Light Novel thread What are you reading?

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>>16456915
Nothing right now, waiting for v05 of Kumoko to be released in 2 weeks.

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Barely have any time for anything. Probably won't even be able to finish shuumatsu before the anime.
Also had pic related in the backlog for ages now.

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>>16457208
>shuumatsu

I still have the fifth volume of that lying around here, but I'm not sure if I really want to read it, given how v04 ended.
I'm afraid that it'll either be super depressing, or a huge asspull "and then everything was fixed, because magic"-ending

>>16457290
>super depressing,
I hope it is.

Where to get news on new Japanese releases?

>>16460219
I just bookmark the official sites for every label and check them every month. They'll put up new releases one or two months in advance.

>>16457208
>>16457290
Is sukasuka really the GOAT LN like what everyone is saying?
Reading the the synopsis it sounds like your typical post apocalypse story with cute girls.

>>16461389
>Is sukasuka really the GOAT LN like what everyone is saying?
no, but it's good

What's your favorite program for reading LNs/manga?

Honeyview? CDisplay?

>>16461494
For LNs I use Ebookjapan's reader.

For manga: Honeyview.

Currently reading Shakunetsu no Kobayakawa-san.

>>16461389
It's okay because it doesn't follow the usual clichés, even though it is indeed a post apocalyptic world with cute girls.

Entry level stuff like Oregairu and whatever is rated high on MAL. I also plan to read Index. Any other recommendations?

I don't know any Japanese.

>>16469224
>I don't know any Japanese.
Then you should fix that.

>>16469224
I recommend you stop reading Index at the end of Volume 22.

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Working through this ahead of the anime airing this Spring; I actually bought up through volume 7 but I doubt the anime will adapt past the third if it's one cours. It's enjoyable, but the author is awfully long-winded, I feel like he could cut down on the exposition by half and be fine.

Also reading Sukasuka like some other anons in this thread, only through one volume so far though. I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't just another chuuni battle LN like I thought it would be from the artwork.

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>>16456915
sagrada reset and shuumatsu bla bla bla.

Struggling through Youjo Senki. Holy crap, this novel is by far the hardest to read out of all I've read so far.

don't die, LN thread

>>16469746
Is the shimakaze LN actually good?
Seems like Spice and Wolf with the male being the furry companion?

Meanwhile, stocked up with psychome, sukasuka and hataraku to read through the new year.

Is 君の名は an LN or a 小説？

>>16476772
But LN=小説

>>16476811
Not a series

>>16476817
What do you mean?

>>16476822
A novel is a single volume. Am I wrong?

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I thought light novel was just a direct translation for 小説.

>>16476843
I was under the impression that they're two separate tings.

A "light novel" is actually a series of novels aimed at a young adult audience, often getting anime adaptations. A novel is a single volume, aimed toward adults, that isn't often adapted to anime.

君の名は was adapted to an anime and seems to be aimed more toward young adults so I was just wondering which one it would be categorized under.

>>16476853
>A "light novel" is actually a series of novels
>A novel is a single volume
But 響け！ユーフォニアム is a novel series, and イリヤの空、UFOの夏 is a light novel.

>>16476843
小説 is just the chink version of LN
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condor_Trilogy
Really nothing much separating them with current LN.

The distinction between ライトノベル and 小説 (or 一般小説) is entirely a market distinction, it has no meaning other than who the publisher is intending to sell the books to. Books on labels like Dengeki Bunko are considered light novels not because of anything inherent to them, but because Kadokawa puts anime pictures on them and markets them primarily to younger aged nerds. Hibike! Euphonium is a series that has all the trappings of a light novel series, but it's not considered one purely because it's published under Takarajimasha Bunko which is not considered a light novel label (you can check their website to see the kind of stuff they usually put out)

君の名は is pretty good

I want to buy a light novel on Kindle because it isn't uploaded anywhere but I can't because Amazon doesn't take Paypal. Kill me

>>16497364
If you're not particular about reading it on a Kindle device, there are plenty of other ebook sites out there. I know Bookwalker takes Paypal

>>16499257
Well I kind of am. Reading on PC is a pain and bookwalkers DRM is very annoying.

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>>16456915

I'm reading this currently. Rarely I have seen an author take such a huge dump on their own series. Between this and Monogatari, he clearly stopped giving a shit about writing a long time ago.

>>16501695
Can you explain?

>>16501695

We went from occult serial killer cabals and Christie-esque mystery plots, to giant tin men and mermaids. Hopefully I don't need to elaborate further.

>>16476843
Close but not quite. You forgot to translate the "light" part.

>>16477534
Lolno, those are regular novels in China too. Light novels are called 轻小说 there.

I was reading blood:sign, but I didn't like the writing. I ended up reading until the sister first shows up, and still didn't enjoy it much.

Slowly going through Spice & Wolf, but that's getting boring. Especially now that kid joined.

Planning on giving rokujouma a try soon.

>>16513242
>I was reading blood:sign,
>Kamachishit
>but I didn't like the writing.
lol, of course, why do you even picked up this shit?

>>16513205
They are used for the same things in both languages, regardless of if you want to directly translate the English word

>>16514601
Yeah, but at the very least I'm certain that Condor Trilogy for example is treated as a regular novel.

>>16515352
>buyfag thread
>OSU thread
>numerous /h/, /e/ & /c/ threads

if they're going to enforce rules at least do it consistently
at least the majority of LN have manga or anime adaptions

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Has anyone read the pseudo sequel to Shuumatsu?
I need to spend my bookwalker coins before they expire.

>>16515381
You didn't like the first series or something? It's a nobrainer otherwise.

>>16515806
I still need to read the last volume.
The new series looks different judging by the synopsis and illustrations.

So I've always liked the idea of the whole reincarnated/transported to another world subgenre, but sometimes I really think that the presence of a harem has pretty much ruined most of those stories. I really just don't understand the appeal of harem I suppose. I guess it just boils down to wish fulfillment but I really just don't get why there's not more attempts at a good traditional romance or multiple characters hooking up. Are readers gonna feel THAT cucked if the MC doesn't have every chick?

>>16517073
Harem elements were always present in almost every weeb media. It's nothing new.

>>16515378
>at least the majority of LN have manga or anime adaptions
This is not even remotely true.

>>16517073
I agree. I can't stand harem LNs, which is almost every LN with a male protag. I pretty much only read ones with female MC because of that. It also helps that being a cute little girl is my dream.

>>16513988
Yeah, yeah. I never read any of his other works, so figured I might as well start here. Not the best choice.

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>>16497364
There are some sites that sell Amazon Japan gift cards that take Paypal. Japan Codes is one of them (https://www.japan-codes.com/). You'd have to pay a markup but you could then use that gift card to buy LNs for your Kindle.

Is anyone else planning on buying the last ZnT novel?

>>16457173
who are the elves? manga is only at chapter 14 with the monkey.

>>16517073
Man that exchange rate is fucking expensive though. 57€ to get 40€ worth Yen.

>>16517637
Potimas and Oka-san.

>>16517073
Cause having a harem in the story makes it so you can make merchandise of them to sell

Just finished Arifuretia Vol 3.
I actually enjoyed it close to to end of Vol 3. Then it made a 180 nosedive into shittyness and Hajimes just got ridiculus power ups and all his downsides (lost an eye, lost an arm) got easily replaced.

And his new shitty "lol I dont care about the world or any person in there except if its somebody in my harem" personality is annoying.

>>16517628
>Is anyone else planning on buying the last ZnT novel?

Yes. It's gonna take a while to read all the other novels though, I've only read the first 3 ones so far. Buying complete sets of used LNs is super cheap. And the japanese really take care of their stuff, so "used" is basically like new.

>>16518868
Why would anyone start reading ZnT in 2017? I can understand growing up with it and finishing it for the sake of it, but there's so much better stuff nowadays.

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>>16518885
>but there's so much better stuff nowadays.

but none of that stuff has Louise in it

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Waiting on Accel World vol. 9 to come out.

I'm somewhat getting tired of the series though, everything in the series is about mental trauma.
There are also plot holes...
Want to see how it ends, but man there are already 21 volumes in japanese and they still keep coming. It's like some fucking Akagi manga, just please finish it already.

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Does anyone know where this guy's uploading his stuff?

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Anyone here reading this?
great series with lots of suffering

Lately I have more time for reading than watching anime. I want to get into Haruhi. Am I missing a lot by just reading the LN and not watching the anime?

>>16524194
> Am I missing a lot by just reading the LN
A few short stories like baseball episode and a big arc like disappearance.

>>16524194
You're literally missing nothing, it's the source material you doofus. You'd be missing things if you watched the anime.

>>16524194
When you get to the part of Disappearance, definitely watch the movie first. It's heaps better.

>>16520703
Knowing russian sure helps.

>>16521908
Goddess.

>>16526082
But he said he'll stop uploading there.

>>16470573
>sagrada reset

There's the original release from 2009 and the rerelease from last year.
But the latter only lists an author, and no illustrator, so I'm assuming they removed the anime illustrations to market it to normalfags watching the live-action-adaption?

>>16520703
How far did the russian translation get?

>>16526045
Whoops, replied to a wrong post in >>16527399

So, apparently they got it translated up to volume 20 at ruranobe.ru.

Coincidentally, I do know russian, so I will be reading the russian fan translation instead of waiting *years* for Yen Press to get the professional english translation done.
At the current pace of 3 volumes per year, it will take Yen Press 4 years to catch up with the russian translation.

>>16527464
I have also found a youtube channel where one guy makes light novel "audio books" in russian.
Pretty interesting stuff.

>>16527774
Russians also have Chaika LNs fully translated.

>>16520703
Speaking of kawahara, moon cradle comes out on Friday. I really hope it has a map of the planet and solar system.

If you're reading translations might as well not bother with LNs. Extremely limited (bad) selection, unreasonable wait between releases and most important of all, the translations are almost always a mess to the point where it has nothing to do with the original work anymore.

>>16528621
And why can't this be said about every translated medium?

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>>16528769
Translation quality wise manga and anime are pretty shaky but they both have a pretty good selection and not too bad wait times most of the time.

>>16528621
Not to mention that machine translations are extremely common. At that point you might as well just make up your own story to go with the illustrations.
>>16528769
Literary fiction has plenty of good translators (read: people with experience, qualification and mastery of both languages, rather than some random fuwanovel dude who took 2 semesters of Japanese at his community college), anime subs are usually serviceable.

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Just ordered the Mary Skelter spin-off novel.
The game wasn't that good, but the setting was cool, so I'm hoping for more of that.

Every volume of sukasuka is available on amazon sold by amazon, except for volume 3.

>>16532639
Just buy a set instead
https://www.amazon.co.jp/終末なにしてますか-文庫-全5巻完結セット-角川スニーカー文庫-枯野/dp/B01EIWFC6W/

>>16528621
>translations are almost always a mess to the point where it has nothing to do with the original work anymore.
I mean, you seem to be greatly exaggerating the inaccuracy of translations. Can provide an example of this? I can tolerate the translator missing a pun or something, but your claim that the translation no longer resembles the original work sounds ridiculous.

>>16532659
I need it to ship to the UK.
Do those sets ship to where you are?

I started Zaregoto and I don't like how it starts in like the middle of the story or whatever. Casually dropping all these character names without a proper introduction...does it get better?

Does anyone know what happened to the How to kill reincarnators WN? It was my favorite WN so far :(

>>16532710
Do you absolutely need the physical version?

>>16532864
I'm afraid so.

>>16532639
Have you tried Honto? Their shipping is quite a bit cheaper than Amazon for small orders (though quite a bit slower, too). They ship worldwide and it looks like they have both the full set and also just the third volume in stock.

>>16532747
>he doesn't like in medias res

it's a well-established storytelling device you know

>>16533234
I'll take a look at that, thanks, although I've never used their service before. I should probably stop relying on amazon so much.

>>16532747
I thought Kubikiri Cycle spent too long on character introductions, if anything. There's some of that in the next book, but after that the new characters are almost all new to Iichan as well.

>>16532710
Just make an account on amazon.co.jp and put in your UK delivery address. It'll tell you if it ships to you.

I am currently reading the Kimi no Na wa LN, the one without illustrations.

It's pretty good as far as LNs go, in terms of writing. More detail than most I have read to help the imagination.

I wonder what I will think of the movie after I finish reading it. About half way through right now (and I already know enough that there's no point spoiling me).

>>16538409
Yeah, I meant to imply that those sets don't ship to a UK address, and was wondering if they shipped to any other western countries.

>>16546169
I was able to buy sets off Amazon Marketplace previously (from the United States) but lately I haven't been able to find a single item that will ship to me, even from vendors that I've previously purchased from successfully. Dunno what's up with that

>>16546169
>>16532710
Do you not know what a forwarder is? You can get anything to ship to you if you pay a bit extra. For books you're probably looking at less than 1k extra as opposed to buying straight from amazon. Not a bad deal.

>>16528769
The Japanese→English LN translation scene is particularly bad and it doesn't help when a lot of light novels are riddled with 悪文。

Just finished vol. 2 of Sukasuka. How many times are they going to make me think Kutori is dead before they actually kill her?

>>16551543
She actually dies the next time. But there might be a way to resurrect her (I haven't read book 5 yet)

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>>16551765
Haven't read book 5 either but I think she reincarnates somehow.

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I hate the fact that I have such shit taste. It's been nearly 10 months since a Kenja no Mago chapter got a good translation, but I guess I can't blame the translator for getting sick.

>>16553707
Just learn japanese filthy peasant.

I'm slowly reading Zaregoto and I'm 70 pages in and absolutely nothing has happened at all. Truly Nisio is a master of writing dozens of pages about nothing happening. When does something happen?

>>16556476
Page 1.

>>16517073
Well if you're talking about narou reincarnation/transported harems I blame stuff like MT where the author just has to make it a harem despite already having a heroine with great development and chemistry. Though at least that one turned out be a real polygamous relationship with kids and family instead of dangling the harem aspect around and not doing anything with it, but it was still poorly executed.

>>16556499
you mean 100?

>>16557762
No.

>>16557771
If by things happening you mean 20 page character introductions, yeah

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Anyone read Boogiepop here?

>>16538427
Holy crap that was a satisfying read.

what are good single volumes

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>>16568267
RINGADAWN
There are three standalone volumes set in the same world but I've only read 妖精姫と灰色狼
It's medieval fantasy but without magic or anything unrealistic.

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>>16568267
紫色のクオリア

>>16568267
Strange Strange
ただ、それだけでよかったんです
妖姫のおとむらい
This >>16572211

>>16584876
>Strange Strange
Can't find this, author?
Also did you buy the ebook versions of the other two? If so I'd be grateful if you uploaded them.

>>16585153
Author is 浅井ラボ. And I have the physical books only for all of those, sorry.

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Has anyone here read 異世界はスマートフォンとともに。 ?
The LN version seems to be quite popular in japan (top-seller on bookwalker) and it's getting an official english release by the J-Novel guys

>>16594422
i read the free chapters and its quite charming, even though it would have been nice if j-novel had kept the translation notes. Some cultural references are a bit obscure.

>>16594422
Illustration: 兎塚エイジ

That guy also did the art for Zero no Tsukaima

So let's discuss why LN threads are so dead on /jp/ while they flourish on /a/ (until a mod sees them)

>>16603075
/a/ is the bigger board, pretty simple. Also there's more people with lower standards there. No one in their good mind would read translations with the quality they have in the scene, and the amount of people who read in Japanese is naturally fairly small on an English speaking website.

>>16603075
/a/ is full of machine translators and machine translation readers eagerly awaiting the next chapter of some shitty show's source material.

Guys! Guys! I found one of the bes LNs, and I'm reading it right now, it's called Shieldbro.

>>16605525
Yeah no.

>>16605598
It's cool, you should read it.

>>16558701
You don't read a Nisio Isin novel for the plot. You read it for the crazy shit that he can come up with in dialogue and character interactions. Zaregoto shows how much random stuff he can conjure out of nowhere, from Literature to Technology to Mathematics etc...

>>16478670
This is the only correct answer.

I am reading ZnT 7, desperatly trying to catch up before volume 22 spoilers.

I'm not going to make it. Also holy shit volume 6 was brutal.

>>16456915
why was op's image deleted? Or is it a server issue?

>>16612366
The latter. Not too sure what happened but it seems there was an issue with the image servers yesterday which prevented people from uploading new images, and now a bunch of older images are missing.