Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume11 Afterword
Afterword[edit]
If you picked them up one at a time, welcome back. If you bought them all at once, welcome.
This is Kamachi Kazuma.
Hello, everyone whose heart was left pounding by the gloomy mood of the GT10 afterword☆ I think different authors see it differently, but I personally view the afterword like the end credits of a movie, so I think it is a part of the whole and an important part of setting the right mood. So I always need to keep that mood in mind. I can never get careless.
Anyway, this time had Anna Kingsford galore!! How did you enjoy GT11 and all its secret tricks? As a good person with only goodness in her, she is a truly extraordinary character, but can you really trust that ideal? That was the major theme this time. When Rosencreutz planted the seeds of doubt, were you able to go on trusting Kingsford? I’m sure anyone who has been following my books for more than 20 years knows this already, but I could never manage it. Yes, it’s true. I love taking the cynical view.
Dying and being sent to hell sets a mood of ultra despair, but the entire story actually had a weirdly light tone. Heavy Object is probably the best example, but in the worlds I write, when fear and grim resolve pass a certain point, the amount of jokes actually increases. That may have played a role here.
…My original idea was for Kamijou to die and be lost in hell until he encountered Rosencreutz and journeyed through hell alone with him, but instead of having him alone with an old man, I wanted a girl in there too!! So I had Kingsford-sensei take the role of hell’s bus tour guide from beginning to end. The difference in her reaction to the giant boobs and the giant butt might hint at a different side of the expert who was in contact with Aleister and the others.
This was a hell created by Rosencreutz instead of the “real” one, so it was a collection of a few different versions of hell, but the Qliphoth has been mentioned a few times in previous volumes. The most obvious example is probably artificial demon Qliphah Puzzle 545. If a normal magician attempts to learn it, they will only meet their doom, but if an expert with sufficient knowledge attempts it while fully equipped, they can acquire tons of secret tricks. …The Qliphoth really sounds like a great deal, but in GT11, I had Rosencreutz correspond to it, since it wasn’t clear if he was an enemy or an ally (even if he did ultimately create the hell setting). When a friendly demon whispers in their ear, how do people use that knowledge? After reading this book, you should know just how dangerous that can be.
Also, in GT10, I repeated over and over that, by cutting off his own right arm and relying on the Dragon Strike, Kamijou could no longer choose a future where he stood side by side with and smiled with Rosencreutz, but that was a setup for the two of them having a great picnic together in GT11. If you were disappointed when comparing his fate to Fiamma of the Right or Magic God Othinus, then I hope you were satisfied with this.
I give my thanks to my illustrators Haimura-san and Itou Tateki-san and my editors Miki-san, Anan-san, Nakajima-san, and Hamamura-san. For better or for worse, the serious scenes and the comedy scenes were set in a surreal hell. Also, Kingsford maintained her spirit of stripping in that situation and Kamijou Touma was at the mercy of his worldly thoughts. The overall mood had to have been a complete mess, which couldn’t have made things easy. Thanks again!
And I give my thanks to the readers. This one was a picnic in hell where Kamijou doubted the benevolent Kingsford and stood alongside the deadly and destructive Rosencreutz. This was only possible because all of you accepted it. Thank you so much!!
It is time to close the pages for now while praying that the pages of the next book will be opened.
And I lay my pen down for now.
…Crushed to death by giant boobs might not be all that bad a way to go?
-Kamachi Kazuma
