The latest music x youth story “Kyoukai no Melody 2” drawn by Toshiya Miyata, an active member of Kis-My-Ft2, will be released on Tuesday, November 25, 2025! Set in the rock mecca of London, Mr. Miyata writes about the challenges of the three-piece band Samuraier, who appeared in the previous work, in a fresh style.
To write this work, Miyata visited London on a bulletin schedule of 4 days and 2 nights. Without the experience he gained there, he said, “This work would not have been possible.'' He talked about the content of the story, the feelings he put into the characters, and even the drama CD that comes with the special edition!
The writing of the second volume began under great pressure as the previous work received high praise.
–I think Volume 1 of “Kyoukai no Melody” received a great response. What kind of reactions have you received from readers, Miyata-san's fans, people who work nearby, etc.?
Mr. Toshiya Miyata (hereinafter referred to as Miyata):I saw a post on social media that a student had chosen “Kyoukai no Melody'' for their book review, and the children I co-starred with were also reading it, so I felt that more people were reading it than I ever imagined.
I also had people in my industry say, “I read it.'' People at the accessory shop I often go to said to me, “I cried when I read Kyoukai no Melody!'' (lol). When I went there recently, it seemed like they had pre-ordered the second volume as well. I still get along well with Kento Ito, who appeared on the drama CD, including Sakuma (Daisuke), so I think we have a good atmosphere as a team.
――The first volume achieved the feat of winning four awards at the “Next Light Novel Awards 2024,'' so it must have been a lot of pressure to write a sequel.
Miyata:There were so many! (Laughs) I was like, “What should I do now?” When I was writing Volume 2, I kept asking the editor in charge, “Is this interesting?'' (laughs) They told me, “It's okay, have confidence. It's fun.'' However, there were many times when I became skeptical and wondered, “Is it really funny!?'' In the first volume, there was the pain of creating a “1” from a “0”, but in the second volume, there was a different kind of pain in expanding the “1”.
When working as an idol, I have decided that if there is a moment where I neglect the activities of an idol (other than that), I will stop doing everything else, and if I can't do that properly, I don't have the qualifications to do anything else. Therefore, it was difficult to balance this with writing. However, I believe that if I don't suffer like that, I won't be able to write stories, and on the other hand, I think it would be difficult to write only as a writer.
–By the way, what was the most difficult part of writing this?
Miyata:It's a revision work. “Why don't we bring this development later?'' or “No, maybe it's better to bring it earlier.'' I take all the blueprints of the story apart and rearrange them, but this is difficult… (Looking at the editor) Hey! (Laughs) I was so heartbroken over the revisions that I thought, “Oh no, what should I do! Oh… let's go get a drink now! Let's do our best starting tomorrow!'' (Laughs)
It was also difficult in terms of schedule. I didn't have any time off until the work was completed, and the last time I took a full day off was around New Year's holiday, so I was facing it. But… now that I think about it, it was fun.
–When did you have the idea for Volume 2?
Miyata:When the first volume was released, I had already decided what would become of Samurai after this. I was asked if I would like to write about that (as a sequel), so I said, “I'll do my best!''
I wanted to focus on Samuraiers because they were the coolest band I wrote about in Volume 1. I had a lot of fun imagining what happened after the Samuraiers departed, so I wrote the second volume centered around them.
