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DRT1.5.6-7*: Me and the School and I (The Second Half), sections 6-7 + interlude
Find previous chapters at the Navigation Index.
Danganronpa Togami Volume 1: Multiple Counts of Attempted World Domination
Chapter 5: Me and the School and I (The Second Half)
6
This was my choice. My answer would be...
> Read the Despair Novel
>> Don't read the Despair Novel
7
This was my choice. My answer would be...
> Cooperate with the Hasegawa Research Institute
>> Don't cooperate with the Hasegawa Research Institute
Interlude
At this point, you are liable to have forgotten, so allow me to repeat myself. This text was written using the following note-taking system.
k2k-system ver2.3
Fakes. Frauds. Shams. I think that these are often employed in a world where trash piles up around each corner. I am left speechless by a system that presents all humanity with the potential to commit crimes.
Therefore, my job is only to make a few proclamations. I know my place. I have no intention of joining the ranks of those novelists who self-destruct in writing their own afterword.
Uh, hm. Are you having fun? I hope that everyone will enjoy this book, this media mix ("that word has long been obsolete in the publishing world; however, the phenomenon is so incredibly routine that it is experienced every day," says Eiji Otsuka in Tsuguhiko Kadokawa and the Era of Media Mix)[1], this novelization, with all their heart. That's all I want. Honest.
That's why, in order to create better work in the future, I'd like to ask: what meaning is there in a novelization?
They're fleeting, mass-produced derivative stories drawing from a money-making work in some other form of media, intended as something between fan merchandise and promotional material. What meaning do they have other than that?
I will add that to date I have read numerous of these "novelizations", and yet I hardly have any memory of any of them.
Stories created under the orders of sponsors and publishers, that will do no harm nor good. Stories that neither the sponsors nor the publishers nor the authors have any motivation for, that barely scrape by with an acceptable grade of quality. Stories where professional authors take a plot and reform it into the shape of a novel, that in the end will barely scrape by with an acceptable grade of quality. Stories where the energy of the creative staff furiously, fruitlessly spins its wheels, only for the fans to call them "blasphemy". Stories whose existence is so much empty air that even the fans will innocently ask, "They released one of those?"
What are we even doing? Are you kidding me? To those of us who write them, those of us who have others write them, and those of us who read them: let's all try a little harder.
On the bookshelf of that person you greatly respect. Within the selection of books your mom and dad encourage you to read. On your assigned reading list for summer vacation. As a new release from the novelist you've never stopped loving. A novelization is a book that you will never, ever find in any of these places.
From this point forward, I'll be destroying what makes that taken for granted.
Allow me to demonstrate the pride of a novelization, to make known its teachings, to delay for even a single day the time until this book will make its way to your local used bookstore. Allow me to make it so that even a single copy of this book will make someone think, as they are packing their bags for a move or a marriage, "Ah, I can't get rid of this one!" Hopefully, it will always, always, always, always have a place on your bookshelf.
Now we're gonna get to the fun part.
All the best to the spirit of the original.
I'll say it again: That is, if there is such a thing.
Translator's Notes
[1] media mix - this term refers to the Japanese development of media franchises, taking intellectual property and expanding it into many different forms of media... as Dangan Ronpa does in spades, including with this novel, along with most popular franchises these days. The essay that is quoted is in Japanese, of course, but here is an English-language article discussing the concept in Japanese culture.
Stay tuned for the next update next Sunday (PST)!
Feel free to comment, keeping these rules in mind!
Danganronpa Togami Volume 1: Multiple Counts of Attempted World Domination
Chapter 5: Me and the School and I (The Second Half)
6
This was my choice. My answer would be...
> Read the Despair Novel
>> Don't read the Despair Novel
7
This was my choice. My answer would be...
> Cooperate with the Hasegawa Research Institute
>> Don't cooperate with the Hasegawa Research Institute
Interlude
At this point, you are liable to have forgotten, so allow me to repeat myself. This text was written using the following note-taking system.
k2k-system ver2.3
Fakes. Frauds. Shams. I think that these are often employed in a world where trash piles up around each corner. I am left speechless by a system that presents all humanity with the potential to commit crimes.
Therefore, my job is only to make a few proclamations. I know my place. I have no intention of joining the ranks of those novelists who self-destruct in writing their own afterword.
Uh, hm. Are you having fun? I hope that everyone will enjoy this book, this media mix ("that word has long been obsolete in the publishing world; however, the phenomenon is so incredibly routine that it is experienced every day," says Eiji Otsuka in Tsuguhiko Kadokawa and the Era of Media Mix)[1], this novelization, with all their heart. That's all I want. Honest.
That's why, in order to create better work in the future, I'd like to ask: what meaning is there in a novelization?
They're fleeting, mass-produced derivative stories drawing from a money-making work in some other form of media, intended as something between fan merchandise and promotional material. What meaning do they have other than that?
I will add that to date I have read numerous of these "novelizations", and yet I hardly have any memory of any of them.
Stories created under the orders of sponsors and publishers, that will do no harm nor good. Stories that neither the sponsors nor the publishers nor the authors have any motivation for, that barely scrape by with an acceptable grade of quality. Stories where professional authors take a plot and reform it into the shape of a novel, that in the end will barely scrape by with an acceptable grade of quality. Stories where the energy of the creative staff furiously, fruitlessly spins its wheels, only for the fans to call them "blasphemy". Stories whose existence is so much empty air that even the fans will innocently ask, "They released one of those?"
What are we even doing? Are you kidding me? To those of us who write them, those of us who have others write them, and those of us who read them: let's all try a little harder.
On the bookshelf of that person you greatly respect. Within the selection of books your mom and dad encourage you to read. On your assigned reading list for summer vacation. As a new release from the novelist you've never stopped loving. A novelization is a book that you will never, ever find in any of these places.
From this point forward, I'll be destroying what makes that taken for granted.
Allow me to demonstrate the pride of a novelization, to make known its teachings, to delay for even a single day the time until this book will make its way to your local used bookstore. Allow me to make it so that even a single copy of this book will make someone think, as they are packing their bags for a move or a marriage, "Ah, I can't get rid of this one!" Hopefully, it will always, always, always, always have a place on your bookshelf.
Now we're gonna get to the fun part.
All the best to the spirit of the original.
I'll say it again: That is, if there is such a thing.
Translator's Notes
[1] media mix - this term refers to the Japanese development of media franchises, taking intellectual property and expanding it into many different forms of media... as Dangan Ronpa does in spades, including with this novel, along with most popular franchises these days. The essay that is quoted is in Japanese, of course, but here is an English-language article discussing the concept in Japanese culture.
Stay tuned for the next update next Sunday (PST)!
Feel free to comment, keeping these rules in mind!