Afterword
I must admit that this was a grand experiment. Looking back, I didn’t know how it would turn out. My first idea was an eatery that somehow connected people. Then I decided to have a group of these people and focus the story on them.
In thinking about this group of people, I came up with one of the defining ideas in this story: the reflection of myself in these 7 individuals. I even thought of changing the title to “My Monologue”. Hideaki Nishino was the me that is perpetually caught in conflict, between reason and emotion. Kanna Ito was the escapist. Takuya Kuraki was the football-crazy playmaker (on and off the field). Ken Fernandes was the outwardly confident, inwardly insecure me, haunted by the past. Yui Inaba was the observant me. Keisuke Yokoi was the ungentlemanly(in Murakami’s terms) me who follow my heart. Risaki Takahashi was the me who tries to be there for everyone else. In hindsight, Yui was the one least like me. Because it wasn’t meant to be.
I must admit I rushed this work. I started on it on 5th March, and finished it on the 10th. At a point of time, I felt that I couldn’t go on. I just wanted to bring it to a conclusion. I was glad that despite this, it somehow turned out satisfactory, at least to me. It wasn’t as bad as I imagine it would turn out to be. Just that Yui wasn’t well-explained.
The other defining idea was inspired by Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat. It’s the concept of memories and dreams. Of course I don’t agree with him. But these two words stuck to me, and I used my own view to integrate them into my story. In a way, it was obvious from the start. Those kind of things which you know subconsciously, but until someone tell you explicitly, you won’t take note of it. In the same way, Friedman did this to me. I realize that memories and dreams are really a very big part of our lives, especially for young people at this point, struggling to find themselves in the confusion of this world. And this concept was what I was looking for. The linkage between everyone.
I regretted that the characters turn out to have hidden a lot of stuff from their closest friends. But this is how it is, much as I would have wanted it otherwise. Of course, there’s always pretty good reasons.
Another thing, which I regret is that friends do part. Friends do drift apart. My only condolence is what Hide said, which was actually quoted from Matthew. That is still his most brilliant words to date.
It was an impulse to let Risaki die. I was even toying with the idea of Risaki being the unifier. But I didn’t want to revolve the entire story around her. So I used her death as an opportunity for the others to reflect. By the way, I didn’t really manage to reflect the impulsive me in any of the characters.
It could have turned out very differently. In the beginning, I was toying with the idea of the people being linked by their support of a team. I was going to choose Arsenal. In fact, the initial title was Gunner, Gunner. But it didn’t materialize.
Another thing, which did not happen, was that I wanted to show the past and the future. But I decided to rush the work. And somehow, I thought it turned out well, in that the past was somehow slipped in, the future was somehow slipped in. It was subtle, short and sweet.
Maybe one day in future, I will come back to this and touch up on it.
I must admit that this was a grand experiment. Looking back, I didn’t know how it would turn out. My first idea was an eatery that somehow connected people. Then I decided to have a group of these people and focus the story on them.
In thinking about this group of people, I came up with one of the defining ideas in this story: the reflection of myself in these 7 individuals. I even thought of changing the title to “My Monologue”. Hideaki Nishino was the me that is perpetually caught in conflict, between reason and emotion. Kanna Ito was the escapist. Takuya Kuraki was the football-crazy playmaker (on and off the field). Ken Fernandes was the outwardly confident, inwardly insecure me, haunted by the past. Yui Inaba was the observant me. Keisuke Yokoi was the ungentlemanly(in Murakami’s terms) me who follow my heart. Risaki Takahashi was the me who tries to be there for everyone else. In hindsight, Yui was the one least like me. Because it wasn’t meant to be.
I must admit I rushed this work. I started on it on 5th March, and finished it on the 10th. At a point of time, I felt that I couldn’t go on. I just wanted to bring it to a conclusion. I was glad that despite this, it somehow turned out satisfactory, at least to me. It wasn’t as bad as I imagine it would turn out to be. Just that Yui wasn’t well-explained.
The other defining idea was inspired by Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat. It’s the concept of memories and dreams. Of course I don’t agree with him. But these two words stuck to me, and I used my own view to integrate them into my story. In a way, it was obvious from the start. Those kind of things which you know subconsciously, but until someone tell you explicitly, you won’t take note of it. In the same way, Friedman did this to me. I realize that memories and dreams are really a very big part of our lives, especially for young people at this point, struggling to find themselves in the confusion of this world. And this concept was what I was looking for. The linkage between everyone.
I regretted that the characters turn out to have hidden a lot of stuff from their closest friends. But this is how it is, much as I would have wanted it otherwise. Of course, there’s always pretty good reasons.
Another thing, which I regret is that friends do part. Friends do drift apart. My only condolence is what Hide said, which was actually quoted from Matthew. That is still his most brilliant words to date.
It was an impulse to let Risaki die. I was even toying with the idea of Risaki being the unifier. But I didn’t want to revolve the entire story around her. So I used her death as an opportunity for the others to reflect. By the way, I didn’t really manage to reflect the impulsive me in any of the characters.
It could have turned out very differently. In the beginning, I was toying with the idea of the people being linked by their support of a team. I was going to choose Arsenal. In fact, the initial title was Gunner, Gunner. But it didn’t materialize.
Another thing, which did not happen, was that I wanted to show the past and the future. But I decided to rush the work. And somehow, I thought it turned out well, in that the past was somehow slipped in, the future was somehow slipped in. It was subtle, short and sweet.
Maybe one day in future, I will come back to this and touch up on it.
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