Outarou Maijou

**Outarou Maijou** (舞城(まいじょう) 王太郎(おうたろう), *Maijō Ōtarō*) is a Japanese author. He is known for being the winner of the nineteenth Mephisto Prize. He is also an illustrator, providing the images for some of his works.

In 2010, alongside six other authors, he contributed to the *Hell Detective Pluto O* series under the collective pen name, Matarou Echizen.

## Biography

Maijou's identity is unknown. When he won the Yukio Mishima Award, he became the first ever winner to not show up to the award ceremony. What is known about him is that he was born in 1973 in the Fukui Prefecture. He started his career with the Mephisto Award-winning *Smoke, Soil or Sacrifices*, continuing to publish other books, primarily of the mystery genre, in rapid succession. He also wrote and illustrated for the Faust magazine, alongside other writers such as Nisio Isin, Yuuya Satou and Kouhei Kadono. Many of his works would be nominated for awards such as the Ryuunosuke Akutagawa Award and the Yukio Mishima Award, winning the latter with his 2003 work *Asura Girl*.

In 2005, he was officially announced to be a part of the media company REALCOFFEE, which produces visual works such as movies, animation and games.

From December 15, 2007 to February 17, 2008, he participated in the "Tactile Sense of Literature" exhibition held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, where he presented a work using Type Trace technology which showed the records from the text's creation process.

His 2008 work *Disco Wednesdayyy* was widely praised as a masterpiece, ranked in the top 10 works of Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! and considered to be the Fifth Great Mystery.

In 2010, he worked on *Hell Detective Pluto O* under the name Matarou Echizen, alongside other authors such as Yoshinobu Akita and Otsuichi.

In 2017, an 8-minute long original net animation written and directed by Maijou for the Japan Animator Expo was adapted into a two-part TV special. A novel version of the story is reportedly in the works.

In 2020, he wrote the script for the original anime series *Id: Invaded*, animated by studio NAZ. The series was originally meant to be called *Alien Thursdayyy*, and was meant to be a spiritual successor to *Disco Wednesdayyy*.

## Style

Like other writers of his generation, particularly winners of the Mephisto Prize, Maijou's works are characterized by many elements of meta-fiction and deconstruction of genres. While starting out solely with mystery fiction, Maijou expanded into other genres as well, such as sci-fi. Many of his protagomists fall under the archetype of the hardboiled detective, his stories having a major focus on themes such as sex and violence. Some of his works are also bizarre and surreal, such as his short story *Drill Hole in my Brain*.

While most of his novels are standalone works, the sole exception being the *Natsukawa Saga* trilogy, his works do often share characters and lore, such that later works are best experienced with a certain amount of familiarity with earlier ones. Another aspect of his style is his very frequent use of his birthplace, Fukui Prefecture, as a major location within the story.

## External Links

* Maijou's English Wikipedia Page
* Maijou's Japanese Wikipedia Page
* Maijou's Twitter Account
* REALCOFFEE Website

## Trivia

* The surname of Maijou's pen name means "dance castle", while his first name is written with the character for "king" as a prefix to the common name "Tarou".

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Smoke, Soil or Sacrifices (in Japanese). Published by Kodansha.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Childish Darkness (in Japanese). Published by Kodansha.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 THE WORLD IS MADE OUT OF CLOSED ROOMS. (in Japanese). Published by Kodansha.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Asura Girl (in Japanese). Published by Shinchosha.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Tsukumojuuku (in Japanese). Published by Kodansha.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Tomonaruo Shimi in the Mountains (in Japanese). Published by Kodansha.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Love Love Love You I Love You! (in Japanese). Published by Kodansha.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 SPEEDBOY! (in Japanese). Published by Kodansha.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Disco Detective Wednesday Part One (in Japanese). Published by Shinchosha.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Disco Detective Wednesday Part Two (in Japanese). Published by Shinchosha.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Bitch Magnet (in Japanese). Published by Shinchosha.
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Tree of the Beast (in Japanese). Published by Kodansha.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 NECK (in Japanese). Published by Kodansha.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Hell Detective Pluto O: Double D of Dead Doll (in Japanese). Published by Kodansha.
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 JORGE JOESTAR (in Japanese). Published by Shueisha.
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 The King of the Abyss (in Japanese). Published by Gentosha.
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 The Bear's Nest (in Japanese). Published by Kodansha.
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Everyone Is Fine (in Japanese). Published by Shinchosha.
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 School Attack Syndrome (in Japanese). Published by Shinchosha.
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Ikirukiss (in Japanese). Published by Kodansha.
21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Short Pentagram (in Japanese). Published by Kodansha.
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Youtopia (in Japanese). Published by Shinchosha.
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Hyakutarou Shinya Entrance (in Japanese). Published by Nanarokusha.
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 Hyakutarou Shinya Exit (in Japanese). Published by Nanarokusha.
25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 I Am the Apple of Your Eye (in Japanese). Published by Kodansha.
26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 Still My Own Lovely Lemon (in Japanese). Published by Kodansha.