Yen Press announced another light novel acquisition today on their Twitter feed:
The Irregular at Magic High School (AKA Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei) is a light novel series by Tsutomu Satou, with illustrations by Kana Ishida. There have been 15 volumes released since 2011. The franchise has also grown to include several manga adaptations, a 26-episode anime in 2014, and a couple video games.
Synopsis:
Magic--A century has passed since this concept has been recognized as a formal technology instead of the product of the occult or folklore. The season is spring and it is time for a brand new school year. At the National Magic University First Affiliate High School, A.K.A Magic High School, students are divided into two distinct groups according to their academic performances. The “Bloom,” who demonstrate the highest grades and are enrolled in the “First Course,” and the “Weed,” who have a poor academic record and are enrolled in the “Second Course.”
This spring, a very peculiar brother and sister enroll as new students. The brother is an under achiever with some deficiencies and enrolls as a “Weed,” while his younger sister is an honor student, who enrolls as a “Bloom.” The brother, with a somewhat philosophical expression, and the younger sister who holds feelings a little stronger than sibling love for him… Ever since these two have entered through the gates of this prestigious school, the calm campus was beginning to change…
I will update this page if more details regarding this new license surfaces!
Super happy about this at the same time it’s gonna take forever to catch up to volume 16, my japanese isn’t enough to read a light novel. Ahh still excited. Any release dates???
I do understand the discouragement in having to wait for the official releases of a series to “catch up,” but in the long run I think the Mahouka series will be able to reach a larger audience via Yen On.
It says the first volume will release in October–I would guess on the 27th since that’s when NGNL vol 3 is set for. Will have to wait for it to surface on Amazon, etc.
I’ve noticed that Yen Press has licensed about half of the playable series from Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax. I wonder if there’s some sort of cross promotion going on.
Ack, replied to the wrong comment.
I think it’s mostly cause the light novels are so popular that they are getting on games. I mean mahouka is advertised on Durarara season 2.
Let’s see, there’s 11 series represented from the playable characters… SAO, Accel World, Index, Mahouka, Black Bullet, Durarara, and Strike the Blood will all be handled by Yen Press. That leaves Oreimo, Ro-kyu-bu, Toradora, and Shana. (Though worth noting, a couple volumes of Shana were translated by Viz…) Pretty impressive, I think! I hope the localized game will mention in some capacity which English titles are available.
This also does make me wonder about which specific LN publishers are getting their titles brought over into English; perhaps I will look into that for an editorial this month…
Yeah, is this some sort of trick to increase the sales?
@Black Cat
That’s what cross-promotion means.
@Cho
I would not be surprised if Yen Press has some kind of publishing deal with Dengeki Bunko.
They are making other readers of light novels feel dissaponted because it always took them longer to release the light novels also its not free for people who wanted to read the fantastic work of authors
I was wondering when this would happen. Just like Mahouka had become by far Deneki’s biggest seller without an anime before that hapened, it had become by far the biggest without an English license before now. This just leaves three ongoing light novel series (excluding those that are questionable as to whether or not they actually are light novels) whose latest volumes sold 100k+ in Japan and which have not been licensed for English release – OreGairu (which I’ve explained before why a license of is extremely unlikely), Kokuhaku Yokou Renshuu (which, being published by a label that is targeted at women would make a definite shit in yen press’ licensing strategy were they to get it) and Haganai.
Correction on the above: Kokuhaku Yokou-Renshuu’s latest volume does not have sales figures showing it as selling over 100k. But rom the sales of the previous two volumes we can be pretty damn certain that it has.
Mahouka has certainly been a big success in Japan, but I did have some doubts about it being brought over into English. Its anime adaptation did not seem well-received, and there seemed to be some controversy regarding some of its subject matter. This license announcement though makes me wonder if the English fanbase for the series is truly as niche as I had previously imagined? Will be interesting to see how well its English releases are supported.
I would certainly be interested in Oregairu and Kokuhaku getting brought over, but like you say they might just not be in the cards. (On the other hand… perhaps things can change in time? At this point I’ll perhaps lean a little more toward optimism in these things.)
Not sure about ‘niche’ so much as ‘divergent’. The issue facing Mahouka isn’t its genre or topic, but the fact its presentation leaves reader either loving it or hating it. A literary friend of mine recently called Mahouka “the new standard of bad writing”, so I’m wondering if localizing this will actually benefit the overall LN market.
Oh! starting over when stories at it’s climax!!! hmmm…. more than gratitude seems like you’re asking for lot of malice from the fans!
I guess you’ll need to wait till oregairu gets it’s climax,since it’s your ‘policy’ to get license at most annoying way!
Sorry, Black Cat! I’m personally glad to see more LNs getting licensed, but I understand where your concern is coming from.
Have been looking all over the internet for what people seem to be implying of free English fan translations of the novels up to 13. if anyone can help me out with a Link or point in the right direction it would be immensely appreciated.
If you are referring to fan translations, they have been taken down from Baka Tsuki. Chances are you can find them elsewhere on the internet though. For the official releases, the first volume should arrive in April.