Apr 14, 2026
First off, I have this novel to thank for saving me from flushing at least a few several more ten-thousand yen down the toilet, since I’m on vacation right now and instead of feeding a few more Yukichis (well, Shibusawas now I guess, but that doesn’t have the same ring to it) into the pachinko machines, I opted to on several occasions hurry back to my hotel room with a coffee so that I could go back to reading this story instead.
Seriously, that’s how compelling it was.
When i finished Paradiso and Travelogue, I had wanted to leave.. some kind of comment that those works deserved, but I ended up sitting there in front of a blank screen both times with nothing interesting to say. I would’ve just ended up with another comment saying that the writing was good. But 1) you already know that, and 2) you certainly don’t need _me_ to tell you what I’m sure you’re sick of hearing by now.
And please don’t take that against a knock against the quality of those because it really isn’t. In fact I still think about Paradiso a lot from time to time. But (and I have to choose my words carefully because I don’t want you to interpret them the wrong way) there was always a feeling of restraint in those works. Of you holding back .. something.
That certain ‘something’ being too hard to put into words (i still can’t name it properly, though perhaps that’s more a failure of articulation on my end)—but _whatever it is_ —I’m reaching for “spectacle” but even that I feel doesn’t quite do it justice—Egregore X has it in SPADES.
And im not just talking about the action. I’m talking about the whole gestalt of how the style and aesthetics come together. Fang Fang vs Miyuki with the afterimages is some of the coolest hype shit I’ve ever read. The almost-cruel tutelage of Natsuko. The Umineko style witch fights. Mamoru and Miyuki. The Ascension of Miyuki Kobayashi. MIYUKI EVERYTHING.
I think all along I had wanted you to crank the chuuni-anime knob up to the same level to where the prose was already at such that content and form could meet each other equally.
And this was it. This is what you get when the restraints are removed. This is Kaisei without limiters.
Whether intentional or not you’ve furthered the same ambition Lisa Everest had been pursuing this entire time. The courage to KEEP GOING. To push a story to its limits. (And you didn’t even have to destroy a city to do it. .. er, at least I don’t think you did.)
Because you know what anime/weeb storytelling does _uniquely_ best?
Like, there’s this principle in improv comedy of “Yes, and”. You take an idea the other person established and you build on it. You keep going.
Fiction must do the same, but rather than “Yes, and” I’ve always thought of it as:
“Okay. … And?”
(Best imagined spoken by a bored looking unimpressed teenager rolling their eyes.)
As in.. okay, so what? Gimme more.
For example:
There’s this gathering of powerful witches.
“Okay… And?”
And there’s a government branch of witch hunters.
“Okay… And?”
And they’re assigned to protect the witches.
“Okay… And?”
But they’re not really, because the witches don’t need protection. It’s to protect the public.
“Okay.. And?”
And then you just keep asking Okay And after every answer, etc etc.
And not just sequentially, either. But fractally. Each “Okay And” spawning its own set of branching tendrils you need to ask “Okay And” to. Down to the last background side character, or I dunno, pebble on the sidewalk, even.
And you can obviously do this infinite times, but my whole point is there ought to be a number of Okay Ands that you—that we as writers—have an obligation to follow down the rabbit hole.
Because the vast majority of stories, even the professionally published ones—or perhaps _especially_ the published ones—stop at the first few “Okay And”s and call it a day.
And who can blame them?
Storytelling is difficult. It’s really difficult.
Well no, that’s not entirely accurate.
Let me rephrase that.
Telling a story that has come after every story that has been told already, is very difficult. (Which of course, only means it gets harder with each successive story that gets added to the collective aether.)
So what does this have to do with anime?
What I’m trying to get at is that, the stories in anime and VNs are the only, the ONLY stories in any medium, that dare to push that pursuit of each “Okay And” to ever-ambitious new heights.
Do you know how many “Okay And”s it takes to get from, “Don’t let Kaname Madoka become a magical girl”, to the entire rules of the universe being rewritten again and again?! In twelve episodes?!?!?! And then to ask “Okay And” again to get a movie sequel out of it?!?!?!?!
It’s what anime does best.
And it’s why I can likely never leave this site, despite … well. (Let’s leave it at that.)
Because where else on the English-speaking internet are you going to find this level of literary ambition and the “Okay And” nature of anime stories?
Genuinely, astonishingly, abso-positively blown away by this work.
I can’t stand the modern overuse of the word peak everywhere so I’ll just say:
Superlative.
In every sense of the word.
Well done.
This is why I read.
(PS: I read the first few chapters of this while playing the MadoMagi pachinko machines and got no less than 11 jackpot chains. Unfortunately I had switched to the 0.25 yen machines by that time because I was down so much, so all that my 4000 balls got me was two cans of coffee and a 500 yen coin. … but the choice of machine was fitting, no?)
Thanks for commenting!!! 
