Japanese Light Novel Book Club discussion
General Discussion
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Mod
Book Girl's a really good one, especially if you really like reading and books :)
I was listening to the Myths and Legends podcast today and lo and behold, the Jikininki story from Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things popped up! It’s the second half of episode 14 and is a slightly less formal retelling of the story. It was pretty cool to see a story I recognised get read. He's also read other Japanese tales such as The Boy Who Drew Cats - it's worth a listen to if you have time. :)
I just saw that englishlightnovels.com will be running their summer reading programme again and thought folks here might be interested:https://englishlightnovels.com/2017/0...
The June reads are Your Name. and Disappearance of Hatsune Miku, The. I'm thinking of joining in for Your Name as it's got an interesting premise. :)
There goes my get-rich-quick scheme and marry into Japanese royalty. ^_^Princess Mako to lose Japan royal status by marrying commoner
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-...
Mod
Princess Mako to lose Japan royal status by marrying commoner
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-..."
I saw about that! I was surprised to hear that the female members of the family get the boot when they get married. Maybe it's the westerner in me talking, but I don't see how the "Women will inherit the throne if we don't kick them out!!!" argument works. The British have been keeping women in the royal family for centuries and managed to keep women from ruling in all but a few cases.
Mod
I saw the movie for Your Name. I didn't realize it was based on an LN. Or is the LN a novelization of the movie?
And yikes, that book title needs fixing.
I heard in one review that the LN is not recommended over the movie if you have to experience one, and almost felt like a draft / manuscript or novelization of the movie, not like something made indepently and then adapted for cinema later. I haven't seen the movie, so I'll try reading it and see what I think.
Mod
Let me know what you think. I'm curious to see how it shapes up to the movie. :-)
Selena wrote: "Alex G wrote: "There goes my get-rich-quick scheme and marry into Japanese royalty. ^_^Princess Mako to lose Japan royal status by marrying commoner
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-..."..."
I wonder if the rules governing the imperial family were always that way? The abdication rules have certainly changed at some point - for instance, The Tale of the Heike has a couple of living retired emperors in it - so I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't always that way.
Good follow-up article:Under Japan's Imperial Household Law of 1947, princesses who marry commoners are removed from the royal family.
That same law slashed the number of Japanese royals, removing 11 out of 12 branches of the imperial family as a cost-cutting measure. That means there are no royal males for current princesses to marry.
...
But there is public support for allowing women to inherit the throne. According to a Kyodo News survey in early May, 86% supported allowing a woman emperor and 59% supported allowing an emperor from the female blood-line.
This potentially leaves the government out of step with popular sentiment.
(The princess, the palace and the shrinking royal line
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-...)
Rose wrote: "I just saw that englishlightnovels.com will be running their summer reading programme again..."Just a heads up, the English Light Novels summer reading programme has officially started! The schedule is:
Your Name
* Read chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4 by 14 June.
* Finish the novel by 28 June.
The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku
* Read the chapters covering the dates “06/18” to “07/04" by 14 June.
* Finish the novel by 28 June.
There will be posts put up on the site for people to comment on and discuss the books on the scheduled dates.
A couple more updates on the English Light Novels group read:1) You can find the discussion page for the first half of Your Name and The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku here .
2) The rest of the Summer Reading Programme has been announced!
July
Magical Girl Raising Project & The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress
August
Infinite Dendrogram & Akaoni: Contract with a Vampire
Edit: The final discussion page for Your Name and The Dissappearance of Hatsune Miku is up!
https://englishlightnovels.com/2017/0...
I heard there was a total eclipse in U.S. yesterday and it's been 99 years since the last. Did you guys see it?
Mod
I saw the partial eclipse. It was really cool. :D
Selena wrote: "I saw the partial eclipse. It was really cool. :D"Did you take a picture? I can imagine that people all tried to take a picture by their smart phone.
Mod
Nah, I didn't try to. I just enjoyed the partial eclipse. B-) A couple of my coworkers tried, but they couldn't get any good pictures.
I used my ad hoc pin-hole camera. It was very small but I clearly saw the shadow of the moon on the sun. I could also only see the partial eclipse. There are some amazing pics, better than I could ever take.
Completely out of nowhere but I thought it'll be fun to discuss.If you kill a person, then revive them with an item or something, can you still be charged for murder? The murder of a guy that's still alive?
Mod
Don't know. Maybe we should ask Goku. :p
You'd definitely be charged with violent assault or conspiracy to murder or something, even if you brought them back.
That would be attempted murder and here in the UK it can lead to a life sentence: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attem...
Actually, we might need to ask Krillin. He might have more experience.violence assault and conspiracy to murder, sure.
But attempted murder?
The murder was very successful, He died, then revived. So it would fall under murder instead of attempted murder.
But in the case of murder, the guy actually has to be dead.
I guess it would depend on how long they were dead for before you revived them. I was thinking of a more real-life scenario like when people "die" for a couple of minutes but are resuscitated - in these cases, although they technically died, the end result is that they lived and it would count as attempted murder. If you could resurrect someone a year down the line after killing them though, I'm pretty sure you would have been arrested and tried for murder by that point... XD;
Anyone want to hear about a random dream that's slightly manga related? Prepare for insanity. xPI dreamt I was at a seaside vacation spot, took a weird turn onto an old path near this cottage that somehow turned into a high bridge type highway strip (it's a dream... Don't ask me how the topography went like that), and suddenly found a specialty store that sold old giant CRT TVs, import Japanese manga magazines (the ones that have chapters, like Shounen Jump), and ICE CREAM! 🍦
But then I tried going back there with my family, and we wound up on an ancient cobble path (spirited away?) that led us to an old mansion with a crazy Blanka style Street Fighter owner and my brother + I turned into Ryu and Ken from Street Fighter... 😓
It all ended with a combo fireball attack from us to defeat the mansion owner and then I "woke up" as like a Shounen anime protag on a train wondering if what happened was real as I write in my journal, while a young ghost girl carrying ghost babies said something out the window. Ummm... 👻
Aren't dreams the best. 😂
I don't know if I should play some Street Fighter now or avoid consuming anime / manga / games for a day to make my dreams turn sane again, LOL. My dreams are usually pretty mundane. All I knows is, I want to open a Book Off import shop on Cape Cod now. =P
Mod
Selena wrote: "I dreamt something bad ass spy related or something. I don't remember what it was, but it was pretty awesome and I wish my cat hadn't woken me up lol"Talk ameowt it. 🙀
At least he saved you from getting discovered by the enemy you were spying on.
Reading light novels has created this weird double standard in my life. I like watching CGDCT anime and lets be honest most of them don't have the most depth. I like watching them though as it's essentially 20 minutes of lighthearted feel goodness that I can relax and watch. Get a good laugh or two. I don't mind all the anime tropes that are in the show. Take those same tropes though and put them into a light novel and I am bored. I really noticed this while reading Psycome. I would watch it as an anime but as a book I was bored to the point where I started skim reading things just to get to the end. Maybe it's because I expect more from the books I read or maybe it's because books are more of an investment of my time and energy.
Mod
I think the biggest reason is that some things just don't work quite as well in a book as it does an anime. Think music, visual gags, etc. Storytelling just works in a totally different way, too, with the pacing and stuff.
Plus, like you said, books are a bit more of an investment. Jokes that land in an anime when you don't have to think as hard and it moves on to the next thing really quickly probably don't work as well in a book where you have to comprehend while reading and have a little more time to think about by the nature of the medium.
I think you nailed it on the head with the timing and the medium. In an anime I can sit there and recognize that a particular trope or gag will happen and it will quickly happen and you are moving on to the next thing. When you copy that same formula over to a book you don't have the same pace. I can sit there and recognize that same trope or gag is coming but instead of it happening in five minutes it could be 50 pages which takes more time to get to and more effort to consume. A visual medium you can take in everything that is going on in a glance where as in a book the author needs to describe everything so that you can see it. Very interesting.
Mod
Mod
I recently contacted the publisher Viz about whether they had plans to release the D.Gray-Man Reverse light novel series in the US (they publish the manga).
Alas, they said they didn't have any plans at the moment, but that they'd take my message into consideration. And it wasn't a form letter response, which makes me respect Viz a heck of a lot.
Which leads me to my request...
Anyone who would be interested in getting the D.Gray-Man light novels released in the US, please contact Viz here letting them know that you'd like the D.Gray-Man novels released in the US. :)
Thanks guys!
How is the weather holding up for you. No work today (place lost power). Lots of shovelling for me at home. Never lost power though. 🤞This is the second major storm in less than a week (crews were still reconnecting power as of Wednesday, and getting downed branches).
Selena wrote: "So can I ask you guys a big favor?
I recently contacted the publisher Viz about whether they had plans to release the D.Gray-Man Reverse light novel series in the US (they publish the manga)."
There is another license that I'm worried about, this from Yen Press.
Sound Euphonium.
The first novel released in June of 2017. I'm going to wait until June of this year I think to start up any sort of campaign for additional volumes.
(Viz also said they aren't going to release any more audiobooks of Monogatari and Galactic Heroes, I think unless sales improved; too bad really).
I kind of fell of the reading wagon hard this past week due to being totally absorbed by Nier: Automata so I thought this might be a good place to recommend it for those who haven't played it yet. I honestly can't remember the last time a game pulled me in this hard. The story, the soundtrack, the characters, the gameplay, the setting, EVERYTHING about the game was just amazing. If you're looking for a good rpg to sink some time into, I highly recommend you check this out. Fair warning though, the game will crush your soul but in the best way possible.
Mommy Isekai light novel got licensed by Yen Press / Yen On. I forget if we have a thread for license announcements.
Just about done The Saga of Tanya the Evil, Vol. 1 and overall I'm enjoying this book. This is the first light novel that I've read that just doesn't feel like a light novel. It has the usual set up with a few pictures sprinkled throughout the novel and it has the five chapter set up that is broken down into subsections. It just doen't feel like I'm reading the script to an anime. It contains a lot of inner monologues, philosophy, business strategy, and military tactics. I think a bit of the enjoyment comes from the fact that I've already watched the anime and really enjoyed that because this book does have one big flaw. First person POV. Now that is not something I would normally knock a book for but it's not well implemented here. First person POV works well when you are following 1-3 characters and it's well established who you're following. This book follow numerous characters with no real introductions to who you're following and some of these characters are inconsequential. For instance there was a section where you saw a scene from the POV of a guard at the war academy who was checking in Tanya's gear. I doubt we will ever see that guard again and if we do I doubt I'll know who it was.
I plan to keep reading at some point just to see where it goes.
I've heard volume 2 of that one is even bigger than volume 1. I saw some clips of the show, know a bit of the premise (which I'm not sure how much is spoilers), but I haven't read one of the books yet.
I just took a look and yah volume two is huge. Volume one is 321 pages and volume two is 564 pages.
I'm slowly being swayed into checking out Tanya the Evil - everything I see about it seems to be quite positive. I'm generally a bit wary about light novels that have young girls in a major role (because Japan) butttt I might end up picking it up. :)
Not sure if anyone else is into Japanese horror but lately I've read a couple of pretty good novels. First was ZOO by Otsuichi. It's a collection of short stories by the same author who did Goth and you can kind of tell. The other one was Queen of K'n-Yan by Ken Asamatsu and this one I read on a whim for a challenge in another group. This book was unexpected to say the least. It's Japanese Lovecraftian horror that touches upon a fictional prison camp in WWII China that was similar to unit 731. It starts with a wonderful sense of dread and wrongness, the middle was a little weaker, but the ending was glorious when it went full on body horror for the last couple of chapters.
I have a question, but is it bad to advertise a group...? I made a group and I would like more people to join, but I don't know alot of people who go on goodreads at my school, online, etc.
Mod
If the group has a "promotion" section, you can usually post it in there. Just be careful not to be too annoying about it, check the rules to make sure there's not an actual rule against it, and if you're still unsure, PM one of the mods and ask.
However, as someone who runs a couple of groups that I don't actively advertise for ever, if you keep your group somewhat active and make friends in other groups, you'll get some folks stumbling upon your group. And you can always invite your GR friends. Just don't be that annoying friend who literally invites friends to your group whether you think they'll like it or not. ;)
Selena wrote: "Wolf wrote: "I have a question, but is it bad to advertise a group...? I made a group and I would like more people to join, but I don't know alot of people who go on goodreads at my school, online,..."Ahh ok! Thanks! ^-^
Rose wrote: "
"I just won this novel recently in a drawing on Twitter! ^_^
https://twitter.com/CrossInfWorld/sta...
Now to find the time to actually read it...
Terrence wrote: "Rose wrote: ""I just won this novel recently in a drawing on Twitter! ^_^
https://twitter.com/CrossInfWorld/sta...
N..."
I got this book from a friend, it seems interesting, I need to get to it too :)
With the saturation of the Isekai there are a lot of attempts to stick out. When I was at the local anime convention yesterday I spotted a book that I had to get purely for a title alone. It's so absurd I couldn't believe it. The book is
Gord wrote: "With the saturation of the Isekai there are a lot of attempts to stick out. When I was at the local anime convention yesterday I spotted a book that I had to get purely for a title alone. It's so a..."Speechless...must be getting real desperate if that's the best people can come up with. My best guess is it either really sucks, or it's a miracle and really good.
Mod
Could be making fun of Isekai and is going for the absolutely ridiculous on purpose. Those can be fun if done well
Hmmmm I can’t seem to find the poll for the new group read! : ( I’m on my phone so that might be the problem.
Mod
Huh, that is odd. Though, GR on mobile is pretty odd itself, so...
Have you tried accessing the desktop version of the site?
Japanese Light Novel Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon, Vol. 1 (other topics)Little Princess in Fairy Forest (other topics)
Little Princess in Fairy Forest (other topics)
Zoo (other topics)
Queen of K'n-Yan (other topics)
More...
Also "reading aloud" through Steins;Gate Zero on my YouTube channel. This is going to be a long journey.
Steins;Gate Zero (PS4) BLIND Let's Play: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=...
Edit: I found another volume, Book Girl and the Captive Fool. Well, that's a better haul than I expected from the library sale. =P