Sorry I haven’t been keeping up with the site much lately, real life has just been giving me a lot to deal with the past month or so. I will try to catch up on LN entries and whatnot by the end of this month/year.
For now though, here’s a quick(?) roundup of license announcements we’ve gotten over the past 5-6 weeks.
Sol Press announced the following new series to add to its lineup:
- Why Shouldn’t a Detestable Demon Lord Fall in Love? by Nekomata Nuko (with art by teffish)
- Redefining the Meta at VRMMO Academy by Hayaken (with art by Akita Hika)
- Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement by FUNA (with art by teffish)
Sol Press also noted that the second volumes for Strongest Gamer and Battle Divas will release digitally in December, with physical editions to follow at a later date.
It looks like Detestable Demon volume 1 might release at the start of January, and 80,000 Gold volume 1 is planned for March 4th.
Detestable Demon synopsis: This is the story of a detestable demon lord and his wonderful new wife, a destitute damsel! Our demon lord, Anima, is the strongest in all the world, feared by the denizens of the realm. He's forced to spend his days in solitude until, completely out of the blue, he gets summoned to another world! The one who summons him is none other than Ruina, an exceedingly poor girl who runs an orphanage. The two of them quickly fall in love, with Anima swearing to use his power to protect his newfound family!
VRMMO Academy synopsis: Follows characters at a school for VRMMO games. The lead character likes to play the weakest class in any given game, and he has a knack for making his character into the strongest in spite of that.
80,000 Gold synopsis: Kouha Mitsuha falls off a cliff, at which point she finds herself transported to some sort of medieval European fantasy world! While there, during a battle with some wolves that almost costs her her life, she realizes that she has the ability to come and go between Earth and this new world. Mitsuha decides to use this ability as much as she can. Why? To save up for retirement, of course! She sets her sights on saving eighty thousand gold coins–and this is the story of her schemes to get there!
Next up is a new title from Cross Infinite World:
- The Cursed Princess and the Lucky Knight by Uta Narusawa (with art by Takashi Kiriya)
It sounds like this is a standalone volume that will release digitally on December 10th.
Synopsis: After mysterious deaths and misfortune ravages her family and leaves plucky Duchess Sonia de Clare orphaned in the Royal Abbey, Sonia is forced to take matters into her own hands when the king orders her into an arranged marriage to fulfill her duty as the surviving heiress to the massive Clare fortune. Fully prepared to marry the dashing prince of the kingdom and retake her home, Sonia is only met with disappointment when she discovers who her mysterious groom to be is. But when her own castle turns against her in a series of horrifying supernatural phenomena, Sonia quickly discovers the noble knight Sir Cristford Cortot is far more capable of protecting his cursed princess than any foppish prince ever could!
Seven Seas has licensed a new series:
- Restaurant to Another World by Junpei Inuzuka (with art by Katsumi Enami)
The first volume of this series will release June 18, 2019. It will be available both in paperback and digital forms. So far there are four volumes in Japan. A twelve-episode anime adaptation aired summer 2017.
Synopsis: “Western Cuisine Nekoya†seems like a typical restaurant on the outside, but it hides an amazing secret: on Saturdays, portals to another world appear that allow all manner of unearthly creatures to sit down for a nice meal. Elves, dragons, or anyone else who wants to sample our world’s cuisine is welcome to partake before returning to their world, sated and ready for their next quest. This lovely light novel series, never before published in English, celebrates even the simplest of our foods as fantastical adventures in fine dining. Bon appétit!
Not a light novel, but worth keeping in mind. At the Anime NYC convention, Viz Media announced a new novel for their Haikasoru imprint:
- Automatic Eve by Rokuro Inui
It looks like this will release in English on June 18, 2019. It seems there’s been a couple editions of this story in Japan: Link 1 — Link 2 — Link 3
Synopsis: The political chess game between the shogunate and the empress has a new piece--a self-aware, autonomous entity named Eve. A mighty shogunate ruling the land from Tempu Castle. An imperial line of strict female succession. Caught between these two immense powers, the sprawling city of Tempu is home to many wonders--not least a superhuman technological achievement in the form of a beautiful automaton known as Eve. When a secret that threatens to shake the imperial line intersects with the mystery of Eve's creation, events are set in motion that soon race toward a shocking conclusion. A new, astonishingly inventive science fantasy masterpiece of historic proportions.
Also at Anime NYC: Vertical had updates for a couple past novel licenses, plus an art book announcement:
- Colorful Dreams — an artbook for VOFAN (the illustrator for the Monogatari series) — release date: October 2019
- Sherlock Holmes: A Scandal in Japan by Keisuke Matsuoka (formerly titled Sherlock Holmes and Hirobumi Ito) — release date: April 30, 2019
- Masquerade and the Nameless Women by Eiji Mikage (formerly titled Serial Killer Detective) — release date: January 29, 2019
Yen Press announced six new light novels for its Yen On lineup at Anime NYC:
- The Dirty Way to Destroy the Goddess’s Hero by Sakuma Sasaki (with art by Asagi Tosaka)
- The Hero is Overpowered but Overly Cautious by Light Tsuchihi (with art by Saori Toyota)
- Torture Princess: Fremd Torturchen by Keishi Ayasato (with art by Saki Ukai)
- Wolf Children: Ame and Yuki by Mamoru Hosoda
- Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki by Yuuki Yaku (with art by Fly)
- Last Round Arthurs: Scum Arthur and Heretic Merlin by Taro Hitsuji (with art by Kiyotaka Haimura)
Dirty Way a completed five-volume series is in Japan.
Synopsis: When Shinichi Sotoyama is suddenly transported to a world of swords and magic, his first quest isn’t to rescue a helpless maiden or save the world, but to protect a demon lord!!
So far there are five volumes for Hero is Overpowered in Japan. An anime adaptation has been announced for it.
Synopsis: The goddess Lista summons a hero who excels in every area to assist her. He’s everything she expected him to be except for one, tiny thing: this anxious hero can’t do anything unless he’s absolutely sure nothing can go wrong!
There are seven volumes so far in Japan for Torture Princess. The artist Ukai also illustrated the Black Bullet LN series.
Synopsis: In this dark, gothic fantasy, a boy is summoned to another world where he meets a beautiful and terrifying girl who offers him a choice--to be her servant, or to be tortured!
The Wolf Children novel adaptation was written by Mamoru Hosoda, the director of the anime film from 2012. Hosoda’s latest film Mirai recently aired in theaters in English, and also received a novel adaptation released in English by Yen Press.
Synopsis: Mamoru Hosoda himself presents the gentle, bittersweet novel adaptation of his award-winning Wolf Children film, wherein a young single mother raises two unruly children with an unusual secret in the Japanese countryside.
Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki has six volumes out in Japan (plus a 6.5 volumes). This series has been compared to other sardonic romcom/drama LNs such My Youth Romantic Comedy is Wrong as I Expected.
Synopsis: Tomozaki is one of the best gamers in Japan, and in his opinion, the game of real life is one of the worst. No clear-cut rules for success, horribly balanced, and nothing makes sense. But then he meets a gamer who’s just as good as him, and she offers to teach him a few exploits…
There are two volumes out in Japan for Last Round Arthurs so far. The artist Kiyotaka Haimura has also illustrated for A Certain Magical Index and Danmachi: Sword Oratoria.
Synopsis: Rintarou is a guy who’s good at anything he tries, so he’s completely bored with life. Just for fun, he decides to help Runa in her bid to be recognized as the one true King Arthur, but there’s just one problem…she sold Excalibur?!?!
One last piece of news I’ll include here:
J-Novel Club is teasing five new light novel announcements for their digital platform. Two of them are “not yet confirmed,” but it sounds like there will probably be at least three new series announced by the end of the year. They recently did announce five manga licenses though, four of which are adaptations of LN series (three of which they are already releasing). These are the manga:
- A Very Fairy Apartment
- Seirei Gensouki – Spirit Chronicles
- Infinite Dendrogram
- How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom
- Ascendance of a Bookworm
Makes me wonder if Ascendance of a Bookworm will be an upcoming light novel announcement from them, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Pretty sure that’s everything! If I missed something though, please feel free to comment.
Edit: I’m going to just add it here, but Yen Press also just announced another license:
- Konosuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World! by Natsume Akatsuki (with art by Kasumi Morino)
As you might guess, it is a spinoff series for Konosuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!, which is also written by Natsume Akatsuki. These Explosion books follow the character Megumin, the first of which will release in English on June 18, 2019. So far there are three volumes in Japan. The seventh volume of the main series will release in English this month (out of fourteen that are out so far in Japan).