The Deaths of Tadashi Hirose and Masashi Otomo: The Lost Light of Imagination and Its Succession (Early 1970s)

The Deaths of Tadashi Hirose and Masashi Otomo: The Lost Light of Imagination and Its Succession (Early 1970s)

In the early 1970s, the untimely deaths of two geniuses, Tadashi Hirose and Shoji Otomo, sent shockwaves through the world of Japanese science fiction. Hirose was a writer with a science background who attempted to depict human emotions and philosophy through science, realizing a "fusion of the everyday and the extraordinary" in works such as "Minus Zero" and "Zisu," which dealt with time and causality. His light and intellectual style influenced Hoshi Shinichi and Tsutsui Yasutaka, and it is said that if he had lived longer, Japanese science fiction would have evolved in a more profoundly humanistic direction.

On the other hand, Shoji Otomo was an editor who led the visual SF culture by creating monster books and future prediction charts for "Shonen Magazine" and other publications. His creativity provided a "bridge" between science and fantasy and gave many children dreams, but his untimely death at a young age severed that trend.

Their deaths brought a "season of loss" to Japanese science fiction, but their remaining colleagues vowed to carry on their imagination. Sakyo Komatsu focused on the ethics of science, Shinichi Hoshi on human allegory, and Yasutaka Tsutsui deepened his experiments with language, keeping their aspirations alive in their works. The tragedy of this event was the catalyst for Japanese science fiction to reach maturity and open up new horizons without letting the fires of creation go out of control.