Creator / Kazuma Kamachi

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"If I don't keep writing, I'll crash. Like an airplane."

— Kamachi explaining how he's able to write such an enormous amount of material in such a short timeframe

A Japanese author of various light novels and manga, best known by his first light novel series, A Certain Magical Index. Kazuma Kamachi is his pen name, his real name and identity are as of yet unknown. Before becoming the famous writer of the Index light novel series, Kamachi wrote a story entitled Schrödinger's City as an entry in the 9th Dengeki Game Novel Prize; unfortunately, his submission failed to reach past the third selection stage of the said competition. However, his story caught the attention of the editor-in-chief of Dengeki, and Kamachi later becomes in-charge in writing the book Want to Try Writing?, which became his debut as a professional writer.

Being known for his prolific nature as a writer and also having stated that writing is his pastime, Kazuma Kamachi has an extensive list of works.

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Kazuma Kamachi's works

• A Certain Magical Index (2004-2010), a light novel series set in a world where science and magic cross paths, with most events taking place in the technologically advanced Academy City located in Japan. It stars Kamijou Touma, a highschool boy with a mysterious ability on his right hand that allows him to negate any kind of supernatural power, be it of esper, magical or divine origin. Continued in a second series called A Certain Magical Index: New Testament (2011-2019). A third series, A Certain Magical Index: Genesis Testament, began in 2020.
  • A Certain Scientific Railgun (2007, ongoing), a Spinoff of the main series starring Misaka Mikoto, one of the main heroines of the series.
    • A Certain Scientific Railgun Gaiden: Astral Buddy (2017-2020), a Spinoff of the Railgun manga starring Hokaze Junko, a previously unnamed minor character in the Railgun manga part of Shokuhou Misaki's clique.
    • A Certain Scientific Mental Out (2021, ongoing), both a sequel to Astral Buddy (drawn by the same artist too) and a Spinoff of the Railgun manga, starring Level 5 Shokuhou Misaki as the main character.
  • A Certain Scientific Accelerator (2013-2020), a Spinoff of the main series starring Accelerator, the second protagonist of the series.
    • A Certain Idol Accelerator-sama (2015-2018), a Spinoff featuring Accelerator and the other Level 5s becoming Idol Singers.
  • A Certain Scientific Dark Matter (2019-2020), a Spinoff of the main series starring Teitoku Kakine, the second ranked Level 5 and Accelerator's Arch-Enemy.
  • A Certain Dark Side of ITEM (2023, ongoing), a prequel to the main series starring Team ITEM, a gang of mercenaries.
• Killer Queen and Deep End (2004) and Killer Device and Never End (2005), two short stories set in a world filled with dangerous killers whose methods of murder cannot be handled with a normal investigation or normal reporting.
• Heavy Object (2009-2021), a light novel series set 20 Minutes into the Future, in a world where gigantic war machines called Objects have completely changed the rules of warfare, rendering all conventional weapons and soldiers practically useless until the protagonists, a battlefield student called Quenser Barbotage and a radar analyst called Heivia Winchell, do the impossible and defeat an Object without using one of their own.
• The Circumstances Leading to Waltraute's Marriage (2012), a romantic comedy taking place in a Norse Mythology setting dealing with the relationship between a young human boy called Jack Elvan and Waltraute, the fourth of the nine Valkyrie sisters. Initially released as a series of three short stories in Dengeki Bunko Magazine, they were compiled into a single light novel with an original extra chapter/story.
• The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village (2012-2015), a light novel series taking place in Japan, where the creation of Intellectual Villages, advanced villages that recreate the atmosphere of old rural villages to promote designer and brand name products made with high-tech tools and traditional methods, has resulted in the emergence of Youkai and with them, Packages, criminal operations making use of their supernatural traits.
• A Simple Survey (2012-2013), a two-novel series set in a world containing a mysterious force known only as the 'absurd'. It consists of A Simple Survey and A Simple Monitoring, both of which are mainly made up of a collection of short stories.
• The Unexplored Summon://Blood-Sign (2014-2019), a light novel series set in a world where humans have perfected the art of calling upon and summoning gods and other mythical creatures by thoroughly researching and combining aspects of the summoning techniques from all cultures, but in the process accidentally discovering the existence of beings that lurk beyond the gods, the Unexplored-class.
• The Circumstances Leading to a Certain Magical Heavy Zashiki Warashi’s Simple Killer Princess's Marriage (2015), a light novel crossover written for his 10th anniversary as a professional writer. Set in the Norse Mythology world seen in Waltraute's novel, as several characters from his previous works mysteriously appear in the fantasy world.
• The Weakness of Beatrice the Level Cap Holy Swordswoman That Made Being the Strongest Even More Trouble – His Name? Boo Boo (2016-2019), a light novel series set in an alternate world of swords and magic with a game-like system, where Beatrice, considered the strongest human, made a promise to a small orc.
• My Vampire Older Sister and Zombie Little Sister (2016, ongoing), a web novel series posted on Kamachi's official website. The virtual reality environment simulator created by the main character, a boy named Amatsu Satori, is used by his zombie little sister and vampire older sister to compete with each other to infect the residents of the virtual city, all in order to solve a heated debate brought upon Satori's careless words: “If a zombie and vampire went all out, which one would win?”.
• I No Longer Know How to Define N and Fantasy (2016), a set of two short stories published in Dengeki Bunko Magazine following a nameless first-person protagonist working as a treasure hunter in Japan after a mysterious event called the Collapse of N destroyed the old modern world and brought fantasy, magic and monsters to Earth.
• Magistellus Bad Trip (2018-2020), a web novel (later adapted into a light novel series). The protagonist Kaname Suou is a Dealer, a player in Money (Game) Master, the world's biggest VR online game and an open world financial game in which all sorts of illegal actions like violence and theft are allowed in the pursuit of Snow, the game's currency. Due to the game's massive popularity, Snow is a virtual currency with growing influence in the real world, thus making the game's conflicts part of the global economy.
• Sorcery Hacker >> Divulge the Magic Vulnerability (2019, ongoing), a light novel series set in a fantasy world where humans have established dominance over monsters with sorcery devices, advanced technology that uses magic to function. The protagonist, Ayato Criminaltrophy, is a Sorcery Hacker mercenary that arrives at Sky City Celedileka with his partner Teleria to bust out a human trafficking group, uncovering a much more dangerous threat to the city in the process.
• Apocalypse Witch: To the Strongests of an Age of Plenty (2019, ongoing), a light novel series set in a world besieged by a mysterious Threat that wipes out cities and countries overnight. A select few humans have the ability to use the cutting-edge magic technology known as Crystal Magic, and those with said talent are gathered in Ocean Crystal Magic Academy Grimnoah to train to fight the Threat. Karuta Utagai is a student at Grimnoah, but his life is changed by the sudden visit of one of the Problem Solvers, the world's five strongest magicians who all use old-fashioned God Worshipping Magic. The Problem Solver speaks to the entire student body, calling them all incompetent and announcing the shut down of Grimnoah, thus opening the curtain to a clash between the new magic and the old magic.
• When The Cute Kunoichis Spied on Their Teacher's Secret (2019, ongoing), a web novel (later adapted into a light novel series), taking place in a world where Japan never ended their isolationist phase, and agents from foreign powers are always threatening to steal the country's advanced technology. In order to combat this threat there has been a resurgence of ninjas that use techniques that combine modern technology and traditional methods. The story follows Souha Sugiyado, a 17-year old ninja instructor and former ninja prodigy who was forced to retire from active duty by the wounds he suffered in his last mission.
• Godhorn Tech and the 11 Destroyers (2021), a light novel series and novelization of a video game of the same name that was ultimately cancelled. The story takes place in a fantasy world where the horns of the powerful life forms known as Wicked Gods can be used as the cores of powerful sorcery weapons called Godhorn Tech. The protagonist, Miyabi Blackgarden, is an ordinary lumberjack apprentice living a normal life until he suddenly stumbles into a duel between two Godhorn Tech users in the forest surrounding his village
• I Can Only Use One Kind of Magic, but I Say I Hit the Jackpot if it Lets Me Flirt with a Cool and Cute Dark Elf (2021), a fantasy light novel. The story follows Klaus Knockburn, a boy studying magical biology at the Court Magic Academy that has searched since childhood for the mysterious dark elves only heard of in legends.

He also helped work on the anime adaptations of A Certain Magical Index (including its movie A Certain Magical Index: Miracle of Endymion) and A Certain Scientific Railgun. He also wrote the story for the Square Enix mobile card battle game Million Arthur.

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Kazuma Kamachi and his works provide examples of:

• Author Appeal: There are several recurrent themes and tropes in his works, from main characters with a limited power or no power that win against larger threats thanks to smarts, guts and luck to extensive worldbuilding, the use of occult and mythology and, of course, fanservice.

  Kamachi: I think demons have more appeal than angels as far as moe aspects go, but that may just be my subconscious desire for more revealing outfits.

  • Kamachi has mentioned that one of his favorite parts of Norse Mythology are the valkyries and Hel, which is probably why multiple versions of them have appeared on his various series.
  • In his crossover novel Kamachi mentions that he finds girls wearing a long, white, dress-like outfit to have a powerful mystique; which explains the central figures of some of his works.
• Massive Multiplayer Crossover: He wrote a light novel that crosses over all his works called The Circumstances Leading to a Certain Magical Heavy Zashiki Warashi’s Simple Killer Princess's Marriage, released on Feb. 10, 2015. He has also written more comedic crossovers between most of his works in the form of several short stories released on his official page.
• Milestone Celebration: On April 10, 2014, the tenth anniversary of A Certain Magical Index's debut, his first work, he made ten announcements about his various works, including a Massive Multiplayer Crossover between his various works.
• Reclusive Artist: He's so reclusive that his background and looks are not known to the public. Kiyotaka Haimura (A Certain Magical Index's illustrator) and Yuyuko Takemiya (Toradora!'s author) have met him in person. Kiyotaka only commented that he seems to be a sports-oriented guy, and Yuyuko commented that he's very young-looking.
• What Could Have Been: Kamachi has stated that he has written ideas for several stories that in the end didn't quite work out. Some of these ideas were put into A Simple Survey, but others remain completely unseen, such as an entire unreleased Heavy Object volume with Mariydi Whitewitch as the protagonist.
• Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: In the last volume of The Zashiki Warashi of Intellectual Village Kamachi mentions that, unlike his other long series, he started writing without any idea of what the ending of the series or even what the next volume would be, for most of the series just focusing in writing what he wanted to see, what he wanted to do, and what he wanted to try out and then using the foreshadowing created on one volume to connect it to the next one.