Afterword

I have extremely bad timing.

If I’m house hunting, I’ll have it snatched out from under me moments after I tour the apartment. If I have curry for lunch, it’ll be curry for dinner. If my electric razor breaks and I buy a new one immediately, it’ll be on sale the next day, and I’ll be all “If only I’d waited!” and if I have soba for lunch, it’ll be soba for dinner.

So this is what happened when I heard the series was getting an anime.

One month in 2019.

There was still a chill in the air.

I had a frayed jacket on, and I’d been told we’d be meeting over dinner, but I still stuffed my face at a revolving sushi bar earlier—they’d had a flounder event going on, and I ate so much that they had to cut me off. And then I rolled into editorial, a thing I’m still not used to doing in the first place.

“This meeting’s just gonna be about where the plot’s going next,” I cheerily assumed…

But the place they took me was a bit too fancy.

And with us were two reps from business rights—the people in charge of “media mix” plans.

At the entrance was an actual cloak room. Very polite.

The man at the counter was super professional and didn’t bat an eye when I handed him a jacket I really should have been sending out to the cleaners instead. I should have dressed up a bit.

I could feel the tension rising. Along with a cold sweat.

The interior was gorgeous. Large and very fancy—maybe an odd comparison, but the sort of place terrorists attack in Hollywood movies shortly before Steven Seagal shows up to beat the shit out of them all. Very cinematic.

The roast beef they served could easily have been mistaken for a steak.

My belly was still mostly full of flounder, and it proved no match for the invading roast beef armies. It was a bloodless victory. It tasted too good.

The supply of gastric juices was unable to keep pace with this beef-vasion, and I was forced to maintain stomach balance with injections of outside drink, but it was all too good to stop.

“There’s going to be an anime.”

“Yeah? …Burrrp.”

As I’m writing this, I’m going, “Maybe this isn’t a problem of timing. Maybe I’m just a raging idiot.”

Hi, everybody. I’m Satou, and this is why I’m fat.

I saw myself in a window just now and briefly thought a former sumo wrestler turned TV commentator was standing outside my house.

But I should talk more about the anime than the demands of my flesh.

I’ve already met everyone involved and been to a number of script meetings. Each one is filled with passionate discussions about how you look at things, what people were thinking, and all the mist and mystery light beams modern day bath scenes require. I’ve fielded a lot of questions about holes in the novel’s world-building that put me on the spot…so let’s just say I’ve learned a lot.

Everyone involved, myself included, is doing everything they can to make this a success. Look forward to seeing Lloyd in action! I feel like an uncle headed out to a play his nieces and nephews are putting on.

As far as thank-yous go…

Maizou, you’re always the best. I’d heard the GA editors are carnivores, and they weren’t kidding. I’ve never seen anyone put down that much roast beef.

Nao Watanuki, I know we’ve only made it this far because of your beautiful art. Keep making Lloyd adorable and Merthophan toe the line.

Hajime Fusemachi, the success of the manga was the last push we needed. More crazy characters show up with each volume, but I know you’ll handle them all.

Everyone at GA Bunko, I’m here because of you. I only hope I can continue to meet your expectations.

And I look forward to working with everyone involved with the anime.

Thanks to all my colleagues, past, present, and future, and all the advice and open ears you’ve provided.

And to my parents—I owe you so much. This time, joke-free.

And to all the readers who’ve followed me here—thank you for reading. I promise to devote myself to making this series even better and even more fun.

I hope we’ll all meet again in Volume 9. I am Toshio Satou, and just as you all expected, this anime thing has made my hair fall out again.