Japanese Light Novels

Does anyone here read Japanese Light Novels? How did you start? Are there any in English?

I'm a total newb and have never read one and have no idea where to begin.

Some guidance would be appreciated.

...

I liked Durarara and you can get a few titles in english from Yen On

Small market, but it is profound enough to look into, i purchase very few light novels but currently looking into The Devil Is A Part Timer! and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

The Japanese light novels that were profound enough for me to buy in native language was Kokoro Connect and Full Metal Panic!, and soon it might be Amagi Brilliant Park I consider buying as well(same auther as FMP)

go back to jerking off to David Foster Wallace. light novels are lit.

Why can't the Japanese write decent characters that are actually human?

sure they are Davido-kun

The entire Spice and Wolf LN series is available to purchase in English. Don't know about any others.

Just remember that the LN format is based on particular kinds of stories. Mostly wish fulfillment fantasies where the reader is supposed to self-insert as the male protagonist.

"Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria" is good and you can find it online. It's commonly recommended to beginners. Story's done too and is getting a real English release.

Other than that, I love "Konosuba" which you can also find online, and is hilarious.

>Japanese
>Human
Good question...
The real answer comes from Hayao Miyazaki, It's written by shut-ins for shut-ins.

alright so the prose in LNs is so lackluster that the inevitable anime adaptation always ads something to it.
the general point is that light novels are worse in prose content than english YA novels and all the worthwhile LNs have anime adaptations which improve upon the text so just don't ever read LNs
I mean christ you aren't even done the canon and you're reading the text version of Nip jerkoff cartoons cmon you are (here addressing anyone) better than this

Why would you want to?

LN's target audience is literally 13 year old kids.
Japanese junior high school libraries usually don't have actual manga, but they do have LNs, so kids read those between classes.

Imagine if a grown Japanese man wanted to read Goosebumps, Hardy Boys, and the Wayside School series.

>LN's target audience is literally 13 year old kids.
I'm suspicious about this because the light novels I read can be pretty gruesome and adult...

adult? or just edgy?

Just like M-rated games are for mature people, right.

Literally nip YA.

fuck me I what to binge read all the Spice and Wolf books in one go. the new cover ugly tho.

I don't like YA all that much but that dosen't mean it ain't Veeky Forums tho.

Are you dense? YA, anything like YA (which includes "Light novels"), is the antithesis of what literature embodies.

I'm currently reading one because when I tried to read Shiba Ryoutarou I got my ass kicked. LN I can understand 90%; Shiba, 20%.

>Other than that, I love "Konosuba" which you can also find online, and is hilarious.
This! Konosuba is the best.

>konosuba
Worst thing I ever had the chance to read.
The prose was so nad, I couldn't put up with it.
I get it that the characters are likeable, but it's horrible to read.

If Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria was not from Japan you would be calling it YA crap

I only own Legend of the galactic heroes but haven't read it. Kino's Journey/Boogiepop would be picked up if they were fully released/not OOP.

Didn't they change their mind though?

If you like light novels you're not allowed to call muh genre fiction bad to be honest.

Welcome to the NHK brah, much better (and more real) than the anime version.

If you're watching rather than reading Nisio Isin - you're losing out.

The light novel designation is more flexible than Western conceptions of genre fiction and encompasses a wide variety of speculative fiction tropes. You have psychological mystery writing by people like Nisio Isin on one side and reinterpretations of the adventure fiction genre like Fire Girl on the other. You even have hard science stories based on real developments in quantum science like Murasaki-iro no Qualia, or grounded YA love stories like Hanbun Tsuki.

Honestly, the West is so limited in its conception of what's possible in speculative fiction that it's not even funny.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes translation sucks. Anime is clearly better (even though I'm not a huge fan).