Forum - View topicREVIEW: Kagerou Daze Novel 1
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invalidname
 Contributor Posts: 2504 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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Sorry, I'm gonna be that guy:
It's Mekakucity Actors, not "Mekaku City Actors". The word is a play on mekakuhsi, or "blindfold". There is no "Mekaku City" that the story occurs in. A year removed from the anime (and with no physical release apparently coming from Aniplex USA), and two years after the Kagerou Project song cycle wrapped up, just getting the KagePro manga and LNs out now in English seems a little too late… kind of feels like the fandom has moved on? But it looks like the manga and LNs are still coming out in Japan, so maybe not. And if Jin played a Mekakucity concert in the US at a con or something, that would be a real shot in the arm for the franchise. FWIW, I bought this from iBooks a few months back, but haven't started reading it yet (need to finish the Haruhi LN first). Maybe they'll fix the comma problem in an ebook update. |
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Utsuro no Hako
Posts: 1060 |
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The book felt like a lot of work for what turns out to be a simple story. It's like a Chinese puzzle box where all you have to do is lift the lid. It needed a lot more twists and turns, and people with hidden motives to make it worth the effort.
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st_owly
 Posts: 5234 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland |
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Speaking of grammatical errors...
The irony made me giggle at least. |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Associate Editor
 Posts: 2677 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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^ Me too. After I hit my head against a wall.
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 7585 Location: Wales |
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I found the book a lot less confusing than the anime, where they abandon the first chapter both before you find out that Shintaro is alive and before introducing Momo as his sister so the second perspective came out of nowhere.
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Shaterri
Posts: 173 |
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Article:
Presumably that should be 'will of her own'? 
invalidname:
This presumes that the only fandom available for the work is people who are already well familiar with the music (which I should note had a new release just a couple of months ago) and the property in the broad; I think that LN sales in the US have pretty clearly shown that that's not the case. I would expect many of the folks who buy this or the manga to not even have heard of the original property before this point, much less have seen the anime, and That's Okay - I think the work will stand well enough on its own (not necessarily at the top of the heap, but certainly not at the bottom of the pack) to draw in some independent interest. |
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ss-hikaru
 Posts: 269 Location: Western Australia |
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Yeh I bought it because I want to support Yen On and so will buy at least the first volume of every light novel they release Also i like light novels  I wanted to watch Mekakucity Actors but it wasn't streaming in Australia. Is it recommended? Should I watch it before or after the LN?
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princeharuka
Posts: 1 |
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The anime covers a lot of ground compared to the novels since it was only 12 eps, so you don't need to see it (though I recommend checking out the original vocaloid songs if you have the chance). The novels are actually going to have a different ending than the anime's. |
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Suena
Posts: 289 |
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I picked up a sample chapter that Yen Press was handing out at a con booth, and read it during lines. I keep hoping that I'll find a light novel that I will be able to get through, but they always feel so clunky, and this was no exception. But I don't know if this is because I'm only trying unrefined translations, or I just don't 'get' Japanese writing styles.
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Buzz201
Posts: 266 |
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Have you tried Durarara!!? There's one or two questionable translations (they even manage to spell a major character's name wrong at one point), but it never felt clunky to me. Although there is one point later on, when the series introduces far too many character for it's own good and the story buckles a bit under the pressure. (Having thought about it, that may be what you meant by "clunky", but I'm not sure it really qualifies.)
It's officially streaming in the UK, under the title "Mekaku City Actors" on a Sony owned service, so Aniplex presumably considers that variation acceptable. |
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invalidname
Contributor Posts: 2504 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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I'm still going to be That Guy: in USA, Crunchyroll, Daisuki, and Aniplex Channel all have it as "Mekakucity", singular, and the logo is clearly one word. I think Sony's UK division simply got it wrong. |
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Buzz201
Posts: 266 |
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Japanese companies take things like that very seriously, I'd be surprised if the title and associated descriptions and releases hadn't been provided to Animax UK or approved by Japan (or in this case, probably Aniplex of America) before usage, therefore I can only assume somebody at Aniplex of America okayed it. It's Japanese companies possessiveness, which is why you end up with nonsensical titles like "Encouragement of Climb" and "Attack on Titan". |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Associate Editor
Posts: 2677 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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The grammar does lend itself to more clunkiness than English considers "good writing" (stay away from No Game, No Life!), but you might give Kieli (Yen Press) a try - it's much more fluid. If you can find a copy of Dragon Sword and Wind Child (I think that's the title), that's also got a more flowing translation. Plus they're both very good books, light novels or not! |
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