Mega Brand Q&A with Hajime Kanzaka January 2022 to May 2022, translated
Finally going through the archive. @kaette-kita-slayers did an amazing job translating the old ones from 2014 to 2017 so I’m going to start from 2022 and work back. June 2022 onward are already on my Tumblr and eventually I will see about getting something better organized for them.
05/2022
Q: In the demon world, Lina and her family are famous, but in the god world, how well-known are they?
KANZAKA: "In the world of the gods, there are only three dragon kings now, but they are well known because of their influence on the demons."
Q: At the beginning of the first volume, Gourry is impressed with Lina's ability to make a living when he sees her assembling her fishing gear. Is fishing an unusual way to procure food? How did Gourry procure food in the field and other places before he met Lina?
KANZAKA: "To secure food by fishing, of course you need a strong and thin line, and rough hair is not strong enough. In this sense, fishing is not a very common way to secure food. In the case of the general camps, including Gourry’s, most of the food is portable food, such as dried meat, and vegetable soup.
Q: I wonder what level of magical skills the Five Great Sages of our time, Rezo the Red Priest, had in the world of the world in which he worked. It seems that he was not able to concoct the Philosopher's Stone on his own, but he was able to restore a room that had been destroyed by a spell such as regression back to time, and he was able to use sufficiently inhuman magic, but was he comparable to the legendary mage Lei Magnus?
KANZAKA: "The title of the Five Great Sages is, of course, a designation given to him by others. In other words, Rezo was called this in recognition of the research he was able to bring to the public, so if we include the parts that he was unable to bring to the public, he achieved more results in a variety of fields. However, this is also true of Lei Magnus, and since the circumstances of the time were different, it is not possible to simply compare superiority and inferiority."
04/2022
Q: If a Demon King or a Demon Dragon King reincarnated as a human, or a human fused with a demon, such as a human-demon, has a child with an ordinary human, will that child inherit some demon-like qualities, such as a capacity for magic beyond that of a human or a preference for negative emotions?
KANZAKA: "There may be a slight tendency for the child to have a higher magical capacity than an ordinary person, but basically, the child is an ordinary human being, and the difference is merely one of "qualities"."
Q: Who sealed the Demon King of the North?
Rezo Shabranigdu says that he was sealed by the Dragon King of Heaven (the Sky Dragon King), but the lore says he was sealed by the Water Dragon King.
Since it was the Water Dragon King who actually fought him, I think it is more likely that he is the Water Dragon King, but the words of the person who was sealed are also highly credible.
KANZAKA: "The one in volume 1 is a mistake for the Water Dragon King. I'm really sorry."
Q: I heard that Amelia's mother passed away as a result of the assassination, but how was it ostensibly announced? Aside from the executioner, was the ringleader a member of the royal family? If so, was it hushed up to hide the scandal? If it was a cover-up, it may have contributed to Alfred's belief that it was okay for him to do what he did.
KANZAKA: "Ostensibly, it is said that he died of illness.
Naturally, there is no definite conclusion as to who the mastermind was, but there is an understanding among the people at the center, including the royal family, that 'the matter has been settled,' so the mastermind is probably being handled in secret."
03/2022
Q: I have a question about Zuma-Seigram, the fusion of Zuma and Seigram, how much stronger was each of them compared to the single unit?
Seeing that they were entrusted with the task of eliminating Lina, which Kanzel had failed to do, I wonder if Raltark's evaluation of Zuma-Seigram's strength was higher than that of Kanzel's?
KANZAKA: "The scary thing about Zuma-Seigram is not its simple specifications, but the fact that it combines the know-how of a skilled assassin with the strength of a demon tribe. Simply in terms of numerical specs as a demon tribe, he is not even far behind Kanzel."
Q: Zelgadis is misnamed by Lina and Gourry, but is it a rare name that is not very common in that world?
Lina remembers Sylphiel and Milgazia correctly the first time, so I don't think it's a case of "it's too long and I got it wrong".
KANZAKA: "It is certainly not a common name. Perhaps it was derived from something in the little-known lore per Rezo."
Q: I heard that Gourry's departure was not as young as the age at which Lina started her solo journey, and that he was 18 or 19 years old. Or was he just hanging out at home?
KANZAKA: "He wasn't working specifically, but he was training as a swordsman."
02/2022
Q: The Gaav camp seems to have been involved in various dark activities in the underworld, and I wonder if they were in contact with the Rezo faction and the remnants of the royal family of Ruvinagard.
In particular, I think that the technology for synthesizing human demons was quite useful in the war against the demons in the Kataart Mountains.
KANZAKA: "They may have been aware of our existence, but they were not in actual contact with each other, as careless contact would have simply resulted in a clash that would have worn each other down.
Whether or not there was a plan for contact is now unknown."
Q: Sylphiel says at the end of volume 8, "Eventually, I will qualify as a priestess and restore Sairaag.”
As of volume 3, she was even the Head Shrine Maiden of the large town of Sairaag. Is it more advantageous for her to have both qualifications to work toward reconstruction than to be a priestess only?
KANZAKA: "Having the title of priestess or priest may not necessarily help in the reconstruction of a city, but having the title will help attract more people and trust."
Q: Mr. Nunsa became famous for his "Lay an egg," and judging from this familiar way of saying it, has he said this line to many (fish) women in the past? I wonder how many children (fish?) he has actually had. Do you have many?
KANZAKA: "We can never rule out that possibility, but it is also possible that he was a caviar farmer in the past. He may have been talking to the plants with the same logic that plants grow better when they listen to classical music."
01/2022
Q: I wonder if this reflects your thoughts on the quality and quantity of each faction's subordinates.
For example, "The faction of the Greater Beast is small in number, but the quality of its members is high," or "The demon tribe under the Dynast is large in number but relatively weak.”
KANZAKA: "Even if such a concept existed at the upper levels of the demon factions, the lower you go, the more diverse or pre-diverse they become, so overall, they end up looking similar."
Q: Does Lina have any personal belongings that she has kept with her since the time she started her journey?
Does she prioritize escaping over luggage, or does she buy new ones when they break, so there are indeed no items that she has continued to carry with her from the beginning?
KANZAKA: "The bandana is the same. She also uses some of the 'jewel talismans' in different arrangements."
Q: Small reptiles have the ability to regenerate their tails, and recent research has shown that the American alligator, a large reptile, also has the ability to regenerate its tail.
So, do you think that the large lizards, the dragon tribe, can also regenerate their tails at least once, even if it is just the tip of the tail?
I apologize if they are not reptiles to begin with.
KANZAKA: "They may potentially have something similar to self-renewal capability, but since they are higher beings in the ecosystem, it probably won't actually be triggered."
