Translation Works
To Japanese
The 5th Selected Works
Colorful
TITLE
Colorful
(Karafuru)
AUTHOR
Translator
ENGLISH / Christopher Belton
Originally Published by:
Rironsha (1998)
KEY POINTS
  • Adapted into a full-length animated feature film, released in Japan (August 2010) - see the trailer: http://colorfulmovie.jp/index.html and for more information about the film in English: www.nipponcinema.com/trailers/colorful-trailer.
  • A masterpiece of juvenile fantasy by a top writer of children's literature.
  • Awarded the 46th Sankei Children's Publishing Culture Prize.
SYNOPSIS
"Congratulations! You've won the lottery!" said an angel to me, who was supposed to have already died. I had lost memories of my past life by then, but it seemed that I had committed a serious crime in my previous life. Thanks to the fact that I won the lottery, they gave me the chance to be sent back down to the Earth to live again and atone for the crime I committed in my previous life by entering the body of a 14-year-old boy, Makoto Kobayashi, who just had tried to commit suicide by poisoning. However, I soon found that this Makoto Kobayashi was a geek, had no friends, and possessed nothing special other than a talent for painting. His family was utterly hopeless too. The father was utilitarian, happy about his promotion as a result of the fall of his boss, the mother flirted with her flamenco teacher, and the elder brother with excellent academic results was nasty to me. My dream girl, Hiroka Kuwabara, who was a year younger than I, had too many things to buy and wouldn't mind having sex with middle-aged men for money. Having said that, no matter how terrible my host family and my surroundings were, 'Live and let live'. I had Makoto's hair cut and made his geeky hair style cool, withdrew his savings and bought a pair of fashionable sneakers, and I became friends with a boy named Saotome. I was going to die again soon after I entered high school, because there was a fixed time limit for my second try at life, but I started to study very hard to pass the entrance exam for high school. Gradually, the way I looked at the good points and bad points of others changed. "There is black, and there is white. There is red and blue, as well as yellow. The world is very colorful". Then, one day, I came to realize what the serious crime I committed in my previous life was....
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