Afterword

Afterword Afterword

Hey. As usual, it’s time for the useless afterword…or that’s what I’d usually say, but maybe not this time. That’s because, unlike when I just scribble down whatever comes to mind, I actually have something to write about! And not just one thing, but two! Hurray. I’m ready to tackle a nine-page afterword … ! So, instead of randomly including a short story at the end, I’m going to write a proper, serious afterword this time… (The following has been omitted for brevity.)

You’ve been completely poiso—trained by me like one of Pavlov’s dogs! Heh! Anyway, as you’ve probably guessed, the topic is none other than the anime adaptation of Feelings in Russian , which will begin airing in April 2024.

Oh, and by the way, my editor told me, “Following industry standards, the newest volume should be released to coincide with the anime, so Volume 8 should be released in April.” But…since I didn’t want to make readers wait an extra two months for no reason, I decided to release Volume 8 in February. Isn’t that thoughtful of me? Heh. A novelist who cares about their readers! But honestly, I just couldn’t handle a sudden two-month gap myself… (The following has been omitted for brevity.)

But, well, my mental state is like shape-memory alloy—no matter how bent out of shape I get, a good night’s sleep fixes everything. Anyway, I seem to have gotten off track. Let’s get back to the main topic of what to write about in the afterword. The first topic is…Anime Festival Asia, or AFA for short, which was held in Singapore!

I can’t believe it, but I, Sunsunsun, the author of Feelings in Russian , was invited to the Anime Festival Asia stage event held back in late November! Ha-ha-ha-ha! I’ve heard stories about authors being sent to hot springs by their publishers to write in seclusion, but I never thought I’d be going on an overseas business trip at the publisher’s expense. Apparently, it’s quite rare for KADOKAWA to hold an event like this before the anime airs, so I’m really grateful for all the effort they’re putting into promoting the anime.

With a deep sense of gratitude, I embarked on my first-ever overseas trip… Yes, it was my first time going abroad. I even had to get a passport for this. When I told the KADOKAWA staff member who accompanied me, he was like, “You wrote Feelings in Russian without ever going abroad?!” But I mean, if you think about it, writers of isekai fantasy (probably) haven’t been to another world either. (The following has been omitted for brevity.) So what’s the big deal if I write Feelings in Russian without ever going abroad! Ha-ha. I’m just trying to justify that I’m just more of an (extremely) indoors-kind-of-guy.

That’s right. I’m super introverted. I basically don’t want to go outside on my days off. For me, it’s not a day off unless I’m at home. Because of this personality, I’ve never much been interested in domestic travel, let alone international travel. But the trip to Singapore was incredibly fun. Even though I can’t speak English at all (basically, all I said was yes, no, thank you, okay, and sorry), the KADOKAWA staff members showed me around and helped me every step of the way, so it was a very comfortable, nice trip. Out of everyone who accompanied me on this trip, I had only met my editor and the producer for the anime before, but the members of the promotion department were also very friendly and kind… I guess people who work in promotions are naturally good at socializing. Also, Sumire Uesaka, her hair stylist, and her manager were all very friendly and easy to talk to.

…Yep. I was already surprised, but on this trip, I was on the same flight from Haneda Airport as Sumire Uesaka, the voice actress for Alya in the anime. She was incredibly beautiful, just like the real Alya. I was really surprised. I knew we were going to appear on stage together at the AFA event, but I thought, “We’ll probably be traveling separately and meet up at the venue on the day of the event.” But no, we were on the same flight. And guess what? I found out later that the person sitting two seats away from me was also a female voice actress who was going to appear at AFA. I only found out about it later from Sumire Uesaka herself.

You know, this was the first time I’ve ever met a celebrity who’d appeared on TV. And a super famous voice actress that I met on my first trip overseas to boot. Total insanity, right? I landed in Singapore while thinking, “You never know what life will throw at you.”

But seriously, Singapore was amazing, especially the architecture. Every building was so avant-garde, and even ordinary apartments had unique colors and shapes, making me think that architects must flat-out refuse to create generic buildings here. And even though the buildings were so full of style, nature was still well-preserved. The street trees were much taller than those in Japan, and the whole city felt like a perfect fusion of nature and technology. It was amazing.

And then, when the AFA stage event started, I found myself surprised yet again. So many of the audience members could understand Japanese. Before the interpreter could translate anything into English, about thirty percent of the people would react. And they were so enthusiastic. My editor had told me, “A shirt and jacket would be too formal for the stage outfit!” So I wore a T-shirt with a big print of Alya (I think it was Taiwanese merchandise), and the Singaporean audience laughed. They were so kind.

And then, after the stage event, I did a signing session with Sumire Uesaka…and I was completely blown away… Her English skill level was about the same as mine, but she was sooo good at engaging with the audience. She’d even notice what the fans were wearing or carrying, and would talk about those shows and about her fellow voice actors, even inserting catchphrases from the characters she’s played while signing autographs. Meanwhile, I was so impressed by her amazing will to please the fans and talent that I just stood there quietly signing autographs as I turned into air. In fact, I’m still wondering if it should even be legal to have my terrible signature right next to Sumire Uesaka’s. So anyway, that’s basically what happened. The event wrapped up as I marveled at the greatness of top-tier voice actors and the kindness of the people in Singapore. And later that night, I even visited a casino. A real casino!

This is what traveling abroad is all about! There weren’t any bunny girls, though! Tsk! Why not?! Where else could you find bunny girls if not a casino? Are they an endangered species? Or is it just a Japanese stereotype that they are standard in casinos? Or maybe you can find them in Las Vegas? Where the heck are all the bunny girls?! What am I supposed to do at a casino without any bunny girls … ?! Anyway, that’s what was going through my mind as I lost all my money (about six thousand yen) playing roulette.

The Sunsunsun Desire and Conspiracy Casino Arc, Fin!!

So, all in all, I had a really valuable experience. Thank you again to everyone involved. If the anime becomes a hit, please take me to Las Vegas next time. I want to see a real bunny girl! My adventure is far from over. I—okay, I’ll stop.

Now, for the second topic. It’s about the voice recording for the first episode of the Feelings in Russian anime! If you’re a comic reader, and you read the bonus comics after the afterword, then you know what I’m talking about. Apparently, you’ll see something like this in the Feelings in Russian comics as well with illustrations by Tenamachi, so check it out! There, I’ve fulfilled my stealth advertisement quota…even though no one asked me to.

So, I was thinking of talking about things that Tenamachi couldn’t fully cover…but then, I got the draft for the comic. And, well—it’s way more detailed than I expected, leaving me with basically nothing to add. Also, uh…Tenamachi’s humanoid avatar is seriously creepy. Like, wow.

So, uh… Wh-what do I talk about now? Oh, hey! I actually met Momoco for the first time at the recording studio! Until then, we never even texted or anything. I only sent her a DM once saying hello, and that was it, but after three years of Feelings in Russian , I finally got to meet her in person. It was so exciting. Oh, this was my second time meeting Tenamachi. We met once before the comic serialization began as a kind of meet-and-greet. Since we’re the same age and Tenamachi is so outgoing, I felt like we were friends right away the second time we met.

So, the voice recording finally began…and wow, professional voice actors are amazing, huh? I know everyone says that, and Tenamachi’s comic depicting the events shows that, so I won’t say anything about the main characters’ actual recordings. Instead, what I want to talk about is the background noise and background character chatter. You know, those scenes in classrooms and cafeterias where a bunch of people are talking at once? That! That was incredible! Did you know that they don’t just use pre-recorded crowd noise? The voice actors actually improvise those sounds on the spot.

And they do it in groups of two or three together like they’re having an actual casual conversation. Plus, they recorded three different patterns: a mix of male and female voices, a group of female voice actors, and a group of male voice actors. The fact that they can improvise all that dialogue on command is truly amazing. I’m sure if someone suddenly asked me to do it, I’d be like “N-nice weather we’re having today, huh?” as my voice cracks.

Unfortunately, unlike Prince Shotoku or Masachika, I can’t understand ten conversations at once, so I couldn’t tell who was saying what…but what I could tell was that the cafeteria scene was hilarious, like something out of a comedy sketch. I can’t go into detail because I don’t want to spoil it for you, but if you have a chance, try to figure listen to what they’re saying. It was a masterpiece.

Anyway, after finishing the main character recordings and the background noise, we finished Part A. It took about two hours. I was told beforehand that the recording would take four to five hours, but contrary to my expectations, Part B ended in about an hour and a half, so I was like, “Wow, that was fast!” …And then, we started recording the extra parts and the Russian dialogue! Almost forgot about that!

We recorded each Russian line with the help of a Russian language teacher, and it was quite a process. Not only were they getting direction from the anime director and sound director (and me) about the acting, like “Be more friendly here” or “Hey, I don’t think that’s how you pronounce ‘nickel,’” but we also had to get feedback on our Russian pronunciation.

Even if the pronunciation was technically correct, if it didn’t match the mood during the scene, we had to redo it. On top of that, since the animation team had only made a rough estimate of how long the Russian dialogue would take, they sometimes found themselves saying, “Oh no, the Russian lines are longer than we expected! Can we extend this part of the animation a bit?” And in the midst of all this, I’d be thinking to myself, “I’m so sorry… I crammed all that Russian dialogue in without even really thinking about it, and now, everyone else has to suffer because of it…” But everyone was truly a pro about it. Of course, Sumire Uesaka, who can already speak Russian, was amazing, but the others had clearly practiced a lot beforehand. It wasn’t uncommon for them to get it right in one take, and we finished this part in about thirty minutes.

It took about four hours in total, which was longer than I expected for just one episode. I was truly amazed at how much work goes into it. Just when I was thinking about how demanding this job must be, Kouhei Amasaki, the voice actor for Masachika, came up to me and asked, “Was my Masachika okay?” He was so humble and a really nice guy. I mean, the whole thing was fantastic, to be honest.

By the time I started writing this afterword, the recording for the second episode has already finished, and I can say that all the voice actors, including Kouhei Amasaki, have done an amazing job. The animation is still in progress, but you can already see how beautiful the artwork is. I’m really looking forward to seeing the finished product. So, everyone, please be sure to watch the Feelings in Russian anime! All right, that’s the end of part two of my unsolicited advertising.

Oh, hey. Check it out. I’ve already written nine pages of afterword. Man, I talk too much. I just realized I had already written more than nine pages for the afterword. I got carried away because I was having so much fun writing. What should I do? I need to cut it down. All right, let’s see… If I cut a few parts from the beginning, I can probably save a page. I feel like I did a sloppy job of omitting parts, but whatever. The uncut version with all the parts I cut out won’t be published anywhere, so it doesn’t matter.

Now, on to the acknowledgements.

Once again, I was a little too slow writing this novel, causing quite a bit of trouble over the New Year holidays for my editor, Miyakawa, so thank you for your patience. Thank you for helping me out during our trip to Singapore and during the recording as well.

Next, I would like to thank Momoco for her wonderful illustrations again. I’m so sorry for asking you to draw more illustrations at the end of the year when you must have been busy. In addition to the amazing illustrations in this volume, she also drew an amazing cover for the artbook. Oh no! I forgot to mention the artbook! The first-ever Feelings in Russian artbook will be released in July 2024 along with the ninth volume of the novel. Please look forward to it! There will also be some exclusive illustrations, so don’t miss it! Oh no, I’m running out of space.

Uh… Next, I’d like to thank Tenamachi for her meticulous and high-quality comic adaptation. The comic adaptation has finally reached the second volume of the novels. I’m really looking forward to seeing Ayano, Sayaka, and Nonoa appear!

And last but not least, I would like to thank Suzuki, the editor in charge of the comic adaptation, Iwata, the editor in charge of the artbook, the promotion team, the staff at Doga Kobo, Inc., all the cast members, and all the readers of Feelings in Russian . Thank you so much! I hope to see you again in 2024! And let’s meet again in the afterwords for the next volume and the artbook, shall we? See ya!