The author of the Elfen Lied manga in Lynn Okamoto has taken to Twitter to elaborate on why his work doesn't feature one item so commonplace in Japanese society that it inspires its own subculture in the cellphone. Citing the desire to avoid needlessly dating his work for future generations, Okamoto decided early on to avoid drawing them into Elfen Lied simply to avoid taking future readers out of the story. much as he felt when reading Mitsuru Adachi's Miyuki manga which was written during the 80's and a favorite of his when he was younger. before becoming an author himself.

Citing the appearance of a no longer printed bank note in the manga as the reason for losing the sense of immersion he originally felt reading the story, he decided from that point on to avoid drawing anything that could peg his work to a specific time period, stating that he wants his work to feel timeless, regardless of when it was actually written. He also refuses to draw home electronics and other current technology due to this observation.

via ITMedia

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