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larryhammer "goodbye, that's enough / you can cope anywhere / goodbye, I'll manage somehow without you"
More short takes on light novels, all unlicensed & read in fan translations:
Hyôka, aka the Classics Club series, v1-2, Honobu Yonezawa - Naming is an issue here: formally, Hyôka ("ice cream") is the title of only the first volume of the novels, but the anime and manga adaptations use that for the entire series -- go fig. Said first volume is a decent casual if episodic mystery novel, but in the sequel the author gets too self-conscious with the formula and it's less interesting. But give the first one a go, and have fun watching exactly where the narrator is unreliable. FWIW: contemporary high-school setting, relating the activities of the handful of members of the titular Classics Club (I'm unclear on whether that's supposed to indicate an interest in classic literature or classical literature, but since they never actually touch the stuff it doesn't really matter), and the narrator and the club president make better partners than he is willing to admit. 5 volumes ongoing, but I probably won't continue.
Chrome Shelled Regios v1-6, Shûsuke Amagi - Post-apocalyptic science fantasy of the classic kind, following an ecological collapse and the rise of enormous, all-consuming creatures ("filth monsters") forcing All Humanity to live in mobile domed cities (the "regios"). The fantasy part comes from the psy-powered weapons used by the city defenders, of which our protagonist is one -- or was, as immediately before the start of the first volume, he was stripped of his office for Conduct Unbecoming and is leaving to attend school (at roughly high-school/junior college level) in another city. Aside from the overall premise, there's a major gimme in the setup but otherwise these are brisk, reasonably smart adventure stories with a generous frosting of teen angst. 22 volumes ongoing, and I plan to keep reading.
To Aru no Majutsu no Index ("a certain magical Index") v1, Kazuma Kamachi - Urk. Well, one point for playing psionics and magic off each other. Another for the amusement of an agent of the Anglican Church wearing a nun's habit with "Pope-class" magical protection. Minus several thousand, though, for an irritating and unexplained relationship between a tsundere amnesiac who has memorized all 100K+ grimoires of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum and a teenager who wins fights against overwhelming power as much on the strength of his anger-management issues as his supernatural-cancelling right hand ("Imagine Breaker"). Or as I said, Urk. 22 volumes complete, sequel series ongoing, and I ain't touching any of it.
½ Prince v1-2, Wo Yu - This is actually Taiwanese, picked up for the superficial similarity to Sword Art Online and curiosity over how they compare to both Japanese light novels and the few older (i.e., post-War) wuxia novels I've read. In this case, a better comparison than SAO is "Slayers in a VR-MMORPG," as the the point is the comedy, with deeper issues brought up only in service of the funny. Our heroine, tired of her brother's accusations that she does well in online games only because she gets guys to do things for her, decides to prove him wrong by making a new start in a new game, and by being the first to log on wins permission to play a male character (apparently gender-crossing is not generally allowed in this future's VR games). And so Prince is born as a very pretty male elf fighter -- thus half the title, the other half looking to be a reference to Ranma ½. Fair warning: a lot of the humor is based on annoying gender and sexuality stereotypes, but there's also enough jokes based on video games, Japanese manga, and wuxia novels to carry one through the RPG adventures and mistaken-identity hijinx. Note that a) volumes are not so much novels as installments in an multi-volume novel and b) the translations are unofficial but done with the author's permission (it's unclear whether she holds the copyright, tho'). 8 volumes complete, and I plan to provisionally continue until-and-unless irritation outweighs the fun.
(My current reading in actual Japanese remains a little more challenging, being Night on the Galactic Railroad at the rate of a page or less a day. It is, slowly, getting slightly easier -- or so I think until I get ambushed by another fifteen-comma-splice sentence and keep losing my place. "You are in a maze of twisty little clauses, all almost different.")
---L.
More short takes on light novels, all unlicensed & read in fan translations:
Hyôka, aka the Classics Club series, v1-2, Honobu Yonezawa - Naming is an issue here: formally, Hyôka ("ice cream") is the title of only the first volume of the novels, but the anime and manga adaptations use that for the entire series -- go fig. Said first volume is a decent casual if episodic mystery novel, but in the sequel the author gets too self-conscious with the formula and it's less interesting. But give the first one a go, and have fun watching exactly where the narrator is unreliable. FWIW: contemporary high-school setting, relating the activities of the handful of members of the titular Classics Club (I'm unclear on whether that's supposed to indicate an interest in classic literature or classical literature, but since they never actually touch the stuff it doesn't really matter), and the narrator and the club president make better partners than he is willing to admit. 5 volumes ongoing, but I probably won't continue.
Chrome Shelled Regios v1-6, Shûsuke Amagi - Post-apocalyptic science fantasy of the classic kind, following an ecological collapse and the rise of enormous, all-consuming creatures ("filth monsters") forcing All Humanity to live in mobile domed cities (the "regios"). The fantasy part comes from the psy-powered weapons used by the city defenders, of which our protagonist is one -- or was, as immediately before the start of the first volume, he was stripped of his office for Conduct Unbecoming and is leaving to attend school (at roughly high-school/junior college level) in another city. Aside from the overall premise, there's a major gimme in the setup but otherwise these are brisk, reasonably smart adventure stories with a generous frosting of teen angst. 22 volumes ongoing, and I plan to keep reading.
To Aru no Majutsu no Index ("a certain magical Index") v1, Kazuma Kamachi - Urk. Well, one point for playing psionics and magic off each other. Another for the amusement of an agent of the Anglican Church wearing a nun's habit with "Pope-class" magical protection. Minus several thousand, though, for an irritating and unexplained relationship between a tsundere amnesiac who has memorized all 100K+ grimoires of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum and a teenager who wins fights against overwhelming power as much on the strength of his anger-management issues as his supernatural-cancelling right hand ("Imagine Breaker"). Or as I said, Urk. 22 volumes complete, sequel series ongoing, and I ain't touching any of it.
½ Prince v1-2, Wo Yu - This is actually Taiwanese, picked up for the superficial similarity to Sword Art Online and curiosity over how they compare to both Japanese light novels and the few older (i.e., post-War) wuxia novels I've read. In this case, a better comparison than SAO is "Slayers in a VR-MMORPG," as the the point is the comedy, with deeper issues brought up only in service of the funny. Our heroine, tired of her brother's accusations that she does well in online games only because she gets guys to do things for her, decides to prove him wrong by making a new start in a new game, and by being the first to log on wins permission to play a male character (apparently gender-crossing is not generally allowed in this future's VR games). And so Prince is born as a very pretty male elf fighter -- thus half the title, the other half looking to be a reference to Ranma ½. Fair warning: a lot of the humor is based on annoying gender and sexuality stereotypes, but there's also enough jokes based on video games, Japanese manga, and wuxia novels to carry one through the RPG adventures and mistaken-identity hijinx. Note that a) volumes are not so much novels as installments in an multi-volume novel and b) the translations are unofficial but done with the author's permission (it's unclear whether she holds the copyright, tho'). 8 volumes complete, and I plan to provisionally continue until-and-unless irritation outweighs the fun.
(My current reading in actual Japanese remains a little more challenging, being Night on the Galactic Railroad at the rate of a page or less a day. It is, slowly, getting slightly easier -- or so I think until I get ambushed by another fifteen-comma-splice sentence and keep losing my place. "You are in a maze of twisty little clauses, all almost different.")
---L.
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Date: 10 January 2013 04:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 15 January 2013 01:42 am (UTC)the titular Classics Club (I'm unclear on whether that's supposed to indicate an interest in classic literature or classical literature, but since they never actually touch the stuff it doesn't really matter)
Ooh, I can help with this! I haven't read the book but I picked it up because it was cheap and mentioned, as you say, kids in a 古典部, i.e. "classicAL literature club". But if they never actually touch it then I probably won't bother reading the book. I was hoping they would be, you know, using insights from the Ise monogatari to solve the mystery of the trashed staffroom or something. (Like "Biblia koshodo no jiken techo", the decent casual episodic mystery series about a beautiful [of course] but dorky [of course] secondhand bookshop owner who solves mysteries ABOUT secondhand books.)
--Matt
Happy new year!
Date: 15 January 2013 02:55 am (UTC)I should look up "Biblia koshodo no jiken techo" -- sounds like my cuppa.
---L.