Science fiction and otaku ephemera both manifested from pools of human imagination utilized for dreaming up worlds different from our own. The former, at least in its hardline speculative roots less in its space operatic iterations, strived to depict how emerging technologies and scientific advancements could shape our future, offering both utopian and dystopian visions. Otaku activity takes the fantasy inward, with perfectly designed anime characters, cheerful idols, seductive video game landscapes, and other permutations of fiction serving to enrich and inspire the inner world of their partakers. Sci-fi concepts originally developed in the world of literature permeated the literal earliest days of televised Japanese animation with Astro Boy, a good natured robot child whose success would, through long convoluted chains of anime evolution and subsequent fan culture development, bring about the otaku. What if one went back to science fiction literature and used it as a tool to dissect otaku subculture phenomena?
In early 2015 author Gengen Kusano, with the “Otonokizaka High School Sci-Fi Club,” circulated a fan work called Last and First Yazawa at “Bokura no Love Live! 7,” or in other words sold a Love Live fanfiction at a Love Live exclusive specific dojinshi event at the height of Love Live fever. Seemingly realizing he something special on his hands with his grotesque exploration of idol-dom, in the same way Fifty Shades Of Grey originally existed as a Twilight fan fiction Kusano removed any copyright infringing elements of his story, and retooled it into a full-fledged sci-fi novella now titled Last and First Idol that caused quite a stir when a Hayakawa SF Contest special award propelled it into the public consciousness; People divided on whether or not using anime fan-fiction and Japanese idol subculture as a conduit for raw science fiction hinted at genius or remained simply offensive or cheap. Before embarking on a handful of full length novels, Kusano would continue to pen a couple more stories taking otaku phenomena to extreme conclusion which J-Novel club would translate and bundle using the title of his original firestarter.
Last and First Idol the story sees the emergence of the greatest idol in the universe, Mika Furutsuki undergoing a journey of continual inner-self discovery and outer-self mutilation & reconfiguration. After being brought back to life with frankensteining methods, following an untimely early death, by one of her former idol-mates who truly believed Furutsuki possessed what it took to become the ultimate idol, Mika sets out to once again accomplish her dream; Entertain and support her fans through idol activities. Not only does her restarting out as essentially a brain in a flesh jar present a challenge, external factors like solar flares destroying the ozone layer and EMP blasts rendering large swathes of infrastructure useless force Mika to rethink how she can continue as an idol and what she physically needs to become to do so. Through harvesting organs and other body parts, at times even incorporating whole biological systems, she eventually constructs herself into an entity that can travel around the universe, making new “fans” out of all kinds of organisms, micro and macro, she meets along the way.
The second story in the Last and First Idol collection also bridges the gap between micro and macro biology with Evolution Girls which sees a complete unapologetic gacha game addict reborn as a single-celled organism who must spin the “Evo Girls” gacha wheel for new appendages, organs, and functions with which to evolve into stronger, sturdier beings. Both a multi-faceted biology lesson and a tongue-in-cheek “celebration” of gacha systems & their addictive qualities, Gengen Kusano imagines a primordial warzone where “Amoeba Girls” need to roll for the necessary proteins or boutique sensory organs needed to thrive in a kind of prehistoric society. The resulting body horror visions of nightmare creatures patched together with fleshy growth, strange proboscises, and unknown orifices all determined by a gacha system inherent to the fabric of the universe makes for a compelling and educational what if, authentic hard science fiction examining the wonder and danger of mobile games.
Dark Seiyuu marks Gengen Kusano’s final and longest offering in the Last and First Idol short collection, and as the name suggests it brings a speculative twist to the Japanese voice actress. Here, the “Seiyuu” exists as a new biological entity resulting from the purposefully cultivated evolution of successful anime voice actresses into a being whose voices quite literally power society as a super-efficient form of energy. While less grotesque than the “Evo Girls” and “Idols” found earlier in the short-story collection, these “Seiyuu” through selective breeding possess a laryngeal sac that affords the whole of humanity to utilize their voices to power space ships and weaponry. In this quite literal cut-throat future, some “Seiyuu” take to battling and killing others to incorporate their laryngeal sacs into their own bodies, boosting their “performance” as “Seiyuu.” The story does retread some scientific and sub-cultural territory seen in the first two, but it makes for a twisted yet loving commemoration of voice acting!
Last and First Idol leaves a lasting impression, no pun intended, with all three of Gengen Kusano’s short works taking a uniquely horrific yet a scientifically minded approach rather similar to Cixin Liu’s landmark Three Body Problem series to dissect certain otaku phenomena. Utilizing science fiction as a tool to simultaneously explore the psychology of idols, gacha, and fan obsession while pushing what those modes of subculture could look like if taken to wild, logical conclusion may read as genuinely inspired to some and a cheap gimmick to others, but at the very least reading through this otaku meditation will leave you with something to chew on. Unfortunately at the time of reading none of Kusano’s full length novels exist in translation, but we would love to see that change!
