Light Novel Recommendations

[apr]

Originally Posted by Solafighter

This is an awsomeness collection.

If its true, you are from sweden, but can read the novels or are they in english(well since the titles are in jap, i think the whole bunch is jap lol)?

RESPECT!

I'm Swedish, they're in Japanese; I can read Japanese.

[Solafighter]

Originally Posted by apr

I'm Swedish, they're in Japanese; I can read Japanese.

Ah, alright.

[Ryuou]

Originally Posted by apr

I, er, only read about 40 so far. I seem to be addicted to ordering new novels when I find something that looks interesting, and now my bookshelf looks like this: http://img.muri.se/jp-books.jpg

And I have another order of 28 coming next week, probably.

Haha, I know exactly what you mean. I had to put a stop to my buying several months ago cause I didn't really have the money to spend, and my back-log was getting huge. The plan is to read through as many as I can this summer though. After I do I'll let myself get more. Although I don't want to order them anymore cause I got a couple with the covers a bit messed up. My perfectionist side demands that I replace those, haha

But for the record, my collection includes:
Shakugan no Shana vol. 1-10
Ookami to Koushinryou vol. 1-10
Full Metal Panic! vol. 1-10 main and 1-10 side story
Seikai no Monshou vol. 1-3
Seikai no Senki vol. 1-4
Seikai no Danshou vol. 1-2
Kurenai vol. 1 & 3
Toradora! vol. 1-2
Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu vol. 1

For a total of...54 volumes.

[baitokun]

hello, my first ever post in here.

have to say, you guys have so many for a collections

as for me, my only collection and also light novel I recommend now is EX! by Oda Kyoudai
I have vol 6-8 of it. any other who read it too here? if you like Kamen Rider then maybe you d like this novel too.

official site link

[Ryuou]

Did you start on the 6th volume, or is that just where you started buying?

[baitokun]

that is where I started buying

one of my favorite scenes

Spoiler for scene:

Originally Posted by Ryuou

Haha, I know exactly what you mean. I had to put a stop to my buying several months ago cause I didn't really have the money to spend, and my back-log was getting huge. The plan is to read through as many as I can this summer though. After I do I'll let myself get more. Although I don't want to order them anymore cause I got a couple with the covers a bit messed up. My perfectionist side demands that I replace those, haha

But for the record, my collection includes:
Shakugan no Shana vol. 1-10
Ookami to Koushinryou vol. 1-10
Full Metal Panic! vol. 1-10 main and 1-10 side story
Seikai no Monshou vol. 1-3
Seikai no Senki vol. 1-4
Seikai no Danshou vol. 1-2
Kurenai vol. 1 & 3
Toradora! vol. 1-2
Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu vol. 1

For a total of...54 volumes.

I ve read almost all those, except seikai no... series, kurenai, and suzumiya
is seikai no... series any good?

[kusamaki]

Originally Posted by baitokun

hello, my first ever post in here.

That makes two of us then

Here's my current collection so far, thought it's nothing compared to apr's rather FTW pyramid
Suzumiya Haruhi series - volumes 1-8
Denpa Teki na Kanojo - volume 1
Kino no Tabi - volume 1
To Aru Majutsu no Index - volumes 1-4
Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai - volumes 1-3
Kore wa Zombie desu ka? - volume 1
Futakata - volume 1
Oto x Maho - volume 1

I only have one volume of Kino no Tabi because even though I like the stories, they always make me want to sleep
Also, I've always bought novels purely for the art, but ever since Kore ga Zombie desu ka? I've learnt to check out the story first before buying. Guess my lucky streak of ending up liking these random novels finally ended.

Anyways, just wanna ask while I'm at it. Anyone here follows SH@PPLE? It's my next target series to pick up as part of my current efforts to satisfy my trap fetish

[apr]

New stuff arrived, further filling my bookshelf. Aaah, the smell of paper...

[baitokun]

Originally Posted by kusamaki

Anyways, just wanna ask while I'm at it. Anyone here follows SH@PPLE? It's my next target series to pick up as part of my current efforts to satisfy my trap fetish

Shapple... that boy wearing girl dress and enter the girl school? >_> lol I havent read it yet though, maybe won't.

Originally Posted by apr

New stuff arrived, further filling my bookshelf. Aaah, the smell of paper...

lol
those are all new stuffs you bought!? wow, you sure have alot of funds there I wish I could actually go to your house and borrow some

[kusamaki]

Woah, just had time to read through the entire thread earlier. Might get back to reading Kino no Tabi again after reading all the positive comments about it. Also, interesting trap discussion on page 8/9 <_<;

Anyway, guess I'll just find one day to go to the bookstore and sneak myself a chapter preview of SH@PPLE then. Besides the trap thing, I find the opening color illustrations fun so I'm never gonna rest till I find out whether I'll like it or not anyways.

With regards to the original purpose of the thread, I have nothing to contribute. Everything I've read's either already recommended, or something I wouldn't recommend. For example, Kore wa Zombie desu ka? is rather boring, besides the awesome male lead. Behold his grace, the zombie/magical "girl" Ayumu lol.

Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga nai is all sorts of fun though, especially if you're into parodies and references to the otaku sub-culture. The comments on eroges in the first book, for one, had me laughing throughout. Plus every character has their charm points.
Reading the third book now, and it's still as awesome as ever. Say hi to my new favorite series!

[Ryuou]

Originally Posted by baitokun

I ve read almost all those, except seikai no... series, kurenai, and suzumiya
is seikai no... series any good?

I really like the series (Seikai no…). I love the developing relationship between the male and female leads Jinto and Lafiel. Some people seem not to like it because it's kind of slow though. But, although I own all the novels out, I still haven't read any of them. So I can't say how the novels are, as a read. But the series is very good, IMO. It's a Sci-Fi story, although I'm really only in it for the two leads, haha.

[seaghyn16]

@baitokun:

That picture in the spoiler tags of yours....ABSOLUTE AWESOMENESS

What's the series about?

As for me and my recommendations, I don't know if I can really recommend it as I've only read a bit of it so far but...

トラジマ! (Torajima) In the past, I thought this meant "Tiger Island" because it was all in katakana, and how was I to know? Though now, I know it to mean "Tiger Stripes." Anyway, After reading up to page..I think I'm around 60-something, chapter 2...anyway, I've found it very unique so far. It's...really unique...here's a SUMMARY up to where I'm at, which won't give the whole novel away in case you want to read it (just a bit of chapter 1)

Spoiler for Torajima! Chapter 1:

It starts out with these thieves that try to rob a temple, because they get rumors about a special article of cloth, which they think would be something embroidered with gold and silk, etc etc...but they're shocked to find out what it is...so they decide to sell it to a second hand clothes shop for beer money.
***
Then we are introduced to Eita and his Mother, Eiko, in their apartment where they live as just the two of them. This particular day, Eita ends up not having any underwear to wear to school, because his mom put them out to dry the previous night, not knowing it would rain. So they're all wet...(most Japanese that live in apartments don't have dryers. Usually a washer, but not really any dryers.) Anyway, Eventually she brings out this pair of Tiger Striped underwear that she bought him FROM A SECOND HAND CLOTHES STORE to use in the winter. Relunctantly, he wears them to school, saying as soon as he gets another pair, these are going in the trash.
***
At school, we are introduced to a girl he kinda likes, and one of his friends. But it's just in time for an unexpected assembly in the Gym! Eita is a second year high school student for the record. The previous year, he missed this event because he was out for a while with a pretty bad cold. So he even missed the gossip and stuff. Anyway, aparently for some forty-some years, this school has been performing some kind of "Demon of the Underwear" hunt or something...and this is where I think it gets a little wierd, but...for some reason it still pulls you in, lol. The objective of the day is pretty much for all the Clubs to chase all the students that aren't in Clubs, (the ones in the "go-home-after-school-club") and take off A PAIR of their underwear, which makes the caught student join the club which took his underwear...

Okay, I KNOW this sounds ridiculously stupid and weird...but it goes on.

Spoiler for Chapter 1 part 2:

So Eita and his friend start running all over the place, watching students getting their under-garments taken left and right. However, all the students knew about the day, so they are wearing an extra pair of boxers or something similar, no BIG deal. But Eita didn't know about it, and if he heard anything, just tossed it to the back of his mind. So not only was he wearing embarrassing Tiger Striped Briefs, but he wasn't wearing anything underneath them...O_o
***
Eventually, the girl he likes calls out to him to follow her, and he blindly follows, only to wind up having her betray him, just having tried to get him caught by her boyfriend, to join his club. However, this guy (in the boxing club) is sadistic, and has a camera where he took pictures of people without any of their briefs on, to bribe them for money and stuff...but when the girlfriend hears of this, she dumps him O_o. Man this is one heck'a'va day for Eita...But then something strange happens.When he's about to have his underwear taken off, he closes his eyes and screams. When he opens his eyes, the boxing club members are all out cold. He gathers his clothes, and off he goes with his friend, who found him through the hole in the wall that the boxing club captain had made from his body being flung somehow... I don't know too much at the moment, but remember: The garment came from a guarded temple and was regarded as sacred for some reason...(on top of that, the synopsis on the back makes mention of there being a connection between the undergarment and a demon.)
***
Next day, Eita gets surrounded by bad-a$$es from a different school, who heard how he beat up the whole boxing team, and challenge him. Eita, in his newfound superiority, accepts, only to have his bottle handed to him, so to speak. (he sucked)
***
A few days later, the Newspaper Club posts an article of him, with a picture taken from one of his friends, that shows him in the tiger briefs. This catches the attention of someone, who knows about those demon-possessed briefs. That's where I'm at now. So far, there's been nothing perverted or anything, like pantsu or anything, at least looking at it from a guys perspective...but getting past that freaky school event, things get interesting. In the images, it looks like there is the undergarment-demon, (female) and the girl he likes...but I don't know enough to talk about it's romantic value O_o

Anyway, that's about where I am now. This is so far a really...REALLY unique story. There definitely isn't two like it, but...it's a little weird. As for the activity mentioned in the spoiler, all I can say is, well, at least it's not happening to the girls O_o.

I'm still reading, and I'm hoping it will at least gain a little more...depth, but we'll see. If it doesn't, then I'm sorry for recommending it, lol.

Sorry for recommending such a strange book

[baitokun]

Originally Posted by Ryuou

I really like the series (Seikai no…). I love the developing relationship between the male and female leads Jinto and Lafiel. Some people seem not to like it because it's kind of slow though. But, although I own all the novels out, I still haven't read any of them. So I can't say how the novels are, as a read. But the series is very good, IMO. It's a Sci-Fi story, although I'm really only in it for the two leads, haha.

I googled a bit, I didnt know that were anime for that serie and it is quite old too ^^

Originally Posted by seaghyn16

@baitokun:

That picture in the spoiler tags of yours....ABSOLUTE AWESOMENESS

What's the series about?

it is "EX!" by Oda kyoudai official site link
here a summary

Spoiler for EX!:

Yamato Kazuya have a secret he cant tell to anyone. His parents is not that usual and normal parents, from them, he had inherited a not that usual power and ability. He tries hard to keep it low and hide his powers, but it is only the matter of time until he lose his patience. His mother Misla, one of the leaders of an evil organization,Hera, when she was on her prime, tells him that he can go to a school where he dont need to keep his power and most of the students are girls.

The day when he transferred to the school, he finds that the students there are the descendants of Hera's monsters and have abilities to change their form. So to speak, is it a training school for evil organization? is Kazuya being thrown into his sole enemies' headquarter?

Spoiler for vol 1:

(Exter = Kamen Riders equivalent in this story; HERA = the evil organization, about 20 years ago they lost to the Exters)

so Kazuya's father is Exter Blaze(the strongest Exter) & his mother is 1 of the leaders of HERA.
in volume 1, they describe that although the students are monsters, they are doing some good deeds , helping people around the school and doing voluntary activities.

with this setting alone it makes this one quite interesting

Spoiler for pics:

@seaghyn16: torajima sounds interesting ^^ thanks for the summaries

[Ryuou]

Originally Posted by baitokun

I googled a bit, I didnt know that were anime for that serie and it is quite old too ^^

Yeah, the anime is what led me to buying the novels. It is a pretty old series that is, supposedly, still ongoing. Us fans haven't gotten anything on the anime or novel front for several years now. Enough to make one worry, but I still hold out hope that something new will come. A good series though, if you want to check it out.

[seaghyn16]

I've been reading this series recently entitled: "Dragon Crisis!" I think I've made a post or two about it somewhere, and I've translated a prologue over at http://orenotokei.livejournal.com/ , but I haven't really given a description.

Currently, I've only read the prologue, chapter 1, and am on Chapter 2. (sorry I'm so slow O_0) Here's a synopsis for the story:

Kisaragi Ryuuji is in his first year of high school. One day class is interrupted by a first-year University student, Nanao Eriko, who also happens to be his cousin. She takes him out of class and rushes him to a car parked outside, where she takes off quickly. On the way to a port, she tells him the situation. There is going to be a deal going down, involving an organization called "Fang," or [Dark Broker/Dark Society]. Eriko takes Ryuuji into the middle of this, and uses her ability to obtain the box, which Ryuuji helps carry back to the car. They then take off before they can be chased. When they arrive back at Eriko's large house, they notice air holes on the box, and after opening it, are surprised to find a golden-haired, blue-eyed young girl. She bites Eriko's hand, and clings tightly onto Ryuuji, who has no clue what's going on. Eriko goes to her computer to check "Society's" Database, and discovers this girl, is the "Red Dragon." The necklace she wears keeps her in a human form. She has red wings, can breath fire, and fly for a very limited amount of time. She seems to really like Ryuuji...

In this world setting, there are those who have abilities, by using the powers of ancient items known as "Lost Precious." For example, Ryuuji's parents are Treasure Hunters, who specialize in "Lost Prescious." Eriko, Ryuuji's cousin, is one example of a user. She is a 19 year old girl, who went to America to study and research Lost Precious. She came back with an artifact, and a ranking of 7 out of 10, meaning she's fairly strong. The abilities vary with the person, but Eriko's is called "Stick" and is ranked B. (there are A,B,C,D, with S being the strongest, A being second best, etc. Ryuuji's ability is ranked at S.) Her ability is to use this Staff like a Magician, to make others see illusions, which was how she was able to steal the box with Rose in it without there being too many problems.

That's the background of the story and up to Chapter 1 of Volume 1. Currently there are 8 Volumes and the series is ongoing. The organizations have a similar feel almost to Amalgam and Mithril from the Full Metal Panic Series. The interactions so far between Ryuuji and Rose have been rather nice. She just can't seem to leave him alone. When he went to the kitchen to make food for example, Rose couldn't stay behind. When Eriko tried to make Rose take a bath...if Ryuuji wasn't there, she'd claw her way out and cling to him even tighter.

Maybe I'm just sappy O_o

Anyway, so far I really like this series, though the Japanese is a little harder than "Tiger Stripes," which I wrote about in my last post, but the story is eons better. Tiger Stripes...just some story where the main characters have to lose everything except their boxers in order to fight...O_o a little strange....(even so, it had it's touching moments, and wasn't all bad ^_^)

Anyway, if you get a chance, pick up one of these novels and tell me what you think, or maybe ask for a Chapter 1 translation, and I'll see what I can do once my exams are finished ^_^

EDIT: Misc Novel Images:

Spoiler for Novel Images:

[PU-36PlotDevice]

seaghyn16: Having no kanji to go by, at first I assumed the title Torajima was "Tiger Island", then I read your spoiler and realized what it really meant. Thanks for giving me a good laugh with that teaser. XD

Also, Doraneko, if you're still reading this thread after all this time, thanks for the information on Mimizuku to yoru no oh. I had seen these books in several Amazon recommendation lists, and now I understand enough about their signifigance to be persuaded to buy.

I stopped by here while looking for new stuff to order to fill out a bulk purchase (most of my order is finishing out my Kino no tabi collection, including the newest volume), and it looks like I managed to work out in an hour what was taking me evenings of reading various reviews and fansites of Japanese fans on a lot of titles to sort out the gold from the dross. Thanks to you all.

I only wish the first two volumes of Bungaku Shoujo weren't out of stock.

[Matt122005]

Hey guys, I'm back again. lol

Wow, these novels sound awesome!

*Becomes jealous that his understanding of Japanese is still pretty limited*

I recently got Kino no Tabi volumes 1-7. Gakuen Kino volumes 1-2. And Toradora volume 1. ^_^


So I'm confused, if you guys can read Japanese, why aren't you starting a translation project for it at baka-tsuki??? I mean, I'd really love to read these stories! ^_^

-Matt

[kuroishinigami]

Translating things are harder than just understanding it from choosing the right words in order for the translation to not lost it's feeling(at least for me who is not a native of both language). Also, some people just don't have enough time needed to do translation.

[Matt122005]

I mean, can't people find time to translate a chapter a month, or 1-2 pages a day?

And even if the translation is rough, thats why people come in later to edit and polish it.

We really need more translations.

-Matt

[Doraneko]

Originally Posted by PU-36PlotDevice

Also, Doraneko, if you're still reading this thread after all this time, thanks for the information on Mimizuku to yoru no oh. I had seen these books in several Amazon recommendation lists, and now I understand enough about their signifigance to be persuaded to buy.

You are welcome . Great novels like Mimizuku certainly deserve more love. I especially appreciate those hidden gems that appeal to readers by solid quality instead of eyecandy or viral marketing.

Originally Posted by Matt122005

So I'm confused, if you guys can read Japanese, why aren't you starting a translation project for it at baka-tsuki??? I mean, I'd really love to read these stories! ^_^

Well, knowledge to the Japanese language is only the most basic requirement. A very good grasp of Japanese cultural stuff, current affairs, as well as superb English writing skills are equally necessary for one to be an acceptable translator. Even a perfect understanding of the original text cannot guarantee a perfect translation as there are countless local wordplays and terms that are difficult to transfer to English (feel free to send me a sample translation of Yuusuke Yamada's work if you want to prove otherwise ). Of course, frequent grammar corrections by editors with little knowledge on Japanese and the original text will only further widen the distortion.

As a reader, you can skip whatever you don't understand and simply enjoy what you can get out of the original text. But as a translator, there is no way for you to leave blanks for readers to fill in. Basically you are not only responsible to yourself, but also to the readers and the author too. (Readers tend to put the author rather than the amateur translator at fault if the final text turns out to be subpar, effectively killing off any future chance of official English releases.)

For me, I got enough poking on my horrendous English by the editors in my scanlation group . I may as well sit back and read another novel instead of making a half-baked work that looks like a fill-in-the-blank exercise.

Originally Posted by kuroishinigami

Translating things are harder than just understanding it from choosing the right words in order for the translation to not lost it's feeling(at least for me who is not a native of both language)

Same for me too. IMO the perfect JE translator would be a native English speaker with a high level of Japanese capability, given the vast differences between the Japanese and English knowledge and the creative writing capability required for one to fully express the nuances of Japanese in English.


Okay back to light novels...

Kadokawa has recently announced the results for its first Chinese light novel and novel illustration competition and published the awarded works. They are certainly light novels by any definition, given that they are published by Kadokawa (read: the light novel giant) under the light novel category. But since they are not in Japanese, I am not too sure if it is relevant to talk about them here in details. Anyway here are some relevant links and the covers of the awarded novels for anyone interested.

Wiki entry (Japanese)
Teasers (Chinese)


(Btw I just bought 罌籠葬 today. )