Phenomeno:Volume 02, Afterword
Afterword[edit]
Around the time I was writing this afterword, a heavy snowstorm hit the Kanto area. The trains stopped, the Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway was closed, and the capital was harshly criticized for being weak and not used to snow by many people, and in a panic, I too rushed out to buy a shovel to shovel the snow! However, it had been a long time since we've had snow, so snow shovels were sold out of everywhere.
By the time they finally filled up the stock a few days later, both my appetite for buying them, as well as the snow, disappeared. But I realized an obvious fact: The value of an item comes from the fact that it is there in a time of need.
I first learned about the mysterious ‘Fafrotskies’ phenomenon from the movie ‘Magnolia’. The first time I saw that famous last scene, I felt physical disgust and a strange sense of relief at the same time, the reason for which was that the impossible phenomenon was the rain of salvation that was needed by many characters to wash away their hopeless conflicts in life. And, once again, I felt as if I had been taught a lesson by the snow. Of course, this is my own subjective view.
Now, this volume, "Melting Fafrotskies" is the first volume of two volumes, and will be followed by the second volume, "Shrinking Fafrotskies" which will be released soon. This story was supposed to be a one-volume story, but it ended up being expanded entirely because of my lack of skill, However, the editor in charge, Katsushi Ota-san was very helpful:
“You can take your time! Let's go for two volumes!”
It is also true that those words helped me. Thank you very much! If I may say so, there is a certain secret connected in both volumes, so I would be delighted if you could remember the story of "Melting" until the release of the second volume. And once again, Yoshitoshi Abe-san provided us with wonderfully painted illustrations. I can't tell you how much power the illustrations gave me in these short paragraphs, but please let me treat you to another delicious cup of coffee! Thank you very much! And to everyone who has read this far. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. There would be no greater happiness than to meet you again in “Shrinking Fafrotskies”.
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