#nijuu seiki denki mokuroku

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Nijuu Seiki Denki Mokuroku: Introduction, Story and Profiles

“I want you to remember this: light exists because someone turned it on.”

Meiji, Taishou, Shouwa, Heisei. The eras change, but love does not.

Winner of the 8th Kyoto Animation Grand Prix Encouragement Prize.

The set time is during the Meiji Era. Kyoto, Japan had just barely entered the twentieth century. This era, where the city started becoming familiar with Oriental cultures and began lighting up with electric poles, was a whimsical period, in which Japanese merged with Western, and the past merged with the future. There are definitely certain townspeople who lived in it who were never talked about in history.

This is neither about war nor politics. It is about a love story that happened somewhere in that era, which did not remain engraved in history at all.

Story

“Will you die with me and take me to Paradise?”

Meiji year 40. Summer. Living in Fushimi, Kyoto, Momokawa Inako never succeeded at anything she tried, no matter what it was, thus being reprimanded by her father every day. Her one and only salvation was praying to the gods and Buddha and having faith.

On a certain day, while bringing her hands together at Fushimi Inari as usual, she met Sakamoto Kihachi, a free and uncontrolled boy who spat out at her, “I don’ believe in what I can’t see”. He denied the gods and Buddha, boasting that their era would be the age of electricity.

In said occasion, a discussion about marriage was suddenly brought up to Inako. It was her father’s one-sided decision, yet Inako gave in to it, thinking that her own worth was only so much. Mustering out his true feelings about wanting to free her, Kihachi took her out of her locked house.

The only way to stop the marriage was to look for a strange book, the “Electricity Catalog”. It was a prophecy book about electricity that Kihachi had written in his childhood, which his older brother Seiroku had taken away, the latter’s whereabouts unknown. Both Kihachi and Inako depart in search for the “Electricity Catalog” and roam around the territory of Shiga and Kyoto.

The secret hidden within the vanished “Electricity Catalog” was――

Character Profiles

Sakamoto Kihachi

A boy who loves electric lights dearly, works at the Hourai Temple Shop in Shinkyougoku Street and also handles mechanical repairs. 15 years old.

In the past, he was charmed by the near-future machines from the 5th Annual National Exhibition held in Oosaka and took interest in electricity. Believing relentlessly that “the twentieth century is the century of electricity”, he wrote the Electricity Catalog, which imagines future electrical inventions. His house is within a temple, but upon becoming unable to believe in gods, he had a big argument with his father and left home. He hates dark places with a passion.

Momokawa Inako

She grew up as the second daughter of the Momokawa Sake Brewer, located in Fushimi, Kyoto. 15 years old.

She has a pure-hearted and lively personality, but makes too many clumsy mistakes, and is always scolded by her father, Jinuemon. She ends up being compared to her sister, who can do anything, and is pessimistic about her very existence. She believes unwaveringly in gods, and whenever she is troubled by something, she goes to pray for the great mircacle-working deity Akubi of Fushimi Inari. “Believing is worth it” is her most common phrase. The only thing that she does not lose to anyone at is catching rats with her bare hands.

Momokawa Noriko

Inako’s older sister. 20 years old.

As the opposite of Inako, she is a mature woman gifted with both intelligence and beauty, flawless at everything she does. Her childhood friend Kuga is her fiancé, but the two are in a state of arguing every time they see each other, and so their wedding is on hold. The white kimono she wears and her long, lustrous hair are things that Inako admires. She was born and raised by rice wine brewers, but cannot stand the smell of alcohol.

Kuga Sengo

The second son of a rice grain dealer from Ootsu, the Kugatsunekichi Shop. 24 years old.

He is serious and has a strong sense of justice, adored by Inako as if he were her older brother. His relationship with his fiancée Noriko is that of dogs and cats, and he always has his mouth shut by Noriko’s sharp tongue. Due to his body of over 180cm of stature and the reckless way with which he madly rushed ahead during the Russo-Japanese War, he was nicknamed “Okajouki”. He currently works on philanthropic activities, such as helping the Salvation Army.

Sakamoto Seiroku

Kihachi’s older brother. He is masculine, but has a slim frame and always acts foolish. He pokes fun at people and Kihachi is cautious of him, branding him as a “liar”. He is the one responsible for showing Kihachi the beauty of electricity, and the suspicion towards gods and freewheeling of the latter were taken after him as well. He is very fond of high places and his dream is to go up the Eiffel Tower. He was entrusted by Kihachi with the Electricity Catalog, which seemed close to being set on fire by their father.

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Firstly, this is something personal of mine, but my trigger to becoming interested in 'photography' was after I saw a photo taken during the Bakumatsu Period. It vivid and beautifully captured those people who looked like they had come out of a period drama! It was almost like a time machine, I thought.  And then, we entered Meiji Era and the evolution of electricity progressed, so observing the scenery of Kyoto as of late, in which telephone poles were erected and the overhead wiring of trains were laid out throughout the low cityscape, makes it feel like a 'fantasy-ish parallel world'. What kind of future did the people of that time imagine when witnessing such a scene? The visible parts of it were a change comparable to our transition into an internet society, from before to after the year 2000 A.D., but I think it was even more drastic than that. People's power of imagination at the time was extremely rich, and it seems they had expected ACs, TVs and phones to be literal gigantic flying battleships. In my childhood, I used to think that people would be going to Mars and Jupiter when the 21st century arrived. (I believe people would understand this if they saw the animes and mangas of that time, but) I used to think that androids and AI just like human beings would become a reality. I also feel a stiff suffocation from how the sense of distance between people might have shortened too much, due to communication being easier with the social media of nowadays. But I think technology exists for the sake of people's happiness. I believe that, surely, we will become able to use the current technology even better. The protagonist of this story is the son of a Buddhist temple, who dreams of seeing many things change as the era of electricity arrives. The heroine is the daughter of a rice wine maker who believes in God. During the turbulent Meiji Era, love might have not been as freely as in the current era, but there has been supposedly not much change to the feelings of human beings. Even as the times change, people fall in love at any moment. I sense something similar to 'fate' in the fact that this book was published exactly 150 years after the first year of the Meiji Era.

Comment from director Ishidate Taichi

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Hello, I’m Yuuki Hiroshi. This work is set in Meiji Era, but what sort of image comes to you when you hear of Meiji? You might imagine a world almost completely different from the current era, and it might give an inflexible impression. Much like the people living in the current era, the individuals who appear in this story laugh, cry, worry, dash about and fall in love; that’s the kind of story it is. By all means, do enjoy the course of their lively journey.

Author’s Comment, Nijuuseiki Denki Mokuroku

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'20th Century Electricity Catalog' The emotions in it don't make a difference between now and the past, and actions are depicted as if it were from the current era. It's a wonderful story.

Ikeda Kazumi, Illustrator’s Comment

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I find it amazing how can KyoAni ruin something like this

Bro, KyoAni has been ruining all the good stuff for many years now. I feel bad for the authors because they come up with such awesome, originality-ridden shit and have been getting better and better at portraying human interactions and multi-faceted characters with each generation, yet KyoAni ignores it all in favor of by-the-book versions of the original materials that are so standardized they don't feel even remotely like the canon.

KyoAni used to be a really good studio, but now that their creators have evolved into making progressive content, they've clearly become scared shitless of the critics and male demographic that they've survived all these years through catering to. It seems they can't tell that there's more to their audience than this and that they could learn a thing or two from MAPPA if they don't want their sales to continue going down.

But they probably won't do that anytime soon. The next novel adaptation in line is Nijuu Seiki Denki Mokuroku, and it's probably exactly the kind of stuff that they can adapt without major changes in order to please only half of the spectators (then again, so was Kyoukai no Kanata and they still fucked it up, so I'd say it's wait and see).

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Hi! Sorry if it has already been asked but will you translate Nijuu Seiki Denki Mokuroku novel? The story seems really interesting but I'm afraid Kyo Ani is going to mess up the anime adaptation. I'm also not fond of the heroine anime design (too moe-ish for me) so I would like to read the novel.

I do want to translate it, but the person who asked me to translate their copy disappeared without a trace, so now I don't know how I’ll do it. ^^’

Fat chance that they’ll mess up because Ishidate Taichi will direct it, but I wanna stay positive for now.

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Inktober 2019

I don’t know how many people got to know about it, but the arson attack at Kyoto Animation claimed its 36th victim this October, thus I decided to use KyoAni’s main titles for my very first time taking part in Inktober. Here’s to hoping that this will serve as a small homage to whoever it was, whose passing won’t be as widely regarded as the previous ones.

All 31 illustrations in full size and their descriptions under the cut.

Basically a collection of very simple ink sketches made in a hurry. Some were drawn with KyoAni’s style, some with my own style and some were a blending of both. I don’t particularly like how grainy the scans turned out after being diminished because it makes them look like digital art instead of ink art, but it’s a fact that they were too big to fit in one post otherwise. Anyway, here goes nothing...

Day 1: Ring Kuriyama Mirai (Kyoukai no Kanata) Pretty self-explanatory, and also the picshot that started this mini-project (yes, I took it with my phone). The others are all proper scans, though.

Day 2: Mindless Akiyama Mio (K-On!) From the movie’s ending clip.

Day 3: Bait Shinonome Nano and Hakase (Nichijou) Rock, paper, shark.

Day 4: Freeze Asakura Ryouko (Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu/Shoushitsu) “I will nullify your data link.”

Day 5: Build Hidaka Yumemi (Munto) Connecting two worlds to create another.

Day 6: Husky Matsuoka Rin (Free!) When your throat is screwed and you’re straight-up not having a good time.

Day 7: Enchanted Kamio Misuzu and “Sora” (Air) Just your average dying girl and her bird not-boyfriend.

Day 8: Frail Okazaki Nagisa and Okazaki Ushio (Clannad) “When winter arrives, she won’t be able to move anymore.”

Day 9: Swing Tsukimiya Ayu and Misaka Shiori (Kanon) Based on official art.

Day 10: Pattern Izumi Konata (Lucky Star) Cheer uniform, revisited. I was motivated to draw proper stars at first, but kinda got lazy halfway, lol.

Day 11: Snow Nagato Yuki (Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu/Shoushitsu) and Minase Nayuki (Kanon) From the movie and episode 23.

Day 12: Dragon Tooru (Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon) I mean, come on.

Day 13: Ash Sagara Sousuke (Full Metal Panic) Always ready to blow shit up and watch the world burn. Me, a fool: What if I try to draw him in FMP’s old-school style? My utterly cursed hands: what are eyes

Day 14: Overgrown Suzumiya Haruhi (Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu/Shoushitsu) Long hair version but without all the brooding.

Day 15: Legend Okazaki Tomoya (Clannad) “Have you ever heard about the legend of this city? Whenever something fortunate happens, a glow of light appears.”

Day 16: Wild Shindou Ayaka, Shindou Ai, Yakiimo (Kyoukai no Kanata) and “Sawatari Makoto” (Kanon) Two foxes, one cat and one ball of floof.

Day 17: Ornament Chintanda Eru (Hyouka) “I’m here to show off.”

Day 18: Misfit Ishida Shouya and Nishimiya Shouko (Koe no Katachi) “Ishida-kun is a bully, so you’re better off not getting involved with him.”

Day 19: Sling Togashi Yuuta (Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!) “I don’t know anything about that.”

Day 20: Tread Gilbert Bougainvillea (Violet Evergarden) “He had a charm that drew people to him, but he himself didn’t have much interest in others. He was a man who only ever thought about how he’d tread the pure-white path towards his own future that had been laid out to him.”

Day 21: Treasure Violet Evergarden (Violet Evergarden) “It is the same color as Major’s eyes. I have always thought that they were ‘beautiful’. I did not know the word, which is why I had never said it. But Major’s eyes, from the moment we first met, were ‘beautiful’ to me.”

Day 22: Ghost Nakahara Komugi (Nurse Witch Komugi-chan Magikarte) “So when you die, it’s like, ‘Okay, that’s all folks’, huh?”

Day 23: Ancient Narumiya Minato and Takigawa Masaki (Tsurune) Yawatashi no Gi.

Day 24: Dizzy Oumae Kumiko (Hibike! Euphonium) “You hadn’t been drinking anything at all, had you?”

Day 25: Tasty Hazuki Nagisa (Free!) “It’s delicious. It’s filled with strawberry jam and marmalade, coated with chocolate and only costs 480 yen! So cheap!”

Day 26: Dark Edward Jones (Violet Evergarden) “It’s not like I killed without thinking. I have lots of reasons. You got time to listen to all of them?”

Day 27: Coat Enigma (Musaigen no Phantom World) Quite literal.

Day 28: Ride Kunisaki Yukito (Air) “Where I’m going, you ask? Who knows? I wonder where. That’s right, you should try to ask Misuzu. She’ll be tagging along with me for a while.”

Day 29: Injured Kanie Seiya (Amagi Brilliant Park) Having a rifle thrust at your face must hurt like a bitch and leave marks, and I just love that this isn’t addressed, like, ever.

Day 30: Catch Kitashirakawa Tamako (Tamako Market) “Ah! My mistake! Throw one back!”

Day 31: Ripe Momokawa Inako (Nijuu Seiki Denki Mokuroku) The next work in line, ready to receive the baton. I can’t wait to see you.

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i have very low expectations for nijuu seiki denki mokuroku and i feel like people wont admit it but kyoani's shows have really gone downhill in quality over the years. they've peaked a long time ago but are still seen as one of the currently best studios because of the consistently good animation and art

I know. That’s what I’ve been saying for a while now. It’s like the law of equivalent exchange: the more the animation quality goes up, the lower the content quality falls down. But I would never blame this on the writers. They’re out there making original stuff and kicking ass in general, but rarely any of them had justice being done to their works in the animation medium.

I think many directors have been feeling too emboldened to taking these novels and turning them into their own thing rather than into an adaptation. I don’t know if it’s because the publisher is affiliated to the studio or because they feel like they can do whatever they want as these novels are technically KyoAni originals, but ever since High Speed!, they’ve clearly been taking more liberties with adaptations that they didn’t use to take before. On the contrary: KyoAni used to be known as an example of how to stay loyal to source materials and sometimes even do better than them. I would honestly love to know what exactly happened for them to change their mindset like that.

But maybe that’s not a very good topic for this month. And at any rate, I would rather stay positive until I see the first PV of the DenMoku anime, and any other animes to come from KyoAni’s hands. They have the potential to overturn this underwhelming scene, and I want to trust it.

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Thank you for your answer about Nijuu Seiki Denki Mokuroku novel. Ishidate Taichi again? I won't expect much about the anime adaptation then. I hope you'll find someone who will be able to give you a copy of the novel! :)

Hopefully, either someone will be willing to share scans or the OP will show up again. I honestly wish I could buy it but the shipment is insane.

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