Baccano! - Volume 5 - Chapter Aft

AFTERWORD

Hello, it’s Narita, for the first time in forever. To my first-time readers, it’s great to meet you—but this book is actually part of a series called Baccano!, so if this is the first time we’ve met, you’ll probably want to read the earlier volumes, too.

…And so, before I knew it, with this book the Baccano! series reached five volumes. This is entirely thanks to you, the readers, and all other interested parties. In exchange, I’m spending my days writing at a snail’s pace, just lying around, going to see movies and boxing matches, yet never failing to show up for things like the Dengeki Bunko year-end party. A while back, in Doraemon, there was talk of a “Loafer Appreciation Day,” and when, in connection with that, I mentioned my enthusiasm to my friend—“Every day is Loafer Appreciation Day!”—he got mad at me: “Get it together. Just…get it together.” It’s nice to have friends who’ll get mad at you.

All right: This Baccano! was abruptly set in the twenty-first century, but as a matter of fact, I had the bare-bones concept for the story before I started work on Volume 2. Back then, Czes didn’t exist yet, and the only ones at the center of the story were the two immortals Maiza and Elmer. However, this time, “since I had the opportunity” (like that one guy who opened a certain red door), I decided I’d include all the immortals who were alive at that point in time. —The problem being that I made that decision after I’d turned in the final manuscript.

Partly as a result, I had characters who haven’t appeared in the main story yet show up in the color pages as guests. Someday I’d like to write a story that puts them in the spotlight. As a rule, the color illustrations are finished first, and then I come up with text that goes with the pictures, but because of the situation, this time around I finished the text first, and I caused Mr. Enami and my editor, Mr. Suzuki, a lot of trouble over the incomprehensible reason, “since we’ve got the opportunity.” …For which I’m very sorry.

I took this chance to internally designate “since I’ve got the opportunity” as a diabolical phrase. What do you think? Good move?

Well, it’s weird for me to say this personally, but it feels like this turned into a rather unconventional Baccano! book. In terms of the number of characters, the setting, and the era, it’s far removed from the previous installments. I don’t know what people are going to think of it, but I hope you’ll take it as another possible format for Baccano! I’d like to keep branching out in various directions, and I’m thoroughly disgusted by my own attempt at being “everybody’s friend,” but please do stick with me anyway.

In the future, I’ll write more standalone volumes, and next…it’s very likely I’ll be releasing a book that’s neither Baccano! nor Bowwow. I’m hoping I’ll also get to release Baccano! 1933 this summer. (Actually, the 1933 project was on the table this time as well, but it’s set in summer, so we decided, “Since we’ve got the opportunity, let’s release it in summer,” and the 2001 project is the one that got through.)

Since the material I’ve got scheduled for next time is what it is, when I told him about it, Suzuhito Yasuda (who’s helping me out on Bowwow) was speechless for about three seconds, and my editor griped at me at the pub: “All the projects you come up with are wacko.” Still, I’ll work hard to sublimate that material into entertainment, so please continue to bear with me.

*Everything from this point on is thank-yous.

Once again, this work came together with the help of all sorts of people.

To Chief Editor Suzuki and the people at Media Works.

To the copy editors, who always, always check my manuscripts for me, and to the designers, who made the book look good.

To my family, friends, acquaintances, and everyone in S City, to whom I’m indebted for all sorts of things.

To the Dengeki authors and illustrators who helped me out at the year-end party and elsewhere.

To the great Katsumi Enami, who used his outstanding skill with a pen to depict places and characters brilliantly, even though the atmosphere was completely different from everything that had come before it.

And to everyone who read this book from yours truly, who’s just made it into his second year as an author.

Everyone mentioned above has my deepest gratitude. Thank you very much.

December 2003, at my place

Thinking, I’d really like to be watching or listening to something right now, but once I finish writing this, I have to head straight over to the editorial department, so there’s no time to watch or listen to anything— And right as I wrote that, I kid you not, the phone rang, and it was the editorial department…

Ryohgo Narita