame it on FMP! And if you’re in high school, you should be more discrete in your drinking and smoking because (further commentary omitted).
“Undercover of Obligated Empathy”
I have a tendency to write yakuza and delinquent characters more sympathetically as time goes on. I’ve met a lot of criminal types, so I guess I don’t have any weird illusions about them. They’re better than people who do terrorist bombings or start wars based on baseless criticism.
This probably doesn’t matter, but my alma mater, which I based Jindai High on, also appeared in an old Jump manga called Rokudenashi Blues. The writer went there a few years before me (though I never met him).
“The Midnight Raiders”
I wrote this one because I was really craving hotpot.
When I first started writing, I wanted Jindai High to come off as a normal school, but as episodes went by, I started to realize it had to be pretty weird even in Sousuke’s absence. The fate of any school comedy, I guess.
And while readers might not care about this, I think Kaname is cutest when she’s wearing a hanten coat over her uniform. Rather than idol-type costumes, I think she looks better with more everyday outfits: aprons, track suits, old lady sandals...
“A Fugue for Old Soldiers”
The bonus story. I might get some flak for having Tessa acting like this right after the Christmas novel, but personally, I prefer the feisty Tessa to the one that’s always mooning around. Though the story ended up being more about some weird old men anyway...
I’m starting to realize bit by bit that I prefer writing old man characters. If I wrote a story about five beautiful girls instead of five old men, I’d probably have five times the writing energy and pain at the same time. I understand what Tsukiji-san goes through now.
By the way, I’ve been to Guam countless times, and it’s full of both signs in Japanese and Japanese people. It feels less like a foreign country and more like a tourist spot like Izu.
Now, I’ve received a lot of patience and support from a lot of people this time around. Thanks, as always. Next book will be a novel, I think. The enemy’s coming into view for real, and the battle’s going to grow more violent. Sousuke’s and Kaname’s lives as they know them will come to an end.
Until next time, when Kaname’s fan will roar again.
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