Yes, these anime-related supervisory tasks are important, but they’re not the main source of workload for the author of the source material. The biggest burden actually comes from project-related work—things like merchandise, collaborations, and events. First, proposals arrive. Companies send plans like, “We want to create these kinds of goods,” or “We want to hold this kind of collaboration event.” These proposals come in various formats like PowerPoint or Excel, but since they’re official business documents, they’re always detailed and thorough. Then, the author of the source material has to review these proposals to check for any issues. Usually, KADOKAWA staff has already done a thorough check beforehand, so at this stage, there’s rarely anything to object to—mostly just a few questions directed to the staff. It feels a bit like those old-school bosses you see in cartoons quickly stamping piles of paperwork.
Anyway, in these projects, new anime illustrations are often commissioned. When that happens, the author receives detailed requests specifying how each character should be depicted in certain outfits. The author then reviews these to ensure none of the costumes clash with the characters’ established images. Next, rough sketches based on those requests arrive, followed by the final illustrations. Naturally, all of these are carefully checked by the author as well.
Once the illustrations are finalized, the proposed designs for merchandise using these images are sent over. Since these have already undergone strict review by KADOKAWA staff, major issues rarely arise. However, because they’ve been through that scrutiny, the author still must confirm that the feedback given during those checks was properly addressed.
If it’s a simple note like, “The colors here are too light, so we’ll have it fixed,” or “There was a typo in the name, so it’s being corrected,” the author only needs to acknowledge it. But if it’s a question like, “How about rearranging how the characters are placed? What do you think of this?” Then, the author must provide a proper response.
And then…when new illustrations are created, they sometimes come with lines of dialogue. These could be simple phrases for social media posts or short videos—new lines tailored to each character’s illustration. Naturally, the author, that is, me, is the one who has to come up with these lines. Well, that part is still manageable since it’s usually just one phrase. The real challenge comes when it’s for a game where the volume of dialogue increases dramatically. After all, I have to supervise every line the characters say in the game.
Of course, I’m not writing all the lines from scratch; the game developers provide draft scripts, which I then oversee. But honestly, and I don’t mean to be rude, but as the author, I often find myself thinking, Alya would never say that, or Yuki would say it more like this. Each time, I have to suggest new lines, and that process is quite taxing. And once all that supervision is finished and you think the project is nearly complete—surprise—you still have to review some website’s design and their promotional tweets. If there’s a promotional event involving voice actors, I also have to check the scripts for that as well.
With every little progress in these projects, I get bombarded with updates and new proposals that I have to work on. Especially with Feelings in Russian, the number of proposals was unusually high even before the anime aired. It made me want to scream with joy…or just scream in general, I guess. I should mention that my editor often tells me, “If it’s too much of a burden, we can adjust things on our end.” But since these opportunities are hard-earned, it feels wrong to just say, “The author’s too busy, so we have to decline. Sorry.” The projects themselves are really valuable, so turning them down isn’t an option. Sure, the checks could be left entirely to the KADOKAWA staff while I stay hands-off, but as the author, I have my own attachments and standards.
And don’t forget: I also have manga adaptation duties on top of all this. Therefore, almost every weekday, I get some message or request related to either the manga, anime, or these projects. Honestly, if I go a whole day without any contact, I start to feel uneasy.
…By the way, I don’t think I’ve ever outright said this before in any afterword, but…I’m a working author with multiple jobs, okay? I still work a regular daytime job on weekdays, you know? Whenever I say that, people are always surprised—like, “Wait, why haven’t you quit your job yet?” But if I start explaining, it gets long and sounds like I’m trying to be cool, so I’ll skip that here.
I go to work during the day, and after a hard day, I think, Phew, I worked well today. Then I come home and tackle manga adaptations and project work, and I think, Okay, I worked hard as Sunsunsun, too. Even if I haven’t written a single word of my novel manuscript, I still feel like I’ve been productive. And then, well…I end up doing other things: surfing the internet, playing games. You get it, right? That’s what being an adult who doesn’t know how to plan looks like. But honestly, when it comes to writing novels, it takes me a while to really get into the flow, so even an hour or so doesn’t let me get much done. Luckily, the project-related work was so demanding that I asked to have most of it consolidated on weekends which has made things a lot more manageable.
So yeah, caught up in the flood of new work that came with the anime adaptation, the July release got pushed to August, then August slipped into September… I really caused a lot of trouble for my editor and Momoco. I’m truly sorry. Speaking of inconveniencing them, I also messed up the short story for the art book.