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The Fall 2025 Light Novel Guide




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Blanchimont



Joined: 25 Feb 2012
Posts: 3846
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Fri Oct 24, 2025 3:04 pm Reply with quote
Is this only for physical releases? I noticed 'Making Magic' has been released up to volume 8 digitally, but the one released in September was the physical volume 1?

Edit; Seems to be mixed? (Isekai Tensei has 11 volumes out digitally, physical volume 1 out in September, but This Gyaru’s Got a Thing for...Vampire Hunters?! is the digital volume 1)
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dm
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Joined: 24 Sep 2010
Posts: 1723
PostPosted: Fri Oct 24, 2025 5:07 pm Reply with quote
O’Connel’s (Ultimate Anime) youtube channel (Beyond Ghibli) is well worth checking out, too. I am looking forward to his book.
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Pentat



Joined: 27 May 2025
Posts: 11
PostPosted: Fri Oct 24, 2025 5:38 pm Reply with quote
It's so strange that these guides are published just twice a year, spring and fall, but only cover books released in those actual seasons, leaving everything that comes out in summer and winter ignored for no apparent reason. It'd make sense if spring and summer were peak release seasons for light novels, but that's not a thing, and it feels like half the year is skipped over arbitrarily. It'd be really nice to at least see the coverage of the guides expanded to allow books that get released in June through August or December through February to get covered. As is, only a very small number of summer and winter books get covered in full blown reviews, and those tend to come way too late to help make choices about what new series to check out (like the Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table review that just went up a whole year and a half after the book came out).
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 02 May 2011
Posts: 3269
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 24, 2025 6:47 pm Reply with quote
Pentat wrote:
It's so strange that these guides are published just twice a year, spring and fall, but only cover books released in those actual seasons, leaving everything that comes out in summer and winter ignored for no apparent reason.


We had generally tried to fill in the gaps with long-form reviews in between seasons, but there were titles that slipped through the gaps in between.

Pentat wrote:
It'd be really nice to at least see the coverage of the guides expanded to allow books that get released in June through August or December through February to get covered.


Surprise, this is happening. You'll see the first Winter Manga Guide in February.

Pentat wrote:
(like the Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table review that just went up a whole year and a half after the book came out).


This was one that slipped through the cracks during release but was recently picked up for an anime adaptation, so we went back for a review. When a new anime is announced, I try to go through all the announced adaptations to see if we reviewed its source material. So you might see reviews like that one, or a review for TITLE Volumes x-x (based on what is available).

Blanchimont wrote:
Is this only for physical releases? I noticed 'Making Magic' has been released up to volume 8 digitally, but the one released in September was the physical volume 1?

Edit; Seems to be mixed? (Isekai Tensei has 11 volumes out digitally, physical volume 1 out in September, but This Gyaru’s Got a Thing for...Vampire Hunters?! is the digital volume 1)


It's both. If a series has only been available digitally and has a new physical release within the season, we will cover it. If a series is a brand-new volume 1 digital release, we'll also cover that. What we cover depends heavily on what the individual publishers make available to us when we send out solicitations for the guide.
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invalidname
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Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 2553
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
PostPosted: Sun Oct 26, 2025 7:08 am Reply with quote
I presume From Memen to Mori was just titled Memen to Mori in Japanese, relying on “to” (と) to mean “and”, so that either way it spells out the Latin phrase “memento mori”.
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Cryten



Joined: 19 Jan 2019
Posts: 1399
PostPosted: Mon Oct 27, 2025 2:26 am Reply with quote
I tried to read Worthless at Home, Wiz to the World like 4 times and just had to put it down again and again over the brainless boring writing. It along with The Water Magician really made me appreciate quality written titles like Flung into a New World? Time to Life a 200 Year Curse! and Heir to a Monstermancer. Those where entertaining and engaging. Highly recommended.

(The Water Magician is probably one of the most boring novels I have ever read in my life, it left boredom scars in my mind).

Foodies really looked like Lolicon bait by the title and summary so I avoided it like the plague. Thanks for confirming that my instincts where right. I gave Take These Talents Elsewhere: A Delightful Demotion to the Countryside the benefit of the doubt concerning its child rearing his surrogate daughter only for her to in their opening meeting propose being his mistress, now I do not give those novels a chance.


The Wicked Princess and Her Twelve Eyes review sounds interesting, depending on how heavy it is into the being abusive side of things. As I cant handle the real rough stuff. Will have to look into it.

I wonder why J-Novel promotes its filler generic written material to your guides but doesnt give you reviews for their better works.

As a separate note, do you think putting the light novel guides into their own page rather then all the seasonal guides is in order? It can be quite hard to find it amid all the extra links to the anime guides plus every weekly chart. Like 5-6 each season. In fact I cant even find the spring light novel guide in the section.
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Shay Guy



Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 2654
PostPosted: Mon Oct 27, 2025 7:58 am Reply with quote
Erica on Making Magic wrote:
I'm getting the hang of series about a reincarnated soul in which they manage to do things is more of the story than they things done


…Run that sentence by me again?
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