(L) Infinite Stratos - Light Novel/Manga Discussion

[wavehawk]

Originally Posted by demino_hellsin

mmm... wonder if I should call the novelizations of kamen rider proper novels or LNs...

- LNs, pretty much. Yes, I know--even if some of the novels (Faiz) were very dark. It's still a "Novelization of a Popular Series". Again, going back to the Star Wars/Star Trek/Doctor Who argument.

Who the Author is and what his style is like may affect it as well. Unicorn's writer Harutoshi Fukui had two previous novels that were turned into movies (Aimless Aegis, Lorelei), and those were considered proper novels. Unicorn has the same style but since it's a Gundam work, it's considered a Light Novel.

On the other hand, Izuru's previous work was in the VN industry. And obviously we've seen his style of writing. Even though IS is an original work, I don't think anyone is going to consider it a proper novel.

There's also a third angle to this: I think who the Publisher is has an effect as well? Think of it like the difference between having your work published by Del Rey (A Major SF/Fantasy publisher) or by a local unknown publishing house.

[demino_hellsin]

So let's set the record. All tie-ins are LN's. All manga style illustrated novels are LN's. How does one differentiate dark juvenile writing to proper masterful writing? That part feels arbitrary.

But this generally it?

[ZeroXSEED]

The easiest one is about the illustration, of course.

So both have points, no need for further issue.

[wavehawk]

Gegh, didn't ninja my post fast enough.

As above, the publisher may also be a factor. Kadokawa, for example does LNs but they do other stuff as well. On the flipside, I think OVERLAP only produces LNs.

[HasuMasu]

Originally Posted by Hydreigon28

Assuming that there was no time skip between this and Volume 7...

Spoiler:

Because of the events in Volume 7, shouldn't Tatenashi still be hospitalized and shouldn't her IS still be heavily damaged from the previous battle? Also, previous spoiler posts were saying that it was confirmed that Tatenashi has feelings for Ichika. Were they true? Thanks for the spoilers.

There is one illustration with Tatenashi in the infirmary with bandages still.

[Chaos2Frozen]

I'll make it even simpler- it's mostly about the publisher.

That has always been the constant.

[demino_hellsin]

Anybody ever thought that Izuru probably draws Ichika's personality from himself?...:shiver:

[Chaos2Frozen]

Doubt it- Sure it's unavoidable that an author to implant a small piece of themselves into their characters.

For stuff like this, I would say Ichika is his idea of what a protagonist should be.

[Hell_ping]

Originally Posted by demino_hellsin

Anybody ever thought that Izuru probably draws Ichika's personality from himself?...:shiver:

Well...if you want to say that, Rin was apparently inspired from his wife.

[demino_hellsin]

For some reason when I have to draw the standard I always compare IS to TAMNI. From the LNs themselves to the authors. I can't help but draw the comparisons. I know the genres are probably somewhat different beyond the harem plot, but there is something uncannily linking them for me

[Hell_ping]

Originally Posted by demino_hellsin

For some reason when I have to draw the standard I always compare IS to TAMNI. From the LNs themselves to the authors. I can't help but draw the comparisons. I know the genres are probably somewhat different beyond the harem plot, but there is something uncannily linking them for me

Spoiler for Size:

I have 4 samples of text. You can compare them here.

Technically, Unicorn is not really a LN because the actual main publication was under Gundam Ace before Kadokawa compiled it, so it is a novel series instead.

[demino_hellsin]

Which LN's are they from? They're pretty densely packed. From experience I can say that translating those into english will prolly eat about 50% more paper though not sure.

And it looks more like serious reading material than just light material.

[Chaos2Frozen]

If I had to guess... The first one is Index, second is SAO, third is Shana, and fourth is of course IS.

Actually only the first one I'm not certain...

EDIT:

No wait, the first one is Shana as well?

[Hell_ping]

The first one was DenYuuDen.

Here are some more samples: (In order, Hikaru, Unicorn, Penguin Summer, Katanagatari, Henneko, New Seitokai no Ichizon, Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi)

Spoiler for Size:

http://sadpanda.us/images/1564057-EPH1JN3.png
http://sadpanda.us/images/1564061-67LFLET.png
http://sadpanda.us/images/1564065-YY5A3P8.png
http://sadpanda.us/images/1564069-LL3F021.png
http://sadpanda.us/images/1564070-3XNHFBX.png
http://sadpanda.us/images/1564071-1V22DDH.jpg
http://sadpanda.us/images/1564074-9KBFLZ3.jpg

To be honest, you have to look at the author's style to know the difficulty of translating it. And while I can take 4-7 days to complete IS 8 because it is that easy, there are other projects I want to prioritize at this point.

[n0m@n]

Originally Posted by Teh_Ping

The first one was DenYuuDen.

Here are some more samples: (In order, Hikaru, Unicorn, Penguin Summer, Katanagatari, Henneko, New Seitokai no Ichizon, Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi)

Spoiler for Size:

http://sadpanda.us/images/1564057-EPH1JN3.png
http://sadpanda.us/images/1564061-67LFLET.png
http://sadpanda.us/images/1564065-YY5A3P8.png
http://sadpanda.us/images/1564069-LL3F021.png
http://sadpanda.us/images/1564070-3XNHFBX.png
http://sadpanda.us/images/1564071-1V22DDH.jpg
http://sadpanda.us/images/1564074-9KBFLZ3.jpg

To be honest, you have to look at the author's style to know the difficulty of translating it. And while I can take 4-7 days to complete IS 8 because it is that easy, there are other projects I want to prioritize at this point.

Wow, Unicorn has one page full of texts.
Is it me or does it seem like 1 page of Unicorn would be worth about 3 pages of IS?

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Teh_Ping

The first one was DenYuuDen.

There's a 'Shana' in denyuuden as well?

[demino_hellsin]

The general difficulty should be in the preference of the author to use cultural references and idioms. Most works that deal with literal meanings are pretty simple. I've only half-read baka-tsuki translation of IS but I feel that it's quite simplistic in its way of deliverance. I don't doubt your saying of how easy it is.

[n0m@n]

This is a "page" I found from Volume 8 IS.



As I stated before, there are only 249 pages. Actually roughly 229 pages in terms of Volume 8 story(minus blank pages and illustrations). And among those 229 pages there is a page like above. Several times.

[demino_hellsin]

I find this to be an uneconomic waste of paper O.o

Not sure about japanese writing culture but I'm pretty sure such big blanks are frowned upon. It feels like a lazy attempt at filler than actual part of writing. Then again that is conversation. *scratch scratch*

[Hell_ping]

Originally Posted by n0m@n

Wow, Unicorn has one page full of texts.
Is it me or does it seem like 1 page of Unicorn would be worth about 3 pages of IS?

I did an estimate, and a 300 page Unicorn novel (about the average length), has the same amount of text as SAO v6 (456 pages).

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

There's a 'Shana' in denyuuden as well?

How did you read シオン as Shana? It's Sion, and there's a ライナ for Ryner here

Originally Posted by demino_hellsin

The general difficulty should be in the preference of the author to use cultural references and idioms. Most works that deal with literal meanings are pretty simple. I've only half-read baka-tsuki translation of IS but I feel that it's quite simplistic in its way of deliverance. I don't doubt your saying of how easy it is.

To be fair, most of the writing is very straightforward, but some series like to throw crazy bits of information like science and religion and some other random bits. Here, IS does not delve into the scientific aspects of things (to be fair, do you expect students to know everything about IS?), which makes things a whole lot easier to do (added to the fact that the author used to work on eroges, where short dialogues are the norm, and you can see how IS 'looks' shorter than other series)

Originally Posted by n0m@n

This is a "page" I found from Volume 8 IS.

Spoiler for Size:

As I stated before, there are only 249 pages. Actually roughly 229 pages in terms of Volume 8 story(minus blank pages and illustrations). And among those 229 pages there is a page like above. Several times.

By several times, we mean half the novel here.