Current Events > Light Novel General v0.01 "Not as good as Mushoku Tensei"

(+) Yeah! (+)

Mushoku Tensei Joblesse Oblige Ch 4 came out 4 months ago... pretty hard to keep track of when these things come out.

Good chapter, and it shows Pax Jr. (Pax had a son that Rudolph was tasked to protect. Totally forgot about him, but it makes sense that he's around Sieg's age) and Sieg as friends. And Sieg is not a strength miko contrary to some speculation. He just trained really really hard lmao. There are a few Zanoba references in comparison.

Oh snap, there's what I love about MT... the world building. The magic academy and the areas around it are some of the most developed places in the story, but this chapter has a bunch of information about the slums around the area, which never got a mention in the main series, and the entire chapter is just 2 friends from a completely different background discussing an illegal slave market, why one hates it and the others simply find it fascinating. Expositions told by description, dialogue, history, and action but also in an engaging way. Seems like such a basic thing, but the author does it so much better than his competitors. And readers already know Pax Jr's, origins, so his personality is built to make so much sense, and the questions that Sieg has about Pax's motivations become much more meaningful, despite being the first chapter of his appearance in the entire series

Even if you don't know the whole story, it's still worth reading, but there are a lot of spoilers lols. Especially a spoiler to the ending of one of the bigger arcs

Ch. 5 of Joblesse is in editing, so pretty good timing. I'll probably check back in a week. EDIT: Nvm, it came out lols. It's about one of Sieg's little sisters, Lily. I forget err... who she's from let's say

Meanwhile, Volume 14 of the LN got its cover released, and wow... Atofe looks a lot better than I thought she would. I wonder if they'll have an illustration of her err... getting the top half of her blown away by Rudeus :P
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Huh, maybe I'll pick up that series when I have some more free time. A bit too busy to read anything long right now. I can't even get started with my translation of MH volume 2.

What I'm doing now is go through the sample chapters of the other MH novels. Turns out BookLive has samples for every single one of them, so I'm going through them to decide on the next series to import.

I think MT can be read like... the first few chapters in the LN (though it adds a few stories that won't be referenced in the WN) then most of his childhood and the journey from Magic Continent to his home in the manga, and just see the comments for what chapter it leaves off at. That's probably the fastest way, but it's a long ass series. It's definitely something read gradually on the side
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Well... with the series being 24 volumes long, I don't think I'll be able to get started any time soon.
I usually read all books in one series in a row because I get hooked easily, so I'll have to wait at least a few months from now.

Also, I tested out MH Tamashii wo Tsugumono (based on MH Dos and Freedom 2). It seems like this series focuses on learning the ropes in a more traditional way, since Kut-ku and Velocidrome were featured in the front illustrations, and the plot summary says the MC will be training under a veteran hunter. This veteran hunter also appeared in MH Episode as a one-off character, if I remember correctly.

I can't wait til you eventually get to something MH3 and on as well. I'm sure they exist? But I'm just a lot more familiar with the lores in those, though by extension I guess I know some lores on whatever monsters are in those games that originated from the previous ones
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Well, there's the novel version of Flash Hunter, which is based on Tri and a bit of 3U. The manga adaptation apparently covers everything in the novel, judging from the front illustrations. The art style is pretty different though, especially for Raiga and Becksel. Looks worse than the manga overall, but the novel style makes the characters' physical growth over the years more apparent. Opens with Raiga and Keres going to Loc Lac like in the manga, so there's nothing much to say about the story here.

Then there's Souten no Akashi, based on P3rd and later 3U. It's a whopping 8 volumes, which is understandable since P3rd is one of the fastest selling games of the series. It's apparently about a newbie who was mistaken for a skilled veteran due to some messed up paperwork. The sample pages only cover his arrival at Yukumo, so I didn't get much out of it.

There are also 2 more series based on the second gen, Hayate no Tsubasa (FU) and Shakunetsu no Yaiba (Frontier G). They're considered to be direct sequels to Tamashii, so I didn't look at them yet.

That sounds like an interesting synopsis
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Lmao... so in my monthly new LN binge just to see what's out there (nothing much new, literally ch. 1 starts the exact same way like 50% of the time)

Found this hilarious smut genre LN called Asuka of the Scarlet Sky or something like that.

It's about powerful warrior women pretty much becoming sexually controlled by the MC. It's unapologetic and blatant, but the guy can actually write a fight scene, the few there are in between countless sex scenes. I wonder if the whole draw/write porn so that they can pad their resume practice also exists in the LN world...
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Now that's new...

I searched around a bit, and apparently it's categorized as a "Nox" Novel (whatever that's supposed to mean), which is aimed at adults and focuses more on sex and violence.

http://nox-novels.jp/

Wow, how greedy. They have a whole genre name to themselves :P
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Welp, finished the samples of the gen 4 novels.

Akatsuki no Chikai (Vanilla 4) feels pretty lighthearted compared to the other ones I've sampled. Basically, it's about a trio aiming to be big name hunters. They train under a veteran hunter who is like a big brother figure for the orphans in their village. This village is (to my knowledge) original to the novel, but according to the JP Wiki, the series does cover the game's frenzy virus plot line, so I guess they'll move to one of the in-game towns later on. 6 volumes long for this one.

Ten'i Muhou no D (4U) opens with some decent action right off the bat. The MC is knowledgeable about monsters and is a skilled painter. He comes off as a book-smart type, which is a first for the MH novels. According to the synopsis, he's also related to a group of G Rank hunters, and they're apparently the focus of the first volume's plot. This series is only 3 volumes long, and have different titles for each volume similar to the first series.

Cross Soul (Gen) also feels pretty lighthearted. The plot follows a newbie who was late for the registration at Bherna, and a skilled hunter who runs a traveling restaurant. Synopsis doesn't say much other than the two deciding to hunt a Great Maccao together. Mizutsune does get featured on the cover and front illustration though, so there's that. Only one volume out so far for this one.

Wow, so G rank does get some coverage. I'm actually interested in how they explain why G rank monsters are significantly stronger than their lesser counterpart
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G Rank does get mentioned in volume 3 of Yuuki Rin's series, but it's more or less just rephrasing what Becky said in volume 1. With the novels being a more realistic interpretation of the games, I don't think they really want to dwell on ranks that much.

On a side note to Asuka the Scarlet Sky, around ch 40s or so the author suddenly pulls a bunch of feels chapters in a row, which thoroughly has me convinced that this is one of those resume/fan padding schemes so that he can write a serious one in the future after being more well known.

It's nothing entirely new though, but it doesn't feel too shoehorned. I have far too many guilty pleasures and cannot stop reading. Nothing I'd particularly recommend, but it's surprising to see this practice outside mangas.
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Huh, this novel sounds... awfully unbalanced in terms of pacing.

Yeah it's pretty terrible, but it's like getting an interesting filling in a chocolate or something
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As long as it's entertaining, I guess.
I also watched a lot of bad to mediocre anime just because only one aspect of it (usually the OP or art style) caught my interest.

pojr!
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Huh, it turns out MH Tamashii has an official translation in my country, and all 5 volumes have been released. Gotta grab them when I get home for vacation later this year.

Interesting. What country?
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It's Thailand.

I haven't been following the LN scene back there since I moved to the US for college, and a lot of different prominent LN publshers have emerged while I was away.

Monster Hunter Stories actually look really fun. I mean, they do have a Pokemon-level of monster supply
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I'm really looking forward to it.

Well, I guess I did get spoiled on about half of the story because I watch the anime, but the game does take a slightly different direction so I'll probably be fine.

I don't know anything about it, but I'm liking the aesthetics. Hopefully the gameplay holds up. MH combat has always been the biggest factor for me of liking a MH game though
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Well, I got to play it a bit on a demo unit when I was in Japan last year. The battle system is pretty simple. It's a turn based rock-paper-scissors style, kinda like Fate/Extra (if you've played that) but a bit deeper and way less random.

The story gets pretty serious for a kid's anime standards, and I heard that the game version is even more serious right off the bat.

Yeah I'm probably gonna get it. Sounds like fun times
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My dickens
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Dammit, I'm caught up with the latest Asuka. It's very entertaining. Just don't think too hard and it's a quick and easy read. The first few chapters suck in translation, I dunno about linking it due to potential issues
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Are light novels actually good? And how do you read them of you don't know Japanese?
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YookaLaylee posted...

Are light novels actually good? And how do you read them of you don't know Japanese?

Pretty much purely through fan translations, though there are plenty of official translations out there. I highly recommend the translations by our very own barnnn, you'd have to dig a bit in pages 5~7ish. But not every translation is good, so you have to sorta... skim through the parts that don't make sense and just fill it with your mind. I like to think of it as a dot painting.

Baka Tsuki is a good one, novelplanet is another good one. Usually googling or even the light novel reddit is a good place to visit.

There's a slight distinction between WNs and LNs though. WN is web novel, and they tend to be the initial versions, and if they get popular enough, they get a retail release as an LN. LNs tend to be higher quality, but it's far less casually written with less jokes and references from authors due to obvious potential problems
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As to whether if they're good, the recent trend is the "isekai" trope where a guy dies and is reborn into a new world as a super OP kinda guy. Most of those suck, and the title of the general is my personal opinion of reading so many from this genre, that no matter how many I read, they're "Not as good as Mushoku Tensei."

But they are almost always entertaining. You need some degree of imaginations, and battle scenes can be hard to follow. A lot of WN/LNs are accompanied by illustrations to help with the visualization
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Ok, thanks
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There are a lot of really similar looking Chinese LNs. I haven't read any of them, but there's something I find odd about the way Chinese write. I think it'll sound more natural in their language and read within their culture. I worked in a company full of Chinese before, though they were all super American, so I don't really have a good frame of reference.

They have their own word for Isekai though, and yeah the trend exists for the Chinese as well.

I might look for Korean stuff but I'm always afraid of NTRs. Koreans are dumb. I'm Korean though and I know we really suck
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Huh, is Korea fond of NTR in their novels or something? I only read some of their comics and watched a few drama series but haven't come across NTR yet.

In their 18+ kinda stuff, I seriously can't move 2 steps without NTR. From knowing a lot of Koreans, they tend to date a fuckload of people before settling down. It's like every relationship is a goddamn high school relationship for them
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Yawnsters
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... Well... on the manga site I frequent, I saw A Messed Up Wuxia World, which Wuxia I believe is the Chinese term of Isekai, so the typical affair of putting the genre name in the title. It had a cute art and a cute girl, so I dive in just to at least perhaps set myself up to read that one obviously...

and the manga title and description is for one thing, the content was a Korean Webtoon about something completely different. Though I actually thought the webtoon was good.

I freaking went through 2 chapters and was like, wow, this was very different from what I expected, and Chinese art became very Korean Webtoon-y over the years. But now I know
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New manga chapter of Arifureta was released. It's been long since I read the excellent first volume, but the manga actually makes it better in my opinion. The problem is, I remember when Yue used to be an interesting and new character. Too bad she stays exactly as she is until literally the last few chapters in a 200+ chapter series. She also pretty much guarantees the rest of the very likable and interesting cast to never get what they want. I wanna say... she ruins an otherwise a very interesting series
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Finally got to start my translation of MH volume 2. I don't know if it's the author changing his writing style or the fight scenes being more chaotic, but it's way harder to translate compared to the first.

Yeah I can imagine fight scenes being super dodgy to translate.
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There's a board for VNs obviously, but I kinda came across an interesting VN on the 3DS. Some title involving December or something. It has a demo which has the first chapter
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Harvest December? I'm also interested in it, but I still have a few VNs in my backlog.

Anyway, my translation of MH is on Baka-Tsuki now. Still getting used to the formatting, so it'll be a while until the whole first volume is posted.
Something seems to be bugging me about the web though. Maybe it's the lack of indents.

https://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Monster_Hunter

Maybe for me, it's being used to the format, but I find it a little easier on the eyes on baka tsuki compared to google drive. Also, there's no potential loss of quality (on the fonts)
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Hmm, I guess. I don't really read anything on BT, so I'm more used to having indented paragraphs and stuff.

So far I've only read online
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I mostly read from a physical book.

Mushoku Tensei Volume 14 came out today... I need those artwork arghh I'm sure somebody on Reddit probably got scans. Might have to check it out
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https://kotebrasil.wordpress.com/2017/04/24/ilustracoes-do-volume-14-de-mushoku-tensei/

omgomgogmogmogm

Hole... E... Fuck. The last 2 images. If you don't know what's going on, it's not spoilers, but if you know what that scene is... holy shit
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Well Irregular at Magic High School has me intrigued. I might check out the anime, see what'sits
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