Afterword

Afterword Afterword

Hey everyone, this is Sunsunsun—the guy who promised Volume 9 would go on sale simultaneously with the Feelings in Russian art book in July but completely missed the deadline.

Wow, I totally dropped the ball there. I definitely didn’t plan things right. I seriously underestimated the workload spike that comes with an anime adaptation. What? “Does getting an anime really increase the original author’s work that much? Isn’t it just supervising the script,” you ask?

…Ha-ha-ha. Great questions. Honestly, I thought the exact same thing until something I created got an anime adaption itself. So when I looked at other series and saw it was taking longer for novels and manga to come out after an anime adaptation was announced, I was skeptical and thought, Is the author really that busy? Don’t you just have to go to a few meetings?

So allow me to explain how things work for the sake of all the authors and manga artists out there who are currently facing the same skepticism from their readers! When a work is adapted into an anime, you might wonder what new tasks the original author takes on.

First and foremost, script meetings. Together with the anime director, producers, and other production staff, the author discusses the script written by the screenwriter, and conversations often end up sounding like a variation of the following: “This scene won’t fit into the runtime once animated, so let’s cut it.” And, “There are too many slow, static scenes here, so let’s change this part.” Or, “I’ll write a brand-new scene to replace it.” Even, “This filthy scene will never be able to air.”

These meetings happen multiple times for each episode, rarely wrapping up in just one or two sessions. Based on feedback from the meetings, the screenwriter then revises the script, which is then reviewed again in further meetings, and this cycle repeats until the episode is finalized. Since these are formal meetings, the author of the source material must thoroughly read the script beforehand and prepare their opinions to contribute effectively as well.

Alongside the script meetings, there’s also the casting process—that is, selecting the voice actors. The first step is the tape audition. Although called a “tape,” it’s actually an audio file. Voice actors perform several scenes excerpted from the original work, and their recordings are sent in. For the main characters in Feelings in Russian , about eighty auditions were received per role. Allow me to repeat that: eighty people per role.

We had to listen to all of them and narrow it down to a few candidates we liked. Of course, as the author, it was thrilling to see so many people eager to appear in the anime adaptation of Feelings in Russian . But honestly, I started to experience gestaltzerfall (misuse of the term, but it fits), and after a while it became hard to tell what was good or not.

Some of the audio files were over six minutes long, so listening to every single one thoroughly for a single character meant literally half a day of work. To manage this, the first round of screening was done just by judging the tone of the very first line, but even then, narrowing it down from eighty to about three to six finalists still took several hours.

Then, as the author, after selecting several voice actors that I liked, we held a meeting to decide who would advance to the studio audition, and then we listened to the performances at the studio audition and ultimately chose one person for each role. Honestly, this selection process with the audio tapes was more challenging than the meetings.

Since it isn’t possible to do this for every character, the anime production team handled narrowing down the final candidates for the sub characters to a few, and then we had meetings to choose who would play each role. During one of the meetings, I vividly remember someone saying, “Ah, no, this isn’t right. This Takeshi has hair,” which really stuck with me. Sure, his voice was a bit too cool for Takeshi, but rejecting him because of his hair was hilarious. Put simply, the meetings weren’t overly formal and had a pretty casual vibe.

Of course, it all depends on the production team and how involved the creator of the source material is in the casting process, though. Thankfully, for Feelings in Russian , the anime production side really valued my opinions, including casting. While I’m an amateur when it comes to anime production and left final decisions to the production team, I think they did a fantastic job casting voice actors who perfectly matched the characters!

Anyway, after wrapping up the casting and script meetings for all twelve episodes, the next step was recording. Each episode’s recording session took from two and a half to as long as five hours, and there were twelve of these sessions. Technically, the author of the source material doesn’t have to be present, but I attended all except one session that I absolutely couldn’t make. Of course, I did this remotely, though. That pretty much sums up what an author usually does in anime production which is probably what most people imagine as “supervising the script.”

But honestly, the supervision related to anime production isn’t that much of a burden. Sure, some preparation is required beforehand, but the meetings and recording sessions only happen a few times a month and last just a few hours each. You’re probably now thinking, “Sounds tough, but it’s only once a week or every other week, right? That’s not too bad.” And you’d be right.

Yes, these anime-related supervisory tasks are important, but they’re not the main source of workload for the author of the source material. The biggest burden actually comes from project-related work—things like merchandise, collaborations, and events. First, proposals arrive. Companies send plans like, “We want to create these kinds of goods,” or “We want to hold this kind of collaboration event.” These proposals come in various formats like PowerPoint or Excel, but since they’re official business documents, they’re always detailed and thorough. Then, the author of the source material has to review these proposals to check for any issues. Usually, KADOKAWA staff has already done a thorough check beforehand, so at this stage, there’s rarely anything to object to—mostly just a few questions directed to the staff. It feels a bit like those old-school bosses you see in cartoons quickly stamping piles of paperwork.

Anyway, in these projects, new anime illustrations are often commissioned. When that happens, the author receives detailed requests specifying how each character should be depicted in certain outfits. The author then reviews these to ensure none of the costumes clash with the characters’ established images. Next, rough sketches based on those requests arrive, followed by the final illustrations. Naturally, all of these are carefully checked by the author as well.

Once the illustrations are finalized, the proposed designs for merchandise using these images are sent over. Since these have already undergone strict review by KADOKAWA staff, major issues rarely arise. However, because they’ve been through that scrutiny, the author still must confirm that the feedback given during those checks was properly addressed.

If it’s a simple note like, “The colors here are too light, so we’ll have it fixed,” or “There was a typo in the name, so it’s being corrected,” the author only needs to acknowledge it. But if it’s a question like, “How about rearranging how the characters are placed? What do you think of this?” Then, the author must provide a proper response.

And then…when new illustrations are created, they sometimes come with lines of dialogue. These could be simple phrases for social media posts or short videos—new lines tailored to each character’s illustration. Naturally, the author, that is, me, is the one who has to come up with these lines. Well, that part is still manageable since it’s usually just one phrase. The real challenge comes when it’s for a game where the volume of dialogue increases dramatically. After all, I have to supervise every line the characters say in the game.

Of course, I’m not writing all the lines from scratch; the game developers provide draft scripts, which I then oversee. But honestly, and I don’t mean to be rude, but as the author, I often find myself thinking, Alya would never say that , or Yuki would say it more like this . Each time, I have to suggest new lines, and that process is quite taxing. And once all that supervision is finished and you think the project is nearly complete—surprise—you still have to review some website’s design and their promotional tweets. If there’s a promotional event involving voice actors, I also have to check the scripts for that as well.

With every little progress in these projects, I get bombarded with updates and new proposals that I have to work on. Especially with Feelings in Russian , the number of proposals was unusually high even before the anime aired. It made me want to scream with joy…or just scream in general, I guess. I should mention that my editor often tells me, “If it’s too much of a burden, we can adjust things on our end.” But since these opportunities are hard-earned, it feels wrong to just say, “The author’s too busy, so we have to decline. Sorry.” The projects themselves are really valuable, so turning them down isn’t an option. Sure, the checks could be left entirely to the KADOKAWA staff while I stay hands-off, but as the author, I have my own attachments and standards.

And don’t forget: I also have manga adaptation duties on top of all this. Therefore, almost every weekday, I get some message or request related to either the manga, anime, or these projects. Honestly, if I go a whole day without any contact, I start to feel uneasy.

…By the way, I don’t think I’ve ever outright said this before in any afterword, but…I’m a working author with multiple jobs, okay? I still work a regular daytime job on weekdays, you know? Whenever I say that, people are always surprised—like, “Wait, why haven’t you quit your job yet?” But if I start explaining, it gets long and sounds like I’m trying to be cool, so I’ll skip that here.

I go to work during the day, and after a hard day, I think, Phew, I worked well today . Then I come home and tackle manga adaptations and project work, and I think, Okay, I worked hard as Sunsunsun, too . Even if I haven’t written a single word of my novel manuscript, I still feel like I’ve been productive. And then, well…I end up doing other things: surfing the internet, playing games. You get it, right? That’s what being an adult who doesn’t know how to plan looks like. But honestly, when it comes to writing novels, it takes me a while to really get into the flow, so even an hour or so doesn’t let me get much done. Luckily, the project-related work was so demanding that I asked to have most of it consolidated on weekends which has made things a lot more manageable.

So yeah, caught up in the flood of new work that came with the anime adaptation, the July release got pushed to August, then August slipped into September… I really caused a lot of trouble for my editor and Momoco. I’m truly sorry. Speaking of inconveniencing them, I also messed up the short story for the art book.

At first, the editor asked me, “Would you prefer four thousand characters for a one-page spread or eight thousand for a two-page spread?” And I told him, “Eight thousand is too much for a short story, so four thousand is fine.” And then I handed in a manuscript that was thirteen thousand characters long! Am I stupid? Seriously, it didn’t just exceed one page, it went well beyond three pages…and forcing it into two pages made the text so tiny that it was nearly unreadable. If I’m allowed to defend myself a bit: when I said four thousand characters , I’d planned to write the short story about Alya in that white dress from the art book cover, and I thought four thousand characters would be enough for that.

By the way, the pinup illustrations of the heroines that I received afterward were so amazing… I couldn’t help but want to write about them instead. There were nine heroines, so obviously, I had to include them all. On top of that, there were four male characters, including Masachika, so that made a total of thirteen characters. If you figure about a thousand characters per character, then thirteen thousand characters actually seemed reasonable, right? Well, it wasn’t.

I’m truly grateful to the editor and Momoco who laughed it off and forgave me. By the way, among those four male characters featured, Takeshi and Hikaru were surprisingly not included. If you went “Huh?” just now, that means you haven’t bought the art book yet. I understand it’s pricey, so it’s tough to pull the trigger, but seriously, it’s incredible. Seeing Momoco’s illustrations in the art book’s large format are breathtaking. Every detail is flawlessly beautiful and utterly overwhelming. You can’t help but sigh in admiration.

Huh? So, you want to know who the four male characters that actually appeared in the short story were? Well, if you think about the named male characters, you can probably guess. First, there’s Masachika and Touya, right? And since Takeshi and Hikaru weren’t in it, then obviously Yuushou’s going to have to be one of the characters. And the last one? That’s right: Andou, everyone’s favorite Andou. He’s actually the very first named male character to appear in the main Feelings in Russian story, and in the anime’s first episode, he’s the guy who talks to Alya even before Masachika does. Yet after that, he never got another chance to make an appearance. He was a one-shot character, really, so we brought him back with a bang in the art book. So, if you’re curious, please buy the art book! That’s my unsolicited promo for the day.

Speaking of messing up word counts, I also had similar trouble with the bonus novel for the anime Blu-ray/DVD release. The original plan from the editor’s proposal was to write between fifty and one hundred pages for the bonus novel. Fifty pages is roughly a bit over twenty thousand characters, and one hundred pages is close to forty-five thousand characters. Considering that a typical light novel is around one-hundred thousand characters, that’s quite a lot even for a bonus story—about ten times the length of the usual short stories I write for preorder bonuses and the like.

Even I was like, “This is a bit much. Can we please cut it down to fifty pages?” Then the editor negotiated with the anime team, and they agreed. I was really grateful. That’s the power of a former sales pro, after all. So, I handed in a manuscript of ninety-six thousand characters and honestly wondered if I was stupid. All that buildup and complaining, only to end up doing this? And the page count? It ended up being over two hundred pages—basically a full light novel. Let me repeat that for you: it was basically the same length as your average light novel.

Just in case you guys didn’t bother to do the math, the combined word count for the short story in the art book and the bonus novel for the Blu-ray/DVD was almost one hundred and ten thousand characters. In other words, I’ve written the equivalent of two light novels. So yeah, you know how I just wrote about ten or so pages on how overwhelming work is for authors when their stories get an anime adaptation? Well, that was actually a story about how humans somehow manage to overcome difficulties when they’re cornered. Then again, I guess I didn’t do such a good job, since the deadline got pushed back by two months.

So what’s the takeaway? Simply put: my editor’s a saint. Even when I drastically overshot the planned word count, my editor smiled and forgave me. When the release date was delayed, they adjusted the schedule without a single complaint. Seriously, my editor is a true saint… That said, I really need to be careful not to take this kindness for granted. There’s no future for a writer whose editor has given up on them, after all.

Therefore, to express how thankful I am for them and how sorry I am for being me, I brought some sweets to the signing event celebrating the artbook release and gave them to my editor. I gave some to Momoco as well to congratulate her. And what did I get back? A hand-signed autograph board with an illustration! Huh? Strange… This is starting to feel like I’m the straw millionaire, totally ignoring the principle of equal exchange… Wait! Hold up! If I hadn’t brought those sweets, I would’ve ended up as a shameless author scoring a free autograph! Everyone, when you meet people you usually interact with online in person, make sure to bring a proper gift!

…No, seriously (straight face).

The first time I attended an offline meet-up, I showed up empty-handed and felt absolutely terrible about it. It’s a big deal. Everyone else brought gifts, and I was just there taking them. Talk about guilt. Of course, nobody expected anything in return or complained that I came empty-handed. But even if the other person doesn’t mind, you still can’t help but feel awkward about it. So listen up! If you’re new to meeting up with people you talk to online, always bring a small gift with you when you meet face-to-face for the first time! Make it something compact, not a hassle to carry around, and that won’t get ruined if you’re holding it for hours. Bonus points if it’s a local specialty they can’t get where they live. This advice comes from a veteran who’s already messed up once!

Oh, and for aspiring novelists out there: when you create your autograph, make sure it’s mostly curved lines! Never rely too much on straight lines because even the tiniest distortion is obvious and hard to cover up. This warning comes from a veteran who can’t undo past mistakes! Anyway…what was I talking about again? Oh, right. The editor is a saint and Momoco is a god. I’m truly grateful to both, and I hope to keep working with them. Seriously, thank you so much. Please don’t abandon me. Really.

…I started writing whatever came to mind, and before I knew it, I only have three pages left. I still hadn’t even gotten to the stories about the Thailand event and the anime’s after-recording party yet. Tsk. My lack of planning strikes again. I guess I have no choice but to speed things up. First, in April, there was that event in Thailand…that I think was book-related? It was a huge event, and I got to hold an autograph session there. Just like in Singapore before, I ended up sharing the stage with Sumire Uesaka again.

This time we traveled separately, so we only saw each other on the day of the event itself, but she was beautiful and friendly as always. The fans in Thailand were super passionate, too. Since it was all in Thai, I needed a translator, but everyone tried so hard to talk to me during the autograph signings. After the session, I went to check out the KADOKAWA booth, and guess what? Sumire Uesaka bought a 3D Alya breast-shaped mouse pad—out of her own pocket.

I was surprised to say the least. I was like, “Are you seriously going to buy that?! I’m totally writing about that in the afterword after I finish Volume 9!” And she replied, “Sure, go ahead,” so here I am writing about it. When I say I’ll do something, I do it. That’s the kind of man I am. For those who don’t know what a breast-shaped mouse pad is, I don’t have time to explain it right now, but it’s something that only proper gentlemen and gentlewomen use. Please look it up yourself online later when you have time.

After that, we went to a Thai restaurant for the after party where I tried pu pad pong curry, and it was incredibly delicious. When I mentioned I was going to Thailand, a friend from college recommended pu pad pong curry, so I just had to order it. It was unlike anything I’d ever tasted before. If you ask me to explain what kind of dish it is…well, I really wouldn’t even know how. I guess you could say that it was a curry made with crab meat and eggs? I’m not quite sure. It wasn’t particularly spicy, nor did it really taste like typical curry… but one thing’s for sure: I’m neither especially fond of nor averse to crab, yet that dish was incredibly delicious. If you ever visit Thailand, please be sure to try it. Okay, that’s the end of the Thailand story!

Next, let’s talk about the after party following the anime’s recording sessions. After finishing the dubbing for all twelve episodes, we had a celebration with the anime production team and the cast. Aside from Sumire Uesaka, I’d hardly spoken with the other cast members before (maybe I talked a little with Amano during the first recording), but everyone was very friendly and kind. What warmed my heart most was hearing how everyone unanimously agreed that the recording sessions for Feelings in Russian were fun and how close everyone became. Including the production staff, I truly feel Feelings in Russian was blessed with wonderful people, and I’m deeply grateful for that.

With that, I’d like to move on to expressing my thanks to everyone involved. As always, I am truly grateful for Editor Miyagawa, who has always supported me despite how much trouble I cause. Thank you so much. Next, I would like to thank Momoco, who once again created such wonderful illustrations for the artbook. I requested quite a few unusual expressions this time: serious looks, flustered faces, and yet, her quality was as outstanding as always. I was genuinely moved.

Next, a big thank-you to Tenamachi, who continues to deliver one captivating manga adaptation. Now that Ayano has appeared, the student council cast is finally complete, and I’m excited to see what kind of interactions will unfold! Lastly, my deepest thanks go to Suzuki, the editor in charge of the manga adaptation; Iwata, the editor for the artbook; Katou, the supervisor handling merchandise projects; Arai, the anime producer; the entire publicity team, the staff at Doga Kobo, the cast, everyone involved in the making of Feelings in Russian , and of course, every single reader who has supported the series. I send you my gratitude, which is so immense even a grim reaper couldn’t harvest it all. Thank you so much! I’ll see you again in the afterword of the next volume!