Shinji Kajio

“Memories of Emanon,” by Kajio Shinji is a very interesting short story, included in the 4-volume collection Speculative Japan. It was not surprising that the manga rendition was just as "memorable."

The only other thing translated into English by this author is “Reiko’s Universe Box.” These two brief short stories are enough to give me an idea of his author’s style. I do wish more of his stuff was translated, but I’m always wishing that, and I’ll probably always keep wishing that, unless I somehow magically start reading Japanese. The concept is unique, as far as my experience has proven – at least no one has come up with this idea in anything I’ve come across. It’s an example of what you can do with a solid S-F idea. You take one idea and make a story out of it. What makes the story compelling? It’s not just the idea, but the two main characters. There are some amusing side-characters, but the main male character has personality, and a good voice, and the female character is intelligent and interesting. You get their chemistry. It has the quality of a Haruki Murakami story, but with less rhythm, the same amount of humor, and more science. Murakami is like Philip K. Dick and Kajio Shinji is more in the vein of Heinlein. I miss good science fiction with an emphasis on style and characters. Even Heinlein gets dry sometimes and recycles a lot. But I could see myself reading the whole series of short stories about Emanon, if it ever gets the full treatment. The manga proved to be good, though it offered nothing new to me that the story hadn’t already provided besides fluid and exceptionally good artwork. What’s more, the story is tinged with the nostalgia that you feel when you meet that one person who makes a big impression on you – it has the quality of that cherished memory that you are unwilling to let go of, and their imprint of you seems to last forever, even if the inspiration they provided was minor, brief and unexplainable, it is impossible to expunge from memory.
… (more)

...Reiko's Universe Box is full of beautiful but sad imagery. It is a story that took me a while to process, but the more I think about it, the more I like it. The parallel between the emotional lives of the characters and the main star in the miniature universe, following the evolution of a star heavier than our own sun, is a very nice touch. It's a shame so little of Kajio's work has been translated, the English language world is missing out on some good writing here.

Full Random Comments review.… (more)