Anime Novels

[FidoMcCokefiend]

Recently, I have taken an intrest in anime/manga novels. It started with the Love Hina novels, then I began reading the Chibi Vampire novels. today, I read the entire first volume of Full Metal Panic (I've NEVER read a book like that in one day before). Other than those series, I have purchased the first couple of Fullmetal Alchemist novels, Battle Royale, Scrapped Princess volume 1, and Train Man. My question is, what are some other good anime/manga related novels? Considering this new intrest, It would be great to read more, especially ones where the novel was the ORIGINAL, like with Full Metal Panic or Scrapped Princess.

[The Weed Of Cri]

There have been 7 Vampire Hunter D novels published in English, and they are very good. From what I heard, there were at least 18 of these written in Japan (there may be more by now), so the series is likely to continue for quite a while.

Although they are long out of print, there are three Mobile Suit Gundam novels that encapsulate the first TV series. They were written by Yoshiyuki Tomino and translated by Fred Patten. You may be able to get them from one of the used-book vendors at Amazon.com. If you can find them, they're worth seeking out.

The first of Hauka Takachiho's Dirty Pair novels has been published in English. Takachiho wrote a long series of novels featuring the Dirty Pair and Crusher Joe, and some of us older anime fans have been waiting for over 20 years for these to make it to America.

I've also heard that Hideyuki Kurata's Read or Die novels will be published in English. I hope it happen, since I am a huge fan of all things R.O.D., and I'll be looking forward to reading these.

[Zeonic Freak]

Im currently reading the Battle Royale novel, before it became the Manga and movie.

There is one other novel that i dont even know america has, but its baised on the Bubblegum Crisis universe, i forget the title...

[FidoMcCokefiend]

I've also heard that Hideyuki Kurata's Read or Die novels will be published in English. I hope it happen, since I am a huge fan of all things R.O.D., and I'll be looking forward to reading these.

well, that's good news, I just read the first volume of the manga, which made a reference to there being novels, but I saw they haven't been published in America yet, which disappointed me.

[Duo Himura]

As much as I am a Gundam fan, the original Mobile Suit Gundam novels seem... not so well written, to me. Maybe they get better farther in.

That being said:

Crest/Banner of the Stars! It's a great and very much under appreciated sci-fi series (sort of a military sci-fi/space opera cross, depending on where you happen to be in the story) that began as a novel series and was adapted into an anime (well, 4, technically, but the longest two are 13 episodes each, and the first of those uses 3 novels for material). Interesting characters, interesting and quite detailed setting (with some crazy politics and completely redefined rules of warfare), and blue-haired space elves. What's not to love? Translation reads pretty well too, though there are bits that apparently aren't as accurate as they could be. To be fair, I'm sure that the differences in language allow for a fair bit of creative license when translating something like a novel... what sounds good in one language could very well fall flat in another if it were directly translated, and it's probably better to fake it a little bit than to lose your reader. That being said "hair the color of blue raspberry frozen yogurt" is a -terrible- line and needed to not exist.

Plus there's the slightest chance that if everyone goes out and buys those novels Tokyopop will decide it's worthwhile to translate the rest of them... (They've only done the Crest of the Stars trilogy, at present there are 4 Banner of the Stars books beyond that, and theoretically there will be a total of 5 more) The anime's nice, but the novels had the characters' thoughts worked in a bit better, so they sort of won out for me.

Also, I believe the novels for the Twelve Kingdoms, or at least the first one, have been translated, and the anime of that is at least supposed to be quite an interesting fantasy story.

And um... Kino's Journey also has been translated at least somewhat but the first novel's chapters were out of order or something weird like that? I only read about this one...

Oh, and I think Twelve Kingdoms and Kino's Journey are both novels originally and anime after the fact as well.

[Jacob T. Paschal]

Those three Gundam novels that are out here in America are pretty good, actually.

The fourth FMA novel is out here in the US, I must pick that up. Also, a Naruto novel is out, and one for Rurouni Kenshin.

[FidoMcCokefiend]

Crest/Banner of the Stars! It's a great and very much under appreciated sci-fi series (sort of a military sci-fi/space opera cross, depending on where you happen to be in the story) that began as a novel series and was adapted into an anime (well, 4, technically, but the longest two are 13 episodes each, and the first of those uses 3 novels for material). Interesting characters, interesting and quite detailed setting (with some crazy politics and completely redefined rules of warfare), and blue-haired space elves. What's not to love? Translation reads pretty well too, though there are bits that apparently aren't as accurate as they could be. To be fair, I'm sure that the differences in language allow for a fair bit of creative license when translating something like a novel... what sounds good in one language could very well fall flat in another if it were directly translated, and it's probably better to fake it a little bit than to lose your reader. That being said "hair the color of blue raspberry frozen yogurt" is a -terrible- line and needed to not exist.

Plus there's the slightest chance that if everyone goes out and buys those novels Tokyopop will decide it's worthwhile to translate the rest of them... (They've only done the Crest of the Stars trilogy, at present there are 4 Banner of the Stars books beyond that, and theoretically there will be a total of 5 more) The anime's nice, but the novels had the characters' thoughts worked in a bit better, so they sort of won out for me.


Ah, yeah, I picked up the first Crest of the Stars novel at the same time I picked up FMP. I bought the anime back in January but couldn't get into it, so I decided maybe if I read the novel, the anime will be more interesting.

Also, well, I wish someone would bring over the Haruhi novels. I'm DYING to read those in a normal fashion, as reading them online just doesn't work for me.

Oh yeah, one more thing. The Stand Alone Complex novels. Are they an adaption or a side story? Because I don't really want to read an adaption, but a side story could be interesting.

[rubberchicken]

The Slayers novels are incurably retarded and juvenile, and yet I love them anyway. ;_;

[Arxane]

Translation reads pretty well too, though there are bits that apparently aren't as accurate as they could be. To be fair, I'm sure that the differences in language allow for a fair bit of creative license when translating something like a novel... what sounds good in one language could very well fall flat in another if it were directly translated, and it's probably better to fake it a little bit than to lose your reader.

Actually, there is a good reason why some placed may sound inaccurate: Tokyopop abridged the Seikai novels. In other words, they shortened the novels by leaving out a few sentences in certain spots.

Everyone seems to be recommending everything worth recommending, so allow me to give you a warning about what not to read. Do NOT, under any circumstances (except an interest in literary masochism) pick up Blood: The Last Vampire: Night of the Beasts. It is one of the worst books I have ever read, ever. It is nothing but a philosophical ego-stroke that has a virtually nonexistent story amidst pages and pages of history and metaphysics with no interesting reason for being there. I would rather read all of Terry Goodkind's horrid Sword of Truth series than read this book again.

Switching things around, has anyone yet read Viz's release of Brave Story? It's an original novel by Miyuki Miyabe, and it has a manga adaptation and an anime film adaptation, so I think it applies. I have it on my shelf, but I want to know if anyone's read it yet.

[HellCat]

I have the collected Gundam trilogy...I quit after book one. Maybe it's the translation, but I got sick of how about five times in one chapter Lalah's eyes are described something like "gleaming emeralds". Once or twice, sure. But it felt lazy beyond that. There are some good bits though, like Amuro's encounter with the 'log'.

[FidoMcCokefiend]

Well, thanks for all the advice. I've set up an order for when I get paid next. Great Adventure of the Dirty Pair, Slayers 1-2, Fullmetal Alchemist 2-3, Kamikaze Girls, Ring, Spiral, Loop, Scrapped Princess 2-3, Ghost in the Shell SAC 1, and Vampire Hunter D 1-4. I'm also gonna keep a look out for the Gundam novels.

[GWOtaku]

I must agree, the MSG novels aren't bad but they don't make good literature. The story isn't great compared to the original series, either.

However:

The trilogy does a very good job of exploring the Newtype issue and showing the reader plenty of backstory. Most significantly we get some insight on Zeon Daikun, and General Revil's "Zeon is exhausted" speech is presented verbatim. So while I wouldn't read it again, the books are worth getting all the way through at least once and there are some good parts to take note of for references' sake.

[Duo Himura]

Just a note: I -gave up- on the Rurouni Kenshin novel after like, five minutes. It read like a mediocre fanfic. And I'm a pretty big fan of Kenshin in general. Maybe I was judging a bit prematurely, but... *shrugs*

Oh, I forgot to mention, if you like .Hack at all, I highly recommend .Hack//AI Buster. It might not be the best place to -start- in the franchise, but it's a good read with an interesting plot (which contains some pretty surprising twists) and good characters. Plus it's .Hack, so it's got that element of introspection going for it as well. The sequel, AI Buster 2, isn't quite so good because it's more a collection of short stories rather than a true sequel novel. It's good when those stories focus on the original AI Buster's cast (which accounts for something like two-three of them), but some of them are about characters from the rest of the .Hack franchise, and those weren't quite as interesting to me (though admittedly the fact that I wasn't familiar with those characters may have had something to do with that).

Also: Tokyopop just randomly cut lines from the Seikai novels? Really? Huh, nobody over at Abh Nation said anything about that... Or mentioned it in the book reviews, for that matter.

[Jacob T. Paschal]

I have the collected Gundam trilogy...I quit after book one. Maybe it's the translation, but I got sick of how about five times in one chapter Lalah's eyes are described something like "gleaming emeralds". Once or twice, sure. But it felt lazy beyond that. There are some good bits though, like Amuro's encounter with the 'log'.

Log?


I must agree, the MSG novels aren't bad but they don't make good literature. The story isn't great compared to the original series, either.

However:

The trilogy does a very good job of exploring the Newtype issue and showing the reader plenty of backstory. Most significantly we get some insight on Zeon Daikun, and General Revil's "Zeon is exhausted" speech is presented verbatim. So while I wouldn't read it again, the books are worth getting all the way through at least once and there are some good parts to take note of for references' sake.

I feel bad reading the trilogy for the fourth time...:sweat:


Just a note: I -gave up- on the Rurouni Kenshin novel after like, five minutes. It read like a mediocre fanfic. And I'm a pretty big fan of Kenshin in general. Maybe I was judging a bit prematurely, but... *shrugs*

Oh, I forgot to mention, if you like .Hack at all, I highly recommend .Hack//AI Buster. It might not be the best place to -start- in the franchise, but it's a good read with an interesting plot (which contains some pretty surprising twists) and good characters. Plus it's .Hack, so it's got that element of introspection going for it as well. The sequel, AI Buster 2, isn't quite so good because it's more a collection of short stories rather than a true sequel novel. It's good when those stories focus on the original AI Buster's cast (which accounts for something like two-three of them), but some of them are about characters from the rest of the .Hack franchise, and those weren't quite as interesting to me (though admittedly the fact that I wasn't familiar with those characters may have had something to do with that).

Also: Tokyopop just randomly cut lines from the Seikai novels? Really? Huh, nobody over at Abh Nation said anything about that... Or mentioned it in the book reviews, for that matter.

Yeah, I didn't bother to even touch the other stories in that book.

[HellCat]

Log?


When Side 7 is attacked, Amuro trips on what he thinks is a log. He realises it is in fact a roasted corpse

[FidoMcCokefiend]

Oh, I forgot to mention, if you like .Hack at all, I highly recommend .Hack//AI Buster. It might not be the best place to -start- in the franchise, but it's a good read with an interesting plot (which contains some pretty surprising twists) and good characters. Plus it's .Hack, so it's got that element of introspection going for it as well. The sequel, AI Buster 2, isn't quite so good because it's more a collection of short stories rather than a true sequel novel. It's good when those stories focus on the original AI Buster's cast (which accounts for something like two-three of them), but some of them are about characters from the rest of the .Hack franchise, and those weren't quite as interesting to me (though admittedly the fact that I wasn't familiar with those characters may have had something to do with that). I was considering the .Hack novels. What would be a good place to start the franchise? I've heard good and bad things about that particular franchise, but i've dissagreed with my friends on stuff before, so I'd like to give it a shot.

[Duo Himura]

Well, I'm -pretty- sure the first thing that was actually made for it was the anime .Hack//Sign. Its major high points are that it has some great artistry at points, interesting and relatively deep characters, and amazing music. Its big low points are that the pacing is -horrid- (not that big of a deal if you watch the show in rapid succession, but if you're stuck for a long time between episodes and not much happens in each episode individually...), the animation isn't always great on those somewhat rare occasions when people do more than stand around talking, and, while the series concludes the story of its main character, it leaves a lot of questions, thus forcing you to look at other bits of the franchise to get the whole picture.

Released at about the same time/shortly after .Hack//Sign is the original .Hack game quartet(?) for PS2, which are... sort of entertaining but get old, and there are few differences between the four of them, and a lot of even the necessary bits of each game don't always advance the plot, so it gets tiresome. They really probably should have been a single game, or maybe 2 instead of four. I still haven't actually beaten all of them--having a bit of trouble finding the fourth and I'm not to the point where I just want to grab it off of the internet (what with the holiday game rush and all, and it already being a bit old). Anyway, rumor has it the games delve more into what is actually going -on- in The World (the MMORPG that the .Hack series takes place in), theoretically answering a lot of the questions that Sign left. However, you could probably get a lot of that just by reading about it if you don't feel it's worth ~80 hours of your time to play through all four games.

Come to think of it, maybe AI Buster -isn't- a terrible place to get into the franchise... I think I'd recommend watching Sign first, just to be a bit more familiar with The World and such... AI Buster is actually one of the earlier entries in the series chronologically (not sure if it's actually the earliest), but if you're familiar with some of the things that show up in the .Hack world later then the references to them (well, maybe 'foreshadowing' fits better in context) would make a bit more sense.

Oh, but yeah, as for bad things about the series in general? Be prepared to suspend your disbelief regarding the fact that you're dealing with a video game. The World is infamous for putting players into comas (well, in that that's a major plot point in several of the series) and generally being home to a lot of stuff that's equal parts philosophical and completely insane, as near as I can tell. Not to mention that some of these characters take it a bit... well -really- seriously (it has been known to be a matter of life and death, but the people who take it that seriously aren't always the ones who it's actually a matter of life and death for...).

So... that may have been a little off-topic, but this thread is about giving recommendations, even if I sort of moved away from strictly anime-related novels here into anime in general... Not -incredibly- off-topic, anyway...

[Lazerboy5000]

You know, One of my classmates is currently writing an Anime Novel.

I haven't a clue what it is about, but he has been working on it for quite some time now.

Yesterday in Adv. Comp class, we had to write a paper about the history of our writing, and, if we wanted to, we could pass around samples of our writing. And my classmates passed around what he currently had writen. It was a whole binder full! It was hand writen on loose leaf paper, but front and back, filling the entire 1in binder.

I got to hand it to him, a future author.

If he publishes he book, I'll make sure to get a copy.