Afterword

Hello! Light novelist Sakaki here.

I’ve got Outbreak Company Volume 2 for you.

Incidentally, this is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual people, organizations, or events is purely coincidental.

For example, say some of the political goings-on in this book seem sooooort of somehow like something in real life to you. It’s just your imagination. I’m definitely not trying to pick any fights here (heh).

Okay. With that out of the way, I can be confident my book won’t get banned......... probably.

But anyway.

Outbreak Company is one of those “alternate world” stories. And no alternate-world light novel (swords-and-sorcery tales being the exemplars) is complete without illustrations.

For that matter, that’s probably true even of non-alternate-world light novels. I mean, having pictures is kind of part of the definition. (Okay, I know not everyone will agree with me on this.)

It’s just... How do I put this? The amount of information that can be communicated instantaneously by a picture, the atmosphere that can be established by eleven pictures, just can’t be achieved in linear text.

You can offer a detailed description of something, sure. That increases the quantity of information available. But the simple reality is that it doesn’t have the instantaneous impact of a picture, that “bam!” quality. A text is ultimately a collection of the symbols we call words, which are used to help create an image in the mind of the reader. It takes time and effort.

But if instead you can show even a single picture of this alternate world, that’s going to have a lot of influence on the reader’s conceptions.

Not to mention, the market is flooded with light novels these days. When potential readers pick up your book and say, “Oh. Another isekai thing,” it’s not an exaggeration to say that the pictures may be what sway them to read one more alternate-world fantasy.

In that sense, having an artist who can draw evocative illustrations can be a matter of life and death for a book like this one, and whether or not that artist is good at getting the details, the little things, right can have a huge impact on the impression the book leaves on readers. It can actually change how deep the world is perceived to be.

I’ve got Volume 1 next to me as I write this, and I can only say, with the above in mind, how grateful I am to have been able to work with Yuugen-shi* as my illustrator. They make the characters moe, no question, but they don’t stop there; they incorporate them into real scenes, atmospheric moments. It’s a surprisingly uncommon talent.

Uncommon it may be, but as moe is so situation-dependent, it really is a crucial part of true “moe art.”

Actually, from a philosophical perspective, it’s pretty close to what Shinichi says about Elvia’s art in this book.

I’ve been awfully lucky in terms of the illustrators I’ve gotten to work with for my books, and this series is no exception. I’m probably more eager than anyone to see as many of Yuugen-shi’s Outbreak Company pictures as possible.

On that note, I’ll get right on plotting for the third novel. In addition to the obvious main characters, Elvia and Brooke seem pretty popular, so I’d like to come up with something they can get involved in.

I hope you’ll pick up Volume 3 when it comes out.

All right, then! See you in the next volume!

Ichiro Sakaki

25 November 2011

*Note: -shi (from the kanji meaning “master”) is an honorific often attached to the names of artists and craftspeople.