#mitsuse ryu

100 SF QUESTIONS FOR MOTO HAGIO 

Interview of May 21st, 2022 

Special for Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights 

SF and me 

1. What is it that fascinates you about SF? 

Ever since I was a child, reality and its constraints weighed heavily on me. I felt that this world would forever be closed to me and that I would never find any kind of hope here. That’s why I started dreaming of faraway places, of legends, and of fantasies. I became obsessed after discovering science fiction. I was thinking of different versions of a future Earth. I was imagining myself meeting inhabitants of another world, traveling through space. That was what gave me hope.  

2. How were you introduced to SF as a child? 

Manga like Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy, Shotaro Ishinomori’s Yuurei Shoujo (Ghost Girl) (where he imagines that multiple dimensions other than ours exist), among others.  

3. What is the first SF novel you remember reading? 

Kadokawa Shoten’s “SF Juvenile” collection. It’s about 10 volumes long, but I can’t remember the title of the first volume.  

4. How old were you then? And why did you choose that collection? 

I was in fifth or sixth year of primary school. I was going to Mikawa Elementary School in Oomuta, in the prefecture of Fukuoka. One day, our library got the entire set and put it on their shelves. There it was, immaculate. I was overexcited.  

5. Can you talk some more about your relationship with SF during elementary school? 

I remember Chikyuu Saigo No Hi (The Last Days of the Earth) from the same collection very well. The story took place in Manor House, the UK. A group of lords learn that the comet Halley is on its way to destroy the Earth. Which doesn’t happen, in the end. Then there was From the Earth to the Moon, The Lost World... I always sneaked into my school’s library to read. My mother was furious when I borrowed that kind of books and brought them home (she said that they had nothing to do with my studies). So I would stay at the library until the very last moment, right before closing time at 5. 

6. What about you and SF during middle school? 

I was mainly reading stories focusing on science you would find in magazines aimed at middle school students. There was one for every level: “First year,” “second year,” and “third year.” I had many friends who would lend me books until high school, so I only bought “third year” magazines. That’s also when I discovered Taku Mayumura’s novel, Nazo no Tenkousei (The Mysterious Transfer Student). I was quite shocked when I read Wakusei SOS (Planet SOS) in a supplement of Third Year in 1966 (the story was based on Isaac Asimov’s The Currents of Space). Up until then, most of the stories I’d read were taking place on Earth, but suddenly, I was reading about space civilizations and faraway planets in the future.When the characters said “I come from the Earth!”, they were met with a “Earth? I know no planet by that name.” I remember it very well. A world where nobody knows about the Earth. Isn’t that fantastic? 

7. And your high school years? 

I was literally swimming in SF! I was living in Suita, in the Osaka Prefecture. I was a student at the municipal high school. There was a bookstore where you could borrow books, a kashihon-ya, in front of Senriyama Station. At the time, you could rent a book for 10 yen per day. I was mostly getting novels from the SF series of Hayakawa Publishing. I was renting so many books, so I don’t remember the titles and their authors anymore. But I must have read a good 50 of the 318 novels published in the series. I remember 300:1. It was talking about humanity leaving the Earth. There was also Deadly Image. SF critics were talking a lot about it. After some research, I found out that it was written by Edmund Cooper, a famous British author. There were kashihon-ya everywhere back then, and they were selling Hayakawa Publishing’s SF Magazine or Mystery Magazine. I sometimes bought them whenever I had some pocket money. But because it made my mother angry, I was never taking them home. I wonder what I did with them.  

8. Can you talk about how you felt about SF during your debut as a manga artist (during the 1970s)? 

I won a prize (of 3000 yen) by sending my manuscript to Shuueisha when I was still in high school. After that, my mother stopped scolding me when I told her I had to buy books to help me with my manga. So, the moment I had some money, I was spending it on paperback SF books. As I was approaching 20, I got my hands on two books by Ray Bradbury at my bookstore at Oomura. First one was The October Country, which took my breath away by its beauty. I went back the next day to get R is for Rocket. I went by bike. Later, when I went to Tokyo and started living there, I read Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? I was astonished. I was engulfed in this futuristic world where androids and humans shared the same pain, the same melancholy for many days to come.  

9. So, we can say that you never stopped reading SF. 

No, never.  

10. What kind of SF do you particularly like? 

I like them all. But I must admit that I’m always at the edge of my seat when it’s a story about extraterrestrial beings. Very recently, Liu Cixin released a book in that genre, The Three-Body Problem, which I found to be very interesting.  

11. Between parallel worlds, spatial distortion et time travel, which one do you prefer? 

I love them all. I read Ken Wakui’s Tokyo Revengers not too long ago, which dealt with time travel brilliantly.  

12. Sometimes, stories inspired by the fantasy world, like the ones you had in Unicorn no Yume (Unicorn Dream) for example, end up by being rather in the lane of SF. Do you separate the two categories? 

Yes, I do. When the fantastic is combined with magic, that’s fantasy for me. When it has scientific elements, it’s SF. 

13. For you, what other words would correspond to “S” and “F” of SF? 

“Stranger” and “Festival.” 

14. Let’s talk about Asimov a little bit. What about him that fascinates you? 

How apt his analysis of the world and the scope of his universe are. Also the appeal of his creative genius, like in Foundation or Caves of Steel. Until the very end, the story keeps its density and homogeneity.  

15. And what do you like about Bradbury? 

I like his lyricism above all. His writings, his narration makes me feel like I’m reading a poem or listening to music. He sometimes writes about young boys whose purity is simply captivating.  

16. Who are your favorite Japanese SF authors? 

Sakyou Komatsu, Yasutaka Tsutsui, Taku Mayumura, Shinichi Hoshi, Ryu Mitsuse, Ryou Hanamura, Yasumi Tsuhara, Yuusuke Kishi... 

17. And if you had to choose between Japanese authors and foreigner ones? 

I would choose foreigners.  

18. As a long-time SF reader, would you say that your taste in SF has changed? Or are you still interested in themes that you’ve always liked? 

I don’t think I have changed, because I enjoy everything.  

19. If you had to recommend a work to someone who’s never read any SF, what would it be? 

To start, I’d say works of Fredric Brown are the easiest to get into. And if they like it, they can move on to Robert Sheckley, Alfred Elton van Vogt, Theodore Sturgeon... Oh sorry, I’m only listing my favorite authors.  

20. And what would you recommend to someone who’s not really good with SF? 

Maybe titles who do not stray too much from what we usually encounter... Why not go with Children of the Atom by Wilmar House Shiras, of The Body Snatchers of Jack Finney? Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes is also great. Stephen King’s 22/11/63 made me hold my breath until the last page. Again, that’s just my personal preference.  

21. How do you choose your SF novels? 

I buy the latest releases of authors I like. That being said, I also rely on reviews, and word-of-mouth, and recommendations... 

22. You said you’ve read Liu Cixin’s bestseller, The Three-Body Problem. Can you tell us what you thought of it? 

That’s a great example of a big-scale saga that spans multiple universes! I thought it was really interesting. We also visit very exciting parallel worlds. After finishing it, I thought back to the introduction of the second volume again. The one where we simply follow marching ants. The plot is very coherent, and the story is quite cruel. The bottom line is, humans are nothing but insects.  

23. What would you recommend among the latest SF releases? 

Hmm... The Three-Body Problem was really amazing. I also liked Peter Watts’s Blindsight. It’s very engaging. I had a good time reading Andy Weir’s Martian, it was very comforting. It figures that it was adapted into a movie. 

24. Is there an upcoming SF novel you are looking forward to? 

As a matter of fact, I love Ann Leckie. I was totally hooked on her Ancillary Justice. I’m also waiting for a sequel for Provenance. Inhabitants of other planets intrigue me so much.  

The appeal of SF manga 

25. What is the first SF shounen manga you remember reading? 

Astro Boy, of course. 

26. And the first SF shoujo manga? 

Shotaro Ishinomori’s Yuurei Shoujo (Ghost Girl). But I’ve only read the first part, which was published in instalments in a magazine. Which is why, I know very little about it.  

27. Which SF manga character(s) have impressed you the most? 

Astro and Cyborg 009. Lucius Modestus from Thermae Romae is also very cute.  

28. What did you like about them? 

In Astro, I liked his sad eyes, which still had so much spirit. As for 009, he is just so cool! His shyness is also very touching. And I love Lucius’s noble soul. It allows him to be open to different cultures.  

29. What would be your list of best SF manga of all times? 

Astro Boy, Cyborg 009, Doreamon by Hiroshi Fujimoto and Motoo Abiko (Fujiko Fujio). I keep repeating the same titles. Something must be off with my memory! 

30. Why do you love them so much?  

They pierced through my restless heart... in more ways than one.  

31. Among the shoujo SF manga of Osamu Tezuka and Ishinomori Shotaro you read as a child, which were your favorites? 

Sorry, but I will still go with Astro Boy and Cyborg 009. But I can also count Wonder 3, Majin Garon, Fushigi no Shounen (The Mysterious Boy), and Mutant Sabu, which were all very interesting. Oops, these are mostly shounen manga. Sorry. Leiji Matsumoto’s shoujo SF manga he released under the penname Akira Matsumoto were also very good. But I can’t remember their titles, sorry.  

32. What is the appeal of writing SF manga for you? 

Being able to describe a certain future, values and customs of other worlds, their philosophies, environments... Being able to smash your own value system to pieces. 

33. And what is the most complicated part of the process? 

The technology aspect (robots, ships, mechanical pieces...). I mean it. Worldbuilding too, especially when you have different planets or worlds.  

34. Would you say that SF manga stands at a different place compared to before? 

Truth be told, I do not know. I don’t read all SF magazines. I get the impression that there aren’t SF manga for adults anymore. Well, Naoki Urasawa wrote Asadora, after all. That’s SF, is it not? There’s also Attack on Titan in the spotlight, so I assume that there’s a demand for SF. In that case, maybe nothing’s changed? 

As a creator of SF worlds... 

35. When you draw SF manga, what do you pay attention to the most? 

Hair design and the outfits of the characters.  

36. What are the hardest and the easiest parts? 

I take pleasure in finding the inspiration to create a beautiful composition. The hardest part is making do when I can’t find it. I keep going at it until I finally do.  

37. What do you have for us next? 

I’m working on a new instalment in The Poe Clan saga, Ao no Pandora (Blue Pandora), which has a surprising SF twist.  

38. Do you have your little rituals when you write SF? 

Absolutely not. I look at my Mars globe for a while, I guess.  

39. Does writing SF takes more or less of your time than writing in other genres? 

No, they are all the same.  

40. Do you consider writing a work that would explore the theme of traveling to another planet from the Earth? 

That would be nice. It reminds me of the time when I met Ryu Mitsuse during a party thrown by Akita Shoten. It must have been between 1985 and 1990. At the time, I was frequently going to Globe Theater of Tokyo in Shinookubo, where they staged Shakespeare plays. I thought of a story in which the Globe Theater was a spaceship, taking its crew on a star trip. The leader of the troupe was a boy of 16 or 17, his favorite play was Hamlet and he was dreaming of avenging his father one day. See, I had even thought of the characters. So, when Mr. Mitsuse and I started talking about the Shinookubo theater, I was surprised to hear him directly say that having a theater troupe travel in a spaceship built like the Globe wasn’t that original. I was convinced that telepathy exists! But it’s true that taking these unambiguous elements and combining them would certainly end up being something very commonplace. Nevertheless, even today, I probably don’t have the energy to plunge into such a project. I wish someone got to it, so that I can read it one day. Oh, and all events would be tied to a Shakespeare tragedy in some way. 

41. In 1993, in an interview with novelist Yoshiki Tanaka, you said “I would like to write a long, a very long SF story. The story of a never-ending journey.” Do you still want to? 

Yes, that would have complemented the space theater troupe story. If you added a Moby Dick-like side to it, it would be even more dramatic.  

42. Is there a novel that you would like to adapt into manga? 

There’s a lot, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to. I read John Herbert Varley’s Steel Moon recently. Although it was hard SF, it still leaves amazing images in your head. China Miéville’s Embassytown was alro released not too long ago, in which the residents of Planet Arieka, who suddenly find themselves in a type of addiction. I thought that with its oppressive side, it would be the kind of parallel world worth adapting.  

43. In the past, you wrote SF novels like Piaris or Utsukushi no kami no tsutae (Message of the Gof of Beauty). Are you considering going to back to writing? 

Yes, one day. But it has to take place among the stars.  

10 Billion Days and 100 Billion Nights 

44. Tell us how you ended up adapting this novel into manga.  

I was talking to my editor from Akita Shoten about how astonishing Ryu Mitsuse’s novel was. Then another editor who was also present there said, “Oh, I’m close with Mr. Mitsuse. Would you like to adapt it into manga?” Before he could finish his sentence, 10 Billion Days and 100 Billion Nights started serialization in weekly Shounen Champion. Sometimes, you just need to go with the flow. Maybe that was destiny.  

45. How did you feel when you first read this story? 

I thought it was very complex, but one of my teachers in high school once said, “humanity is incapable of knowing what lies beyond the universe.” Ever since, I never stopped thinking about how there was something there. At the very end of the novel, there is that very dramatic revelation... The Q&A between Ashura and Chakravarti-rājan also came quite as a shock to me. All the more so when Ashura started receiving what that “something” is through a dream. I felt as if my heart would leap out of my chest. I thought, “it’s not just something, but it’s someone...” This kind of story is really bad for my heart.  

46. What really pulled you in Mr. Mitsuse’s novel? 

Its dark, melancholic, and fatalistic side. But also the ideas of resilience, of pride, and the philosophy thereof.  

47. Was designing the characters for the novel hard? 

No, because the novel already did a great job at it. I did my best to stay as close as possible to the original designs, but Ryu Mitsuse still told me to go ahead and draw them as I like. That really lessened the pressure I felt, and I’m grateful to him.  

48. You say Ashura is your favorite character. Why? 

I modeled Ashura after the statute at Koufukuji, and everything’s there. Destiny, space, eternity, the male-female duality in its features, and that elusive, yet ever present stubbornness. The ability to guide and console Siddharta, to stand up to Maitreya and admonish Sakra... How cool! 

49. Which scene are you most proud of? 

Siddharta and Ashura facing off in the desert. You could really feel the aspirations of a young artist through the art there. I don’t know if I can draw like that ever again.  

50. Conversely, which scene would be the farthest from it? To put it more simply, which part was the hardest to adapt into manga? 

The place where the Negation compartments are stored was too cramped. I would have loved to reflect its monumental aspect better. Like there were no limits there, a little bit like an immense airport. 

51. Apparently, you submitted about 90% of the storyboards before the serialization began, and made necessary changes as you proceeded. Is there a particular reason why you chose this method? 

I needed to fit everything in two volumes. That was the number of pages I was given. Each chapter had to be 20 pages long. The color pages weren’t included. I could finish five pages in a day, so I had 4 days to complete a chapter. The scenes like the one that takes place in a desert were going to take time, so I wanted to at least submit the storyboards with the dialogue and all. I’m not too sure now, but I think I kept everything in a little folder. I must have dedicated myself wholly to this task to get everything done at once. It must have taken me a month.  

52. You must have needed a good knowledge of Buddhism. Was preparing for this manga hard? 

I bought a photo album of Buddhist statues to scavenge for visual references. I took a trip to Kyoto and Nara, and I studied the artefacts on display.  

53. Were you comparing your work to the other manga published in Shounen Champion at the same time? Did you face different hardships compared to working for a manga magazine aimed at young girls? 

Usually, I don’t really think about what other artists do who are published together with me, no matter the demographics of the magazine. I take the age bracket of the readership into consideration, that I do. I wouldn’t say I had any particular difficulties, but I can say that I enjoyed working on different contexts and settings, like the buildings in the desert or in Atlantis. 

54. Did writing an SF work published in a magazine aimed at young boys made you impose certain restrictions on yourself? 

Not really. It’s true that as a general rule of thumb, lines are thicker in that kind of magazine. One can notice more striking nuances in the thickness of the lines, more than I would have imagined. For a moment, I thought that my linework was maybe too thin for this kind of work. Despite all that, I did what I did.  

55. Did that have an impact on your later works? 

No, I don’t think so.  

56. How did Mr. Mitsuse and his fans react to this manga?  

After the first chapter, I received letters from elementary school boys asking me to stop because they didn’t find it interesting. I felt a little guilty. I knew they were buying the magazine with their pocket money. It was only fair that they wanted to enjoy everything they read in there. When the first volume came out, Mr. Mitsuse suggested that we sign it together. We prepared about 20 co-signed 2-volume sets, and took half of them each to distribute. However, I’m not sure if the readers were satisfied with that.  

57. Did you read the original work in episodic instalments in SF Magazine? 

No, I’ve read the paperback. But I remember reading the first chapter in the magazine, so I probably got a second-hand copy to read it.  

58. On the introduction page of the first chapter of the manga in the magazine, we can see a character with glasses next to Orionae. Who is that? 

That’s Judas. He hadn’t appeared in the story at that time.  

59. Yume, the young girl from Elcasie village, doesn’t appear in the novel. What made you create this new character? 

She was supposed to be a guide. Including generic characters often allows a less brutal delivery of the setting.  

60. In the novel, Judas is 60. But under your pen, he becomes a young man. Why is that? 

Really?! This is the first time I’m hearing it. Sorry. I’ve always imagined him as a young man. That’s just a personal presumption.  

61. How does the end of this story make you feel? 

Thanks to this story, I now understand the expression on Ashura’s face (I’m talking about the statue at Kofukuji). In a never-ending battle, humanity cannot turn away from its destiny in order to survive. This transient nature is Ryu Mitsuse’s signature. I’m very impressed by how he chose to write about a world in which there would be no winners.  

62. Have you ever thought about how you personally would have finished this story and was it ever reflected in your later works? 

Oh no, I would not dare! 

63. Ashura is always seen striking very theatrical poses, which remind of kabuki*. Was that intentional? 

*Traditional Japanese theater that focuses on dancing and singing.  

Now that you mention it, it’s true that I try to draw beautiful silhouettes, and that’s how I always end up like that. I don’t specifically draw inspiration from kabuki, but I admit that the poses of the actors are quite impressive.  

64. I quote what you once said in an interview: “The hardest part to convey was the climax that lead up to the end. I didn’t know how to draw it. I felt even more lost thinking about how the story would be incomplete without it. But to really grasp its difficulty, I still needed to take on the challenge. When I felt ready, I started to draw Ashura with her tiny hands and feet (laughs).” What did you mean by that? 

I was asking myself, “What? Is Ashura connected to the universe by sharing a common conscience with Chakravarti-rājan?!” I was imagining that her three pair of arms were embracing the universe, and as I drew her three faces, and six elbows, I could naturally see the connection.  

65. How did you imagine the legendary continent of Atlantis? 

I had been interested in the legend about its submersion for a very long time. About how it has a more advanced civilization than ours, and yet how it all disappeared in a single night... Still, whenever they find ancient remains at the bottom of the sea, my heart beats with excitement. The passage that sheds lights on this mystery in Ryu Mitsuse’s novel is of colossal scope, it’s simply spectacular.  

66. The scene where Ashura is surrounded by elephants right before the end is particularly striking. That’s also featured on the cover of the Image Album. How did you create the composition? 

That’s quite a Christ-like scene with Ashura in the center and the elephant troop of Sakra around her. Despite the very critical situation, Ashura stands proud. There are flames, and waters. That’s really a very beautiful scene. I was allowed to rework on the description from the book.  

67. The opening sentence of the novel is as follows: “Surging and receding... Surging and receding...” Why didn’t you use that? 

If I could get 8 more introductory pages, I would have loved to recreate the undulating movement between the waves on the beach and each character. A wave, then Ashura, another wave, Siddhartha, a wave, Orionae, a wave, Sakra, a wave, Maitreya, a wave, Judas... that would have translated perfectly into an image. But if I had to inscribe the phrase in question over the drawings that are meant to illustrate it, I believe that would have been a little bit repetitive. So I gave up on the idea.  

68. Would you say that you had to force your hand, and make your art "heavier" than you would in a shoujo manga in Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights, because it was published as a shounen manga? 

No. I can’t change my art style on the go like that.  

69. Right before the end, Orionae has to take the sphere apart to build a new “trellis.”  Did you already have an idea about its design? 

Sorry to disappoint, but I didn’t really know what I was doing. I randomly went at it. In the end, I owe the design to Orionae.  

70. You say that you took inspiration from the Ashura statue you saw at Kofukuji in Nara. How much of an influence did it have on you? 

100%. If the statue didn’t have that face (or rather, those faces), that body, the character of Ashura as we know wouldn’t exist.  

71. Did you ask for the help of someone skilled in the representation of technologic elements for your drawings? 

Not when I was adapting Ryu Mitsuse’s work. However, for They Were Eleven..., Leiji Matsumoto’s team accepted to offer their help. 

72. It appears that in Uchuu Jojishi (The Epics of the Universe), created in collaboration with Mr. Mitsuse, you worked simultaneously. He wrote the text and you did the illustrations at the same time. Do you have anything memorable to tell us about that? 

His stories have always been filled with a wild lyricism. Each time, I was wondering whether I would be able to reflect the beauty of his lines in my drawings. I was breaking in a cold sweat.  

73. Do you have any memory from the time when you were doing the covers of the paperback editions of his novels? 

I love working on illustrations. It was very exciting for me.  

Your Own SF Works 

74. Let’s talk about your SF manga. Other than Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights, which one left the strongest impression on you, and why? 

Hmm, that’s hard to say... I feel attached to every one of them. I can’t see myself picking one in particular.  

75. I think that your early SF works, like Asobidama (“Marbles”) or Rokugatsu no Koe (“The Voice of June”) are close to perfection. Looking back, what do you think of them? 

Thank you so much! In both, you can feel the influence of the American SF of the 1960s, like interplanetary migration, automated systems, cyborgs... Writing about those was a joy for me.  

76. In Horizon of the East, Eternity of the West, sequel of They Were Eleven!, we see His Majesty (Baseska, the Mayan king) and Fourth (Soldan “Fourth” Dorikas) again. Have you ever considered featuring other characters in other sequels? 

That would be great. I would love to send the Tada and Frol duo to discover new planets. I can’t let go of those two. Especially, not Frol. That’s a very effective character.  

77. When did you meet Ray Bradbury? 

It was by pure chance at the San Diego Comic Convention in July 2010. I was overly excited by the thought that I would be meeting one of my idols. He was in a wheelchair, but I still gave him a hug and said “I love you.” to him. I felt a little embarrassed afterwards. But that was an opportunity I couldn’t have missed.  

78. After the serialization of Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights, you started Star Red without having an ending in mind. Can you say that its creative process was the exact opposite of Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights? 

Well, as I was asked to draw that series quite hastily, I only had time to create the characters and the basic setting. I had to build all the rest as I was releasing new chapters. The suspense was always there. But Erg, one of the secondary characters, ended up taking the center stage, which helped me a lot. Really, everything’s happened thanks to him. “Erg” is a reference to the old unit of measurement of energy, which you can see in October the First Is Too Late by Fred Hoyle I had just finished reading. I thought that sounded nice, so I turned it into a character. I think the word comes from Greek.  

79. Gin no Sankaku (“Silver Triangle”) was published in SF Magazine. How did it feel to be featured in one of the magazines you were a reader of? 

Thinking that the readers would be as familiar as me with SF, it was reassuring to know that everyone would be able to more or less grasp the setting of the story, even though not all elements were introduced beforehand.  

80. In A-A', you introduce a race with a horn. Where did you get the idea? 

My point of departure was human emotions. Emotions often get in the way of our logical, pragmatic behavior. So I made different hypotheses such as, “What if we created a new type of human, with no emotions, like robots? And if such creatures really existed, could they still be called human?” I got them all together and assumed that beings capable of suppressing all emotion to act logically already existed, which would be better suited to long travels in space. That’s how the unicorn race came to be. But at the end, their creation would prove to be a failure, because the difficulty of expressing their emotions would create a sort of stress on them, slowly killing them like a poison. As someone who’s often been under a similar kind of stress, I could see myself in them.  

81. In Marginal, you describe a world where a futuristic SF world and nomad customs merge together. What were you trying to do with the amalgamation of these two settings, two cultural variations? 

Until the 1970s, when you thought about the future, you just had to think of science and its supremacy. But we soon came to understand the limits of our scientific progress. We understood that in order to survive, humanity had to go back to nature. So in Marginal, I tried to create a mixture between the two with a community closer to nature, and with another one devoted to scientific progress. The wider the gap between the progress and nature grows in the story, the easier it gets to grasp what separates the two.  

82. You have a lot of SF stories in which sound and music occupy an important place like Gin no Sankaku (“Silver Triangle”), Mosaic Rasen (“Mosaic Spiral”) and Umi no Aria (“Aria of the Sea”). What does music represent for you? 

My father had a beautiful voice and good ears. He also played the violin in his spare time. He tried to get his children interested, but none of us really did. However, the fondness for things related to music stayed with us and for a very long time, I was wondering how to visualize the echoes of music fading out. That’s where I got the idea of paying tribute to sounds, to melodies. Gin no Sankaku and Ragini have a little “ethnic” side, as they both explore the formal beauty of musical instruments in Southeast Asia, but it all stems from the principal theme. This link to music was also a way for me to pay tribute to my father. The problem is, I was a fan of Beatles when my father didn’t even want to hear of them. We were never on the same wavelength.  

83. In Abunai Oka no Ie (“The Dangerous Family on the Hill”), there is a chapter titled “Abunai Dan no Ura” (“Danger at Dan no Ura”). Although it has SF elements in it, it’s also inspired by Japanese history, which is rare in your works. How was your creation process? 

I’ve always been fascinated by the rise of the first military government of Japan, the Kamakura Shogunate, in 12th century. When you look at European history, unlike in Japan, revolutions are not a rare occurrence. They topple the existing power and turn the whole country upside down. Unless you consider the rise to power of a military government as a kind of little revolution by itself, that is. I did research on the topic, and thought it would be nice if Mariko could go and make sure herself. That’s why I made her travel in time to follow in the footsteps of Minamoto no Yoritomo, the first shogun, and his brother Yoshitsune. When I started working on it, there were still so many details I knew nothing of, like how people provided for heating, for example.  

Did they have a fire in their houses that burned all day? I looked into the history of temples and shrines to figure out what the daily life at that period could be like. I also visited an artisan who specializes in armor-making, who kindly allowed me to study up them close and learn more about them.  

84. You said about Otherworld Barbara: “I always have a hard time drawing Japan, except for when it’s Hokkaido.” What about Hokkaido resonates with you? 

When they talk about Hokkaido, they often call it “overseas.” It’s true that the frozen lands of the North has something exotic about them. Maybe that is due to the Clock Tower of Sapporo, or the Our Lady of the Angels Trappistine Abbey. If not, it might be because of Hokkaido’s rowan trees and their small berries, asparagus fields, houses with tout roofs, chimneys, huge oil stoves, silos, meadows... The green is so different there than of my birthplace, Kyushu. It’s more tender. Everything about Hokkaido is exotic.  

85. What are your favorite chapters from Koko Dewanai Doko ka (“Anywhere But Here”), the manga series that you drew for Monthly Flowers? 

I would say Kuro Hitsuji (“Black Sheep”), Yanagi no Ki (“The Willow Tree”), Sphynx, Nanohana, or Haru no Ogawa (“Stream of Spring”). Yama he Iku (“Going to the Mountains”), too. As for why, well... As a matter of fact, I seldom go back and read my own works, because I can’t help but think “I could have done this differently, I would change this...” And because there is not much I can do at this stage, I ask, why am I torturing myself? I prefer believing that I did my best.  

86. In Away, why the world of adults is called “home” and the world of children “away”? 

I was inspired by the sports terminology. In football, you say you play at “home” when it’s your field, and you play “away” when you play in the field of the other team. That’s how you differentiate between two spaces. Most of the time, children go “away,” but they can always come back “home” where their parents are if they want to, as long as their home remains a safe haven for them.  

87. Yodaka in Star Red and Kira in Marginal are both characters who’ve been through pregnancy and gave birth to children. We encounter the theme of pregnancy again in Seirei Kari (“Fairy Hunt”). In your SF settings, what do the concepts of “pregnancy,” “birth”, and “the continuation of the species” mean? 

About that... I think they all represent the mystery of life. I think if men could become pregnant, the world would be a much different place today.  

SF and Movie Adaptations 

88. What are your favorite SF movies of all times? 

Blade Runner and 2001: A Space Odyssey. I choose Blade Runner because it’s based on a book I love, Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep? I think it’s enthralling. The rather bleak vision of the future that was not too far away from us, and the dark and rainy atmosphere in the movie gripped me. As for 2001: A Space Odyssey, I was astounded by how strong Stanley Kubrick’s aesthetic was. It felt like I was wandering through a museum. I knew nothing of the story except for what I saw on the screen. When I started reading Arthur C. Clarke’s novel, everything became more confusing. I had to think for a decade to finally understand that it was talking about evolution and resurgence of life. 

89. Which movies caught your eye in recent years, and why? 

I would say The Martian. There's great attention to detail in that movie. I thought I was really on Mars.  

90. Are there any scenes from SF novels that were adapted to a movie that left an impression on you? 

The whole futuristic (but not too futuristic) setting in Blade Runner. Xenomorphs and their eggs in Alien. They give me the shivers.  

91. If you had the chance to see one of your SF works adapted into a blockbuster movie, which one would you choose? 

Otherworld Barbara, please! To be honest, I would have loved to see an adaptation of Ten Billion Days and One Hundred Billion Nights, but because Jesus appears in it as the embodiment of a death instrument, I’m not sure if that would get a pass. 

92. And which actors would you choose for that adaptation? 

I don’t know actors well enough to choose.  

93. Would you be interested in directing an anime or a movie based on one of your works? 

That’d definitely be beyond my capacity... 

Et cetera... 

94. Have you ever had a science fiction-like experience yourself? 

Never. I haven’t even seen a single flying saucer. 

95. Speaking of, what do you think of flying saucers and aliens? 

I believe they exist. I don’t think it likely that humans are the only beings to exist in this universe. But I can’t say that we’ll meet them one day.  

96. If you could leave the Earth, where would you go? 

Hmm... to Mars. I’d like to spend a couple of days at a resort with baths.  

97. If you could time travel, which era would you go to? 

Hmm... I would have loved to watch Dan no Ura Battle between the Taira and the Minamoto, but from a distance.  

98. Scientific developments never stop and our convictions are put to the question every day. What inspiration from SF would you like to see in real life today? 

There are just too many things to mention.  

99. For me, a strong visual impact is also one of the charming aspects of SF works. From a graphic, even iconographic point of view, what left the strongest impression on you among all you’ve seen or read? 

The egg clusters in Alien and the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. 

I have read some reviews of this book which complain that it’s really long-winded and/or boring. I disagree, but that also makes me wonder what put people to sleep. I think that the difficulty with reading the book is that it meshes, in a pop-culture fiction way, science and religion and philosophy, so either some component of that bores the shit out of you, or there’s a component you’re unfamiliar with which makes the story incomprehensible.  

When it comes to, say, religion, he talks about both Judeo-Christian and Buddhist themes. People who are WELL-VERSED in both religious traditions might reasonably argue that the author’s interpretations are flawed or superficial or amateur or whatever, but most people aren’t religious scholars, and the complaints seem to stem from being more familiar with one religious tradition rather than the other. Either you don’t care about the Buddhist themes in which case WOW YES THIS WILL BORE YOU, or you’re an average Japanese reader whose understanding and vision of Christianity seems to differ from your average Westerner’s. So that’s difficult, perhaps.

Additionally, since the author is exploring both scientific and religious approaches to the end of the world - or whether that end is the first of many - people may have particular preferences for one approach or the other and will tune out the other. 

So what I’m basically thinking is that it’s a combination of things that I find interesting but has the potential to be alienating or boring.

I’m not a religious scholar, but I have an academic sort of interest in folklore and religion. (I tell my mother I’m a straight-up atheist, and her response is, “No, you practice Karma yoga, so therefore you’re still Hindu and it’s OK,” to which I can only admit defeat, I guess.) I do however have less interest in the accuracy of the author’s religious theories (I mean, when you have Jesus vs. Siddartha vs. Asura vs. cyborg Atlanteans, I just let my disbelief float out in that same arm of the Andromeda galaxy, you know?) and I take more interest in trying to piece together what theories about the universe the author had been reading at that time in the 1960s. I sort of mentally slot the names of the characters as being “placeholder names” which may or may not mean more or less the same as a JJBA character name. That may be being unfair to the author’s attempts at religious philosophy, but it lets me accept what works and ignore what doesn’t.

In general, Mitsuse seems to be drawing upon the major theories of the golden age of relativity, which have subsequently been modified or discarded as appropriate, but his understanding isn’t so bad for a filthy casual of the time. Obviously he was thinking of the Big Bang Theory, which was new back then but did not include the concept of cosmic inflation, and had heard about the eventual collision of the Milky Way with the Andromeda Galaxy, but - when was that discovered? Wasn’t that post-Hubble telescope? It seems that dark matter was a new theory right around 1960, as were black holes. He also gets into the topology of the universe, and whether the universe is open or closed, and what is outside of the universe - if it’s “nothingness” or truly nothing. 

These are pretty heavy concepts if you try to slot them into your worldview, and, much like religion and eschatology, there is essentially no way to obtain concrete proof about any of it. You have to, well, wait and see. 

Some specific thoughts:

1) Asura’s an interesting character. na-vidya-na-avidya thinks she’s the spiritual grandmother of all the kick-ass neesan love interests in light novels, but to me I feel that she is a combination of the “kickass neesan” and the “misunderstood tempter/Devil figure which is not specifically gendered or sexualized”. If the author had combined her “kickass” role with a sexualized kind of temptation role, then she’d be the typical badass hot neesan. But other than a quick description of her brown skin and purple-tinted hair and overall boyish figure, Siddhartha doesn’t seem to overly notice her physical appearance. I think the lack of sexualization balances the character, and I like her.

1a) You’re going to have to explain to me about asura in Buddhism again, na-vidya-na-avidya. If her name just means that she’s just a being whose nature curses her to eternal strife, well then

2) I wonder if the eternal war between the digitized inhabitants and the cyborgs influenced not just QDS but also the Manekata of Nocturne or...well...any of the stupid Law vs. Chaos cult wars of megaten. 

3) Light, especially auroras, are such a recurring visual metaphor. I like it; solar particles bombarding the earth which are beautiful but hint at deadly external forces.

4) I wonder what the author made of the periodic mass extinctions which seem to have been discovered in the 1980s. What the fuck was I reading recently that was assigning SIGNIFICANCE to those too? Hmmm well I mean there’s Mass Effect, but...

5) I’m still thinking about Siddhartha and Orionis and Plato some more.

6) As for Jesus, well...the concept of alien agent Jesus is something you run into periodically in sciffy. Is this an early example, or just one of many?