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What are Japanese novels like?


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Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Novels
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fruitsbasket94



Joined: 17 Mar 2008
Posts: 25
PostPosted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:07 pm Reply with quote
I don't mean to act stupid, but what are Japanese novels like? I read manga and watch anime but I never read a japanese "Light novel" Question Is it as good as manga? Is it worse? Is it better?
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Moomintroll



Joined: 08 Oct 2007
Posts: 1600
Location: Nottingham (UK)
PostPosted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 5:12 am Reply with quote
Quote:
Is it as good as manga? Is it worse? Is it better?


How long's a piece of string?

Some manga are great and some are terrible. Some anime are great and some are terrible. Same goes for novels (light or otherwise).

"Light novel" just means Japanese teen lit. How much they're likely to appeal to you is probably going to depend to a certain extent on whether you'd be willing to read Western novels aimed at the same age group.
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fruitsbasket94



Joined: 17 Mar 2008
Posts: 25
PostPosted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 9:42 am Reply with quote
oooh. Thats cool! Im going to start reading them more too.
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retty



Joined: 11 May 2004
Posts: 118
Location: Cheshire, UK
PostPosted: Sat May 03, 2008 9:41 am Reply with quote
fruitsbasket94 wrote:
I don't mean to act stupid, but what are Japanese novels like? I read manga and watch anime but I never read a japanese "Light novel" Question Is it as good as manga? Is it worse? Is it better?


Not all Japanese novels are light novels, they write regular novels too, which are just like any other book.
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deathisonly...



Joined: 03 Jun 2008
Posts: 34
Location: Pa.
PostPosted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:28 am Reply with quote
Okay, I'm lost.... I have heard of a light or heavy read, is that the same...? The one person said "teen lit" is it because of the targerted group? Or is it like a collection of essays and/or short stories? What formart do they so? Whats the volume, pages lenght?
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fighterholic



Joined: 28 Sep 2005
Posts: 9193
PostPosted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 1:16 am Reply with quote
Light novels would only be a small dismal amount of what applies to Japanese literature. It's just like teen novels over here in America. A lot of literature written anywhere I would think is mainly targeted at adults, because they know what they would want to read, mainly for the passing of time or understanding/comprehension of something.
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commsky



Joined: 04 Nov 2008
Posts: 40
Location: Riverside, CA
PostPosted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 10:39 pm Reply with quote
I don't know about "light" novels, but go get Battle Royale, book owns
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Ranique



Joined: 06 Nov 2008
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 9:21 pm Reply with quote
All the japanese light novel seem to be aim at teenagers. Now, light novel is very famous in Japan and some of the light novel has translates to either manga or anime.
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asura_wings



Joined: 29 Jun 2008
Posts: 31
PostPosted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 1:09 am Reply with quote
manga and "novel proper" are formats of novel,light novel is the text equivalent of the popular age demographic of the manga and can be classified as either shoujo or shounen.
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SilverLoki



Joined: 11 Mar 2009
Posts: 1
Location: Dallas, Texas
PostPosted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:00 pm Reply with quote
commsky wrote:
I don't know about "light" novels, but go get Battle Royale, book owns


Seconded. I'm in the middle of reading this book and it's amazing. I recommend it to anyone.
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Zepzep7



Joined: 31 Jan 2009
Posts: 12
PostPosted: Thu Apr 02, 2009 5:11 pm Reply with quote
like tasting candy for the first time
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HYAZU



Joined: 19 May 2009
Posts: 4
PostPosted: Wed May 20, 2009 11:16 pm Reply with quote
Novels will always differ from the anime. Animes have artists and are very visual, I read that YUKIKAZE is inspired by novels as well.
Easier to watch the anime then read the novel.
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rosetaylor01



Joined: 19 Jul 2009
Posts: 3
PostPosted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 12:08 am Reply with quote
How long's a piece of string?

Some manga are great and some are terrible. Some anime are great and some are terrible. Same goes for novels (light or otherwise).

"Light novel" just means Japanese teen lit. How much they're likely to appeal to you is probably going to depend to a certain extent on whether you'd be willing to read Western novels aimed at the same age group.
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Star19



Joined: 24 Jul 2009
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 12:56 pm Reply with quote
Very Happy

And just like anything, it depends on the reader's tastes....
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RiskyTheShinigami



Joined: 13 Nov 2004
Posts: 92
PostPosted: Sun Sep 20, 2009 4:15 pm Reply with quote
((Does it count as a necro if it's still on the first page...?))

Check out Wikipedia's page on light novels. It's a fairly good explanation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_novel

That being said, yes, light novels are just a small portion of Japanese literature.
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