Light Novels

Who actually reads light novels

I only read horrible Chinese webnovels with murderhobo MCs

Honestly, why am I going to waste my time on reading some subpar shit, when I can read actual novels?

i wanted to read Horizon in the Middle of nowhere bc we will never get s3 for that or read owari no chronicle but i got lazy

pathetic otakus

I accidentally bought one thinking it was a manga

>reading in 2017

good taste

I only read Index and Konosuba my dude.

self insert shitters

For the same reason one watches shitty anime.

/lit/ doesn't allow light novels

I usually read LNs about murder lolis since that's a criminally underutilized cliche for main characters.

>murderhobo MCs
That sounds like a lot of fun

yet people keep getting offended when they start slaughtering entire families

I can't read because I'm blind

seems legit

Same. I'm reading "warlock of the magus world" right now. It's alright

Millions of nips and quite a few people elsewhere mostly enjoying fan-translations. I've probably read about 30 volumes spread over 3-4 series and I don't think that's a lot compared to other Sup Forumsnons.
I'l give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you know this based on hopefully not being new here.

To bad Qidian is trying to paywall that shit.

Just can't get enough of Leylin

he's that type of fuckers who if he enters the room the tone gets darker, ominous Latin chanting plays in the background, even the comedy relief sobers the fuck up, the audience understands that the arc began and one of the characters are probably going to die in it, etc.

that and he's one of the only LN wish-fulfillment character that I'm actually jelly of.

There's something great about the autistic level of detail Chinese WNs have

Why is it so hard to find completed LNs/WNs to read? I always end up forgetting huge amounts of details waiting for updates so I'd prefer to just power through a series, but it's really hard to find decent finished ones.

the only thing that differentiates them is the autistic level of detail.

I wish there was more illustrations of this seriously. Sometimes it's hard to visualize some of the stuff the author wrote (magus tower, giant beasts etc)

>Hataraku Maou-sama
>Outbreak Company
Fun times.

apparently he's now literally in the DnD world

with some people saying they're setting him up to be Asmodeus

wonder how /tg/ would feel about that?

it's an abortion of litterature, so I don't

even those supposed "good" LNs like Spice & Wolf are worthless junk

Practice abstinence of pot and get some ridlen for your ADD

I don't use then devils lettuce and I already take Adderall that I was prescribed.

Not me.

Then im sorry for your short term memory disorder

Not a single LN I've bothered to read warranted the praise they received on Sup Forums. Things like Haruhi, Bakemonogatari, Index, Log Horizon, Welcome to the NHK, etc.
It's all dumb dumb derivative garbage so obviously aimed at market research approved demographics the whole artform sort of transforms into a case study of creative bankruptcy in SEA.

I particularly hate the derivative nature of the contemporary LN stories. Circles that engage in reading LNs generally see parody of the genre as a display of virtuousity by the author but don't realise that since 2006, putting 4th wall breaking moments pertaining to anime clichés and whatnot has become so par for the course it's basically a cliché in and of itself.

Moving on; the prose in these books is unanimously absolutely untenable and reads like it was written by a literal 12 year old. Abstract descriptions almost never appear (except in Welcome to the NHK) and the exposition doesn't stray far from describing a character's appearance or kawaii expression, a word for word account of a conversation, or a fightscene. Think B-movie scripts.
This is less the case with, again, Welcome to the NHK, which is by far the most profound work I've read from the LN scene, but still- the authors don't even attempt to create beauty when crafting sentences. Everything from the trite 1st person perspective the author almost perfunctorily uses, to the dry prose, to the awkward (and almost inhuman) dialogue- it's all in service of a self insert fantasy plot that mostly leads nowhere (see haruhi and bakemonogatari) and any theme (in case the LN contains concrete themes beyond "friends are important," etc.) are to be understood easily by high school students and are generally handed out on a platter.
Really, no thought is required to read LNs and are, on the whole, a massive waste of time.

>short term memory disorder
>for forgetting details after years of series TL

I think Kumo Desu ga and The Girl Who Ate a Death God are both pretty good. But for the most part you're right.

Baccano, Kino no tabi, 12 kingdoms, Banner/Crest of the Stars, Irresponsible Captain Taylor, and Slayers are pretty good.

Is Kino no Tabi an LN

it's almost like anime and LN's are meant for children which is why most take place during high school and most adults just grow out of it

good thing you said "almost like" because you'd be retarded if you actually think it was the case

>Kumo Desu ga

ok, let's test it

>I won!!!

>Hyaffuui! (　ひゃっふーい！)
>I won, I won!
>I won against such a strong eel!
>Isn't it incredible!?
>Aren't I very strong!?
>Uhe, uhehe.
>I hardly use my threads, and I won in a direct fight, you know?
>I won't let you say that I'm weak anymore.
>I'm strong!
>Hyahhoi! (　ひゃっほーい！)
>The eel was a formidable enemy.
>It was certainly a formidable enemy.
>It was a mortal combat.
>But, the one who won is me!
>I'M NUMBER ONE!
>Uehehehehe.

>Ah, crap.
>The excitement still haven't settled down.
>Uhehe.
>After all, it's a Drake, you know?
>It's different from the fake Drakes like seahorse and catfish so far. It's a fully-fledged Drake-like >Drake, you know?
>And, I defeated it directly, one on one, fair and square, you know?
>This me!
>Ah, the excitement returns.
>Hyahhai! (　ひゃっはーい！)

seriously?

i-is this a pasta?

i think you're pretty spot on mostly, but some points i'd disagree with.

>Abstract descriptions almost never appear ... exposition doesn't stray far from describing a character's appearance or kawaii expression
light novels are light for a reason. there's light novels where it describes a glass of beer and then goes into detail about the condensation on it while describing the lighting and so forth. typically though, almost always when it involves high school/middle school kids, it's just straightforward story mostly focused on actions or maybe romance. it's self-insert. it's suppose to be interesting or creative stuff that's fresh or novel, but the scene is very stagnant. so it became just repetitive, generic, and uninspired.

>Everything from the trite 1st person perspective the author almost perfunctorily uses, to the dry prose, to the awkward (and almost inhuman) dialogue
this is another issue. japanese isn't english so the way they express themselves is with kanji that has double meanings. so, double entendre, puns, and especially the fact japanese is filled with homophones and kanji allows you to be creative. this stuff doesn't translate well into english and the idioms or technique is lost.


>Really, no thought is required to read LNs and are, on the whole, a massive waste of time.
i mostly agree. the philosophical ideas are insipid, boring, and actually take away from the stories. if there's any value then it's simply the aesthetics and novel ideas mainly. this is for the majority of light novels, but with anything there's exceptions that have value. overall though i wouldn't say it's entirely wasted. this question is relative to where you stand. if you're somebody who is well read and run-of-the-mill novelty doesn't do it? then yes. if you really like anime aesthetics,stories, and the novelty hasn't run out then they're entertaining and take it a step further than anime storywise

I enjoy reading LNs.

...

>It's all dumb dumb derivative garbage so obviously aimed at market research approved demographics the whole artform sort of transforms into a case study of creative bankruptcy in SEA.
this relates to the culture and idea behind light novels. light novels like i said in the other post are light. it's not really suppose to be deeply philosophical or open your mind like crime and punishment. you could argue that they can actually write simple stories which are actually very deep and touch on hard topics and they could. the problem? it's written for and by otaku. what is an otaku? they're escapist. they want self-insert. they're materialist. they aren't ascetics or asking the hard questions about life. well stuff like boipussi, traps, and other otaku things are revolutionary they aren't the greatest minds frankly.

most light novels are pulled from web novels. web novels are basically fanfiction where otaku talk with the author and even get them to revise the story. they usually pump out this stuff daily maybe twice even so people will read it and get their ranking up. it's very closely tied to what's popular and what's popular is what other people decide to copy. when it becomes a light novel the editor has to do so much work, but they still pick stuff that's popular. namely easy to read self-insert stuff that's filled with the common cliche. it's very related to culture.

i wouldn't say they're bankrupt, but the kind of ideas which push the envelope further just aren't accepted in japanese society. there is a very big cultural aspect that's harming the quality of the writing.

I read Kara No Kyoukai. That was actually pretty good.

Try Miss Fabre. I had some fun with that one.

Just started reading Spice & Wolf 3.

Literally this.
Is there any LN with real literary value?

>value
as much as any form of entertainment. if you can't simply read adages or singular words and extrapolate the meaning of life then you're a pleb

Is there any anime with real literary value?

more literally value than hollywood at least

but that's not saying much

otaku and people who don't know real literature.

I read NGNL as soon as the volumes come out here in Brazil
The author is Brazilian too though

You have superior taste my friend.

Post yfw the Issth ending.

Isn't that the point of LN's though, to waste time?
Not sure what the hell else you'd use your time for anyway that would be considered of value given your presence here

This. I don't see how the fuck anyone can dismiss LNs for being low brow when they actively watch anime, read manga, and browse Sup Forums.

Why the fuck not?

well I'll be damned it's finished

I haven't read it because I'm more into the more OP and ruthless ones like MGA and Emperor's Domination but maybe I should marathon it.

LNs don't count as literature

Asshurt mods, and /jp/ exists to facilitate them I suppose

Literature ,as in text with genuine merit.

Me

Mostly just Kamachi's works, his mix of bullshit just appeals to my tastes.

Are there any Chinese WNs with decent romance or are they all about edgy MCs killing people?

There are some great LN's out there that are better then the anime or manga versions. Specifically Monogatari, NHK, and Zaregoto.

Agreed, and I would add Gosick to that list too.

Same but i'm still waiting for the S3. Believe it motherfucker.

i pick up tons, but always end up getting bored and dropping them halfway through. case in point.

>Not liking derivative works just for the sake of seeing what changes.
Pleb

Fuck me, i just realized there was a time where i was actually exited for LN adaptations.
And then Isekai happend.

Well of course the anime is amazing too

If you read the english translation then you didn't read Kara no Kyoukai, sorry.

Don't despair, Heavy Object S2 will be announced anytime now.

Understandable. And since most endings suck it's not like you miss much.

You can blame Japan for eating literally anything as long as it panders to them.
A prefect example is what happend to 8man's series, they just straight up stopped priniting it because the author wanted to write something that someone higher up didn't approve of.
So they just hired a guy to take over and write almost the exact same shit from scratch, just with a even more stupid sounding name and make it so the TO approved girl win.

And they just eat that shit up like nothing ever happend.
I will never fucking understand how you can be so far removed from something you seem to like.

Where do CN novels go then?

Overlord movies soon too

When

Reddit

>tfw you can post your favorite book on /lit/ because it's not post-modern or made before the 20th century

you can't have a discussion on Reddit it's physically impossible

I just finished catching up with the Kawakamiverse translations, and holy shit, what a fucking amazing ride it was. I haven't had this much fun in nearly a decade, definitely worth getting over my inherent laziness and reading those 1000+ pages long volumes.

>They say while posting pictures of light novel adaptations anime that are both really recent.

I wonder why lights novels go on for so many years. I doubt they become for kids anymore when you got series like Index that been going on for over 10 years that I doubt they are acquiring new fans after how long they have been going. The same with mahouka which is over 6 years old.

S2 never ever. Not that I'm not reading the LNs

They're dirty cheap to print, so even those unknown series that don't even rank more often than not still manage to turn some profit. Meaning only series that are literally not selling at all get cancelled if the author doesn't decide to end it himself first.
You're right about them not bringing in new fans after a while though, both Index and Mahouka have already had some drop in sales (Mahouka only dipping recently, Index sales have been dropping for a while), but despite it being hard to bring in new fans after 20-30+ volumes, they'll always have a sizeable dedicated fanbase that keep buying it even when they grow into middle aged salarymen.

Yo where my shinmai maou no testament fans at?

can someone give me a quick rundown on chinese webnovels?

I do. The stories are simple and the humor panders to my taste (japanese slapstick, misunderstandings, and females overly concerned with their breast size / breast envy).

It's the highest form of literature by mankind

What type of brain damage did you incur that allowed you to have such garbage taste?

good we don't need your shit taste

...

Depends on the publisher, and the moment it uses 'TVアニメ' as a selling point, it's shit

chingchangchongcheng ki blast overlord kungfu with a thirst for revenge fall to a cave learn super serect technique from "how to become OP for average chinese"

Because it fun, much better than isekai revenge or i'm darkness chink shit

sounds pretty autistic

>tfw want to write a light novel but don't know how to do so in English as opposed to Japanese

>chingchangchongcheng ki blast overlord
>overlord

Now you're talking