What License Acquisitions are You Most Thankful For?
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I was going to post this on Thanksgiving actually... But I figure now is a good time as any for a more happy thread about licensing.
What licenses have you been thankful for? It can be in the past year, in previous years, any Japanese property you were utterly thankful for seeing licensed.
It can be a game, an anime, or a book.
I think we all have those licenses we wanted after seeing an anime or hearing about them online, and then we were ecstatic when they got announced. Here's a few of mine:
Grimgar - Watched a bit of the anime, and really dug the discussion around it more than anything. Fans upset over the death of a character and worrying about who may go next. Fans not initially accepting Merry, and then falling in love with her. The mystery of how they got to Grimgar, and do they have a place to get back to. When I heard Yen picked it up, I was pretty happy. Then I found out someone named JNC was publishing it on websites, that it appeared Yen only had the manga listed, and I was confused. Then I was happy when I found out JNC was legit. Rollercoaster of emotions!
Rokka: Braves Of the Six Flowers - Probably the most ecstatic I was ever at a licensing pickup. I just really dig everything surrounding mystery plots. I really liked the development of some of the relationships over the course of the story too. The fact that it covered only one volume made me really want this license.
Machi Maho - I was really floored by this manga pickup from Seven Seas, mainly because I was literally about to submit it to their surveys that week. The art is really well detailed. It's a ridiculous story with an over-the-top, chain-smoking rebel, and fun battles + comedy. Really happy with that license, though I know a lot of people in the community who balked at it.
I've been fairly satisfied with most of the new light novel licenses lately. A lot of stuff I've had on wishlists and been following even just a bit getting picked up makes me happy. Fremd Torturchan, Tomozaki-Kun, Why Shouldn't a Detestable Demon-Lord Fall in Love and Saving 80,000 gold coins in particular are really neat licenses, as was the adult character Yuri manga Yen got and the Death Harem Game manga Sol Press got. Even the Kono Light Novel Ga Sugoi picks have me happy (and hopeful for more from Gear Drive and JK Haru).
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JNC: Amagi Brilliant Park, How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, Infinite Dendro, Invaders of the Rokujyouma, The Faraway Paladin
Seven Seas: Abilities Average
Yen: DanMachi, Devil is a Part Timer
I have bought others and like some a lot (Smartphone, Lazy Dungeon Master), but those are the ones I am so glad got licensed.
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Infinite Dendrogram
It was the series that I had most wanted to read but had no hopes that Yen Press would have licensed it.
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I'll post more later but for now, I am incredibly grateful that JNC licensed Invaders of the Rokujyouma, Outbreak Company, Amagi Brilliant Park, and Kokoro Connect. These four are all titles I loved the anime for and wanted to read more of, and the first one in particular got me to pay attention to JNC in the first place.
Amagi and Kokoro Connect get bonus points because they have established that Kadokawa is not the impregnable licensing fortress we once thought they were, and I'm definitely looking forward to what else JNC might get from them. Of course, they're both great stories in their own right, and they're not really like any other titles in JNC's library so even if they aren't that popular, they're great for diversity.
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@village-idiot I agree. Infinite Dendrogram is my favorite series on here by far.
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All of them, literally all of them, let’s turn the clock back 5 years can anyone say that in 5 years we would be at this point in time getting all of these fantastic titles translated legally. Getting a subscription to read LNs as soon as humanly possible, and just surrounded by titles that we now love but would otherwise have never noticed if not for companies like JNC, Yen Press, and Seven Seas.
I complain about Seven seas, Yen Press and even some aspects of JNC at times but in the end I am both thankful and grateful for all these stupendous Light novels I get to read and support, as well as all the amazing titles still to come...
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As far as English licenses go, I'm quite happy that Grimgar and WorldEnd aka Suka Suka got licensed. Though the license that I'm most thankful for is the German release of Gamers, as it shows that a publisher is willing to release a “normal” (as opposed to a tie-in to a popular franchise like Death Note) LN here again .
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I only has "thankful" for license when I know about JNC. and how Grimgar got translated so fast.
for LN most of the license news is kind of "bad news" because we have easily accessible free and fast translation while the licensor only put a book after like a year or two then take "years" just to catch up to the original source. and till this day I still hate licensor who just take license and makes me wait another year just to see some "mediocre" translation.
So yeah Grimgar is the top of mylist, I only follow JNC no more than a year and I already see Grimgar vol.11
The second probably Seirei Gensouki, Why I thankful? it is because the patreon-sceme used by the fan-translation and how it become slow "money" oriented thing ( as far as can notice tho.) and no longer fan again. So when it picked up by JNC and I know how fast JNC is I am immediately upgrade my membership and collect all those premium-epub.
Also there is this Bluesteel, Dendogram, Paladin, Me Genius, Unwanted Undead these title are those that I found reading some parts of it then decide to buying the ebooks after it was licensed. thankful for it license otherwise I would never look or read them.
a note tho, I probably don't understand the difficulty of publishing a book so they most likely need times and a lot of works.
And that's why I love JNC by putting licensing closer to fan-base with prebub and translation progress "transparently" and more important by listening and responding to fan base voice for correction and suggestion. also epub/digital is cheaper and faster to me too. -
I'm thankful for Arifureta and Arifureta Zero as it's one of my favorite series. Otherwise, I'm thankful for J-Novel Club as a whole for rescuing the Light Novel translation scene from the hell it had seeped into with only WN-MTlers that do shit for profit. And how Yen Press has a holier than thou attitude when it comes to their own localization practices and their complete disregard for feedback.
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I'm most thankful for the Narita Ryogo's novels but I would be even more thankful if YP translates SukaMoka (WorldEnd sequel). Also I'm long ready to be thankful for further Zaregoto novels...
And I guess I'm thankful to JNC in general since their whole distribution system is a godbless.
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@novurdim said in What License Acquisitions are You Most Thankful For?:
Also I'm long ready to be thankful for further Zaregoto novels....
T_T
I'm thankful for Narita's "Baccano" as well. I still gotta read volume 6 and passed that.
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J-Novel licenses I am most thankful for: I like almost every single license J-Novel gets so if it not listed please don't think it isn't beloved.
New Life+ - I love this series. The snarkyness of a protagonist is pure gold.
Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles - It helped me overcome the sadness of New Life+ not getting translated anymore. Also, the editor for the translation is really nice and proactively interacts with the people who post in each volume's threads.
Arifuretta - While I did start reading light novels before, this is the one that really made me start looking almost exclusively for light novels.
My Big Sister Lives in a Fantasy World - Buying the first one of these on Amazon led me to find out about J-Novel... ended up buying the premium copy of it as well.
Outbreak Company - While there are quite a few licenses J-Novel announced that were for anime that I wanted to read more about, this is the most memorable one.
Other translation companies
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? - The first volume is the first translated light novel that I ever read and this got me to start actively looking for light novels.Deathmarch to the Parallel World Rhapsody - I always look forward to this release.
Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average In The Next Life - This has my favorite female protagonist of all time.
Reincarnated as a Vending Machine - I didn't know how the author could make this story flow so well with a protagonist that had such a hard time communicating with people. Really well done, in my opinion.
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime - While I do think the author has a problem with pacing, this series is incredibly hilarious and has so far had one plot twist that was foreshadowed, but completely took me by surprise. I love plot twists that I should have seen coming but didn't; that is extremely rare for me because I am usually good at calling those.
There are so many I am thankful for but these are probably my top 10.
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It is tough trying to narrow this down!
JNC Published
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom
In Another World With My SmartPhone - This is the one that introduced me to JNC
Invaders of the Rokujouma!?
ArifuretaNon JNC
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
Overlord
Goblin Slayer -
I got into LNs (well, WNs initially) after watching the anime for In Another World With My SmartPhone. (Which I now think sucks after the LN, lol!) From there I found the WN, and checked also Arifureta WN. Then, a bit later, I found out there was an official release by JNC. And here I am.
There's too many other to mention so I'll just mention the 2 that started it all 😅
P.S.: In all of this my wallet is the most sad though.
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Top 3 JNC novels:
- Grimgar - I loved the anime and wanted to know what happened next. This is one of the main reasons I was an early adopter of JNC.
- Me, a Genius? - A fresh concept executed in a way that made it extra fun (I hope there is another on in the future!)
- Invaders of the Rokujouma!? - I enjoyed the anime, so glad to have the opportunity to continue with the story.
Top 3 Non-JNC Novels:
- Spice and Wolf + Wolf & Parchment - As a fan of the Spice & Wolf anime very happy to know what happened next, and it turned out to be some really great novels!
- Death Note: L, Change the WorLd - It is not perfect, but as someone who enjoyed Death Note I'm glad I was not excluded from being able to read it. This was my first LN.
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Like others, I have to start off with saying I'm happy whenever anything is licensed. It's one more book I can read or anime I can watch in my native language, and forever puts off the mind-bending strain of me trying to learn Japanese!
Licenses I really cheered about when I heard about them would be Irregular at Magic High School and WorldEnd/Sukasuka (I am not typing out the entire title) from Yen, and Amagi Brilliant Park from JNC.
Ultimately, the one I'm happiest about in retrospect is Invaders of the Rokujouma. I never expected to enjoy something quite so much.
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Will go with light novels. Let's see:
- Accel World - Yen Press has been fast with this series, which makes me happy.
- Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average In The Next Life?! - just hilarious and I love it.
- Invaders of the Rokujouma!? - wasn't expecting to enjoy it so much. I think it helps considerably having a release per month (I mean, there are 30+ volumes.)
- Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash - the series for why I subscribed to JNC in first place. I liked the first volumes, but it has grown on me even more since then.
- The Devil is a Part-timer! - always enjoying it.
Still, there are many other series that I love of course. Keep the good work!
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I'm thankful to JNC for bringing me professional translations of books that I want to read, for making the extra effort to get the premium content, and for letting me read the online versions of books that I don't know whether or not I want to buy so I can find out.
If I have to pick a favorite JNC license: How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom
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@malloc O-Oh gosh, thank you so much T~T!!
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I'm just glad that the one LN I submitted for Licensing Suggestions, Jaku-chara Tomozaki-kun got picked up by Yen Press. Sure I would've preferred for JNC to get it but for me personally, thank god it wasn't taken by Seven Seas.
I'm thankful that by getting involved with LNs, I discovered series I wouldn't have known about otherwise.
To name the ones closest to my heart:
Realist Hero, Arifureta, Lazy Dungeon Master, Bakarina, Elf Bride, Master of Ragnarok (the anime broke my heart though), Mixed Bathing, So I'm a Spider, Vending Machine, and Killing Slimes for 300 YearsAlso thankful that I get to go beyond anime content in Amagi Brilliant Park, Kokoro Connect, and Konosuba
