Current Events > Light Novel/Web Novel General v.2 "I've reincarnated into a v2 topic!"

(+) Yeah! (+)

Teostra had a siege battle? Isn't he a bit too small for that?
---

Well, I call it that because the Teostra is trying to invade Dundorma. Might not be the right word for it though, I guess.

Its not on a large scale with the hunters forming armies like with Gaoren and Gog, of course.

Teostra is one of my favorite monsters to fight... but at the same time not really. The bomb status is annoying as fuck especially because his swipes are so damn quick, and I think dodging his Supernova almost entirely just pure intuition unless there's some timer people use.

But yeah at a super high level, it's a fight purely based on intuition, and I like it.
---

Really though, Im pretty sure Gen 4 games have the strongest version of it.

Its pretty weak in Freedom Unite if you use a fire resist set since it doesnt have blast yet and the game doesnt have elemental blights.

Its tempered version in World is apparently super strong, but I havent got to it yet. I think the normal version is slightly weaker than in 4U and it seems to have low HP.

There's this series called Dungeon Seeker. It's one of those revenge isekai, obviously speaking to the whole bully revenge wish fulfillment fantasy that kids might have. It takes a very similar route to Arifureta, but where in Arifureta, the MC couldn't give a shit about his former classmates that bullied and betrayed him, this guy in Dungeon Seeker actively tries to get revenge. His shtick tho is that even though he goes through a lot of shit, he retains a lot of his good nature while becoming a bit more heartless, where Hajime from Arifureta becomes a completely different character than he used to be and takes a more tsundere approach to when he does good things.

Lots of obvious parallels but it actively tries to do different things. It still ends up coming across as a bit too similar but it's not the worst and is kinda interesting.
---

Hiccup.
---

So I was checking out Humanity Has Declined and found that Gagaga Bunko has these "special package" eBooks that contain all books of a series in one file.

Seems pretty impractical, but the Jintai sample contains half of the first volume, so that's nice. Will be reading this someday, I'm sure.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00V2YSFTQ/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I2FAWFL84SS27X&colid=OYVU943LV6AJ&psc=0

Ducks.

Also enjoying Radiant Historia
---

So from what I've seen of SAO: Fatal Bullet, the gameplay seems to be at least as good as Freedom Wars, which I favor on the same level as most Monster Hunter and God Eater games. Pretty surprised there. I'll probably pick it up some time down the line.

Also, the rest of Cross Road Ch.1 is up now.

Part 6: http://barnnn.blogspot.com/2018/02/cross-road-in-their-cases-chapter-1_25.html

Part 7: http://barnnn.blogspot.com/2018/02/cross-road-in-their-cases-chapter-1_65.html

Yeah the Anime General was talking about that game. I'll be super honest, we should probably just end up joining up with the Anime General for the next version. It's just about most of the guys that posted here every now and then and more, anyways
---

Eh, sure. Don't really watch much of anime nowadays though, but I'll stick around.

Yeah I mean it's a medium or a hub more than anything. I think the VN guys sorta gave up and just talk VN on the anime topic, too, since "anime" can be a very broad thing. If you prefer continuing this general, that's fine with me, too.
---

Well, I'm fine if it includes everything, really. Was just thinking LNs might be off-topic there and all.

Hmm... I dunno, maybe we should continue this then? Maybe include VN, too, to gather more discussion. It just feels wrong to run the LN general for me when I've been reading so little as of late
---

Though I don't post there much anymore I do remember when they decided to just add /Other Stuff to the Anime general. LN's are totally fine to talk about there, and I usually just drop in these days to talk about Love Live music. Japanese Media/Weeb/Otaku general probably would've worked fine too.

Recently I feel like there's been a lot of gacha game discussions there which I don't really have anything to say about <_<
---

Yeah I also absorbed Cookie Bag and Spidey into Xenoblade by giving them tips. I worry about being off topic maybe, but eh nobody's complaining. And I try to contribute to actual anime discussion.

But a Japanese Media general is a great idea
---

I'm unfamiliar with NGNL sadly, but I'd think something like NGNL would have an official release though. If not, just googling or asking in the Light Novel Reddit could be a good idea
---

http://novelplanet.com/

That's probably the best site I've seen. They got a lot of Chinese/Korean stuff there too

Baka Tsuki is the obvious good one. But sometimes Reddit's random links have stuff that none of the other sites have. They're just like Google Drive links most of the time
---

https://www.novelupdates.com

It's an update tracker website that link to the respective translations' websites. I don't really use the forums, but it's useful for tracking updates of the few fan translations I follow.

I mostly read official releases though. So I either buy digital from Amazon JP or order hard copies.

As for NGNL, the official release is currently up to Volume 6. Looks like Volume 7 is getting delayed to late June though.

ducks
---

Bump.

Hurgh XC2 update and I just bought Bayo 2...
---

It's up to 12 now, actually. 13 is coming up next month and 14 in June. It's one volume per 4 months on average for Yen Press, so it'll take a while for long series to catch up.

From the top of my head, Log Horizon is all caught up with the Japanese release now, and The Isolator is only one volume behind. As for what's complete, there's Kieli, Spice and Wolf, and the Book Girl main series, and I'm pretty sure there's some other older stuff that I can't remember.

Some of J-Novel Club's series are close to catching up too, I think. Haven't been looking them up.

Hmm, so the MH World LN finally revealed an illustration. Good stuff from Fuse Ryuta as always.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71DqJQNzx7L.jpg

The Mernos's design is quite beautiful, now that I got a good look at it. Haven't been paying much attention to them in the game.

The MC's name is (se-ak-ku), which I'm pretty sure is gibberish, since searching the name brings up the MC of Turn-A Gundam (Cehack) and nothing else. I'm pretty curious if the name has some origins I'm not aware of.

M3sterybumper posted...

barnnn posted...

It's up to 12 now, actually. 13 is coming up next month and 14 in June. It's one volume per 4 months on average for Yen Press, so it'll take a while for long series to catch up.

From the top of my head, Log Horizon is all caught up with the Japanese release now, and The Isolator is only one volume behind. As for what's complete, there's Kieli, Spice and Wolf, and the Book Girl main series, and I'm pretty sure there's some other older stuff that I can't remember.

Some of J-Novel Club's series are close to catching up too, I think. Haven't been looking them up.

ohh, so the official release is ahead of the fan translations? >-> is there a way to read those online too?

Well, you can buy digital, I guess. I don't think official releases aside from sample pages are posted for free online reading anywhere.

I always thought it looked bird-esque rather than a mini-wyvern. Pretty cool little art on that tho
---

Well... I got a translation of Kino V1 Ch1. Not sure if I should be doing this, but it should be fine since the official English release is canceled and all.

http://barnnn.blogspot.com/2018/03/kinos-journey-volume-1-chapter-1.html?m=1

Lol wat, why'd it get cancelled?
---

Licensing issues, apparently. Last mention of it from Tokyopop was way back in 2009.

Great lol fucking horrible project got even worse. Deadline announced literally 2 weeks before, new deadling after that to add even more features. They've literally talked about developmental hell some time ago so wtf even happened? Pieces of shits
---

Well... I just bought and read all current volumes of Kino manga. Has two versions, one with three volumes, and the other with one volume.

The first version (by Shinomiya Iruka) covered all of the LN volume 1 chapters, with prologues and epilogues from the second and third LNs. I must say, most of the side characters' designs are way better than in the 2003 anime series.

One point of interest is that the Colosseum story takes up almost the entire volume 3, and clarifies quite a lot about the reasons behind Kino's actions, and also the lady in the flashback.

The second version (by Gou) covers a random selection, I guess. But it does have 'Jungle's Rule' and 'Tomorrow Never Comes' which were covered in the 2017 anime series. Has an overall lighthearted tone to it, with funny off-model moments (in appropriate situations, mind you) and some exaggerated facial expressions.

The end of the volume also has a funny short novel special as well. I might translate that later.

You guys know anything about phantom world? How caught up are the English versions?
---

The LNs aren't translated, as far as I know.

Hmm, Slime Tensei is getting an anime.

https://twitter.com/kaposiny/status/971259965573877765/photo/1

Oh sweet. Kinda seems like it was bound to happen tho, since that one is a bit popular. But like most LNs of the genre, it's very anime-unfriendly with large chunks of non-happenings that are still vital to progress a story
---

Well, I translated the Kino manga special.

And also V1 Ch.2. while we're at it. For this particular chapter, one thing I've noticed in the English Tokyopop release is that the direction of the roads were changed (west-southwest and west-northwest in JP --> east-southeast and east-northeast in ENG). I don't think there's any symbolism involved here, so it's a pretty weird change.

Manga Special:
http://barnnn.blogspot.com/2018/03/kinos-journey-manga-special.html

V1 Ch.2:
http://barnnn.blogspot.com/2018/03/kinos-journey-volume-1-chapter-2.html

Another LN getting an anime, The Master of Ragnarok. Don't know about this series, but looks like J-Novel Club has it.

https://twitter.com/animatetimes/status/971946185714909184

Mm yeah it's sort of hard to tell how it would be from the teaser picture alone. Speaking of J-Novel, I should really subscribe to them eventually. They have a few ongoing series I'm reading, and I've only heard good things about them dealing with pre-existing fan translation
---

Huh, Boogiepop is getting a new anime and manga. Haven't been following it other than the old anime, but supposedly it's one of the longest LNs series out there.

https://twitter.com/boogiepop_anime/status/972303093839798273
https://twitter.com/kawa_sandaime/status/972349733028048898

Also, I translated Kino's V1 C3. It's pretty short chapter, but because of its premise, I had to be more careful than usual about the consistency in writing. Actually pretty difficult, that.

http://barnnn.blogspot.com/2018/03/kinos-journey-volume-1-chapter-3.html

I can't see what's in the linked page for some reason, but it looks like the Spear Hero LN got licensed.

https://www.reddit.com/r/LightNovels/comments/83ichn/news_the_reprise_of_the_spear_hero_series/

Also, I just finished reading Shippuu no Tsubasa Volume 5. This one has two simultaneous main hunts, with the Shippuu crew tackling the Ukanlos, and the Tamashii crew coming back together to fend off Blangongas. Looks like the Flash Hunter manga took some notes from this volume for its Tigrex arc as well.

Overall, I'd say that Shippuu has some of the most intense hunts in the whole series, with all of them being under some kind of severe constraint. Starts off pretty rough in the first volume, but the rest are great.
Even with one of the MCs being established as OP right off the bat, Hikami managed to pull it off by focusing on the monsters' strengths and abilities. Pretty cool, that.

The drama is more akin to ones in shonen manga, I guess? Noob MC works hard to live up to OP MC's skills, younger boy falls for mature lady, diligent rich kid proving that he can get things done, stuff like that. Petty different from Yuuki Rin's series and Tamashii, which were more on the gritty side, but good stuff all the same.

There's a special volume called Tsumugareshi Kizuna, which has a few short stories for the Tamashii and Shippuu crew, including a Chameleos hunt. But I'm setting aside my remaining Amazon balance for the MH World LN, so I won't be reading that very soon.

Speaking of Spear Hero LN, it's as good a spin-off can be imo. It's a bit of a retelling but twists it in every way imaginable. The story gets so fucked up that it's also impossible to tell where it's even gonna go. And considering the implications behind what's happening, Motoyasu keeping his end-game powers in the beginning of the story is used to very great effect
---

I'll get to it eventually. Nowhere nearly done with Shieldbro WN here.

By the way, I finally got to translate Monster Hunter a bit more. I have a feeling that it's getting harder and harder to translate with each chapter for some reason. Probably the change in the author's writing style.

Volume 3 Chapter 2 Part 1:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rVTPBh1SPOqQE-G6BAzyQkFdRuxp1J2Y/view?usp=sharing

I also kinda just remembered that I bought the Vocaloid LN Sakura no Ame back in Thailand. Even brought it back to the US, too...

Mm speaking of vocaloids, I got my Miku Symphony 2017 cd a few days back. It's been my obsession recently
---

Hmm, haven't bought any Vocaloid CDs here, but I did play all of the Project Diva games. Not really hardcore compared to other rhythm games, but I really like them.

And... the Sakura no Ame LN looks like a lighthearted high school SoL so far, as expected.
The choice of characters aside from the usual crew is pretty interesting though. They got stand-ins for Nekomura, Hiyama, and even Leon.

Also got MH V3 Ch2 Part 2 here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ELumVS8yMl58WnToyTAZPNUFle8lgw4r/view?usp=sharing

Alright, done with MH V3 Ch2 now.

https://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Monster_Hunter:Volume3_Chapter2
http://barnnn.blogspot.com/2018/03/monster-hunter-2004-volume-3-chapter-2.html

I've been skimming it, but sadly aside from knowing the main character, I'm a bit lost having not read all of it XP.
---

Might start up MH4U again because a friend is somewhat interested.
---