Forum - View topicBooks
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nagash
Posts: 280 |
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I thought of this after reading some of the posts in the manga and general forums.
This centers on what happens after a series. It's been done for movies, and it has been done for an anime in the past. Suppose a series finishes. Pick one. I'll take Ranma 1/2 for example. What happens after they get married? Since Ranma 1/2 is concluded as an anime, that leaves only manga or books to continue on. As much as I like manga, I also love to read, and most adults would rather pick up a book than a comic book. Would it work? It has been done before and still is, but in different genres. Anyone who's been following Star Wars for the past 10 years knows about the long line of books that take place after Return of the Jedi, and they're still coming out with more. Robotech was published in book format, including the Sentinels and The End of the Circle. Blade Runner finally joined the list a couple of years ago with two books that take place after the movie. The gaps it fills in the original story add an entirely new dimension to the tale. Not to mention all the sites devoted to fanfiction. Granted, you won't find the books on the best sellers list, but they are available if you look for them. Anyone else think they would work or was this post a complete waste of time? |
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Craeyst Raygal
 Posts: 1383 Location: In the garage, beneath a 1970 MGB GT. |
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It could work stateside... but only with certain series.
First things first: There has to be an expansive and well documented universe. Any addition to a series (IMHO) should slot into place in such a way that it feels a part of the continuity, no matter what form it takes. The Battletech books are one of the best examples of this. The game gives fans a huge society and universe to play with. It has a fully realized system of politics, and a set timeframe. Thus, many books have been written by many authors, but all feel part of the original storyline that the developers intended. Some series are too limited for novellas. I doubt you could have many pages of a Tenchi Muyo novel without fans screaming "Rape!". But with a series like Mobile Suit Gundam, or Banner of the Stars, or even Cowboy Bebop, where the world is far bigger than the characters, you can write story after story, never even seeing the focus of the anime, and still be believable. At least, that's how I see it as an author myself. |
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Emerje
 Posts: 7434 Location: Maine |
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Don't the Gundam and the Stars series have books already in japan? This is actually something that's been widely available in japan, though often it seems the book comes first, then the anime, and then the book continues off of the anime's success. Not sure if actually works that way, but looks like it. I don't believe the range really exists on the same level, i think there's a few Slayers books out there, but for the most part I believe these books are a bit more on the serious side like Vampire Hunter D. I do remember word of some of these books begin being translated and released in the US this year, looking forward to seeing how that turns out. I'd assume translating a book would be much more difficult than translating a manga since you have to pick the right words in a book to give descriptions, but in a manga you've got visuals and most of the text comes from spoken words.
Emerje |
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zaphdash
 Posts: 620 Location: Brooklyn |
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I'm not sure about other shows, but there are a number of Mobile Suit Gundam novels out there. There are novelizations of the TV shows and movies themselves (the novelization of First Gundam was even translated and released in the United States, but is now long out of print), but there are also other novels that take place in the Gundam world but don't correspond to a certain series (IE, Gaia Gear or Hassaway's Flash, which tell their own stories that have never been animated).
However, nagash, you have to remember that these kinds of things are geared more toward Japan than the US, and in Japan, adults aren't necessarily more likely to pick up a novel than manga. Unlike in the US, in Japan, manga and animation aren't relegated strictly to the world of children's entertainment as they are for the most part here. |
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Case
Posts: 1016 |
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Your bias is showing. And I'm not sure I follow the example you're making of Battletech, etc. Sure, they have a ton of backstory and open continuity that makes it really easy to create new works in a franchise. But does that help sales? Battletech books don't exactly strike me as hot-selling titles. I think a single volume work that is well promoted (if only within the anime community) would sell just as well. Certainly, that would be easier and cheaper than commissioning a whole bunch of different works and relying on word of mouth to get the product noticed... 
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cookie
Former ANN Editor in Chief
 Posts: 2460 Location: Do not contact me for support. |
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I think the issue is this: If you take Tenchi Muyo and remove the core cast (Tenchi and the Gang), you're left with a fairly shallow universe, one that does not lend itself to additional stories that do not involve the main characters in some way. Thus, if you were to write a "TM" novel, you would need to include some of the TM characters directly... and if your interpretation of those characters does not mesh with the established "TM" style and mannerisms, fans will notice. Additionally, outside of the TM characters, there really is nothing terribly different about the world from the modern world (space, of course, is another story!). Tenchi Muyo is -character- driven, and if those characters are taken away, there really is no plot of which to speak. If, on the other hand, you take Gundam Wing and write a story without any reference to the pilots, the scientists, Zechs and Treize, you still have a large number of angles with which to work from... You could write about the rise and fall of a government family on a colony, a mobile suit pilot from Earth, or any number of other characters. Gundam is driven not by the characters, but the events surrounding the characters. If the main characters suddenly vanished, the war would still theoretically continue. Remove Ryoko, Aeka, Sasami and all, and you're left with a hum-drum early 1990s Japan where nothing special happens. Sure, you could write a story with the main Tenchi Muyo cast... that's what fanfics do all the time. It's being able to go beyond the main cast, exploring the other events in the universe that Craeyst is suggesting is essential to a successful novella. |
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Emerje
Posts: 7434 Location: Maine |
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I like to think of Dual being just that, Tenchi Muyo without the Tenchi cast, somewhere else in japan. It's the same production staff, the same time period and the real kicker is Tenchi's Light Hawk Wings make a very prominent appearence late in the series. I feel D and her technology is actually Jurian since it would explaine a few things about her personality and the technology itself. Plus the harem lives on. Don't ask me where I'm going with this, I'm not even sure myself... Emerje |
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Aya Reiko
 Posts: 166 Location: Nowhere and Somewhere |
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The Sailormoon universe comes right to mind. That series has a fair bit of area that can still be explored. Areas such as 30th Century Earth and the early Kingdoms during the reign of the first Queen Serenity has been largely left with vague descriptions of their design and workings (if any at alll).
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Case
Posts: 1016 |
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While that may or may not be true... ...A series of books based on the Sailor Moon TV series have been available in the United States for a number of years now: http://www.[This URL is a known Bootlegging website]/sm/pubs-novel.html They call them novels, but they're really not. More like sixth grade chapter books. But I suppose that only makes sense. |
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BrianC
Posts: 95 |
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Slayers and Crest of the Stars actually started out as novels and the anime came later. Much of the Slayers manga actually came out after the anime. The movies of Slayers are different from the TV series too. Talk about confusing.
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nagash
Posts: 280 |
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I wasn't thinking of this idea for Japan. Here, an adult would be more likely to pick up the book than the manga or anime itself.
Just wondering on thoughts about this. I think it should be explored more. |
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nancyn
Posts: 49 |
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A continuation of manga in the novel format doesn't appeal to me at all. I'm an adult, and the reason I am reading manga is because I love manga. I wouldn't be able to read a story that was based on Rumiko Takahashi's work that was not written by Rumiko--it would be ruined by the novel not having the same sensibilites as the author. I feel the same way about modern novelists who write sequels to "Pride and Prejudice" and "Gone with the Wind" etc.--they never get it right, and by suspending one's disbelief/accepting it as true you thereby downgrade the original author's work in the process. I also think that, in the instance of original manga, the story's infrastructure was created in the manga form--it is meant to be told with art as well as text.
Having said that, I know that some concepts and characters become very popular, like the Star Wars novels, etc. People will read forever about certain characters no matter what the quality is. |
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