Light Novel Thread 　

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>>16695354
It's down to 15 on Amazon, I honestly expected it to sell more.

>>16695364
I actually thought it came out longer ago than it did. The power of finality is pretty strong. I myself feel obligated to finish it at some point because I read the first twenty novels around five years ago.

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>>16695369
I'm still on volume 9 of ZNT, I've pretty much gave up on catching up before the final volume, there is just too much to read. I have to choose between finishing up old series or making a sorry attempt at keeping up to date with the latest series. As much as people like shitting on new light novels I prefer staying up to date over reading the "classics". I would like to read boogie pop phantom, Seitokai no ichizon, and Sca-Ji's Light Novels some time, but it looks like that will never happen at the rate new LN get released.

>>16695329
>Kind of pissed because I can't find Seitokai No Ichizon anywhere
https://www.nyaa.se/?page=view&tid=385989
!?

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>>16697112
Been sitting on the torrent for a few days and still at 10%.

>>16697430
Weird, I just pulled it in less than an hour from some Japanese seeder, and I don't see any other peers. I'll see if I can upload it to mega.

>>16697484
There.
/#F!0FdkQA6Y!KsghDSRRybNAEX7VWwHNAQ

>>16697550
You are fucking awesome.

>>16695395
ZnT was actually the first light novel series I read, 20 novels all the way through (in translation). I sort of feel obligated to put an end to the era.

>As much as people like shitting on new light novels I prefer staying up to date over reading the "classics". I would like to read boogie pop phantom, Seitokai no ichizon, and Sca-Ji's Light Novels some time, but it looks like that will never happen at the rate new LN get released.
I just can't keep up. The only light novel I was following for a while was Index, but at this point all I've got on my backlog is a few series that I figured I should read sometime, either because I watched an adaptation or because someone recommended them to me.

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>>16697800
What is more important to you? Finishing up a series or keeping up with the latest news and novels? I look at Light Novels the same way I do with Anime and Visual Novels. The old classics might be great but no one is talking about them, making it a very solitary experience. The latest stuff might not be the best but there is active conversation, speculation, and discourse. Cowboy bebop might be better than konosuba but no one is willing to discuss an old show when the fresh new hotness is out.

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anyone else liking faraway paladin? prob the best j-novel club pickup

>>16698000
>The old classics might be great but no one is talking about them, making it a very solitary experience.
I have this problem with basically everything I do. I tell myself that I should be capable of enjoying media in isolation but in practice I just end up getting part of the way through and then forgetting to finish it; there's something that feels just a little bit defeatist about finishing something and then having nobody to talk to about it.

On the other hand, the only series listed there that I have even the slightest interest in is Spice and Wolf. I guess the only thing I can take away for myself is to try and follow current things whenever I can.

>>16698000
I find it a great suffering to enjoy classics and obscure works that no one cares more about. It's so lonely it's soul crushing.

>>16699238
>I tell myself that I should be capable of enjoying media in isolation but in practice I just end up getting part of the way through and then forgetting to finish it; there's something that feels...

Yea it's amazing what hype can do, I read 3 volumes of ZNT in a week trying to catch up for 22. Same thing with Ero Manga Sensei when I heard the anime was announced. Any activity is instantly made better with a community to share it with, thankfully I have a person I can vent to and he does the same, we might not always be reading the same thing at the same time but we always hear each other out, it's made LN soo much more enjoyable. Even on 4chan it's hard to find people that want to talk about LN, reddit is cancer as doesn't talk about what is new in japan, and 2ch knows I'm a retarded gaijin the moment I try posting.

Also the pacing of current releases keeps you on your toes, knowing a LN has ended and that there is nothing new coming makes you lazy. Nothing beats waiting for 3-5 months for a light novel only to finish reading it in a day, then reading 2ch and reviews.

>>16699337
That's just how it is. People have talked the series to death and back and nothing else is left to be said, it's always best to stay current and ride hype trains.

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Anyone here read 終末なにしてますか？忙しいですか？救ってもらっていいですか？ No? Just me?

At least I'll have people to discuss it with in a month's time.

>>16700138
I'm close to buying it, it caught my attention when I saw it was getting an anime adaptation. What is it like?

>>16700150
It's amazing. I love it more than life itself, it's actually the best thing ever made. The setting is very deep and well-crafted, reminiscent of Western epic fantasy. The characters are each unique, individual people, built up in such a way that you feel an emotional connection with each one of them. The prose is powerful and descriptive but also clear and simply a pleasure to read. I am beyond hype for the anime, it's going to be so so amazing.

>>16700173
>It's amazing. I love it more than life itself, it's actually the best thing ever made.

Are you having sex with this novel?

>>16700138
Are you the guy who's been gushing about it in DJT lately? Your posts caught my attention and I was thinking of giving it a try. Would you happen to have the links for vols. 3-5 on hand, though, since desuarchive's search function is currently down?

>>16700138
>>16700180
Never mind, found it. Here, if anyone else is interested: http://djtlib.surge.sh/b/[枯野瑛] 終末なにしてますか？忙しいですか？救ってもらっていいですか？/index.html
The first two volumes are on nyaa.

>>16700180
DJT can read light novels? I thought it was a thread for people that could only read visual novels with text hookers.

>>16700177
The feelings of intense pleasure are about comparable.

>>16700180
Yup. If you'd rather download it, the mega link is in the CoR. Ah I wish I could read it for the first time again.

>>16700211
They now have the DJT library, so they can read LNs with Rikaisama

>>16695329
>I just picked up a lot stuff including Eromanga Sensei, I read volumes 1-3 I thought it would be bad because I didn't like OreImo but the series is very good so far, Elf Yamada is best girl.


Don't bother continuing if you're expecting anything other than imouto end. Elf lost hard in volume 7 and none of the other girls are even trying anymore

>>16700456
>Don't bother continuing if you're expecting anything other than imouto end. Elf lost hard in volume 7 and none of the other girls are even trying anymore.

I love elf, I don't care if she wins or not. Also the novels are just entertaining and funny, I'm not just rooting for a girl to win, I'm acutally enjoying all the scenes with all the girls. Sagiri is also super cute, specially how she keeps trying to get at other girl's panties.

Just read the first chapter of ビブリア古書堂の事件手帖, damn those feels. My grandmother passed recently so it hit close to home.

>>16700451
or they can even highlight and ctrl-c and the hooker will pick it up from clipboard

>>16700456
I don't know how you can even imagine the possibility anyone could read Eromanga Sensei and consider the idea that there's the slightest chance any of the other girls might be able to win.

My favourite part about this LN is that it has a chuuni loli and a character called Megumin but they're not the same person.

>>16702454
My condolences, anon.

>>16703439
>>16700451
So do you limit yourself to only light novels in text format? That sounds horrible unless you are actually buying them digitally and extracting the text. I do know the value of using rikaisama's anki import function so I wont hate on that.

>>16698558
is it possible to rip the kindle versions? I might buy some LNs digital and upload them

I don't suppose anybody could tell me what Kagerou Daze is like in japanese?

>>16703940
There's a spreadsheet with links to a lot of LNs in searchable formats like html or epub, and once you've read a few series you should get good enough to not need them anymore.

>>16704513
Yes, it is. There are tools for stripping the DRM from them as well.

>>16704513
>is it possible to rip the kindle versions? I might buy some LNs digital and upload them

Yes I do it for all my books but I don't upload them. Takes 10 minutes to look it up, i used Calibre and one of it's addons. You can also do things like remove ruby/furigana, which is useful sometimes. Like one book I was helping translate had furigana and it was really disruptive when I converted it to text, it had a weird effect where kanji accompanied with furigana/ruby would be placed next to each other so "格好"　would be converted to "格かっ好こう".

>>16704656
>>16704694
Thanks I'll try out calibre. I was going to buy some english translated LNs I saw on amazon. Kinda annoying seeing most of the series are the isekai genre

>>16704727
Isekai is great, if it's not an isekai/harem/little sister light novel then there is a 90% chance the LN will be bad.

>>16704767
I've been reading a few and yeah they aren't bad, but I wish we got different things published. I am really excited to finally own Hakomari in english though I left off on volume 3 or 4

>>16704785
I guess waiting for translations does suck, people don't want to take any risk and just stick to the top 10 dengeki/GAGAGA/MF stuff, most of which is Isekai/harem/little sister.

In Japanese you get a much larger verity.

>>16704788
I also figured they grab series with promotion to them like an anime series and what not.

>>16704798
Yea and what LN are getting anime release?
Konosuba, Re;Zero, Ero Manga Sensei... I guess you do have Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasuka next season but again isekai/Harem/Little sister reign supreme.

Not like I'm complaining, I think Ero Manga Sensei are by far one of the most entertaining novels I've read in my life.

>>16704810
sorry I mean't like they already had or have a anime airing/aired on the series so that helps fuel sales and interest,
Overlord is getting a second season and Konosuba has it's S2 airing right now. and I believe Re;zero is getting a S2.

>>16704828
to add Oreimo left a really sour taste in me and I think Ero manga sensei will probably follow suite

>>16704839
>to add Oreimo left a really sour taste in me and I think Ero manga sensei will probably follow suite

Same and same, but don't lie to me, you know you waited for each and every volume/episode in anticipation. I know I did, and I felt so dirty.

>>16704863
You got me. I watched the anime and I've never been so mad at a chinese made cartoon.

>>16704810
http://anichart.net/
There are a million LN adaptations up next season, far more than you just listed.

>>16704896
I was going to read the LNs but just fucking dropped it. I never want to see that series again

>>16704909
You missed out on the ride of your life, just the collective anticipation of millions of nerds hoping their waifu wouldn't get cucked was amazing.

Personally I always thought Kyousuke was a horrible protag and never wanted him to touch Aya or Kuroneko.

>>16704930
I sort of there with them when the anime was airing and ending.also I was kuroneko fag, I was raging about the shit from the anime. I hear the LNs pretty much killed her off

>>16703940
uh if you buy LNs on amazon they come in epub or kindle format... its only pirates that have to rely on poor quality scans if that's all that is available

>>16704941
It's almost like you didn't read the post before responding, amazing.

what reader is best on android?

>>16706936
Amazon's Kindle app.

>>16707148
Can I read PDFs with it? I'll give it a try.

When did amazon jp stop shipping used books to the united states? I used to be able to buy used sets and now I can only buy new ones.

Anyone own the shieldbro official translated novel? I keep seeing how each volume has a lot of errors and even printing errors. Are they still enjoyable even with the fuck ups?

>>16700203
is there an epub for v1-2?

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>>16708715
No, only scans. They are pretty high quality, though.

>>16704694
It would be great if you shared the stuff you've bought on Mega or some other site. LN ebooks are hard to come by as a poor NEET..

>>16708730
It's great to reread these early chapters again once you've finished the series and know all the references and characters. There's so much subtle foreshadowing and depth you miss the first time through.

>>16709454
Probably gonna buy some J novel club stuff and upload them. What should I try?

>>16709741
I like faraway paladin but think most of the j-novel stuff is already uploaded so just get whatever you fancy.

>>16709978
I couldn't find any uploads except for grimgar. I'll probably grab that "My little sister can read kanji" LN.

How do you guys feel about kino no tabi?

>>16710000
Please buy it my blood sweat and other bodily fluids went into its translation.

>>16712675
Considering it, It has nice illustrations. Might grab the faraway paladin too,but I might be going a little over board with LNs

>>16708730
that's actually really good, a lot better than most of the scans I've seen on cor.

>>16712675
why no trip?

>>16714170
I doubt it was scanned. Judging by the blue links I've seen in some of the newer raws, I think they're converting epubs to images (but never sharing the original, unfortunately).

>>16714211
I'm afraid of sharing mines, my library is just too big for me to risk getting a ban hammer from amazon.

I got an extra copy of project piano by accident. Does anyone want it?

>>16714613
Not sure how it happened but I have an extra copy of unbreakable machine doll 15 and accel world 1. Amazon shipping is such garbage.

>>16714613
I had accidentally taped 1 click buy when browsing on my phone so I ended up getting volume two of shieldbro on amazon

>>16714521
You can pretty easily use some program like Calibre to strip any identifying metadata from the epub before sharing it so there's no way they can catch you.

>>16714849
Just too much risk for me. Fuck that.

>>16714849
or just extract the text (remove ruby) and copy paste into a new document entirely.

>>16714894
I've done that but only to provide for translators that I know so they don't have to tl from scans.

>>16700138
Been following the translation blog. So far so good. Awaiting new chapters since it seems things are about to get real.

>>16714197
I don't wanna be that company president that posts on 4chan all the time. Just the one that posts something funny once in a while and that you should be aware trolls treads like these to get feedback.

>>16715386
So I went and read through some of this translation. I mean, I can't blame the guy who wrote this, he's obviously doing it for free out of love for the series. But I still feel sorry for anyone who has to read this series through this crude amateur prose, and misses out on the beautifully crafted writing of the original Japanese.

Oh well. I see you guys are just starting volume 4, yeah, there's a big shift in tone there. If you've been keen to learn more about Willem's backstory and how the world was destroyed, this is where you start to find out.

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>>16714885
Once the DRM has been stripped, there's no risk. An epub is just a zip file. If you change the extension to .zip you can open it in 7zip or winrar and examine the contents. There's nothing identifying there. Just some HTML/images/generic metadata.

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Recently I've unconsciously neglected visual novels and have often opted to read Light Novels over Visual Novels when I have free time. Wondering why this change had occurred in my reading pattern I decided to analyze what was happening. I found Light Novels to be more enjoyable for a variety of reasons. That I will list in no particular order.

Pace
Tension
Investment
Ease of access/broader appeal

Visual Novels always sell length as some sort of appeal, you will often hear "x novel is 50+ hours long" as some sort of plus. Usually this is done by padding scenes at the sacrifice of pace. Some writers, like Sca-ji, can use padding to really build an atmosphere using beautiful prose. Other writers like, like Ryukishi07, just repeat themselves over and over again, the Asahi Haruka ark in Rewrite comes to mind. In addition, recently visual novels don't finish introducing all the characters and until 5-6 hours into the novel, enough time to watch a whole season of an anime or read a light novel. Unacceptable pacing, this is not even speaking of waiting for the plot to thicken. You will often hear about needing to read for 10-15 hours for a visual novel to "get good" (needing to read Muv Luv in order to better appreciate Alternative comes to mind), that is something that simply does not exist in the Light Novel realm. Linked closely to pace is tension, a light novel has the ability to build and release tension every novel, visual novels that are not episodic struggle to do that because they typically only have one or two major points of conflict. Well written works know they need to fit in some smaller stuff, Aiyoku no Eustia is a perfect example of that, but Visual Novels as good as AnE are few and far between.

Investment, buying light novels is much easier than buying a visual novel, you go on amazon and click buy now and get a physical prodect. Buy one visual novel and enjoy it? Chances are you are going to buy them all. There is a sense of collectibility light novels. Not only monitary investment but emotional investment keeps you buying the next volume. While you can get invested in a 50+ hour long visual novel, I find my investment light novels feels more powerful, I think has to do with the anticipation of every volume and the hype that builds around it. Once a VN is out, it's out.

This links with an ease of access that allows you to invest yourself into Light Novels, resulting in Light Novels being translated and getting offical localization at a rate which Visual Novel companies can't even dream of, leading to bigger and bigger communities. Even so far as to cross over into the Anime/Manga community. Visual Novels are for the most part a solo affair, Light Novels are best experienced as a community. Many people spanning the Anime/Manga/LN community all talking about the same series lead to cross community discussions and more discourse, in anticipation of the next release leads to more enjoyment.

That's not to say Visual Novels are less than Light Novels, I do think that Visual Novels have their place, the finality of visual novels is very powerful for example. The lack of authors willing to commit to end a Light Novel series is a big blow to the media. Look at how many light novel series get stuck in limbo. Over all I am always more satified at the end of a Visual Novel because they are primarily designed with a clear beginning, middle and end. Most Light Novel don't die well.

Anyways I was just wanted to talk about light novels vs visual novels a bit, I don't really have a point.

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Is the person who wrote https://boards.fireden.net/a/thread/148482166/#q148502828 here? If so, fuck you, I've never been more betrayed in my life. Why would you do this? All I wanted was some cute lewd imoutos and instead I got a bunch of adults playing tabletop games. I wish you nothing but suffering and pain.

Although to be fair the LN was still pretty enjoyable, even if it wasn't what I expected.

>>16722785
If you want a serious imouto story, read Koi Kaze. If you want a fun one read Ero Manga Sensei, but whatever you do never trust djt.

Does anyone have a scan of the Mareni novel?

>>16724218
I'll buy it just for you.

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>>16724584
Y-you'd do that for me...?

>>16724621
Copy the text from the paste bin I'm going to delete it soon.

>>16724624
Thanks a lot dude!

>>16724631
Hope you don't mind missing the art work, all of them should be online anyways. Hopefully it will be good, lets enjoy it together. Also amazon takes visa, is you like a writer buy his books. It's only 6 bucks digitally.

>>16724640
No problem. The text is enough for Mareni.

And yea, I haven't dipped into buying digitally yet, but I'll probably do so once I get a credit card. Still a shitty student w/o income.

>>16724619
This is lacking the brackets around the furigana.

>>16726144
It would be nice if the HTML was posted if not the whole epub. You could even open the HTML file in notepad and put the raw HTML on pastebin (not that it would make a difference since there's no magic tracker hidden in the HTML generated by Calibre, but whatever).

>>16726144
>>16728827
Just buy the book if you care so much, it's less than the cost of my daily coffee.

>教育に対する熱意だけは人一倍あるものの実行力が皆無の超ヘタレ教師である村埜良二。彼は生徒にも舐められ、校長にも蔑まれ、うだつのあがらない生活を送っていた。
そんなある日、気が付くと、教え子が裸でベッドの中にいたのだ。しかし、良二には教え子とそんな関係になった記憶がなかった。その後もたびたび、記憶が抜け落ちることがあり、エッチなお店にいたり、怖い人に追いかけられたり、と散々な目に遭う。
二重人格を疑うも、教え子の霊感少女に「クズな悪霊が憑いている」と言われ除霊を試みることに。悪霊を美少女フィギュアに封印するという見るからに怪しいものだったが、なんとか成功。しかし、悪霊は封印されたまま喋り始める。話すうちに良二は驚愕。そのクズな悪霊とはかつて失踪した良二の兄・誠一だったのだ――。
>エロすぎクズ兄貴は死んでも変わらない！？ そんな兄貴のせいであらゆる災難を被るヘタレ教師の弟が繰り広げる常識破りなクズコメディが今、始まる！！

LNs were a mistake

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>>16722785
S-Sorry dude.
Though I think you just misunderstood the post, maybe? The novel is filled with sexual degeneracy, like I said, just not imoutos. I mean, you say "a bunch of adults playing tabletop games", but I'm pretty sure that that tabletop game ended with one of the characters molesting the other and some naked masturbation hygenics or something. It really is the crystallization of degenerate sexual media. I'm not really sure why your expectations were so off.

>>16730310
Really? I thought your post was a deliberate attempt at deception based off the first few pages of the LN. Since it starts with eating the imoutos pantsu while she serves him food naked and then cuts to it all being a story within a story.

It's slightly lewd I guess, but you really can't call it sexual degeneracy, especially to someone who reads a lot of VNs. Maybe for a LN it's pretty degenerate, to me it was just a relatively normal story. Not sure what that says about me.

>>16730334
Oh, yeah, I did include that first page as a joke, but I was still being sincere.

If you were expecting that level of degeneracy throughout, I can see why you would be disappointed. For me, every girl chasing after MC's dick combined with the frequent cuts to that writer girl being naked and molesting girls/sniffing his pantsu/etc was more than enough to really get me going about sexual degeneracy.

What I think I'm trying to say is, it had a high amount of lewdness for a story that takes it seriously. That it weaves sex and lewdness into a genuine story that takes itself seriously is what I call degenerate. But, compared to actual pornographic novels, which I think is what you may have been looking for, it's not so extreme.

>>16730356
I see. Again, I think the fact I'm completely used to VNs with serious and high-quality stories containing some very lewd sexually graphic scenes means that this didn't really stand out to me, whereas if you don't read so many VNs maybe it would more unique and impactful. Certainly some of the scenes read like genuine sex scenes at time, now that you've explained what you meant I understand completely.

I would have loved for the entire novel to be like those first few pages though. Because you made such a big deal out of it, that is what I was half-expecting, even though realistically it would never get printed. Imagine how amazing that would've been.

>>16730273
Why post a Japanese summary in an EOP thread?

>>16730430
? This is /jp/, not /a/, we all know Japanese here, right?

>>16730448
Except you.

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>>16730532

Does anyone have a scan for Scaji's えびてん 綺譚奇譚 and willing to share? This is the only LN Iam interested in reading.

What do you guys think of 中古でも恋がしたい?

>>16730273
>悪霊を美少女フィギュアに封印するという見るからに怪しいものだったが
Holy fucking crap what is this anon? This why LNs>VNs

>>16731226
Nah, but I had it physical, can confirm it's very worth reading.

>>16732198
I'll grab it digitally off amazon then, it's only 1 novel right?

What about gook LNs. Does anybody here read Dungeon Defense or Your and my Asylum

>>16730273
That sounds fucking amazing. 僕の地味な人生がクズ兄貴のせいでエロコメディ for those of you wondering.

>>16732504
This is /jp/, japanese/otaku culture. reddit has a place for gook ln if I am not mistaken.

>>16732479
Mhm.

>>16732145
>>16732509

>>16732516
I just now noticed that /jp/ never got its novelty title reverted like /a/ and /v/ did. Just more proof that /jp/ is the best board.

Can westerners write LNs?
I'd like to read something written in a similar way as LNs but with all the degeneracy and none of the kiddy shit found in YA and none of the "muh maturity and realism" found in adult western lit

>>16733525
Wildly different themes that no western publisher wants to touch.

>>16731226
I'd like this too. As well as Tanaka Romoe's AURA ～魔竜院光牙最後の闘い～ all I can find are dead links

>>16735555
https://mega.nz/#F!mxoRXKgC!MGVIIw_8Q8MXqKIBTlz2Xw

>>16735558
Wow thanks heaps anon

>>16735558
Yes, thank you, I'm going to read this soon I think.

>>16735558
Thank you.

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preordered this just because of the cover

Does Calibre mess up for LNs for anyone else?
The text overflows off the side so that half of each page is invisible (below the normally displayed text) and hitting "next page" will skip it.

My god, I just read volume 3 chapter 2 of Ero Manga sensei. That scene holy shit, my heat was literally pounding.

Spoilers!


Emily just won my heart, the proposal, the story of her parents, how it all builds up, I felt like I was there in the forest at night watching the reflection of the fireflies in the water as she psudo proposed. The way she stumbled with talking normally instead of using her ojousama tone, just everything, just EVERYTHING. I want to marry Emily. I'm going to be soo mad when she don't win.


Please don't do this to me again Tsukasa Fushimi. NOT AGAIN!

I came here from /lit/ looking for a flowchart on light novels, now I am more confuse.

Where do I start? I liked Vampire Hunter D film, is there something like that?

>>16739737
Can you read japanese?

>>16739880
Nope, I know that is a hell lot of limit. Plan to solve that in the future but for now, do you have anything in english?

>>16739903
Nah you are kind of fucked into reading harem shit and bad fan translations. See if you can't find the monogatari series, Kino's Journey and Literary Girl in english.

>>16739903
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_Girl
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monogatari_(series)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kino%27s_Journey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haruhi_Suzumiya
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mystic_Archives_of_Dantalian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gosick
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Time_(novel_series)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanbun_no_Tsuki_ga_Noboru_Sora

To get you started, don't know how much of all that is TLed.

>>16739915
Goddammit.

>>16739940
Thanks.

>>16739941
Could be worse, you could be a vn fag. They are even worse off.

Does anyone one have the epub of the Touhou Light novels? I have the text format ones but I would prefer having the cute pictures.

>>16739357
>I'm going to be soo mad when she don't win.

Don't read volume 7 then

What's the difference between a Japanese 'light novel' and a normal novel?

>>16741066
It's just brand stuff.
A LN is a LN if it's published by certain publishers, that's it.

>>16741066
It's a fuzzy category like the difference between classical and popular music, literary and genre fiction, or left and right politics. You can't define it by any one characteristic. Light novels tend to be shorter, have anime illustrations, serialization, lots of dialogue, otaku tropes, etc.

>>16741066
The light novel label is just for branding and marketing. Take op's image for example, it's part of this new wave of serious light novels for adults. Putting cute anime girls on the cover and calling it a light novel made it one of the best selling books in Japan. Instead of giving it an anime biblio got a tv drama with real actors. People like to shit on light novels but it's just a label. Turn out if you read nothing but battle harems and little sister novels you wont like the media.

Reading Vol. 4 of Arefuretia. While the previous volumes were shit as well, they were fucking entertaining, even the edge fest.

But the latter half of Vol. 3 hand Vol. 4 have been stupidly boring and no edgying around has been able to make up for it. The Haulia related jokes arent even funny.

>>16717695
I agree with most of your points. VNs suffer from length bloat, though it is often somewhat mitigated by routes splitting things. A VN with a 5hr common route and nine 5hr character routes is a often lot less offensive than a VN with a 20hr common route and three 10hr character routes.

Fundamentally, I think it's due to a misconception in how most authors write for VNs. They seem to assume that increasing length just means making the entire thing longer.
The VNs I find really enjoyable tend to read more like a series: There's multiple points where you can see a clear transition between arcs while retaining flow, much like you'd have between volumes of a LN.

In that way, I think that the volume structure of LNs is one of their greatest assets: They have to get to the point quickly enough to hook people with volume 1, and they have to stay self contained in future volumes. The issue, of course, is that like you said they don't reach a terminal point.

Anyone have the strawberry panic series in Japanese?

Are kaminovels a thing? Kaminobe?

>>16746006
質ラノベ gets thrown around on 2ch to describe a novel of quality.

>>16733517
I'm interested in this too. I've always wanted to create some kind of story. Don't have the talent to draw manga or visual novels. I actually started writing some stuff for fun and have 30 pages so far. I'm not really sure what I'll do with it when I finish. might just self publish it just to scratch it off my bucket list.

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Isekai Smartphone is getting an anime this summer

http://isesuma-anime.jp/

>>16746235
>質ラノベ gets thrown around on 2ch to describe a novel of quality
do such things exist?

O shit we're actually allowed LN threads now?

>>16698558
It was too slow for me reading in Japanese. Maybe that changes if its in english.

>>16704950
What's new?

>>16746925
Fuck that shit

>>16747162
LN threads keep getting deleted in /a/ and weirdly /lit/ as well. Hopefully mods will leave us be.

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just finish the first volume to Shieldbro and I really liked it a lot. I read a lot of negative reviews about the translation and stuff, but Was still able to enjoy it overall.

>>16747133
What a fool.

>>16745051
Someone posted it in /u/ in a Strawberry Panic thread a few months ago, that thread's gone now but it lasted a better part of the year so the thread should be pretty easy to find.

>>16749579
I found it

Finally finished Shuumatsu v04.
I shiggy diggy hope this won't end with a bad end.

>>16751302
>I shiggy diggy hope this won't end with a bad end.

You know it's going to be bitter sweet.

>>16751708
What I hate the most is furfaggotry and judging by the illustrations from vol5 this is where it's going.

>>16751811
I agree, the human and レプラカーン girls are way better than any of the other races. But don't worry the author seems to understand this, none of the other girls are ever main heroines.

>>16717695
Hmm.
As a writer for an unrelated english project, you bring up a good point about pace, tension and padding. I agree with you, VNs tend to pad a ton in order to simply increase the length of the VN to a 'product-sized' body of text.
This might confuse prospective writers that padding is a good and acceptable thing, but 'filler' text that adds very little to the work does not make it a more enjoyable read, it simply bloats the story with 'junk' text that the reader is going to gloss over as they look for the next interesting event or gripping piece of dialogue.

Longer does not necessarily mean better, in any case.

>>16754133
Sadly filler text is often whats used to pad for length. Dialogue takes voice acting making it expensive. Descriptive prose is hard even for short burst, it takes a lot of energy out of a writer, which is why all visual novels say the same thing about the characters.

She is a cute girl with a 美貌 face, she looks like a doll, something about the girls hair and breast and how popular/smart/athletic she is.

The padding ends up being the author rambling using the main characters inner thoughts as a proxy for his thoughts.

>>16754276
>Descriptive prose is hard even for short burst, it takes a lot of energy out of a writer
Ah, is that why I can get about a page's worth of writing out before I start to procrastinate again?

Jokes aside, I think all authors are a little guilty of injecting themselves into their main characters. Especially in a visual novel format, the main character is at least somewhat meant to represent you, the reader. It takes a lot of willpower to make him into his own person rather than a faceless template for the reader to project himself onto.

Just finished reading 魔斬の剣士〜魔素使いの転生復讐記〜 [http://ncode.syosetu.com/n1203ci]

Really enjoyed it. It reminds me of Tales of Symphonia actually. Especially the stupid comedy scenes in the midst of all the revenge. (Personally didnt like the bipolar-ness but w/e) Author has a nice writing style too. Hope y'all enjoy.

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>>16759397
>It reminds me of Tales of Symphonia actually.
That's saying enough for me to never touch it.

>>16764033
Symphonia was a masterpiece of the Tales franchise though :(

Thoughts on the Seven Seas Occultic;Nine translation?

Faraway Paladin was so hyped I was looking forward to it but only the first volume is slightly above average to what I'd expect from your typical light novel aka trash. The second volume is vastly worse right from the starting chapters. Haven't read any further.

Not recommended, just like any other light novel I've ever read.

>>16769026
Ouch. Better luck next time.

So what's your least not recommended list, or the best of the trash you've sat through?

>>16769026
The only reason it got hyped up is because /a/ wanted the so called "standard" fantasy or whatever that means. They don't undestand that its not the stats that makes these series necessarily bad.
Same for me really I liked vol 1 it wasn't bad though nothing really stood out. Vol 2 on the other hand with the whole forgiveness theme and just the general direction wasn't to my liking.

>>16759397
>bipolar-ness
Yea and some of the comments also mentioned that huh, though the MC really was cool.

>>16769026
vol 2 isnt out yet, no?

I guess its a matter of perspective. If you were expecting Nine Princes of Amber or Shadow of the Torturer, of course you're going to be disappointed. But if you're looking at LNs its way above the LN bar

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>>16695329
>dengeki bunko
>hiiroo bunko
>MF bunko J
>kadokawa
>oobaarappu bunko
>mediawaakusu bunko
>hantazia bunko
top list of cancer

>RIP Yamaguchi
Nothing of value was lost.

>Light Novel
Visual Novel in book format = lowest form of literature

Japan has so many quality books but many people here prefer to waste their time and existence discussing light novel garbage.

Time to read Yukio Mishima, a true man who foresaw the decadence of his beloved country in form of bland and tasteless light novels mass production.

Pic somewhat related

>>16769559
Eh I much prefer them over wasting time on a no substance moege with kindergarten tier writing not to mention the bloated length.

>>16769026
Is the hype train over?

Good. The novel was so slow honestly, and I read most of it before it caught anyone's attention. The character interactions aren't meaningful, and so it's just so hard to care about the events. Even though the main character was well developed, his surrounding are so bland that they detract from him.

>>16769277
She had just the right amount of chuuni. If only she was more edgy like Velvet it wouldve been perfect

>>16769559
Already read Mishima, lil bitch.
And dengeki bunko as cancer? Maybe you should take a look at their 黄金期 before making yourself look like a complete fool.

>>16770376
Why did you respond to the bait?

Imagine turning your playthrough of Final Fantasy VII into a novel, with explicit references to leveling up, gaining experience points, stat increases, and equipping weapons/magic. Imagine your main medium of fantasy being a cartoon aimed at the pre-teen demographic.

They're written and read by people who seek escapist thrills without knowing about pre-Campbellian and heroic storytelling. Seriously, these people would be better reading the likes of Burroughs, Vance, Howard, Brackett, Leiber - stories of wizards, thieves, warriors, magical objects, rowdy taverns and frail damsels. But they don't read books, and only found these elements in their videogames/anime, so now they want to try and write in this mode but are only able to write heroism through the methods of they're familiar with. It's a most curious phenomenon.

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>>16772231
>>16769559

>All light novels are isekai/harem/little sister shit

Hate this meme

>>16772231
>Burroughs, Vance, Howard, Brackett, Leiber - stories of wizards, thieves, warriors, magical objects, rowdy taverns and frail damsels.

After reading Don Quixote I find chivalric romance unbearably gaudy. Cervantes was right to shit on the whole genre.

>>16772902

Who are you quoting?

>>16773418
quoting
>>16772231

>>16767210
One has to wonder what the point is if the series was canceled after two volumes.

>>16772884
Not to mention tons of narou isekai have 0 'game' elements like levels and bullshit. Maybe like even half of them.

>>16700138
The anime adaption is up next season. Is the LN any good?

>>16776589
Yes

Just don't go into it expecting any action because the story very much isn't about that.

https://englishlightnovels.com/2017/01/13/shuumatsu-nani-shitemasu-ka-isogashii-desu-ka-sukutte-moratte-ii-masu-ka/

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>>16700138
Just finished this recently.

Time for the sequel now.

>>16776739
Only read the first 4 volumes. How depressing is volume 5?

>>16772231
I don't mind the "it's like a video game" stories as much, but they are hilariously goofy. Most publishing houses in the US would laugh you of the room if you tried pitching such an incredibly cheesy setting conceit.

Half the time the stats barely matter anyway, since the MC either breaks the system, is OP from the start, or they just forget about it later. Arifureta for instance, in the J-novel translation I'm reading, has barely mentioned stats at all past the beginning. You could excise the RPG elements from the entire setting and literally nothing would change.

>>16776776
The ending is satisfying. I guess one would call it bittersweet.
A couple of things are left unexplained though.

Although, I didn't really find the series depressing, just a bit sad.

>>16776825
Did you also read the "#Ex" volume? Where does that one fit story-wise? Before the first volume, or somewhere inbetween?

>>16776853
>Did you also read the "#Ex" volume?
Nope, didn't know it even existed.

From the synopsis it looks like it's some kind of flashback to what happened 500 years ago with Willem and Lilia.

>>16776589
Yes, it's amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGfC2boki-I&feature=youtu.be

>>16776853
It has some ラキシュ post-volume 5, リーリァ's backstory and life 500 years ago, and some クトリ set just before the end of volume 1 (right before she goes off to the first fight).

>>16776972
thanks for the summary

reading this before the sequel then

>>16776612
Why are you posting a self-aknowleged innacurate review? Kastel got blown the hell out by fs.

>>16776612
>>16776972
Thank you. I will check the LN.

>>16776972
>It has some
Does it have more information about the world and characters or is it mostly slice of life?

>>16780247
The 500-year ago stuff goes fairly deep into life and society back then, and we get a lot of details about characters you don't normally see, the structure of the Empire, and the enemies humanity were facing. The rest is just mostly slice of life though.

Are there Japanese ebook files of the Mushoku Tensei LNs? Ironically there are English ones but I don't want those...

>>16782716
If you can read japanese why not buy the fucking books in the first place? Are you so poor you can't give 15 bucks out to the person working hard on it?

>>16783305
Shut up.
Neet pride worldwide.

>>16783305
Tell him bruh

>>16783305
Exactly the reason why I stopped uploading my digital library of ln.

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About to start pic related. Another pick by J-Novel Club. Hopefully it's a good one.

>>16783305
"Real Japanese Reader" here. I read an LN volume a day, easy, and often do 2 or 3 if it's one I like and focus on. If I paid 15 bucks per LN like that I'd be broke, with a $1,350 a month spent on LNs.

>>16784038
Because you're a greedy dick?

>>16784715
But LNs are only $5 a volume?
Just buy the Kindle version. Maybe if you start uploading those people will reciprocate.

>>16785602
Amazon Japan doesn't let you use anything but a credit card and getting one here is expensive as heck.

>>16785670
BW allows PayPal.
But there's no ripping method, I believe.

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>>16785696
Rakuten also apparently allows PayPal and has rippable epubs.
Someone explains DRM removal in the picture.

>>16785752
I know how to remove DRM from Rakuten.
But last time I tried they didn't allow PayPal.
Also, they only allowed Japanese IPs so it required a proxy.
Also, you don't even need Calibre, the python script obok python script is enough.
Will try again, they might have finally changes things.
Too bad BW has the most "exclusive" rights to LNs and some stores, including Rakuten, get them a month later.

>>16785752
>Kobo
Gross. This seems a bit 遠回し but if it works that would be cool. Also woah they have this http://books.rakuten.co.jp/rk/b7db215c30b937cfa32127a90287ec55/ for half the price amazon does. They also seem to have a lot of point & coupon events
>>16785764
>Will try again, they might have finally changes things.
That'd be really great if you did. Eagerly awaiting your report.

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>>16785787
Still Japan only, but you can simply add a Japanese address to your account and it works without a proxy.
Sad news, it does require a credit card. You can kinda "trick" it to give you pre-orders via PayPal by blocking everything using NoScript etc. (pic related).
And what I said above about the release date stays true as well, here's an example using Dengeki bunko:
Printed release -> BW release (one month later) -> Kobo/Rakuten (yet another month later).

In the end, the only good store selling digital stuff for a good price and that doesn't even require your personal data, allowing PayPal, is BookWalker. But their DRM is the problem. I have a bunch of shit on my account and need to screen shot it every time.

>>16785851
Welp, there goes the dream. Bookwalker also sounds pretty painful, if I can't read on my Kindle it's pointless.

Maybe one day a better service will come along or Amazon starts accepting PP/gaijins...

>>16784715
Sounds fake. Who the hell calls themselves a real japanese reader anyway.

>>16784754
>Greedy dick
>Doesnt even consider supporting the author

You are this stupid and hypocritical

>>16785878
I was wondering why people are so against just using BW since I like it quite a lot. So it's just because you can't read them on Kindle? I mean, I don't even have one so it doesn't matter to me, but I can see where you're coming from.

>>16786181
I hope you pay for all the anime you watch and have never used a library.

>>16786176
Hence the scare quotes, ESL

>>16786323
Please go back to /djt/ or /v/ or wherever the esl meme started.

>>16786886
ESL is just slang for "you just showed a lack of English comprehension", it's not a meme that started anywhere in particular.

>>16786308
>Library
>Pirating

Even my ESL knows this difference.

Go back to /b/ where you can wallow in your stupidity

>>16786912
That guy is saying it's hypocrisy to ask people to purchase all the content a given person consumes because no one does that, whether that be though illegal means like piracy, or legal means like through the free exchange of books such as in a public library, one way or the other publishers and authors get shafted. Which is a silly argument in it's own way, because if you are so interested in a book that you have to beg for it you really should just buy it. Also, anime airs on tv free of extra charge unlike books. However, it was in no way a misuse of the English language.

Please leave and never come back. You are poisoning what was a decent thread.

>>16786912
Whatever you say /djt/ kun.

>>16787150
>Also, anime airs on tv free of extra charge unlike books.
No it doesn't, it airs in a 30-minute block in which the remaining 7 or 6 minutes are taken up by commercials. Unless you buy BDs, pay for streaming services or pirate, that is.

>>16787206
>it's not at no extra charge
>because you have to watch ads

I didn't say it was free, I said it's at no extra charge.

>>16786912
The commonalities are obviously more significant than the differences. If libraries weren't a tradition predating copyright I'm sure the same people would be railing against reading a book without paying the author.

>>16787216
Which is effectively the same. Also, don't ever reply to me with /v/text again.

>>16787263
It's not the same, that would be like saying youtube charges you because you watch ads, but I wont nit pick with you. Sorry about the green text.

>>16787255
I don't think the issue is paying the author or not, just don't come here of all places to beg for rips from people that bought the books. In the untranslated vn threads when someone starts begging for links to where they can download the vn, people point them to the official website. Not because there is an anti piracy culture but because begging is obnoxious and no one likes a beggar.

>>16787314
Translation: I got lucky and was born into rich circumstances and lack empathy for other human beings.

>>16787284
You can use adblockers with YouTube, but anyway, if you need to sit through ads, even if you can just do something else instead of watching them, you're getting an objectively inferior experience to paying customers/pirates.

Is Baka to Test good?
Is it as good as Grand Blue?

>>16787325
I liked it.

>>16787325
I thought it was fun, but it's not exactly going to floor you with it's writing or ideas.

Hey /jp/

So its me again with another WN:
復讐を誓った白猫は竜王の膝の上で惰眠をむさぼる http://ncode.syosetu.com/n7006cm/

Dont be fooled by the name, it's a romantic, comedic piece. The love that goes on between the female mc and the dragon king is heart-poundingly well written. There are ample doses of comedy that dont detract from the seriousness of the situation, and most of all, mc despite being a pacifist (how typical) isnt afraid to bitchslap her friend (twice) who started a war.

>>16787923
>WN

Why would anyone waste their time on web novels when even published light novels are mostly trash?

>>16787255
Hm, I dont quite agree, but I see your point.

>>16788021
Indeed, 'mostly.' I have sifted through the trash myself to bring this to you all. Give it a try, though judging by your response...

Oh btw guys, it has a LN version if that matters to you all.

>>16695395
Read "The meaning of the smile" last chapter of vol 13 if nothing else. That chapter is the best ZnT has to offer.

>>16695329
Seitokai is one of my favorite LN series too. I like the format the stories were written in. Commentary on random topics, similar to Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, which I also really like. I read all of Seitokai I think, including the New Seitokai no Ichizon, though it seemed to end in a weird place. Thought there would be a 3rd and final volume but seems it ended at 2 (haven't checked in awhile now).

Also, I've been translating http://www.novelupdates.com/series/his-noble-and-righteous-route-to-the-harem/
If anyone here read Hikaru, you might like this. Same author and artist combo.

>>16695329
Biblia being listed as a LN mildly triggers me. It's really more in the 文芸ライトのベル (iirc that's the title they used) category which Fantasia Bunkou had identified and separated from true LNs (which they continued to call ラノベ）. The style of the prose reads just more like mainstream writers like Murakami

>>16788735
It's also complete shit so I don't know who would ever use it as an OP image.
>The style of the prose reads just more like mainstream writers like Murakami
Murakami doesn't write like Japanese mainstream writers though. And style of prose doesn't dictate whether something is an LN or not in the first place.

>>16787320
I'm pretty damn sure anyone with an internet connection is able to spare 15 bucks. It's completely blowing shit out of proportion to phrase it as if he's making fun of literal homeless people who have to ask for money to eat. It's a fucking book and if you're into otaku culture very likely you're pirating at least three fourths of what you're using, does it really hurt so spare the equivalent of two big macs to help support an author you like? And there's a reason why /r/ and /wsr/ exist in the first place; because no one likes beggars. Even working for a few weeksin a minimum wage shit job in a third world country will likely give you enough money to buy a few LNs, unless you have an entire family to feed and if that's the case you probably shouldn't be browsing 4chan in the first place.

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>>16784715

>>16784194
I read the first translated chapters last night. It's readable but it seems like it's just gonna be another OP MC Isekai with slightly different window dressing. Maybe it'll prove me wrong, though.

I wish JNC would pick up more stuff that I'd like to read. I subscribe because I support what they're doing, but I'm only into a few of their series. (There's too much... whatever the LN equivalent of "shovelware" is.)

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>>16789665
I read only the free preview and didn't like it as much.
Left me with the same impression as you got, other word stuff with overpowered MC; it also reminded me strongly of Arifureta which isn't good.
I was expecting more from Sakai.

>I wish JNC would pick up more stuff that I'd like to read.
Indeed. I do not have a subscription to them since the only series that I like so far are Faraway Paladin and I can buy that separately, which I did.

Now the wait begins till they release the whole volume of Faraway Paladin again, finished reading the free stuff from volume two already.
Seems like a good friendship is starting to bud between the MC and the new guy.

>>16788735
LN is just a marketing label, it doesn't mean anything.

>>16788955
>It's also complete shit
Have you read it? Why is it shit?

>>16788955
>>16790236
That's not true. LN label for novels is like Vocaloid for music. Though it can be any genre, they all use vocaloid, the namesake of the metagenre, in the songs. Similarly, though LNs can be of any subject, the point is they are supposed to feel 'light' to read, as someone mentioned earlier in the thread. There should be a decent sense of pace and the sentences should be easy to parse through such that the burden on the reader is light compared to mainstream novels.

>>16790290
> LN label for novels is like Vocaloid for music.
That's a silly comparison, Vocaloid is a software and a brand with very clear marketing which unifies them unlike light novels.

>the point is they are supposed to feel 'light' to read
Nisio Isin, Scaji, Minoru Kawakami, and Mareni all have written light novels, what were so "light" about them? Are you telling me Bakemonogatari and Kyoukaisenjou no Horizon are not light novels because they are heavy? Also if you are so stuck on the definition of "light novel" which comes from ライトノベル　what are you going to do with the 小説 label? Light Novel is not a genre, Light Novel is a label that tells you nothing about the underlying work. Hibike Euphonium was a novel before the anime, and after the anime it is being marketed as a light novel. Biblia got a live action T.V. show despite being marketed as a Light Novel.

Anyways, Biblia is much lighter than a lot of staple light novel series, I think you are just judging a book by it's cover.

>>16790290
>the point is they are supposed to feel 'light' to read
Wrong. Why do you spread misinformation on a subject you're not informed in?
>>16790386
>Are you telling me Bakemonogatari and Kyoukaisenjou no Horizon are not light novels because they are heavy?
... Monogatari is not under the light novel label of 講談社BOX nor is it being marketed as such. Neither is Nisios other series Zaregoto. Perhaps do a bit of research before lecturing others.

>>16790442
>>16790386
Shrug, semantics... if you guys don't care, then whatever. It's somewhat of a philosophical question, ultimately. That said, Light Novels were originally defined by the Haruhi, Shana, and ZnT era. The texts were light, the stories moved quickly, and color illustrations, some insert illustrations in a broad anime/manga style accompanied the text. It's like people arguing about the definition of jazz and what encompasses it or not. Sure you could say practically everything is jazz if you want (or whether something fits a certain subgenre of jazz or has developed into its own thing), but you'd be in the minority. Whether or not you think it's legitimate, since those labels began to be used, certain associations have been made with regards to them in most people's minds. As far as the ridiculous 小説 argument one of you brought up, it's purely pedantic. Though I'm uncertain of the etymology of the phrase, in the modern day the term is pretty much nondescript. All you know is that there is a story of some sort when you see the term. That isn't true with light novels. If you ask most LN readers to define the genre, they will give a similar answer to mine. Keep being hipster if that makes you happy though. And the second post is correct; Nisio's works were never marked as LN in the first place.

>>16790567
This isn't semantics, just you being straight up wrong. Several LNs exist that go directly against your "criteria" (which are made up) making them null and void. LNs are simply things attached to the label, and that label itself does not in any way indicate how a writer has to write. What is associated with them in your mind or what misinformation has went rampant is irrelevant to this.

>>16790567
Light novels are one of those vague categories like young adult fiction. There are plenty of books that aren't marketed as a light novels that people still call light novels. Like Zaregoto and Monogatari were both listed in このライトノベルがすごい.

Best LN I've read is All You Need Is Kill; does this make me a newfag?

>>16790734
Just because some publisher somewhere labeled something as an LN that wouldn't commonly be thought of as one doesn't mean that to the majority of people, that novel is an LN. Sure, someone can write a ballad and publish it as death metal; most people would simply call that a mislabeling though. You, on the other hand...
I'm pretty much done with this. If you can't understand this simple concept, your loss.

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>>16790442
>... Monogatari is not under the light novel label of 講談社BOX nor is it being marketed as such. Neither is Nisios other series Zaregoto. Perhaps do a bit of research before lecturing others.

They are marketed as 小説 on the offical site, 講談社BOX falls under the light novel department, and the series is under ライトノベル on amazon and bookwalker. You can start nitpicking that 小説 are not Light Novels and that Amazon is wrong but I really don't care to do so.

>>16790567
>ZnT
Have you ever read ZnT? It isn't light at all. A light novel is anything you can buy on amazon under the label of light novel. Even the japanese can't agree on what light novel means.

>>16790786
OK where can I hear a death metal ballad?

>>16790786
Light Novel is a vague and ambiguous word that does not mean anything even in japanese misappropriated by retarded westerners that made the meaning even more nebulous. Just read the japanese wiki for light novel.

定義の曖昧さ

ライトノベルとその他の小説の境界は曖昧であり、そもそもはっきりとした定義を持たないことから、「ライトノベルの定義」についてさまざまな説がある。ライトノベルを発行しているレーベルから出ている、ライトノベルは出版側のマーケティングにより創られた「ジャンル」であるため、出版社がその旨宣言した作品、マンガ・萌え絵のイラストレーション、挿絵を多用し、登場人物のキャラクターイメージや世界観設定を予め固定化している、キャラクターを中心として作られている、青少年（あるいは若年層）を読者層に想定して執筆されている、作者が自称する、など、様々な定義が作られた[2][3]が、いずれも客観的な定義にはなっていない。

ライトノベルは出版側のマーケティングにより創られた「ジャンル」であるため

please fuck off now.

>>16790800
Yes I have... it's very light. Effortless read. Only thing I know of that's lighter is probably High School DxD, though I've never personally read that myself, I've heard of how simple the sentences are.

>>16790786
>Just because some publisher somewhere labeled something as an LN that wouldn't commonly be thought of as one
Except the origin of LNs are exactly this, people wrote normal books then slapped the LN tag on them retroactively. If you get your 5 friends to think an apple is actually a banana, it won't change into a banana.
>>16790800
>You can start nitpicking that 小説 are not Light Novels
There isn't anything to nitpick here. It's a fact and you're wrong. 講談社ラノベ文庫literally exists, but Monogatari is under 講談社BOX instead. If they wanted to market it as a LN it would be under the former, pretty simple.

>>16790814
Then why are you all responding in this thread about LN's? Why did OP make this thread about LNs and not just all Japanese novels? If it's "just marketing," then what does the marketing department of publishers have to gain by applying the label? Why even bother? How is labeling it as an LN useful to them? It's because it helps them reach their target audience by showing, big surprise, stories written in styles they would be attracted to.

tldr go fuck yourself, with a cactus

>>16790840
You really need to go back to /a/ and never come back. You brought up this stupid topic don't get mad just because everyone knows you are wrong. The reason why people don't get caught up on what is a light novel is because they are not retarded enough to get caught up in arguments of semantics and definitions.

>>16790839
How stupid can you be? That's the beginning of every term for every genre. The unique quirks from the first works labelled as such are taken and accepted as the definition over time. How do you think music evolved? Did you think people just thought today I'll create this new genre? It was bit by bit, in order, and eventually new genres were created and labels were accepted to describe the music. baroque, classical, romantic, polytonality, atonality, neo-tonality. And in the transition years, it can easily be debatable whether a work fit the label of one or the other more.
Uncultured swine, the lot of you.

>>16790853
"Words don't mean anything."
I'm the one arguing about semantics... right.

>>16790839
>There isn't anything to nitpick here. It's a fact and you're wrong. 講談社ラノベ文庫literally exists, but Monogatari is under 講談社BOX instead. If they wanted to market it as a LN it would be under the former, pretty simple.

O.K. I'll give you that, makes perfect sense, I was wrong to include Nisio in that list because his works were never marketed as so. You do agree that the label Light Novel is just a marketing tool with no real meaning right? And that you will often find Nisio's work's in the light novel section of most books stores.

>>16790856
You can go to /lit/'s Light Novel threads if you do like it here. Why are you mad at being wrong? It's not a big deal.

ライトノベルは出版側のマーケティングにより創られた「ジャンル」であるため

From the wiki page on light novels man.

>>16790862
>"Words don't mean anything."
That's actually true for some words. It's like "Moe", the word is so nebulous is means nothing.

>>16790873
Could say the same to you. Why do you care enough to repeatedly defend your false assertions then? I'm annoyed because an autist, being wrong, is trying to rudely tell me I'm wrong, so I thought I'd defend my post. That's all.

tl;dr: words don't mean anything, novels can be anything you want them to be, we are free spirits sailing endlessly in a sea of possibilities

>>16790856
Except.. it never "evolved" out of that. This is just your misunderstanding that you perpetuate. To date, the year 2017, the term is still extremely vague. You have both Re:Zero and Youki no Otomurai under the label, and neither of them is more "right". On the other hand you have super anime stories sold as normal novels too. The Gagaga LN label especially is known to be really lax and writers have more freedom under it than most people who write 一般小説.

>>16790894
I doubt that guy can even read Japanese, otherwise he would already know that.

>>16790894
Never heard of Youki, but from what I see from Amazon it looks like the type of "bungei ranobe" that Fantasia created a separate label for, to market mainly to people in their 20s. I don't appreciate the fact that they kept the term "ranobe" in the label though. That was my whole point. Books like Biblia and (probably this one) with a much slower pace and more atmospheric than what I consider true LNs should have their own labels, in *my opinion* so a consumer can sort through what he wants easier and there's less confusion. Publishers are beginning to separate the two though, like i said.

>>16790928
Biblia isn't short paced at all, and it's descriptive narrative isn't detailed enough to label it atmospheric. Also, you must think Kino no Tabi isn't a light novel because it fits your definition for "not a light novel" perfectly, which would be just retarded as it's one of the most famous light novels.

>>16790941
Biblia is slow, and this is probably the dumbest thing you've said so far. Kino is episodic - each chapter is its own story, making its pace far faster than the other LNs I've mentioned.

>>16790760
Newfag, but at least you got good taste

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Based J-Novel Club posts an actual "My Little Sister Can Read Kanji" "My Little Pony" crossover fanfic, "My Little Ponii Can Read Kanji" on april fools' day

Just finished Danmachi volume 5
can't wait to start volume 6 tomorrow.

How do you decide which LNs to read? Or how do I get better at reading? My Japanese is shit so I can only finish 3 or 4 a month at best and my backlog is gigantic.

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>>16799542
I can finish LN volumes in a couple hours, so you can take it from me, that the only thing you can do is read more. That's all I did. There are big jumps in reading speed when you stop having to look up kanji, and when you stop having to look up vocab (because unknown vocab gets so rare that you can ignore them or pick up from context). Those jumps are reached by reading a lot. After that, your reading speed will gradually improve the more you read as you become more comfortable with the language, but those two big jumps are the most important.

If you still need to look up kanji, aside from just reading more, consider making an Anki deck of words with kanji you don't know to help yourself learn them.
If you still need to look up words, you may want to consider making an Anki vocab deck. For me, personally, I dropped Anki at 10k~ words, so I know Anki isn't as valuable for vocab as it is for kanji, so I wouldn't say this is a hugely important step, it's just an option. Otherwise, if you don't want to make an Anki vocab deck... you just gotta keep reading! You'll learn vocab as you read.

Anyway, that's all. Basically read more and your reading speed will improve. If you want my honest opinion, I think you should read VNs for awhile because texthookers make learning kanji and vocab way faster than when reading LNs, but I won't try and push that on an LN thread. Language learning is one of the few situations where quantity trumps quality. If you read a ton your speed will improve without a doubt. It can take some time (I'm reaching 3 years of studying, that's about how long it took to finish LNs in a couple hours) but don't get discouraged, because if you keep trying you'll succeed. The last thing I'll say is try to keep on top of looking up unknown words. It's a lot harder to learn words if you always try and guess from context instead of just looking them up. Kotobank/Goo are great J->J dictionaries but EDICT is fine for J->E most of the time (I use a program called Tagaini Jisho for offline lookups which are faster than going to the internet).

>>16799590
Not the guy you're replying to, but how much is "a couple hours"? I've started tracking times lately, and I need around 10 hours for one typical LN volume (250-300 pages)

>>16799634
I don't track time but if I start in the afternoon I finish before the afternoon finishes. So you know, like start around 4 finish around 6-7. Not very long.

>Thursday, April 6
>The Faraway Paladin Vol. 2
>Release of Part 10 FINAL
I am ready.

Do you guys think they will release volume 3 simultaneously like Japan or simply part A and then part B?

>>16799634
A 250~ page book with typical light novel formatting comes down to around 5 hours if you read it out loud (properly, like an audiobook). Just reading silently will be a lot faster of course.

>>16799829
Why would we wait to release Part A until Part B is done? That would serve no point I think.
They're both ~380 pages so it's not like they're shorter than a normal book.
Feel free to wait to buy Part A until Part B is out if you're worried about only reading half a story.

>>16799848
If they did so it would give you basically two books once they finish and not only one.
I was thinking along these lines.

>>16799840
Do LN audiobooks exists, or is that only for ~real literature~?

>>16800023
Kizumonogatari and All You Need Is Kill have one.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes as well.

>>16800023
There are some on Japanese audible.

>>16799590
>ad VNs for awhile because texthookers make learning kanji and vocab way faster than when reading LNs,

I vomited

>>16800227
What's your problem? Without texthookers you're stuck with either radical searching or using kanjitomo, both of which are notably slower than texthookers.
Or are you just one of those anti-texthooker luddite? If so feel free not to reply to me or my son ever again.

>>16800060
Oh crap, that's great!
Do you know which interesting ones are on there? So far I've found Shieldbro, Mushoku Tensei and Mahoiku between a pile of yaoi.

>>16800060
Do i need a proxy?

>>16800331
You can take your memes and text hooker back to /djt/ and /vn/.

>>16800331
I think he's just suggesting that you learn the language before reading VNs. Also, please refrain from sharing your "opinions" on things that you "read" as a beginner.

>>16695329
what are considered light novels?

>>16800415
Everything labeled light novel. It's just a marketing name.

>>16800426
what does that imply though

>>16800401
So a luddite, who cares what luddites think. They're in every age and they're dumb in every age.

>>16800391
You don't, but you have to use a Japanese address. It accepted my foreign card.

It's also all-you-can-listen with the 1,500 yen subscription, too. Doesn't seem like there's much more than >>16800379, though.

>>16800379
>>16800486
There's also Arslan and LotGH.

>>16800415
Wisdom from 2ch:
>『あなたがそうだと思うものがライトノベルです。ただし、他人の同意を得られるとは限りません。』

A light novel is what you believe to be a light novel. Other people might not agree.

午後の曳航 is my favorite ranobe

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Is there a suprisingly high number of Japanese people who do J->E fan translations?

Maybe it's just chance but reading some random English-translated LNs I've run into a surprising amount of ESL-sounding grammar. I thought the only people who would be interested in translating novels to English would be native English speakers...

>>16800560
Yeah there is.

Mods already deleted the shit posting that was arguing about the definition of light novel. Please don't respond to bait.

Also this.
>>16800520

>>16800560
I think that's just what happens with a lack of editors and a translator with little to no experience writing. Most fan translations are dead awful because the translator is a poor writer.

>>16800560
>Is there a suprisingly high number of Japanese people who do J->E fan translations?

You are a prime example, there is so much wrong with this sentence.

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Has any read this?
薬屋のひとりごと

>>16800703
>You are a prime example, there is so much wrong with this sentence.

says the dumbass who uses commas instead of semicolons lol

>>16800848
No, but I will now. Thank you.

>>16800848
>>16800991
What's the synopsis?

>>16801118
http://amzn.asia/ecyO0rc

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>>16801151
Huh, I saw this listed on one of the tl site's blogs as a possible suggestion but never got a plot synopsis. Also, the illustrator I see is the same as the Ouroboros Record.

>>16801151
Not all of us can read nip.

>>16801191
That sounds like a you problem.

>>16801191
Then why are you even here?

>>16801207
Baka-tsuki MTL readers are a thing.

>>16801191
If you can't read that then obviously you can't read the book either, so this doesn't concern you.

>>16801191
>>16800848
>>16801151
>>16801217
>>16801214
>>16801202
Some anons are pretty much leeches off of TLed stuff. Either way, story seems to be average girl part of chink-era harem and becomes a detective. Not exactly a TLed synopsis but anyone can feel free to translate the real one.

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>>16801305
Ah, forgot pic.

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>>16800848
Funny, there's a novel and light novel version.

>>16800858
Doesnt change the fact that the sentence is shit. Now there's just two shit sentences.

>>16801650
>Now there's just two shit sentences.
>Now there is just two shit sentences.
Make that three.

>>16801660
Never said I was perfect :P

>>16801710
I'm just teasing anon, just goes to show that being native in a language does not automatically mean you are particularly fluent or proficient. The whole calling every grammar mistake "esl" is a meme that got out of control.

Even the best writers have well paid editors.

>>16801660
>>16801660

'There is' is fine. There's an ongoing debate about the issue:

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002447.html

>>16801763
"There is" is singular, then followed by a plural (two shit sentences). Thus breaking singular/plural continuity.

>>16801788
Since it seems you didn't read, I'll summarize for you:

> Millions of people (like me) who wouldn't use "there is two people at the door" are entirely happy with "there's two people at the door".
>Google News this morning gave me 36 examples of the string "there's several" . . . By comparison, Google News gives us only 2 genuine examples of "there is several"
>To investigate this [discrepancy], we could do a sociolinguistic survey, either by asking people for their reactions (though these are often untrustworthy), or by looking at their actual patterns of usage.
>when the singular is chosen, it's much more likely to be in the contracted form, even compared to relatively informal sequences where singular agreement would be expected, like "there's a big difference"
>[Results are] all consistent the view that "there's" + <plural noun phrase> is now informal/colloquial in current (American?) English, but not nonstandard, while "there is" + <plural noun phrase> remains nonstandard.

>>16801804
Forgot to mention

> informal here means something like "Not formal or ceremonious; casual; ... more appropriate for use in the spoken language than in the written language". And nonstandard means something like "Associated with a language variety used by uneducated speakers or socially disfavored groups".

>>16801804
>>16801810
I guess it's ok if you are speaking 'Merican. Now I know.

>>16801749
When I said ESL in >>16800560 I meant actual ESL stuff like mismatching tenses.
e.g.:
> How could the human civilization progressed so much in a mere 90 years? The world era I lived in previously, year 2010 to be exact, the progress of civilization has more or less getting stagnant.


>>16801788
"There's" can also mean "there are".
If contractions had exactly the same meaning as the words that made them up, "I don't know what it's" would be a grammatically correct sentence (identical in meaning to "I don't know what it is"), but that is clearly very, very wrong.

>>16801819
'MURICA xD

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Considering picking up 大日本サムライガール because the girl looks cute. Is it any good or should I just read NHK News for something equally dull and dry?

>>16801820
>If contractions had exactly the same meaning as the words that made them up, "I don't know what it's" would be a grammatically correct sentence (identical in meaning to "I don't know what it is"), but that is clearly very, very wrong.
The "right hand" argument of a contraction cannot be the "nexus" of focus. If you say "HE'S good", that corresponds to "HE is good", not "he IS good".

The phrase "I don't know what it is" has a forced focus on the final "is" because that focus is what allows the word order change. Because "is" bears focus here, it cannot be contracted.

The "there's" works for plurals is because the copula gets contracted "inside" the topic phrase. In "there is many", the reason "is" is incompatible with "many" is because it's exposed to the verb phrase, and is therefore exposed to concord with "many", which has countable plural properties. In "there's many", the copula is contracted to the inside of the topic phrase, and the topic phrase is itself copular and no longer bound by the same rules as the copula that was contracted inside it.

The only reason people think this is wrong is because they had a little education and have a vague idea of how grammar works but not enough to realize why what's real is real.

>>16803162
>>16803162
>>16803162
New thread for this ending thread.

>>16803271
But this thread will probably survive another day

>>16803667
Obviously some retard from another board.