The state*, the individual and No. 6
[*The āstateā (å½å®¶) that Asano-sensei is referring to here isnāt 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.]Ā
ć¼What was behind the birth of āNo.6ā?Ā
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 byĀ writing a novelĀ (series).
And just at that time, I was invited to create aĀ workĀ 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 Iād be able to do that for an audience of young adult readers.
ć¼What was the first thing that came to your mind?Ā
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, IĀ startĀ to see the themes and the story that those characters set in motion. But for āNo.6ā, I started with the theme of āthe state and the individualā, 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.
ć¼Why did you set it in the nearĀ future?Ā
With that setting, I thought that Iād be able to write what I intended.You might say that itās a sci-fi story set in the near future, but I didnāt intend to write it as sci-fi.
ć¼Was there a model for the utopic city of No.6?Ā
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 haveĀ money, and it even has social security. But despite all that, there are people around me complaining that āitās sometimes hard to breatheā. 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.
ć¼So that suffocating atmosphere you felt was the model for No.6?Ā
I think you can say that, because with September 11, I felt a sense of suffocation as well. Wasnāt there an atmosphere that made it difficult to say things like āI want to know what the terrorists are thinkingā, or āAre they really evil?ā Even if you wanted to discuss it, I think there were many people who detached themselves from the problem, as if saying that āterrorists are different from usā, or āitās something from another worldā. 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
ć¼How were the two main characters born?
Because it was to be a āYA Entertainmentā 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 ālight and darkā, you could say, thatās 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, theyāre drawn to each other. But from that relationship, it turned into me just wanting to write about the two of them.
ć¼From an adultās perspective, their relationship is rather mysterious.
Itās 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 wifeā¦ To a certain extent, there is a fixed ātemplateā. But if you write about people of the same sex, a relationship that you canāt express with words like friendship, comradery, love or hate is born. I think that there is great value in writing relationships where you canāt draw lines like that. Between Shion and Nezumi is a āunique relationshipā 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 āunique relationshipsā can be formed between people of the opposite sexes too. Itās not like we get āmass-producedā feelings whenever two people meet. But I really feel that whatās really interesting to write about are the āoriginalā feelings that come from relationships between people of the same sex.
Karan and Safu and their impact on the story
ć¼Next, Iād like to ask you about Karanās parental feelings and Safuās love.Ā
I was able to write about relationships between (guys) because its something I donāt know, but for the heart of a parent or of a young girl in love - theyāre feelings I can write about from my own experience. Especially in Karanās 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.
ć¼What do you think of Karan as a woman?
Sheās a very mysterious woman. At first, even I felt that she was āa foolish motherā. Although she felt that something wasnāt quite right in the life she was leading, because she was able to live without any loss of freedom, she didnāt try to find anything out, and didnāt even know what she didnāt 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 āa foolish motherā, 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.
ć¼Safu, too, loves illogically, doesnāt 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 didnāt think that sheād 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 āAahā¦she ended up cryingā. 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
ć¼When 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 āthe stateā, just like September 11.
ć¼Thatās a pretty big coincidence, isnāt it?
I did wonder about the timing. I even thought that, if there was some kind of meaning to the coincidence, it was because Iād written a half-baked answer (to my question). From the time I started writing the story, I had an image that āNo.6ā was a story that Iād end with ādestruction and rebirthā. 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 āNo.6ā, for example, the ways that Shion, Nezumi and Yoming see rebirth are all different, and itās impossible to pick any one way as āthe way things should beā. 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.
ć¼Because of the Touhoku earth quake, what readers take from āNo.6ā will certain be different.Ā
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 āletās all do our bestā, or āletās support each otherā, taking each others hands and standing up - as long as you do that, a happy renaissance is waiting for you. I think itās possible to take heart from a story like that. However, I think that another kind of story is necessary.
ć¼You mean something asking about how rebirth should be carried out, right?
No matter how may tens or hundreds or years I take, I donāt think I could pick out āthe one best wayā for rebirth. However, precisely because itās impossible to do so, I think thereās 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, andā¦
ć¼Was there anything you were thinking about as you finished the last volume?Ā
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 wasnāt either of them. They were just a small part of the state - it wasnāt them alone that was holding No.6 up.
ć¼In that case, who was holding No.6 up?Ā
The people who didnāt even try to find anything out, who didnāt 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. Itās the ignorance and indifference of the citizens that gave the rulers their power. If the citizens donāt change, No.6 will never disappear. in the end, I realised that the thing known as āthe stateā is not something different from āthe individualā, but rather the collective of āthe individualā.
ć¼Is this the answer to the question you posed at the start, about the relationship between the state and the individual?
I donāt know if you can say that Iāve 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 āNo.6ā within me.
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