Discussion Japans author's obsessions with hot springs and japanese food make me violently ill

You can't expect novels written by NEETs or hikikomoris to be social.
Even the founder of studio Ghibli has complained of how recent anime lack real characters because the writers don't interact with real people
https://soranews24.com/2014/01/30/g...strys-problem-is-that-its-full-of-anime-fans/

 

I noticed that too. Recent characters now, are mostly like has the same template and there's no depth.

 

Rather than reading a light novel that is meant to be light, why don't you try reading a legit novel?
Something like this,
https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Boiled-...ami&qid=1577968052&sprefix=haruki+mura&sr=8-9

 

Second this recommendation. Excellent book. Although Murakami was influenced by Western literature when writing this.

 

I don't mean to brag, but I know how to get any food made. I memorized their phone numbers, so if I get isekaid, I just dial that number off the top of my head and the food from our world will be made.

 

Nice idea It would be great if its for free though

 

Is that a good read? I have yet read any book by Murakami? You know, trailers, descriptions and reviews can be a trap oftentimes ┐(´д｀)┌

 

Am I being ignored? 囧rz
https://forum.novelupdates.com/posts/5371681/

 

Yeah, and I feel that bypassing things they don't care about is a clue as to what is and isn't interesting/entertaining to either the authors or their Japanese target audience... at least when it is as prevalent as it is.

For sure, I don't believe the Japanese authors care or focus much at all on foreign target groups.

Still, like you point out, whether it's the Japanese general culture or a Japanese subculture like Japanese otakus, is a different matter... but in my opinion culture is a large all encompassing concept that covers all from table etiquette and tea ceremonies to the entertainment they like and promote.

If the main culture did not like their subculture's entertainment or the subculture was not large enough, it would not be such a big deal in their society or get printed books, air time on TV, etc.

Obviously, whether social interaction and such is of little importance in daily life is a completely separate issue from if they just don't find social interaction entertaining/interesting.

 

Yeah, the biggest problem in anime and the other otaku industries. They're basically eating themselves and it's probably more evident in the webnovels than anywhere else. Still, I'm going to continue reading them because there is the odd title that's pretty good and because I like trash fantasy/isekai novels in general. What I don't get is the people saying that these are better than Chinese webnovels when the difference in quality is huge.

Characterization is probably the most obvious weakness in Japanese webnovels. Visual media like anime and manga can disguise this weakness by using pictures/animation and voice acting to make up for the difference. You obviously can't do this with just the written word so the characters tend to be exposed for how terribly thin they are.

 

The cultivation power levels or power ranking system in Chinese novels are always better.
Chinese novels are also more philosophical. Maybe some readers do not understand the complex words used.
Japanese novels are much different beast. I am sometimes shocked how some novels are 100% slice of life and popular and good.
I don't read them though but simple is not always bad. Even a 10 year old will understand the story.
Given then those with poor English comprehension are like 10 year olds. It makes sense.

 

I guess I kind of get it. If I was thrown into a different land and was forced to take a physically demanding job... a couple weeks in, two of my top emotional needs would probably be a hot bath and a bowl of oat porridge done the way my dad used to make it when I was a kid.

But yes. Rather overdone.

 

You don't have to look very deep when it comes to comparing Chinese and Japanese webnovels. The former are a lot better at the really basic level like characterization, dialogue, settings, tone/mood, and so on. Right now I'm reading Sevens, and it's barely passable at these things, but it's still vastly better than most other Japanese webnovels. And it's still not as good at as what I'd expect out of Chinese webnovels, even ones that are pretty trash.

The biggest difference is the one that you pointed out earlier: writers write what they know, and otaku writers don't know anything other than other otaku media. A lot of this stuff is already pretty bad so these writers are basically trying to emulate bad books. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a ton of English language fan fiction that's a lot better than this stuff.

 

I think emulate bad books is a stretch. They are emulating popular books.
They are just trying to eat, so they copy what is tried and tested to be popular
I recall Kadokawa banned isekai in their awards in 2017 for that reason.
I think the biggest issue with Japanese webnovels is that the translators are usually otakus themselves, so they ignore stories that are different
Stories like this usually dont get translated:
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/tower-of-karma/
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/ouroboros-record-circus-of-oubeniel/

If you look, you will nonsense that even the worse Chinese webnovel is usually grouped under mature but most Japanese novels on here are for kids or teenagers/ adults who refuse to grow up haha

 

I don't buy this as some sort of defense. If the books they're emulating are bad then there's no difference between emulating popular books and emulating bad books. And I don't think that it's a matter of material, but rather that there's something wrong with these writers at a fundamental level. They've either never learned how to write creative fiction or they don't care about the proper techniques.

I don't buy this either. I don't think that Japanese webnovel writers are sophisticated enough to have any particular target demographic in mind in the first place. And even if they do, there's no reason for books for kids to have no characterization or no descriptive text or crappy dialogue.

 

Hahaha. These stories are written by actual amateurs.
It is no different from reading a story off Weibo to be fair.
Light novels for Japanese and webnovels for Chinese are better comparison since actual writers are involved in making them
but personally I dont enjoy them either.
The novels are called light novels. I would argue that being light on character and plot is the point
About demographic, there is a demographic and it is very strict too
So many typos in my post lol. I said nonsense instead of notice
Are you watching any of the recent Chinese webdramas?
I am enjoying Sword Dynasty although from the trailer for the last 4 episodes, we get the usual lazy female villain plot device
The word seems to escape me but I will go with rehabilitated.
I enjoy female villains that are rehabilitated.
The evil witch trope is bland

 

I would argue that “Baccano” defies this notion, as it is rich in character development and plot. But I’ve read only the first five novels, the rest could be different. And this could be the exception to the rule.

 

Grimgar is not light either

 

I’ll have to check it out, then.

 

Dont forget battered and deepfried everything and cheeseburgers