I released a digital magazine called Deadly Poison Denpa Bad Trip.

　I released an electronic magazine called Deadly Poison Denpa Bad Trip.

　I think the titles alone convey the essence of the content more than sufficiently, and I can confidently say that the content itself is rich enough to live up to expectations. I reached out to my favorite writers, asking, “Don’t you have a bunch of interesting stories you can’t write about in public?” and I was delighted that they all jumped on board right away.

　I did the outreach and the planning, but Fumiya handled all sorts of other things. It’s really an extension of the relationship we built making doujin magazines together back in the day. Having one of his poems at the very beginning really gives the magazine a sense of shape. Thank you.

　By the way, there’s also a reader submission page at the end of the magazine, so I’d love for people to send in their intense experiences in droves. Let’s all build this strange, inexplicable publication together.

　This time, I felt that “talking about the internet has become such a pain that I can’t really do it on the internet anymore,” so for the first time in a while I wrote extensively about the internet. But from the next issue onward, I’m thinking of stepping a bit more into stories from real life. I’ve had plenty of experiences overseas, after all, and some of them are hard to write about in public.

　Below are my thoughts on the contents, excluding my own column.

・The Shotacon Lady Who Loves Grotesque Crimes, an Otaku from Poland / Fumiya Iwakura

　I’ve known Fumiya for a very long time now, and he’s interesting because bizarre encounters seem to happen to him at the oddest moments. Reading this, I found myself thinking that, distorted as it may be, this too is probably a kind of youth. Looking back, our connection began when he finished his period of school refusal and moved to Tokyo for university, and messaged me saying, “I want to try talking with you.” It makes me happy to think that I too was able to play the role of one strange adult among his many unusual encounters.

・The Touhou Fan Who Made a Virus That Forced People to Play Touhou Seirensen / Akano Kousaku

　Akano immediately sent over several ideas that “probably couldn’t be published in mainstream game media,” and this was the one I personally most wanted to read. This kind of utter absurdity is exactly what I loved about the internet, and it leaves me intoxicated with the lingering scent of old text sites.

・My Encounter with LSD / Satoshi Kizawa

　This project was practically set in motion from the start on the assumption that I would definitely ask Kizawa to contribute, so when he delivered something this directly in line with what I wanted to read, I was thrilled. Reading this had such a direct influence on me that it made me want to write more of my own memories in this vein next time. I really hope readers will get to experience a bad trip vicariously through it.

・From Index to BBS, and Then to SNS — What Is “UG” Seeking, and Where Is It Headed? / Nashi

　This column came out of a casual conversation with Nashi, when we naturally found ourselves agreeing, “We don’t really use Google search anymore, do we?” (because erotic and grotesque content gets censored). There’s something thrilling about it, like peering directly into the underground internet history of the still-young Nashi. As I read it, I kept thinking, we really came through the same places, and found myself reflecting on the past.

・The Cry of the Bienfu / Machinery Tomoko

　This was a column that went over especially well with the other writers. I like it too. Because it’s drenched in ego and faintly bleak.

　When I consulted about a theme for the manuscript, he said, “More than anything, I have this pent-up frustration with life,” so I asked her to write exactly that. And what came back was, how should I put it, the undiluted concentrate. This is it, this is exactly it! I was practically jumping with excitement. "I want to become a creator, I want to become an artist, but I can’t quite reach it, and I keep drifting further and further away from society!"

　And yet there is a decadent, one-of-a-kind kind of art that can only be born in that sort of environment.

・Why Make a Magazine in the Modern Age (and Why We Should)? / Jini

　Jini, too, is someone from the game writer world who carries a pent-up frustration toward the internet, along with a longing for the age of magazines. I feel that, in a good way, his seriousness adds to the range of the magazine. I believe a magazine should be made up of many different points of view, after all. On top of that, the conclusion he reaches about the modern internet is tremendously rewarding to read. It reveals Jini’s cool-headed yet passionate determination not to give up on media.

・Memories of the Police Officers when Child Pornography was Seized / Kapio

　This is a contribution from a friend whose way of living is, in a sense, perhaps the furthest outside society.

　The way he lives, carrying sexual tastes that no one understands, feels like something that ought to “remain in writing,” no matter how socially unforgivable it may be—or rather, precisely because of that. And simply put, it’s such an extraordinarily rare firsthand experience that it makes for compelling reading. In a good sense, it’s also a raw piece of writing that could only come from someone who is, at the end of the day, nothing more than a lolicon.