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Minoru Kawakami - Wikipedia
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Minoru Kawakami

Minoru Kawakami (川上かわかみ稔みのる, Kawakami Minoru) is a Japanese author of light novels, best known as the author of the Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere and The Ending Chronicle light novel series.

Minoru Kawakami
BornMinoru Kawakami (川上かわかみ稔みのる, Kawakami Minoru)
(1975-01-03) 3 January 1975 (age 49)[1]
OccupationAuthor
video game designer
NationalityJapanese
GenreScience fiction
Fantasy
Notable worksHorizon in the Middle of Nowhere
The Ending Chronicle
Website
www.din.or.jp/~arm/

Career

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After graduating from the Faculty of Economics at Josai University, Kawakami got a job at the video game development company TENKY. He worked on games such as Merriment Carrying Caravan, Sougakutoshi OSAKA and Twelve: Sengoku Fushinden.

In 1996, he made his debut as a writer by attaining the Gold Prize at the Dengeki Novel Prize for his novel Panzerpolis 1935. His notable works as a writer include The Ending Chronicle and Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere, which are set within the same canonical universe dubbed the Toshi Sekai or City World and span different eras of said universe.

Satoyasu, who also works for TENKY, has been illustrator for Kawakami's work since his third novel, Feng Shui Street Hong Kong. His debut work, Panzerpolis 1935, was illustrated by Shirou Ohno, and his second work, Aerial City, was illustrated by Koji Nakakita.

Writing style

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He writes long stories in a unique style that uses a lot of line breaks and stylistic devices such as taigendome, where a sentence ends with a taigen or indeclinable nominal instead of a copula. Many of his works are filled with originally coined words and philosophies with extensive usage of glossaries.

Kawakami's novels are well known for their length, sometimes spanning one-thousand pages in a single volume. Due to this, his work contain by far the longest individual volumes published by Dengeki Bunko. In the final seven volumes of The Ending Chronicle, Kawakami finally surpassed 1,000 pages for the first time in the history of Dengeki Bunko (1,091 pages), an unprecedented feat for a light novel paperback. The record was broken again with the publishing of Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere II Part 2 (1,153 pages) and then again with the final volume of the series Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere XI Part 3 (1,160 pages).

Works

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Most of Kawakami's works are set in a universe of his own creation. The history of this universe is divided into eras. Works set in the universe are labelled by the era they take place in (for instance Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere is the first series to take place in the GENESIS era, and is thus sometimes referred to as "the 1st GENESIS"). The eras are as follows, listed in chronological order:[2]

  • FORTH
  • AHEAD
  • EDGE
  • GENESIS
  • OBSTACLE
  • CITY / LINKS

Novels

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CITY Series

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  • Panzerpolis 1935 (パンツァーポリス1935) (1996, 1 volume)[3]
  • Aerial City (エアリアルシティ) (1997, 1 volume)[4]
  • Tune Bust City Hong Kong (風水ふうすい街がい都と 香港ほんこん) (1998, 2 volumes)[5][6]
  • Noise City Osaka (奏そう（騒）楽らく都市としOSAKA) (1999, 2 volumes)[7][8]
  • Closed City Paris (閉鎖へいさ都市とし 巴里ぱり) (1999–2000, 2 volumes)[9][10]
  • Panzerpolis Berlin (機甲きこう都市とし 伯はく林りん) (2000–2001, 5 volumes)[11][12]
  • Virtual City DT (電でん詞し都市としDT) (2002, 2 volumes)[13][14]
  • Image City SF (創そう雅みやび都市としS.F) (2003, 1 volume, mail order only)
  • Zenon City Tokyo (矛盾むじゅん都市としTOKYO) (2005, 1 volume, mail order only)

AHEAD Series

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FORTH Series

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  • Rapid-fire King (連射れんしゃ王おう) (2007, reprinted 2013, 2 volumes)[17][18]

GENESIS Series

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OBSTACLE Series

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  • Clash in the Hexennacht (激突げきとつのヘクセンナハト) (2015–2017, 4 volumes)[21][22]

EDGE Series

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  • On a Godless Planet (神かみ々のいない星ほしで) (published online 2018–, in print 2019–, 6 volumes)[23][24]
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  • Fangaku!! Tokyo Depths School Life Speedrun (ファン学がく!! 東京とうきょう大だい空洞くうどうスクールライフRTA) (published online 2023– in print 2024–, 1 volume)[25][26]

Awards

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  • Dengeki Novel Prize
    • 1996 – Gold Prize, Panzerpolis 1935
  • Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!
    • 2005 – 3rd place in Best Male Character, Mikoto Sayama, The Ending Chronicle
    • 2006 – 5th place in Best Novel Series, The Ending Chronicle
    • 2006 – 2nd place in Best Male Character, Mikoto Sayama, The Ending Chronicle
    • 2007 – 7th place in Best Novel Series, The Ending Chronicle
    • 2007 – 1st place in Best Male Character, Mikoto Sayama, The Ending Chronicle
    • 2013 – 10th place in Best Novel Series, Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere
    • 2013 – 10th place in Best Male Character, Toori Aoi, Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere

References

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  1. ^ "エッセイ「私わたしの電撃でんげき体験たいけん」第だい6回かい". Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  2. ^ Kawakami, Minoru (18 June 2003). 電撃でんげきhp Volume.24 [Dengeki hp Volume 24]. Tōkyō: Media Works. ISBN 4840224242.
  3. ^ パンツァｰポリス1935 [Panzerpolis 1935] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  4. ^ 都市としシリーズ エアリアルシティ [City Series Aerial City London] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  5. ^ 都市としシリーズ 風水ふうすい街がい都と 香港ほんこん<上うえ> [City Series Tune Bust City Hong Kong A] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  6. ^ 都市としシリーズ 風水ふうすい街がい都と 香港ほんこん<下した> [City Series Tune Bust City Hong Kong B] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  7. ^ 都市としシリーズ 奏そう(騒)楽らく都市としOSAKA<上うえ> [City Series Noise City Osaka A] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  8. ^ 都市としシリーズ 奏そう(騒)楽らく都市としOSAKA<下した> [City Series Noise City Osaka B] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  9. ^ 都市としシリーズ 閉鎖へいさ都市とし 巴里ぱり<上うえ> [City Series Closed City Paris A] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  10. ^ 都市としシリーズ 閉鎖へいさ都市とし 巴里ぱり<下した> [City Series Closed City Paris B] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  11. ^ 都市としシリーズ 機甲きこう都市とし 伯はく林りん パンツァｰポリス1937 [City Series Armored City Berlin Panzerpolis 1937] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  12. ^ 都市としシリーズ 機甲きこう都市とし 伯はく林りん5 パンツァｰポリス1943 Erste-Ende [City Series Armored City Berlin 5 Panzerpolis 1943 Erste Ende] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  13. ^ 都市としシリーズ 電でん詞し都市としDT<上うえ> [City Series Virtual City DT A] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  14. ^ 都市としシリーズ 電でん詞し都市としDT<下した> [City Series Virtual City DT B] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  15. ^ ＡＨＥＡＤシリーズ 終おわりのクロニクル(1)<上うえ> [AHEAD Series The Ending Chronicle 1 A] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  16. ^ ＡＨＥＡＤシリーズ 終おわりのクロニクル(7) [AHEAD Series The Ending Chronicle 7] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  17. ^ FORTHシリーズ 連射れんしゃ王おう〈上うえ〉 [FORTH Series Rapid-fire King A] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  18. ^ FORTHシリーズ 連射れんしゃ王おう〈下した〉 [FORTH Series Rapid-fire King B] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  19. ^ GENESISシリーズ 境界きょうかい線せん上じょうのホライゾンI<上うえ> [GENESIS Series Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere I A] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  20. ^ GENESISシリーズ 境界きょうかい線せん上じょうのホライゾンXI＜下した＞ [GENESIS Series Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere XI B] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  21. ^ OBSTACLEシリーズ 激突げきとつのヘクセンナハトＩ (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  22. ^ OBSTACLEシリーズ 激突げきとつのヘクセンナハトIV (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  23. ^ "神しん々のいない星ほしで（電撃でんげき文庫ぶんこ） – カクヨム". カクヨム – 「書かける、読よめる、伝つたえられる」新あたらしい小説しょうせつ投稿とうこうサイト (in Japanese). Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  24. ^ "EDGEシリーズ 神しん々のいない星ほしで 僕ぼくと先輩せんぱいの超ちょう能力のうりょく学園がくえんOO〈下した〉". KADOKAWAオフィシャルサイト (in Japanese). Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  25. ^ "ファン学がく!! 東京とうきょう大だい空洞くうどうスクールライフRTA（川上かわかみ 稔みのる／電撃でんげき文庫ぶんこ・電撃でんげきの新しん文芸ぶんげい） - カクヨム". カクヨム - 「書かける、読よめる、伝つたえられる」新あたらしいWeb小説しょうせつサイト (in Japanese). 19 October 2024. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
  26. ^ "ファン学がく!! 東京とうきょう大だい空洞くうどうスクールライフRTA". KADOKAWAオフィシャルサイト (in Japanese). Retrieved 7 November 2024.
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