Phenomeno:Volume 06, Afterword To The Afterword
Afterword To The Afterword
I began to write this work simply because I liked the occult genre, but before I realized, it brought me a treasure trove of encounters.
Yoshitoshi Abe, who I had been a big fan of since ‘Serial Experiments Lain’, became in charge of the illustrations, The editor-in-chief of the magazine ‘Faust’ that was like a coursebook in novels for me, Katsushi Ota-san, became my editor in chief. In addition, the assistant editor Hirabayashi-san, Yamanaka-san who was in charge of the ‘New Moon Reading Hall’ event, Ishikawa-san who was in charge of the paperback edition, all the staff involved in the making of the visual novel version(I was able to work with everyone from nitroplus for the first time), the booksellers who supported me, the countless literary personalities who enthusiastically introduced the book in various media, Ellis-san of Schatzkiste who supported me in all kinds of ways, all the distinguished eminent persons who added their generous words to the paperback edition—
And most of all, the greatest encounter of all with all the readers who have taken the time to read this far.
I’d like to thank you once more.
Reading it back now, I believe there’s a long list of sentences that were unskillfully written, but at any rate, I desperately got through what was a true-to-life work that represented me in those days. I feel that the speed and earnestness of this work is not something that I will be able to aim for and write like in the future.
When I stand by the riverside at night, I can(somehow) feel the existence of something unworldly, and each time, I ask myself.
Did I succeed in portraying one part of you all?
Was it alright that I wrote it like that?
There was no answer of course, but instead, I realized that what I once always feared, now felt like a dear friend. It might have been thanks to this work.
And with that, I pray that we will soon meet again in a different work--
May 2016
Ninomae Hajime
Translator's notes and references
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