They say Mahou Tsukai no Yoru was adapted from a novel written by Mr. Nasu. When was the original work written?
Nasu: The original version of Mahou Tsukai no Yoru was written in the winter of 1996, 12 years ago. The novel Mahou Tsukai no Yoru was completed with the intent of being shown to people other than my friends, and later passed around and read by my circle of friends such as Takeuchi-kun. At the time I was around 20, I used my own salary to buy my first word processor. I remember being so happy at the time that I wrote a long story of around 400 pages on the spur of the moment. I typed the story with the word processor, then printed it in a convenience store and binded it together myself, actually, the original copy still exists.
Really? Wouldn't that make it extremely precious?
Nasu: Even though I no longer have it, Takeuchi-kun is still preserving it for me (laughs). Reading it now, I'm ashamed to say that the writing is very bad... but at the same time I think it was because of the Mahou Tsukai no Yoru that was written on the spur of the moment that Kara no Kyoukai was written 2 years later. Although there are problems with the level of writing, this is also a very important "prototype" for me.
Hundreds of pages of writing are already a lot of text. What made you want to work on such a large project?
Nasu: Overall, the cause was because of watching the first episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion, which can't have been ignored by neither I nor my contemporaries. The story goes back to my high school days, where I met Takeuchi-kun. At the time I announced that I will become a novelist in the future, and Takeuchi-kun said he will become a manga artist, this was like the plot of some popular manga, and in reality we talked to each other quite a bit. Thinking back on it now, it was pretty embarrassing (laughs). Since then, we both graduated from college, Takeuchi-kun went to work at a game company, and I found a local job. I had the casual goal of "finding some time to write a novel," and I didn't notice my dream was slowly being buried while I lived idly as the day by day. Neon Genesis Evangelion was what gave me a big push in the back... or should I say kicked me and sent me flying. Not even the first episode itself, I felt my brain had been smacked hard after just watching the opening theme. My heart thought, how can someone think to bring the PV (Promotion Video) method to anime? How ideas can be expressed so freely in anime? "If there are people in this world who are so ahead of the rest, what am I still being confused about?" My heart was severely shocked. I supposed Eva has the charm and enthusiasm that makes people think "I have to do something." I'm sure of it. Instead of idly saying "when I have time next time," I should at least write something. And so, the result of this sudden momentum was Mahou Tsukai no Yoru.
