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Gravitation Novels
Gravitation
Energetic teenager Shuichi Shindo is the lead singer and songwriter for the smash-hit pop band, Bad Luck. He's recently moved in with his older boyfriend, Eiri Yuki, the handsome, sophisticated, and uber-famous romance novelist. Nothing goes smoothly for Shuichi, however. Yuki is inexplicably cold and cruel toward him, more so than usual; due to a rash of publicity appearances on comedy sketch shows, he can't get anyone to take his band seriously; and he's suddenly entered, totally unprepared, into a nationally televised concert with Bad Luck's rival band, Ask.
In this often touching, frequently hilarious story based on the popular manga and anime, Gravitation: The Novel details a young man's quest for success in love and music.
In this often touching, frequently hilarious story based on the popular manga and anime, Gravitation: The Novel details a young man's quest for success in love and music.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
July 23, 2023
A quick read for fans of Gravitation that are jonesing for a little more after finishing all other content. The novel reads like a fanfic, and not a particularly great one. Still, it has some interesting elements that aren’t found in other adaptations. A nice element of the novel is that it features a lot of family members that are otherwise forgotten by the series, or aren’t featured altogether. Hiroshi’s mother plays a supporting role, who I don’t remember showing up in any other versions. Yuki’s brother, Shuichi’s sister and mother, also play supporting roles. I always enjoy seeing more relatives as it makes the characters feel more fleshed out and real. The focus is also primarily on Bad Luck, rather than our main couple, with Hiro playing a big role!
The timeline of the novel is strangely inconsistent and hard to place in the storyline. It references a lot of the events of the manga, but seems to take on the tone of the anime a bit more by letting Aizawa and ASK play the main villains despite, at this point, their careers being suspended after the assault on Shuichi and resulting near-death of Aizawa. Also, even though Shuichi and Yuki coming out on live television is referenced more than once, Shuichi’s mother seems to have no idea her son is gay, much less that he’s living with a man (a famous one that she admires, on top of that!)
The cartoonish behaviour doesn’t particular translate well in a novelized format, but it wasn’t as cringe-worthy as it could have been. It definitely made an attempt to adapt itself to a new format and honestly, it did pretty well considering everything. It is pretty redundant when it comes to the actual storyline and characterization, but again, it is just silly and cute so it’s fine.
If you are a fan of Gravitation, this is like a cute little midnight snack. You’ll forget about it tomorrow, but for now, you can go to bed without hunger pains.
The timeline of the novel is strangely inconsistent and hard to place in the storyline. It references a lot of the events of the manga, but seems to take on the tone of the anime a bit more by letting Aizawa and ASK play the main villains despite, at this point, their careers being suspended after the assault on Shuichi and resulting near-death of Aizawa. Also, even though Shuichi and Yuki coming out on live television is referenced more than once, Shuichi’s mother seems to have no idea her son is gay, much less that he’s living with a man (a famous one that she admires, on top of that!)
The cartoonish behaviour doesn’t particular translate well in a novelized format, but it wasn’t as cringe-worthy as it could have been. It definitely made an attempt to adapt itself to a new format and honestly, it did pretty well considering everything. It is pretty redundant when it comes to the actual storyline and characterization, but again, it is just silly and cute so it’s fine.
If you are a fan of Gravitation, this is like a cute little midnight snack. You’ll forget about it tomorrow, but for now, you can go to bed without hunger pains.
June 17, 2020
Can't figure out where in the series this takes place. Shuichi says in the prologue that Yuki confessed to the world they were lovers so that makes it sound like it takes place during or after volume 6; Suguru and K are both there (they showed up in volume 5), so that seems to back it up even more but Taki's still around and Shuichi hardly knows who he is so it's before Taki had him gang-raped (volume 4) and before Tohma tried to kill Taki (volume 5).
None of it adds up so I guess this story takes place in an AU where Taki never had Shuichi gang-raped or K Na Suguru show up earlier.
None of it adds up so I guess this story takes place in an AU where Taki never had Shuichi gang-raped or K Na Suguru show up earlier.
July 26, 2022
After seeing this on the shelf at my local comic shop, completely untouched in at least two months, I decided to purchase it. It's worth noting that I have no prior knowledge of the "Gravitation" anime or manga series. This novel adaptation was immaturely written, and the plot was obnoxious at times. Still, I can't bring myself to rate it lower on account of its 90s / old anime charm. The illustrations were not bad; they had a sort of nostalgic feel to them. Overall, it wasn't exactly worth my 10 dollars, but reading it felt like looking at an ancient relic.
September 2, 2019
Cute story.
July 20, 2020
what a fever dream that was
October 30, 2023
What the hell was the plot of this.
September 7, 2025
read this while talking to a friend, middle school memories this honestly feels like published fanfic circa 2008 with the lolz so random humor
September 13, 2016
I love how I can see it inside my head like an anime XD It's so spot on. Lots of laughs XD
July 23, 2008
Horrible, horrible, horrible. I know it wasn't Ms. Murakami's fault, but there were numerous grammar/spelling mistakes in the English version.
Had this been an actual manga rather than a novel, it probably would have earned a 2-star rating from me. As the case may be, it simply didn't work well as a book. Murakami is a far better mangaka than an author, and at times it felt as though she wasn't sure how to not revert back to her mangaka mindset where all she has to do is draw pictures for the readers. The characters 'sweat-dropped' numerous times, which is excusable in comic-form, but should never find its way onto a novel's pages.
Had this been an actual manga rather than a novel, it probably would have earned a 2-star rating from me. As the case may be, it simply didn't work well as a book. Murakami is a far better mangaka than an author, and at times it felt as though she wasn't sure how to not revert back to her mangaka mindset where all she has to do is draw pictures for the readers. The characters 'sweat-dropped' numerous times, which is excusable in comic-form, but should never find its way onto a novel's pages.
October 24, 2008
A bit confusing since they put the summary for "Gravitation: The Voice of Temptation" on the back of it, but nonetheless the novel is just as entertaining as the manga. (Don't ask me about the anime, I never got past the first three minutes- it freaked me out a bit.)
*SPOILER**SPOILER**SPOILER**SPOILER**SPOILER**SPOILER*
I'm kinda disappointed how easily Hiroshi's mom resolved after seeing the band play. Never seemed the fanatic type to me. (And it totally kills the idea of a fanfic I had. Ah well that's what the magically would of AU is for.)
*SPOILER**SPOILER**SPOILER**SPOILER**SPOILER**SPOILER*
I'm kinda disappointed how easily Hiroshi's mom resolved after seeing the band play. Never seemed the fanatic type to me. (And it totally kills the idea of a fanfic I had. Ah well that's what the magically would of AU is for.)
May 1, 2016
Me tomó un mes acabarlo. Lo odié por un tiempo y lo dejé pausado; realmente llega a ser muy desesperante el modo en el que está narrado y a veces parece que ni siquiera estas leyendo gravitation se deja mucho de lado a Yuki poniéndolo en ocasiones solo casi como relleno; tiene mucho refrito de cosas que ya en el manga uno da por terminado realmente no aporta nada nuevo pero no es tan malo aunque si lo odié.
February 6, 2010
While I love anything to do with Yuki and Shuichi, and I did enjoy this book, the writing left a lot to be desired -- not that I expected much to begin with; Shuichi's eccentric antics don't exactly translate well into words. I still recommend it for any Gravitation fans, as it is still entertaining, though a very light read. You may want to watch the anime before jumping into this, however.
December 29, 2014
As someone who has read all 13 manga and watched all of the anime, I absolutely loved this book. I would definitely recommend it to any Gravitation fan. I thought it translated nicely into a novel. It's not really a novelization of the manga, but more of a side story. If you haven't seen the anime or read the manga, you probably won't enjoy it as much, or at all.
October 1, 2007
Gravitation Ex
it's a sad love story between lead singer of some band name Shuichi Shindo with Eiri Yuki the romance novelist.
this manga is filled of love story that make me sad and happy in one time ^_^" and grows become some mysteri of their past life.
Originaly review by AnnChan ^^
it's a sad love story between lead singer of some band name Shuichi Shindo with Eiri Yuki the romance novelist.
this manga is filled of love story that make me sad and happy in one time ^_^" and grows become some mysteri of their past life.
Originaly review by AnnChan ^^
July 12, 2012
While I was reading it, I felt like I was reading a really BAD fancfic, written just for the fun of it. It was boring and so poorly written (I know is not the author's fault) that I skimmed rather than read. It a waste of time.
April 27, 2016
A passable novel. It's been a long time since I've read Gravitation the manga (and I never did finish that). This wasn't a good return for me. It wasn't well written. I suppose fans may get something out of this, but these scenes play out better I think in manga format than in written word.
August 18, 2007
This is a non-graphic novel based in the world of graphic novel Gravitation.
November 10, 2010
it was a nice romantic story:)
December 11, 2011
Emiri - 2011
October 15, 2015
Was very cute but it would have been hard to picture some of the things that happened if I hadn't read the manga and watched the anime.
March 5, 2014
Decent for Gravitation, but it's not the manga....
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews