SF Online Interview with Hagio (Part IV-1)

(Continued from Part III)

Mizutama:

Ah, well, let us get back on track here—I think between Dick and Varley on the timeline was William Gibson. Have you read him?

Hagio:

I don't like so-called Cyberpunk and I haven't read any [of his stuff] yet.

Sakai:

So, like "Kirinyaga," you actually like SciFi that externally feels like traditional SciFi.

Hagio:

That's right.

Sakai:

How about the stuff with tons of space aliens?

Hagio:

I like that, too. For that, what I like best is a manga called "Number 7" by Osamu Tezuka.

Sakai:

Speaking of space aliens, I don't recall any shojo manga that were filled with strange space aliens.

Mizutama:

How about "They Were Eleven?" There were a lot of them.

Sakai:

Yes, but they were all basically humanoids. Nothing really strange.

(Continues)

SF Online Interview with Hagio (Part I-5)

(Continued)

Hagio:

It came home to me as I read it that this was what it meant when everything was lost.

Sakai:

Was it around the time of your debut?

Hagio:

No, I think it was about one year after that.

Mizutama:

Then you pursued Dick like a junkie.

Hagio:

Yes, I did.

Mizutama:

When it comes to Dick, don't you get shocked twice? The first time is when you first read it. And then again after reading several other of his works, when you realize none of them offer any salvation. (laugh)

Hagio:

Yes, yes! One after another, every single book you read! On the other hand, other American SciFi is so positive and, to be blunt, a bit shallow, like, I had been thinking, "How can you be so happy-go-lucky?"—So Dick restored the balance for me.

Mizutama:

Well then, the flow went like this for you: first Asimov, then Bradbury…

Hagio:

I got the first jolt from Asimov, then the second from Bradbury, and then "Childhood's End" by Clark…

Mizutama:

How about Heinlein?

Hagio:

None from Heinlein, though I enjoyed his books.

(Continues to Part II)

SF Online Interview with Hagio (Part I-4)

(Continued)

Mizutama:

Was it then that you also encountered Bradbury?

Hagio:

Ah, Bradbury, he was good! I was knocked out. It was a bit later, but I was still in Kyushu. One day I went to a bookstore to look for something to read, and there were two anthologies by a certain Ray Bradbury. One was "R is for Rocket" and the other was "The October Country." I had never heard of the author, but I thought he must be good if he had two books out, so I compared the cover art and got the one with the red roof, because it was cuter. Then, after finishing the book overnight, I rushed back to the bookstore, praying that no one had bought it before me, and purchased the other. (laugh)

Mizutama:

Ah, I totally understand how you must have felt.

Hagio:

As you know, in the provinces the total available amount of SciFi was basically low, so I encountered many more SciFi books after I moved to Tokyo. When I started living in Tokyo, there was a bookstore near Shogakukan, and I happened to have a few extra minutes before my appointment with my editor, and by coincidence I laid my hands on what turned out to be "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" (by Philip K. Dick). Oh, I was so completely hooked.

Mizutani:

You got the calling from Dick, oh dear.

Hagio:

I was completely floored. At any rate, the futures depicted by people like Asimov, Clark, and Heinlein are positive. Of course they do episodes like the machine civilization going too far and causing some adverse effect, but they all have a fundamental trust in humanity, in that humans can probably get over those problems somehow. However, in Dick's stories, the future is annihilation, with only bleak prospects, and you have no choice but to live under its shadow. I found bottomless despair in his books. I had read about an underground elite class and the post-WWIII worlds, but I was completely blown away by Dick's darkness.

Sakai:

Isn't the ending like the one from "Electric Sheep" ironically much scarier than [those stories where] the despair finally hits you at the end?

Hagio:

Ve-e-ry scary.

Sakai:

A lot of things happen, but there is nothing you can do but go home and sleep.

(Continues)