Random light novel news and stuuuuuff~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It’s been an exciting time for light novel licenses and releases. We’re now at the point where we can get over twenty releases in English in a single month, and have it happen again the next month, and the next month.
April has several new series premiering:
- Me, a Genius? (J-Novel Club)
- Infinite Stratos (J-Novel Club)
- The Magic in This World is Too Far Behind! (J-Novel Club)
- Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon (Yen On)
- I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level (Yen On)
- Mia and the Forbidden Medicine Report (Cross Infinite World)
May will also have several new titles:
- The Unwanted Undead Adventurer (J-Novel Club)
- Toradora! (Seven Seas)
- A Sister’s All You Need (Yen On)
- Napping Princess (Yen On)
- Little Princess in Fairy Forest (Cross Infinite World)
Not a light novel, but also worth mentioning is the upcoming J-Novel Club release for Mari Okada‘s autobiography: From Truant to Anime Screenwriter: My Path to “Anohana†and “The Anthem of the Heart.” This has been translated by Frog-kun, giving a unique opportunity for English readers to learn about the creative process behind anime in Japan. The Anthem of the Heart* is a personal favorite film of mine, so I’m really interested in giving this book a read. You can begin reading the autobiography at J-Novel Club now, or wait for a full ebook release on May 4th. (*If you enjoyed emotional tales of high schoolers like A Silent Voice and Your Name, you should definitely look into watching Anthem of the Heart.)
Some other novel license announcements that were made in the last few months, worth keeping in mind:
- The Dark Maidens (Vertical) — May 29
- Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom? (Yen On) — August 21
- Boogiepop — 3-volume omnibus (Seven Seas) — October 9
- The Reprise of the Spear Hero (One Peace Novels) — October 16
- Nier: Automata (Viz Media) — October 24
- I Want to Eat Your Pancreas (Seven Seas) — November 20
- Katanagatari — 3-volume omnibus (Vertical) — some time in November
- Serial Killer Detective (Vertical) — some time in the fall
- Do You Like Your Mom? Her Normal Attack is Two Attacks at Full Power (Yen On) — some time in the winter
Viz Media recently announced a license for the novelization of the sci-fi action video game Nier: Automata, which will release in two volumes. Nier Automata: Long Story Short will release in October, followed by Nier Automata: Long Story Long in spring 2019. The novels were written by Jun Eishima, and the story is based on a game released for the Playstation 4 and PC via Steam in March last year. The novels released in Japan in August and October last year.
Summary: When alien forces invade with an army of Machines, the remnants of humanity must depend on Androids of their own design – the placid 2B and the excitable 9S – to survive.
I haven’t been keeping up with anime well lately, but I’ll take the time to at least mention what LN -> anime adaptations are airing this spring.
- Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online (Crunchyroll)
Note: English LN for this SAO spinoff will release June 26th - High School DxD Hero — season 4 (Crunchyroll)
- Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These (Crunchyroll)
Note: Volume 6 of this sci-fi novel series will release in English on April 17th - Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory — 4th series for FMP (Funimation?)
- Dances with the Dragons (Crunchyroll)
- Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits (Crunchyroll)
- Beatless — continuing from winter (Amazon)
- Record of Grancrest War — continuing from winter (Crunchyroll)
Also worth mentioning, the anime for Violet Evergarden is now available to watch on Netflix. If you would like to read all about how the series was adapted from its novel source, Kastel wrote a series of articles on each episode. For a series of reviews on the episodes, also check out Frog-kun’s posts for Anime News Network.
Now stuff for this site…
This blog will be turning four years old soon, believe it or not. Should I do something special for that? (On Cinco de Mayo.) I don’t know what I’ll do… But look forward to something!
Four years, though. I’ve been doing my best to keep up with updating everything here on a regular basis, but the work load is much larger now than it was when I first made the site. Maybe it’s time I got some help? If you are interested in joining the illustrious staff of English Light Novels Dot Com (currently comprised of me and Kastel), go ahead and send an email to englishlightnovels@gmail.com. Just let me know a few things:
- Who are you? (It’d be nice if we’ve interacted here [or on Twitter] before, but not a deal-breaker if we haven’t.)
- Do you have any blogging experience? (It’d be nice if you’re familiar with WordPress… It’s all pretty simple though, and I could help out if necessary.)
- What would you like to contribute to the site? (I would like to find someone interested in putting together light novel entries, and/or writing reviews, editorials, etc. If you are interested in articles, please let me know what sorts of series you would probably write about, and include an example of your writing [either as a link to some webpage or as an attachment]. And if you are only interested in assisting with site upkeep, you’re still welcome to apply.)
Perks of joining: This site usually gets between 75,000 and 100,000 views per month, and around 25,000 different visitors. And as long as you contribute to the site regularly, I can see to it that you can get paid a little money via Paypal each month. It wouldn’t be much, but it could help pay for your novels at least. If you want further details or have any other questions, feel free to let me know in your email.
I’ll leave an update here letting you all know when submissions are closed…
Update 4/18: I’m now closing submissions! Thanks to everyone who applied. There was a lot more interest than I expected there would be. I will be emailing each of you in the next couple days to let you know if you’re hired or not.
All right, I think that’s all for now. As always, if you have any light novel-related news or posts to share, be sure to leave a comment!