Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! (This Light Novel is Amazing!)

[dniv]

Index did badassly well... and I'm just guessing that Misaka was dethroned simply because Yukino got a popularity boost... and Othinus, Misaki, and Index all took away from her votes... especially Othinus and Misaki. Unfortunately, NT 11 didn't come out before this vote... so... that's a shame...

It's nice to see Index (almost) dominating as usual. And nice to see Oregairu doing well. I can't wait for season 2.

Almost all characters in the Top 10 for both genders are characters that I know and love... which is a nice change of pace.

Or perhaps I've just been reading more interesting LN's.

Anyway, Haimura got 2nd again, which is good enough for now I suppose. I'm just happy to see that Index still did this well even after the fan-base got super pissed off when the voting happened...

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Log

HnA is still selling well despite everything wrong with the plot so it's not that much of a surprise.

Originally Posted by larethian

Monitors are adolescents at the ages where their hormones rage and chuuni syndrome and wish-fulfillment levels are high.

B-But the monitors are suppose to be profession hardcore otakus who reads everything !

Originally Posted by dniv

Index did badassly well... and I'm just guessing that Misaka was dethroned simply because Yukino got a popularity boost... and Othinus, Misaki, and Index all took away from her votes... especially Othinus and Misaki. Unfortunately, NT 11 didn't come out before this vote... so... that's a shame...

It's nice to see Index (almost) dominating as usual. And nice to see Oregairu doing well. I can't wait for season 2.

It's fine to be 'almost' dominate, so long as you don't always dominate

Nobody cares if Kamijou has been number 2 for nearly 5 years as well, they're only bothered by Mikoto

[larethian]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

B-But the monitors are suppose to be profession hardcore otakus who reads everything !



It's fine to be 'almost' dominate, so long as you don't always dominate

Nobody cares if Kamijou has been number 2 for nearly 5 years as well, they're only bothered by Mikoto

With the age limit on monitors (18 IIRC), it won't matter even if they read 51+ novels a year
That, or this year's group is just a bad group

[Zefyris]

Originally Posted by Log

Read that it's basically a girls softball story.

Yes, baseball against aliens, vampires, and with a boy dressed as a girl among the concubine, as he infiltrated the palace to assassinate the emperor ( for revenge). Main focus seems to be be baseball but all of this in one single volume, with proper baseball descriptions /matches and so on, and time used to develop properly the world building, as expected of Ishikawa Hiroshi, that's crazy

[larethian]

Think I've done this for 2014, but I'll do it again in brief.
The point system used for Konaro 2015 (Oct 2013 - Sep 2014) has remained unchanged.

All the groups get 5 ranked votes (ie. they not only vote for 5 works but have to rank them in order) for "Best LN", and 3 ranked votes each for "Best male", "best female", "best illustrator".

For votes for the "best LN" category (actually "works they like" to be precise) from collabs,
no. 1 = 10 points,
no. 2 = 9 points,
no. 3 = 8 points,
no. 4 = 7 points,
no. 5 = 6 points

For votes from both HP survey and Monitor group,
no. 1 = 5 points,
no. 2 = 4 points,
no. 3 = 3 points,
no. 4 = 2 points,
no. 5 = 1 points

For the other 3 cats, it's the same for all groups,
no. 1 = 3 points,
no. 2 = 2 points,
no. 3 = 1 points,

Collaborators = 61 people who are writers, critics, university interest groups (circles), staff/participants of light novel festival, light novel research society, librarians, bookstore staff, owners of related news sites / bloggers.
HP (homepage) survey = 975 people of general public
Monitor group = 103 adolescents of 12-18 years old and who have read 51+ LNs in a year
Total participants = 1139

Objectives of the voting system is to achieve the equivalent of the following representation:
HP = current popular works
Collabs = upcoming stuff that's worth paying attention to and works with potential
Monitor = what the fappers middle school students actually read

Demographics
By age:
41 years + = 1%
31-40 years = 7%
26-30 years = 11%
23-25 years = 13%
19-22 years = 25%
16-18 years = 31%
11-15 years = 12%

By volumes read:
101+volumes = 16%
76-100 volumes = 10%
51-75 volumes = 15%
26-50 volumes = 18%
11-25 volumes = 22%
0-10 volumes = 19% (why do 0 volumes get to vote? those anime-only fans-め！ )

By gender:
Collabs: 96% male, 4% female
HP: 84% male, 16% female
Monitor: 38% male, 62% female
Overall: 81% male, 19% female


For completion sake, quoting what Ping posted on "weightage/ranking by group" with thanks. I made a few corrections based on what's in the magazine.

Originally Posted by Sleep_ping

Top 10 in term of HP rank (Normal Voters):

1 (1). Oregairu (136.41)
2 (4). Index (98.15)
3 (2). SAO (53.54)
4 (3). NGNL (29.85)
5 (13). Mahouka (25.03)
6 (43). Black Bullet (21.33)
7 (11). Danmachi (20.51)
8 (10). Haganai (15.18) Alderamin (16.00)
9 (44). Kiniro Quartet (13.44) Haganai (15.18)
10 (46). Baka Test (12.41) Tokyo Ravens (14.36)


Collab top 10:

1 (5). Harlem Baseball (131.15)
2 (6). Deep Sea Solaris (111.48)
3 (3). NGNL (106.56)
4 (1). Oregairu (103.28)
5 (7). Escape Speed (95.08)
6 (8) + 7 (9). A certain pilot, This love, that future (The same author as Shinonome Yuuko) (93.44)
8 (10). Aldermin (81.97)
9 (12). Kiniro Quartet (80.33)
10 (14). Saenai Kanojo (78.69)


Top 10 for monitor:

1 (2). SAO (98.06)
2 (17). Durarara!! (52.43)
3 (16). Baka Test (49.51)
4 (1). Oregairu (45.63)
5 (38). Kagepro (44.66)
6 (30). Hidan no Aria (43.69)
7 (13) + 8 (37). Mahouka, Kino no Tabi (40.78)
9 (3). NGNL (36.89)
10 (4). Haganai (26.21) Index (33.98)

Some other comments:
I personally find that the collab sample size is kind of small. While all the collabs were named, they weren't clear on how they were selected. I wish they can increase this sample size and elaborate on their criteria on how the collabs were selected or they were randomized picks.
Judging by the sample size of HP, I'm guessing they have a way of detecting and voiding repeated votes or voters with fake or unverifiable information (like fake addresses or generic addresses/zip codes).
The fact that the point system has remained unchanged and stabilized is somewhat encouraging that the point system is approaching the original vision of what Takarajimasha had in mind; except that I still can't agree with some of the rankings

After reading a comment on serious foreshadowing in NGNL, I might resume again (had stopped at v3 previously).
Definitely going to resume Urekko.
I'm at v3 of Alderamin, 4,5, and 6, here I come!
I'll take a peak at Solaris. I certainly didn't expect a novel like this from MF
As for the rest of top 10 from collab that I'm not already reading, I'll probably find out more from reviews and blogs before venturing. I doubt I'll read Harem Baseball, but I'm really really curious as to why it got no .1 in collab ranks, so......
Also interested in checking out the grand winner of 20th Dengeki award: ゼロから始める魔法の書
None of any of the good tear jerkers/heartstring tugging series that I read got into top 10.
Kind of disappointed that Apocalypse Alice and Hakomari are absent even in the last few ranks. Imo, even though Hakomari is ending soon and the shock factor is slightly reduced, it's still awesome enough to be ranked; Apocalypse Alice-wise, even though Kagami's literary style is shit, the plot has enough mindf**k to be ranked as well imo.
I haven't read v5 of Rokka yet (still waiting for the ebook to be out), but I'm seriously looking forward to seeing it in top 5 next year waku waku.

See you guys next year.

[R.LocK]

Hakomari didn't have a single volume published this year, though? I thought that'd disqualify a series from this year's ranking by default.

[larethian]

^ ah yes, I forgot about that

[Burden]

Highschool DxD's popularity is noticably waning. I wonder what the new exorbitantly erotic LN series is now.

[n0m@n]

I totally forgot that its about time for the new ranking to appear.
Wonder if Oregairu will keep its high position or go down ranks.

Forgot to vote for this year, but I really hope 'Encore' would make the ranking.
And more importantly, the female ranking category (most curious about due to a certain character).

[larethian]

For collaborator rankings at least, I reckon Alderamin and Rokka will still get top 10.

[n0m@n]

True. With Rokka's recent anime and Alderamin's high popularity even before the annoucement of the anime.
....I really do need to start reading Alderamin. I've been curious about it, but never had the chance to try it.

[larethian]

Well, the thing is for both titles, there are major revelations and twists in the releases this year, which is why I believe they will be high. Alderamin also just reached a major turning point, going into a new 'chapter' (it's a senki after all); it also has good prose and vocab, and they are not overly bombastic to the point it hurts the way Mahouka does it, ouch.

And another thing, Alderamin does not have that high a popularity except from serious readers and collaborators. I can say the same for Rokka actually.

[Kuroageha]

I'm expeting Alderamin and Rokka making it to the ranks.

Regarding characters I hope the ones voting started reading more than just 3 books .

[Wandering Soul]

I'm betting on Alderamin and Rokka making it high in the list. Rokka's anime and the huge shift in Alderamin along with it's upcoming anime adaption should give those two a boost.

Hakomari also ended this year so that should help it place high too.

[larethian]

Wha, Hakomari is very niched and has never ever attained high ranks in Korano. I can't even remember whether it has been ranked after the adjustment in the weightages 2 years ago. Previously, it was around 40+?? (can't be bothered dig out the results). Last year, Konorano has the same point system as the previous year, which means that it has reached a stability which reflects what "sugoi" means in Konorano's terms. Expecting no change to the system this year as well.

[Wandering Soul]

Originally Posted by larethian

Wha, Hakomari is very niched and has never ever attained high ranks in Korano. I can't even remember whether it has been ranked after the adjustment in the weightages 2 years ago. Previously, it was around 40+?? (can't be bothered dig out the results). Last year, Konorano has the same point system as the previous year, which means that it has reached a stability which reflects what "sugoi" means in Konorano's terms. Expecting no change to the system this year as well.

Well that's too bad for Hakomari. Just have to hope that Rokka and Alderamin rank high then.

[OH&S]

Well, if we're making ranking predictions now then obviously Rokka, Alderamin, Danmachi, Mahouka and... Oregairu. Mahouka because it seems to have had a pretty good year.

I also think Index could potentially be out of the Top 10 this year (not its best year, but it had its moments).

There have been 4 Zashiki-warashi novels released in this past year so maybe that could get back in the Top 60 this year.

[larethian]

I don't know. I enjoy Oregairu but it's not that great in my book, while it's great, it may be a bit overrated, at least from my perspective. Top 10 yeah, top 3 uh, not my decision anyway. I really hate all the English katakanized words which seem to appear every few lines and don't get Watawata's obsession with them. They appear in qualidea as well sigh. But maybe it's because there's a lack of outstanding stuff, so it might not be that undeserving of its past placing.

I did mention I'm expecting Aldermain and Rokka to be high on collaborator list. Whether they are going to be high or not in the overall list, I don't know. The public poll list will probably be skewed towards the reincarnation titles.

[Zefyris]

I'm not sure the collaborator are going to push Rokka honestly. Volume 5 and 6 clearly deserves it but they may consider that the anime did enough of the job so give priority to less known titles. Alderamin will probably receive quite a bit yes. I hope Zetsushinkai no solaris receive the push too, because it received it for the first volume that clearly isn't as good and by far than the second one published a few month ago. They pushed it last year, no logical reason to not do it this year. Oregairu will be high with or without the help of collaborators, so I hope collaborators don't help it. This will help the poll to not be dominated by this and this will mean more votes from them toward less known titles.

Hakomari is really not well known in japan, so I don't think you're going to see it high, if we see it at all.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Out of curiosity, which new LN adaptations this year had made a big splash so far in Japan?

Danmachi I guess, mostly for one reason.