When I finished this last volume, I wasn’t nearly as sad as I thought I’d be.
I’m definitely the kind of guy who gets into a funk after finishing games, novels, manga, etc. Once that rush of emotion goes away, I can’t do anything else for a while. I figured my own work would take me out of commission for even longer—but instead, I just feel pleased with myself. Like I’ve achieved something.
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Games these days have a lot to do after the last dungeon. Sometimes I feel like the post-game is where things really begin. The same thing happened with my own work… That’s my current theory anyway.
The series isn’t done; it’s merely reached a stopping point.
If I feel like it, I can always write more about these characters; whether I can publish it or not doesn’t matter. I can write for myself, for fun, for its own reward. I can make my own post-game whenever I like.
But since I have reached that stopping point, let me say this—I’m so grateful you let my first series get this far.
Since this is the last volume, I’m taking a much more serious tone here. Without further ado, the acknowledgments.
To my editor, Maizou— Thank you for being there from the very beginning. I may not be the best writer, but I hope we can work together again.
To my illustrator, Watanuki.
Thank you for all your lovely drawings. This final cover is truly a treasure. It’s gone in my vault! I can tell how much love you’ve got for every character. Thank you so much.
To the manga artist, Fusemachi.
You’re directly responsible for bringing in a ton of new readers. I was forever impressed by how cute and funny and serious (when it should be) you made the series. Can’t wait to see how you end things!
To the spin-off artist, Souchu. Thank you so much for drawing this. I gave you prose scripts, and you brought them to life. I can’t be grateful enough.
And one last thank-you to my editors and everyone at Square Enix or involved in the anime.
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Since this is the last volume, I thought I’d write a bit more about the cast.
This is a little present to readers who’ve followed me through this journey.
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When I started writing, I thought there’d be some novelty in having a “good boy” protagonist, so he’s an amalgamation of all those “good boy” traits I’m lacking. You know how King Piccolo was created when the Dragonball Kami drove all the evil parts of himself out? Think that but backward.
His name comes from belladonna total alkaloids, which are found in medicine for runny noses.
I felt like he wasn’t exactly the belladonna type, but I was going for a new writer award, so I didn’t want to overthink it. I’ve gone five years on the “good enough for now” principle, so he’s just a belladonna forever.
From the start, I had this story planned around Lloyd, Alka, and Sou [the Japanese word for “total”]…but, well, plans don’t always work out, lol.
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The personification of evil, she’s basically a deus ex machina. She’s Leopardon in the Toei Spider-Man series. Anytime she shows up, the problem’s solved.
I’d seen the prize editor tweet about how cute kid grandmas are on Twitter, so I figured I’d put one in, and that’s her origin story.
She’s never gonna get a happy ending, so I might as well do whatever I want with her, I thought, and she indulged her id until the bitter end.
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She’s based on the local cops in the Mitsuhiko Asami series. They’re dismissive of Mitsuhiko’s attempts to involve himself in their cases but do an about-face the second they learn he’s the brother of the chief detective. One of those characters who start out hostile but quickly end up bowing and scraping.
I wound up with a girl who can’t do housework and a boy who mothers her, and to breathe a little more life in, I gave her all my worst traits, and she became really easy to stick in anywhere.
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Her name came from zinc [aen in Japanese, sounds like “ein”] and other health supplement ingredients. She’s one of those characters—many people have told me they preferred her as the cursed belt princess.
When I was writing a sci-fi series, she was an information broker whose disguises came from wrapping herself in full-body memory alloy, but when I moved to RPG jokes, I thought, Then she’s got cursed equipment, and the cursed belt princess was born.
I thought having her be in love with the main character would help mix things up, and I piled stuff on until she escalated… By Volume 4, she was completely out of my control.
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Her name comes from Vitamin B2. An obvious baddie, out to trick the protagonist—but instead is the first to sense his true power. Entirely created so I could do that scene.
But as the character fleshed out, she got awfully cute on me. I know!
And her love for money gave me a nice recurring punch line. She’s great at mocking the other characters, and legit smart, so she helped move the plot along. Very helpful to have around.
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His name comes from things used to repair the mucus membrane, etc.
He’s there to be the brunt of jokes. In my mind, those characters always carry axes.
He wound up idolizing Lloyd, but there was also a timeline where he was a big brother type, always looking after the innocent powerhouse. Riho wound up swiping that role, and he went straight to hell. But he did come through in a pinch and got a happy ending. An average Joe who lived a solid life.
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Dextromethorphan is used in cough medicines. I meant him to be a strong ally, the guy who knew just how strong the lead was…so I made him pretty funny to start.
But when he reentered the plot, he went from “pretty funny” to “total clown,” dressing like that for the sake of the farm. He’s a reflection of my sense of humor, so he was easy to throw in. I did propose a spin-off series about Merthophan’s farming life, and Square Enix said I must be kidding. Only, you know, more nicely than that.
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I just needed someone for Merthophan to bounce off of and had no plan for her at all.
Since I planned to have her deliver a lot of exposition, I figured it should be obvious who was talking, so I gave her an accent. That was really it…but if you give yourself a blank canvas, you can fill it up quick. Before I knew it, she was in love with Merthophan and had a history with Rol back in Rokujou—and once I saw how cute Watanuki made her, I figured she had more potential. I made her a regular and teamed her up with Mena. The Watanuki magic.
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Like the name implies, he’s all stiff and sturdy.
He was born entirely for the skit where the job applicant is clearly not normal. Since anyone who can tell how good Lloyd is must be strong themselves, I figured, Why not make him the former head of the royal guards?
Since he was at the mercy of the plot a lot, I figured a drill sergeant base would make things easy for me. I didn’t write him any rewards, but I hope he gets them someday.
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Since this was written for a contest, I didn’t consider sequels and didn’t originally name him. Azami means “thistle,” and Luke came from the Japanese pronunciation of milk [miruku]—“milk thistle.” I had no plans for him after he was freed from Abaddon, so his entire personality was made up to give Chrome a headache. (Snerk.) He wound up being a boss who’s motivated but mostly makes trouble for everyone.
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She and Mena are the Vitamin K sisters. They were originally thug brothers with Phyllo as the strong but dumb one, but my editor said, “That won’t sell.” One thing led to another, and I ended up reusing a character from an older submission.
A monosyllabic mutterer works well on setup and punch line, and having “……” before every line made things easy. She wound up teamed with Riho and Selen. Quietly effective. I really like her.
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If Phyllo was all-natural, Mena cultivated her goofy side. She acts wacky and plays dumb but is actually pretty sensible; when things get too wild, her true self comes out. That was the plan, anyway… Traits got piled on later, and she wound up being a mercenary actress princess, and I regret letting things get that out of hand.
I like her enough that I sort of wish I’d done more romantic scenes between her and Lloyd.
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The mean girl. Her name comes from calcium. You know the whole “not enough calcium makes you irritable” thing? She’s always frustrated about something.
Since I was adding a beef with Choline, I figured she had a Western/Kansai accent…so then why does her sister figure, Riho, talk normally? Well, they must have been orphans collected from all over! That’s how lots of details get decided in this house.
She was manipulated into evil and later reformed. I didn’t have a plan for after that, but since my main cast weren’t conceited, gunning for promotions, or obsessed, she wound up coming back a lot.
She was easy to use, never gave me trouble—promoted herself to prime time.