Record scratch sound
Yep, that's me. I bet you're wondering how I ended up on a Japanese social media site (I think?). Or, you know, I bet you're not wondering that because; 1. nobody will read this, and 2. I'm nobody special. That's ok! As an American, I love shouting into the void where no one listens.
Well, actually I got here in the weirdest way. You see, it all started this morning when I had a dream about a top-down space shooter. You know, like Zanac, or Xevious (or maybe you don't know, in which case you should play them). In my dream, the game was a mixture of Star Fox, Xevious, and Metal Gear (the MSX Metal Gear). I woke up and couldn't shake the idea, so I decided I'd write a few things down. THAT led to me going on a deep dive into Xevious, and that's when the rabbit hole got deep.
You see, that led me to this quote on the Xevious Wikipedia page:
"A Xevious-themed soundtrack album was produced by Haruomi Hosono of Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1984, titled Video Game Music. Compiled with music from other Namco video games, such as Mappy and Pole Position, it is credited as the first video game soundtrack album."
Then THAT led me on ANOTHER deep dive where I learned about Haruomi Hosono, who is, quite frankly, amazing. Then I read this line on another website, emphasis mine:
"While it saw limited popularity in the U.S., Xevious was a huge cult hit in Japan, and to this day is considered one of the greatest video-games of all time. Popular musicians Haruomi Hosono (Yellow Magic Orchestra) and Keisuke Kuwata (Southern All Stars) were known to be fans of the game, and the former produced an album of music from Namco video-games, with Xevious as its centerpiece. A follow-up 12" single featured in its liner notes an entire science-fiction short story by Endō, set in the world of Xevious, with even a rudimentary fictional language."
I read this line and immediately knew I had to read the short story by Masanobu Endō. The only problem? I couldn't find it! I scoured the Internet all day long and came up empty handed. I spoke to a very kind Hosono-Sama fan, but they did not have a scan of the liner notes. Then, I reached out to Endo-Sama himself, which, as of this writing, I haven't gotten a reply (and might not, but that's ok!).
So what does a person do if they want to read this story? Well, buy the record and then translate the liner notes, of course. Thankfully I have a friend who purchased the record as a gift for me. We are currently awaiting its arrival. I think this is the most exciting wait to read a short story that I've ever experienced.
I can't wait to finally read this! Also, I'm very sorry that this isn't in Japanese!