What The Heck Are Light Novels?
They are well worth reading if you haven't been reading them already
Whether you’re new to all things Japan or you’ve been consuming Japanese content for years, light novels are something you should be checking out. They’ve grown in popularity outside Japan (or at least it seems that way) in recent years. This leads to the question what the heck are they?
What are light novels?
There isn’t a proper definition of the term. However the generally accepted explanation is that it is a short novel that is easy to read and includes some manga-style illustrations. They are often a series unlike most novels (though there is a popular money making trend of series ala Harry Potter). This makes them different from what people would acknowledge as being a novel. You can also find out a bit more about what constitute a “light novel” in this video by Crunchyroll.
How I discovered light novels
Admittedly I only really discovered light novels in 2019. I had come across the term on the internet, but never looked into what they were considering almost no one in the US side of anime fandom ever talked about them. However my first realization that light novels were a thing was at the Yen Press panel at New York Comic Con 2019.
They were passing out some copies of the light novels they licensed and translated. Good marketing technique. Giving us all first volumes of titles for free to get us hooked and wanting to read the rest. Also a physical book was easy to pass around so even if I didn’t happen to like that particular story, I could share it with someone else and they might be that new hooked reader buying the rest of the series. (Incidentally I never actually got around to reading the one I got, but I probably should!)
The thing that really got me into buying a light novel and actually reading it was Isekai Shokudo (異世界食堂) aka Restaurant to Another World.
I enjoyed the anime a lot and immediately wanted to look up more about the title in late 2021. To my surprise I discover not only was it originally a light novel, but Seven Seas Entertainment had licensed it. I promptly search and to my further surprise, I find out it’s available in print and digital. A few clicks later I get the eBooks and consume them to my heart’s delight. I’ve fallen into the light novel rabbit hole since.
Where can you buy light novels?
You can pretty much buy them anywhere you can get books now. More anime titles are being adapted from light novels. There are even manga titles that are originally light novels! Actually at this point most of the light novels I’ve read or are on my “to read” list were purchased directly from J-Novel Club.
They specialize in translating and selling light novels though a few other manga publishers in the US also sell light novels like Seven Seas Entertainment and Yen Press. I actually joined J-Novel Club’s reader club and even signed up to their Premium membership. The benefit of joining J-Novel Club’s program is that not only can I get light novels cheaper than through other book sellers, I also get access to bonus content only included in the premium version. So most of the books I’ve been reading comes from there. There are a few titles I get elsewhere via my preferred eBook retailer, Kobo.
Final thoughts
Aside from advertising this storytelling medium for some of you who might not know it exists, I wanted to mention light novels to you readers. Mainly because going forward, I’ll be reviewing and discussing light novels as well as manga and anime on here with you. So stay tuned!
Also if you’re interested, I actually recorded an episode about light novels for my previous podcast, Three Fates Decide. You can listen to it here.
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