Black Bullet - Volume 6 - Chapter Aft

AFTERWORD

Black Bullet is officially being made into an anime! Thanks to all of you for your support!

…Although, to be honest, I’m a bit torn. Should I really be so unreserved in my happiness at this? After all, I devoted myself heart and soul to make this the most exciting piece of text I could. Will my book remain entertaining in other media formats? As I write this, at least, I’m having a little trouble imagining how it’ll work out.

However, the anime team members I’ve met have all been masters of their craft—super passionate about their work, but also coolly analytical of what it takes to make this happen. I’m sure I’ll start bragging about this project a lot more as I get to learn about them and the values that drive them more, but already there’s no doubt in my mind that I can leave my brainchild safely in their hands.

We have half a year before the TV broadcast begins. Specialists from a wealth of different fields will be coming together, pooling their talents and working hard to make this as high quality a production as they can. Will the Black Bullet anime be worth the [digital] cels it’s drawn on? It’s up to all of you, the viewers, to watch and judge the results for yourselves.

I hope you’ll give the anime as warm a welcome as possible.

My thanks go out once again to Mr. Kurosaki, my editor. Even as the threat of this book slipping loomed larger and louder than ever before, the constant smile he wore as he worked from start to finish made even the deepest cauldron of hell feel like a dip in the ocean by comparison. They also go out to my illustrator Saki Ukai, whose ESP abilities apparently allow him to figure out which way is north at any time. Also thanks to Mr. Kojima, director of the anime project, and everybody under his command, as well as the producers, Mr. Ogura and Mr. Ogasawara. Finally, I want to thank everybody in the editorial team and elsewhere who helped bring this book to life.

Finally, a note to my readers. Not to go sharing my personal life with you, but around three years ago, when I first joined the Dengeki publishing family, I had a conversation with Mr. Kurosaki along the lines of “I’m gonna sell a million copies and get an anime version released!”—a conversation very much along the lines of what the manga Bakuman depicted. I didn’t sweat the details too much at the time, and the declaration was made less for me than for Mr. Kurosawa (who had just transferred into that department back then). Still, one of those two goals is now a reality. I really have all of you to thank for keeping me from being a complete liar. Again, thank you.

Regardless of how the anime turns out, however, the novels can’t afford to play second fiddle. My focus now is producing a series that’ll make people who took in all three versions—novel, manga, anime—think to themselves, They were all good, but the novels are what really hit it out of the park!

Thank you very much for taking this novel in hand. May all the blessings of God rain down upon all my readers.

Shiden Kanzaki