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Spring 2026 Light Novel Guide




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FireChick
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Joined: 26 Mar 2006
Posts: 2760
Location: United States
PostPosted: Sat Apr 25, 2026 6:23 pm Reply with quote
I only read two of these so far

Frieren Novel: This one I really liked. It was great to see more time dedicated to exploring the characters. One detail I liked was when baby Fern is trying to find herbs to help Heiter, she gets dirty, and wishes for a spell that'll clean clothes. I cackled out loud, thinking "Oh child, you'll get your wish when you're older. Just you wait." I wonder how many volumes this is? Does anyone know if there's any more?

On the contrary, I really didn't like I Wish I Could Meet You Again On The Hill Where That Flower Blooms. Not only because the premise of sending a modern day girl into World War II time comes off really disingenuous, but the characters are all one-note, Akira in particular is so obnoxiously perfect he might as well be a Gary Stu, and the romance is literally just "love at first sight" with the characters having no substantial chemistry. However, to me the worst thing about it is that the books wants to give the message of being grateful for what you have, such as a family and going to school, but Yuri's mother comes off like an emotionally manipulative abusive parent, and Yuri's teacher is so comically angry and cartoony that the intended message winds up completely botched. Sure, Yuri ought to be happy that she has a mother who slaps her, tells her really guilt-trippy things like "You always cause me so much trouble! You better make it up to me!" and "You're no child of mine" or that she can go to a school where the teachers throw toddler shitfits because how dare she be snarky at worst.
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Pentat



Joined: 27 May 2025
Posts: 11
PostPosted: Sat Apr 25, 2026 9:15 pm Reply with quote
I'm a little confused by the trophy marks on some novels. Do they mean anything specific, out of curiosity? Villainess Speaks Not, Venus Mission, Magic Maker, Far East's Savior, and Alchemist's Fluffy Island all got four stars from the same reviewer, so I'm curious if there's something that made Alchemist's Fluffy Island not get the mark while the others did. (I nearly didn't bother clicking on it after reading the others because I thought no mark meant a low score, and was surprised when it turned out to have the same star rating.)

EDIT: And I see now that Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea has four stars from two reviewers, so maybe the May novels just haven't gotten marked yet?
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Princess_Irene
ANN Associate Editor


Joined: 16 Dec 2008
Posts: 2808
Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City
PostPosted: Sun Apr 26, 2026 7:43 am Reply with quote
Pentat wrote:
I'm a little confused by the trophy marks on some novels. Do they mean anything specific, out of curiosity? Villainess Speaks Not, Venus Mission, Magic Maker, Far East's Savior, and Alchemist's Fluffy Island all got four stars from the same reviewer, so I'm curious if there's something that made Alchemist's Fluffy Island not get the mark while the others did. (I nearly didn't bother clicking on it after reading the others because I thought no mark meant a low score, and was surprised when it turned out to have the same star rating.)

EDIT: And I see now that Beacon of Light in the Dark Sea has four stars from two reviewers, so maybe the May novels just haven't gotten marked yet?


The trophy stickers do, as you guessed, mean that the book got 4 stars from all reviewers. We're having trouble with the May titles for some reason, but yes, they should both have trophies.
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fuuma_monou



Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 2031
Location: Quezon City, Philippines
PostPosted: Sun Apr 26, 2026 11:48 pm Reply with quote
There seems to be an error where visited links in the manga and light novel guides don't change color to indicate that they've been read.

Using Firefox 150 in Linux Mint 22.3
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sbrorequiem



Joined: 11 Feb 2026
Posts: 5
PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2026 1:38 pm Reply with quote
I'm really, really hoping that Shanti being translated opens up a bridge to other Vocaloid LNs getting translated!
Like Tondemo Wonderz, OUTLAWS/Musekinin Shuugoutai, Goodbye Declaration, Liar Dancer, Mafia (in the same series as Shanti!), Dokuzu, Override, The Vampire, Snowman..theres so much to choose from!
Though i'd imagine Shanti isn't selling like crazy which makes the chances lower Sad If people aren't interested enough theres nothing I can really do which is very sad
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PotatoGirl



Joined: 16 Dec 2016
Posts: 113
PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2026 6:56 pm Reply with quote
sbrorequiem wrote:
I'm really, really hoping that Shanti being translated opens up a bridge to other Vocaloid LNs getting translated!
Like Tondemo Wonderz, OUTLAWS/Musekinin Shuugoutai, Goodbye Declaration, Liar Dancer, Mafia (in the same series as Shanti!), Dokuzu, Override, The Vampire, Snowman..theres so much to choose from!
Though i'd imagine Shanti isn't selling like crazy which makes the chances lower Sad If people aren't interested enough theres nothing I can really do which is very sad


I would *love* for that to be true but unfortunetly I don't think Vocaloid LNs that don't feature Miku are very popular. Mikagura School Suite's LN was licensed ages ago but they only translated one volume because of how poorly it sold... Sad
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