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Special Talk with Katarina [Shangri-La Frontier] and Fujino Omori [Wistoria: Wand and Sword] – Part 1

Interviews #Fujino Omori #Katarina #Shangri-La Frontier

This article was originally published on October 14, 2020

A world born from a web novel!

Shangri-La Frontier has been causing a stir since it first began publication in Weekly Shonen Magazine. In this article, we sit down with original author Katarina and the author of Wistoria: Wand and Sword and Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Fujino Omori as they talk about their own work and the allure of light novels!

Fujino Omori
Debuted with Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? (DanMachi) after the 4th GA Bunko Award. This light novel subsequently received a range of adaptations. Also the author of Wistoria: Wand and Sword (manga by Toshi Aoi), which began serialization in Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine in January 2021.

Katarina
Began publishing Shangri-La Frontier on Shousetsuka ni Narou (online novel submission site) in 2017. Ranked first in the VR Game category in the daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly rankings at the same time. Serialized in Weekly Shonen Magazine since 2020 (manga by Ryosuke Fuji).

Sharing the joy of creating!

――Katarina-sensei mentioned that they were a big fan of DanMachi.

Katarina:
Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me.
I really love DanMachi, and it actually served as a big source of inspiration for Shangri-La Frontier!

Omori:
No way! Wow, I’m so happy I’m blushing…

Katarina:
It’s why there are no “dungeons” in Shangri-La Frontier – I just don’t think I could compare [laughs].
Also, there’s that minotaur who shows up regularly in DanMachi, right? It doesn’t have a big impact on the story, but it is a monster with a pretty big impact in the protagonist’s world. I was surprised that a character like that could exist within a story.
Actually, it hasn’t appeared in the manga version yet, but there is a similar type of monster in Shangri-La Frontier, too.

Omori:
Oh, that one scorpion, right…! [laughs]
When I read Shangri-La Frontier, I really felt how much of a wordsmith you are. There are a lot of fine details in the world you’re creating, which means you do a lot of exposition, but it’s all very easy to read and understand. The characters are really well developed, and the battle scenes are really impressive.
It’s a high-quality piece of work in every aspect. Looking at the reaction of the readers too, it feels more like you’re creating an entire world rather than a single story. It’s truly impressive.

Katarina:
Thank you!

Omori:
The lineup of trash games in Shangri-La Frontier is also excellent. I love “Spazzerk” and ”Love Clock”! [laughs] How did you come up with those ideas?

Katarina:
For the trash games, I think about the stories of other works and kind of convert them into a game. Every project has its good points and bad points, but if you blow the bad out of proportion, I think that results in something interesting.

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“Spazzerk” is a fighting game full of bugs, and the original has a lot of passionate fans.

――Could both of you tell us about your writing style?

Omori:
For me, from the moment I wake up until lunchtime is battle time. That’s when I really try to focus on writing.

Katarina:
I do most of my writing on my phone, so a lot of the time, I watch movies or anime while I write.

Omori:
Really?! I think it’s amazing that you can write while doing other things. How do you think of your story like that?

Katarina:
It starts with the scenes I want to write.
I don’t really write any deep story elements, but I think about the climactic parts of each story development and add in monsters to tie it all together, as well as interactions between Sunraku and the other characters.

Omori:
I think I do the same.
There are scenes I want to write, like the protagonist fighting to protect someone, so I work backwards from there. That happens a lot. When it feels like I’m about to lose the thread of the story, I go back to the plot and realign.

Katarina:
There are a lot of varied characters in DanMachi, from humans to gods, which I think is a real selling point! How did you come up with the main character, Bell Cranel?

Omori:
It’s a little odd, but DanMachi started from the idea of a battle with a minotaur. From there, through a little trial and error of working out what kind of protagonist would be a good fit for that, Bell was born.
The phrasing might be a little misleading, but you could say that Bell came from the minotaur, right? What about you, Katarina-sensei?

Katarina:
I wanted to make an idiot.

Omori:
An idiot? [laughs]

Katarina:
I wanted to have a main character who was having fun doing stupid stuff, so first of all, I wanted to go with someone who looked interesting. And so, bird-headed Sunraku was born.
In games, you’ll often find a “troll loadout” – completely naked except for equipment on the head, kind of thing. That ended up being my inspiration.

Omori:
I see! He does have a pretty unique appearance for a main character.
Personally, I really like it. I thought it was quite the idea [laughs]. Is there anything you keep in mind while working with Sunraku?

Katarina:
Yes, that I want to keep him from progressing.
Sunraku is already a skilled gamer when the story begins, so I want him to be unphased no matter what happens. I want to make sure that no matter how tough an enemy or how powerful a boss he faces off against, that he doesn’t waver from his stance of working strictly within the game.
Omori-sensei, what part do you focus on when creating?

Omori:
The battle scenes, I think. Specifically, the “catharsis” element.
The be all and end all of DanMachi is the main character’s progression, so I think it’s perfectly okay for him to fail over and over again. It might be stressful for the readers, but I think it’s a valuable experience that they can grit their teeth alongside him and push through the hard parts.

That’s all for part 1! Keep your eyes peeled for part 2 where Katarina-sensei and Omori-sensei talk about how they got started writing web novels!

▼Read Shangri-la Frontier here!

▼Read Omori-sensei’s latest work Wistoria: Wand and Sword here!

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