Hyouka/Koten-bu Series
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To promote even more diversity in the subforums, let's have another mystery title that I can't believe no one has mentioned it yet!
I'll try and classify all topic according to main genre (would be a bit of challenge since LNs usually mix a lot of genres together)Anyway, this one ain't a LN but YA novels series, which earned a honorable mention in the Kadokawa School Novel Prize competition
Author: Honobu Yonezawa (A recurring name on Kono Mystery ga sugoi ranking)
Publisher: Kadokawa Shoten
Status: Ongoing
Anime: 2-cour anime by KyoAni (covered 4 volumes)
Manga: Not licensed by a company in NA or the UK but it's available in English from Malaysia's Kadokawa Gempak StarzHotaro Oreki, a freshman with one interesting motto "If I don't have to do something, I won't, but if I have to, I'll do it quickly.".
Basically, he's eco-friendly, you gotta save energy, right?His closest friend, Satoshi Fukube, is quite the opposite.
Living the so-called pink-colored life of a highschooler, participating in any club or activity he find interesting.A guy like Oreki wouldn't be caught within the distance walking of any club yet he's joining the dying Classics club "Koten-bu" pressured (forced?) by his sister's letter.
Only to find someone who will break his energy-saving life, a very very very (is that enough 'very'?) curious girl, Eru Chitanda.
Our cast won't be completed without the harsh on herself and others, manga-lover, Mayaka Ibara.
The series mysteries are type of everyday mysteries, initiated by Eru's curious attitude and inability of Oreki to refuse acting as her sleuth.
The series doesn't only focuses on mystery aspect but shows interests, in subtle way, in many emotions of the main cast varying from love to inferiority complex. -
Wait, why does Malaysia publish the manga in English? And is it able to be shipped to NA?
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Yep, this is of interest to me. I feel that after a lot of the current crop have already been mentioned we are now getting to more fringe titles and I’m getting really excited to read titles that likely will never get translated... Still, one or two of them will and that’ll be awesome!
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@legitpancake
Malaysia is full of different ethnic groups including Indians, and Chinese so they use English as much as Malay.@legitpancake said in Hyouka/Koten-bu Series:
And is it able to be shipped to NA?
Personally, I ain't sure since I ain't living in NA
Try asking a kinokuniya store since they deal with them?
(Funny thing, they already have the novels in Malay as well as Watari's Girlish Number ) -
@the-green-death
Personally, I think if Hyouka is marketed towards more broad market like Japanese mystery fans, it will be a hit.
The author himself is one of biggest modern Japanese mystery authors.Well, I think the fact that LN market and other Japanese literature's are considered separate ain't doing anyone favors.
Many LNs fans are kinda failing to notice books that they would be interested in just cuz they are licensed by non-LN company like Paprika and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.
and there are many non-LN works that are promoted to LN fans like Perfect Blue and NisiOisiN's stuff
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@bloodygaikotsu Yes I agree that the separation of LB and non-LN is causing people to miss stuff they’d like, which is one reason I’m so happy to see JNC branch out. I suspect the whole Japanese fiction scene is undergoing a shift as a result of the influx of LNs and I hope the range of what is translated just keeps broadening and broadening.
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Would love for the Classics Club Series to be licensed. Although it will also remind me of the suffering that waiting for the next volume is.
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@the-green-death
There's still the problem with how JNC will attract non-LN readers, when it's been branding itself as LN provider all along?
It will take a lot of time (+ JNC community ain't all of LN community either, maybe with license of titles like Kokoro Connect and announcement of physical copies, we may find more LN fans starting to follow JNC)But would a Japanese general literature fan take interest in JNC now?
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@the-green-death
Ah
Have u heard of "The Japanese Literature Publishing Project"? -
@bloodygaikotsu said in Hyouka/Koten-bu Series:
@the-green-death
Ah
Have u heard of "The Japanese Literature Publishing Project"?I hadn’t but I just researched them (I.e. did a quick google search) and it turns out I’ve read a number of the translations they’ve sponsored. Lots of other great looking stuff to track down too!
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@bloodygaikotsu I think JNC will make inroads just by publishing different types of material. Their name isn’t inherently Light Novel-y and they’re open to taking risks. Once they start publishing physical books I can’t imagine that stores who sell Japanese translated fiction (such as Kinokuniya) wouldn’t pick up a physical volume of JK Haru- it’s right up their alley. A few blog reviews (I like japaneselit.net) and some goodreads comments would help those who follow such find it on Amazon.
The only problem is that this is a pretty niche market (unless your name is Haruki Murakami) so how many copies will sell I’m not sure. I suspect that LNs simply sell more than contemporary Japanese fiction right now. Soho Crime releases quite a bit, but a lot of the rest seems to be from various University presses. Viz stopped most their sci-fi fiction too... So ebooks may be the way forward these days.
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@the-green-death said in Hyouka/Koten-bu Series:
Viz stopped most their sci-fi fiction
Actually, LOGH is Hayakaww series, it's marketed towards LNs fans just like Monogatari due to the fact that its already pre-existing fanbase is there.
There are many publishers who still put Japanese novels out.
Vertical still license them.
They even licensed a novel about Sherlock Holmes and certain Japanese Prime MinisterTuttle Publishing (one of those works with JLPP but they license other stuff too)
Vintage has a huge library too
Macmillian has new imprint called "Farrar, Straus and Giroux"
and Berkley Books, an imprint of Penguin Group too& there are many other names but it's difficult to search for them all
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@bloodygaikotsu Yeah there are a lot I’m just not sure how successful they are. I see books in Kinokuniya but never in Barnes and Noble (which I assume gives a good idea what sells best on Amazon as well). I feel they do better in England given how a number of books are by British publishers or the British editions come out first.
Isn’t Vertical owned by Kondansha? I always assumed they put out some of what they do as they already have rights so it’s cheaper for them to release translations than to have new books written, but I could be (and hope I am) wrong.
Even if I am being overly pessimistic about the market, JNC releasing nonLN material can only be a good thing if it introduced Light Novel fans to material outside LNs that they will enjoy. I think an influx of appreciation for Japanese authors would be awesome! There’s so much more out there than Murakami (who I really like), and I want the world to know about it!
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Kodansha owns multiple companies that comprise Kodansha International and they have been releasing other books outside Vertical. (+ Dark maidens ain't a Kodansha title_)
I think their most popular author is Ryu Murakami.
They have a lot of his stuff.Tuttle and Vintage have a lot of Natsume Soseki.
Ah, know One Peace?
They have published Dazai's Schoolgirl and Soseki's Botchan. (among many others)I remember a publisher that has been pushing a lot of Rampo (which reminds me that I need to get them)
There was movie called "Confessions", after searching for the novel, I found that it was licensed.
I even found that the same publisher has released the author's 2nd novel as well.I say it's not grim as you think but it still needs some improvements ofc
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@bloodygaikotsu Confessions is a pretty great book, I recommend it highly.
I just finished recent releases “Convenience Store Woman” (surprisingly touching and well written) and “Strange Weather in Tokyo” (Sensei no Kaban) which was amazing, one of my favorite things I’ve read in a while but it took me a few chapters to get the style.
Yeah, the outlook isn’t bleak if you know where to search - I just always want the stuff I love to be more easily accessed by more people who like it! I also feel publishing is in a tough space right now and niche publishing perhaps even more so, so I want to make sure Japanese translated fiction weathers the storm.
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Well, it was much more bleaker before when Kodansha USA stopped releasing (A lot of their titles <but not all> are in print by Vintage <same distributor, Random House> tho)
Which reminds me, I might finally get Lala pipo.
(A friend of mine in Austria told me that he can "smuggle lol" it along with My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness and its sequel.) -
Just checked r/hyouka and they shared covers of Malaysian and Indonesian novel covers (Maybe, I should get get people from there to here, it might be good rep for JNC if they weren't aware of it too lol)
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@bloodygaikotsu Super happy you got Lala Pipo! Enjoy!
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@the-green-death
Well, I won't get them till October when he comes back but I am still excited lol -
Sam said at today’s convention that, while he most likely has access to license the Hyouka novels, he is very cautious and hesitant in getting them. They have a good and complete fan translation, and that leads him to believe this one won’t sell.
Hope another publisher like Vertical or YP can get them.
