Why are visual novels so popular and get so many people working on them, but light novels are left in the dust completely ignored? Is it much more difficult to translate a light novel? I can find a lot of crappy visual novels but only a handful of light novels are translated completely...

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Anonymous Thu Jan 20 09:07:01 2011 No.6839169 [Reply] [Original]

Why are visual novels so popular and get so many people working on them, but light novels are left in the dust completely ignored?

Is it much more difficult to translate a light novel? I can find a lot of crappy visual novels but only a handful of light novels are translated completely...

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 09:11:01 2011 No.6839176

Visual Novels are for the most part dialogues, light novels is for the most part narration.
There's also the problem of bringing text on paper in digital format.
There's also the problem of people knowing enough japanese to understand what's written without hookers for kanji and shit.
There's also the problem that visual novels provide a more immediate satisfaction (self-contained, romance is paramount) while light novels take an unspecified number of volumes and they don't make the reader feel like they're the protagonist, or "in control" anyways.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 09:11:01 2011 No.6839177

>visual novels
>popular
>many people
Not true on all accounts.
It's still a small and developing subscene in the weeaboo culture. Same goes for light novel translations. We are getting the official translations for a more mainstream stuff these days, it wasn't even possible not so long ago.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 09:12:01 2011 No.6839179 I've got this in selfmade PDFs, still got to read it. It has 4 volumes so far, that's why it's so far complete. Things like Index, ZnT, SnS have almost 20. Well Toradora has 10 and is complete too.

>>	Nitori's Faceless !FRIENDgj1s Thu Jan 20 09:14:01 2011 No.6839183 >>6839169 visual novels are better suited to digital distribution

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 09:19:01 2011 No.6839188 >>6839179 It's pretty good I sat down and read volume 1-4 and enjoyed it a lot. I decided I'm going to order the actual volumes off amazon in a week or two. I hope people decide to start reading them more so more people translate them in the future.

Anonymous of Croatia !na1byG1GU. Thu Jan 20 09:27:01 2011 No.6839201
File: 93 KB, 600x270, Wolf and Spice.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kono_Light_Novel_ga_Sugoi!
Top 10's in japan.

I so far have
Zaregoto 1~2
Wolf and Spice 1~3
Shana 1~2
Haruhi 1~3
NHK

It's really a shame there isn't more. Problem is books are much more enjoyable to read in book form or at least if you have some sort of ebook reader then sitting in front of a big PC screen in pdf.

But yeah like the OP said, VNs are way bigger then LNs I mean thats not telling much but as you can see LNs have a pretty damn small following. They're also usually harder to translate, have more text and have a long story that spans 10 if not more volumes.

I also hope to god they'll offically translated all the Wolf and Spice Light Novels.

I wish I knew japanese enough to play the Wolf and Spice VN/Economic Simulator ones too ;_;

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 09:27:01 2011 No.6839202 >>6839169 Who knows? Maybe translators don't like lines of wordswordswords and prefer mediums other than novels.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 09:27:01 2011 No.6839203

>>6839176
Not to mention that most of the really popular light novels span like 20 volumes.

Also, Western young adults have been unintentionally conditioned to hate books throughout high school, which turns people off light novels, while visual novels can still market themselves as games and overcome that issue.

Anonymous of Croatia !na1byG1GU. Thu Jan 20 09:31:01 2011 No.6839210

>>6839203
God this is so fucking true.
Being forced to read a fucking book I never want to see in my life again every single month of the last 8 or so years of school made me hate books I still hate them.

But my heart is warming up to light novels and sci fi novels. I even read FlashForward. The book is so much better then the shitty series.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 09:31:01 2011 No.6839211 Light Novels = Lowbrow entertainment Visual Novels = Lowbrow entertainment+porn

>>	Yｏur ｆavorite Aｎonymous thaｔ liｖes iｎＢangkok Thu Jan 20 09:32:01 2011 No.6839212 wall of text

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 09:38:01 2011 No.6839221 most of them suck

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 09:39:01 2011 No.6839222 >>6839203 You've got a good point. Anyone else hate books still, but want to read light novels? It feels silly, I want to learn japanese so I can read their light novels, yet I've got zero interest in reading western fiction at all.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 09:44:01 2011 No.6839231 Most light novels I read fucking suck. Like low tier moege level.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 09:46:01 2011 No.6839236

Almost all of the Haruhi novels were fantranslated, then it got licensed.
Many of the Spice&Wolf novels got translated (they started even before the anime was announced), but then it got licensed.
The first 5 Shakugan no Shana novels also got translated, then it got licensed, and canceled after 2 volumes.
Half of the To Arue novels are translated, just not the first few.
Baka to Test have started good and is underway.
Oreimo has started good and is underway.
Zero no Tsukaima is translated.
Fate/Zero
Toradora!
Kara no Kyoukai
Chrome Shelled Regios

And there is more.
I really don't know what you are talking about OP.
Sure more translators are always nice, but people will translate what they want, or so I believe.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 09:46:01 2011 No.6839237

>>6839203
whaaaat.

Look I hate to say the "T" word but perhaps you've heard of a series of books targeted specifically at young adults that got really popular somehow?

Remember, light novel is just japanese for young adult. This stuff is meant to be easy to read. It's not sophisticated. Personally, that's why I don't really care for the light novel scene.

I hated YA lit that talked down to me when I was a kid, why the hell would I like YA lit that talks down to me as an adult, just because it was in japanese?

Anonymous of Croatia !na1byG1GU. Thu Jan 20 09:46:01 2011 No.6839238
File: 125 KB, 501x512, Zaregoto.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>6839222
Well I do feel the same way except for Sci~fi.

Fantasy and other Western books really are not in my field of interest.

But I love the light writing in Light Novels. I love the stories, I love that you can picture the characters in your head because you get nice 2D pictures. I love that most of them get at least an anime or manga.

And being required to read fucking Anna Karenina, War and Peace, The Death of Ivan Ilyich in High School made me HATE long fucking useless books that take 1000 pages to get to the point. Yes I am not a fan of literature like that. Maybe I'm not intelligent enough or something but I enjoyed Wolf and Spice a billion millions times more.

Also I really enjoyed Zaregoto because I've never seen or heard about it or any of it's characters that made it much more fun to read! I know how japs feel about LNs after reading that one.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 09:49:01 2011 No.6839240 >>6839188 Oh it's nicely cheap, 620en a piece, better than Umineko, where I had to settle for Nero Burning ROM instead of glorious original, because of lack of money.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 09:50:01 2011 No.6839243

>NHK
I was actually suprised when this was licensed as a light novel.
Then again, the light novel thing here basically means that it was relatively easy to read, as in, not horrible use of kanji and people who weren't done with highschool should have been able to read it as well.

But desptite the anime and everything it spawned later, when NHK was first released, as a regular book, it was taken seriously, and adults and old people read it all over Japan.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 09:50:01 2011 No.6839244

Probably the fact that japanese culture fans are in it for the art, and light novel art uses it less than any other. Also, the light novel is a relatively recent phenomenon, so interest in it hasn't had a long time to build.

That said, it's building in mainstream popularity far more quickly and successfully than VNs, though that's easy to do when you aren't porn.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 09:51:01 2011 No.6839245 >>6839236 Fate Zero goes nicely... well there's going to be anime of it, so that may cover it.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 09:57:01 2011 No.6839264

>>6839237
What do you mean by, "sophisticated" and are you the /jp/apenesefriend? A lot of the anime I like is based off light novels and they're left unfinished so, I have a strong urge to read the source material.

>>6839231
>>6839221
Which have you read to make that assumption? Also most of the visual novels suck too so what now?

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 09:59:01 2011 No.6839269

>>6839237
>This stuff is meant to be easy to read. It's not sophisticated.
This is far from saying that the average light novel is sophisticated, or that any of them even are.
But this is missing the point of what light novels are.

Yes the point is that they are supposed to be easy to read, but I believe you are missing the point as to how.
It's not as if the actual lines are retarded down, if someone was to read it out loud it should be about the same.

But really, although not as bad as Chinese, the Japanese study Japanese for good chunk of their life.
If you go to a Japanese bookstore, it's very possible that the books are stored after how difficult they are to read.
There are books for children, stuff they should be able to get through with only basic Japanese knowledge.
Then there are books for Highschoolers.
But then there are also books for College people, and then there are even books that are recommended for people to be in their 30-45+ for them to be likely to be able tor ead the text. And they assume that these people have undergone all the previous study of the younger people, and added knowledge on their own from general life experience.

Lot's of books can be kind of hard for highschoolers, and light novels sure sell good among them, but it's not like they are neccessarily dumb, that's the author's responsibility, not the light novel format.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 09:59:01 2011 No.6839271 Most of them suck massively, for example >>6839169 VNs at least have pictures, voices and porn.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 10:01:01 2011 No.6839277 I have yet to read a good light novel. Except for Slayers.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 10:07:01 2011 No.6839296

>>6839277
>>6839271
Can the people who are saying light novel suck give some examples of good visual novels you've played? Are you guys just trolling or what... There is so many good anime based off light novels, I'm perplexed as to how people are making claims they all suck.

I look at the list of visual novels getting translated and I can barely waste my time reading what the story is about. They're all mostly just high school romance dating sims, yet entertaining stories are worse by comparison?

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 10:08:01 2011 No.6839297

>>6839277
I can't say that I have been all that impressed with most of them either.
But I was actually impressed with the first volume of Haruhi.

Otherwise I am more of a /lit/ guy, but that novel was actually good.
Though I don't know about the others. But if you haven't read it, try it.
And try to ignore it being mainstream or whatever if that sort of thing were to bother you for whatever the reason.

Also, if you have read the first one and didn't like it, then I would like to hear why.
I mean, it may perhaps not be the best, but I can't say I find it any worse than my other books.
It's actually written rather smart.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 10:08:01 2011 No.6839298 >>6839264 zaregoto gosick missing rocket girls haruhi baccano oreimo toradora

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 10:09:01 2011 No.6839299 Shigofumi is a nice light novel.

Anonymous of Croatia !na1byG1GU. Thu Jan 20 10:12:01 2011 No.6839308

>>6839296
They're probably just trolling.

Until they give some actual examples as why to Light Novels suck I won't really take them seriously.

It's like saying Touhou sucks, reason it's japanese and every fan is pedophile.

>>6839298
And they suck why exactly?
I can list 500 animes I watched and say the suck.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 10:13:01 2011 No.6839312 >>6839298 Hay I liked Gosick. Well ok, it may have gotten a little bit overhand later on, but it wasn't that bad.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 10:14:01 2011 No.6839316 >>6839296 Light novel are basically written like a script for anime, that's one of the reason why they are so easily adaptable and also why most of them suck. I have yet to read a light novel that could compete with real top tier eroge.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 10:16:01 2011 No.6839318 >>6839308 most of them are boring, badly written shit. only haruhi and baccano are readable

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 10:16:01 2011 No.6839319 >>6839316 >Light novel are basically written like a script for anime While I agree that many might be written like this, it is no criteria for a light novel.

Anonymous of Croatia !na1byG1GU. Thu Jan 20 10:20:01 2011 No.6839326

>>6839318
So you find them boring based on the fact that you probably already saw the anime adaptation and "badly written" based on fan translation of baktsuki.

Great!

>>6839316
Whats a top tier eroge if I might ask? What eroge combines story and sex into something more?

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 10:20:01 2011 No.6839329

>>6839298
I thought you would give some good examples. Found your problem by the way.
>gosick
>oreimo
>toradora
>etc
After raging at episode two of gosick, I can easily see why you'd think it's bad. I was cringing at the explanations, so I imagine the LN can't be much better. Most of the light novels I want to read aren't even translated yet and the few I want to read that only partially translated in lots of chunks.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 10:26:01 2011 No.6839342 >>6839326 >zaregoto >missing >anime adaptation >fan translation you fucking wish >gosick >rocket girls >haruhi >baccano >oreimo never watched anime, gosick and rocket girls dont have fan translation

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 10:55:01 2011 No.6839445

>>6839329
>Most of the light novels I want to read aren't even translated yet and the few I want to read that only partially translated in lots of chunks.

This is why I havent read any LN so far, hate to read something that's not finish. As how they are badly writen, cant say anything until I read a few, but it can be worse than a VN

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 10:55:01 2011 No.6839446

Some good/okay translated VNs:

Ever17 -the out of infinity-
Muv-Luv Alternative
Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no Shoujo
G-senjou no Maou
Little Busters!
Tsukihime
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
Saya no Uta
Symphonic Rain
Cross†Channel
ef - a fairy tale of the two.
Planetarian ~Chiisana Hoshi no Yume~
True Remembrance
Majikoi
Phantom of Inferno
Remember11 -the age of infinity-
Swan Song
Sekien no Inganock -What a Beautiful People-
Eve: Burst Error
Narcissu
Kikokugai - The Cyber Slayer
Divi-Dead
Bible Black

Good/okay translated LNs:

Fate/Zero

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 11:05:01 2011 No.6839482 >>6839446 Now it's going to become a good and old opinion shitstorm about VN.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 11:16:01 2011 No.6839518 >>6839169 I bought Haruhi and Horo light novels. Official VN? Hahahaha I avoid them like the plague. Fuck JAST and Mangagamers.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 11:25:01 2011 No.6839536
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>>6839446
>good
>nasu
>key
>bible black
>NOPE.JPG
Don't want to play some crappy dating sim, let alone one about high school kids. Haven't looked really given the most recent visual novel translations a good look, but they mostly seem like generic crap. Looking forward to demonbane though.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 11:29:01 2011 No.6839547 Instead of starting this opinion shit, how about we consider the more important issues... like WHEN am I going to get to read the rest of Kino no Tabi? ;_;

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 11:32:01 2011 No.6839553 >>6839536 oh god what is that picture from? oboro muramasa? also is there any website where one can easily get fan translated light novels?

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 11:33:01 2011 No.6839554 I liked the Boogiepop series.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 11:33:01 2011 No.6839556 >>6839553 http://www.baka-tsuki.org/

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 11:34:01 2011 No.6839560 >>6839553 also ignore me, brain fart at the awesomeness of said pic made me forget iqdb

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 11:34:01 2011 No.6839563 >>6839237 >why the hell would I like YA lit that talks down to me as an adult, just because it was in japanese? can you even read Japanese, or are you just making sweeping assumptions

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 11:35:01 2011 No.6839565
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>>6839536
>Don't want to play some crappy dating sim, let alone one about high school kids. Haven't looked really given the most recent visual novel translations a good look, but they mostly seem like generic crap.
Oh look, some DEEP ses grimdark fag, lets see where this is going
>Looking forward to demonbane though.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

If you're a troll, I'll give you 9/10, if not, then let me laugh harder.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 11:35:01 2011 No.6839568 >>6839556 thanks

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 11:36:01 2011 No.6839572 File: 64 KB, 211x215, 1275810246103.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>6839536 It's official this guy is a funny funny guy

>>	Anonymous of Croatia !na1byG1GU. Thu Jan 20 11:43:01 2011 No.6839598 Good at least we had a decent discussion for the first few post before the "It's shit" guys came.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 11:51:01 2011 No.6839623 Ok, now I understand why the LNs threads should go to /a/.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 11:52:01 2011 No.6839626 >>6839598 Unfortunately, the majority /jp/ has the "it's shit" mentality about pretty much everything. They can talk about taste and standards all they want, but it's a miracle if they genuinely enjoy anything.

>>	Nitori's Faceless !FRIENDgj1s Thu Jan 20 11:53:01 2011 No.6839629 >>6839626 next time I'll make a cross channel thread to distract them

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 11:59:01 2011 No.6839643 >>6839626 This isn't about "you're favorite eroge is shit", it's about a guy who thinks he's better than people eating green apples because he eats red apples, and is obnoxious about it.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 12:05:01 2011 No.6839658
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>>6839623
>LN threads should go to /a/
>/a/ - Anime & Manga
Ugh I seriously wish Moot would delete /jp/ sometimes. Why did /jp/ become so awful? LN threads are popular in /a/ because it has a small amount of intelligent users who read them. VN = generic shitty dating sim and LN = entertaining story.

Where is the /DG/ board so I don't have to read you fucking retards shitty comments anymore? Fucking scum.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 12:07:01 2011 No.6839664 >>6839658 >LN threads are popular in /a/ because it has a small amount of intelligent users who read them. LN threads are popular in /a/ because os shitty adaptations.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 12:08:01 2011 No.6839666

>>6839658
While I agree that it's useless to say LN does not belong here.. why you come here then? I seriously can't understand why someone come here to discuss LN when /a/ has their superior users discussing it.

There won't be a /dg/ board and you shouldn't say one or a couple of people are the same as the entire board.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 12:08:01 2011 No.6839667 >>6839658 >VN = generic shitty dating sim and LN = entertaining story. That really didn't help your case.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 12:09:01 2011 No.6839671

>>6839598
Don't be discouraged - there are still a lot of other people on /jp/ (like myself) who enjoy light novels. By the way, the statements "light novels are shit" or "visual novels are shit" are just about as meaningful as the statement "movies are shit".

There are people who dislike light novels because they associate it with trashy young/teen fiction over here - personally, I think that's an incongruous comparison. Light novels are an extremely popular medium for stories in Japan, and people of all ages read them - everyone from middle school children to salarymen. Many are written so they are easy to read and understand, but that does not mean they cannot contain "sophisticated" characters or plot elements.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 12:14:01 2011 No.6839680

>>6839658
>VN = generic shitty dating sim and LN = entertaining story
You haven't played many VNs, obviously.
>intelligent users
Pretentious. VN readers at least accept the fact that there is little literary value in VNs.

Where is the /lit/ board so I don't have to read you fucking retards' shitty comments anymore? Fucking scum.

Oh wait.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 12:14:01 2011 No.6839681

>>6839671
There are many good VNs and many good LNs, haters just try to troll, it's very easy to bash something here trying to get you mad. Also I would like to write a shrt novel sometime.... you know school setting and everything... English is not my first language... aww come bash me how it's impossible...

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 12:14:01 2011 No.6839685

I agree, light novels don't belong in /a/ - in terms of format, they are much more closely related to visual novels than manga.

I think we should have more LN discussion threads on /jp/ - I think they would be enjoyable and add more variety to the board

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 12:16:01 2011 No.6839697 Why can't we have just discussion about LNs? If there is a thread titled "xxx is shit" come troll here fags... if it isn't deleted instantly which it should I guess.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 12:16:01 2011 No.6839698 People say there is many good LNs. Like? I'm not trying to troll but most light novels I read were terrible.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 12:17:01 2011 No.6839702 >>6839698 People say there is many good movies. Like? I'm not trying to troll but most movies i watched were terrible.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 12:19:01 2011 No.6839706 >>6839698 OPINIONS, OPINIONS EVERYWHERE

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 12:20:01 2011 No.6839709

>>6839563
What does Japanese have to do with anything? I'm talking about translated light novels. I'm saying: "light novels are just Japanese YA novels, so why is everyone acting like they're so great?" There's a lot of good YA literature that's natively English, and I feel like it's the height of weeabooism to prefer light novels because they're japanese.

Maybe I'm misreading intentions here though.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 12:21:01 2011 No.6839715

>>6839698
Spice & Wolf, just to give one example. To be fair, both LNs and VNs are inundated with "school comedy/romance" stories, so I personally felt Spice & Wolf to be a breath of fresh air and also very enjoyable to read.

Full Metal Panic is also good if you like action/adventure. Oh, and Kindaichi Case Files - good mystery novels.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 12:21:01 2011 No.6839716

>>6839666
I didn't come here. Not everyone on /jp/ adores visual novels. I asked what his favorite masterpieces were since "light novels are shit" and he lists nasu and bible black. I was honestly curious since I assumed he would give me some interesting titles to look at, but instead he gave me nasu, bible black and high school romance dating sims.

Light novels aren't fucking /a/ related. It's seriously pathetic I have to go to /a/ to read light novel threads. There is a lot more than visual novels to otaku culture, so it's annoying when see drooling retards praising visual novels and saying LN are shit.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 12:21:01 2011 No.6839721

>>6839685
>I think we should have more LN discussion threads on /jp/ - I think they would be enjoyable and add more variety to the board
Like this thread?
No, thanks.
This is what I meant by saying that the discussions should go to /a/...not because it isn't /jp/ related, but because /jp/ can't discuss it.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 12:23:01 2011 No.6839731 The only problem I have with LN threads is when people start to discuss their anime adaptation instead of the actual LN, thus, becoming a regular /a/ thread.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 12:33:01 2011 No.6839761

>>6839716
And acting like a retard praising LNs while saying VNs are shit is any better?

Most of what he listed isn't nasu nor bible black. And none of them are high school dating sims. Some of them take place in a high school, but the majority of the ones that do don't actually focus on "dating."

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 12:34:01 2011 No.6839764

>>6839709
I agree, there's a lot of good YA English literature, just like there are many good light novels. I read both, and I don't prefer light novels because they are written in Japanese, nor do I even really prefer them over literature in my native tongue (I'd say it's about equal).

Translated light novels are convenient for those who don't know the source language, but a bad translation can really ruin the original sometimes - which is why I was asking that anon if he read any light novels in the actual source language.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 12:37:01 2011 No.6839770

>>6839709
Cartoons are the same as anime right. Manga and comics also have similar dialogue too don't they? Obviously the different cultures don't result in various differences in their forms of media.

>>6839698
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dengeki_Bunko
Like the start of the thread says barely any light novels are translated/being translated. There is like 13 of them stalled/will be finished in 4 years/random chapters translated.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 12:38:01 2011 No.6839774

>>6839721
This isn't really what a light novel discussion thread is supposed to be - we haven't really discussed specifics (plot, characters, etc.) of any light novels. So far it's been a lot of arguing back and forth, which I propose we let simmer down and die before creating a true LN discussion thread.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 12:42:01 2011 No.6839781

>>6839774
Just make a specific LN discussion thread, and make sure it's not something with an anime adaptation, like Zaregoto.

Funny thing about Zaregoto is that I saw a thread about it on /jp/ right before I brought my sister to the library, and I saw the first volume just glancing at the bookshelf.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 12:46:01 2011 No.6839795 LN fags need to take a page from the VN fag book and hype the fuck out of untranslated shit. That way you can ensure that your medium is appropriately mystified, and you'll find soon enough that demand for LNs exploding.

>>	Anonymous of Croatia !na1byG1GU. Thu Jan 20 13:26:01 2011 No.6839910 >>6839781 I envy you we never get any japanese things in our library well except the locally translated Negima, Blade of the Immortal, Peach Girl and some other shoujo manga.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 13:31:01 2011 No.6839923 Where can you download Light Novels?

>>	Nitori's Faceless !FRIENDgj1s Thu Jan 20 13:35:01 2011 No.6839938 >>6839923 find tl group, hope they haven't been c&d'd if licensed, rs could be worth a shot

Anonymous of Croatia !na1byG1GU. Thu Jan 20 13:35:01 2011 No.6839939

>>6839731
Problem is the only light novels we have translated that don't have an anime or go beyond the anime plots are:

Zaregoto
Book Girl
Full Metal Panic

Thats it... I mean eventually when and if Wolf and Spice gets to volume like 7 or something we'll move out of the anime storyline. Also probably Haruhi, mentioning these as they sell pretty well.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 13:42:01 2011 No.6839965 >>6839939 +Boogiepop

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 13:45:01 2011 No.6839979 >>6839965 Boogiepop is awesome.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 13:46:01 2011 No.6839980 >>6839939 I think GOSICK has been entirely released in Germany by an official licensor way before the anime.

>>	Nitori's Faceless !FRIENDgj1s Thu Jan 20 14:23:01 2011 No.6840097 >>6839939 Book Girl/Bungaku Shoujo has had anime teaser thing released not sure about the full length adaptation (also book girl is such a terrible name, literature girl was a much better choice)

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 14:25:01 2011 No.6840104

>>6839446
Haruhi
Spice&Wolf
Zero no Tsukaima
Fate/Zero
Kara no Kyoukai
Toradora!
And well, I don't quite consider this a lightnovel as it wasn't one at first, but there is also Welcome to the N.H.K.

And well,while not all them may be masterpieces perhaps, they are still by no means worse than what you listed.
Also, these are series who are either completely finished or have a good chunk of all their novels already translated.

Many of these are however still ongoing in Japan.
Waiting for all the novels to be fully translated is sort of akin to waiting for all of the Umineko episodes to be translated before even touching 1.
And there are other series who have their first few novels translated and who are being translated at decent rates.
For instance, the To Aru Majutsu no Index series. Now, the person who was working on the first part of the series have obviously not been as fast as the one who started working on later volumes, but as soon as the first few gaps are closed, over half the series will be translated.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 14:28:01 2011 No.6840117 >>6840104 They are. All of them are mediocre to hell, also F/Z isn't a light novel. Good light novel: Slayers Orphen though it get kinda mediocre later on, still worth reading. Boogiepop Phantom

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 14:34:01 2011 No.6840148 >>6840117 >F/Z isn't a light novel Oh boy.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 14:40:01 2011 No.6840189

>>6840117
They aren't exactly translated though.
I could have listed more otherwise.

But really, Haruhi is good for it's genre, it's in no way inferior to ordinary books. At least not the first few.
N.H.K is also a serious book, it did really well even before it was re-printed as a lightnovel, in fact, the fact that it was a sucess at all is because it was a sucess when it was first published.
Also, Fate/Zero is a light novel, I don't know why you got the impression that they were "regular" books.
And Fate/Zero is without doubt on par with say Kikokugai - The Cyber Slayer or Saya no Uta.
Kara no Kyoukai isn't worse than Tsukihime.
I really don't know why you would argue that Spice&Wolf would be worse than all of those listed.
And Toradora! While perhaps not that great in my opinion, is still a read comparable to say Higurashi or whatever.

To me it looks like you have a clear bias if you seriously tries to argue that all of them are worse.
To say that all of them, both the novels and the VNs are mediocre however, that's another thing.
But keep in mind that N.H.K did really well for instance, even though it was released at a suitable time, but it doesn't change much.

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 14:51:01 2011 No.6840232 WHAT ABOUT DOKURO-CHAN????

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 16:06:01 2011 No.6840518 >>6840097 >literature girl was a much better choice More like Literature Lass.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 18:35:01 2011 No.6841189

So format ='s content right?

Yeah, I thought so.

If we all had a little more self-confidence you wouldn't have to belittle the media we enjoy as weeaboo or pornographic or badly written or any other derogatory title that someone who's never experienced them could say.

You like what you like because you think it's good, right? If VNs were just for porn or is LNs were written simplistically to only suit teenagers we wouldn't even be having this discussion. Exceptions can clearly be found for either case so lets just try being a little bit more honest about the good qualities that make us enjoy our hobbies, eh /jp/?

>>	Anonymous Thu Jan 20 19:20:01 2011 No.6841384 >>6841189 >You like what you like because you think it's good, right? No, I like what I like because I enjoyed it.

Anonymous Thu Jan 20 19:39:01 2011 No.6841484

>>6841384

Isn't that just a lack of self-confidence in regards to your opinion vs. your perceived opinion of the group?

Do you like things for having bad qualities? Personally, I do, but I recognize that, at least to me, that makes some bad things good.

For discussion's sake, why would you rank an intangible idea like objective quality as more important than your own experience?

Anonymous Fri Jan 21 13:02:01 2011 No.6844422

>>6841484
I'm just saying that some of the stuff I like I don't consider "good" even when compared to different works in the same medium/genre. On the other hand, just because something is "good" doesn't mean I have to like it. For example, I liked both Code Geass as well as LoGH, but not Cowboy Bebop. Yes, those are anime but the best examples I could think of right now.

Of course, you might argue that there is no thing as "objective quality" (and I'd agree somewhat) as "quality" has to be defined and that definition ends up being different for different sorts of people due to influences like culture, upbringing, individual preferences, even experience. But if you go that route then you're just admitting it's mostly personal opinion, not fact. I'm not so arrogant as to claim that my tastes are an universal standard that should be adopted by everyone and I'd prefer if other people agreed. Actually the same goes for groups, not just individuals.

>Do you like things for having bad qualities? Personally, I do, but I recognize that, at least to me, that makes some bad things good.
Depends. Some of the qualities others call bad I might actually enjoy. Some say XY is retarded, I might laugh at it. And some things I can just look past. Goes the other way, too.

>For discussion's sake, why would you rank an intangible idea like objective quality as more important than your own experience?
It's not about importance, but that it's often meaningless to just call something "good". It's much more useful to say WHY you think something is good. With that information others can build their own opinion.

Anonymous Fri Jan 21 13:09:01 2011 No.6844439

What light novels do people read here?

A few months ago I remember suggesting to Croatia about reading Zaregoto and he seems to like it.

Also a few months ago I was called a faggot by CurryButt for not owning all the Boogiepop novels (Though I did own moat of them).

Utsuro no Haku also got a lot of threads ("Maria was raped guys!" "SHIT YOUR MOUTH NO SHE WASN'T" "She went to that guys room in the next block" "UOOOOOOOOOOH").

Last year I also remember some complaints about Bungaku Shoujo getting licensed.

>>	Sakura !RAILgUnr8s Fri Jan 21 13:12:01 2011 No.6844447 >>6839203 Really? We were probably only forced to read a few books during all of school, and they were pretty decent books.

Anonymous Fri Jan 21 15:21:01 2011 No.6844854

>>6839203
>Not to mention that most of the really popular light novels span like 20 volumes.
This is a misconception made by western fans.

Zaregoto, which kicked Haruhi off the number 1 spot, only had 9 Volumes.

It's spin off only had 6 (4 of which were released on the same day because the author thought it'd be funny).

Etsusa Bridge (Ryohgo Narita- Baccano, Durarara) only had 4 in the whole series.

Tobira no Soto (which quite a few rewards and is one of the most popular on a EGS equivalent) only had 3 novels in its series.

Beat's Discipline by Kadono Kouhei (The man who made light novels a popular medium with the Boogiepop series) was only four novels.

NisiOisiN's Sekai series (The main character nearly won a few recent awards for best characters if it wasn't because of rising fame for things like Spice and Wold getting a second season) only had 5 volumes.

Allison (Written by Kino's Journey) also only had 4 novels and has gotten a lot of adaptions.

There's a lot of series' that are popular with not many novels'. And these are the only ones that are finished.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jan 21 20:42:01 2011 No.6846500 >>6844854 I believe it's also worth mentioning how there are also plenty of light novels that aren't ven series in the first place. Making them 1 novel only.

Anonymous of Croatia !na1byG1GU. Fri Jan 21 20:53:01 2011 No.6846543
File: 345 KB, 500x1000, Book Girl.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>6844439
Well right now I'm think about picking up the Book Girl series.

How would you rate it? I liked it from what I've read in the Manga thats been translated so far.

Anonymous Fri Jan 21 21:07:01 2011 No.6846628

Reasons I would translate VNs over LNs if I cared enough to translate things (and reasons I prefer VNs)
-I don't like reading books on a computer. VN's have pictures so I think they work better electronically, but I wouldn't read a LN on a computer.
-I hate things that aren't finished and aren't guaranteed to finish. Haruhi for example, may never finish despite gaining popularity. If I had read it while it was popular I would regret it as much as I regret reading 8-9 books of the wheel of time, which I regret quite a bit. By the time TWoT finished (it did finish right?) I stopped caring and didn't remember any of it. I don't read manga for this same reason.
-I feel episodic content generally decreases the quality of a work. The author focuses more on small scale plot and the large scale plot suffers.

That said, I can imagine LNs being better for stories that work while in episodic formats (detective stories and such, where the protagonist solves a new case each novel)

Anonymous Fri Jan 21 21:08:01 2011 No.6846635

My opinion may not be worth much but I will say that the language in LNs (and literature in general) tends to be significantly more difficult than what you would find in an ordinary video game, a VN, or a manga. Many expressions and a fair portion of the vocabulary are rarely heard outside of a literary context and are intended to evoke imagery that other types of media can simply display. Going as fast as I can and just letting little things that don't affect the plot go, I can go maybe a page or two every 5 minutes or so, but if I were to look up every single word and hammer out every confusing half-page sentence then it might take me an hour just to get through 5-6 pages. Granted, I'm still learning, but this speed is incredibly frustrating compared to how I can play Final Fantasy or Fire Emblem.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jan 21 21:11:01 2011 No.6846652 I would've read them, if I can pirate them online.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jan 21 21:12:01 2011 No.6846653 >>6846635 I think you are completely wrong. I can read Haruhi mostly without looking up a word. Non-moege VNs have MUCH harder vocabulary imo. Nitro+ stuff for example tends to be covered in non-jouyou kanji

>>	Anonymous Fri Jan 21 21:16:01 2011 No.6846674 File: 189 KB, 800x600, 8405.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>6846635 Try this. Typical rail-soft page, it even looks like a light novel!

Anonymous Fri Jan 21 21:26:01 2011 No.6846730

>>6846653
Hm. Well, the only thing I have to compare with is the Index novels and a few pages of what I looked at in Tsutaya, and they're much more difficult for me to fully comprehend than anything else I read. I guess there's a lot of variation within LNs as well.

>>	Anonymous Fri Jan 21 23:04:01 2011 No.6847164 >>6846674 That's pretty simple stuff, actually.

Anonymous Sat Jan 22 07:49:01 2011 No.6848888

>>6846730
It will of course go a lot smoother if you become more familliar with Japanese.

But once again, even though there may be "simpler" works in the light novel format.
Light Novels tend to sound the same as regular novels when spoken out loud, that way the literary content "isn't" any simpler.
They are just written easier for most part, and there's a difference.

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/jp/ - Otaku Culture