On a Godless Planet:Volume1A Afterword
Afterword
“Okay, let’s have a chat for the afterword!”
<But why us? People will mistake this for part of the novel.>
“Since this is set in the 90s, the afterword has to be a character conversation. That’s just how it works.”
“Who decided that?”
“Having us chat with the author would be the best kind of cringe, but I guess we’re not doing that.”
“Anyway, um, the new series has begun. This one is more focused on chatting while dealing with the problems at hand and doing some hunting, so look forward to all that.”
“Was that the author speaking through you?”
“No, no, no. Of course, not, of course not. No one’s talking through me.”
“Don’t worry, Senpai! I’m totally okay with brainwashing plots! It’s all cool!”
“Aaaanyway, is there anything toooo discuss concerning the 90s?”
<To be blunt, acquiring physical materials is difficult. The CRT display devices are especially difficult. Everything changes to LCD in the 2000s and there is a risk of CRT devices catching on fire as they grow older, so they even disappear from used stores and auctions.>
“Checking on controllers and such must be difficult too.”
<Another problem from the 2000s is that most game systems from this era do not have the HDMI output that becomes the standard in the following decade. They primarily use composite video, D terminal, or component video, but the second two almost entirely disappear in the 2010s.>
“Well, when that happens, you can just rely on modifications or scan converters, I guess. Even our game club has a composite output for the Famicom.”
“Do things really change that much in a decade?”
“The 90s was a time of great change in Japan. That was partially due to the remaining momentum from the bubble era, but I think that was the period when people saw the greatest value in physically owning things.”
“This sounds complicated, so can you explain it using boobs as a metaphor?”
“Boy, the value of big boobs is eternal.”
<People also find value in flat chests, but the word ‘hinyuu’ is only seen in reference to them starting at around ’96, so the 90s really was a time of great diversity. And before that word, people used the term ‘pechapai’, but even that is only seen starting at around ’88.>
“What about ‘kyonyuu’ to refer to big boobs? When did that start?”
<That one is first seen around ’88, so that must have been a rather liberating time for Japan.>
“’88 is when the Tokyo Dome and the Seikan Tunnel opened, right? Oh, and the Mega Drive came out.”
“DQ3 too. I only played it recently, but I really wish there was a town on Greenlad. And I really liked the event in Noaniels.”
<I’m not sure getting back on topic is worth it, but before ‘kyonyuu’, the terms ‘dekapai’ and ‘boing’ were used. Language sure has a way of changing, doesn’t it?>
“This might be sudden, but the background music this time was Opa-Opa! from Sega’s Fantasy Zone.”
“Um, then how about we end this by asking ‘who was the most flustered?’ ”
“Pretty sure that’s you. Anyway, Part B will start off with a battle and some negotiations, so it’s our turn to shine.”
<And with that, please wait a while longer for Part B which will hit the ground running.>
2019. A rainy morning.
-Kawakami Minoru
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