After Finishing HAMLET 2 Season 4

Hello everyone, thank you for your hard work. Today, having finished writing HAMLET 2 Season 4, I would like to provide a self-commentary. Since I have stopped updating YouTube, I will just share whatever comes to mind.

■ Beyond the Death of Major Characters

I started writing this season with a so-called bad end route in mind. At the end of the previous season, I introduced choices like in a game to create branches, and through that, I depicted a desperate situation from the very beginning. Because there was no machine and he couldn't fight, Jim felt discouraged. Amidst that, Medusa's feelings upon returning began to set things in motion. From start to finish, the female characters ended up driving the story.

Mary's death was something I had been thinking about since Season 1, but when it came time to actually depict that death, I kept in mind how to make it meaningful and how to write it beautifully. As a result, I am glad that I was able to incorporate Japanese imagery and finish it in a poetic way.

■ When the Balance of Women Collapses

Well, in this season, with Mary's passing, the power balance among the women collapses. With the intervention of China and Russia and the flames of war approaching, I found myself depicting the emotional movements of the women more often. In this season, Jim, who has become weaker than ever before, begins to lean on the women. Francis, who used to be considerate of her younger sister, thinks about becoming intimate with Jim now that Mary is gone, but then hesitates, bound by her role as a mother figure. I don't think I could have written scenes like this 30 years ago. In fact, when I was twenty, the existence of a woman 7 or 8 years older was not just a potential lover, but also held the image of a woman to be admired, and I wrote while fantasizing about the relationship with such a woman, incorporating my past self as well.

■ Sacrifice for Love

Facing the approaching war, there are women who can fight for themselves and women who cannot. Both of them sacrifice themselves for the protagonist. In particular, Francis, who does not want to accept the role of a mother, uses her abilities as a researcher to create reagents, which causes the two women to change even further.

For Francis, encountering Jim's trauma, which she learned about by chance, awakens her maternal instincts. And she actually approaches an existence that surpasses his mother. It is ironic, if you will, that her maternal instincts are nurtured even though she had rejected the role of a mother. In reality, if she could draw out Jim's true feelings before surpassing his mother, she would be chosen by him. However, if she actually becomes an existence that surpasses his mother, she will have to give up on a future with him. Francis, a woman who is smart and should be able to see ahead, is forced to live a life that does not go as she wishes. I write about such things in a mean-spirited way. This shows the spiteful nature of a man like me who cannot get a woman.

In contrast, Medusa had decided in her heart to fight for Jim regardless, and there was no hesitation in that. However, to be able to use the Gorgon system, she could not remain as she was. For that reason, she uses reagents frequently and becomes one with Maria.

Even in ordinary situations and ordinary romances, women change because of men, and men change because of women. Even with war imminent, this structure does not change. Rather, it is precisely because they are caught up in war that the feelings of men and women intersect and head in unexpected directions. I would be happy as a writer if you could read it while feeling such things.

■ Being Caught Up in War as an Individual

For someone like me who was exposed to Mobile Suit Gundam in childhood, depicting an individual being caught up in war seemed natural. However, the situation of one man and three women is an event within an extremely narrow world. Choosing not to continue in an ensemble drama like Season 1 was reasonable considering my abilities, but as a result, I cannot judge whether it was a good thing to continue talking about men and women in a narrow, family-like space.

However, it is a fact that the characters in the game I created sometimes moved beyond the author's intentions and concluded in the form of this story, so I think it was good that I kept writing despite my lack of ability.

For me, I think Mary's death in this series was a beautiful end for her, and I think Francis and Medusa are satisfied with their own changes... or so I think now that I have finished writing the series.

I do intend to give both Francis and Medusa a fitting ending, so I am vaguely thinking that I would like to depict that in a future season.

■ The Hybrid of Maria and Medusa

At the end of this season, due to the influence of the Gorgon system and the reagents, the personalities of Maria and Medusa overlap, creating a hybrid.

At the time of writing this, I myself am struggling to think about what the Gorgon system is, and the hybrid of the two is a character created entirely on the fly, but I have to think about its content and role before I actually write Seasons 6 and 7. I am feeling restless like a child with homework to do.

■ Season 5 will be Maria's story.

Well then, starting next time, I will be depicting the route where Medusa was not sent away at the end of Season 3.

In this route, the Gryphon remains with Jim, making it possible to respond to enemy incursions.
However, due to Ungei's schemes, I also need to delve into things like the relationship between Mary's body and the components of the tree nuts. I also want to include conversations between the AI and the android.

And above all else, I think the story will move toward the complete resurrection of Maria.

In Season 4, the character who landed as a hybrid of Maria and Medusa will likely awaken as the complete Maria Hansfield.
When that happens, the love triangle (or quadrangle) involving Mary as well will likely become quite chaotic.

I think it will be fun to write, but the romantic relationships seem like they will get complicated.
I'm starting to get a little worried about whether I'll be able to write it all properly, haha.

■ In the end, I didn't write the war scenes

Well then, with that said, HAMLET 2 will continue for a while longer.
Originally, I was supposed to write up to the war scenes and reach the ending, but it ended up including branches I hadn't initially considered, and it didn't even reach the start of the war.

In the real world, several wars are currently ongoing, and that is part of why I didn't want to write war scenes.

But, there will come a time when I have to write them, won't there?
I hope that by then, the world will be more peaceful.

Well, let's end the commentary for this season here.
I would be happy if you continue to follow along.
See you again soon!