Discussion Light Novels Licenses (English) & Web Novels Licenses (Light Novel)

Aren't you thinking sometimes, how nice it would be if your favorite light novels get licensed in english? Or your favorite web novels get published as light novels? It may come true one day or not. Anyway, I'm posting this thread solely for fun and to discuss other peoples wishlist.

Here is mine:

NOTE: This is just for japanese novels. Unfortunately I don't have much knowledge about chinese and korean novels getting licensed, nor about the web novels.

Light novels I wish would get licensed (published in ebook format, otherwise it's too expensive):

1). (Um, Sorry) I’ve Been Reincarnated! (転生しちゃったよ （いや、ごめん))

2). Aku no Joou no Kiseki (悪の女王の軌跡)

3). Common Sense of a Duke's Daughter (公爵令嬢の嗜み)

4). Drop!!　～A Tale of the Fragrance Princess～ (ドロップ！！　～香りの令嬢物語～)

5). E? Heibon Desu yo?? (えっ? 平凡ですよ??)

6). Evil Dragon Reincarnation ~Even If I Am Reincarnated into the Other World I Am I~ (邪竜転生)

7). From Maid to Mother (メイドから母になりました)

8). Hakushaku to Yousei (伯爵と妖精)

9). I Decided to Not Compete and Quietly Create Dolls Instead (張り合わずにおとなしく人形を作ることにしました)

10). I Reincarnated into an Otome Game as a Villainess With Only Destruction Flags... (乙女ゲームの破滅フラグしかない悪役令嬢に転生してしまった…)

11). I’ll Live My Second Life! (わたしはふたつめの人生をあるく！)

12). Isekai de “Kuro no Iyashi Te” tte Yobarete Imasu (異世界で 黒の癒し手 って呼ばれています)

13). Jui-san no Oshigoto in Isekai (獣医さんのお仕事 in 異世界)

14). Maou no Hajimekata (魔王の始め方)

15). Maou-sama no Machizukuri! ~Saikyou no Danjon wa Kindai Toshi~ (魔王様の街づくり！～最強のダンジョンは近代都市～)

16). Okoborehime to Entaku no Kishi (おこぼれ姫と円卓の騎士)

17). Parallel World Pharmacy (異世界薬局)

18).Reincarnated as a Dragon’s Egg ～Lets Aim to Be the Strongest～ (転生したらドラゴンの卵だった ～最強以外目指さねぇ～)

19). She Professed Herself The Pupil Of The Wiseman (賢者の弟子を名乗る賢者)

20). Sugar Apple Fairytale (シュガーアップル・フェアリーテイル)

21). Tales of the Wickedly Vicious Underground Empire (邪悪にして悪辣なる地下帝国物語)

22). Tensei Oujo wa Kyou mo Hata o Tatakioru (転生王女は今日も旗を叩き折る)

23). Kaidansaka no Mahoutsukai (階段坂の魔法使い)

24). The Duke’s Daughter Is the Knight Captain’s (62) Young Wife (公爵令嬢は騎士団長(62)の幼妻)

25). The Power of the Saint is All Around (聖女の魔力は万能です)

26). The Reincarnated Vampire Wants an Afternoon Nap (転生吸血鬼さんはお昼寝がしたい)

27). The Simple Job of Only Perishing to the Hero (勇者に滅ぼされるだけの簡単なお仕事です)

28). The White Cat That Swore Vengeance Was Just Lazing on the Dragon King's Lap ((復讐を誓った白猫は竜王の膝の上で惰眠をむさぼる)

29). Tsuki ga Michibiku Isekai Douchuu (月が導く異世界道中)

30). Joou-sama, Kyouken Kishidan wo Youishimashita node Shinuki de Shitsuke wo Onegaishimasu (女王様、狂犬騎士団を用意しましたので死ぬ気で躾をお願いします)

31). Nan chatte Cinderella (なんちゃってシンデレラ)

32). A Mermaid Princess in Love (恋する人魚姫)

33). Snow White of the Antique Shop (リリー骨董店の白雪姫)

34). Kishi-sama no Tsukaima (騎士様の使い魔)

35). Boukyaku no Haou Roland (忘却の覇王ロラン)

36). Migawari Hakushaku no Bouken (身代わり伯爵の冒険)

37). Cinderella Hakushaku-ke no Kutsubakokan (シンデレラ伯爵家の靴箱館)

38). Akuma Hakushaku to Honoo no Otome (誓約のエフェメラ 悪魔伯爵と焔の乙女)

39). I'm a Maid, but without Love this is a Predicament (侍女ですが恋されなければ窮地です)

40). Yousei to Kiss (妖精とキス)

41). Wortenia Senki (ウォルテニア戦記)


Web novels I wish would get published as light novels:

1). Dragon Life (ドラゴン・ライフ)

2). Tensei Shitara Kyuuketsuki-san Datta Ken (転生したら吸血鬼さんだった件～チートで世界最強です～)


Light novels on my wishlist which got licensed in english (or are in the process of):

1). Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou (ありふれた職業で世界最強): Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest

2). Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? (蜘蛛ですが、なにか?): I’m A Spider, So What?

3). Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (盾の勇者の成り上がり): The Rising of the Shield Hero [Got volume 1- 4 so far.)

4). Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (転生したらスライムだった件): Regarding Reincarnated to Slime


More to come?

 

Devil. Novels that get english licensed stop getting fan translations so it'll take years before we can read them again...

 

Yen Press is sh!t.

Log Horizon, SAO, and DanMachi...

At least KonoSuba is still there...

 

And people from outside can't buy or don't have the money

 

Actually. I generally prefer them unlicensed and getting a good fan translator.
My main issue is with localization. I don't like when they change the content to be more relatable to western audiences. But rather what many fan translators do and simply leave a footnote explaining anything that might not come across.

I admit, its not just objective reasons i dislike localization. No small part is thanks to 4kids (my childhood) and their extreme localizations of anime. But its not just them. Its also in videogames and such.
Anyway. I don't like it

 

Well as long as the problem with the speed is resolve Licensing them is all fine and good and the author will also get a part from the proceeds

 

....is this a list so yenpress knows the order of how to f*ck us up the worst?

 

Nope, i remember when i used to read only japanese novels i used to pray that Mahouka and DxD would not be picked by Yen Press.

 

I don't like licensing into english - i mean it's not that easy to get in my country, well maybe not that hard but it's at least 50% more expensive (becouse of shipping price), so i would rather buy normal book

 

I wish there is translated LN and WN in my country. (books)
Edit: also shipping is expensive so i still prefer unlicensed ones

 

Licensing is a taboo word for this community so yeah NO.

 

LOL
"Aren't you thinking sometimes, how nice it would be if your favorite light novels get licensed in english?"
Seriously, people are thinking of this? I'm sure that there are some people that do want this, but mostly for those that can buy this in their own country. When you need to export the novels to your country, it isn't worth the cost. And Usually, Official English Translation compare to Fan Translation is just..........bad man. Cause the fan know what words to keep in their original language for people to understand the culture, while the official english just tend to localize Everything to english. They are just the worst, honestly.
That WN to LN is good thinking though. But you know, ever since the "Big Bomb" that strike Baka-tsuki, sometimes LN aren't that good. And with LN sometimes being Banned translation(cause like licensed or the published themselves banned), while the LN got new contents compare to the WN, it really isn't good sometimes.
So yeah, if this is your wish for WN to become LN, most of those in your list Is Already In LN form. The translator just translated the WN, how do you think people get the Novel Cover? Because those are the LN cover.
But for your wish of LN being licensed.....well, I'm sure 90% of Everyone don't want that. Unless the dropped novels or abandoned novels then sure, but if it's the current on-going, popular, daily novel, then Most of Everyone don't want them to be Licensed, the LN that is. Other publishers then depend, but Yen Press is just Merciless man......

^ A small wall of text, but my point is that, for the Community, Almost No One want their Novels to be Licensed. Most of us are just Leechers or Donators. Not everyone can buy the Licensed Books(export costs, not available for your country, bad quality official english, etc....)

 

I prefer fan translation. One, they are free. Two, I can talk to people while reading. Three, shipping isn't really an option in my place.

 

I read this article on how Common Sense of a Duke's Daughter is getting licensed by Seven Seas here's the article if you're interested: linkylinklink

Personally, I prefer fan translated novels.

 

hmmm prolly no most of the listed novels are shoujo ones and I'm pretty sure the ratio on the people who read them is far from the other genre that are aimed to male readers

 

No, I never think of it.

 

I absolutely don't have anything against your opinion. If you like fan translations more than the official ones, so be it. In my case, since I can't speak and understand japanese, I have no other choice but to rely on fan and official translations. Letting mangas aside, I'm totally happy that I can read the translations of certain novels for free on the net. But not always is the translation good (if I read a very good translation I'm happily praising the translator and make sure to stick to it), sometimes it is really hard to follow the story because of the messy translation. Sure, to be able to understand and read japanese (if you are not a native) is hard and one can be proud to have mastered it, if even just a bit. But for us other non japanese speaking readers it can be very annoying to wait months over months for just one chapter getting released (instead of a whole volume like with the licensed novels) and then to realise you can't really understand what gibbish the translator wrote (in case of totally amateur and mtl translators). Even though we can be happy that several people are willing to translate such novels at all, if it's like this, I more likely will glady wait for a light novel series to get licensed in english and then read the official translation, which doesn't may be perfect, but it is at least fluently readable. Recently I've read the licensed third volume of 'Rising of the Shield Hero' and was very satisfied. I'm soon beginning to read the fourth volume.
Regarding the price, sure, if you live in a far away country, the shipping costs are quite high, let alone the price of the book. Because of this, since some years, I'm just buying ebooks, either the raws or translated ones (well, besides chinese and korean novels, for some reason I can't find them as ebooks). Ebooks are a little bit cheaper, have great picture/illustration quality and you don't need to pay for the shipping.
This is my opinion.

 

If the "official" translation had faster releases and better translations, we wouldn't hate them as much.

The problem is that on the things that do get licences, we have to wait years for a translation that is sometimes at a lower quality. In many cases, the "official" source never actually translates it as far as the fan translation, and that's one good novel forever gone.

 

As I already said, I've read the first three volumes of the official translation of 'Rising of the Shield Hero'. They were really good and although there were some grammatical mistakes, they weren't very annoying and I also didn't had the feeling something was missing from the story. Of course they were translated in a way it would suit the country's audience, but is that bad? I would recomment it for anyone who might want to check it out.

 

...I said sometimes, sigh.
I've neither read the fan translation for the shieldbro LN, if it even exists, nor the published version, so I can't really say anything there.

Yes, I've never even bought a single published translated LN. But, there's a general consensus that, in many cases, the Yen Press version is worse than the already translated version.

I could say the same for Skythewood, Yoraikun, plus many other translators.
To get to that level, all you need is a decent translator and a good editor. It isn't hard.