100 Volumes of Guin Saga Novel Republished as Two Huge Books

by dtshyk
Apr 21, 2009 5:17 AM | 12 Comments

Hayakawa Shobo announced the released of a special edition of "Guin Saga" novel to celebrate its 30th anniversary. The volumes from 1 to 100 are collected into two 1,064-page B4-sized (25.7 x 36.4 cm) books. The price of the set is 24,150 yen (approx. $240).

Source: Hayakawa

Guin Saga series started in 1979 and the author Kurimoto Kaoru has kept on publishing one volume every two months for 30 years. The 126th volume was published on April 5th and the total sales including the extra 22 volumes have reached 30 million copies. She had a cancer in 2007 and has still been under treatment. Kurimoto said "I was able to write 2,000 pages a month, but now I can write only 200 pages or so due to the side effect of the anti-cancer drugs. I hurry myself, and want to proceed as much as possible." She hasn't decided on when and how the finale will be. "I'd also like to know it first."

Source: Yomiuri

12 Comments Recent Comments

Wow, 2,000 pages per month. So, 2,000 pages / 30 days = 67 pages per day, so 67 pages / 8 hours of work = 8 pages per hour.

*** WOW! Assuming she wrote everyday for 8 hours, according to the numbers, she wrote 8 pages per hour, and about 67 per day.

***It's such a shame.... she died before finishing the story....... the ANIME is super AWESOME, and if the novel had all been translated to English, HELL YEAH I would read the whole thing!!!! **The anime only will cover 16 volumes of the 130 volumes !!!! .......... I hope in the anime, we at the very least get to see Guin's REAL FACE !!!!!!! Everyone agrees with me, right? We HAVE TO see Guin's real face in the anime!!!!

(P.S. if someone could find a link somewhere on the net showing Guin's real face, I would sooo forever appreciate it!!! I MUST see his real face!! Ty :P)

Jul 12, 2009 10:29 AM by iETHAN

blackwings said:
Whoa, 100 volumes and its currently 124 in Japan. That's huge. O_O

126 to be exact

Apr 21, 2009 12:24 PM by Serenti

Whoa, 100 volumes and its currently 124 in Japan. That's huge. O_O

Apr 21, 2009 11:40 AM by BlackAssassin

ya think they'll be able to cover it in 26 episodes? ^.^

Anomalous said:
I'm wondering how well-written these books could actually be since the author rushed the writing so much.

thinking the same thing.... I think that must be exhaggerated a bit... it's hard to imagine anyone accomplishing that and coming out with something coherent. Maybe she has good editors?

Apr 21, 2009 8:04 AM by saka

Anomalous said:
I'm wondering how well-written these books could actually be since the author rushed the writing so much.

When you've been writing for 30 years I think that won't be much of an issue. Plus, she has more time to think.

Apr 21, 2009 7:51 AM by kuroshiroi

I'm wondering how well-written these books could actually be since the author rushed the writing so much.

Apr 21, 2009 7:49 AM by Anomalous

dtshyk said:
Kurimoto Kaoru has kept on publishing one volume every two months for 30 years.

...and I always thought that I didn't have a life....

Apr 21, 2009 7:39 AM by Serenti

dtshyk said:
Kurimoto said "I was able to write 2,000 pages a month,

Fuck.

Apr 21, 2009 7:33 AM by DaBigD

She is the Flash of writing!

Apr 21, 2009 5:49 AM by Static

dtshyk said:
Kurimoto said "I was able to write 2,000 pages a month

Holy mother of prolificacy, batman!

ETA: Assuming her pages have the average length of 250 words/page, this means that she wrote 500,000 words a month, for thirty years, while still doing other projects on the side.

And I found 50k/month for NaNoWriMo a challenge. This woman is my idol.

Apr 21, 2009 5:47 AM by QuothTheRaven

Asako said:
How big is a page if she was able to write 2000 a month? How do these novels compare to standard paperbacks?

Guin Saga is not her only work. She wrote hundreds of other novels, reviews and stage scenarios.

Apr 21, 2009 5:43 AM by dtshyk

How big is a page if she was able to write 2000 a month? How do these novels compare to standard paperbacks?

Apr 21, 2009 5:27 AM by Asako