Another month is passing us by, so it’s time for a round-up post for some news and blog posts.
Let’s start with a recent light novel release that has slipped by — Time of Eve: Another Act, written by Kei Mizuichi and illustrated by Ryusuke Chayama. This is a novelization from Japan that was translated as part of the Kickstarter to bring the Time of Eve film over in English. It is now possible to purchase this book on its own at RightStuf or Amazon. The novel is told from Rikuo’s point of view and is divided into five “episodes,” four of which adapt segments from the anime. The fifth story is a new one, but is still considered canon by the original creator Yasuhiro Yoshiura.
Synopsis:Â Time of EVE: Another Act explores wrenching emotional conflicts of high schooler Rikuo as he tries to make sense of a world in which androids match humans in terms of intelligence and emotions, and yet they are barred from forming relationships with humans. A mysterious strand of data in the activity log of Sammy, his family’s android, leads Rikuo and his pal Masaki to a cafe called “Time of EVE,” which blatantly challenges social mores by requiring that humans and androids be treated equally. Initially suspicious of the cafe, Rikuo and Masaki soon become regulars as they are charmed by the charismatic proprietress Nagi and get to know the other patrons. In this new environment, Rikuo comes to see to that androids are different from, but not inferior to, humans. And, he is challenged to confront a traumatic experience from his past… This novel is based on Yoshiura Yasuhiro’s classic anime ONA and movie Time of EVE, and became available for overseas licensing thanks to the 2013 Kickstarter campaign to fund the international Blu-ray release of the movie.
Next up, I’d like to point out a couple recent video game announcements related to light novels:
A new entry for Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax has been announced — or rather, an update for the arcade game in Japan, it appears. At the moment one new character has been revealed: Emi from The Devil is a Part-Timer. Note that the original version of the game will soon release in the West, for those who have a PS Vita or Playstation 3.
Bandai Namco has recently announced the localization of the next SAOÂ game — Sword Art Online: Lost Song, which takes place in the Alfheim Online setting. This game will release in the fall for both the PS Vita and Playstation 4. On top of this, there will also be a Playstation 4 version of Sword Art Online: Hollow Fragment released in English this summer, apparently with a reworked translation. This game was released in English last year on the PS Vita.
And now, for some links to various light novel-related blog posts from the past month:
- Yen Press now has a Tumblr account, and has filled it up with covers for upcoming manga and light novels.
- Kuuderes_shadow’s blog has been posting about Japan’s weekly light novel releases for a year now! Here is a post for some statistics concerning the past year.
- A review for the first volume of The Empty Box and the Zeroth Maria is up at Everything Except Music.
- AÂ review for the first two volumes of Accel World is up at No Flying No Tights.
- AÂ review for the first volume of The Devil is a Part-Timer! is up at The Fandom Post.
- A review for the first volume of Only Sense Online is up at Melodicity.
- Some thoughts on The Devil is a Part-Timer, DanMachi, and Sword Art Online are shared at The Odd Ramblings of Sacae and Wolfe.
- And some thoughts on a wide variety of different light novels is shared at Geek Pub Talk, including Kino’s Journey and When Hikaru Was On the Earth.
Going to wrap this post up with a reminder for the summer reading program we will be trying out here starting this month of June. We will be reading the first volume of Kagerou Daze released by Yen Press, and the fan translation for Mimizuku and the King of Night. Here is a schedule of the deadlines for our weekly discussions (over the course of three weeks), for everyone who wants to participate:
Sunday, June 14th
- For Kagerou Daze, please read the chapters titled “Kagerou Daze I” and “Jinzou Enemy.” If you have the paperback, that means you read up to page 51. This is the first third of the book.
- For Mimizuku and the King of Night, please read the prologue, and chapters 1, 2, and 3. On my Kindle, it looks like this means up to location 697.
Sunday, June 21st
- For Kagerou Daze, read the chapters titled “Kagerou Daze II” and “Kisaragi Attention.” That is up to page 101 in the paperback, and marks the end of the second part of the book.
- For Mimizuku, read chapters 4, 5, and 6. This is up to location 1486 on my Kindle.
Sunday, June 28th
- For Kagerou Daze, finish the book by reading the chapters “Kagerou Daze III,” “Mekakushi Chord,” and the epilogue.
- For Mimizuku, wrap up by reading chapters 7 and 8, and the epilogue (i.e. up to location 2088).
If you decide to read ahead on either of these books, that’s fine — just don’t post spoilers in the discussions (e.g. posting about stuff that happens in “Kisaragi Attention” for the June 14th post). I’ll see about putting a mini-schedule in the sidebar to serve as a reminder for anyone who is interested in reading either (or both) of these books.
Oh, one more thing: There should no longer be any kind of ads on this site! Let me know if that isn’t the case for any of you.
And that’s everything for now! I hope to have a review or two up in the next week or so, so there could be that to look forward to. Be sure to post here if you have any questions or something else LN-related you’d like to have featured here.