Light Novel trends in recent years

[Myname]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Thanks for seconding the question, as I'm still very curious about it.

Akito made a good reply that hits on part of what I was looking for (i.e. the history of LNs), but my main interest, really, is in how LNs are perceived today.


Basically, I'd like to know if LNs are like...

1) Manga. Very mainstream in Japan, "something for everybody", nobody would assume you're part of the otaku community just because you're flipping through a seinen manga on the bus.

... or are they like...

2) Visual Novels. Clearly aimed towards a very specific audience of specific tastes.


I'm admittedly not that familiar with LNs (only a couple of my all-time favorite anime shows were based off of LNs - Haruhi and Shana - and of the recent anime I watched, only a few were based off of LNs to the best of my knowledge).

http://www.animeotakucorner.com/2011...-ranking-2011/

Spoiler for Top-Selling Light Novels by Volume:

1 *Suzumiya Haruhi no Kyōgaku (The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya) 435,124
2 *Baka and Test – Summon the Beasts 9 253,748
3 *Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index (New Testament: A Certain Magical Index) 2 251,287
4 *Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai (Haganai) 5 238,712
5 *Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index (New Testament: A Certain Magical Index) 234,510
6 *Ore no Imōto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai (Oreimo) 8 233,595
7 *Ore no Imōto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai (Oreimo) 9 208,502
8 *Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai (Haganai) 6 207,104
9 *Baka and Test – Summon the Beasts 9.5 201,658
10 *IS (Infinite Stratos) 7 190,900
11 *IS (Infinite Stratos) 6 190,411
12 *Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai (Haganai) 189,712
13 *Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai (Haganai) 7 187,496
14 *Durarara!! x9 185,084
15 *IS (Infinite Stratos) 171,789
16 *The Story of Saiunkoku: Shian no Gyokuza Part I 168,013
17 *Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai (Haganai) 2 167,391
18 *The Story of Saiunkoku: Shian no Gyokuza Part II 167,009
19 *IS (Infinite Stratos) 2 164,222
20 *IS (Infinite Stratos) 3 159,365
21 *Durarara!! x10 159,002
22 *Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai (Haganai) 3 155,542
23 *IS (Infinite Stratos) 4 154,828
24 *IS (Infinite Stratos) 5 151,593
25 *Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai (Haganai) 4 147,382
26 *Gosick 138,310
27 *Aria the Scarlet Ammo IX: Spark Out 114,970
28 *Aria the Scarlet Ammo VIII: Tornado High 114,194
29 *Sword Art Online 6: Phantom Bullet 110,582
30 *Sword Art Online 7: Mother’s Rosario 110,110
31 *Sword Art Online 8: Early and Late 108,959
32 *Aria the Scarlet Ammo X: Arcanum Duo 106,503
33 *Seitokai no Ichizon: Hekiyō Gakuen Seitokai Gijiroku 4 105,697
34 *Seitokai no Ichizon: Hekiyō Gakuen Seitokai Gijiroku 5 101,720
35 *Full Metal Panic! Maji de Abunai Kyūshi ni Isshō? 99,291
36 *Mahōka Kōkō no Rettōsei 1: Nyūgaku-hen Part I 99,047
37 *Aria the Scarlet Ammo 95,217
38 *Gosick II: Gosick Sono Tsumi wa Namonaki 138,310
39 *Full Metal Panic! Another I 93,587
40 *Ore no Imōto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai (Oreimo) 7 90,996
41 *Kino’s Journey XV: The Beautiful World 89,561
42 *Mahōka Kōkō no Rettōsei 1: Nyūgaku-hen Part II 88,743
43 *Aria the Scarlet Ammo II: Diamond Dust 84,077
44 *Ore no Imōto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai (Oreimo) 82,960
45 *Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai (Haganai) 7 DVD-Bundled Special Edition 82,356
46 *Shakugan no Shana XXII 80,814
47 *Gosick VII: Gosick Bara-Iro no Jinsei 80,448
48 *Mayo Chiki! 7 80,356
49 *Zero no Tsukaima 20 79,231
50 *Mayo Chiki! 6 78,450

http://razielsdomain.forumotion.net/...t-half-of-2011

Spoiler for Top-Selling Manga by Volume:

Top-Selling Manga by Volume

1 One Piece #61 -- Eiichiro Oda -- 3,133,092 -- Shueisha
2 One Piece #62 -- Eiichiro Oda -- 2,698,663 -- Shueisha
3 Naruto #54 -- Masashi Kishimoto -- 1,178,643 -- Shueisha
4 Kimi ni Todoke #13 -- Karuho Shiina -- 1,120,177 -- Shueisha
5 Fullmetal Alchemist #27 -- Hiromu Arakawa -- 1,113,444 -- Square Enix
6 Naruto #55 -- Masashi Kishimoto -- 997,927 -- Shueisha
7 Nodame Cantabile #25 -- Tomoko Ninomiya -- 981,451 -- Kodansha
8 Saint Young Men (Saint O-nii-san) #6 -- Hikaru Nakamura -- 942,762 -- Kodansha
9 Bleach #48 -- Tite Kubo -- 822,941 -- Shueisha
10 Shingeki no Kyojin #3 -- Hajime Isayama -- 791,207 -- Kodansha
11 Bleach #49 -- Tite Kubo -- 646,700 -- Shueisha
12 Shingeki no Kyojin #4 -- Hajime Isayama -- 629,164 -- Kodansha
13 Shingeki no Kyojin #1 -- Hajime Isayama -- 605,915 -- Kodansha
14 One Piece #60 -- Eiichiro Oda -- 604,485 -- Shueisha
15 Yotsuba&! #10 -- Kiyohiko Azuma -- 593,878 -- ASCII Media Works/ Kadokawa Group Publishing
16 Shingeki no Kyojin #2 -- Hajime Isayama -- 587,565 -- Kodansha
17 Bakuman. #11 -- Story: Tsugumi Ohba / Art: Takeshi Obata -- 586,726 -- Shueisha
18 Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) #11 -- Yana Toboso -- 559,916 -- Square Enix
19 REAL #10 -- Takehiko Inoue -- 557,236 -- Shueisha
20 March comes in like a lion [Sangatsu no Lion] #5 -- Chika Umino -- 553,245 -- Hakusensha

http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=370525

Spoiler for Top-Selling Manga by Series:

*1, 37,996,373 One Piece
*2, *6,874,840 Naruto
*3, *5,223,712 Ao no Exorcist
*4, *4,701,596 Fairy Tail
*5, *4,665,634 Toriko
*6, *4,415,491 Gintama
*7, *4,399,938 Bakuman
*8, *4,187,258 Bleach
*9, *4,109,481 Kimi ni Todoke
10, *4,056,981 Gantz
11, *3,766,194 Shingeki no Kyojin
12, *3,157,012 SKET Dance
13, *2,922,876 Hunter x Hunter
14, *2,853,552 Nurarihyon no Mago
15, *2,607,474 Beelzebub
16, *2,597,768 Saint Young Men
17, *2,550,542 Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
18, *2,464,282 Giant Killing
19, *2,120,091 Detective Conan
20, *1,853,198 Deadman Wonderland
21, *1,848,586 Fullmetal Alchemist
22, *1,800,132 Uchuu Kyoudai
23, *1,739,105 Ahiru no Sora
24, *1,712,983 Kuroko no Basket
25, *1,711,607 Ace of Diamond

http://visualnovelaer.wordpress.com/...rth/#more-1506

Spoiler for Top-Selling Visual Novels:

1 Daiteikoku 大帝国　初回予約特典主要五カ国キャラクターポスター付き ALICESOFT Sold 27,916
2 Aiyoku no Eustia 穢翼のユースティア 初回版 August 25,652
3 Rewrite not an eroge Rewrite 初回限定版 Key 24,424
4 Kamikaze ☆ Explorer! カミカゼ☆エクスプローラー！ 初回限定版 Clochette 24,420
5 Kamidori Alchemy Meister 神採りアルケミーマイスター Eushully 22,920
6 Grisaia no Kajitsu グリザイアの果実 Frontwing 18,268
7 Damatte Watashi no Muko ni Nare! 黙って私のムコになれ! ensemble 13,332
8 LOVELY×CATION LOVELY×CATION 初回版 Akatsuki Works Hibiki 10,376
9 Sisters ~Natsu no Saigo no Hi~ sisters ~夏の最後の日~ Jellyfish 10,120
10 11eyes -Rosona Forma- 11eyes-Resona Forma- Lass 10,020
11 Lover Able ラブラブル~Lover Able~ SMEE 9,632
12 Itoshii Kanojo no Mamorikata 愛しい対象の護り方 AXL 9,432
13 STARLESS STARLESS 初回版 Empress 9,396
14 Henshin !!! へんし?ん!!! ~パンツになってクンクンペロペロ~ May-Be SOFT 9,308
15 Koi de wa naku – It’s not love，but so where near. 恋ではなく -It's not love, but so where near. 初回版 Shangrilla Smart 8,776
16 Tsuyokiss 3gakki つよきす３学期 CandySoft 7,948
17 Imouto Paradise! 妹ぱらだいす! ~お兄ちゃんと5人の妹のエッチしまくりな毎日~ MOONSTONE Cherry 7,348
18 Maikaze no Melt 舞風のメルト ?Where leads to feeling destination? Whirlpool 7,248
19 Flyable CandyHeart Flyable CandyHeart Unisoft Shift Blossom 6,684
20 Sansha Mendan 三射面談 ~連鎖する恥辱・調教の学園~ BISHOP 6,664

Key Visual Novels
1999 Kanon 156,046 (console figures included)
2000 Air 168,233 (console figures included)
2004 Clannad 100,560 (edit: console figures NOT included. my mistake)
2007 Little Busters 40,500 (consoles numbers about 90,000)
2008 Little Busters EX 36,836
2011 Rewrite 24,424 (wut?)

Best selling manga is still shounen and they're 500k+ to millions. Best selling LN last year was Haruhi with 435k. VN seem to sell between 10k to 20k.

[Triple_R]

Thanks a lot for that.

Yeah, that makes it pretty clear - LNs (at least modern ones) are clearly aimed at otakus.

I'm a bit surprised that manga is that shounen-dominated, but it does have Kimi ni Todoke and Nodame Cantabile in its Top 10 (by volume) at least. That does show some range in age/gender appeal.

[DragoZERO]

Yes... light novels are for the older otaku, it would seem. Thanks for those statistics.

You should read some, Triple R. Circumstances of the Pilot was excellent. The anime movie pales to it.

[ion475]

Yeah, that makes it pretty clear - LNs (at least modern ones) are clearly aimed at otakus.

It does move that way a little bit. But the LN market in general boom around 2005, then went crazy after Haruhi. Of course, ever since Haruhi, LN and anime/manga are more and more inseparable -> LN become more "otaku".

Yes... light novels are for the older otaku, it would seem. Thanks for those statistics.

Technically, the intended audience for LN is Middle School/High School Students (aka 13-18). Of course, as the audience start to grow, the demographics now shift towards those slightly older (into mid-20s) as well...

[Vexx]

If you look at the kanji counts/percentage in the LN --- that gives you a fair idea of what level audience they're targeting. Kanji-dense text is generally intended for late teens and older.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by DragoZERO

Yes... light novels are for the older otaku, it would seem. Thanks for those statistics.

You should read some, Triple R. Circumstances of the Pilot was excellent. The anime movie pales to it.

Thanks for the recommendation. I will keep it in mind.

I haven't read a lot of LN material, but what I have read (mainly the Haurhi novels) I did find to be enjoyable reads. At a literature level, they were actually nice and brisk while still having good depth.


Just to be clear, I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with LNs being for older otakus, I just wanted to know if they are or not.

The relationship between anime and the entertainment forms it usually gets adaptation work off of (manga, LNs, VNs) increasingly interests me. For awhile now, I've had the impression that anime is less an entertainment form unto itself (like the Movie industry in America, say), and more part of an overarching "otaku subculture", is probably the best way I can put it. That subculture would include love of VNs, LNs, manga, and anime (you could perhaps throw in Drama CDs and figurines here; maybe even J-Pop in general). Ore no Imouto was the first anime show to really drive this idea home for me.


We've always had a sort of "General geekdom" in North America, but also clear lines of demarcation between Movies, comic books, video games, and American animated shows (loads of people are fans of one or two of those without being fans of the others). Sure, some types of content ("super heroes", for example) has grown popular in each and every one of these entertainment forms, but there was also quite a bit of distinctiveness between them.

I get the impression that there's a tighter bond and greater overlap between anime, manga, VNs, and LNs.

Again, nothing wrong with that, it's just different from what I'm used to with North American entertainment forms, and so its something that continues to shape and evolve my understanding of anime.

[ultimatemegax]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Just to be clear, I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with LNs being for older otakus, I just wanted to know if they are or not.

The relationship between anime and the entertainment forms it usually gets adaptation work off of (manga, LNs, VNs) increasingly interests me. For awhile now, I've had the impression that anime is less an entertainment form unto itself (like the Movie industry in America, say), and more part of an overarching "otaku subculture", is probably the best way I can put it. That subculture would include love of VNs, LNs, manga, and anime (you could perhaps throw in Drama CDs and figurines here; maybe even J-Pop in general). Ore no Imouto was the first anime show to really drive this idea home for me.


We've always had a sort of "General geekdom" in North America, but also clear lines of demarcation between Movies, comic books, video games, and American animated shows (loads of people are fans of one or two of those without being fans of the others). Sure, some types of content ("super heroes", for example) has grown popular in each and every one of these entertainment forms, but there was also quite a bit of distinctiveness between them.

I get the impression that there's a tighter bond and greater overlap between anime, manga, VNs, and LNs.

Again, nothing wrong with that, it's just different from what I'm used to with North American entertainment forms, and so its something that continues to shape and evolve my understanding of anime.

The Kadokawa Group, who runs about 70-90% of the light novel industry and a good chunk of the overall publishing for manga as well, has used anime to promote their products in an overall scheme. Take Another. Not only are they releasing special novels, there's a special episode 0 manga volume with DVD and a movie. While the anime won't make back the amount spent on it, it's seen as advertising for the novels, manga, and movie, where they hope that the overall trend will have a profit for the franchise as a whole. The anime is just one piece of the puzzle.

Since 2006, when Haruhi first aired, series now try to add in tie-ins like figures, concerts/live events, video games, special manga volumes, etc so that people who can't afford to support the series through disc sales can support through alternative ways. In some aspects, that has become the legend of Haruhi. Not many series had figures, massive amounts of merchandise, concerts, video games, etc prior to it. (The 5 SOS Brigade members were some of the first figmas ever made)

How the industry remains profitable is really interesting. I think it's a lot more stable than what people have claimed.

[DragoZERO]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Thanks for the recommendation. I will keep it in mind.

I haven't read a lot of LN material, but what I have read (mainly the Haurhi novels) I did find to be enjoyable reads. At a literature level, they were actually nice and brisk while still having good depth.

I haven't read Haruhi yet. It's not on my list, but maybe I will. I enjoyed Chrome Shelled Regios (so much more happens past the anime) Zero no Tsukaima (they really butchered it after the first season) and Toradora (the ending was much longer than the anime and felt more complete). I just started Gekkou (has no anime) and it's good so far.

Fate/Zero is on the list after the anime finishes.

The relationship between anime and the entertainment forms it usually gets adaptation work off of (manga, LNs, VNs) increasingly interests me. For awhile now, I've had the impression that anime is less an entertainment form unto itself (like the Movie industry in America, say), and more part of an overarching "otaku subculture", is probably the best way I can put it. That subculture would include love of VNs, LNs, manga, and anime (you could perhaps throw in Drama CDs and figurines here; maybe even J-Pop in general). Ore no Imouto was the first anime show to really drive this idea home for me.


We've always had a sort of "General geekdom" in North America, but also clear lines of demarcation between Movies, comic books, video games, and American animated shows (loads of people are fans of one or two of those without being fans of the others). Sure, some types of content ("super heroes", for example) has grown popular in each and every one of these entertainment forms, but there was also quite a bit of distinctiveness between them.

I get the impression that there's a tighter bond and greater overlap between anime, manga, VNs, and LNs.

Again, nothing wrong with that, it's just different from what I'm used to with North American entertainment forms, and so its something that continues to shape and evolve my understanding of anime.

You need to watch anime, read manga, play VNs and read LNs to be a "true fan." I know, it's a poor choice of words but I can't think of anything else at the moment. All adaptations are made, 90% of the time, to promote the source material and so they sometimes get a half-assed adaptation. Luckily some get it for the right reasons, like Kara no Kyoukai and Fate/Zero. While they do help and I think are intended to help the sales of the novels, they sell enough and are popular enough that they don't need an anime to make them popular. The Fate/stay night anime did that.

[larethian]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Thanks a lot for that.

Yeah, that makes it pretty clear - LNs (at least modern ones) are clearly aimed at otakus.

I'm a bit surprised that manga is that shounen-dominated, but it does have Kimi ni Todoke and Nodame Cantabile in its Top 10 (by volume) at least. That does show some range in age/gender appeal.

Originally Posted by DragoZERO

Yes... light novels are for the older otaku, it would seem. Thanks for those statistics.

You should read some, Triple R. Circumstances of the Pilot was excellent. The anime movie pales to it.

No. You can't make such a conclusion based on these stats. You must compare it with the percentage of the population in Japan who actually read text novels for leisure. Not everyone likes to read books filled with only words, otaku or non-otaku. What you also need are stats of the sales of normal novels. That's what you need to compare with.

Anyway, like what ion475 said, light novels are targeted at young adults. It's like what Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew in the west (may be a bad example). While the more otakish genres have been increasing in recent years, and received more prominence due to adaptations in manga and anime, they do not yet constitute 99% of the light novels, if you know what I mean.

For every otakish title you can come up with, I can probably come up with one that's not (though I don't necessary read it). Of course, this doesn't mean it's a 1:1 ratio, just that I'm into LNs as much as you are into LN-adapted anime/manga.

Another thing is, while many light novels have simple language which is sometimes even labeled as bad writing, it's not true across the board. Today, the only absolute difference between a light novel and a novel are the covers and whether there are illustrations in the book or not. There are several titles that have been repackaged into light novels without change in content. On the top of my mind: Fate/Zero, Another, Regios Crusade, Gosick.

And finally, what do you guys mean by Otaku? Are you talking about the generic word 'otaku' (a person who's extremely fanatical about something, like a Train Otaku), or someone who's into Moe, Harem, Ecchi? And which of the titles in that quoted sales list would you consider having Otaku content?

[ion475]

And finally, what do you guys mean by Otaku? Are you talking about the generic word 'otaku' (a person who's extremely fanatical about something, like a Train Otaku), or someone who's into Moe, Harem, Ecchi? And which of the titles in that quoted sales list would you consider having Otaku content?

"Otaku" as in Akiba-kei. On an anime forum, you can assume that (Not that many people realized that the term "otaku" applied to more than ACG fan anyway...)

You need to watch anime, read manga, play VNs and read LNs to be a "true fan." I know, it's a poor choice of words but I can't think of anything else at the moment. All adaptations are made, 90% of the time, to promote the source material and so they sometimes get a half-assed adaptation. Luckily some get it for the right reasons, like Kara no Kyoukai and Fate/Zero. While they do help and I think are intended to help the sales of the novels, they sell enough and are popular enough that they don't need an anime to make them popular. The Fate/stay night anime did that.

As far as anime adaptation goes - just look at the top sellers...I'll stop there...

Okay, Haganai was popular before the anime (Not THIS popular, but it's far from an unknown). Of course, from sales figure, Haganai itself is 5% of the total sale of all LN...(Read the link below if you understand Japanese...). Also, sales increase 50% from 2009, which, as far as I know, is not that long ago .

http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/ranking/2008585/full/

Of course, they're expanding LN into games also if you want to go there (Oreimo, Haganai, Papakiki, Toaru...all got PSP game associated with it, and that's just from top of my head).

At the end, if you really want a trend, all I'll say is, LN -> Manga -> Drama CD -> Anime -> Game...

[Morisato]

This trend is starting to get annoying.

Winning formula for an anime.

Incest + Long titles = Anime for sure.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Lol I have to be honest, It's kinda hard to take you seriously given how inaccurate you are; this has to be some kind of satire right ?

[Cosmic Eagle]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

Lol I have to be honest, It's kinda hard to take you seriously given how inaccurate you are; this has to be some kind of satire right ?

When has such threads ever not degenerate into this?

[asaqe]

Well as least no one is well aware of how most artists get noticed nowadays...through porn.

Why can't it be like over here where not every artist is drawing porn just to get noticed? Looking at the big three publishers gives you a good impression of what the industry looks like in terms of LNs.

[Kudryavka]

Originally Posted by asaqe

Well as least no one is well aware of how most artists get noticed nowadays...through porn.

Truth for all time from since we learned cave paintings until the last human dies.

[asaqe]

Originally Posted by Kudryavka

Truth for all time from since we learned cave paintings until the last human dies.

I think it is only recent people has went against such norms. Artist Alleys over here is more prudish in what they draw.

[Kudryavka]

Originally Posted by asaqe

I think it is only recent people has went against such norms. Artist Alleys over here is more prudish in what they draw.

The very first known living cave paintings were pretty strictly only of animals they hunted, or naked women.

It may seem new to draw porn as a way in, but it's really not.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by asaqe

Well as least no one is well aware of how most artists get noticed nowadays...through porn.

I don't think you've realized it, but you're pretty much nagging at this point.

Seriously, who gives a hoot if there were naked girls in their portfolio once? This better not be a 'think of the children!' Agenda

[Kudryavka]

Porn artists are often very good at anatomy, it seems. And any professional artist who isn't a joke has done figure study at some point, and that involves drawing naked people or wearing little clothing. Maybe that is what he sees in portfolios, a bunch of figure studies.

[asaqe]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

I don't think you've realized it, but you're pretty much nagging at this point.

Seriously, who gives a hoot if there were naked girls in their portfolio once? This better not be a 'think of the children!' Agenda

It seems to be a creative block in the current anime art community which deviantart has sadly fostered.