Part Seven - Nasu
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Novels need to be twice as entertaining as manga
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Editor |
I'd like to focus on Nasu for the next part of the interview.
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Nasu |
OK.
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Editor |
I've read that your goal, Nasu, was to create a "mixture of romantic fiction and a new style of orthodox fiction. (*1)" I see that your style of romantic fiction stems from Kikuchi Hideyuki, but what other authors have influenced you?
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Nasu |
I was always a fan of romantic fiction. Kikuchi is sort of like the god of all that, or the initial impetus that spurred me on. When I read him, I had never even known there was a genre of fiction this entertaining. Takeuchi and I have always worked together, so I knew the power of his art. And I know that novels can't beat manga. Novels make users take time in reading all the lengthy words, while manga can take all those words and express them in a single picture. That's the advantage manga has, so novels should always be twice as entertaining as manga. That's how I think.
Then I happened to read Ayatsuji Yukito's (*2) "Jukkakukan no Satsujin." It really shocked me.
"So there are ways of expression that are exclusive to novels," I thought. It was like I had been hit in the head. That's when I started moving toward making a new orthodox style. I wanted to mix the entertainment of a new orthodox novel with a new romantic novel. That was about 5-6 years ago. So the author who influenced me was Kikuchi Hideyuki, while the author who pushed a switch in my head was Ayatsuji Yukito. Aside from them, I would also say I've been influenced by Shimada Souji. (*3) Those are my holy trinity. And I really like Kyogoku Natsuhiko (*4). He hasn't really influenced me, though, he's more like a God. I just like him so much.
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Editor |
Did you write novels before you started going for your new orthodox style?
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Nasu |
Yes.
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Editor |
Takeuchi, how do you think Nasu's writing has changed between these two stages?
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Takeuchi |
Hmm... did you write 「Mahoutsukai no Yoru」 (*5) after you changed?
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Nasu |
Yes, that was after.
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Takeuchi |
Okay... personally, I think the "new orthodox" is Nasu's taste, but I don't really think it's had that much of an effect on his writing. We grew up playing tabletop RPGs (*6) and other RPGs (*7) so we really like fantasy. Always mixing fantasy with the romantic. There was one point where I noticed his sentences had become much more beautiful. But I think that was Takemoto Kenji (*8)...
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Nasu |
Ah! Sorry, I forgot the most important person. Takemoto Kenji. When I really got into the "new orthodox sect," I did a lot of searching. I think that was the happiest time in my life. Then I found Takemoto Kenji's books. The shock I received from him was unprecedented. It was even greater than when I read 「Jukkakukan no Satsujin」.
It was exactly what I had been searching for, what I wanted to see, I was so surprised. I really like his works, but I realized that our places, and where we were heading was quite different. I felt like we were both on trains heading to different destinations, but that I could enjoy riding on his once in a while.
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Takeuchi |
I felt like reading 「Kara no Kyoukai」 gave me the first impressions of true "mystery" writing. Before that, his works had quite a different taste to them. Maybe that other one was a mystery novel as well...
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Nasu |
Which one?
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Takeuchi |
"Flowers of Ice."
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Nasu |
Well, uh... 「Mahoutsukai no Yoru」 encompasses everything I had wanted to do at that point in time. There was magic theory, Aoko was the heroine, you had these people living in the same house (*9) ...then at the end I wanted to have a few twists to make it mysterious.
So I did all I set out to. "Guess I have no more goals for now," I thought. Then I decided to try and write a truly literary novel, something unlike anything I'd done before. So I wrote Flowers of Ice, about a knight.
Afterwards, I thought, "now that I've done all I really wanted to, I should try to work on that mix of romantic and new orthodox fiction I've always been interested in." And I invited Takeuchi along for the ride. (*10)
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Editor |
I see. Now, for our next topic, I'd like to ask: Just how many works have you written so far, in total?
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Nasu |
The things I wrote before 「Mahoutsukai no Yoru」 are practically fanfiction, so I can't really count "my" works like that. I would say only three: 「Mahoutsukai no Yoru」, 「Flowers of Ice」, and 「Kara no Kyoukai」. All the other ones aren't fit to show anyone. (Laughs)
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Takeuchi |
Mmm... wait, couldn't you add 4 more to that list? Ones you wrote when you were in high school, out of your own interest?
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Nasu |
Ah, but those were never finished.
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Takeuchi |
Oh, ok.
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Editor |
Sorry, but could you talk a little more about those?
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Takeuchi |
Well, he wrote these when he was in middle or high school. They were pretty good, though. The first one he wrote, 「Screamer」, was a novelization of a tabletop RPG game we had played. It was about 100 looseleaf pages.
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Editor |
(Laughs) Wow, he's been at this a long time.
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Takeuchi |
Yes. (Laughs) We were planning to make it into a manga. I told him, "If we're going to make this into a manga, you can't make it long." And then he brings me 100 pages. I was just like "There's... no way we can do this."
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Nasu |
Yeah, I think you threw them out. (Laughs)
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I wanted rules for my world
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Editor |
Up until now we've talked about the background and characters of 「Tsukihime」 like a glossary or analysis would. Now we'd like to go deeper into the background and structure of the story, if possible.
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Takeuchi |
「Tsukihime」 was created completely from the world inside Nasu's head. So 「Tsukihime」 is only a part of that world, and all the elements have already been shown to everyone. If we were to talk more about that world, we'd have to start talking about new works. When they're released, we'll talk about which elements of that world each new work focuses on.
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Nasu |
I wanted rules for my world. I don't think worlds are interesting unless they have limitations. Everything's born from regulations. It's because you have something limited that you can impress people by later breaking those limitations. People often tell me I love "setting information," but I feel like stories aren't interesting unless it's clear what can and can't be done. Real life is interesting because humans CAN'T fly. So I want to make sure that I make the rules loud and clear when I write.
I made up these rules a few years back, and gradually the world expanded to become my world setting for all my "modern romantic" fiction. 「Tsukihime」 is a part of that. For my next work, modern romantic fiction is still what I'm most interested now, so I just have to make sure I can still enjoy writing in this world. But I really want to make it so that people who've played 「Tsukihime」 can play this next one and get a few "A-ha!" moments.
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Takeuchi |
We got requests to add more to the glossary for the re-release, but Nasu said "There's nothing more I can put in. Everything's already there."
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Nasu |
When we were getting our content together, I thought "How about I make a glossary? It'll take 2-3 days." When I brought it to him, he was surprised because it was so small. But that's all that was necessary.
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Takeuchi |
We'll begin 「Tsukihime 2」 from the glossary. We've been saying this for a while. Have the setting ready by the beta version. Then we'll add the notes and details to the full version. To me, Nasu is all about his glossary. I thought he's the only one who's ever made a glossary for an RPG. (*11)
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Editor |
Yes, it seems like he's very used to doing this.
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Takeuchi |
I actually brought one today, too. (*12)
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Nasu |
Ehh~
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Takeuchi |
Reading his glossary is the true way to enjoy Nasu's works.
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Nasu |
That sounds terrible! (Laughs)
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Takeuchi |
That's why I wanted you to make one no matter what. Yet you didn't seem very enthusiastic about it.
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All |
(Laugh)
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Nasu |
I was out of gas then. I mean, we had come all the way to the pressing stage, it was like we had finished a long marathon. Then you tell me "Let's make a book."
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All |
(Laugh)
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Nasu |
At the end I wrote "This glossary was made right when we finished work on 「Tsukihime」, so you may wonder why we wrote this at all. This truth is, we aren't sure either." That's honestly how I felt back then. (Laughs)
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Part 06
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Part 08
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