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Minoru Kawakami (川上稔, Kawakami Minoru) is a Japanese author of light novels, best known as the author of the Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere and The Ending Chronicle light novel series.

Career

After graduating from the Faculty of Economics at Josai University, Kawakami got a job at the video game development company TENKY. He worked on games such as Merriment Carrying Caravan, Sougakutoshi OSAKA and Twelve: Sengoku Fushinden.

In 1996, he made his debut as a writer by attaining the Gold Prize at the Dengeki Novel Prize for his novel Panzerpolis 1935. His notable works as a writer include The Ending Chronicle and Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere, which are set within the same canonical universe dubbed the Toshi Sekai or City World and span different eras of said universe.

Satoyasu, who also works for TENKY, has been illustrator for Kawakami's work since his third novel, Feng Shui Street Hong Kong. His debut work, Panzerpolis 1935, was illustrated by Shirou Ohno, and his second work, Aerial City, was illustrated by Koji Nakakita.

Writing style

He writes long stories in a unique style that uses a lot of line breaks and stylistic devices such as taigendome, where a sentence ends with a taigen or indeclinable nominal instead of a copula. Many of his works are filled with originally coined words and philosophies with extensive usage of glossaries.

Kawakami's novels are well known for their length, sometimes spanning one-thousand pages in a single volume. Due to this, his work contain by far the longest individual volumes published by Dengeki Bunko. In the final seven volumes of The Ending Chronicle, Kawakami finally surpassed 1,000 pages for the first time in the history of Dengeki Bunko (1,091 pages), an unprecedented feat for a light novel paperback. The record was broken again with the publishing of Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere II Part 2 (1,153 pages) and then again with the final volume of the series Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere XI Part 3 (1,160 pages).

Works

Most of Kawakami's works are set in a universe of his own creation. The history of this universe is divided into eras. Works set in the universe are labelled by the era they take place in (for instance Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere is the first series to take place in the GENESIS era, and is thus sometimes referred to as "the 1st GENESIS"). The eras are as follows, listed in chronological order:

• FORTH
• AHEAD
• EDGE
• GENESIS
• OBSTACLE
• CITY / LINKS

Novels

CITY Series

• Panzerpolis 1935 (パンツァーポリス1935) (1996, 1 volume)
• Aerial City (エアリアルシティ) (1997, 1 volume)
• Tune Bust City Hong Kong (風水街都 香港) (1998, 2 volumes)
• Noise City Osaka (奏（騒）楽都市OSAKA) (1999, 2 volumes)
• Closed City Paris (閉鎖都市 巴里) (1999–2000, 2 volumes)
• Panzerpolis Berlin (機甲都市 伯林) (2000–2001, 5 volumes)
• Virtual City DT (電詞都市DT) (2002, 2 volumes)
• Image City SF (創雅都市S.F) (2003, 1 volume, mail order only)
• Zenon City Tokyo (矛盾都市TOKYO) (2005, 1 volume, mail order only)

AHEAD Series

• The Ending Chronicle (終わりのクロニクル) (2003–2005, 14 volumes)

FORTH Series

• Rapid-fire King (連射王) (2007, reprinted 2013, 2 volumes)

GENESIS Series

• Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere (境界線上のホライゾン) (2008–2018, 29 volumes + 3 extra)

OBSTACLE Series

• Clash in the Hexennacht (激突のヘクセンナハト) (2015–2017, 4 volumes)

EDGE Series

• On a Godless Planet (神々のいない星で) (published online 2018–, in print 2019–, 6 volumes)

LINKS Series

• Fangaku!! Tokyo Depths School Life Speedrun (ファン学!! 東京大空洞スクールライフRTA) (published online 2023– in print 2024–, 1 volume)

Awards

• Dengeki Novel Prize
  • 1996 – Gold Prize, Panzerpolis 1935
• Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!
  • 2005 – 3rd place in Best Male Character, Mikoto Sayama, The Ending Chronicle
  • 2006 – 5th place in Best Novel Series, The Ending Chronicle
  • 2006 – 2nd place in Best Male Character, Mikoto Sayama, The Ending Chronicle
  • 2007 – 7th place in Best Novel Series, The Ending Chronicle
  • 2007 – 1st place in Best Male Character, Mikoto Sayama, The Ending Chronicle
  • 2013 – 10th place in Best Novel Series, Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere
  • 2013 – 10th place in Best Male Character, Toori Aoi, Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere

References

1. "エッセイ「私の電撃体験」第6回". Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
2. Kawakami, Minoru (18 June 2003). 電撃hp Volume.24 [Dengeki hp Volume 24]. Tōkyō: Media Works. ISBN 4840224242.
3. パンツァｰポリス1935 [Panzerpolis 1935] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
4. 都市シリーズ エアリアルシティ [City Series Aerial City London] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
5. 都市シリーズ 風水街都 香港<上> [City Series Tune Bust City Hong Kong A] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
6. 都市シリーズ 風水街都 香港<下> [City Series Tune Bust City Hong Kong B] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
7. 都市シリーズ 奏(騒)楽都市OSAKA<上> [City Series Noise City Osaka A] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
8. 都市シリーズ 奏(騒)楽都市OSAKA<下> [City Series Noise City Osaka B] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
9. 都市シリーズ 閉鎖都市 巴里<上> [City Series Closed City Paris A] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
10. 都市シリーズ 閉鎖都市 巴里<下> [City Series Closed City Paris B] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
11. 都市シリーズ 機甲都市 伯林 パンツァｰポリス1937 [City Series Armored City Berlin Panzerpolis 1937] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
12. 都市シリーズ 機甲都市 伯林5 パンツァｰポリス1943 Erste-Ende [City Series Armored City Berlin 5 Panzerpolis 1943 Erste Ende] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
13. 都市シリーズ 電詞都市DT<上> [City Series Virtual City DT A] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
14. 都市シリーズ 電詞都市DT<下> [City Series Virtual City DT B] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
15. ＡＨＥＡＤシリーズ 終わりのクロニクル(1)<上> [AHEAD Series The Ending Chronicle 1 A] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
16. ＡＨＥＡＤシリーズ 終わりのクロニクル(7) [AHEAD Series The Ending Chronicle 7] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
17. FORTHシリーズ 連射王〈上〉 [FORTH Series Rapid-fire King A] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
18. FORTHシリーズ 連射王〈下〉 [FORTH Series Rapid-fire King B] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
19. GENESISシリーズ 境界線上のホライゾンI<上> [GENESIS Series Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere I A] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
20. GENESISシリーズ 境界線上のホライゾンXI＜下＞ [GENESIS Series Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere XI B] (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
21. OBSTACLEシリーズ 激突のヘクセンナハトＩ (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
22. OBSTACLEシリーズ 激突のヘクセンナハトIV (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
23. "神々のいない星で（電撃文庫） – カクヨム". カクヨム – 「書ける、読める、伝えられる」新しい小説投稿サイト (in Japanese). Retrieved 6 January 2020.
24. "EDGEシリーズ 神々のいない星で 僕と先輩の超能力学園OO〈下〉". KADOKAWAオフィシャルサイト (in Japanese). Retrieved 5 November 2024.
25. "ファン学!! 東京大空洞スクールライフRTA（川上 稔／電撃文庫・電撃の新文芸） - カクヨム". カクヨム - 「書ける、読める、伝えられる」新しいWeb小説サイト (in Japanese). 19 October 2024. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
26. "ファン学!! 東京大空洞スクールライフRTA". KADOKAWAオフィシャルサイト (in Japanese). Retrieved 7 November 2024.

External links

• Minoru Kawakami on Twitter (in Japanese)

• Japanese writers
• Light novelists
• Living people
• 1975 births