The state*, the individual and No. 6
[*The âstateâ (ĺ˝ĺŽś) that Asano-sensei is referring to here isnât something like e.g. the state of California, but rather the governing apparatus of a country, i.e. the politicians, parliament and the bureaucracy that implements all the laws and policies.]Â
ăźWhat was behind the birth of âNo.6â?Â
After the terrorist attacks in America on September 11, 2001, I did a lot of thinking about the relationship between the state and the individual. America is a big country where countless people live. And yet, in that large country, a small number of terrorists appeared and brought about such a huge disaster (lit: incident). Whilst I was thinking about the meaning of that revelation, the following question came to mind: what can individuals achieve against something so large as a state? I wanted to try asking myself that question by writing a novel (series).
And just at that time, I was invited to create a work under the YA! Entertainment label. On the one hand, I had this heavy theme - but I also wanted to write an interesting story, and I thought Iâd be able to do that for an audience of young adult readers.
ăźWhat was the first thing that came to your mind?Â
In most cases, when starting a story, the first thing I think about is what kind of characters I want to write about. From that, I start to see the themes and the story that those characters set in motion. But for âNo.6â, I started with the theme of âthe state and the individualâ, which was slightly different from (how I began) all my other works. Expanding on that theme, I decided to write a story about an autocratic state crumbling and moving towards rebirth.
ăźWhy did you set it in the near future?Â
With that setting, I thought that Iâd be able to write what I intended.You might say that itâs a sci-fi story set in the near future, but I didnât intend to write it as sci-fi.
ăźWas there a model for the utopic city of No.6?Â
The suffocating atmosphere of No.6 is, I think, similar to that of Japan. (From the outside), Japan may seem like an ideal country: it has water and sewerage systems, public transport runs on time, you can get anything you want as long as you have money, and it even has social security. But despite all that, there are people around me complaining that âitâs sometimes hard to breatheâ. I myself felt something chaining me down when I was a teenager, and I find myself wondering why, in this country, roughly 30,000 people take their own lives every year. Even though we are so blessed, why is living so difficult? To face that question, I needed a city that was extremely repressed.
ăźSo that suffocating atmosphere you felt was the model for No.6?Â
I think you can say that, because with September 11, I felt a sense of suffocation as well. Wasnât there an atmosphere that made it difficult to say things like âI want to know what the terrorists are thinkingâ, or âAre they really evil?â Even if you wanted to discuss it, I think there were many people who detached themselves from the problem, as if saying that âterrorists are different from usâ, or âitâs something from another worldâ. But I want to think about it without that detachment. (In the end), the struggle to prevent myself from being swept along by the thinking of those around me became the strength I needed to develop this story.
Shion and Nezumi
ăźHow were the two main characters born?
Because it was to be a âYA Entertainmentâ series, I decided that I would have boys as my protagonists. Once I expanded my image of a world in the near future, two boys came to my mind: one who lived within the state, and another who lived alone. One that knew nothing, and another that knew everything. Something like âlight and darkâ, you could say, thatâs how Shion and Nezumi were born as such contrasts. But even though they are complete opposites of each other, rather than regarding each other with hostility, theyâre drawn to each other. But from that relationship, it turned into me just wanting to write about the two of them.
ăźFrom an adultâs perspective, their relationship is rather mysterious.
Itâs not just restricted to male characters - I rather like writing about relationships between people of the same sex. When you write about opposite sexes who are drawn to each other, you typically end up with them falling in love, or (becoming) husband and wife⌠To a certain extent, there is a fixed âtemplateâ. But if you write about people of the same sex, a relationship that you canât express with words like friendship, comradery, love or hate is born. I think that there is great value in writing relationships where you canât draw lines like that. Between Shion and Nezumi is a âunique relationshipâ born of particular conditions and particular experiences, something that only they have. I wanted to write it because I wanted to know what that relationship would be. Of course, such âunique relationshipsâ can be formed between people of the opposite sexes too. Itâs not like we get âmass-producedâ feelings whenever two people meet. But I really feel that whatâs really interesting to write about are the âoriginalâ feelings that come from relationships between people of the same sex.
Karan and Safu and their impact on the story
ăźNext, Iâd like to ask you about Karanâs parental feelings and Safuâs love.Â
I was able to write about relationships between (guys) because its something I donât know, but for the heart of a parent or of a young girl in love - theyâre feelings I can write about from my own experience. Especially in Karanâs case, I think a part of myself really came through. The feelings that Karan feels towards Shion and Lili, rather than a process of creation, it was like I was simply bringing out what was in my own heart.
ăźWhat do you think of Karan as a woman?
Sheâs a very mysterious woman. At first, even I felt that she was âa foolish motherâ. Although she felt that something wasnât quite right in the life she was leading, because she was able to live without any loss of freedom, she didnât try to find anything out, and didnât even know what she didnât know. A part of me is like that too, so I ended up putting my own feelings into her - at times, I put too much of myself in. But even she, who had been âa foolish motherâ, started to fight. Relying on her own feelings and on her brains, she came to value a way of life that protected the people you care about with an illogical love.
ăźSafu, too, loves illogically, doesnât she?
I wrote/introduced Safu into this story, a story dominated by boys, because I wanted to add the essence of girls to it. I wanted to write about a girl with a strong/dignified presence, a girl who loved straightforwardly. However, at the start, I didnât think that sheâd be so deeply involved. I assumed that I understood how a girl would act. But Safu sometimes does things contrary to my expectations. For example, at the correctional facility in the 9th volume, when she cried in front of Shion, it shook me to the core - I was like âAahâŚshe ended up cryingâ. What happened to Safu in the end may be rather bitter, but it was really important for the story.
From September 11 to March 11: Speaking of Miracles
ăźWhen you were writing the final volume, the Touhoku Earthquake occurred.
I was actually meant to finish the manuscript by February, but my struggle with that delayed it into March, and (we) met with the earthquake. The quake itself was a natural disaster, but the response to the later issues at the nuclear power plants had me once again thinking about âthe stateâ, just like September 11.
ăźThatâs a pretty big coincidence, isnât it?
I did wonder about the timing. I even thought that, if there was some kind of meaning to the coincidence, it was because Iâd written a half-baked answer (to my question). From the time I started writing the story, I had an image that âNo.6â was a story that Iâd end with âdestruction and rebirthâ. But because of the March 11 quake, the reality that there are many different paths to rebirth was brought home to me. Within the world of âNo.6â, for example, the ways that Shion, Nezumi and Yoming see rebirth are all different, and itâs impossible to pick any one way as âthe way things should beâ. However, in order for the story to end, it was essential for some kind of rebirth to start. Two questions - how to end the story properly, and what kind of rebirth should I write about in the end - these two weights were hanging over me at the same time, so I was doubly restrained.
ăźBecause of the Touhoku earth quake, what readers take from âNo.6â will certain be different.Â
With a great danger in front of you, when you are confronted with difficult individual decisions, I wonder if writing the following kind of story to contemplate the world is an appropriate response. You could make the story the end of your questioning as well, right? With sayings like âletâs all do our bestâ, or âletâs support each otherâ, taking each others hands and standing up - as long as you do that, a happy renaissance is waiting for you. I think itâs possible to take heart from a story like that. However, I think that another kind of story is necessary.
ăźYou mean something asking about how rebirth should be carried out, right?
No matter how may tens or hundreds or years I take, I donât think I could pick out âthe one best wayâ for rebirth. However, precisely because itâs impossible to do so, I think thereâs value in writing (this kind of story). In the last volume, I suggested what the present me could do with all my might.
Destruction, Rebirth, andâŚ
ăźWas there anything you were thinking about as you finished the last volume?Â
I was surprised that No.6 (the state), which was that fearsome, was so fragile. With just a little internal pressure, it was easily destroyed. Until I wrote the 9th volume, I thought that No.6 would not disappear as long as Fennec and the doctor (the man-in-white), the two tyrants controlling No.6, were defeated. However, as I was writing, I realised that what had to be defeated wasnât either of them. They were just a small part of the state - it wasnât them alone that was holding No.6 up.
ăźIn that case, who was holding No.6 up?Â
The people who didnât even try to find anything out, who didnât even try to find out why they felt suffocated. As a result, they thought of themselves as victims, but in reality, they are intimately involved. Itâs the ignorance and indifference of the citizens that gave the rulers their power. If the citizens donât change, No.6 will never disappear. in the end, I realised that the thing known as âthe stateâ is not something different from âthe individualâ, but rather the collective of âthe individualâ.
ăźIs this the answer to the question you posed at the start, about the relationship between the state and the individual?
I donât know if you can say that Iâve given an answer. Even now, I am not confident that I really brought the story to an end. However, I am glad that I had the story of âNo.6â within me.
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