I feel like a lot of time has passed.
This is the paperback edition of Beatless, which was originally written by Satoshi Hase for the monthly Newtype magazine from 2011, and which was originally published as a novel in 2012.
In what I believe is a rarity in the publishing world these days, this paperback edition is being published a full six years after the original novel was published.
The original novel was a superbly bound work with design by Tsuyoshi Kusano and cover art by redjuice, so I wanted to get the same team together for the paperback edition.
This novel was originally started as part of a plan to be paired with a set of figures that would be advertised in Newtype, which is an anime magazine. It was created as an SF story where the characters designed by redjuice could come to life but, as for the contents, Mr. Mizuno, the editor at the time, told Mr. Hase to write whatever he wanted. After considering what kind of SF story would be engaging for the readers of an anime magazine, he created the setting of Beatless and characters, with the concept of analog hacking as the main gimmick of the story.
It turned out to be quite a blessed story, as it provided not only entertainment to the readers as it was published in the magazine, but also caused many researchers and others to become interested in the concept of analog hacking.
As this new edition is being published several years after the original, there has been some overall reworking done to the text. Starting from January 2018, there was also an anime adaptation of the work produced by Diomedea and directed by Seiji Mizushima. As Mr. Hase was heavily involved with the creation of the anime, the experience he gained led him to make a large number of revisions to the original text.
During meetings with the director and screenwriting staff, Mr. Hase had to field numerous questions and give detailed explanations of his intent for each scene, which helped him rethink many choices in the text. It was a period of reflection for him on things like the readability of the text, and how the drama and intent of the work were conveyed. He had originally written the text to be easily understood by the readers of the anime magazine it was published in, but he came to realize even with those touches, it was still too difficult for many people to follow. This paperback edition includes many improvements and additions aimed at making the text clearer and easier to understand. The overall story beats have not been changed, but even those who are familiar with the original magazine version will find this a new experience. For new readers who will be experiencing Beatless for the first time, I wholeheartedly recommend this version.
In the five years since the original serialization of this novel, the issues of AIs replacing human workers and the relationship we share with machines have become more pressing. From what I can follow in technology news, it seems like we could be seeing AIs integrated with our social infrastructure as soon as twenty years from now. The time is approaching when we will need to update our stories about where humanity fits into the world, and how humanity interacts with machines.
When I went to re-read the original text to prepare it for this paperback edition, I had a strange experience. When the original work was written, we thought it would still be a fresh SF idea five years later. Now that five years has passed, I feel like the world of the novel is closer to our reality today, which I think brings the reader closer to the drama. It’s the first time I’ve felt the wind pressing at my back as time has passed on one of my works, and this is exactly the kind of story I’d like people to read.
Well then, let’s have some acknowledgments:
To my family, who I’m sure I worried quite a bit.
To my friends, who saved me by being there when I needed someone to talk to.
To the illustrator, redjuice, whose strong designs carried this work.
To Tsuyoshi Kusano, who has acted as designer for the project ever since the first publication.
Thank you all so much.
Redjuice and Mr. Kusano have also been instrumental in running ‘Analog Hack Open-Source’, a project to make the setting of Beatless open source so that anyone can use it.
Thank you as well to Mr. Yano, Mr. Mizuno and Mr. Umezu, whom I worked with during the Newtype publication.
Also to Mr. Asai from Fields.
And to Mr. Matsuda from uncron.
To Kagura Uguisu and kila, who worked on the comicalization.
To Ms. Sakurako Ishinaga and Good Smile Company, who made the amazing figures for the series.
To Mitsuru Osaki and Gan Sunauku, who are currently working on the open source project Tendo no Singularity.
To Famitsu Comic Clear.
And to director Seiji Mizushima, series producer Tatsuya Hashi, Go Zappa, Diomedea, and all the staff members related to the anime version.
And, especially, to all the readers who picked up this book, whether it’s your first time or you’re returning from the original publication.
It is thanks to your support I was able to create this work.
I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.