I think it was the beginning of 2006 when I first began refining the concept behind Another in earnest.
I received a gracious request from the editorial department at Kadokawa Shoten for a full-length horror novel to follow up The Last Memory, which was published in 2002. As a result, the decision was made to begin a serial publication in Kadokawa’s Yasei Jidai digest that year, when the time was right. I’d casually decided to try my hand at a school-based horror story that turned on a certain motif I’d been cooking up for a while at that point—but that was all I’d done. I didn’t know where I would go from there. This was the situation when, on a certain day in the latter part of March, my editors—I had two at the time—both came all the way to Kyoto to crack the whip. On this same day, a certain core idea had struck me out of the blue while I was in the shower before setting out to meet them. It felt meaty enough that I thought, I can work with this. The place where I discussed my idea with the two editors—I remember, it was an atmospheric restaurant called “Shishigatani Sanso”—has since closed. Memories.
At the time, my interest in what are called ball-jointed dolls had risen again. When I went to Tokyo, I had visited a doll gallery in Shibuya called “Maria Cuore” and come face-to-face, alone, with the dolls of Katan Amano and Koitsukihime. It was roughly the same time that I happened to discover the anime and comic series Rozen Maiden and started listening to ALI PROJECT.
And onto the evolving “site” of my brain, getting all these things into some sort of order, came the movies Joshua, The Others, and Final Destination; the novel The Sixth Sayoko by Riku Onda; and many other works gathering together all kinds of images that I just loved. The story that would bring to life the motif and the idea I’d started out with came together all on its own—so it seemed to me.
It wound up being serialized in Yasei Jidai from the July 2006 issue through the May 2009 issue, with several skipped installments in between. It was around three years from the time I began writing until it was complete. Despite many hardships, looking back, I more or less treasure the time I spent with my young friends in the imaginary town of Yomiyama.
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To be honest, the magnitude of the reaction following publication of the book in October 2009 surprised me a little.
There were strangely enthusiastic cheers from readers of the classical mysteries I had mainly done before, but also jubilation from new young readers, as well…And alongside my surprise, I also felt quite encouraged by that.
The developments that followed were thoroughly unexpected, as well. A manga, an anime TV series, a live-action movie…Such a variety of plans being put into motion in such a short time was the result of all of you, engaged in all kinds of media, being excitedly drawn into the story of Another.
Given that context, this story that I wrote twenty-two years after my debut holds a very special place in my heart. I still indulge in the conceit that it’s my “new magnum opus.” And now, on the occasion of this slightly-earlier-than-normal publication in a paperback edition, I think it would be so much fun if it allows even more people to get drawn into the story, too.
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Over the course of bringing Another from the planning stages through to today, I owe thanks first of all to Ms. Akiko Kaneko, at my great publisher, Kadokawa Shoten. Thanks also to Ms. Shiho Enda, who provided the cover design, as well as on the first book, and to the bookbinder Ms. Kumi Suzuki. Thanks to Mr. Sei Hatsuno for providing his analysis at the end of this volume, despite his busy schedule. And—yes—a huge thanks also to “Maria Cuore,” which closed its doors much to my regret this fall, and to the many people I met within its walls.
To be honest, I have several concepts scurrying around in my brain for another story set in Yomiyama, or a side-story sort of thing featuring Koichi and Mei, or for a sequel following the next phase of the “Yomiyama phenomenon.” I’m not sure at all yet whether those ideas will ever be realized; but, well, I suppose that, too, is up to what you, the audience, wants to see.
In any case…
I hope you enjoy Another, to start off with.