Talking to Kuroko
Over the pandemic, I was able to get in touch with Black Lake* Kuroko (黒湖クロコ), an isekai author with a very long history on Let’s Become a Novelist (hereafter referred to as “Syosetu”). If you trace back some of the tags to older entries, like villainness, you might have come across their works as one of the few surviving ones.
Kuroko is a long-time writer with multiple adaptations: some of their works include The Migrant Lady’s Engagement Shock, The work-obsessed magic official who, admired by the hero, keeps working overtime, and The Weakest Rabbit that ended up becoming a beloved Demon King. They’re a self-described hobbyist writer, but they’re also extremely active. Kuroko is also an adaptive writer: they’ve tackled subjects like BL, Ladies, Dukes, Villainnesses, and whose writing experience online preceded Syosetu. In other words, they’re a veteran.
A lot of isekai material is front-loaded on the early 2010’s and beyond, no doubt because of the massive interest in Mushoku Tensei, SAO, etc. However, I reached out to Kuroko because I wanted to see their experiences with publishing platforms a few years before that, what led them to the platform, some changes, and how things have changed.
I also think it’s valuable to get the perspective of people who have been writing for a very long time but in a strictly hobbyist capacity. They’ve been writing longer than some people (possibly some readers here) have been alive.
Probably a play on words, it can also refer to a behind-the-scenes assistant which seems…pretty apropos
Changelog:
2023-10-04: Forgot to add a link to Pumpkin Panic, added now, also fixed some grammatical errors
Originally published 2023-10-01
It’s important to understand that these reflections might not be objectively true; Kuroko wants me to stress that these are based on their experiences, so what they experienced or saw might not reflect broader things. It’s a valuable perspective, coming from someone who was active during the time, but such testimonies can be limited.
I was looking at some of the older otome-style isekai on syosetu, specifically listed as such, and I came across your work. Your work, Pumpkin Panic, seems to be one of the earlier ones around. How did you get started writing these stories?
I first started writing otome game isekai because I liked otome games and was inspired by other works. The one that really influenced me was The world of a pretty tough otome game by Nineko. That was the first otome game reincarnation story I read here. I think this body of work was quite old and influenced by others.
That’s interesting. Were there any otome games that influenced you? Games specifically, I mean.
One otome game that influenced me was Alice in the Country of Hearts for the PC, a love adventure-style game without RPG elements. So, in my mind, otome games are where the protagonist has a lot of agency in changing the story, and I see it as something really to be enjoyed for its storytelling.
One of your earlier works listed is Pumpkin Panic. What inspired you to write that?
I didn’t have any specific reasons. Pumpkin Panic just happened to be the first entry in the Panic series. It’s easy to see why: if you look at the posting date, I wrote something to coincide with the Halloween event.* When you think of Halloween, you think of pumpkins, so I chose “Pumpkin.” Since it was about that sort of turmoil, I added “Pumpkin,” and I wrote it in hiragana because it gives it a more comedic tone, so it made the title look sillier.
At first it was supposed to be just one chapter, but readers kept asking questions about it. So to give it a bit more oomph I changed it to a trilogy and expanded on the Panic lore.
Platforms frequently have events where you publish based on a theme. Sometimes they’re character-driven (“Write about a knight”), genre-driven (“Write a short story mystery”), or time-driven (“Halloween is coming up, write a Halloween story”). The benefit of event-writing is you get more potential exposure, hence more readers.
That makes sense! I hadn’t seen something like Pumpkin Panic, so I wondered how you craft those settings.
Pumpkin Panic was a short story for the Halloween event, so I just focused on a Halloween-like monster. I put that together with an otome game premise I had in my mind for a long time.
What drew you to write isekai?
What led me to write isekai…I think it’s because I liked isekai, and my work revolved around the genre of isekai.
I read a lot of that genre and had much fun with it. I first wanted to write a novel when I was in middle school.
At the time, the works I enjoyed were Tamako Maeda’s Hayou no Tsurugi and Miyumi Ono's Twelve Kingdoms. Both are isekai.
The light novel genre in general has so many stories about other worlds, so it was natural I’d want to write about isekai.
I see. I noticed that, despite being isekai, your works have a wide range of settings. Most isekai I see are fantasy stories, but yours are much wider. How do you decide what kind of world to write about?
Hmm, I want to explain it, but it’s very intuitive, so it’s difficult to explain how I decide.
Throughout my everyday life, I just get thoughts of, “I’d like to see this kind of world,” “I’d like to see this kind of character,” or “This title with this kind of development would be fun” and that sort of thing just lingers in my thoughts.
So I take that material, turn it into a novel, and figure out how to best utilize it; I compose a plot and start writing.
Sorry my answer’s like that, but my stories are really based on mundane things in everyday life.
On another note, I’ve noticed that many isekai characters are male, but are you seeing a rise in female protagonists? Or has Syosetu always maintained a similar gender ratio?
Honestly, I don’t know. I never paid attention to the number of female protagonists. I think the number of works with female heroes with triumphs might have increased since the creation of “Villainness” and “Annulled Engagement” (Konyaku Haki, 婚約破棄) genres. And when works with high points become prolific, similar conventions increase. So maybe the number increased, but I don’t know about the ratio because there male genres have similar popular genres like “Lord” (Ryoushu, 領主) and “Party Breakup” (Paachii ridatsu-kei, パーティー離脱系).
Why do you think that is?
I can’t say for sure whether there are more male protagonists than female protagonists in Syosetu isekai because I can’t verify it, but I prefer to write female protagonists because I enjoy romantic isekai fantasies.
I think part of the dynamic is that male-centric isekai are foremost adventure stories that treat romance as secondary. On the other hand, female-centric isekai tend to be romance stories accompanied by an adventuring setting.
In this sense, shounen and shoujo manga can differ greatly; shounen tends to prioritize adventuring over romance, and male protagonists are the focus. Shoujo, on the other hand, also has adventuring, but they also focus on romance, and the protagonists are female. I think it’s because it’s easier to get into the shoes of the same gender (though I’m not saying that men shouldn’t enjoy girls’ works, but there are more female readers than men). That’s why I write women characters - I write for women.
You’ve been writing for a long time. What keeps inspiring you to write?
My stories are inspired by everyday life. For example, I saw an insurance company flyer and thought, “How would a hero react if I offered him insurance?” I took that image and turned it into a story, and that became a novel.
Sometimes those moments happen when I read a novel, so I’m influenced by other novels as well.
Was Syosetu one of your first platforms?
I started around 20 years ago publishing derivative works* on my homepage. When I wrote original works, it was hard to get people to read them; there were search engines for derivative works, and there was a lot of back-and-forth, but original works were different and search sites weren’t as robust as those for derivative ones.
Around that time, I came across a site known as Let’s Become a Novelist. It was around August 2011: it was getting easier to connect with people writing original works and easier to capture audiences for original works, so I started writing there.
They use the term nijisousaku (二次創作), which just means “secondary production,” but it’s a really broad and flexible term generally encompassing parodic works. Parodic, in this sense, doesn’t mean ‘making fun of’ as it is often used in colloquial english, but it’s more expansive than something like “fanfiction,” which often ties its derivation to stuff that happens in the ‘canon’. For example, you can make the argument (as Halo and Matsutoya does) that works of Hatsune Miku feel like nijisousaku, but they’re not very fanfiction-y since Miku doesn’t have a clear narrative boundary so the boundaries start to get messy kinda fast. There’s a lot of movement around a secondary text, and while my translation of it is not very graceful, I think it’s an important distinction, at least for the sake of this article. I’ll be using “derivative work,” but I just wanted to emphasize that it’s not always clear how, what, or why it’s a derivation.
Writing for 20 years is really impressive. You mentioned publishing on your personal blog, did something like Syosetu exist back then? In the west, we have sites like Deviantart and Fanfiction.net. How were stories published before Syosetu?
I was a high schooler 20 years ago when I started publishing my work, so maybe I might be out of the loop, but the plan was to publish it on your own sites. So, original or derivative works, I posted all of them on my personal site. I think it was a bit after that blog-based fiction started to take shape. But the problem was that blog fiction wasn’t really amenable to serialized fiction, and it was somewhat hard to read.
I don’t know what Syosetu was like in the early days. Maybe it was around before 2000, but finding works back then was difficult, so perhaps it wasn’t too widely used.
However, I think Syosetu is innovative. The whole point is to make it easy to read and write novels, give feedback, and be more focused on visibility than managing a website, so you could focus way more on writing.
I see. I’ve read that a few authors use Syosetu’s tag system when planning out their stories. Do you find it useful?
Hmm, I’ll try to answer your question, but I’m not sure I understand the question. Do you mean whether I research popular tags and compose a story with them?
Yes.
In that case, I don’t research and write what’s trending. But there are moments where I read a novel, its influences, and I start thinking that I’d like to write a story with this kind of setting. Basically, my main source of inspiration is what comes to me in my everyday life.
But for Syosetu, readers are also writers; they’re often in contact with each other, which means they’re influenced by each other and start using similar settings. Also, a lot of the popular settings are written through lots of trial and error. This means if you read a lot, even if the description of the setting is a little thin, it’s still easy to write because the reader’s brain can easily fill in the gaps and complete the story.
But lately, more and more books have been picked up by publishers. Those tend to be books with lots of points.* Stories with high points tend to be more likely to be purchased by readers and works with high points rise up the ranks and can more likely catch the attention of publishers. So some authors with that goal in mind might spend more time researching trends.
Many publishing sites use a point system to determine how to algorithmically recommend popular works. Usually this boils down to some quantifiable number related to amount and quality of feedback, audiences, and overall ratings. Stories that have a lot of activity - both in terms of fans and authors - rise up the ranks, meaning they show up on the front pages more often, meaning they get more exposure. Sites in English like Honeyfeed, AO3, and RoyalRoad have similar algorithms, though they vary in terms of how they interpret activity.
Has your time on this site changed your style as a writer?
I’m not sure I understand. Did you mean changes on the site or me specifically?
Sorry, I meant the former.
I’ll take this as the chance to talk about both.
I think the biggest change in Syosetu is that it has changed from a site about posting your works to a site about becoming a published author.
At first, when authors publish on Syosetu and develop a following, they get publishing deals through Alphapolis. But when you did that, you’d need to delete your Syosetu story and replace it with a shorter digest version, and readers would sometimes criticize that.
Eventually, publishers would contact writers directly, and Syosetu would do these contest collaborations with publishers where if you won one of them, you could be awarded with a chance for publication. The submission process was simple: you just added a tag. Unlike traditional novel publication processes, it was really easy; in the past, you needed to adhere to a word limit and a style, and it wasn’t uncommon that you’d need to print out your entry and submit it. Some publishers would even have detailed instructions asking you to put data on a CD along with your printed manuscripts. So it makes sense the publishing boom happened now.
That said, as the publishing boom happened, Syosetu stopped support for derivative works. It’s probably because of copyright issues. Until now it was mainly a fan site, so when it started to become a serious novelist pathway, it had to deal with copyright issues, so they probably stopped support before any legal issues arose. But that’s just my speculation, I don’t run the site. That’s just how the site has changed over the years.
The ranking system changed as well. By that, I’m referring to the ones where we divide into motifs like Isekai Reincarnation and Villainness and those that don’t.
At first they were ranked by genre. However, it’s speculated that certain types just kept dominating the rankings so specific works just didn’t show up. Eventually Syosetu became a place seen as a site for Isekai Tensei or Villanness. So the issue was that even if a work is good, if readers can’t find it, nobody will read it.
Since being on the rankings means visibility, theoretically, this helps even out the playing field.
There are still cases of people cheating to get on the rankings, and some people would try and game the system by going for genres with easy rankings. Perhaps this is what happens when people start seeing Syosetu as a serious gateway to novel publication.
However, as its association with a gateway to success strengthens, the dream of becoming a published author is becoming more realistic, so I think registrations will continue to grow. With all the manga and anime adaptations, more and more people interested in that sort of thing will be more incentivized to submit their works.
What about your perspective as a novelist?
I feel this site has changed a lot.
My novel writing has changed in the sense that I am more influenced by other works than when I published them on my own, I’m more likely to try out different writing styles, and I’m more readily focusing on reader feedback and readability.
Because I have a lot of readers, I try out a lot of different styles: sometimes it’s first person or third, sometimes it’s only from the perspective of one person, sometimes I shift between three people, or sometimes I write a reincarnation story and other times I write something not related to reincarnation at all. Short stories are especially easy to write, they do well, and they get a lot of feedback, so I use them to hone my skills and find out what audiences like.
And of course, I only write about what I’d want to read or write about.
In your experience, was finding an audience easier on Syosetu than, say, Alphapolis? What about Kakuyomu?*
Well, Alphapolis was a publishing site. I used it, but it was to register what I wrote on Syosetu into Alphapolis.
If you win on Alphapolis, you’d need to remove the published portions to qualify for publication. For a while, Syosetu would host the digest version. However, eventually, during the publication process, you couldn’t publish the digests on narou.
Syosetu became a place for sharing works, not a place to promote commercial works.
After that, deleted content that were no longer allowed on Syosetu would end up on Alphapolis. Currently, it’s possible to post content on Alphapolis, but for me, I don’t because I originally write for Syosetu and I’m a hobbyist writer first and foremost.
For Kakuyomu, it didn’t exist when I started on Syosetu, and I don’t have any issues with Syosetu so I just don’t use it. I post my writings online as a hobby, so I don’t double post to advertise because it gets in the way of my enjoyment of the writing process.
Kakuyomu.jp is a publishing website owned by Kadokawa. One recent adaptation is I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in the Real World, Too.
I’m sorry, I might’ve misunderstood. Were you only allowed to post stories? How did Alphapolis specialize in publishing?
Sorry, I wasn’t clear.
How Alphapolis worked back then was that you registered an address link of your work to Alphapolis. Then, you put a link generated by Alphapolis on your novel, and if readers liked it, they’d click on it. People can publish works on Syosetu, their home pages, blogs, wherever.
Maybe you could write on Alphapolis at the time? If so, I never saw anyone use it. Nowadays I can’t post my published Syosetu works, but you can write.*
If people click on your link, you get points and get listed on the rankings. If you get a high enough number of points, you apply for publication and then an editor reads and judges your work. Awards are conducted regularly, you register to apply and when you’ve registered, you can fill out an application quite easily.
Until then, submitting something to a publisher was a very tedious process - you’d need the complete work with a word count, printed, and mailed with a profile and a synopsis (and depending on the publisher, they’d want a CD with data). With Alphapolis, there was no word limit for unfinished works, and if the writing style was unconventional, as long as it was popular, it could get published.
For me, I registered on Syosetu because I wanted more people to read it, not because I wanted a pathway to publishing.
It’s also important to note the difference between hosting and referral linking: referral linking has a lot more leeway through Alphapolis. If you’re hosting on their site directly, they have more control on your content. Moon-Led Journey, for example, is one such story that migrated from Syosetu to Alphapolis.
Did you ever read cell phone* novels? They’re not very popular in the West, but I wondered if you had any experience with them.
I didn’t read many cell phone novels, but I think some cell phone novelists went on to become web novelists. If I recall, cell phone novels were a form of writing composed on cell phones and read on cell phones in the days when it was the mainstream.
Now, the number of cell phones is decreasing, and web novels can be read on smartphones, so I think the latter is the mainstream.
I think that cell phone novels became popular among the younger generation because they could and write what they want without it being seen by their parents. I also recall that some of them became so popular they were published in paperbacks. Isn’t that similar to how web novels are published today?
I don’t know how popular they were, but definitely popular enough to be published.
They were called keitai shousetsu (“cell phone stories,” ケータイ小説), which were partly popularized when easy-to-produce hosts like Magic Island and i-mode allowed affordable internet access through mobile phones. Though they aren’t as popular now, cell phone novels were a popular form of mass media content during the 2000s due to their ease of reading, free access, and regular serialization.
Was there anything you’d like me to relay to people that I didn’t ask?
People used to laugh at light novels, calling them vulgar, and now they laugh at “narou novels” as vulgar.
But I think that narou novels written on Syosetu is an interesting development based on readability and exciting developments. This site also has many people who write stories that aren’t just the mainstream stories, but are still called narou novels.
I hope that people don’t get too concerned, find the stories you like, and if you come across something you like, know that you too can start writing.
Talking to Yanagino Kanata
I was able to talk to Yanagino Kanata, author of Faraway Paladin (Saihate on Paladin, 最果てのパラディン), which had an anime adaptation in October 2021 and another slated for Fall 2023. The story concerns Will, who was reincarnated and raised by three undead beings.
Very much a slow-burn isekai, Faraway Paladin is known among aficionados for its intensive introspection, specifically given that Will’s journey is reflected by his development of a new sense of self in this new world. Many isekai focus on a world where the intruder brings their moral core, but Will is somewhat different. At many moments he is solemn and pensive; at others demonstrates a firm moral compass.
Whereas some authors draw their isekai influences from digital games, Yanagino’s influences stem more deeply from tabletop. Yanagino’s style employs sharp uses of anaphora, or repetitive structures for emphasis. In this sense, it’s somewhat appropriate that anaphora, which has found itself a home in many religious texts, is part of the written structure of a story concerning a protagonist whose journey doubles as a journey of newfound faith.
Changelog:
Originally published 2023-06-06
Introduction
Hello, dear readers. I’m Yanagino, author of The Faraway Paladin.
How did you get started writing fantasy?
It started when a friend of mine, a fellow tabletop RPG player, started submitting his own novels to a newcomer’s award. At first, I looked at him somewhat coldly, but he kept trying. He was really set on showing that he was going to give everything he had to follow his dream. His passion sparked a fire in me as well, so I wanted to show that I wasn’t just a jerk who just laughed at my friends.
Why did you choose a fantasy setting?
For tabletop RPGs, a hobby of mine, fantasy was the genre I was most familiar with. And on novel sites, isekai was popular at the time. So it was around that time I started my first novel; it was a genre I was familiar with, and the readership was big.
What’s the biggest advantage in writing fantasy?
First, I’m used to it. I’ve been a tabletop RPG game master for over a decade. I’ve had a lot of different encounters and composed a lot of different dramatic scenarios. That experience becomes a weapon.
Second, I can sculpt ideals. In today’s world, concepts like “justice” and “order” are much more complicated. Instead, I wanted to write about justice and order as a simpler, more entertaining story with adventure and drama.
What’s the biggest influence on the fantasy world setting of The Faraway Paladin?
The first is tabletop RPG. If you’re from an English-speaking country, you’ve probably played D&D. In addition to D&D, I also play tabletops like Sword World RPG and Arianrhod, both from Japan. The experience I gained from them was huge.
The second is other isekai. Mushoku Tensei, in particular, had a big influence on me. I’m a fan of that work.
With those two elements, I mixed them together and felt like I had something interesting.
It seems The Faraway Paladin starts a little more slowly than other tensei* stories. How did you decide to pace the story?
You’re right when you say ‘slowly.’ I didn’t feel like I needed to rush the story’s development.
The reason is because this story was initially supposed to end in episode 5, where Will departs. That’s exactly a book’s worth of text, so once I got to that point, the practice was over. From there, I intended to go for the newcomer award, like my friend did.
However, I wasn’t able to qualify. Will’s story eventually rose in the rankings, and soon after I received an offer from a publisher. So, skipping over everything, I became a novelist.
Tensei (転生) refers to “reincarnation,” where a character is reincarnated into another place, period, or time. Not all isekai are tensei, and not all tensei are isekai. Tensei is also a popular setting on Let’s Become a Novelist, an amateur writing and publishing website.
In The Faraway Paladin, Will initially sees magic similar to computer games. How did you craft your magic system?
I drew a lot of inspiration from Ursula Kroeber Le Guin’s Tales from Earthsea. I also drew on some of Ferdinand de Saussure’s ideas about language. All things considered, I wanted to craft sorcery that wasn’t very computer game-like. So, to emphasize these differences, I really had Will work on these associations.
Ferdinand de Saussure is known as the father of modern semiotics, famous for a collection of notes known as A Course in General Linguistics. His concept of semiotics concerns the sign as the basic unit of communication, which consists of a signifier (a material marker) and a signified (a thought concept).
Saussure’s understanding of language is a unique perspective I haven’t heard used elsewhere for isekai and magic systems. Are there other theorists and philosophers you’ve drawn upon for your works that your fans might not have noticed?
Magic is based primarily on Saussure’s understanding of language, and I try not to mix in too much from other theorists. It’s mainly to avoid inconsistencies in my work.
For the portrayal of faith in The Faraway Paladin, I drew on a lot of different sources. Notice how I quoted from the Bible, right? I also referred to the Buddhist belief in the Buddha Amitabha.
I also drew upon Roman and Greek gods, Norse gods, Japanese gods, Indian gods; all forms of various polytheistic religions and ideas of philosophers.
However, even though I like to know about these things, I’m very careful when I incorporate them into my work because I never want to make it look like I’m showing off my learning. My works aren’t a place to show off my knowledge – they’re there to entertain my readers.
Tales of Earthsea is a really interesting influence. I’ve heard it’s a fairly popular story in Japan. Is it popular among syosetu authors?
It’s a popular novel for children in Japan; you can find it in any library.
However, I only know a few Light Novel authors who have read it. Maybe it’s because I don’t have a lot of relationships with other writers, so I can’t say for sure how well-known Tales of Earthsea is among novelists.
All I can say is that it’s an interesting work worthy of respect.
The Faraway Paladin seems to break from the usual convention of narou protagonists, where the main character is strong from the beginning. Will has a pretty detailed growth arc, including a detailed look at how to fight, use magic, and acclimate himself to the world. Why do you think many authors choose the narou route, and why did you choose a more traditional narrative?
As I often say, I’m a fan of Mushoku Tensei. I started writing out of respect for it.
Think about Rudeus. Was he strong from the beginning? Does he win every time he fights? That’s what I want to stress: I didn’t start anything new. I’m not treading new ground. I’m just emulating the works I admire.
You present a very immaculate religious world in Faraway Paladin, which I think is rare in isekai. What influenced you to present the spiritual and religious world of The Faraway Paladin as it is?
In tabletop RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons, I prefer paladins and clerics. They can heal while fighting, and sometimes they’re in charge of negotiations since they’re socially trustworthy. These classes are also capable of really technical feats.
At the same time, I realized few works were focusing on these professions in the world of web novels at the time. And fortuitously, I had a fair amount of knowledge about faithdom.
I partly hoped I’d be able to create something new and exciting. However, I didn’t expect it to become an anime.
You mentioned you were familiar with the fantasy genre. Have you considered other settings like science fiction?
I’ve thought about it.
However, I just prefer fantasy to science fiction. In real life, I have a lot of faith in science, but that’s also why I gravitate toward epics in my fantasy worlds.
Of course, someone’s taste can change. Perhaps one day, if I feel like it, I might even write a science fiction piece!
Why did you choose Let’s Become a Novelist to publish your platform?
There’s no deep reason. It was, and still is, one of the biggest web novel sites in Japan. Plus, Mushoku Tensei, one of my favourites, was being serialized there.
At the time, it seemed like a good place for me to write a practice work before going for a newcomer award. I figured that if I wrote a popular isekai story, and got a few readers who liked it, I’d receive two or three comments.
Let’s Become a Novelist is the English name for Shousetsuka ni Narou (小説家になろう), or syosetu for short.
Did you ever expect your work would become published as a light novel, manga, or anime?
I fantasized a little. I thought that if my novel got a high ranking, I might have a shot at a book. I mean, that’s often a dream of folks who post web novels, right?
But for manga? Anime? I didn’t think I would since it was the first time I wrote a novel. But now, reality has exceeded my dreams and is running ahead of me.
Even now, I’m still worried I’ll hear my alarm clock go off.
With the explosion of isekai adaptations, do you find the website to be very different from when you first started? Or do you find it to be the same?
Well, first off, before a novel becomes an anime, you need about 2-3 years of preparation. Therefore, what the anime trend is reflecting is a novel trend that’s 2-3 years behind.
The latest trends in web novels are already changing; romance stories seem to be thriving. So in another 2 years, we’ll see new scenes reflected in anime.
Where do you think isekai came from?
It depends on how the person defines isekai. Here we define it as a fantasy genre with game-like meta-perspectives.
There are several origins for this. For example, gaming culture has taken root around the world, and many people under 30 are familiar with the concept of fantasy and games. Also, the influence of Japan fan creation culture cannot be ignored. In other words, fans of a certain manga, novel, or game will write fan fiction that breaks down the original plot or incorporates meta-optimistic solutions to the game system. This is what makes them popular.
Some fan fiction writers also write their own original works. There are also those who only write original works, but enjoy reading fan creations. The worlds are adjacent, overlapping, and influencing each other. As a result of this influence, it’s reasonable to expect to see original works with a fan-created style.
As far as I’ve seen, this was how isekai came to be. Before it became an anime trend, it was a major trend in the world of web novels.
Where do you see the isekai genre going?
I’m not smart enough to predict the future, so I have no idea what the future of light novel trends will be.
However, 20 years ago, fantasy was out of fashion in the Japanese light novel scene. Modern and school stories were dominant, and very little fantasy was published.
I love fantasy, and I hope that the isekai genre will continue growing, even if, in the future, it might not stay as strong as it is now.
Is there any change in the genre that excites you?
A lot of changes have already happened in the world of web novels.
I took a break from writing due to a mental illness called adjustment disorder, so a lot surprised me when I returned. Narrative conventions and developments that used to be standard in the past are already outdated, new techniques are being invented, and old ways of composing narratives are being dug up.
A lot of talented novelists are doing it now. Since I have a few years of free time, I am trying my best to get a good eye of the field.
Especially recently, romance stories have been thriving with the increase in female readers. I’m also quite impressed by strength of some of these gender-neutral works that are liked by both men and women. I think that in another 2-3 years, this influence will be felt in the world of anime.
I’ll be watching with great interest to see what kind of masterpieces this new trend will conjure.
Many people debate on where isekai came from. Where do you think modern isekai came from?
In Japanese fan fiction, there have been works since the 90s of a “person who knows the plot of the work has been reborn as a character in that work.” Through this convention, characters who couldn’t be saved in the original work can be saved, and people who couldn’t play an active role can be made to play an active role.
This way of looking at the world from a meta point of view, a point of view of a modern person, is common in current isekai works.
And so these people who create such fan works sometimes will write or read original works. That said, the reverse is also true. I think it’s inevitable that these methods become introduced into original works, specifically through web novels.
Many new anime and manga have female protagonists, but many isekai have male protagonists. Is the isekai audience different? Or have they not yet adapted enough female-focused isekai?
If you look at the Japanese web novel scene, you’ll find that there are already many popular works with female protagonists. The style may differ slightly from the usual so-called “Isekai” style, but they all emerged from the same soil.
In a few more years, many of them will become anime. It just takes a few more years of planning after a story becomes popular for it to become an anime.
You mentioned going for an award but then skipped many of the steps. Is it normal for amateur authors to pursue awards before publication?
You may be confusing newcomer awards with literary awards. There are newcomer awards, sponsored by publishers and mainly entered by amateurs. This differs from the awards that select the best novels from the already published ones.
Instead, newcomer awards are given to a select few amateurs who then go on to become professionals.
What is the most challenging and most rewarding part of novel publishing?
Continually planning and writing your story.
This isn’t a joke; it really is.
The people who lose heart and can’t continue writing stories eventually leave the world of fiction writing. The survivors are the ones who don’t lose heart, and the hardest thing to do is not to lose heart.
It’s said that the “average life expectancy” of a novelist in Japan is 3 years. Some of them disappear after publishing just one book. It’s an immensely rewarding challenge to continue a story to its conclusion.
Are there any trends you’ve noticed today that weren’t around when you started becoming a novelist?
Recently, the popularity of sweet romance stories for women has been increasing in the world of Japanese web novels. In short, it’s a Harlequin romance sort of thing.
Of course, this genre has always had a certain level of popularity, but lately, the rise in numerical data, such as the number of submissions and pageview of works, has been incredible. I guess the efforts of romance novel writers who have been steadily increasing their readership in web novels have been rewarded.
It seems you’re very active in both Japanese and Western fanbases. Do you find Western fans to be different from Japanese ones? How so?
Maybe it’s because we’re communicating only via text, but I can see some characteristics of their language use.
For example, French speakers tend to use witty phraseology. Brazilians tend to be very frank. Arabic people have a unique sense of metaphor and distance.
But I think English speakers are characterized by a lack of a distinctive characteristic. I think it’s because the British, Americans, New Zealanders, and Indians all speak to me in English, so I can’t find a common characteristic between them. The world of English speakers is so vast; it’s like an ocean.
One thing I can say is that they’re all kind. I care about them as much as I care about my Japanese fans, and I’m sincerely grateful to them.
With the end of the first season, are there any specific lessons you learned from the entire process that you wish you had known before it started?
I was well aware of it before it began, but I’m an amateur in animation production. So even if I read an animation script and do my best to give thoughts and feedback, being perfectly informed isn’t possible. This is because I’ve never been involved in anime production. For example, some people pointed out there were a lot of monologues in the anime. I thought so as well.
The scriptwriter respected my novel. I had to modify my writing to make it more suitable for anime, and I didn’t know how to go about it.
In fact, there are many things I wish I’d done better, but I realized the value in the saying that a “lack of experience can only be made up for by experience.” It was something I knew from the beginning and quite sobering.
I, like Will, learned a lot by encountering an unfamiliar world. With that in mind, I’ll do what I have to do better in the second season.
Thank you very much for your time! Is there anything you’d like to say to readers or anything you’d like to mention that I didn’t ask?
Thank you all for watching Season 1 of the anime. If you enjoyed my work, it’s been my pleasure.
I’ll see you again in Season 2; it has been announced to air in Fall 2023, and the official website has been redesigned.
With love from Japan.
.
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Talking to Inori
Talking to Inori (いのり)
Joe: In preparation for the next video, one of the next topics is partly about otome game isekai. Inori is an incredibly strong author of otome game isekai. When it comes to anime adaptations, otome game isekai ("maiden game," otome-gemu, 乙女ゲーム) have not yet really been adapted in any noticeable capacity. They're stories which revolve around female characters who must navigate a hostile situation to avoid a bad ending.
The story has an official English publication, which you can find in any bookstore, offline and online.
Like the others, this is a conversation that has been heavily edited down from a larger, longer conversation. Likewise, I've moved and edited some stuff around, but I think I kept our conversation and information largely intact. I tried to keep the general spirit of the conversation intact, at least stuff that can be public.
Note: All content edits will be mentioned here, any unmentioned edits are grammar, spelling, or syntax.
Edit (March 03 2020): Added a bit more in the introduction.
Edit (April 15 2020): Edited from "some men" to have "latent," changed "edgy" to "cynical," changed responded to "I don't do anything special."
First off, I want to say thank you very much for sitting down and talking with me. So how did you get started writing isekai? Was there any work that inspired you?
Originally, I enjoyed reading fantasy novels and playing games set in fantasy worlds. I started writing novels long before isekai became popular. As such, I Favour the Villainess is written as a fantasy story more than a conventional isekai.
So based on that premise, I hope readers look at it with that in mind, given that I started writing I Favour the Villainess because I thought I could emblematize my favourite Yuri stories using these ideas of reincarnation and villainesses, both of which are big genres on syosetu. As for works, there’s no particular work that triggered it.
What do you think is the appeal of the isekai setting?
At the end of the day, the author can freely configure the world according to what they want to write. Of course, there is often a pattern, or a kind of isekai “template”, but I think it can be changed to suit the author’s preference.
How has the process of writing on syosetu been for you?
I don't do anything special. I jot down notes for my ideas, brainstorm with my partner, compose the plot, and then I write.
What led you to writing otome game isekai?
Isekai are popular on syosetu, but villainesses are popular with women. So, I decided to write something with a villainess. In other words, I got on the bandwagon, but I also wanted to see how much I can play around with the settings.
Why did you go with a company office lady?
Lots of readers on Shousetsuka Ni Narou are working women, so I went with a female office worker cause she represents a lot of working women tired with their jobs. That makes it easier for readers to sympathize with the protagonist.
Your work places a lot of emphasis on villainess characters. Why a villainess?
Like I said, I partly got into it because it’s popular, but I’m a bit cynical myself, given that I find the villainess easier to write than the hero. Heroes tend to be these saintly characters. In contrast, I think villainesses are more freeing because don’t you have to deal with the ethics and norms that could chain down a heroic character.
In isekai, what are some of the challenges facing female characters compared to male characters?
Well, first off, there’s the idea that what is “isekai” is different depending on the author. A lot of people say that many of them are made to reference medieval European worlds, but there’s also stories like mine, which are set in game-like settings. There are a lot of different isekai in general, so it’s very difficult to talk about isekai holistically.
Still, I can generally say that many isekai tend to revolve around feudal cultures, so it’s one of the challenges for female characters that the status of women is often relatively poor. For instance, in many isekai, the difference in biological power is smaller than in the real world because of the existence of magic.
Are there female characters (in other works) that’ve influenced yours?
It’s not a recent body of work, but I’d say female characters from stories from the 1990s. Examples like Mirancha in Egg Prince and Lina Inverse in Kanzaka Hajime’s Slayers come to mind.
I Favour the Villainess has a lot of game references. How important are games to isekai?
I don’t think it’s necessarily important. As I mentioned before, isekai vary from author to author. In I Favour the Villainess, the game world is the setting, so it’s central, but in other isekai, the game may have nothing to do with it. However, even in such cases, games may be important in that sense because games dealing with fantasy may be the basis of the author’s imagination - or understanding - of isekai.
Are there any specific games or fantasy novels that influenced you?
Oh absolutely, I can’t count them all. If I had to list them, the game and fantasy novels, I’d say there were the especially influential ones, like Final Fantasy X for games and Shinobu Saeki’s Egg Prince: The Trials of Kyle Rod for fantasy novels. The thing about Saeki’s body of work that makes it so strong is that it catches you the moment you let your guard down.
But I mention those two works because you asked me about their influence on me as a person. If I were to mention influences on my works, my partner Aki is my biggest influence. As I wrote in the blog after the series, Rei, the main character of I Favour the Villainess is modeled after her. She’s funny and positive, and this work would not have been produced without her. In comparison, the main character of The Villainess wants to be alone is much closer to me.
In I Favour the Villainess, Rei is in another world, but she doesn’t seem to have a cheat power. Have you ever been tempted to give her one?
Actually, I think Rei does have a kind of cheat power. She knows about the game Revolution – so she knows the flow of the game and the background of these characters. I think you can call it a cheat.
Ah, yes, my bad. My overall experience with otome games is pretty limited. Do you have any recommendations? And more broadly, is the otome game plot particularly suited to isekai?
Oh, there are a lot of otome games I can recommend, but unfortunately I can’t think of any good games that are also isekai. If it doesn’t have to be isekai, I recommend Collar X Malice. It’s a really good, emblematic one. And there are lot of types of otome games, so some plots work well in isekai, and some don’t. However, oftentimes I think it’s just an author’s challenges more than story type itself.
Some of the isekai I’d recommend are We’re Living by the motto, “Humble, Reliable! and My Next Life as a Villainess.
That said, otome game isekai have been around for a while, but I don’t think they’re that old. As you know, stories about other worlds have been around for a really long time. I think that, by and large, a lot of the isekai from syosetu just think a bit differently from the otome game premise.
I see. On the topic of premises, considering the immense growth of nichijou-kei, kuuki-kei, and kirara-kei works, it seems interesting to me that a lot of isekai heroes tend to skew male. Is that an accurate assessment, if so, why do you think that is?
Hmm, first, let me double check something with you. Are you asking me if male characters in isekai have some sort of connection or affect on real men? I’ll give you my thoughts with that in mind.
I don’t know much about real men because there are very few men around me, but as far as I can see on Twitter, I don’t think they’ve changed much because of these stories. Most people know these stories aren’t real, it’s enjoyed separately.
In Japan, for example, there’s data suggesting men are less likely to get married than they used to, but I think this is just because the government’s economic policies are worse and men have less money than they used to. Some people claim that males confuse fiction with reality, but statistics show that the number of crimes is declining and I feel that more men are more gender-aware.
I’m sorry, haha, I think I phrased this incorrectly. Maybe, perhaps, “Why do you think isekai stories tend to have male characters as heroes”?
Ah, I misinterpreted the meaning of ‘skew’. My apologies.
I think the idea that there are many male protagonists in isekai is correct to some extent. I think the reason why there are many male protagonists is because there are many male authors. Of course, there are many female authors, but I think the percentage of male writers is relatively high because female writers tend to write not only isekai, but a ton of various villainess-adjacent works.
There’s also this trend in Japan, where women more likely to read isekai stories involving a male protagonist, but the inverse isn’t as true; so, this male main character situation is mainly in relation to supply and demand.
I see, gotcha. So, what do you think about the depiction of female characters in a different world? Is the promulgation of slavery, harems, prostitutions, etc., because they cater to male otaku readers?
I mean, I don’t know the reality of it until I ask all men, but in general, I think some might have some latent wish fulfillment. However, I don’t really think that’s because they’re otaku. I think the desire to want a woman is common among hetero males. And as I mentioned before, I don’t think that real men want to bring harems or slavery into reality. They know it’s fiction. Yes, it’s true that prostitution is common in isekai, but isekai didn’t invent it, it’s always been there.
Do you have any recommendations for writers on how to write female characters that aren’t stereotypes? What can readers and authors do to promote a better portrayal of women in isekai?
It’s important to know what a stereotype of a woman is like. It’s helpful to analyze the stereotypical image of a woman and invert or shift these elements. The best way to do it is to know real women – when you interact with real women in a sincere manner, you’ll see a completely different image of women apart from the stereotype.
I do want to emphasize the pros and cons of this idea of “a better portrayal of women,” however. We need to carefully consider what “good” means. I don’t mind if it leads to better, clever, or more innovative storytelling, but I’m against so-called “political correctness.” A novel doesn’t have to ethically correct. This kind of thinking risks hampering the kinds of stories we can tell in the future.
That’s interesting you mention the idea of better storytelling above all. Over here, a lot of people have an issue with Shield Hero because of the slavery depicted in it. That said, I agree with your overall conclusion, but is your opinion widely shared?
A lot of isekai have slaves. I don’t know if my thoughts are the majority, per se, but there’s a lot of criticism of political correctness in Japan.
Hmm, the debate here is pretty intense. On another note, people go back and forth on what are isekai, and it seems to be that isekai concept comes from Japan. That said, some folks do argue that Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz are isekai. Maybe this is a good time to ask – what about you?
I’m surprised, to be frank, that based on what you’re implying, there is so little information about isekai in the west, I’ve always thought that the isekai archetype as it’s explained in Japan came from the West.
The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland are fantasy stories, but I don’t think they’re isekai. I see these two works as old fables and strange fantasy fables.
So with this in mind, where do you see the future of isekai going?
We’re headed to this place where it’s more of a common tendency for men to read fewer stories about female protagonists. The younger generation is gradually changing this, but the ratio of women who read the stories of male protagonists is overwhelmingly larger than that of men who read the stories of female protagonists.
That said, when you’re done with the video, I’d love to see it. To tell you the truth, I have an ulterior motive in that I hope your video might increase the number of readers of my book.
Talking to a Private Isekai Author
Talking to a Private Isekai Author
Joe: I spoke to an isekai author who wished to remain anonymous. They’re a veteran writer whose works have been translated into multiple media projects. Some of the conversation has been heavily edited to maintain their anonymity, but I kept what I believe to be the main spirit and overall accuracy of the conversation.
This conversation has been stitched together from multiple, much longer exchanges. My apologies for any of the awkward phrasing there might've been. Translation by me, checked by Kei. My comments are in bold.
Note: Any and all edits will be to clean up spelling and grammar. Any major content edits will be notified here.
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Hello, thanks for taking the time. I have a few questions if that’s okay. First off, I want to note that your stories have a really strong focus on female protagonists. I think it’s a great approach, but why do you tend to write female characters?
Thanks for the comment, I’ll answer as best I can.
Thing is if you’re a male protagonist, what tends to happen is that you run into women, form a harem, and then it becomes a love story between men and women. I didn’t want that, instead, I wanted to focus on a story that placed less of an emphasis on gender relations, so I focused on female protagonists. So even if the protagonist runs into men, there’s no need for the main character to glob onto them. It’s natural to assume that women don’t need to stick with men they’re not romantically interested in, and that lets you write without dealing with awkward gender relations. I mean, I didn’t want to write that hero – the dense male hero who’s suddenly oblivious to a woman’s feelings for him.
What’s also interesting is that despite having cheat abilities, your characters are really notable for being calm and humble. Based on your experience, why do you think isekai characters tend to have cheat abilities?
You’re in a foreign world. You have no idea what’s going on. If a young girl is in that world, without special powers or anything, she’s pretty much dead. For an ordinary girl, you need special skills if she’s going to play any sort of active role. That’s how cheat powers come about. In short, we can look at it this way: to stop the story from being full of nonsense, problems, and incongruencies, you need to tolerate what is essentially that one big lie that’s upheld by ninety-nine truths. That ‘lie’, in this case, is the cheat ability.
On the topic of difficulties of female characters in another world, what are some of the differences facing female characters compared to male characters?
The truth of the matter is, if there’s a girl who’s young and beautiful and she’s got a cheat power, she’s going to be targeted by a lot of powerful people, up-to-and-including the rich, powerful, and criminals. I mean, they’d want to exploit her and her power, hoping to use her, but maybe also to take that power, possibly infusing it into their bloodline.
Ah. Well, what do you think about how women are portrayed in isekai now? Do you think the premises of harems, slavery, prostitution, etc., are because of an otaku reading audience?
In this sort of world, there’s going to be slaves, bigamy, prostitution, etc. I do think on some level the sheer frequency of these tropes is otaku wish fulfillment. You know, the whole “You can easily get a beautiful girl and she’s never gonna betray you.”
Yet on another level, it’s also the view of women as tools, not as human beings. They often a device that fulfills a role. I vehemently despise that, so even if the story has a criminal slave, I never want to write a story about a female slave being bought by a hero. Women, by virtue of their expressive individuality, tend to flourish best when they have their freedom.
On the topic of audiences, where do you see the isekai genre going? Do you see it becoming more or less popular?
I think it’s been fairly stable right now. The sales per book have declined simply because there’s so much more supply. However, that’s offset by the fact that despite average salves per book, the total number of books overall is increasing. The content, frankly, seems stale, or at least exhausted, but they’ll still keep pumping them out. I mean, the romance genre has been going for hundreds of years, but that’s never gone away, haha. Then again, we did assume something similar with the fictional war genre in Japan (trans note: kaku senki, 架空戦記, see: Zipang as an example), and look at where that is now, it’s almost gone. But that had a glaring flaw – you can only approach the topic of “what if” in a war so many ways. For narou-kei, I don’t think we have that problem.
So then if people are getting into this next generation of writing, and they want to write female characters without stereotypes, what would you suggest?
Write them based off your partner. Write them based off your sister. Write them based off your childhood friend. Write them based off your friend. Get rid of this delusion of control and I dunno, pull them out of the Dirac sea. If you’re not completely invested in the character, then why should the reader?
More broadly, what can readers and authors do to promote better feminine depictions in isekai?
Well, women aren’t “handy tools to strengthen male heroes” or “playthings”, so the authors should focus on women as people – lively people – who are equal to their male counterparts. Readers, conversely, should support works that do this – buy the books!
One of the things I’ve noticed is that with the explosion of kuuki-kei, nichijou-kei, and kirara-kei kind of works, isekai heroes seem to skew male. Do you think that observation is true, if so, why?
Sorry, I’m not entirely sure what you mean by “skew.” We used to have protagonists from other worlds with a sense of justice, overcoming difficulties, and defeating enemies through the power of motivation and effort. Readers loved it. But I think they’ve started to distance themselves from those ideas. So things like “Even if you don’t work hard, you’ll get a power from a goddess,” and “A girl will suddenly confess to you or shower you with her love even if you don’t really do anything,” it means you don’t have to worry about failing to taking risks.
That’s kind of where we are – you’re sent to another world, surrounded by beautiful girls and an easy, calm life without any danger. These kinds of stories are becoming more frequent, but it feels like they’re all the same with little variation. It sells well, sure, but it’s hard to be a huge hit. And while they’re going to keep pumping them out, I think that kind of story as it stands isn’t really a good idea for newcomers who want to debut, even if they aren’t interested in pursuing writing these stories full time.
My bad, I think I was a little unclear. So, since many isekai stories tend to focus on male characters, why do you, as someone who likes to write female characters, think that’s the case?
Ah, okay. Well, most syosetu authors and readers tend to be male. Many male authors, as a result, tend not to write women very well because they aren’t good at getting into a woman’s mindset. So rather than trying to think of a protagonist who’s self-assured and go-getter – someone who acts – women are oftentimes relegated to a decoration or trophy. Furthermore, male readers love superimposing themselves on isekai protagonists who are go-getters who are popular with women. In this case, it makes financial sense to sell based on guys surrounded by a ton of beautiful girls.
Was there a female character in another work that had a great influence on your own work?
Oh, there’s a countless number of science fiction novels, manga, and women in anime and manga. In narou works, I’d say the hero of The Majesty and I, and Yuna from Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear.
But was there a favourite?
I’ve got a lot of favourite works, but I never thought, “I like this person in particular.” I mean, it’s like looking at sushi, steak, or melon, and then you have to say who’s your favourite, and it gets really hard to compare novels between each other, haha.
So moving onto a more general topic – why a fantasy setting? What’s the appeal?
If you don’t use an isekai fantasy setting, you can’t do monsters and dragons. You can’t use magic without raising some questions or concerns. If the science lags behind Earth, then you don’t need to reflect modern science. This is helpful, cause when we’re talking about the verisimilitude of science, authors would run into “history police,” who’d love to say “there’s no such invention during that time period,” “potatoes don’t grow in that region,” “what’s the horsepower of the carriage?” These kinds of folks – they’re called “Potato Police” - love to make those kinds of arguments. With isekai, there’s no such worry.
I mean, if it’s not Earth, then you don’t need to – and can’t – collect material or perform surveys. I have a colleague who’s writing historical fiction, and they’re having a hard time of it…I’m writing fantasy, it’s very easy, haha.
I’ve never seen “Potato Police” before. Is this a new concept?
Nope, it’s a common phrase used in online articles and blogs when you’re starting out as a novelist. The most notorious ones are “Archery Police” and “Potato Police,” and they come up in a lot of circles.
Well, how did you start writing isekai? Did you have a piece that clicked with you?
Hmmm, nothing comes to mind. I’ve been reading for a while – and loved it – novels, comics, technical books, anime, you name it. It all comes together too: stuff about boats, survival games, all kinds of stuff – it all helps my work. And that’s just the beginning of it.
When I was a kid, I wanted to do two things, and one of them was become a science fiction writer. A while ago, when I was unsure about what to do, I read a story from Let’s Become a Novelist and boom, I remembered my old dream and I thought, “yeah, let’s write a novel!”
What’s the appeal of writing isekai in general?
You can pretty much do anything. It’s up for grabs. Like, I don’t get emails from people clamoring, “It’s historically inaccurate!” You can write about monsters or magic, and hell, you can use high tech science of a super civilization too. Regardless of any religion in the text, you can have higher life forms of God. It’s super convenient, and if you run into snags, you can just say, “It’s not a past Earth, it’s a different world!”
So this might be a strange question, but do you think Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz are isekai?
I absolutely think so! Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz are both tunnels to a different dimension, both written about women in another world, and in both cases, the author is male. In a lot of ways, they’re pretty similar to the current syosetu story.
Huh, that framing of Shousetsuka ni Narou and the similarities in Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz is pretty interesting. I hadn’t thought of that. I guess, on this topic, what would be the earliest isekai you remember? And on a related note, it’s interesting because here in the West, Sword Art Online is often considered to be isekai. Do you agree? Or do you classify it differently? I see it’s discussed on a lot of blogs.
Hmmm, I think it’s hard to pin down the first isekai story. John Carter of Mars is, of course, isekai. However, then you have Japanese mythology, with stories of going into Yomi, the underground world of the dead, as well as the story of Urashima Taro, who visits the underwater kingdom on a turtle.
I mean, the turtle is recollective of a flying saucer – it’s like a UFO, and then Taro comes back, it’s many years forward in Japan, so you have things like the “Urashima Effect” in sub-FTL, getting its name from the story. Or, hmm, I guess it’s not really a different world but a different planet, haha.
I mean, there are many stories about going to worlds of hermits (senkai) as well. I dunno, it’s hard to say.
But I don’t think SAO is another world. It’s a “brand new” game where you login, but you can’t log out from it. I think that’s different from the isekai story. Isekai should be a different world, an unknown world, because the game world would be the same as “playing in a sandbox” or “miniature garden made in our world.” It’s a different genre from the isekai model, I think it’s called VRMMO-kei.
Gotcha. That’s interesting you mention the flying saucer. I hadn’t considered Urashima Taro in that sense. Linking that together with science fiction, is science fiction normal in isekai? I don’t see it that much.
Isekai has a lot of science fiction influences. You’ve got fantasy-like isekai controlled with races with advanced science, fighting races that might represent or maintain older, prehistoric science and technology. I mean, that’s the case with Philip Jose Farmer’s The Maker of Universes and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John of Mars. I like these devices for the same reason as magic – it helps slotting things together to make sense! I mean, you don’t have to explain why something exists, but you can use “aliens” or “ancient technology” as a reasonable description.
But in my case, I like to explain magic in a particular way because I’m an old science fiction an and I have a huge love and passion for that kind of stuff.
As a veteran writer, is there any advice you can give to newcomers?
Sometimes people might think, “okay, there’s a book I like or want to emulate,” so they write a story that’s very similar. And sure, it could sell – but will it sell more or become more popular than the original work? Is it going to impress people or capture an audience? Moreso, is this the work that they really want to write?
I mean, after I die, these novels – this writing – is the only proof I have that I existed. So for me, it doesn’t matter if it becomes popular or it sells. Write what you want, get in touch with publishers, be confident. Don’t settle with works that you’ll regret later. Express yourself – and your dreams – on the paper.
There’s a method of analyzing what sells, looking at what’s chart-topping and writing “books that sell.” And hell, you might have to do that as work for a living. But that’s just not for me. I want to live my life without regrets, doing what I love, and just living happily. I feel like I’ve been reincarnated into a different world, I’m living my life and living it to the fullest!
Talking to Hero Tennki
Talking to ヘロー天気
This conversation is possible thanks to the help of all of my patrons.
Context
I had an exchange with Hero Tenki, looking a bit at both his works and the climate of syosetu pre-2012. Though I would argue Sword Art Online is not isekai itself, it’s effect and influence on isekai – at least in terms of its promulgation – seems inescapable. Tenki is an author in a particularly unique position: they were writing isekai before the SAO boom, and even moreso, they were writing isekai as isekai is seen today. Among them are game interfaces, a Japanese protagonist getting involved, and a complete transition to another. As we see in Tenki’s work, these elements have been around for at least a decade.
Tenki’s first well-known work is, arguably, World Customize Creator (ワールド・カスタマイズ・クリエーター) in 2009, followed by Spirit Migration (スピリット・マイグレーション) in 2010. These would hardly be their first; Tenki had already been working on The Otherworld Magician (異界の魔術師). As I’ve mentioned before, we can find the transition from ‘ikai’ (異界, otherworld) to ‘isekai’ (異世界, another world) directly through the way Tenki named their work. Though these differences may be minor to the point of near irrelevance, Tenki’s work is a helpful touchstone for situating us in a time of when isekai weren’t called, or really thought of, as isekai.
Thus, Tenki’s comments in this conversation, while brief, are incredibly important for understanding isekai because of the limitations of memory and record-keeping in subcultures. Though we might fold back and understand isekai through works over the years, what were the words and terms being used before the 2010’s? Their comments help situate us, since not only were they reading these stories, but they were also writing them.
This conversation was possible with huge help from both Kei (@odanimereviews) and Melancholy (@caremellymelly).
As always, please support the author whenever possible.
Do you consider your work to be isekai?
The genre I write in is essentially fantasy. I write science fiction, zombies, and space stories with a fantasy focus.
Both Spirit Migration and World Customize Creator have fantasy settings. Why did you go with that?
The strength of the fantasy setting is that from the onset, you can set everything yourself, there’s a lot of freedom.
How did you get started writing other world stories?[i] Were there stories that influenced your decision?
You’re making this sort of world because it’s the story you personally want to read.
Some of your works predate the Sword Art Online anime. Was isekai very different back then?
Isekai has been around for a while, but it just wasn’t getting much attention.
What do you think is the appeal of the other world setting?
I don’t think isekai stories are that unique. We’ve always had these sorts of stories. Before, people would come to our world from the future, another planet, or another world and try to change ours. Superman comes to mind.
Isekai are just a reversal of that. By making the protagonist someone from our world, readers will have an easier time empathizing and identifying with them.
In “World Customize Creator,” the protagonist has a strong ability. What is the appeal of strong characters? Is it escapism?
Compared to things like a “blood line” or “birthright”, which are outside the purview of normal people, you can substitute it with ‘summoning’ or ‘reincarnation’. It’s a plot device that lets ordinary people be special. Nowadays, the rules of the modern world are restrictive, and fantasy is a story that isn’t restricted by such rules. Isekai are really good at emphasizing that.
Nowadays, there’s a lot of terms for stories with strong protagonists (like narou[ii] and TUE[iii]). Did these terms exist when you started writing?
When Shousetsuka ni Narou[iv] gained traction, ‘narou-kei’ started becoming popular. And there was even a ‘TUEEE’ type a little bit back. It was called ‘musou’.[v]
When you started writing Spirit Migration and World Customize Creator, what was the term used for these kinds of stories? Was it still “isekai”?
Essentially the same, I’d say? By the time I finished The Otherworld Magician, my style was pretty concrete at that point.
It seems in your stories you draw a lot from games. Where there any specific games in particular?
It’s mostly old games, honestly. A lot of them were pretty minor titles but if I had to mention a major one it would be something like “Relics”. I think a lot of retro games improve your imagination since the game screens didn’t give you as much to work with, you had to supplement a lot of it with your own imagination.
In World Customize Creator, the main character can control a lot of things by making and remaking the world. How did you come up with that power? Why did it use a lot of status menus?
It’s sort of flair or feeling, so it’s hard to clearly break down into words. All of it is born as a result of a combination of my personal knowledge, ideas that became second nature to me, my imagination and personal preferences and interests.
That’s just how it is.
As a veteran writer, what is some advice you’d give for newer writers hoping to write isekai stories?
Go with what you want to read first. When starting out, it’s fine to take elements from other works, but those are things you’ll surpass and build on when you start writing. Think about what sort of world you want to write with earnest, making sure to neither overindulge nor come at it with disdain. As long as you write what you personally want to read, I think the outline of the story will come naturally.
Don’t be shy.
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[i] We used ほかの世界 (hoka no sekai) instead of isekai or ikai
[ii] Narou refers to なろう, stories that come from “Let’s Become a Novelist!” (Shousetsuka ni Narou). They usually refer to incredibly strong characters.
[iii] Similar to narou, though TUEEE has no innate bearing to syosetu.
[iv] Shousetsuka ni Narou (syosetu) is an amateur author publishing platform. Most contemporary isekai began as web novels on syosetu.
[v] Musou refers to overpowered characters, oftentimes mowing down a large number of weak enemies. See: Dynasty Warriors.