Afterword
VOLUME 3
Afterword
Good news and cats arrive without warning.
I was eating some takoyaki and cold noodles and about to put in some eyedrops when I heard the phone ring. The caller ID told me that the call was coming from Fujimi Books.
Was my manager going to yell at poor inexperienced me again like some demon from hell? I nervously picked up the phone.
“Ah, hello.”
“Hello. I wanted to talk to you a bit about the wrapper on the third volume…”
The wrapper on the third volume… now that I thought about it, I had suggested that we put on the phrase “Should I suuuuck your blooood~~?” or something (1).
I guess that idea got rejected. I admit, it was a bit of a weird reference. Expecting the worst, I braced myself for death and asked my manager to continue. And then…
“What about an announcement for a drama CD?”
“Ah, I see…………. Huh?
“Eh?”
“A drama CD?”
“Yes, a drama CD.”
His voice was that of an angel come to heal my soul. Who could have ever thought this person was a demon?! My manager was a healer! A healing demon!
“Seriously?! Eh? W-W-Wow!”
“…… I regret telling you now.”
My healing angel (demon) said something annoying.
“No no, that’s something you have to tell the author, right?!”
“Anyways, I just wanted to ask… would you have any seiyuu (2) in mind?”
Seiyuu… what a sweet ring that had to it. And they even asked the author for his opinion on things like this?!
I would have never thought that I would ever be having a conversation like this, so I hadn’t thought about it at all. And the fact that I had come this far was all because of the people who bought my work.
I was just overflowing with joy, but I couldn’t tell him what seiyuu to use.
Well, when I decided to go into this business, I did play around with the idea of this happening in my head, but now that the time had actually come, I was just at a loss.
At that point, I asked a friend I had known before I had submitted “Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?” for publication.
“If I had to assign seiyuu to the characters, who should I choose?”
“Seiyuu, huh…? Ayumu is Kimura Takuya, Haruna is Baishou Chieko. Yuu is Miwa-“
“Why are they all from Howl’s Moving Castle?!”
“They’re all connected with Kimura. He’s so good, Kimutaku is…” (3)
“Definitely not! Not as a seiyuu!”
“Well then, Ayumu is Ogata Megumi. Haruna is Tange Sakura. Yuu is Iwao Junko. Sera is Yukana. Tomonori is Teduka Chiharu. Dai-sensei is Ikezawa Haruna.”
“Melty Lancer?! How the hell am I supposed to get all those people together?! If those seiyuu got together and did another work, I’d sure as hell like a bluray of it!”
Dammit! This guy is useless! … Right! Maybe I should ask for a girl’s opinion… and with that, I asked another friend of mine for her advice on who I should use.
“Eh? Seiyuu for Korezombie? Ayumu should be Sugita Tomokazu-san. Haruna should be Suzumura Kenichi-san. Yuu should be Ishida Akira-san… ah, also use Nakamura Yuuichi-san!”
N-No good… this girl was a complete fujoshi. (4) Why were they all male?!
Anyways, like that, I went around and asked a lot of people for advice, and I ended up going to Fujimi Books. I had a meeting with the head editor of Fantasia Books, and although I was truly grateful that they were turning my work into a drama CD, my body was completely stiff.
This head editor had the dignity of Char Aznable from Gundam. You could say that everything he said sunk right into my very bones, but suffice to say that no matter how many times I met with him, I always felt really humbled in his presence. He was the man standing above the healing demon… he might be the true “demon” in this situation.
I was still unsure about who I wanted as seiyuu for the drama CD. I thought that maybe I would just leave it up to them, but then suddenly… I asked the head editor who I should pick.
And in a nice voice that almost reminded me of Quattro Bajeena (5) giving one of his ferocious speeches…
“Berryz Workshop.” (6)
B-B-B-B-B-B-B-Berryz Workshop?! To think I would hear those words come out of the head editor’s mouth at Fantasia Books! Well, suddenly I felt I had gotten much closer to this man.
… It really seemed that demons don’t exist in this world.
–
And in the end, to everyone who bought this book, and to Kobuichi-san and Muririn-san who always work so hard… And to Broccoli-sama who made Mon Colle cards out of Korezon, and to my manager Morioka-san…
I thank you from the very bottom of my heart. Please continue to support me in the future!
– August 2009, Kimura Shinichi
TRANSLATOR’S NOTES
(1) A reference to some commercial for medicine where a comedian dresses up as a mosquito repeats this line.
(2) Voice actress.
(3) Kimutaku is the nickname of Kimura Takuya, an actor/singer.
(4) Common name given to women otaku, especially those who are into the yaoi culture.
(5) One of Char Aznable’s aliases.
(6) A Japanese pop group, currently consisting of seven girls.
(NanoDesu) A Translation of the Kore wa Zombie Desu ka? Light Novel 
when is the pdf coming out?
Edits have been input, so probably in a week or so.