Afterword

Hullo! Light novelist Sakaki here, bringing you Volume 8 of Outbreak Company: The Power of Moe.

Petralka’s on the cover this time. Twice! (How’s that work?) She hasn’t had a good way to take a very active role in the last few volumes’ stories, so I’m trying to set things up here with an eye for the future. And look where we find ourselves (reference the illustrations)!

It was just before a certain broadcast on Nico Live. Three of us (myself, the illustrator, and the editor) were having a conference at a certain family restaurant.

“Ahem. There seems to be a distinct lack of Myusel in this volume. Do you think that’s okay?” (says editor-san.)

“I really think it’s going to be fine,” my dear illustrator Yuugen-san broke in. I’m pretty sure I can see what he means now. I think.

And then there’s the anime. Yes, the anime!

As I write this (October 2013), the first episode of the series has aired, with the second coming up soon. Being, technically, part of the creative staff, I’ve already had the privilege of seeing episode two in the blanks (the video files sent to the people involved prior to broadcast), and the director’s personal style is abundantly in evidence.

Outbreak Company doesn’t really have big fight scenes in every volume; dramatic conversation is one of the series’ selling points. But that’s actually tough to pull off in an anime. The director, the sound designer, the actors—all these people’s sensibilities have a major influence on the final product, so it can be tricky to create something coherent. I get the impression, though, that the anime strikes a good balance with the character dialogue.

By the way, on the subject of Petralka, the final moments of episode 1, where Shinichi takes a royal uppercut, are well-animated and adorable (Yuugen-shi also recommends them), so if you haven’t seen it, then please, by all means. Listen carefully and you’ll hear some wild ad-libbing by Fuchigami-san, too... (grin)

The actual content is what it is, but we’ve tried to screw around with things a little. Keep your eyes peeled as you watch. There was one particular scene where Shinichi starts chanting “Nou-kan! Nou-kan!” and because I hadn’t seen the anime of that specific series, I actually didn’t know what he was referring to. I was sitting there thinking, What?!

Miki Shinichirou-shi’s work as Garius in episode 4 is completely nuts—I mean that in the best possible way—and you’ve got to check it out. An assistant on Outbreak Company and I happened to get to attend a looping session for that episode, and Kajiya Kiri-san, who does the manga, was there too. The three of us were standing there in the studio listening to “MikiShin” and trying to laugh as quietly as we possibly could.

This is actually the third time I’ve worked with Miki-san—and both other times he was the main character of the series in question. So I came into this one thinking, Is it okay to make the Miki Shinichirou play a side character like this? But he showed me what it means to be a veteran, someone who doesn’t sniff at any character he gets to play (laugh).

Actually, there are enough familiar faces involved in making Outbreak that sometimes I have to stop and remind myself which show we’re working on.

Let’s see here. I worked with the producers (feel.) and the sound designer on Strait Jacket. Pony Canyon produced Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica. I already mentioned Miki-san, whom I worked with on Strait Jacket and Scrapped Princess.

Somehow this is all very strange.

Speaking of the anime, I’ve been charged with doing a special short story, as well as the script for a drama CD that will accompany Volume 9. Both of them, especially the drama CD, feature the sorts of wildly overdone plots that you can only do in anime, or at least that you definitely can’t get away with in the main series. So, uh, hope you like?

Okay, then. That’s enough anime talk; let’s move on to the book. Spoilers follow, so if you haven’t finished the story yet, you may want to go back and do that.

Volume 8... the otaku hook here has to do with action figures or dolls (remember that the Japanese word for “doll” and “puppet” is the same). I imagined the moving figures as looking a bit like something produced by MMD Software—you know, the thing that gives us Hatsune Miku.

Only beginners and the uninitiated assume that because something is in 3D, you can make it look real just by having it move. There are real differences between how a living thing moves and how a lifeless thing trying to imitate a living thing needs to move—it’s a fake, right? So it has to look more real than real; you need this sort of X factor.

I’m thinking this is sort of like the realism of the novels and images I allude to on Twitter and in my books.

Just as a note, there are some details in this book that contradict what’s in the anime and manga versions. (Stuff like how Imarufe Bisurupeguze is handled, the connection between sprite-like beings and magical energy, and so on.) That’s on me—or more to the point, I didn’t write the plot for this volume until after the plot for the anime and the rough panel layout for the manga were already finished. So I was behind the curve and ended up contradicting the other versions.

I’m very sorry to all my no-doubt-concerned readers and supporters.

Still, each of the versions is internally consistent, so if you could just smile and wink, that would be great.

So, what’s coming up next?

I’ve got the plot for Volumes 9 and 10 in hand (submitted to and approved by my editor). They’ll essentially form a two-parter, and they’ll feature a character (?) that readers have been very interested in. At last. Although I’m not promising this character will necessarily get the limelight or anything.

As for the actual story, it’s something I think a lot of you have been anticipating for quite a while. You know.

Hope you like it.

Welp, see you next time.

Ichiro Sakaki

9 Oct 2013