SF Online Interview with Hagio (Part I-2)

(Continued)

Mizutama:

Oh, yes, I see. Ah, to sum up the matter, today I would like to interview Hagio-san, not as a "vampire cartoonist," or "gymnasium [Note 2] cartoonist," but as a "SciFi cartoonist." First of all, I would like to start by asking you about your background as a reader of SciFi in literary form [as opposed to manga form].

[Note 2] refers to Hagio's works that use a German Gymnasium (boarding school) as a setting, such as "The November Gymnasium," "Tooma no Shinzou," and "Kotori no su."

Hagio:

Well, during elementary school, the library had a collection, or the complete works or something like that, of juvenile SciFi stories. I think it was from Kodansha, but I could be wrong. It was made up of a dozen volumes.

Sakai:

There were several, like the Iwasaki Shoten Edition.

Mizutama:

World SciFi Masterpieces for Boys and Girls, that kind of thing, right?

Hagio:

Those volumes came with such dramatic titles as "Around the Moon," "So-and-so Demon" and "When Worlds Collide," and they were in short a collection of old SciFi stories. They completely ignored air, mass, and all, that kind of thing.

Mizutama:

How about "The Cybernetic Brains"?

Hagio:

Mmmm, I don't think they had that one. But there were quite a few stories where a lot of space aliens show up. One story was about going to the Moon and finding a kingdom there. And you go there via a sphere-shaped rocket, and because of the gravity between the Earth and the Moon, you're pulled to the Moon if you open the window on the Moon side, and to the Earth if you open the opposite window.

Sakai:

Ah, that's a story by Wells. When you open the window made of anti-gravity material, the gravity on that side kicks in and the spaceship falls toward it.

Mizutama:

Oh god, it's so SciFi (laugh).

(Continues)