| Many of us watch anime and read manga because of the art. If you take that away, then all you get is a script. The difference between any Japanese novel and a light novel is that the the writer of the light novel hired an illustrator to draw anime girls. So do you think light novels belong on the MAL database? At what point is a light novel not "anime" enough for MAL? Could MAL expand and start cataloging Japanese novels to expand the site? Should MAL add Japanese picture books for kids on their site, seeing that LNs in reality are just picture books? |
| 1) Yes, I think Light Novels belong in the MAL database. The simplest reason is because they are the original source for many anime and a lot of people are genuinely interested in the original source once they watch an anime that they loved. 2) If Japanese novels start being adapted into anime, there would be an argument to add them to the database. So far there isn't any. Same goes for picture books for kids. 3) The way you structure your sentences makes you seem like you harbor a grudge against Light novels. There are a lot of Light novel readers here so that probably won't get you a lot of support lol |
| no, and remove manga as well. it's not called myanimeandmangalist... |
| 馬鹿げた倫理 全部ガラクタで |
| Can you give a reason as to why it shouldn't? |
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| Light novels are pretty easy to read compared to normal novels tbh so I wouldn't just call it japanese novel with illustrations. |
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| actually there are plans to extend the mal database to non-light novels... it remains to be seen if that will ever be implemented (search for novels) https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=141104 there already are logh and koten-bu series on mal.. probably other too |
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| Not every light novel has drawings with "anime girls"... Most of the light novels don't have a manga or an Anime so....if there are novels written specifically to be made into manga or Anime....why not?! There are some great light novels with very good storys and MAL makes for good marketing/publicity...bringing titles to the attention of an audience. |
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Lionel13927 said: 1) Yes, I think Light Novels belong in the MAL database. The simplest reason is because they are the original source for many anime and a lot of people are genuinely interested in the original source once they watch an anime that they loved. 2) If Japanese novels start being adapted into anime, there would be an argument to add them to the database. So far there isn't any. Same goes for picture books for kids. 3) The way you structure your sentences makes you seem like you harbor a grudge against Light novels. There are a lot of Light novel readers here so that probably won't get you a lot of support lol there have been a few novel adaptations such as Ginga Tetsudou no Yoru, Nerawareta Gakuen, and Shinsekai Yori, but i don't think they should add novels just because they get an anime adaptation. i just found out they can be added though : https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=1777105&show=0#msg57383751 |
Teach a man to cook, and he can’t fish. But teach a man to fish, and he feeds himself and cooks. -👧 ( ° ω ˣ ) |
| Aren't they already on the database |
 _______I like rocks__  |
yhunata said: Can you give a reason as to why it shouldn't? Yes and no. In fact, I would love Japanese fictional literature to be part of MAL, but the point of this thread is to address the limbo state light novels are in. What defines a light novel? Does it require anime illustrations? Is it exclusive only to a certain number of publishers because they control what "light novel" means? Is it every piece of pulp fiction that existed in Japan? There are plenty of books in the book store in Japan that are just as light as a light novel, yet I don't see them listed on MAL. Lionel13927 said: 1) Yes, I think Light Novels belong in the MAL database. The simplest reason is because they are the original source for many anime and a lot of people are genuinely interested in the original source once they watch an anime that they loved. Many light novels aren't adapted into an anime, and won't. There are also a number of anime based off of novels, but aren't listed on MAL. Aoi Bungaku Series is one such example which will likely be added very soon. Maybe Mein Kampf will also make an appearance. Can't wait to see people add that in their favorites. Lionel13927 said: 2) If Japanese novels start being adapted into anime, there would be an argument to add them to the database. So far there isn't any. Same goes for picture books for kids. Korean and Chinese anime and manga have already made it into MAL. While for Japanese anime the examples are limited, the same cannot be said for others. Lionel13927 said: 3) The way you structure your sentences makes you seem like you harbor a grudge against Light novels. There are a lot of Light novel readers here so that probably won't get you a lot of support lol It was just a joke, but the point of light novels are that the illustrations or anime/manga adaptations play a very large part of the reading experience. If you take away the illustrations and just call it a light novel, never getting adapted to anything, is it really a light novel? nyugvo6 said: no, and remove manga as well. it's not called myanimeandmangalist... Manga Anime Light Novels romagia said: actually there are plans to extend the mal database to non-light novels... it remains to be seen if that will ever be implemented (search for novels) https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=141104 there already are logh and koten-bu series on mal.. probably other too That's sort of what I'm looking for. Thereal question is are "Novels" intended only for anime and manga adaptations, or is MAL planning on adding a hub as becoming the Goodreads for Asian literature? DoruCatana said: Most of the light novels don't have a manga or an Anime so....if there are novels written specifically to be made into manga or Anime....why not?! There are some great light novels with very good storys and MAL makes for good marketing/publicity...bringing titles to the attention of an audience. Except they aren't, until they are being adapted and now light novels are like SoundCloud mixtapes of the otaku world. Anastacius said: I think they should keep light novels. These people who support restrictions on the database makes no sense to me. The only sound argument they can make is some bs like it's not in the name. I don't see why mal should restrict their database. Rather i think they should start expanding because of the rising of popularity of manhwa and manhua's. I agree. |
SasugaDaysJun 14, 2020 3:15 PM
| MAL needs to list visual novels also. |
 ☆☆☆ "There's a huge difference between one and infinity. However, compared to the difference between existence and non-existence, one and infinite are nearly the same. I am the child destined to become the best witch... no... The greatest Creator in the world...!" -Maria Ushiromiya ☆☆☆ |
EndlessMaria said: MAL needs to list visual novels also. That's actually a good point as well. I've played Phoenix Wright and the first 10 minutes of F/SN, they're much closer to novels than a video game. But from what I've seen, some are more like point-and-click adventure games. At some point, the boundary between a visual novel and a turn-based RPG becomes blurry. |
SansWobbles said: DoruCatana said: Most of the light novels don't have a manga or an Anime so....if there are novels written specifically to be made into manga or Anime....why not?! There are some great light novels with very good storys and MAL makes for good marketing/publicity...bringing titles to the attention of an audience. Except they aren't, until they are being adapted and now light novels are like SoundCloud mixtapes of the otaku world. I can speak just from my own experience...but when I've said "novels with very good storys''....I was thinking at Fate Zero's light novel, Kara no Kyoukai's light novel and Monogatari series wich is also adapted from a light novel...And also....titles like Baccano and Spice Wolf that don't have a complete adaptation.... All are great as animated series...but this titles are also great storys...good to be experienced in the form of their source material. If MAL's database wouldn't have had the light novels....in Baccano and Spice and Wolf case, for exemple, I couldn't have experience the full story because I wouldn't have known the fact that the adaptations are not complete and that I need to read the rest of the story.... And speaking about "SoundCloud mixtapes of the otaku world light novels" that are usually being made into Isekai series.....I couldn't care less about them... My point is just that...light novels that deserve to be read DO EXIST. |
DoruCatanaJun 15, 2020 8:09 AM
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| I would like for this to be a thing, I read more LN's than manga these days cythraul said: Light novels are pretty easy to read compared to normal novels tbh so I wouldn't just call it japanese novel with illustrations. I disagree, I own the first couple of Volumes of Youjo Senki; The first one is longer than A Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy, The warriors and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and the second one is almost as long as Starship Troopers! Depending on your definition of a Novel all my books are also longer than I have no Mouth and I must scream and A boy and his dog. |
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Guilion said: Novel is a proper literary form that's way older and bigger than the existence of light novels and in general sense are harder to read. I said it in a general sense that light novels are easy to read. I mean you can give all the examples on how X LN is longer or harder to read than Y novel but then it just comes to individual comparison however I doubt you can compare any light novel even the highest rated, most popular ones or the hardest and longest one to the stuff like 100 years of solitude or moby dick and in the same way there might be multiple LN titles that may be more complicated than many of the proper novels(mostly the ones that are targeted towards young audience) but in general, novels are more complicated than light novels. Also, you should note that length alone doesn't define the complexity of a work. Stuff like adventures of tom sawyer(248) despite being shorter, is harder to read than artemis(384).I would like for this to be a thing, I read more LN's than manga these days cythraul said: Light novels are pretty easy to read compared to normal novels tbh so I wouldn't just call it japanese novel with illustrations. I disagree, I own the first couple of Volumes of Youjo Senki; The first one is longer than A Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy, The warriors and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and the second one is almost as long as Starship Troopers! Depending on your definition of a Novel all my books are also longer than I have no Mouth and I must scream and A boy and his dog. |
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| I thought the difference was light novels use simpler kanji. |
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ReaperCreeper said: I thought the difference was light novels use simpler kanji. They don't. It's actually fairly common in the chuuni ones to see harder kanji, because it looks "cool" to use old and no longer used kanji instead of modern ones for names, titles, ability names and the like. Many LN have more furigana than a novel from a non LN label would have, but that's generally about it; and sometimes, even that isn't even true, as it heavily varies from label to label. |
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| I have a lord of the rings book printed on the 70s, it has some cool pics with dragons and elves. Anyways, I think they need a special segment on mal and not being mashed together with manga. |
CatalanoJun 16, 2020 4:38 AM
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| I thought light novels were meant to be books that followed the same structure as anime and used similar cliches. Hell most anime nowadays are based off of light novels. To answer op’s honestly dumb question of course they should. Maybe not in the same section as manga but they deserve to be somewhere. And as others have mentioned, why is there no visual novel section? |
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Gilliesss said: And as others have mentioned, why is there no visual novel section? MAL admins always deny it, and tbh they have fair reasons: https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=4555#msg10606127 Visual novels are hard to implement, the time you spend playing one can be 10 hours or even 50 hours depending on the person and there are a lot of versions for a single VN, statistics would be a huge trouble. Besides, VNDB exists, so there's no need for another database for visual novels. |
| I don't care about VNs so I wouldn't miss them at all, but in general I don't mind if they're part of the DB. The problem is that the manga side of the DB is already perpetually overworked with an endless queue so spreading the workforce even more between various mediums is not ideal. |
| I probably regret this post by now. |
SansWobbles said: Many of us watch anime and read manga because of the art. If you take that away, then all you get is a script. Many of us like to read and don't need images to enjoy or understand the story because we have imagination, did you just discover that people read books or something? Because as far as I know, reading books is something very important for life, it helps you to improve your brain and grammatical/cultural knowledge. If you read manga, you don't have to use your brain that much to imagine the situations, you have illustrations for that, so I wouldn't trash talk books like that if I was you. SansWobbles said: The difference between any Japanese novel and a light novel is that the the writer of the light novel hired an illustrator to draw anime girls. Not at all. In first place, light novels are books written grammatically simple using Kana (Hiragana and Katakana) or basic Kanjis, so they can be easy to read even for japanese middle schoolers. Kanji is hard even for japaneses. Illustrations are there to have the attention of the very young public, they won't be interested that much if they only see words, after all they are kids and teenagers. Japanese novels are written with more complicated grammar composition and Kanjis because they aim for a public with good academic level, so their stories and cultural knowledge are nothing compared to the average light novels. The difference is not as simple as "this one has anime girls and the other one doesn't" |
| i actually kind of agree with removing lns or, rather, they dont offend me being here, but the manga db is so shit rn that i wish that would be focused on more instead of having more work for the manga admins so much hasnt been added, and even more is just wrong |
| Yes, they belong, because they are part of anime culture. No, the only difference between Light Novels and an actual novel is not the fact that it has anime illustrations. Is the genres. There are shounen and shoujo LN's, silence of life, seinen and so on. LN are basically manga in novel form. And their entire structure is different from actual novels. Were a novelist could spend on average 2 years to write a book, LN writers can write easily 2 volumes a year. They are much simple in structure, easy to read, and there are also serialized. Generally, usual novels are not series of +10 books, you know? For a real writer, such a series could easily be a life long project. |
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| who cares about those things nyugvo6 said: yeh I second thisno, and remove manga as well. it's not called myanimeandmangalist... |
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