Production Column: Part 1

When I was a child, I could not read books at all—not novels, not really anything of that kind.

Whenever I looked at rows of text, I would quickly lose track of where I was reading, and it took me a very long time to understand the scenes being described.

At the library, I would pick up books with covers I liked and imagine to myself, “I’m sure there must be so many wonderful stories inside.” Filled with excitement, I would borrow them.

I especially loved the color illustrations near the beginning of books—the ones that came right after the cover. I would gaze at those over and over… while hardly reading the actual contents at all. That was the kind of childhood I had.

I have an older brother.

My brother was an avid reader. He read book after book, and very quickly at that. Even as a child, he possessed a great deal of knowledge. I was deeply envious of him.

I would listen to him tell me the plots of the books he had finished, and each time I felt even more strongly that, “Ah, there are incredibly fascinating worlds spread out inside books.”

What changed all of that for me was a gamebook by J. H. Brennan, published in Japan by Futami Shobo in 1985 under the title Ankoku-jō no Majutsushi—Castle of Darkness.

Compared with other books, it had an enormous number of illustrations. It had the distinctive, concise writing style that only a game can have. And above all, its structure—where you could enjoy it as a game no matter where you began reading—made it wonderfully easy for me to read!

Using the illustrations as a guide, it was easy for me to recreate each scene in my mind, and my imagination was trained more and more.

From then on, imagining scenes became enjoyable, and my resistance toward books gradually faded.

Now, even with text alone, I can picture scenes easily. From the words “a beautiful woman,” I freely imagine a woman who suits my own tastes. From the words “a handsome man,” I freely imagine my own ideal man.

Also, whenever I encounter a word I did not know before, it feels as though some vague concept inside me disappears, and I become just a little wiser than I was before.

And whenever I encounter beautiful words, it feels as though this world becomes just a little richer than it was before.

I want people who are not good at reading to experience the feeling that “books are fun!”

If the thought comes to you—“Come to think of it, there was a book I wanted to read when I was little…”—then perhaps you may find that you can read it easily now.

After I turned thirty, I read Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas and Two Years’ Vacation. They were both wonderfully entertaining and deeply moving.

It was with these feelings in mind that I created this work as “a book that is as easy to read as possible.”

This work includes music, voice acting in some parts, sound effects, many illustrations, animations, and all kinds of features designed to support the act of reading.

By the time you reach the end of the game, you will have read an enormous amount of text, and the knowledge of this work will have been stored in your mind.

That, I believe, is reading. And it is also the result of your imagination having been trained, at least in some small way.

I think that reading books requires a certain amount of practice and technique.

Please try this work for yourself, and experience the joy of reading in an easier, more approachable way.

In an age when opportunities to read are steadily decreasing, I pray that everyone may once again reconsider—and cherish—their interest, curiosity, and love for books, texts, letters, and words.

And may the age of gamebooks come around once more! Haha.

Digitalis Publishing

Yoshio Nishimura