The curse of Light Novel Anime Adaptations!? Less than 15% get complete adaptations

Well I still waiting for another season

So what I'm a spider so what S2

Wandering Witch Journey of Elaina S2

Ascendance of Bookworm S3

Kino's Journey S2

Boogiepop and Others S2


the last 2 probably won't have another adaptation for ten years.

Well I still waiting for another season

So what I'm a spider so what S2

Wandering Witch Journey of Elaina S2

Ascendance of Bookworm S3

Kino's Journey S2

Boogiepop and Others S2


the last 2 probably won't have another adaptation for ten years.

Where did you get that 15% figure?

Also, are you saying that manga get complete adaptations more often? How do you know this?

Personally, I made peace with "unfinished" adaptations, anime or otherwise, or even unfinished source material, for that matter. It's just a fact of life now...

Yes, I am.

I can always read the ln.
Complete adaptations are hard.
Most ln are more endless than One Piece. And at each new season the viewer base goes down to 2/3 or less.
LN that are good tend to have way more characters than a common manga, so they have to use a lot of Voice Actors. That is a cost for anime, it is easier to add a new character in a novel.

Fan base whines about adaptation details. From these 15% completed, how many have big cuts, changes and simplifications?
How many would be mad if they change the Shiro ecchi scenes from NGNL?
I know I've read some scenes in LN that have very questionable parts, SAO receives a bad rap for way less. And what if anime already did the best animationable parts of its LN?

@perseii
Approximation from grok ai.
It says around 10% of manga get full adaptations so it seems ln adaptations are not alone in the issue. Manga though can be read like comics, and are much quicker to get more seasons though. My biggest indifference to LN in general comes from my yugioh player instincts. The desire no to read.

Yes, I am.

I can always read the ln.
Complete adaptations are hard.
Most ln are more endless than One Piece. And at each new season the viewer base goes down to 2/3 or less.
LN that are good tend to have way more characters than a common manga, so they have to use a lot of Voice Actors. That is a cost for anime, it is easier to add a new character in a novel.

Fan base whines about adaptation details. From these 15% completed, how many have big cuts, changes and simplifications?
How many would be mad if they change the Shiro ecchi scenes from NGNL?
I know I've read some scenes in LN that have very questionable parts, SAO receives a bad rap for way less. And what if anime already did the best animationable parts of its LN?

And most of that 15% are probably short LNs like Violet Evergarden (2 volumes). I wonder how many LNs with many volumes got a complete anime adaptation, or will Mushoku Tensei be the first one?

Personally, after watching/reading several good anime and manga without an ending, I got used to enjoy the ride even if I might never see the destination.

Most light novel series I know don't really have a concise enough story that is worth following from beginning to end. I enjoy getting more seasons of something I like, but if the story doesn't have a clear goal I don't ask for a complete adaptation.
For example I really like That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, but I don't feel like I would be missing a lot when season 4 got canceled.



I'm not really sure how well additional seasons would work in anime because of the non-linear structure of the story and how long it takes to get back to the part about the elf village, but I personally would disagree about the story going downhill 😄 I think it's great from beginning to end.

@Vaturna season 4 cancelled? What is your source considering the popularity of the IP? With how is sale are ongoing slime might have a full adaptation like hero but for LN.

That less than 15% complete number comes from a grok ai guess. Honestly, that number far overestimates the actual percentage nowadays. My bet is on 3%.which is sad.

I think Mushoku Tensie, Re: Zero and Tensura might eventually be fully covered. So is hopefully Monogatari the parts that are continuing.

The only problem is they are too long. MT probably could finish fastest with current pacing and even with studio which only prioritise that at best 2020-31 range. People may fell out of favour waiting for 8th season of Tensura which unfortunately doesn't have same popularity as battle shounen to keep it running.

I am still waiting and dying for Makeine S2 announcement. Anime being such a success it would have been obvious greenlit but still isn't.

Shana, Index, and Monogatari got full adaptations. Date A Live may get one too.

Shakugan no Shana fans got lucky.

Hopefully the Rascal series ends up getting a complete anime adaption.

My biggest problem with LN adaptations is they all have have ridiculously long titles that are egregiously, unrepently run on sentences that never make a damned bit of sense, and that no one in their right minds could give a flying fuck less about, and do nothing more than make the manufacturers of ink lots more money. .

@Lucifrost
Shana and Index did get a complete adaptation, but horribly rushed
Monogatari as a whole has some novels left to adapt, and with Family season still ongoing it will take a long time to get entirely adapted
If Date a Live gets a sixth season it might indeed be the first LN to get a complete adaptation that isn't horribly rushed

I don't think it's too different from manga where only really popular ones that (will) get full adaptations. Most of them are still ongoing but are consistently renewed. Maybe the wait would be a bit long, but that also what happened with manga adaptations like Attack on Titan or Bleach that just recently got new seasons.

In the past I would be more upset, especially since LN translations are more rare and usually no official translations but today it's a different story. Translated LNs are very accessible. A bit disappointing for sure, but I won't be too upset and would still watch if there's something that interest me. Thankfully I'm rarely interested in modern LNs and its adaptations.

The reason why most light novels don't get completed adaptations is because most light novels out there are not complete, while it's much easier for a manga to get completed in a fairly small amount of time, just look at Oshi no Ko, JJK, and Demon Slayer.

It's also a lot easier to adapt manga, and they usually adapt a lot more in fewer episodes.
For example, season 1 of My Dress-Up Darling adapted 5 volumes of the manga in just 12 episodes, while season 1 of The Apothecary Diaries only adapted 2 volumes of the light novel in 24 episodes. And considering there are 15 volumes out in Japan (and they are still publishing more) it would take foreveeeeer for the anime to adapt everything.

So if you want to see a sequel for shows like No Game no Life, just read the light novel, that's what I would do, because I'm no manga peasant who can't read light novels.

But recent novels are the ones most likely to be translated. There is no way for one to read Arslan, Shana, Gosick, Moribito, or Saiunkoku in English.

That's true, that's why it would be more upsetting back in the day when those series were the ones airing. Even newer ones will not be all translated, but in general they are more likely to be picked up and translated now in comparison. But isn't Gosick and Shana a full adaptation?