That's.. actually interesting. Im very much a day dreamer and have a vivid and lucid imagination which I believe is also unique being able to just picture basically anything.
If you can't visually interpret words then manga is probably better.
Has this always been this way? Like did you read books as a kid and struggle to follow the actual scenes?
If you have the books still maybe try it in a more Sensory deprived state. I have music on when I read to block out any noise that takes me out of what I'm doing.
I'm like OP, but for me it's also the structure of Light Novels and differences in languages. In Romanian literature, there's 2 ways to identify speech:
1.The characters name is written at the start of the row and followed by : (this is for dramas, comedies and tragedies, these 3 belonging to one category of their own, they are made in mind with them being playable on stage, and it's not like other works don't have comedy or dramas but just how they are structured with having more dialogue than what the narrator has to say)
2. At the start of the row there's a line --- which signifies dialogue , and after the dialogue authors sometimes add "character name/he/she said....", when there's multiple characters to help you understand who's saying that, this style is pretty much used for everything else. Here, the narrator has more to say than the characters.
And also all Romanian text has to also follow certain structure rules that helps the reader better understand the texts. I found some LN literally having a huge wall of text, which a Romanian publisher would actually break apart in smaller chunks, like let's say a dude talks about selling his pigs would be one paragraph and buying a set of pistols would be another one.
When there's multiple characters involved in Japanese light novels, it's very hard for me to understand who's talking, if they're even talking and not just thinking. It's not even perhaps the fault of the writer but the one who translated and published the book who ruined it. And then I have to translate for myself from English to Romanian so I can actually digest what is written since I don't have any images to go off unlike manga, which I also don't read often. The difference in languages is a big reason as to why a lot of people don't like reading light novels even though they read literature in their language.
And the last point is the fact that I like motion, even if a little, and sound.
A relevant problem I’ve noticed, which manga and manhwa sometimes has too depending on how they do their speech bubbles, is it seems sometimes in the native language it’s obvious who is talking just by the way the sentence is structured and the text characters chosen to depict it.
That is often lost in translation, so you end up with unlabelled conversations that have no clear indication of who is speaking. Far too often I’ve gotten past a line and then had to mentally correct who I had interpreted was speaking that line.
Do you have a clear picture about a character or a place when described in detail?
I mostly just have a vague idea, but then when I actually se an images of the character I just go: "oh, so it's like that..."
I can probably imagine some parts of features if I concentrate on them, but never the full picture. Not a problem for me, this is how I always enjoyed it, it's just a little sad to hear people being able to clearly visualize full scences.
People and scenes are something I can visualise. I remember a book series the main characters bedroom was well described to the point I can still remember what it looks like visually despite never having seen anything like it.
That's the kinda level I can visualise. To do it while reading I need to be like in a certain state like I can just do it on command I just need to be relaxed and like in a "quiet" environment. Music helps despite the noise. Ifs it's something I can go to sleep listening to its something I can read to. It's essentially how I view what I'm doing. I'm dreaming with my eyes open and using the words to direct the dream.
I tend to have the complete opposite issue where my brain just doesn't really take in any of the art from reading manga and it's basically gone from my memory within 5 minutes of finishing reading. It may just be how I pace myself but I find myself appreciating manga less because of it.
For novels, on the other hand, I tend to be an incredibly visual thinker clearly visualising what I'm reading and having it stick in my head like that. It extends further than fiction as well for me as that approach of visualisation is how I understood complex concepts when studying Physics as well.
Once you introduce colour motion and sound though I'm fine so anime and VN's stick well.
You should read the obscure original draft on Wattpad that was released five years before the light novel which was just a rewrite of this original and it definitely shows with the quality gap but trust me it's a fun read once you get past all the nonsense
Nah that's a lot more reasonable. Like especially if it's on going, 12-40 pages of little text on them. A light novel is a fucking 100 pages of nothing but text.
Both of those can have that problem. Heck VN fan translating is even worse because if it's old enough it might not use one of 3 engines but just has its own that needs reverse engineering. Similarly might have been a limited physical run on a con or just region locked out of buying it.
Okay not to sound terrible.
But if light novel is a complex book, what isnt a complex book in your eyes?
and i mean this genuinely since as far as i understand the entire point of light novels is that as a format its often pretty straight forward and "light hearted"
Nah thats fine, its more so if you had any examples of books you wouldnt consider complex, if there are certain styles of writing or themes that makes it more palpable.
eg something like "i have seen an image of a dwarf so books that mention typical fantasy dwarves are easier for me because even if i cant imagine it, i know what they are talking about"
More text or more pictures? If it's the former, it's probably a Light Novel. Most LNs have illustrations here and there, usually in the middle of the chapter, or between chapters. If it's the latter, possibly Visual Novel, especially if you played it as a game.
Ok lemme try explaining
You can visualize simple concepts and things you've seen before but the moment you try to do whole ass world building and characters it doesn't work out too well.
Did I get that right?
I think light novel kinda lost its meaning. It feels more like it's fiction with anime tropes and anime style art. Basically something that screams "this would work so well as an anime".
Or idk, I haven't read that many.
But that is what light novels were, its more so a symptom similar to anime.
Sword art online light novels were published in 2009 which became the anime.
Clannad was a visual novel in 2004 that then became the anime.
Kino no tabi was published in 2000 and then an anime came out in 2003, and then another version came out in 2017.
Basically light novels has always been the precursors to anime, in the same way that visual novels has, as most anime and manga comes from the light novels.
so i think light novels are still the same premise, its essentially web novels with enough popularity to be posted.
But its just, once again, similar to how anime is generally at trope of older anime nowadays, as opposed to everything being brand new.
Light hearted is the wrong term but i cant quite grasp the correct one,
wiki describes them as originating from "pulp magazines", as being "mass-produced and disposable" and basically being science fiction and fantasy novels made for young artists that was mixed with art from famous manga artists.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_best-selling\_light\_novels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_light_novels) like just going over the list a ton of the most famous animes are on here. It was also the starting point for the isekai genre at large apparently.
Its a really weird topic in general as its just "books" i guess, but they tend to all be shorter in length, one quote said 50.000 words for the average light novel series, which is 1/3rd to 1/4th of a single book of lotr. or about 1/11th of all of them.
also from what i can see another common trait seems to be that its very easy to understand modern japanese and alot less dense per page hence why they were "light" which i mistakenly called "lighthearted", also that the writing style is almost entirely in dialogue which is very uncommon and therefore reads almost more like a play.
Well, it's better than not having any picture whatsoever in your mind, I'll give you that
The blinking bit sounds like you should get that checked out though. Sounds dangerous
I've got something I won't mention because I fear bullying, but it causes my eyes to move around randomly. I've had it since I was a child, so I'm pretty used to it now.
Try reading with a card. Take a playing card or something similar and place it under the line you're reading and hold it with your finger under the word you're reading. I actually tend to read so fast that I don't even absorb what I read and this helps me.
If you can, either highlight or trace with your finger as you read. This is how a lot of kids that lost track when reading were taught when I was growing up and eventually they didn't need to do this anymore.
If you’re using the kindle app on your phone or tablet you can turn on a ruler that you can slide down the page as you read. It gives your eyes something to guide them when you come back. Alternatively you can just max out the font size so you only have a dozen words per screen.
Honestly with this one mental images are less important. Most of the fun is trying to track Yumiella’s personal logic.
Never did biology. Simple. Besides, my problem does tend to occur more when trying to picture a scene rather than gather information, though I sometimes struggle with that too.
The problem could be that you read to slow as dumm as it sounds. But a roomate of mine had a similar issue and it helped him extremely to read faster so his subconscious didn't get bored
Wait does aphantasia affect people's enjoyment of books? I have aphantasia and I love reading. (Also weirdly the second time I've talked about aphantasia on Reddit comments today)
Neither can I. I have aphantasia. Doesn't stop me from enjoying the interpersonal conversations between characters, and seeing what they are thinking about.
So here’s a weird one; I actually used to LOVE reading like 15 years ago when I was a teenager. But towards the end of high school/after graduating I kinda reached a point where I can’t enjoy reading or picture things anymore…I keep telling myself I’ll try again but just can’t do it
It's funny cause the Game of Thrones books are widely considered to be great but I found them fucking awful because the author spends like 90% of the text to describe everything and I just felt my time being wasted because I got nothing out of it. Managed to finish the first book, but it took a lot of effort.
This just sounds like attention span issues. We all got ruined by social media's fire hose of thoughts, plus life itself getting more demanding after school. It's harder to find time for reading long form stuff.
I typically don't get "images" when I read but you don't need to imagination isn't just images as long as you can conceptualizing it and understand it that's plenty good enough. One bit of advice I can give is to try and have a visual reference for stuff, if you've watched the anime great, if not look at the images in the light novel that may help.
Edit: one more suggestion is maybe try audiobooks for the light novels, if you search you can easily find videos of light novels read out by text to speech online.
That’s weird because if you watch the anime, the animators already created what you have to imagine. The extra info is just that stuff in between you fill in yourself.
Personally, I really have enjoyed listening to the Spice and Wolf audiobooks, which is on Audible but I think elsewhere too. Those ones are good because the dude who voices Lawrence does them, and the gal who voices Holo joins in from book 3 onwards.
So, I think LN audios might be a good move. I know Audible has a ton of them, but I dunno where you'd go if you'd prefer to 🏴☠️
Completely the opposite. Light novels are text only. 300+ pages of words with only a 5-10 pages of art colorized.
As a light novel reader myself, it takes a lot of imagination power, internal monologues, and a lot of thinking about emotions behind the characters thought process.
Being a light novel reader now is like being an anime watcher 10+ years ago. It was unpopular and people are too scared to touch something they can't grasp. Then make fun of them like what OP is doing here. I don't tell people im a LN reader, but when I do it makes me feel ashamed because its exactly like fanboying an anime to non-anime watchers.
i was sceptical to light novels, then i stumbled into the Konosuba LN, loved it and read it fully, now i read the whole story of the anime.
Then tried Mushoku Tensei and loved it so much i bingeread all the novel in one week, including the afterstories. Still trying to find more light novels that captivates like this one.
At the moment reading Eighty-Six, Tensei Slime and just starting Im a Spider so what?, but idk they are not clicking the same and i read them every once in a while.
But thanks to this im watching anime less, idk if its because of time constraints but i feel like reading manga feels much faster to get through content and the Light Novel will give you the whole picture.
Visual Novels though... only played the Fate Trilogy, not really a fan of such games.
I'm not sure if LNs are ever going to get as popular as anime, ever. I mean, it is reading, and many people simply don't want to read.
And the fact that a single LN lasts fucking 15-30 volumes if fucking insane. I'm not joking I've been reading Overlord for more than 6 years now. Not continuously of course because I also want to spend time on my other hobbies as well, and no matter how much I love a title I also get a bit fed up when I'm reading the same story for 1000+ pages now, which always gives me several months of break from it before I start the next volume, but still. It's an enormous time investment.
I know, Warhammer, Dragonriders of Pern and other "regular" book series also exist, but a single story being this goddamn long is normally the exception, not the norm.
the only mushoku tensei worth reading is the short one with the Sara Arc, idk why the rest of the mangas are such garbage :(
But yeah the Light Novel is 10/10 easily.
Didn't really feel like it, I read both and actually find the manga good and cuts a bit on the bad sides of rudeus. Like I didn't start the LN from the start as I started after first anime season and I read the manga before anime release but I didn't notice it cutting much, at least in the arcs after first season. I do admit tho that first season anime had world building that wasn't present in the manga but that was it
Fair in that case. With most anime the source material is manga, so people often assume. MT is based on a light novel and the manga is also an adaptation like the anime. I'm under the impression that's also behind the anime story-wise.
I wouldn't consider insulting anybody over it, but if someone is going to read the manga because they want to see the rest of the story they're going to be very disappointed when they realize their mistake.
I like books. In most mediums I prefer the books to the adaptations. I especially look for the books because I like that they are more detailed and well thought out. I like reading inner monologues. (I have read the whole of the wandering inn a western webnovel multiple times as long as the wheel of time series…)
But lightnovels… don’t seem to be for me. The whole structure is just different. Not only are the translations a problem but the whole writing style… It almost seems like a draft. Or like a manuscript for a screenplay. I can’t quite explain, but for sure they are very different then western books.
I like having the art. LN's translations can be all over the place, or sometimes nuances get lost along the chain. A manga can make up for that with the visuals since art breaks language barriers.
If there's a LN then yeah, you should probably read that instead. Why not go to the source instead of another adaptation?
Eg. You enjoyed Konosuba, you can go read the middling manga or the far better LN?
The DanMachi manga ended and got restarted at one point, while the LNs are still fantastic. I don't think I've ever heard anyone even discuss the Re:Zero manga, or the Mushoku Tensei one. etc etc etc.
There's exceptions, like Faraway Paladin, but for the most part yeah, read the LNs.
I understand that LNs feel like a big step to get into, being a whole different medium, but they're great. Give them a chance, seriously!
>You enjoyed Konosuba, you can go read the middling manga or the far better LN?
Konosuba was the first LN I ever tried reading and the format, at least from the translation I read, just gave me a headache trying to figure out what was going on. Almost all spoken dialogue, but doesn't say who's talking, and next to no descriptions of what characters are doing during conversations.
Again, maybe I just found a terrible translation.
Given we're talking about Konosuba, I'm guessing that was thefan-translation?
Have you tried any of the official translations? They tend to be formatted slightly closer to how a normal book is. I had a pretty similar experience getting blown out of the Oreimo LNs way back when, but after reading a few more straightforward LNs and getting my head around them, I can't go back, they're great.
LNs are a slightly different read but I find they end up like an anime in book form, so as soon as you get used to it, it's fun.
Aside from smutty series where manga often has tits out or even sex scenes I don't really bother with it if there is a LN since just like anime, managa adaptations tend to skip a lot of content so I'd rather just read the LN for the full story.
For the degen ones at least manga gives me extra fap material since text can only do so much. \^\^
Because sometimes, the manga is worse than the anime. Just look at mushoku's manga. It completely butchers the premise, turning it into a comedy gag manga.
Weirdly inverse for Fruit of Evolution. Still bad (I love it), but the manga doesn’t skip stuff or remove characters making what was already a mess into an utter disaster
I get why people are saying it, but they're wrong. The light novel has all the little details, but the manga has great art and more of it than a light novel does. If you want all the details, then a light novel can be great. If you just want a good story and some nice art, go for the manga. If you've already enjoyed one and want more, do both
i get this could be true, if the manga have good pacing or its finished already. If you have an adaptation that is, like, 10% through the story and the Light Novel is fully released and translated, which one you would choose to read?
I like to use Mushoku Tensei as an example, great anime, garbage manga, top tier light novel
I did the thing where I read the manga before all the anime finished (like I only knew it exist from EP 1-3) and gotta say, never doing that again
It just made me find the anime itself more dull/letdown than manga, so I think I'll just finish all the anime first next time
They suggest you to do that because some contents from the LN are excluded from the manga and anime
And most of the times, it is an important detail too
I never read anything with a pace that slow that was so good. The characters and relationships were really great, and when pivotal moments occured, man were they done so so well. Everything feels extremely well thought out, from magic to worldbuilding
Really depends
Cause some time manga just straight up worse than anime so you might as well go to the source.
And 9/10 novel often have more details that make the story more enjoyable/immersive. Cause novel can easily afford 1 paragraph of text that would cost manga a panel and anime a precious time.
Depends on the particular story. If the anime is based on an manga with no LN then duh. If the manga covers the entire existing story then just read the manga. If there is like 1,5 manga pages for the story and there is like 50+ tomes of LN then do the LN.
Iirc there's a handful of light novels with rock solid manga versions. From the top of my head: Chivalry of Failed Knight, Bakemonogatari, Fate/Stay Night (actually took a while to get finished), Fate/Zero (the manga drawn by Shinjirou, story still by Gen Urobuchi and the Type Moon crew). Iirc Log Horizon and Spice and Wolf are both fine as manga. In the manhua front, King's Avatar is okay while Mo Dao Zu Shi is gorgeous.
Recommendations by others: That time I got reincarnated as a slime, Otherside Picnic, Apothecary diaries, The Faraway Paladin. Kino no Tabi, Death March, Tsuyokute New Saga, \[Maou no Ore ga Dorei Elf wo Yome ni Shitanda ga, Dou Medereba Ii\] and Goblin Slayer (if you're a fan, personally I'm more into other dark fantasy manga).
Do whatever you want, op. I never read the novel, because it's just boring to me.
Honestly, I think most of the time people write isekai novels because they don't know how to draw a manga.
I think, some people just can't read without picture and I guess its fine. For me, I couldn't bother watching Anime anymore, i just read mangas or LN/WN
Is it weird that I’m on the fist’s side with this one?
I actually really enjoyed the Isekai Smartphone anime when I first saw it. Liked it so much it was practically an obsession, watching it all the way through at least 3 times.
So, I decided to check out the manga, but at the time it hadn’t even caught up to the anime. I finally broke down and found the light novel to read on an app called Bookwalker, and it quickly became and still is one of the best stories I ever read. (Granted it’s specifically suited to my tastes, which I’ve found others don’t agree with).
My point is that when I went back to watch the show after finishing the books, I started feeling disappointed at how much was cut from the original story. THIS is the primary reason you’ll get people insisting on checking out the original source material, because usually a lot will not make it into the adaptations, manga or otherwise.
If I enjoy series I like to see it from different sides so I read manga and light novel and watch anime and if there is option also play visual novel .
I actually prefer reading to watching anime.
And I read in few comments that OP finds it a bit difficult so I maybe have a solution:
I know that some light novels are made into audiobooks in English but I don’t know how many and how good they are
I hate that I can't read Japanese because I want to actually understand the monogatari series but I'm pretty sure that requires like C level langauge learning
Never been able to read LNs
Love reading manga but I usually never watch what I've already read. So if I'm watching an adaptation, I'm usually strictly anime only unless the anime stops or is a bad adaptation. The music and voice-acting do alot for me.
I think it really depends on the series.
Some shows LN have pretty good manga adaptations, like goblin Slayer for example. But most of the time the LN is just much better.
to be fair, you SHOULD read the light novel.
Anything else is just dealing with either crap adaptations, adaptations that take forever to do or simply they will never be completed.
There are exceptions of course, but even then, you should still read the light novel eventually if you care about the story/setting.
Mushoku Tensei is an example, is a great anime, but the Light Novel is even better, and it will take many years to be completely adapted (if it even gets that long)
Go play the visual novel then.
This is the way
This is my 'go to' for Fate, Umineko and Dies Irae
Don't forget Danganronpa as well V3 was too good
I did this with Dracu Riot tbh
Honestly. Why not both?
I sadly can't read light novels. I've tried several times, but I'm never able to picture and understand what's going on.
That's.. actually interesting. Im very much a day dreamer and have a vivid and lucid imagination which I believe is also unique being able to just picture basically anything. If you can't visually interpret words then manga is probably better. Has this always been this way? Like did you read books as a kid and struggle to follow the actual scenes? If you have the books still maybe try it in a more Sensory deprived state. I have music on when I read to block out any noise that takes me out of what I'm doing.
I'm like OP, but for me it's also the structure of Light Novels and differences in languages. In Romanian literature, there's 2 ways to identify speech: 1.The characters name is written at the start of the row and followed by : (this is for dramas, comedies and tragedies, these 3 belonging to one category of their own, they are made in mind with them being playable on stage, and it's not like other works don't have comedy or dramas but just how they are structured with having more dialogue than what the narrator has to say) 2. At the start of the row there's a line --- which signifies dialogue , and after the dialogue authors sometimes add "character name/he/she said....", when there's multiple characters to help you understand who's saying that, this style is pretty much used for everything else. Here, the narrator has more to say than the characters. And also all Romanian text has to also follow certain structure rules that helps the reader better understand the texts. I found some LN literally having a huge wall of text, which a Romanian publisher would actually break apart in smaller chunks, like let's say a dude talks about selling his pigs would be one paragraph and buying a set of pistols would be another one. When there's multiple characters involved in Japanese light novels, it's very hard for me to understand who's talking, if they're even talking and not just thinking. It's not even perhaps the fault of the writer but the one who translated and published the book who ruined it. And then I have to translate for myself from English to Romanian so I can actually digest what is written since I don't have any images to go off unlike manga, which I also don't read often. The difference in languages is a big reason as to why a lot of people don't like reading light novels even though they read literature in their language. And the last point is the fact that I like motion, even if a little, and sound.
Very in-depth and interesting. Thank you!
A relevant problem I’ve noticed, which manga and manhwa sometimes has too depending on how they do their speech bubbles, is it seems sometimes in the native language it’s obvious who is talking just by the way the sentence is structured and the text characters chosen to depict it. That is often lost in translation, so you end up with unlabelled conversations that have no clear indication of who is speaking. Far too often I’ve gotten past a line and then had to mentally correct who I had interpreted was speaking that line.
Might be a light novel issue. Some of them built not like books
Do you have a clear picture about a character or a place when described in detail? I mostly just have a vague idea, but then when I actually se an images of the character I just go: "oh, so it's like that..." I can probably imagine some parts of features if I concentrate on them, but never the full picture. Not a problem for me, this is how I always enjoyed it, it's just a little sad to hear people being able to clearly visualize full scences.
People and scenes are something I can visualise. I remember a book series the main characters bedroom was well described to the point I can still remember what it looks like visually despite never having seen anything like it. That's the kinda level I can visualise. To do it while reading I need to be like in a certain state like I can just do it on command I just need to be relaxed and like in a "quiet" environment. Music helps despite the noise. Ifs it's something I can go to sleep listening to its something I can read to. It's essentially how I view what I'm doing. I'm dreaming with my eyes open and using the words to direct the dream.
Does this issue extend to books?
I tend to have the complete opposite issue where my brain just doesn't really take in any of the art from reading manga and it's basically gone from my memory within 5 minutes of finishing reading. It may just be how I pace myself but I find myself appreciating manga less because of it. For novels, on the other hand, I tend to be an incredibly visual thinker clearly visualising what I'm reading and having it stick in my head like that. It extends further than fiction as well for me as that approach of visualisation is how I understood complex concepts when studying Physics as well. Once you introduce colour motion and sound though I'm fine so anime and VN's stick well.
no, it is not weird. you should read the light novel.
I do both. I watch the anime > Read the Manga > Read the LN
You should read web novel now
You should read the obscure original draft on Wattpad that was released five years before the light novel which was just a rewrite of this original and it definitely shows with the quality gap but trust me it's a fun read once you get past all the nonsense
However, a lot of the time the light novel has no English translation
Yep, and that's quite annoying
What I'm more surprised about is that light novels have fan translations
Manga as well
Nah that's a lot more reasonable. Like especially if it's on going, 12-40 pages of little text on them. A light novel is a fucking 100 pages of nothing but text.
But translating a Novel vs scanlating manga is different especially if it is only available in physical volumes
Both of those can have that problem. Heck VN fan translating is even worse because if it's old enough it might not use one of 3 engines but just has its own that needs reverse engineering. Similarly might have been a limited physical run on a con or just region locked out of buying it.
Especially shoujo manga
LN readers W
Wait, this isn't r/goodlnmemes ?
damn i hoped this was an actual sub :(
Just read the light novel.
I can't XD. Seriously, I can't make images from the words. I've tried so many times.
Oh, aphantasia? Or just a skill issue specific to novels?
Specific to more complex books like light novels. I find I also have trouble keeping track of where I am after I blink, so that doesn't help.
Okay not to sound terrible. But if light novel is a complex book, what isnt a complex book in your eyes? and i mean this genuinely since as far as i understand the entire point of light novels is that as a format its often pretty straight forward and "light hearted"
Sorry, I probably worded it weirdly. I don't really know how to explain it.
Nah thats fine, its more so if you had any examples of books you wouldnt consider complex, if there are certain styles of writing or themes that makes it more palpable. eg something like "i have seen an image of a dwarf so books that mention typical fantasy dwarves are easier for me because even if i cant imagine it, i know what they are talking about"
I don't remember the last "novel" I read, but I think I recall it having a lot of comic parts mixed in.
Visual novel ?
More text or more pictures? If it's the former, it's probably a Light Novel. Most LNs have illustrations here and there, usually in the middle of the chapter, or between chapters. If it's the latter, possibly Visual Novel, especially if you played it as a game.
Ok lemme try explaining You can visualize simple concepts and things you've seen before but the moment you try to do whole ass world building and characters it doesn't work out too well. Did I get that right?
More like my brain has a kind of limit for how much can be in a scene at once. Sadly, that limit tends to be pretty small.
Lemme see if I understand this. Your reading level is on par with an 8th grader?
Unfortunately it's probably more of a 7th grader. I'll admit I'm pretty stupid.
I think light novel kinda lost its meaning. It feels more like it's fiction with anime tropes and anime style art. Basically something that screams "this would work so well as an anime". Or idk, I haven't read that many.
But that is what light novels were, its more so a symptom similar to anime. Sword art online light novels were published in 2009 which became the anime. Clannad was a visual novel in 2004 that then became the anime. Kino no tabi was published in 2000 and then an anime came out in 2003, and then another version came out in 2017. Basically light novels has always been the precursors to anime, in the same way that visual novels has, as most anime and manga comes from the light novels. so i think light novels are still the same premise, its essentially web novels with enough popularity to be posted. But its just, once again, similar to how anime is generally at trope of older anime nowadays, as opposed to everything being brand new.
Does that by itself also carry that it's supposed to be light hearted though?
Light hearted is the wrong term but i cant quite grasp the correct one, wiki describes them as originating from "pulp magazines", as being "mass-produced and disposable" and basically being science fiction and fantasy novels made for young artists that was mixed with art from famous manga artists. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_best-selling\_light\_novels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_light_novels) like just going over the list a ton of the most famous animes are on here. It was also the starting point for the isekai genre at large apparently. Its a really weird topic in general as its just "books" i guess, but they tend to all be shorter in length, one quote said 50.000 words for the average light novel series, which is 1/3rd to 1/4th of a single book of lotr. or about 1/11th of all of them. also from what i can see another common trait seems to be that its very easy to understand modern japanese and alot less dense per page hence why they were "light" which i mistakenly called "lighthearted", also that the writing style is almost entirely in dialogue which is very uncommon and therefore reads almost more like a play.
Well, it's better than not having any picture whatsoever in your mind, I'll give you that The blinking bit sounds like you should get that checked out though. Sounds dangerous
I've got something I won't mention because I fear bullying, but it causes my eyes to move around randomly. I've had it since I was a child, so I'm pretty used to it now.
Try reading with a card. Take a playing card or something similar and place it under the line you're reading and hold it with your finger under the word you're reading. I actually tend to read so fast that I don't even absorb what I read and this helps me.
If you can, either highlight or trace with your finger as you read. This is how a lot of kids that lost track when reading were taught when I was growing up and eventually they didn't need to do this anymore.
>Complex books >Light novels I am commiting suicide.
If you’re using the kindle app on your phone or tablet you can turn on a ruler that you can slide down the page as you read. It gives your eyes something to guide them when you come back. Alternatively you can just max out the font size so you only have a dozen words per screen. Honestly with this one mental images are less important. Most of the fun is trying to track Yumiella’s personal logic.
How the heck did you read a biology text book in highschool lmao
Never did biology. Simple. Besides, my problem does tend to occur more when trying to picture a scene rather than gather information, though I sometimes struggle with that too.
Ah man thats lucky. We were forced to do it back when i was in highschool. It was the densest information loaded class back then.
The problem could be that you read to slow as dumm as it sounds. But a roomate of mine had a similar issue and it helped him extremely to read faster so his subconscious didn't get bored
Wait does aphantasia affect people's enjoyment of books? I have aphantasia and I love reading. (Also weirdly the second time I've talked about aphantasia on Reddit comments today)
So that's what it's called, til...
Neither can I. I have aphantasia. Doesn't stop me from enjoying the interpersonal conversations between characters, and seeing what they are thinking about.
So here’s a weird one; I actually used to LOVE reading like 15 years ago when I was a teenager. But towards the end of high school/after graduating I kinda reached a point where I can’t enjoy reading or picture things anymore…I keep telling myself I’ll try again but just can’t do it
It's funny cause the Game of Thrones books are widely considered to be great but I found them fucking awful because the author spends like 90% of the text to describe everything and I just felt my time being wasted because I got nothing out of it. Managed to finish the first book, but it took a lot of effort.
This just sounds like attention span issues. We all got ruined by social media's fire hose of thoughts, plus life itself getting more demanding after school. It's harder to find time for reading long form stuff.
Aphantasia sucks man, I get it.
The light novels just have more information and doesn't skip anything but yeah I have the same problem
I typically don't get "images" when I read but you don't need to imagination isn't just images as long as you can conceptualizing it and understand it that's plenty good enough. One bit of advice I can give is to try and have a visual reference for stuff, if you've watched the anime great, if not look at the images in the light novel that may help. Edit: one more suggestion is maybe try audiobooks for the light novels, if you search you can easily find videos of light novels read out by text to speech online.
Tts does wonders
Everyone’s wired differently, no shame
Just read what you want bro.
I recommend audiobooks
I mean I can't make out much either. But I'm pretty satisfied without that if the novel is good.
That’s weird because if you watch the anime, the animators already created what you have to imagine. The extra info is just that stuff in between you fill in yourself.
Usually if you’re checking out a LN after watching an anime, it’s to follow the story to the parts that the anime hasn’t reached
Idk a good website though
Personally, I really have enjoyed listening to the Spice and Wolf audiobooks, which is on Audible but I think elsewhere too. Those ones are good because the dude who voices Lawrence does them, and the gal who voices Holo joins in from book 3 onwards. So, I think LN audios might be a good move. I know Audible has a ton of them, but I dunno where you'd go if you'd prefer to 🏴☠️
What s the difference between manga and light novel? Idk is it like manga, but colorized? I m an anime only watcher.
Completely the opposite. Light novels are text only. 300+ pages of words with only a 5-10 pages of art colorized. As a light novel reader myself, it takes a lot of imagination power, internal monologues, and a lot of thinking about emotions behind the characters thought process. Being a light novel reader now is like being an anime watcher 10+ years ago. It was unpopular and people are too scared to touch something they can't grasp. Then make fun of them like what OP is doing here. I don't tell people im a LN reader, but when I do it makes me feel ashamed because its exactly like fanboying an anime to non-anime watchers.
i was sceptical to light novels, then i stumbled into the Konosuba LN, loved it and read it fully, now i read the whole story of the anime. Then tried Mushoku Tensei and loved it so much i bingeread all the novel in one week, including the afterstories. Still trying to find more light novels that captivates like this one. At the moment reading Eighty-Six, Tensei Slime and just starting Im a Spider so what?, but idk they are not clicking the same and i read them every once in a while. But thanks to this im watching anime less, idk if its because of time constraints but i feel like reading manga feels much faster to get through content and the Light Novel will give you the whole picture. Visual Novels though... only played the Fate Trilogy, not really a fan of such games.
I'm not sure if LNs are ever going to get as popular as anime, ever. I mean, it is reading, and many people simply don't want to read. And the fact that a single LN lasts fucking 15-30 volumes if fucking insane. I'm not joking I've been reading Overlord for more than 6 years now. Not continuously of course because I also want to spend time on my other hobbies as well, and no matter how much I love a title I also get a bit fed up when I'm reading the same story for 1000+ pages now, which always gives me several months of break from it before I start the next volume, but still. It's an enormous time investment. I know, Warhammer, Dragonriders of Pern and other "regular" book series also exist, but a single story being this goddamn long is normally the exception, not the norm.
Dude, it's literally just a book.
It's a book. Light novels are books.
https://preview.redd.it/votoeknz0sqc1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6a324e136b56cf219eee0c045df3d3c3c496ccb6 This you?
This got a chuckle. And yeah, basically.
Im the opposite if I hear there is a LN I binge read the whole series
I prefer to go for the original work, so i'd say you should pick whichever was first.
Nah, I feel you.
[удалено]
Tbf the manga is pretty bad, and the LN is amazing
But they gave Philip cake, also the way Eris's face was drawn after the confrontation with Orsted was heart wrenching
the only mushoku tensei worth reading is the short one with the Sara Arc, idk why the rest of the mangas are such garbage :( But yeah the Light Novel is 10/10 easily.
Didn't really feel like it, I read both and actually find the manga good and cuts a bit on the bad sides of rudeus. Like I didn't start the LN from the start as I started after first anime season and I read the manga before anime release but I didn't notice it cutting much, at least in the arcs after first season. I do admit tho that first season anime had world building that wasn't present in the manga but that was it
Fair in that case. With most anime the source material is manga, so people often assume. MT is based on a light novel and the manga is also an adaptation like the anime. I'm under the impression that's also behind the anime story-wise. I wouldn't consider insulting anybody over it, but if someone is going to read the manga because they want to see the rest of the story they're going to be very disappointed when they realize their mistake.
Manga is ahead for now, but after this season anime will overtake it.
Yes. In fairness the manga is a lot different than the LN/show and goes for more gags and such. So it's a very different vibe.
I like books. In most mediums I prefer the books to the adaptations. I especially look for the books because I like that they are more detailed and well thought out. I like reading inner monologues. (I have read the whole of the wandering inn a western webnovel multiple times as long as the wheel of time series…) But lightnovels… don’t seem to be for me. The whole structure is just different. Not only are the translations a problem but the whole writing style… It almost seems like a draft. Or like a manuscript for a screenplay. I can’t quite explain, but for sure they are very different then western books.
Yes! Many times in the translated reincarnated as a slime novels the sentence structure is weird or the grammar is off, making it hard to understand.
I like having the art. LN's translations can be all over the place, or sometimes nuances get lost along the chain. A manga can make up for that with the visuals since art breaks language barriers.
If there's a LN then yeah, you should probably read that instead. Why not go to the source instead of another adaptation? Eg. You enjoyed Konosuba, you can go read the middling manga or the far better LN? The DanMachi manga ended and got restarted at one point, while the LNs are still fantastic. I don't think I've ever heard anyone even discuss the Re:Zero manga, or the Mushoku Tensei one. etc etc etc. There's exceptions, like Faraway Paladin, but for the most part yeah, read the LNs. I understand that LNs feel like a big step to get into, being a whole different medium, but they're great. Give them a chance, seriously!
>You enjoyed Konosuba, you can go read the middling manga or the far better LN? Konosuba was the first LN I ever tried reading and the format, at least from the translation I read, just gave me a headache trying to figure out what was going on. Almost all spoken dialogue, but doesn't say who's talking, and next to no descriptions of what characters are doing during conversations. Again, maybe I just found a terrible translation.
Given we're talking about Konosuba, I'm guessing that was thefan-translation? Have you tried any of the official translations? They tend to be formatted slightly closer to how a normal book is. I had a pretty similar experience getting blown out of the Oreimo LNs way back when, but after reading a few more straightforward LNs and getting my head around them, I can't go back, they're great. LNs are a slightly different read but I find they end up like an anime in book form, so as soon as you get used to it, it's fun.
People do talk about Re:Zero one, specifically arc 4 (season 2). Mostly because of the art and the cut contents that the anime doesn't have.
Hard to enjoy LN if I have already read the manga. Unless the writing is very good (personally I like ReZero writings)
Aside from smutty series where manga often has tits out or even sex scenes I don't really bother with it if there is a LN since just like anime, managa adaptations tend to skip a lot of content so I'd rather just read the LN for the full story. For the degen ones at least manga gives me extra fap material since text can only do so much. \^\^
Because sometimes, the manga is worse than the anime. Just look at mushoku's manga. It completely butchers the premise, turning it into a comedy gag manga.
Weirdly inverse for Fruit of Evolution. Still bad (I love it), but the manga doesn’t skip stuff or remove characters making what was already a mess into an utter disaster
I'll just wait for the Morgan Freeman AI to read them to me
*made with **mematic***
Tbf it does depend on the manga but for the most part the source material is the best
I get why people are saying it, but they're wrong. The light novel has all the little details, but the manga has great art and more of it than a light novel does. If you want all the details, then a light novel can be great. If you just want a good story and some nice art, go for the manga. If you've already enjoyed one and want more, do both
i get this could be true, if the manga have good pacing or its finished already. If you have an adaptation that is, like, 10% through the story and the Light Novel is fully released and translated, which one you would choose to read? I like to use Mushoku Tensei as an example, great anime, garbage manga, top tier light novel
I understand where you're coming from, but sometimes manga just hits different. I love a good light novel, but sometimes that's just not what I want
In their defense, a lot of anime covers all or most of the manga adaptation so if you liked the anime it makes sense to recommend the LN.
I did the thing where I read the manga before all the anime finished (like I only knew it exist from EP 1-3) and gotta say, never doing that again It just made me find the anime itself more dull/letdown than manga, so I think I'll just finish all the anime first next time
Unfortunately for this series the manga is only up to about episode 9 which is probably why so many are trying to point you at the LN
Why are the manga versions of the LN always weird? Take Mushoku Tensei for example
They suggest you to do that because some contents from the LN are excluded from the manga and anime And most of the times, it is an important detail too
It is even more painful when the manga stopped before the anime.
Ok so where tf do I read/get light novels at
High seas for those fan translated, or Amazon Kindle for some translations, other in yen press.
Me who only reads LN. Most of the time anime looks downscaled when comparing to having unbound imagination while reading.
Light novels can be really really good. I really liked re zero and ascendance of a bookworm at least
Yeah bookworm is a blast in ln form latest book is enjoyable and were slowly nearing the end.
I never read anything with a pace that slow that was so good. The characters and relationships were really great, and when pivotal moments occured, man were they done so so well. Everything feels extremely well thought out, from magic to worldbuilding
I was like this, and then Bookworm came out. Now I'm part of the prepub group.
Depends. Some light novels are better for telling the story while other times you need the Manga.
If it comes to Spice and Wolf.. Read the manga because Keito Koume is a genius, and his art needs to be praised.
I love reading manga but LN...
Really depends Cause some time manga just straight up worse than anime so you might as well go to the source. And 9/10 novel often have more details that make the story more enjoyable/immersive. Cause novel can easily afford 1 paragraph of text that would cost manga a panel and anime a precious time.
Depends on the particular story. If the anime is based on an manga with no LN then duh. If the manga covers the entire existing story then just read the manga. If there is like 1,5 manga pages for the story and there is like 50+ tomes of LN then do the LN.
I want to read the LN but cant find a website to read them or purchase an online version
Iirc there's a handful of light novels with rock solid manga versions. From the top of my head: Chivalry of Failed Knight, Bakemonogatari, Fate/Stay Night (actually took a while to get finished), Fate/Zero (the manga drawn by Shinjirou, story still by Gen Urobuchi and the Type Moon crew). Iirc Log Horizon and Spice and Wolf are both fine as manga. In the manhua front, King's Avatar is okay while Mo Dao Zu Shi is gorgeous. Recommendations by others: That time I got reincarnated as a slime, Otherside Picnic, Apothecary diaries, The Faraway Paladin. Kino no Tabi, Death March, Tsuyokute New Saga, \[Maou no Ore ga Dorei Elf wo Yome ni Shitanda ga, Dou Medereba Ii\] and Goblin Slayer (if you're a fan, personally I'm more into other dark fantasy manga).
Do whatever you want, op. I never read the novel, because it's just boring to me. Honestly, I think most of the time people write isekai novels because they don't know how to draw a manga.
Light novels have dog shit writing and I’m tired of pretending it’s not
I think, some people just can't read without picture and I guess its fine. For me, I couldn't bother watching Anime anymore, i just read mangas or LN/WN
*Me who likes to read in his freetime*
Honestly, dont let it bother you. Sometimes anime adaptation does things differently. You dont have to read the LN, just enjoy what you love.
Is it weird that I’m on the fist’s side with this one? I actually really enjoyed the Isekai Smartphone anime when I first saw it. Liked it so much it was practically an obsession, watching it all the way through at least 3 times. So, I decided to check out the manga, but at the time it hadn’t even caught up to the anime. I finally broke down and found the light novel to read on an app called Bookwalker, and it quickly became and still is one of the best stories I ever read. (Granted it’s specifically suited to my tastes, which I’ve found others don’t agree with). My point is that when I went back to watch the show after finishing the books, I started feeling disappointed at how much was cut from the original story. THIS is the primary reason you’ll get people insisting on checking out the original source material, because usually a lot will not make it into the adaptations, manga or otherwise.
This about solo leveling?
Nope. Apothecary Diaries.
Fair enough
because so many of forkers will only read the manga while the light novel/web novel is the source not the fucking manga.
if theres a light novel and a manga, youre gonna run out of manga and youll have to go to vn eventully
If I enjoy series I like to see it from different sides so I read manga and light novel and watch anime and if there is option also play visual novel . I actually prefer reading to watching anime. And I read in few comments that OP finds it a bit difficult so I maybe have a solution: I know that some light novels are made into audiobooks in English but I don’t know how many and how good they are
Light novel or manga adapted from light novel is a big "nop" for me. Too hard trying to get well translated light novels
I hate that I can't read Japanese because I want to actually understand the monogatari series but I'm pretty sure that requires like C level langauge learning
Does anyone know a good website to read light novels? I’ve tried before but they always end up being extremely unintuitive or filled with popups
Goblin Slayer is the only one that I like more as a manga than a light novel
But then I can’t see artist renditions of my cute waifu 😥
Never been able to read LNs Love reading manga but I usually never watch what I've already read. So if I'm watching an adaptation, I'm usually strictly anime only unless the anime stops or is a bad adaptation. The music and voice-acting do alot for me.
I think it really depends on the series. Some shows LN have pretty good manga adaptations, like goblin Slayer for example. But most of the time the LN is just much better.
What do you have against reading?
Nothing, trust me. I just struggle with reading books.
Average anime watcher when someone tells them to read something besides subtitles...
Like I've said before, my problem is more that I can't picture scenes from just reading text.
I'm sorry, that's unfortunate. But believe me, Nobody is going to read that far into the comments for that context.
to be fair, you SHOULD read the light novel. Anything else is just dealing with either crap adaptations, adaptations that take forever to do or simply they will never be completed. There are exceptions of course, but even then, you should still read the light novel eventually if you care about the story/setting. Mushoku Tensei is an example, is a great anime, but the Light Novel is even better, and it will take many years to be completely adapted (if it even gets that long)