Kojima read Akira Otani’s “Rurika, Born 2019, Turns 50” in one sitting. He said that, having grown up reading Koontz and McCammon, he felt a sense of nostalgia as he turned the pages. He explained that the novel’s tone was closer to shonen manga and anime than to the “modern horror” that took his generation by storm in the 1980s, and that it had Otani’s distinctive storytelling style. He said that, in contrast to the countless twentieth-century works of science fiction inspired by fear of a “population explosion,” the novel takes a meta perspective on life after retirement in Japan’s super-aged society.
“I read Akira Otani’s “Rurika, Born 2019, Turns 50” in one sitting. Having grown up reading Koontz and McCammon, I felt a sense of nostalgia as I turned the pages. Rather than the “modern horror” that took our generation by storm in the 1980s, however, the tone was closer to that of shonen manga and anime, with Otani’s distinctive storytelling style. In the 20th century, the fear of a “population explosion” inspired countless works of science fiction. This novel instead takes a meta perspective on life after “retirement” in Japan’s super-aged society.”