More ero titles (or just reccomendations)
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I couldn't think of a good title for this topic as nothing seemed to fit.
I was wondering. Compared to historically J-Novel Club seems to be doing a smaller and smaller fraction of more ero titles (i.e. How to Summon a Demon Lord / Otherworld Bathing) as compared to the past. Is it just because I'm looking at the wrong series or is it actually happening? (If it's not happening please recommend some.) If it's actually happening is it a result of actual corporate policy or just happenstance/lack of titles available?
Specifically I hope that J-Novel Club hasn't decided as corporate policy to not translate this type of work because of things like Amazon not liking it. I don't want to see J-Novel Club warped by the over-sensitivity of large corporates.
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@mlindner From what I understand, Amazon removing series with "suggestive" illustrations played a big role in that. Unfortunately, the majority of sales still go through Amazon, so losing half the revenue due to that will hurt, and even if it's possible to put them back on sale, that's still a lot of unpleasant work that the crew can spend on something more productive.
That said, lewder novels are not entirely out of the question - Dungeon Busters supposedly was licensed in an attempt to bring more ero (I guess based on illustrations), but it turned very different in reality. -
@Wellwisher said in More ero titles (or just reccomendations):
@mlindner From what I understand, Amazon removing series with "suggestive" illustrations played a big role in that. Unfortunately, the majority of sales still go through Amazon, so losing half the revenue due to that will hurt, and even if it's possible to put them back on sale, that's still a lot of unpleasant work that the crew can spend on something more productive.
That said, lewder novels are not entirely out of the question - Dungeon Busters supposedly was licensed in an attempt to bring more ero (I guess based on illustrations), but it turned very different in reality.So it's not just my imagination then? That is incredibly unfortunate. The titles being picked of late seem to be getting incessantly more bland over time and further away from the norm of mainstream Light novels.
Also I'm not just looking for "lewd" I'm looking for the specific variety of lewd common in Japanese tropes. Not western style lewd (which is what the artwork of Dungeon Busters seems reminiscent of).
I guess this just another example of a casualty of the encroaching prudism in the west.
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@mlindner tbh, looking at newer Japanese releases, I feel like that norm had changed in recent years, with that specific variety of lewd being gradually phased out.
It's just a pet theory, but I think this has to do with the rise of web novel adaptations that got popular without relying on such tropes and the lack of editorial meddling in WNs, which resulted in lewds only being used where and in the way authors deem it fitting to the story. Even the titles you mentioned don't really conform to classical anime fanservice tropes.
I think Madan no Ou to Vanadis or Index are good examples of editorial meddling I wrote of earlier - there is a set amount of fanservice per volume, and it is often pretty uninspiring. Heck, in Madan no Ou author just recycles the same 3 scenes, just with different characters, and one of Index 2-volume arcs moved the lewds quota so the first book had double the usual amount of it, leaving the second one purely plot... things like this really raise a question if the oldschool lewds were something authors had wanted in their books to begin with?
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@Wellwisher said in More ero titles (or just reccomendations):
I think Madan no Ou to Vanadis or Index are good examples of editorial meddling I wrote of earlier - there is a set amount of fanservice per volume, and it is often pretty uninspiring. Heck, in Madan no Ou author just recycles the same 3 scenes, just with different characters, and one of Index 2-volume arcs moved the lewds quota so the first book had double the usual amount of it, leaving the second one purely plot... things like this really raise a question if the oldschool lewds were something authors had wanted in their books to begin with?
I guess we have slightly different thoughts on what the tropes are then. I consider both titles I mentioned to be pretty in line with the type of tropes that I enjoy and I actually didn't enjoy Index ero tropes at all. I mean more "serious" ero content and not just used as media for slapstic/humor.
