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INTEREST: Publishers Weekly: NisiOisin is No. 2 Author with Most Translated Books in the U.S. in Las




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ncikz



Joined: 31 Jul 2011
Posts: 22
PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2019 6:55 pm Reply with quote
And still no English Medaka Box Sad
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marshmallowpie



Joined: 22 Sep 2009
Posts: 300
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
PostPosted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 7:08 am Reply with quote
So, why don't LNs count? And why are Nisioisin's works an exception? I haven't read any Monogatari, but Decapitation has anime illustrations, and in terms of style, it definitely has that LN feeling. (Although that's just my vague opinion.)
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oFFoy



Joined: 11 Dec 2015
Posts: 19
PostPosted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 7:58 am Reply with quote
marshmallowpie wrote:
So, why don't LNs count? And why are Nisioisin's works an exception? I haven't read any Monogatari, but Decapitation has anime illustrations, and in terms of style, it definitely has that LN feeling. (Although that's just my vague opinion.)


Monogatari books do not have illustrations, don't know if it means anything though.
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Animorphimagi





PostPosted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 10:08 am Reply with quote
It is a bit silly to say Nisio Isin books aren't counted as light novels, but I'll assume it's all about page count.
A modern American light novel is like Goosebumps, but back in the day the comparison would be the Hardy Boys series. Hardy Boys had like 200+ pages per book while Goosebumps, even though it is a similar style, caps out at about 200 pages or less.
Similarly, the Monogatari series is old enough to be part of the first wave of light novels yet still had a fairly high amount of pages compared to today. Also if you go further back you have a "light novel" like Boogiebop Phantom which is basically of normal book size.

All that said, the way it's releasing in the US is probably different compared to its Japanese release. Over here, Bakemonogatari volume one combined two story arcs, likely to reach a higher page count. But some Monogatari arcs are way longer than others, especially later entries in the series. Bake volume one has about the same pages as Kizumonogatari which also has about the same pages as volume one of Boogiepop. But then Boogiepop's US distrubutor combined 3 boogiepop volumes into one omnibus style book.(Again, these all have basically no pictures in them)
So it's probably all about distributor decisions, which puts some series in a different genre as a result.
ALL THAT SAID. Boogiepop and Monogatari are for more mature audiences compared to most light novels, so maybe publishers see them as being taken more seriously if they are the length of normal US books. That said, the covers still have anime illustrations so it's not like they are expanding the audience...
It is possible to read these books and imagine that real people are experiencing the events, the anime art style was only used to appeal to a specific audience while being sold in Japan.
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Jose Cruz



Joined: 20 Nov 2012
Posts: 1767
Location: South America
PostPosted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 10:23 am Reply with quote
Light novels are translated by rikaikun app as young adult novels. Anyway, the distinction between "novel" and "light novel" is certainly ambiguous.
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Double Mangekyo



Joined: 17 Aug 2011
Posts: 179
PostPosted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 1:11 pm Reply with quote
Animorphimagi wrote:
It is a bit silly to say Nisio Isin books aren't counted as light novels, but I'll assume it's all about page count.
A modern American light novel is like Goosebumps, but back in the day the comparison would be the Hardy Boys series. Hardy Boys had like 200+ pages per book while Goosebumps, even though it is a similar style, caps out at about 200 pages or less.
Similarly, the Monogatari series is old enough to be part of the first wave of light novels yet still had a fairly high amount of pages compared to today. Also if you go further back you have a "light novel" like Boogiebop Phantom which is basically of normal book size.

- Monogatari series is not a light novel, because it's not published under a light novel label.
- Page count has nothing to do with it (see Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere). Many LNs today usually range from 240 to 300 (in JP; in EN it's more 180-300) pages.
- Boogiepop was originally released in bunko format, I don't think that's what you meant by "normal". Or maybe you meant the English edition?

Quote:
All that said, the way it's releasing in the US is probably different compared to its Japanese release. Over here, Bakemonogatari volume one combined two story arcs, likely to reach a higher page count.

No, in Japan Bake was originally 2 books. First had three arcs, the second - two. Vertical's EN releases were the same as the JP digital editions, which split Bake in three parts. The only difference so far is that Vertical decided to split Koyomimonogatari in 2 for whatever reason...

Quote:
But some Monogatari arcs are way longer than others, especially later entries in the series.

Most of the books are around 300 pages in Japan. Some of the more recent ones drop down to 250 or so.

Quote:
Bake volume one has about the same pages as Kizumonogatari which also has about the same pages as volume one of Boogiepop.

Not true.
Bake vol.1 JP= 456 (3 arcs) | EN= 240 (2 arcs)
Kizumono JP= 372 | EN= 354
Boogiepop JP= 283 | EN= 264
Quote:
(Again, these all have basically no pictures in them)

They do actually. Boogie has color inserts after the cover and B&W pictures between chapters, and Monogatari has another illustration (B&W, depicting a relevant heroine) after the cover.
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Chrono1000





PostPosted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 1:47 pm Reply with quote
The Shield Hero light novels have more than twice the page count of the average light novel but the series is still listed as light novels. It does seem to be a completely artificial category and it is strange that Publishers Weekly doesn't allow light novels on their sales lists. There are plenty of famous novels that have fairly short page counts and include illustrations such as The Hobbit.
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