Genjitsushugisha no Oukokukaizouki - Volume 15 - Chapter Ep1

Midword

Thank you for buying volume 15 of Realist Hero. This is Dojyomaru, who has been either inside his house working or biking alone along the embankment during the state of emergency. I was already an at-home worker, but this has turned me into even more of a shut-in.

Now then, this volume has mainly focused on the Spirit Kingdom of Garlan and medicine... I have a vague sense of what your readers must have thought when you first read the synopsis.

“Is this guy crazy? This theme, really? Is it really okay to be doing that?” I can practically hear you all saying it.

Err, at the point when I’m writing this, I still can’t say whether it was “okay” or not. However, this scenario is actually one I’d already been thinking of back in 2019, before the virus really took off. I’d have medicine as my theme, drop the information that magicium is made of nanomachines, and more or less make it certain that there was a temporal connection between the time Souma lived in before and the one he lives in now. All that to show this isn’t a transferred-to-another-world story, but a time-travel story.

At the time, I had no idea that all of our lives would be turned upside down like this...

The web serialization of the content in volume 15 started in February of 2020, and in March I wondered if it was okay to keep serializing this story for a while, but by April I realized, “Oh, this problem isn’t going away any time soon.” If I tried to wait until it was over, there was no telling when I could start back up again, so I decided to resume serialization. There were a lot of twists and turns, I have to admit.

Obviously, the disease that appeared in this story has no connection to any real-world disease.

My reference wasn’t a virus, but diseases like schistosomiasis that are caused by parasites. Souma mentioned in the story that he went to the Dr. Sugiura Memorial Museum in Yamanashi Prefecture as part of his social studies class, and I did too. It was a very quick trip where we took the highway bus to Showa Town, looked at the exhibits, bought lunch at a convenience store, and headed straight home, but it was still a valuable experience.

We heard all sorts of stories from the guide there, and were shown oncomelania hupensis nosophora, the intermediate host for schistosoma japonicum, the Japanese blood fluke. I was surprised it was so small, and indistinguishable from other freshwater snails. They showed us the medical equipment that was used back then, including a big syringe that made me shudder, and then, on the second floor, we watched an American-Japanese co-production titled In the Name of Mankind.

I’d like to use this space to thank the guide who showed us around the Dr. Sugiura Memorial Museum.

There was also a newspaper article on display on the second floor of the memorial museum which explained how people faced this disease, and I found it very moving. I think that people’s stance towards disease is the same whether it’s a virus, parasitic infection, or a fictional disease.

There are patients who want to get better, doctors who want to treat them, and people who don’t want to see more victims. That’s why they can make logical decisions, and even if they’re standing in different positions they can fight together. I’m sure there are people who think it would never go so well, but as far as fighting diseases goes, I want there to be some hope, even if only in the world of fiction.

This is getting kind of depressing... Let’s have a change of mood.

◇ ◇ ◇

Now then, volume 15 is scheduled for release in June, so the Realist Hero anime will be airing soon. As I’m writing this, they are still very busy with production, so I don’t know how it will turn out.

I’ve seen up through episode 2 at this point, and Liscia’s gestures are just so adorable. Thanks to the acting of Ms. Inori Minase and the comical way she moves, she’s turned into an even more appealing girl than I imagined. I’m going to have to write short stories for the anime’s Blu-ray release now, and I think Liscia may get a little influenced by that acting.

Now then, I give my thanks to the artist Fuyuyuki, to Mr. Satoshi Ueda of the manga adaptation, to my editor, to the designers, to the proofreaders, to the people involved with the anime version, and to all of you who now hold this book in your hands.

This has been Dojyomaru.