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INTEREST: Kadokawa Holds Light Novel Contest for Stories About Adult Men


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Engineering Nerd



Joined: 24 Apr 2008
Posts: 897
Location: Southern California
PostPosted: Mon May 15, 2017 10:56 pm Reply with quote
To be fair, just because a LN features adult protagonist does NOT make it automatically good, but it does offer some fresh air out of the meta high-school settings.

Also, you can argue that the target audience for LN has also grown older, so this is a necessary business shift as well.


That being said, in this season, we have two LN adaptations features adult protagonists, Sukasuka and Akashic records (William 18+ and Glenn 19 years old) , and both are great and enjoyable in their own ways.


May this become a new trend.
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relyat08



Joined: 20 Mar 2013
Posts: 4125
Location: Northern Virginia
PostPosted: Mon May 15, 2017 10:57 pm Reply with quote
I'm down. I am still a fan of some of the more predictable LN trash that we get, and having an adult male lead certainly doesn't make anything inherently good, but this seems like a cool contest. And the best submission among a lot of submissions featuring adult males will probably be fairly good.
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harminia



Joined: 24 Aug 2015
Posts: 1987
Location: australia
PostPosted: Mon May 15, 2017 11:08 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Any original novel that does not have a story where the hero finds himself in a different world is eligible for submission.

But... But... what else is there to write about? Shocked
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7jaws7



Joined: 17 Aug 2013
Posts: 704
Location: New York State
PostPosted: Mon May 15, 2017 11:48 pm Reply with quote
They might be taking a page from the old Gen Urobuchi book. A lot of the things he wrote usually center around adult men:

Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom
Fate/Zero
Psycho-Pass
Thunderbolt Fantasy

Almost hard to believe he came up with a hit magical girl show.
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
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PostPosted: Tue May 16, 2017 12:45 am Reply with quote
Also, a LN series starring an adult man doesn't necessarily mean it will have adult/XXX stuff.
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Tomibiki



Joined: 08 Jul 2007
Posts: 834
PostPosted: Tue May 16, 2017 12:54 am Reply with quote
I'm hesitant to believe that this won't be a contest about badass adult guys who do adult things and instead just be about man children being irresponsible and not paying bills.
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YROSHIKU



Joined: 05 Feb 2017
Posts: 88
PostPosted: Tue May 16, 2017 2:33 am Reply with quote
"Kadokawa Holds Light Novel Contest for Stories About Adult Men"

And writen by 12 year old kids, legends of hottest fan-fics. Just can't wait to see more harem garbage.
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Lemonchest



Joined: 18 Mar 2015
Posts: 1771
PostPosted: Tue May 16, 2017 4:05 am Reply with quote
If alternate worlds are out of the question, I imagine a lot of bodyswapping/time travel entries a la ReLife & Erased.

He was a 20-something loser whose life wasn't going anywhere. Then, one day, a plot contrivence made him a teenager again, & suddenly his having been an adult somehow makes him awesome, though he's totally uncomfortable with all the barely legal female attention he immediately starts getting. Now he has to use the life experience of being a millenial NEET to help his classmates when they need it most: the school cultural festival.
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CaRoss



Joined: 11 Nov 2014
Posts: 457
PostPosted: Tue May 16, 2017 4:21 am Reply with quote
This is a really cool idea for a contest. I'm hoping that it can bring about some interesting new light novels to the market.

I'm personally hoping to see some interesting takes on Urban Fantasy - or at least just a Japanese take - and drama to stem from this.

Also, I would love to see if the "too old for this shit" mentality comes through in any of them. It's such a fun trope to write with.

While youth have plenty of room to grow and develop as characters - which makes them quite appealing to write about - there is also a whole lot of room for adult characters to be utilized to extremely effective degrees.
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Kuro shinigami



Joined: 08 Oct 2015
Posts: 34
PostPosted: Tue May 16, 2017 6:21 am Reply with quote
CaRoss wrote:
This is a really cool idea for a contest. I'm hoping that it can bring about some interesting new light novels to the market.

I'm personally hoping to see some interesting takes on Urban Fantasy - or at least just a Japanese take - and drama to stem from this.

Also, I would love to see if the "too old for this shit" mentality comes through in any of them. It's such a fun trope to write with.

While youth have plenty of room to grow and develop as characters - which makes them quite appealing to write about - there is also a whole lot of room for adult characters to be utilized to extremely effective degrees.
I mean there are Japanese urban fantasy stories that already exist.


Last edited by Kuro shinigami on Tue May 16, 2017 7:22 am; edited 1 time in total
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vanfanel



Joined: 26 Dec 2008
Posts: 1239
PostPosted: Tue May 16, 2017 6:56 am Reply with quote
Hmm...how about a story about a weak-willed harem protagonist's dad? He and Mom are off in space fighting a war with BEMs, which is why his kid gets to live alone and be surrounded by hijinks.

And that's just the title!
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
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PostPosted: Tue May 16, 2017 7:50 am Reply with quote
7jaws7 wrote:
Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom.

Reiji is actually 15 (per its Wikipedia and Visual Novel Database entries) but he certainly looks 20-something.
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MrTerrorist



Joined: 20 Oct 2010
Posts: 1348
PostPosted: Tue May 16, 2017 8:00 am Reply with quote
Looks like a good idea since there is an over-saturation of Isekai light novels about young male/female teenagers who are reborn or transported to a fantasy world. Worse when they have Mary Sue powers aka Cheats to help them succeed. (I even reading about twelve manga adaptations of these Isekai light novels and these were the good ones).

To me this restriction over having an adult male protagonist without using the Isekai trope is a good challenge for the writers since it means they have to think creatively to write a good story without using an overused trope.
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robertbaldie



Joined: 17 Mar 2014
Posts: 154
PostPosted: Tue May 16, 2017 8:02 am Reply with quote
harminia wrote:
Quote:
Any original novel that does not have a story where the hero finds himself in a different world is eligible for submission.

But... But... what else is there to write about? Shocked

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Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
Posts: 5113
Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready...
PostPosted: Tue May 16, 2017 8:26 am Reply with quote
harminia wrote:
Quote:
Any original novel that does not have a story where the hero finds himself in a different world is eligible for submission.

But... But... what else is there to write about? Shocked

Okay, bear with me here, what if the adult protagonist's little sister is transported to another world? But she still communicates with him via Line, and he has to help her get back home with the help of all her school friends, who all fall in love with him?

Please give me credit when they make the anime adaptation Very Happy Razz

I'm thinking of Inuyashiki--Hiroya Oku's (Gantz) new manga about a guy in his late 50s who gets superpowers. Older male superheros is a fun concept we could use more of (see also: Tiger & Bunny)
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