Outbreak Company: Volume 8 (Premium)

by Ichiro Sakaki

  “Then you shall truly make the doll resemble us!”

  “Yes, ma’am!” Lauron responded happily.

  Before, she had always done her work mechanically, hardly even showing much emotion. Now... now, it was clear how thrilled she was to be doing this job.

  I had her start working the doll again. As I watched it walk smoothly around the room, chin up, the very picture of a well-bred young noble, I had a thought.

  Maybe the day when Lauron and this doll can help make Petralka’s life easier isn’t so far away.

  （つづく）

  To Be Cont’d...

  Afterword

  Hullo! Light novelist Sakaki here, bringing you Volume 8 of Outbreak Company: The Power of Moe.

  Petralka’s on the cover this time. Twice! (How’s that work?) She hasn’t had a good way to take a very active role in the last few volumes’ stories, so I’m trying to set things up here with an eye for the future. And look where we find ourselves (reference the illustrations)!

  It was just before a certain broadcast on Nico Live. Three of us (myself, the illustrator, and the editor) were having a conference at a certain family restaurant.

  “Ahem. There seems to be a distinct lack of Myusel in this volume. Do you think that’s okay?” (says editor-san.)

  “I really think it’s going to be fine,” my dear illustrator Yuugen-san broke in. I’m pretty sure I can see what he means now. I think.

  And then there’s the anime. Yes, the anime!

  As I write this (October 2013), the first episode of the series has aired, with the second coming up soon. Being, technically, part of the creative staff, I’ve already had the privilege of seeing episode two in the blanks (the video files sent to the people involved prior to broadcast), and the director’s personal style is abundantly in evidence.

  Outbreak Company doesn’t really have big fight scenes in every volume; dramatic conversation is one of the series’ selling points. But that’s actually tough to pull off in an anime. The director, the sound designer, the actors—all these people’s sensibilities have a major influence on the final product, so it can be tricky to create something coherent. I get the impression, though, that the anime strikes a good balance with the character dialogue.

  By the way, on the subject of Petralka, the final moments of episode 1, where Shinichi takes a royal uppercut, are well-animated and adorable (Yuugen-shi also recommends them), so if you haven’t seen it, then please, by all means. Listen carefully and you’ll hear some wild ad-libbing by Fuchigami-san, too... (grin)

  The actual content is what it is, but we’ve tried to screw around with things a little. Keep your eyes peeled as you watch. There was one particular scene where Shinichi starts chanting “Nou-kan! Nou-kan!” and because I hadn’t seen the anime of that specific series, I actually didn’t know what he was referring to. I was sitting there thinking, What?!

  Miki Shinichirou-shi’s work as Garius in episode 4 is completely nuts—I mean that in the best possible way—and you’ve got to check it out. An assistant on Outbreak Company and I happened to get to attend a looping session for that episode, and Kajiya Kiri-san, who does the manga, was there too. The three of us were standing there in the studio listening to “MikiShin” and trying to laugh as quietly as we possibly could.

  This is actually the third time I’ve worked with Miki-san—and both other times he was the main character of the series in question. So I came into this one thinking, Is it okay to make the Miki Shinichirou play a side character like this? But he showed me what it means to be a veteran, someone who doesn’t sniff at any character he gets to play (laugh).

  Actually, there are enough familiar faces involved in making Outbreak that sometimes I have to stop and remind myself which show we’re working on.

  Let’s see here. I worked with the producers (feel.) and the sound designer on Strait Jacket. Pony Canyon produced Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica. I already mentioned Miki-san, whom I worked with on Strait Jacket and Scrapped Princess.

  Somehow this is all very strange.

  Speaking of the anime, I’ve been charged with doing a special short story, as well as the script for a drama CD that will accompany Volume 9. Both of them, especially the drama CD, feature the sorts of wildly overdone plots that you can only do in anime, or at least that you definitely can’t get away with in the main series. So, uh, hope you like?

  Okay, then. That’s enough anime talk; let’s move on to the book. Spoilers follow, so if you haven’t finished the story yet, you may want to go back and do that.

  Volume 8... the otaku hook here has to do with action figures or dolls (remember that the Japanese word for “doll” and “puppet” is the same). I imagined the moving figures as looking a bit like something produced by MMD Software—you know, the thing that gives us Hatsune Miku.

  Only beginners and the uninitiated assume that because something is in 3D, you can make it look real just by having it move. There are real differences between how a living thing moves and how a lifeless thing trying to imitate a living thing needs to move—it’s a fake, right? So it has to look more real than real; you need this sort of X factor.

  I’m thinking this is sort of like the realism of the novels and images I allude to on Twitter and in my books.

  Just as a note, there are some details in this book that contradict what’s in the anime and manga versions. (Stuff like how Imarufe Bisurupeguze is handled, the connection between sprite-like beings and magical energy, and so on.) That’s on me—or more to the point, I didn’t write the plot for this volume until after the plot for the anime and the rough panel layout for the manga were already finished. So I was behind the curve and ended up contradicting the other versions.

  I’m very sorry to all my no-doubt-concerned readers and supporters.

  Still, each of the versions is internally consistent, so if you could just smile and wink, that would be great.

  So, what’s coming up next?

  I’ve got the plot for Volumes 9 and 10 in hand (submitted to and approved by my editor). They’ll essentially form a two-parter, and they’ll feature a character (?) that readers have been very interested in. At last. Although I’m not promising this character will necessarily get the limelight or anything.

  As for the actual story, it’s something I think a lot of you have been anticipating for quite a while. You know.

  Hope you like it.

  Welp, see you next time.

  Ichiro Sakaki

  9 Oct 2013

  Bonus Translator’s Notes

  Chapter One

  Universal Century

  The mech identification codes are all Gundam references.

  Yandere

  A yandere is a girl who is loving and sweet until it turns out she’s actually possessive and crazy. The specific scene in this volume appears to reference Mirai Nikki (Future Diary).

  Kappa

  A Japanese water demon. Its head has a depression on top filled with water; if you can trick the kappa into bowing, the water will pour out and the monster won’t be able to move. They are also usually depicted with short, bowl-style haircuts, which is the detail Shinichi has in mind here.

  “A Kawaii-ness All its Own”

  In Japanese, Shinichi uses the word kyuuto (cute) in katakana, so we figured turnabout was fair play.

  Cross-Dresser

  Jp. otoko no ko. When written with the characters for “male child,” the phrase otoko no ko simply means “boy.” However, some Japanese cross-dressers replace the character “child” (ko) with a different one meaning “daughter” or “girl” (also pronounced ko) as a play on words.

  Cour

  While Western TV series are usually divided into “seasons,” and the term is sometimes informally used to refer to sets of episodes of an anime series, the technical term “cour” (apparently derived from the French word for “course”) is more precise. A cour is usually thirteen episodes.

  Weapons Systems Don’t Have Jugulars

&n
bsp; The Japanese expression, mi mo futa mo nai, literally means “to have no body [i.e., container] and no lid,” and idiomatically means “point-blank,” “blunt.” So Shinichi accuses Minori’s declaration of being mi mo futa mo nai (too blunt), to which Minori replies that weapons systems have no containers (mi) or lids (futa).

  About to Attack

  The reference is to Attack on Titan, which is called Shingeki no Kyojin (literally, “Attacking Titan”) in Japanese. Shinichi suggests that the robot might be about to “shingeki” (assault, attack). This makes the Japanese allusion perhaps a bit more clear than the English one; we compensated by using the word “titan” in the next sentence.

  Ult**man

  That is, Ultraman. This character’s face is clearly humanoid, but lacks much in the way of facial features, which is the point at issue.

  Lauron Selioz

  Jp. Roron Seriozu. The Japanese sound usually romanized with an r is really somewhere between an r and an l, and when to use one letter or the other when localizing a character’s name can be a thorny problem. In this case, we took the name as being akin to “Lauren” and romanized accordingly.

  Garaham

  Jp. Garahamu. Sounds much like the English/Germanic name Graham—which means “gravel” in its oldest form.

  Elementary-Schooler Backpacks

  Elementary-schoolers (shougakusei) in Japan all wear distinctive red backpacks.

  Otome Game

  A visual novel aimed at women (that is, most of the romantic prospects are guys).

  Boys Over Flowers

  We very rarely take it upon ourselves to insert references that aren’t in the original, but in this case we took the liberty. This reference actually ends up being a bit dizzying to contemplate. The original expression hana yori dango (“Dango [rice balls] over flowers”) means to prefer the practical to the merely aesthetic; the manga series of the same name punned on the expression to mean “Boys over flowers,” and now we’re using the English translation of the Japanese pun in the manga title with the understanding that “flowers” means girls. But we kind of love it for that.

  Kagemusha

  Literally “shadow warrior,” this term refers to a body double employed by a feudal daimyo, as Shinichi suggests. Like he hints, it’s also the title of a well-known movie by Kurosawa Akira.

  Isukiri

  A particular town in Aomori (a prefecture in northern Honshu) contains a tombstone alleged to be the burial place of Jesus Christ. Historically, people in the area have believed in the legend Shinichi describes: that it wasn’t Jesus who died on the cross, but his younger brother Isukiri (a name transparently derived from Iesu Kirisuto, the Japanese equivalent of “Jesus Christ”). Jesus himself escaped through Siberia and wound up in Aomori, where he lived out the rest of his life.

  Teachers’ Room

  That is, the shokuinshitsu (staff room). Every Japanese school has one of these, so although it hasn’t really been mentioned before, it makes sense that Shinichi’s school, which is explicitly built on the Japanese model, has one as well. Each teacher at the school has a desk in the staff room where they can keep their papers and supplies and prepare for lessons. Teachers can generally be found in the staff room when not teaching; students may be summoned to the staff room to see a teacher or may go there of their own volition if they need something from a particular sensei.

  Fig*a

  That is, Figma, a brand of Japanese figures renowned for its highly articulated models.

  Mike-mike Osuwari

  Most likely a reference to Minami-ke Okawari, the second season of the anime Minami-ke. The show was about a family named the Minamis (the word minami means “south”), and the character Shinichi refers to has the surname Kita, which means “north.” (“Okawari” means “seconds,” whereas “osuwari” means “sit!”, as in a command you would give a dog.)

  Faerie Field

  This is a fun one: フェアリー・フィールド (Fearii Fiirudo), featuring a character named Serris, is a light novel (not a video game) by... Sakaki Ichiro. In the Japanese here, he’s “changed” the name by rendering it as フェアリイ・フィールド, handling the final vowel of the first word with a second i character instead of a long-vowel dash. There’s no official English version of this series, but we thought it would be more likely to be called Fairy Field, so we similarly changed the (hypothetical) spelling of the first word somewhat.

  A Certain Such-and-Such Savior Legend

  This is a Fist of the North Star reference. It seems to allude to the video game Hokuto no Ken Seiki-matsu Kyuuseishu Densetsu (Fist of the North Star: Turn-of-the-Century Savior Legend).

  The Epic of a Certain Meiji-era Swordsman

  This is a reference to Rurouni Kenshin, which had the subtitle 明治剣客浪漫譚 (Meiji Kenkaku Roman-tan) or “Romantic Tales of a Meiji Swordsman” in Japanese. (The elaborate subtitle doesn’t seem to have been carried over in the English release of the manga.) There’s a sequence late in the manga (spoiler alert—it wasn’t in the anime) where Kaoru is killed—but it later transpires that the thing Kenshin saw “die” was actually an elaborate doll, and Kaoru is okay.

  Kurobe Dam

  An actual dam in Japan that is a popular tourist destination. It doesn’t appear to have any currency as a pop-culture metaphor, so it seems Shinichi is only referencing it because it’s well known.

  “It—It Gets Lonely, Does It Not?”

  In Japanese Petralka says simply, “Sa—Sabishii, dewa nai ka” (“L-Lonely, no?”). Because an explicit subject isn’t usually necessary in Japanese, she can leave it artfully ambiguous who she’s talking about. She might be referring to herself—but then, maybe she’s talking about Shinichi, or even just a general atmosphere.

  Bittersweetness

  Amazuppai (bittersweet) can refer to a flavor, but also means the sweet-but-also-bitter pangs of adolescent love.

  Chapter Two

  Prepure

  A reference to the Precure franchise and a show that Shinichi has mentioned before.

  A Passionately Celebrated Hero

  Shinichi describes Brooke as an “atsui” rizaadoman no eiyuu (“hot” lizardman hero); atsui here, considering the highlight quotes, is probably an incidental pun on lizards being cold-blooded. (In Japanese, the word atsui, or “hot,” can be used to mean “passionate” or what we might call, ironically, “hot-blooded.”)

  Slutty Bottom

  Jp. sasoi-uke, that is, an uke who takes the initiative in beginning a sexual encounter (the Japanese literally means “inviting bottom”). There doesn’t seem to be an equivalent English expression, and although the Japanese term has some currency in English fandom, in this scene it’s specifically being contrasted with sou-uke (total bottom), which we translated when it appeared in Minori’s lesson many volumes ago, so we wanted to maintain the English usage.

  The Ending Song from Prepure

  The Precure anime has something of a tradition of ending sequences that use CGI to create convincing renditions of the animated characters doing song-and-dance routines. It’s easy enough to find clips and compilations of them on YouTube if you want to see the sort of thing Lauron is probably watching.

  Overwork

  The Japanese term karoushi literally means “death from overwork,” and that’s what it describes: someone who has worked so hard that they reach their physical limit and die (such as from a heart attack or stroke). In Japan, it’s especially associated with the bubble economy of the 1980s, when many office workers kept absurdly long hours; however, it remains an issue today in Japan’s work-conscious society.

  Magical Rampage

  Jp. mahou no bousou. This expression is associated with the Dragon Quest games, and refers to a random phenomenon where a spell will be more powerful than normal when used.

  Yodeling in the Alps

  A reference to the 1974 anime Arupusu no Shoujo Haiji, or Heidi, Girl of the Alps. Notably, the series was directed by Studio Ghibli founder Takahata
Isao.

  “Dutch Wi—”

  I.e., Dutch wife, in this case, a body pillow or sex doll. The reference to “the passenger seats of cars” relates to how some people allegedly use inflatable dolls to make it look like there are more passengers in their cars than there really are, allowing them to use the quicker carpool lanes to avoid rush-hour traffic.

  Minori’s Posture

  The way Minori leans on the table with her fingers steepled in front of her face is a direct reference to a posture frequently adopted by Ikari Gendou in Neon Genesis Evangelion. The narration and dialogue that follow both contain multiple allusions to the same show.

  Chapter Three

  Japan’s Educational System

  Education in Japan often relies on a good deal of rote memorization—something that’s hard to avoid when your written language consists of thousands of distinct characters, but which can (critics allege) stifle the development of independent creative thought when extended to the rest of the curriculum. That’s the criticism Hikaru is alluding to in this discussion: the focus on memorization over understanding.