News

J-Novel Club Announces Licenses of 7 New Light Novels, 3 New Manga (Updated)

Anime News Network's coverage of Anime Expo 2019 is sponsored by Yen Press.

J-Novel Club announced the following light novel licenses at its panel at Anime Expo on Saturday:

• Hagane Kurodome's There Was No Secret Evil-Fighting Organization (srsly?!), So I Made One MYSELF!
• Iori Miyazawa's Otherside Picnic: Their Strange Exploration Files
• SOW's The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress
• Ameko Kaeruda's Onna dakara, to Party wo Tsuihōsareta no de Densetsu no Majo to Saikyō Tag wo Kumimashita (English title not yet approved, pictured at right)
• Yusaku Sakaishi's Seinaru Kishi no Ankokudō (English title not yet approved)
• Kurone Kanzaki's Demon Lord, Retry! (Maō-sama, Retry!)
• Yukiya Murasaki's Altina the Sword Princess

The company also announced the following manga licenses at the panel:

• Yu Yagami's Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Reckless Journey (Majutsushi Orphen: Mubō-hen, manga adaptation of Yoshinobu Akita's light novel arc)
• Kochimo's Cooking with Wild Game (based on EDA's light novel series that J-Novel Club is also releasing)
• Amaru Minotake's Demon Lord, Retry! (Maō-sama, Retry! manga, pictured at right, based on Kurone Kanzaki's light novel series)

The company also announced it will launch a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign this fall to print the first 31 volumes of Takehaya and illustrator Poco's Invaders of the Rokujouma!? light novel series. The campaign will fund releasing the series in 10 softcover omnibus books, with each book containing three or four volumes of the light novel series.

The primary goal of the campaign will be US$50,000, with an extra reward of a print art book, and two stretch goals of a collector's box and drama CDs. The company plans to deliver the rewards from the Kickstarter campaign in the first half of 2020 if funded.

J-Novel Club licensed the series in 2017, and will be caught up with the Japanese releases of the novels "shortly." The novel series' 32nd volume launched in Japan on July 1.

Additionally, J-Novel Club announced that it will release Satoshi Hase's Beatless novel series in two volumes. The release is in partnership with Tokyo Otaku Mode.

Update: Made some corrections and additions after J-Novel Club clarified its licenses on Twitter. The company has licensed both the novels and manga for Demon Lord, Retry!. Additionally, Yukiya Murasaki's Altina the Sword Princess license is not in partnership with Tokyo Otaku Mode as previously stated. J-Novel Club's release of The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress is in partnership with BookWalker (BookWalker has already released some of the novels on its service).

Sources: J-Novel Club's Anime Expo Panel (Deb Aoki), J-Novel Club's Twitter account