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The western audience for Japanese animation is slowly becoming just a little bit more mainstream in the entertainment realm, largely due to its accessibility. Tons and tons of streaming sites exist for the medium. Translated manga is only slightly harder to come by, which leaves the other source for most shows – light novels – relatively out in the cold. But as of October 15, a site called J-Novel Club vows to present certain titles online as they are translated and before they are published. Currently, J-Novel Club only has four selections to offer. Those are:
My Big Sister Lives in a Fantasy World – Freshman high schooler Yuichi Sakaki gains the ability to see monsters like vampires and even a serial killer when he looks at other people. And it’s up to his big sister to deal with all.
Brave Chronicle: The Ruinmaker – Kurono Kukuya is the weakest student at Star Gate Academy, the world’s most prestigious sorcery school. His best friend Yukihime Yukigane is the strongest. The two must ban together to defeat the evil Dark Lord Redge.
Cover art for the novels.
My Little Sister Can Read Kanji – In 2202, Japan is now a land of “moe.” Aspiring author Gin Imose and little sis Kuroha meet famous writer Gai Odaira. Kuroha, who is able to read “ancient” kanji, discovers that books can be more about the current-day tired anime tropes. The question is what they will do with this information.
Occultic;Nine – Yuta Gamon runs an occult-themed blog, hoping to make money from the enterprise. One day, nine visitors to the site become intertwined in a fateful series of events involving the same occult happenings they’re on the site to discuss. O;N is brought to you by the creator of Steins;Gate.
Only the first volume or two of each is open to all readers. The rest require a membership with J-Novel Club. Also, after a novel has been officially published as an e-book, J-Novel Club will no longer carry it, encouraging readers to support the author by purchasing the actual work.
Looking for something decidedly more American? The Nerd Stash has lots of that.
Matt Eschbach is a PC, Mac and Android indie game developer and fiction writer. His works have won multiple monetary awards from various contests. Graduating college in 2012 with a major in Game Design, Matt spends his time making stuff up and then building it. His favorite hobby… is sleeping.
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