[Teaser Part 4] Novelization of "Jinbutsu Gettan" 🖋 I hope this 120-second introduction video 🎥 for "Code:Mn-137" gives you a glimpse into the world of the novel...

Hello, this is Bell note.

My new novel, "Code:Mn-137," is scheduled to be released in late April on the story posting site "Tales." I wanted to give you a taste of its world, so I created an
introductory video for it.

Actually, I tried my hand at an "audio-enabled video" for the first time with my previous work, "Hakodate, the Vanished Vow," and found it surprisingly interesting.

I got completely hooked on the fun of it, so I made this one while experimenting and playing around with various ideas.

■ About this introductory video

The new novel "Code:Mn-137" is a sci-fi suspense story featuring a video editor as the protagonist.
The key to the story is an old VTR tape—a catalyst that causes reality to begin to distort quietly, yet surely. I created this video while hoping to express that unsettling and mysterious atmosphere as much as possible.

For the visuals, I constructed a look conscious of a "VTR aesthetic," incorporating the texture of looking through a monitor, grainy noise, and a slightly dark, cold atmosphere.

The narration was composed with the image of Sachiko Aoshima in mind, an important character who serves as a secondary lead in the story.
I wrote the script with the feeling that she—curious, somewhat playful, yet firm and straightforward at her core—was speaking directly to the reader, saying, "Please, listen to this for a moment."

That said, both the AI voice and the video editing were all self-taught through trial and error.
There are still some rough edges, but I would be happy if you could watch it warmly as an "experimental piece" that I created while enjoying it as part of my creative process.

■ Novel × Video × Audio: It really is interesting.

Following the intro video for my previous work, "Hakodate, the Vanished Vow," I challenged myself again with the attempt to "have the character speak."
Thinking of the lines, turning them into "AI voices," and layering them over the video—.
Strangely enough, I felt the story, which had previously only existed in my head, suddenly begin to take shape, and the "expressions" and "pauses" that weren't visible in the text suddenly came to life through the voice.

I have watched many movies and dramas adapted from novels, but I always felt that I received them as separate ways of enjoying things—novels are novels, and videos are videos.
But by "creating both the original work and the video" with my own hands, as I did this time, I experienced for the first time the depth and the interesting expansion that is born when the two overlap.
It was truly an experimental attempt, but it was a major discovery for me.

In particular, having the character Sachiko Aoshima "speak" this time made the story feel much more personal to me.
Voices really do carry worlds further than I ever imagined. I realized that once again.

I hope that through this approximately 2-minute introductory video, the atmosphere and rhythm of "Code:Mn-137," and even that lingering, slightly unsettling quietness, are conveyed to you, even if just a little.
And if it makes you want to read what happens next—I am sure you will be able to enjoy the story even more deeply.

■ About the story of "Code:Mn-137"

My new work, "Code:Mn-137," scheduled for release in late April, is a small sci-fi suspense story revolving around
**video, memory, and 'omens from the future.'**

The protagonist is Kenji Furusawa, an editor who quietly faces video editing every day.
One day, he gets his hands on an old VTR tape.
What was recorded on it was an elderly man who looked vaguely familiar—no, it was as if he were "himself in the future."
There was no audio, and he had no recollection of the recording. Yet, it left behind an eerie sense of reality, as if it were trying to tell him something strongly.

To verify this unsettling feeling, Furusawa seeks the help of his friend, Hajime Ueki, a cognitive scientist and expert in AI voice restoration.
The words that emerged from the restored voice were these:

From that moment on, reality begins to creak little by little.
A major earthquake in Miyagi, a hotel fire in Taiwan, the unsettling feeling that "people you should know" feel like complete strangers.
As if only their insides had been swapped out.

──Is this video just a coincidence?
Or was it "something" that arrived from the future?

The story is based on modern elements such as AI technology and cognitive science, while
slowly delving into the characteristics of video as a recording medium, the ambiguity of memory, and the meaning of "knowing the future."

I aimed to create a work that you can read with ease, whether as a suspense or science fiction story, but
if after finishing it, you find yourself thinking even a little bit about "what would I do in that situation?"
I would be happy if you could feel that kind of "aftertaste."

🎬 Click here for the introduction video

And if you are even slightly interested in this video or the story──
I would be happy if you could read it on the story submission site "Tales," which is scheduled to open in late April.

Both the writing and the video are still a work in progress, but that is precisely why the process of turning what I feel is "interesting" into reality is so much fun.
This attempt is also one of those "interactions with you all" that is an extension of that.

If, through the story, a moment is born where it suddenly connects somewhere with the "memories" or "sensations" within those who read it──
If such a coincidence were to happen, I would be truly happy as the author.

Thank you for reading until the end.

See you again.

🔔Bell