Light novels and you

[blkmage]

This thread is for the introduction and discussion of the wide world of light novels. Ever wondered what a light novel is ever since Kagami mentions it in Lucky Star? Ever lamented about how the light novel is sooooo much better than the anime or manga? This is the thread for you.

The term light novel originated from the Japanese internets in the early 90s as a catch-all term for cheap sci-fi/fantasy novels. There's no strict definition of a light novel, so the best I can come up with is a novel that features anime/manga styled illustrations of what's happening every twenty or so pages. For example, all of the Haruhi character designs originate from the light novel illustrations.

Why light novels and why in the manga forum? I feel like light novels have a lot in common with manga and that they've become another branch of media for otaku to consume. There are an enormous amount of manga adaptations of light novels.

And what's more is that light novels have become great candidates for anime adaptations recently, what with the well of manga and visual novels beginning to dry up. Some really excellent anime that have been produced recently started their life as light novels, such as:

Bacanno
Full Metal Panic
Kino no Tabi (Kino's Journey)
Kure-nai
Shakugan no Shana
Slayers
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
Spice and Wolf
To Aru Majutsu no Index (A Certain Magical Index)
Toradora!
Zero no Tsukaima

Sounds great and I'll bet you're wondering how to get your hands on these things. As with other Japanese media, you have two options: fan-translated and officially licensed and distributed wares. Unfortunately, light novels are still far less popular than manga and anime, so the selection of light novels that are translated at all is pretty small. Your best bet is probably to learn Japanese.

Still, the situation may be turning around. A number of more recent and popular series are beginning to make their way here in the form of licensed products, like Haruhi, Spice and Wolf, and Kara no Kyoukai. The easiest way is still to read fan translations at the Baka-Tsuki wiki.

There is some great stuff in these things and hopefully I've convinced you to take a look, especially now that more and more of these things become source material for anime.

[Fish and Chips]

My failure to understand Japanese on any cognitive level is the only thing stopping me from ordering Baccano and Kino's Journey overseas right now. I do keep up with a couple translation projects however, such as Kara no Kyōkai and the Type-Moon derivative work Fate/Zero.

[MasterDias]

Given the higher costs necessary for novels compared to manga, they have a much more difficult time breaking even, much less actually turning a profit.
Unfortunate, but I don't really see this changing a great deal anytime soon, although I wish Yen Press success with Haruhi and Spice & Wolf.

I've read the first volumes of Boogiepop, Kino's Journey, Scrapped Princess, and Gosick and have The Twelve Kingdoms in backlog for when I get around to it.

[blkmage]

Do you mean higher costs for bringing them across the ocean or in general? I can see how it's a lot harder to translate novels than manga, but I'm not sure if just writing and editing is that much more costly than writing and drawing.

[Radical Dreamer]

I've got the first volume of the Kino no Tabi light novel, and it's pretty good! I'd like to get my hands on the Haruhi Suzumiya light novel eventually, and while I'm sure it's not going to happen any time in even the vaguest sense of the near future, I would LOVE to see the Baccano novels translated and released State-side. Unfortunately, it's a rare occasion that I can even find light novels for sale in my bookstores, so finding them at all is a treat in and of itself, really. XD

[Fish and Chips]

Do you mean higher costs for bringing them across the ocean or in general? I can see how it's a lot harder to translate novels than manga, but I'm not sure if just writing and editing is that much more costly than writing and drawing.

There's a lot more to translate in a novel, often requiring localizations because of sentence structure. Manga, mainly, is just dialogue, with only occasional edits to preserve or alter artwork. Overall, translating a full book is probably the more expensive endevour.

[MasterDias]

What Fish said.
They have to make sure everything makes grammatical sense, is consistent, and flows naturally. This is much more difficult, time-consuming, and expensive than it actually sounds. As such, they need to sell more copies of an individual novel than they would of an individual manga volume to actually break-even.

Tokyopop has been having some financial difficulties the past few years, so I'm sure that was a part of them essentially axing or "indefinitely delaying" most of their novel line. But, regardless, people just aren't buying them in large enough quantities to make them profitable.

[Ingemar]

Ahh, the light novel.

Remember when people used to call these things picture books? Surely I'm not the only person who read Paddington Bear as a kid.

[Htom Sirveaux]

Ahh, the light novel.

Remember when people used to call these things picture books? Surely I'm not the only person who read Paddington Bear as a kid.

Nice going, now Fish is gonna belittle you even though you're obviously joking.

[Fish and Chips]

My favorite part of Htom's posts are when he makes baseless accusations.

My second favorite part of Htom's posts are when he makes accurate accusations, but aims them in the wrong direction.

[Htom Sirveaux]

Wrong direction indeed. The young man's belittling me instead.
No one to blame but myself, I guess. . . . Nah, I'll just blame society.

And now, back on topic.
In the Special Features for the Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid anime collection, there's a short video about light novels, particularly the one on which FMP was apparently based. So yeah, I'd like to read one. I didn't know there were any in English. Maybe I'll find something at Otakon in the dealers' room.

[Radical Dreamer]

Ahh, the light novel.

Remember when people used to call these things picture books? Surely I'm not the only person who read Paddington Bear as a kid.

Nice going, now Fish is gonna belittle you even though you're obviously joking.

My favorite part of Htom's posts are when he makes baseless accusations.

My second favorite part of Htom's posts are when he makes accurate accusations, but aims them in the wrong direction.

Wrong direction indeed. The young man's belittling me instead.
No one to blame but myself, I guess. . . . Nah, I'll just blame society.

Just dropping a note here, none of these comments are necessary, nor are any of them uplifting to anyone. Joking or not, it's unkind and it's not what anyone needs to hear. Take further matters to PM and continue to keep this thread on topic, please.

[Maokun]

Thanks for the info blkmage, I had been convincing myself of reading Haruhi's novels for a while (after coming to terms with the realization that the whole thing is most likely not gonna be animated. At least not in my or my future kids' lifetime) and this was the last push I needed, specially with the Baka-tsuki hint.