"In the novels that I write, nobody dies." "It's because my father is a murderer." "GO TO HELL, MURDERER!" "Six months ago, I started living under the same roof with five women." "They received invitations to come to my house from an unknown source." "They pay me one million yen a month in rent." "I'm gradually learning who these women are." "But I still have no idea who sent the invitations, or what they want these women to do to me." "YUKI KOBAYASHI, 24" "HITOMI TSUKAMOTO, 26" "Thanks to the involvement of these five women, my life will change a lot." "Come in." "ALL THAT LIVES BY HIBIKI OGIE" "TO WINDWARD OF SPRING BY HIBIKI OGIE" "THE SOUND OF TIME BY HIBIKI OGIE" "DRIFTING EMOTIONS BY SHIN MICHIMA" "Shin, it's your new novel!" "EPISODE 6 APPEAL" "His first one in two years." "It sure makes me happy!" "I hope this one sells." "What are you talking about?" "Your novels are truly powerful, Mr. Michima." "If I may be so bold," "Drifting Emotions is a masterpiece that will leave its mark on history." "Thank you." "That's a rave review." "Yes." "You did your best to write it, right, Michi?" "I wish I could read it now." "Go ahead, you can have it." "Really?" "Yes." "Thank you." "No problem." "I have one for everyone." "You sure are strange, Hitomi." "So, someone believes that Mr. Michima's novels are interesting." "Yes, they're interesting." "Take a look." "If they're interesting, then why don't they sell?" "That's because as his editor, I am incompetent." "I haven't properly told the world how interesting his novels are." "That's not true." "This time," "I will make it known around the world!" "It's not going to be that easy." "Hey, come on!" "Why are you so negative?" "Help me out, here." "The cover is gloomy." "It doesn't stand out." "Congratulations on your new work." "Thank you." "It's all thanks to you, Mr. Sakurai." "I haven't done a thing." "You put up with me." "When my works didn't sell, and when I couldn't write." "I wasn't putting up with you." "I'm simply your fan." "I have been a fan ever since I read your debut work." ""Then just write."" "What did you say?" "Five years ago, when we first met, that's what you said to me." "I don't remember that." "After what my father did," "I told you I wasn't sure if it was okay if I wrote." ""You love novels, right?" "Then just write them", you said." "What a shallow thing to say." "Mr. Michima, you are who you are." "What your father did has nothing to do with you." "By the way, there's something I've been meaning to tell you." "What's that?" "This is so unfair." "What?" "Those women!" "You living with all those pretty women is so totally unfair!" "You're saying this now?" "I can't help but be jealous!" "So, they got invitations or whatever, but why couldn't they have been invited to my house?" "Are you drunk?" "No, I'm not." "I've never been drunk." "Why would I be?" "You're definitely drunk." "No, I'm not." "Who the heck sent those invitations?" "I really wonder." "You surely like books." "I guess so." "Is that Mr. Michima's?" "Yes." "Is it interesting?" "It's really interesting." "I wonder why something so interesting doesn't sell." "I don't know much about the literary world, but maybe if it got a lucky break, it would sell." "A lucky break?" "Yes, like if it caught the eye of an important person." "Even simpler, if it won an award, or something." "Hitomi?" "What's the matter?" "Nothing." "Nothing at all." "Are you all right?" "Drifting Emotions will sell for sure!" "I'll do whatever it takes to make it sell." "You're scaring me." "It's crazy that something so interesting won't sell!" "Isn't that right?" "Yes, it is." "Oh, watch out!" "Pull yourself together." "It's absolutely crazy." "Are you okay?" "Come on." "Stand up." "What?" "I'm not going home yet." "Let's go have one more drink." "No way." "I'm going to buy some water." "I mean..." "THE EASYGOING MESSIAH BY YUZU HANAKI" "THE EASYGOING MESSIAH BY YUZU HANAKI" "ROOT, ROOT, ROOT BY YUZU HANAKI CUT FRUIT BY YUZU HANAKI" "THE EASYGOING MESSIAH BY YUZU HANAKI" "IF MY SENSE IS RIGHT, THIS BOOK IS A MUST-READ." " YUZU HANAKI" "NEW BOOKS CORNER" "NEW BOOKS CORNER" "DRIFTING EMOTIONS BY SHIN MICHIMA" "It's Yuzu Hanaki!" "This guy's totally hot." "His books are interesting, too." "He's perfect." "I've read all of his works." "You can read?" "Of course, I can!" "I've read this one, too." "They're super easy to read." "Really?" "If you could read it, then it must be pretty interesting." "That's rude!" "Then I guess I'll buy one myself." "Cool!" "Can I look around some more?" "Sure." "DRIFTING EMOTIONS BY SHIN MICHIMA" "I nominate Yuzu Hanaki." "He's got momentum right now." "He's perfect for the anniversary." "He's relevant, and he'll lead to more sales for the industry as a whole." "We may as well decide on him right now." "Yeah, you're right." "I'm sorry for being late." "Mr. Chiba, though you're the chairman, we've basically decided without you that the winner will be Yuzu Hanaki." "Yes." "Mr. Hanaki." "He's the biggest seller in the literary world right now." "That settles it." "This year's winner is Yuzu Hanaki." "I'd like to say something about that." "I have a proposal I'd like to make to everyone." "For this selection committee," "I'd like to include a special guest." "A special guest?" "Yes." "All of us here have been the judges for this prize for a long time." "I think we've grown quite prejudiced." "Anyway, there's someone I'd like to introduce." "Come in, please!" "It's nice to meet you." "With your permission, I shall participate in the selection." "My name is Hitomi Tsukamoto." "So, who is she?" "She is the only daughter of the writer who died 11 years ago, Hibiki Ogie." "What?" "What?" "Really?" "Mr. Ogie's daughter?" "Yes." "I thought he was single all his life." "He never revealed it, but he was married." "As you all know, Hibiki Ogie was a novelist who has influenced and shaped all writers." "Even 11 years after his death, his works still sell better than all of ours." "Mr. Chiba." "It may be rude of me, but though she's the daughter of a popular author, she's an amateur, right?" "Why would she be part of this selection committee?" "Well, you see..." "All of the works of recent award winners have been boring." "To be honest, I'm disappointed every year when I read them." "Maybe to you they are." "We look at them from the perspective of a professional." "I'll admit, she's an amateur, but she's read hundreds of times more novels than we have." "I can't possibly spend all the royalties from my father's works, so I don't work, and have spent nearly my whole life reading books." "We all have to write, so we don't have that kind of time." "I think it's a crime that the committee members don't know about the most truly interesting novels." "Everyone, do you know this author?" "Can you please pass these around?" "This is the new work of the author Shin Michima." "I've never heard of him." "He's an unknown author." "Is there any point in reading this?" "Yes!" "I don't mean to be rude but none of you could write a novel like this." "How about it, everyone?" "Shall we meet again after reading this novel?" "If you insist so strongly, Mr. Chiba." "But even if this is a novel that none of us could write, if it's not interesting, he won't get the prize." "Naturally." "Your father is who he is." "So, even if you recommend this, we will give it a fair judgment." "I believe that is the fairest judgment possible." "Congratulations on being the youngest author to receive the Japan Outstanding Literature Prize." "You're celebrating early." "It still hasn't been officially decided." "It's as good as decided." "I read the other candidates, they're not even close to Yuzu Hanaki in terms of content or sales." "Well, the best way to promote the Japanese literary world is for me to win, don't you think?" "I couldn't agree more." "Anyway, let's enjoy waiting for the announcement." "I've gone behind the scenes as well to make sure nothing goes wrong." "Please!" "I can't possibly do another print run if the first printing hasn't sold out!" "Drifting Emotions is the greatest work by the novelist Shin Michima." "Considering his name value, and data like sales and pre-sales, 3,000 is plenty for first printing." "I'm begging you." "You've got to print more!" "Listen!" "Don't talk like that until you've seen how the first printing goes!" "You'll regret it." "In the near future, the whole world will know the name Shin Michima." "Novel." "Yes?" "Is your new book selling?" "I'm not sure." "It was sold out when I looked in the bookstore." "Really?" "That's fantastic, Michi!" "I doubt that it was sold out." "They probably never even carried it." "I know!" "Lots of people buy things on the Internet nowadays." "Right?" "I'll check it out, okay?" "No, you don't need to do that." "Hold on a second." "Here it is." "Shin Michima, Drifting Emotions ." "Is it selling well?" "This week's sales rank is..." "THIS WEEK'S SALES RANK: 984TH" "It's 984th." "Amazing." "You know how good stuff doesn't necessarily always sell well." "Thank you." "Though I don't know if your novel is good or not." "At any rate," "I try to write books that are interesting." "Then why don't they sell?" "Is that what's interesting to you?" "DRIFTING EMOTIONS BY SHIN MICHIMA" "WATER IN THE ASHTRAY BY SHIN MICHIMA" "Shin, it really is interesting." "Okay." "Is that so?" "Alright." "I see." "It has been announced!" "PRESS" "It was unanimous and overwhelming." "We committee members were overjoyed to come across a masterpiece like this for the significant 50th anniversary of the prize." "Though the winning work, Drifting Emotions , has the word "emotions" in the title, there is no single emotional expression in it." "The bland daily life of a woman working at a cafe." "The rambling conversations between her and her bedridden mother." "Even on the final page of the novel, we never learn the names of the characters." "However... what has stayed with each and every one of us that read it is an undeniable emotion." "Though I myself am an author, I can't explain it well." "In all likelihood, this is a new emotion." "Congratulations." "I would like to express my congratulations on winning this prize." "Thank you." "Tell us your honest feelings about being..." "Shin!" "I'm so happy for you." "Can you believe how tense he is?" "He's way too nervous for a little press conference like this." "Really?" "He seems so sweet!" "I can hardly believe it." "We need to start getting ready for the party." "Right." "I am." "I am." "Okay." "Maybe we should hang streamers." "The committee head, Mr. Chiba, spoke very highly of your work." "Yes." "Sorry about that." "There's no need to apologize." "You're right." "Well..." "What was the question again?" "I'm sorry." "When you heard you received the prize..." "You're the editor for Shin Michima, aren't you?" "Yes." "So, you're here, Mr. Moriguchi." "What underhanded method did you use?" "I didn't do anything." "Mr. Michima's novel was judged fairly, that's all." "It will probably sell now." "I will do my best to make sure that happens." "The first printing was 3,000 copies, but after winning this prize, another 200,000 were immediately ordered." "Well, no matter what the work is, it becomes a hot topic when it wins a prize." "We're getting all kinds of offers to do interviews." "I'll make sure Mr. Michima does his best as well." "After all, Drifting Emotions is a novel that everyone should read." "Even on the final page of the novel, we never learn the names of the characters." "Don't you think the committee members need to be changed?" "They're all old people with ancient sensibilities." "They don't understand a thing about novels nowadays." "I completely agree." "Though I myself am an author, I can't explain it well." "In all likelihood, this is a new emotion." "If I'm not mistaken, the award-winning book is published by Chugakukan, right?" "Yes." "Bring me a copy." "Are you interested in it?" "A new emotion?" "Those losers have it all wrong." "I will give it a proper judgment." "If you have an idea for your next work, could you tell us about it?" "Well, as usual," "I will write the kind of work that I'm capable of." "It's time for our final question." "Does anyone else have a question?" "I do." "I do." "You, the man in the back." "Go ahead." "Mr. Michima, let me offer my congratulations." "Thank you." "This is only a rumor that I've heard, but... are you related to the condemned criminal Tatsuyuki Michima?" "Condemned criminal?" "Condemned criminal?" "Condemned criminal?" "Condemned criminal?" "Oh, right, seven years ago." "Five years ago." "Yes." "That case..." "Tatsuyuki Michima is my father." "Really?" "Now the real judgment begins." "50TH JAPAN OUTSTANDING LITERATURE PRIZE" "This looks like a kid's birthday party." "It suits Michi just right." "It's fine." "Come here." "Look at this." "Ta-da!" "CONGRATULATIONS, SHIN." "I hope he likes it." "It looks delicious." "It's cute." "SINS NEVER DISAPPEAR!" "IT'S WHAT YOU DESERVE!" "THIS DRAMA IS FICTIONAL." "ALL CHARACTERS AND ORGANIZATIONS IN IT ARE FICTITIOUS." "You're that novelist Shin Michima, right?" "Mr. Michima will come home." "Are you dating Nanaka?" "Michi's lips are soft and they feel nice." "Subtitle translation by Brian Athey"