Title: [映]アムリタ [(Ei) Amrita]
Author: Mado Nozaki
Publisher: Ascii Media Works (2009)
English translation: None at present
Ai’ichi Futami is in his second year of art college when he’s asked to be the lead actor in an indie film, “Ocean of the Moon”. His interest is piqued because the film is to be directed by first-year Moyaha Saihara; she’s rumoured to be a genius whose entry film convinced the panel to unanimously admit her to the college. The circumstances grow stranger when Futami finds he’s been drafted in to replace another student, Sadamoto, who recently died in an accident—and who had only just started going out with Saihara.
Things start to get really weird when Futami reads Saihara’s storyboard for the film. He’s utterly consumed by it, poring over it for 56 hours straight and waking up in a daze, parched and starving. He talks to camera operator Kakusu and sound director Kanemori and finds they’ve had similar experiences, though he seems to have been the worst affected. The nature of Saihara’s genius is becoming clearer—something about the things she creates exerts a strong grip on whoever reads or watches them.
A visit to Saihara’s apartment throws up more questions. Her wall is covered in pictures of Sadamoto, and Futami also find the storyboard for another film, “Amrita”, which seems to be an alternative version of “Ocean of the Moon”. Saihara explains nothing, but the four-person crew have faith in her talent and set to work to realise her vision. However, Kanemori privately expresses doubts to Futami, believing Saihara is skilled enough to have made the whole thing without their help. When they finally view the film, Futami is underwhelmed. It’s good, but not genius — it doesn’t seem like this is what Saihara has been working towards the whole time.
The story continues — but I’m not going to give away any more. Suffice it to say that Futami and Saihara get closer, and Futami begins to see the true power of Saihara’s mind and her films, her reasons for enlisting him in his role, and the purpose of “Amrita” — a discovery that may change his life forever.
I read this book because I was keen to read more by Mado Nozaki after enjoying his sci-fi short story “The Fifth Horizon”. I was also spinning my wheels in the mud a bit in terms of reading, and thought a light novel (for I presume that’s what this is) might be a good way to get going again. And it was — it felt like a pretty easy read. The story is far-fetched but good fun, and I like the way it starts as a campus novel/rom com but turns into a bit of a thriller in a way I hadn’t expected.
What I wasn’t keen on was the characterisation of Saihara. She’s a genius, a liar, quiet, with lots going on inside her head that she doesn’t reveal — all good. But then on a couple of occasions she randomly makes sexual remarks or flashes her underwear in a bid to fluster Futami. This felt like it was thrown in just for titillation, and was not my cup of tea. I suspect maybe this is a feature of light novels, which draw heavily from tropes found in manga and anime, but I haven’t read enough to judge yet. Anyway, this kept throwing me out of what was otherwise an enjoyable read.
Yomikai 