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Legend of the Galactic Heroes Novelist Yoshiki Tanaka Suffered Debilitating Hemorrhage Last Year
posted on by Egan Loo
According to Adachi, Tanaka had collapsed at a convenience store near his office, so a store worker quickly called emergency services. Adachi credited Tanaka's survival to the fortunate coincidence that his collapse happened at the store with other people around, and not at his office when he was all alone on a Saturday. However, the hemorrhage left him with damage to his brain that affected his motor functions.
Since Tanaka's longtime office was not designed to accomodate people with disabilities, he and his staff were forced to clear out his library of ten of thousands of publications and move out of that office.
Nevertheless, Adachi reported that Tanaka has not lost the creative will, as he "still has more he wants to write," and continues to do so in composition notebooks. Adachi asked Tanaka's fans for their patience and understanding, as Tanaka cannot release new works or hold autograph sessions and other events for now — although Tanaka is still striving hard for his eventual return.
Tanaka was born in Tokyo in October 22, 1952. He is best known for his epic space opera science fiction novel series The Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and his epic fantasy novel series The Heroic Legend of Arslan, both of which have inspired multiple anime and manga adaptations. Tanaka ended the Arslan series in its 16th volume in 2017. The second major anime adaptation of The Legend of the Galactic Heroes has been in production since 2017.
Tanaka launched the Sohryuden: Legend of the Dragon Kings novel series in 1987, and ended it after 15 volumes in 2020. The novels inspired a 12-episode OVA series from 1991 to 1993, and Kōji Megumi drew a manga adaptation of the novels in Kodansha's Magazine Special from 2004 to 2006.
Sources: Oricon, Hiroaki Adachi's X/Twitter account via Hachima Kikō
