×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
Twelve Kingdoms


Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9  Next

Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Novels
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
selenta
Subscriber



Joined: 19 Apr 2006
Posts: 1774
Location: Seattle, WA
PostPosted: Tue Dec 11, 2007 2:20 pm Reply with quote
I'm going to agree with littlegreenwolf. I like the novel more than the anime, and considering how much I liked the anime, that's saying something. However, what I liked was the story, not the translation.

I do not know how the original Japanese was written, but the translated English version was extremely plain. It seemed to be written at an 8th grade level; by spelling everything out for the reader and using rather banal diction/grammar I felt like I wasn't being taken seriously as a reader. I understand that the average anime fan is young, but we're not talking about anime here, we're talking about a novel and it should have been translated as such.


Last edited by selenta on Tue Dec 18, 2007 6:27 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
jayntampa



Joined: 29 Sep 2007
Posts: 12
PostPosted: Thu Dec 13, 2007 3:11 pm Reply with quote
The next novel will be out in March, one of the editors over at TP said it could start showing up early that month (a couple of weeks before the actual release date). However, he' say everything was completely on track.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Key
Moderator


Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18137
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Tue Dec 18, 2007 10:48 am Reply with quote
littlegreenwolf wrote:
Nope, none of those, and I did like how they introduced various kanji. Like I said in my earlier post, it read like a direct translation to me, and had none of the fluidity a well written story usually has. Any other book and I would of go fed up and found something better to read, but my love of the anime makes me push on.


These comments surprise me, as I thought it read perfectly fine.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
Aoi Yuki



Joined: 21 Aug 2007
Posts: 17
PostPosted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 11:10 am Reply with quote
2nd Book came out today im eager to get my hands on it and start reading.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Key
Moderator


Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18137
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 3:28 pm Reply with quote
I was able to pick up a copy of The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Wind at a local Borders today. (They had it on the shelf in the manga section even though it isn't a manga and is hardbacked.) I plan to read it during a weekend trip, so a review should be up on it sometime next week.

For those familiar with the anime, this is the original novel on which the story arc about Taiki (episodes 15-22, I think?) was based.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
LydiaDianne



Joined: 28 Jan 2006
Posts: 5633
Location: Southern California
PostPosted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 9:24 pm Reply with quote
Key wrote:
I was able to pick up a copy of The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Wind at a local Borders today. (They had it on the shelf in the manga section even though it isn't a manga and is hardbacked.) I plan to read it during a weekend trip, so a review should be up on it sometime next week.

For those familiar with the anime, this is the original novel on which the story arc about Taiki (episodes 15-22, I think?) was based.


I got mine today as well.

I'm looking forward to your review and I'm really looking forward to seeing how Taiki's story ends since it wasn't finished in the anime.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Key
Moderator


Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18137
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:38 am Reply with quote
Even though I haven't read the novel yet, it's my understanding that it covers exactly the same ground as the second anime arc (minus the presence of Yoko and Sugimoto). I know there's another novel later in the series (the 5th, maybe?) which finishes the story of Taiki, but it, of course, didn't get animated.

When I was researching for the review of the first book I ran across a site last year which had a brief breakdown of what storyline was featured in what book. Do a Google on the novels and you can probably find it.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
BleuVII



Joined: 19 Sep 2006
Posts: 672
Location: Tokorozawa, Japan
PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:38 pm Reply with quote
So... Anime News Network is quoted on the back of the second novel's cover. To my knowledge, they haven't even reviewed this title. Curious, eh?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
LydiaDianne



Joined: 28 Jan 2006
Posts: 5633
Location: Southern California
PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:42 pm Reply with quote
BleuVII wrote:
So... Anime News Network is quoted on the back of the second novel's cover. To my knowledge, they haven't even reviewed this title. Curious, eh?


As a matter of fact, yes, they have.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
BleuVII



Joined: 19 Sep 2006
Posts: 672
Location: Tokorozawa, Japan
PostPosted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 12:04 pm Reply with quote
LydiaDianne wrote:
BleuVII wrote:
So... Anime News Network is quoted on the back of the second novel's cover. To my knowledge, they haven't even reviewed this title. Curious, eh?


As a matter of fact, yes, they have.


Well I knew that much. It was because of their review I picked the first one up to begin with. But the back cover of the SECOND novel quotes them, without giving any indication that the quote was for a review of book one.

...and after finishing the second book about 4 hours ago, I have to admit that it's really not even in the same league as the first.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
marie-antoinette



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 4136
Location: Ottawa, Canada
PostPosted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 9:31 pm Reply with quote
With books in a series it's pretty common practice to let reviews for one book in the series be quoted on other books in the series, with or without mention that it wasn't for that book. It happens all the time.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Key
Moderator


Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18137
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:24 am Reply with quote
I ended up having much less time to read this past weekend than I had expected, so I've only gotten about a third of the way through so far. I have yet to be even the slightest bit disappointed, however.

And LydiaDianne is right, the quote was taken from the first novel's review, but I have no objection to the way it's used here.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
ishmael



Joined: 21 Jul 2006
Posts: 128
PostPosted: Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:05 pm Reply with quote
I loved the anime, watched it twice already (given it's 45 episodes, it's a lot!) and planning on a third time, and loved the book just as much. I have the second, but I will finish Vampire Hunter D first, then some other book I got for Christmas (I'm late in my reading...).

And I found out the other day they have also been translated into French, and book 3 is already out... but the book looks much better in English, the French edition is small and the first and third books are divided into two parts. Still, they're one book ahead of English.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
nargun



Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Posts: 924
PostPosted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 5:06 am Reply with quote
ishmael wrote:
And I found out the other day they have also been translated into French, and book 3 is already out... but the book looks much better in English, the French edition is small and the first and third books are divided into two parts.


They were divided in japanese, too. Japanese novels are fairly short by english standards.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Moomintroll



Joined: 08 Oct 2007
Posts: 1600
Location: Nottingham (UK)
PostPosted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 6:24 am Reply with quote
nargun wrote:
Japanese novels are fairly short by english standards.


Light novels tend to be fairly short because they're designed to be, well, light reading but I can't say that I've noticed Japanese literature aimed at adults rather than teens being particularly brief.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Novels All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9  Next
Page 2 of 9

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group