How to Tell if a Series Has A Conclusion (...for the most part).
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I saw someone asking about if there's any way to tell if a series "ended" or if it "cancelled". I can't answer definitively that something wasn't rushed to the end, like Bluesteel, but if you're looking for an ending, there are tipoffs in descriptions of final volumes.
So here's some tips.
Step 1: Go On Bookwalker.
Step 2: Use Google Translate while the drop down menus are open. First select light novel / ranube in the category tab. Then select "Completed / Conclusion" in the genre tab.
Step 3: Click on the final volume of a book series you're interested in. See what kind of language they use to describe the volume. If there's "final", "end", "last", "conclusion", well, you at least know it is the ending for the series, not just a volume 3 or 4 continuation that ends unresolved (though I'm sure they could trick you, but there are other tells in the insert images, like romantic conclusions). If it says "second bullet" or "second volume" or something along those lines, chances are it isn't a concluded series.
Examples:
Concluded work
"the series completion" "The disheart play of the foreigners who were released from the jewel case, the end!"
Likely not Completed:
"Martian warfare, power and conspiracy swirls, 2nd bullet!"
Also, if you're curious about single volume works, I'd say anything that has "Begins" or "beginning" in it's description is probably a cancelled series. Of course, there's no definite way to know, but I wouldn't recommend those. Also, sometimes Bookwalker will have a series listing space under the volume for something that was supposed to get a volume 2 and beyond, but didn't.
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Outside of the front cover panty shot, which is just a little skeevy- I kind of want to read Martian War School for name alone, I think that’s a really cool title. Wish I had stuck with learning Japanese!
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Yeah, I'd really like a Mecha Light Novel series. There's not many, a lot of them are Novel Novels. But there are a few, and a few that are wrapped up. But also a lot of cancelled series. T.T
Hopefully someday, we get a Mecha resurgence. I'd love a Grimgar style dark Mecha tale.
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Please, please, please, I would love to read an actual mecha LN series.
Not mecha girls, but actual mecha.
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Was there ever any news on Heavy Object coming over? Obviously would have been the right time to license it when the anime was announced or airing/just finished airing, but still, I'd be interested to read the original story and continuation.
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@village-idiot said in How to Tell if a Series Has A Conclusion (...for the most part).:
Not mecha girls, but actual mecha.
Ha ha, yeah.
Though I'm ok with girls that have rocket boosters if it's not just a harem, and anyone can perish. =P
If you're looking for Mecha, you can type in メカ on Bookwalker to find a few. Not everything is in there, and not everything pops up under light novel either (there's some literature).
Here's two I saw that look ok and go beyond the 1-2 volume cancellation:
7 Volumes
3 Volumes
There's also a whole 'nother offshoot of Fullmetal Panic with new characters.
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Such a major downside to the LN industry that it's hard to tell when a series has been cancelled. I assumed Log Horizon was dropped until it was recently announced volume 11 would be coming out. And I just noticed that Onii-chan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankeinai yo ne hasn't gotten a volume in nearly 4 years. It took 4 years for Hyouka to get volume 6, and even then, it was just a collection of the magazine published short stories which once again hits you with a cliffhanger.
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Well a lot of times the authors kind of just stop writing and no one has any idea what's going on. Take take Suzumiya Haruhi series for example, no new books since 2013. It's not over... it's not cancelled since it sells well and if there's more the publisher will happily print it, but Tanigawa writes slower than GRRM.
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@chi-c said in How to Tell if a Series Has A Conclusion (...for the most part).:
Well a lot of times the authors kind of just stop writing and no one has any idea what's going on. Take take Suzumiya Haruhi series for example, no new books since 2013. It's not over... it's not cancelled since it sells well and if there's more the publisher will happily print it, but Tanigawa writes slower than GRRM.
There was that huuuuuuge delay on Oregairu too until the new volume finally appeared late last year
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@chi-c "slower than GRRM" now that's an overstatement, no one's slower than Martin!!! I still pray everyday he doesn't suddenly die one of these days.
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@paulnamida said in How to Tell if a Series Has A Conclusion (...for the most part).:
@chi-c "slower than GRRM" now that's an overstatement, no one's slower than Martin!!! I still pray everyday he doesn't suddenly die one of these days.
Does he have a son to publish his collection of paper napkin notes that weren't meant to have seen the light of day?
I just started Suzumiya. Knowing it doesn't have an "end" is already killing my buzz. T.T
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@terrence I certainly hope so, better go the Tolkien route than leave us hanging for eternity.
Imagine being on edge for years, having huge expectations for that Haruhi hunt on Japan for it only end up being a damn pachinko machine (granted, that hype was for the anime, BUT STILL APPLIES!!!). The Suzumiya Haruhi series was my first light novel ever. I NEED MOAR.
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@paulnamida The last Suzumiya Haruhi book came out in 2011. A Dance with Dragons also came out in 2011. So both authors are going on seven years now, but the difference is Suzumiya Haruhi is a LIGHT novel. The page and word count are much shorter than the Song of Fire and Ice novels.
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@chi-c but we don't even know if Tanigawa is actually writing anything. It's more of a hiatus than it being slow. GRRM on the other hand has been releasing teasers and such so we know he's writing... It's just that for some reason he's doing so as an engraving on obsidian for some reason so he's taking a hell of a long time
(ps: I'm being sarcastic)
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Ahem.
You know, if I were in Tanigawa's shoes, I think I'd be going through a long, long hiatus too.
The developments in the later Suzumiya Haruhi books were particularly strange IMO. I mean, that series has always been strange. But this time, I think it's the case where he wrote himself into a corner. Like he was going for a simple Plan A or Plan B, but Plans A to H somehow ended up being shot down by his editor.
BTW, I don't mind a panty shot on the front cover. -
Here's a completed series I stumbled upon today (it's Kadokawa Lightning Bunko, so don't expect it of course).
Silver Swordbreaker - The Girl With the Seiken Destruction
From fourth and final volume:
mystery of the world is solved, the journey of the "destroyer of the Holy Sword" ends.... At the end of the death battle, is there hope?
https://bookwalker.jp/de737853b9-a183-4f3e-918d-6cc3fdec8e50/?acode=WpfPW3yk
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New Dowl Masters volume seems to be the final one:
Volume 1 Cover
Volume 5 Link:
https://bookwalker.jp/dec388b287-dc9b-4d4d-ab05-ab1f926a911d/?acode=WpfPW3ykNear Futuristic Robot Action Drawn (written) by Tsutomu Sajima of "Magic High School"! Dignified (fame), concluded!
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@terrence That one looks rad. Five volumes, easy way to test out a mecha series @Sam-Pinansky
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@the-green-death said in How to Tell if a Series Has A Conclusion (...for the most part).:
@terrence That one looks rad. Five volumes, easy way to test out a mecha series @Sam-Pinansky
Just remember, the label is a Kadokawa offshoot (Dengeki Bunko / Lightning Bunko?), so not easy to get as of now.
But yes, this does look like it would be a great short Mecha to test, it's by the Mahouka author, and the cover designs are appealing. I hope Yen or Bookwalker look at it.
Once I gut my way through "We Are All Gone", I'll try reading volume 1 of this.
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@terrence it's safe to assume it's Dengeki Bunko, they made a crossover fighting game of their most popular series, and when it got a Western release, the title was kept as Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax.
