I'll go first since I asked the question, I'll add some flavor text to try to make it interesting. My origin story as an avid Asian novel reader was a natural outcome that stemmed from my lack of patience. I used to watch anime a bunch, my favorites were mostly completed works ones considered to be megahits. Gurren Lagann, Code Geass, etc; stuff like that things everyone had watched well excluding those One Piece and Naruto I found those stories to be incredibly boring and for Dragon Ball I watched the original series discovered the new ones and decided not to bother. To get back on focus, I decided to watch Code Geass and Gurren Lagann because well they're on Netflix and I had run out of shows and decided to give it a shot cause' I'd seen those anime kids you know the cringey ones that'd pretend to know Japanese and naruto run, and thought well theres gotta be reason why they watch amine. Thus with intrigue and an open mind I pressed play at this time I was dubs over subs guy since well most of the anime I watched had a pretty killer English cast. After I finished those I moved on to other anime on netflix some with good dubs other not so much there was this one anime with such a shitty English dub I just went and changed it to the original language and I have not looked back. I'll do a little time skip here I started to use Crunchy Roll and got into The Saga Of Tanya The Evil mind blown I wanted more and I needed now all I had watched so far was either finished or had a bajillion episodes and this wasn't finished and I was ready my search was simple "season 2 saga of tanya thevil" I of course found it in to humour google and allow it to correct my misspelling then with that I sorely discovered it didn't exist day ruined. BUT I realized something there's this one kid in my class who reads comics of Naruto so I just gotta find the comic(?) at that time i hadn't figured it out yet that pretty much every anime has a manga and a third a novel or web novel. I believe it was called mangarock I'm not sure but it had pretty much everything and was everybody's go to that I knew of anyways I started reading now I didn't mention this but I had seen an ad for Room of Swords from Webtoon and had gotten into Korean Webcomics I didnt know this though I just thought they were comics I mean I know not everything there is from Korea but it i mean its all from korea. I wasn't really a manga guy yet since I had forgotten about reading for spoilers after finding another good anime Toradora! but I was actively reading from Webtoons Hardcore Leveling Warrior, unOrdinary, Room of Swords and a bunch of others but they're blurred in my memories since they're generic though at the time they were super unique to me. After mangarock or whatever got killed i went through couple of apps that had pretty much every type of manga, manhwa, webcomic, xiu something. until I found one website I settled on MangaKatana this website on god they're pirating translators official or not, but if it weren't for them many a night would've been spent on shitty harem anime instead of shitty cultivator manhwa. The first story I properly invested in that didn't have an anime was Hero? I quit a long time ago truly the epitome of a shitty comic but I didn't know this though I was jaw dropped in ecstasy my first time seeing all the trademark trope put into one unholy completely predictable being well it didn't have reincarnation but I digress. I found garbage and I liked it I started discovering shitty predictable tropey manga by the dozen of course I wasn't a veteran yet since I actually liked them the phases go as follow hero stuff, reincarnation stuff, cheats/op, slice of life, slice of life but it claims to be action even though the protagonist just murders things instantly, is it porn?, revenge, revenge but op, revenge but it doesn't hold any significance, alchemy shit, hold on isnt everything I read garbonzo beans, villainess/reborn lady stuff, C U L T I V A T I O N B U L L S H I T, wait isn't this also shit, hold if its shit lets just go all out, harem bullshit (short stack jokester to mage something something), I actually start reading good manga manhwa, zombie apocaplypse magic gem sibling is super talented trope genre, I now have a valid opinion saying if something is shit now since I know every fucking trope in existence and I hate everything I read, FARMER REBORN HAREM ATTAINED, now I actually a valid opinion, JUST KIDDING DEMON LORD ISEKAI DUNGEON MASTERRR!!!!, manga isn't fun to read and then the final phase manga isn't fun to read and I dont like anime. Now I had dipped into novels but I had still been supremely invested into manga and anime so all I had read was a bit of overlord a bit of Youjo Senki a little of something I forgot the name of but liked then hated. I thought it was the gamers life for me again but one fateful day I came across it Kumo Desu Ga Nani Ka! the manga that is thought it novel time tch bitchass dumbass bitch bb sass aaahsdgoa. Anyways I loved the manga had an itch went all out and discovered something called Light Novels and fuck yeaaaaaah that novel slaps my god I didn't use novel updates yet so I was using some random website that doesn't appear in the translation for kumo desu and has different translation but whatever using that as a starting point I started looking for the novel of all my favorite manga eventually found novel updates and then... found it EER Everyone Else is A Returnee not as good as I thought it was but it still slaps. Like every new reader I had terrible taste if it was isekai it's my guyy even though i hated the tropes when drawn I loved it written the main thing here was i was doing what ifs and it'd be cool if- and those thoughts lead me me to enjoy a multitude of series until I realized that they weren't going to subvert tropes they're not going to be cool and yes the sister will want to fuck the mc and now I'm here. I believe myself to be the epitome of opinion now but uh i can be wrong but you know the saying once in a blue moon psssh I'd never cringe and I'd never ever write a cringy review right? right?!? now i shall spit straight facts as the epitome of opinion almost everyone has horrible taste on this sight the worst garbage novels get 5 stars me seeing a 5 star novel makes me back off i go for 3 star novels since they typically have nuance something most readers for some reason hate dont know why but don't care stay wrong.
Pretty much a similar tale with me Anime > manga > light novels > then NU exposed me to the Cn and Korean shit. I think the first novel I read is overlord? Idk it was so long ago that it gets blurry, but overlord stands out a lot and I still read it pretty early before I dipped my toes into any CN/KR things. When I caught up I then ofc I seeked similar stuff and new flavors. Now I’m a book addict.
I went with anime, manga and watching movies-- then I discovered light novels, but I felt like it's troublesome to read without pictures, so I ignored them-- but I hooked up with western novels and collected books. But I still read mangas and watched anime. It wasn't until, I read a manga that never got an update that I began reading novels.
would you what??????? also i started reading asian novels because i was impatient too for anime to update and a fanatic, so i started reading manga, manhwa, manhua, etc. but then it wouldnt update fast enough for me so i started reading novels which lead me to novelupdates (my wife <3). i spend half my life reading now lmao (*´▽`*)
Started with anime and manga. Then tried to read the novel of Chrome Shelled Regios. Then started reading Arifureta and Mushoku. Then KR novels. Now im at reading manga, manhua, manhwa before reading the novel. Still here even though not picking much new translations.
Imma go unnecessary long cuz why not. Listening to Music on YouTube ⬇️ [ Timeline - Starting of 2020 ] Gacha Videos about it ( like yk the music videos about the characters? Please don't judge me I was 13 at that time it was my "emo and cringe phase" ) ⬇️ Anime videos about the characters ( I think it was a my hero academia video ?? Now I look back at myself I wanna slap myself ) ⬇️ [ Timeline : April 2020 - September 2021 ] Searched about anime and started watching it ⬇️ Was impatient so started reading mangas ⬇️ Got interest in anime and manga so I started to get indulged and came accross comments ⬇️ Read comments and came across some discussions about other topics. One of them was about Manhwas ⬇️ [ Timeline : October 2021 ] Got curious so searched it up and came across my first Manhwa "I became the male lead's wife" ⬇️ Loved it because of the artstyle and because of colors ⬇️ Started reading Manhwas and was impatient so started reading novels. The first novel was of the manhwa "Death is the only ending for the villainess". ⬇️ Then eventually got myself reading other novels which don't have manhwa adaptation Yeah so um that's my story. I only read KR novels cuz I am kind of new lol
I still remember the god awful blue website that Arifureta was hosted on. Blue and a very dark blue for bg. Nooo deleted my big wall of txt my og post
from anime to manga and to light novel and last to web novel,, i forgot between mahouka or high school dxd, make start reading light novel.. i found it at bakatsuki for chinese web novel, i start it from Stellar Transformation... for korean, the legendary moonlight sculptor..
Quite similar... I was into western teen sci-fi novels before then I tried to get into western detective/mystery. I really tried hard but it just wasn't for me. Iirc, it was after watching the first season of Log Horizon. I was desperate to know what happened next so I googled for any of the translated source material on the web. At that time, I can't find any; although Skythewood did English translations of its volumes later, I had to get my fill of isekai ASAP. That's when I stumbled upon Baka-Tsuki. Man, it was a treasure trove. The first isekai web novel I completed reading was Mushoku Tensei, and the rest is history. My first KR web novel was LMS and my first CN web novel was Zhan Long... or was it TMW? Baka-Tsuki, Nanodesu, GravityTales, Wuxiaworld, Skythewood, Raisingthedead, Japtem, & RainbowTurtleTranslations - Some are still going strong while some of them may be defunct now but they helped me go through the lowest point of my life. Thanks a lot.
2 time, anime then manga (skipped) went to light novel. While trying to find something related to an anime i was watching at the time, i got a bak-tsuki link and i clicked it. While browsing, i found a few familliar names, and lo and behold i went searching for more. After i got a link from novelupdates and a bunch of random translator blogs i couldnt stop my self. Definetly the best hobby that has kept with me through the years. First novel i read was zero no maria or something, its mostly known for being one of the first novels that got people around my time intrested in "light novels". That and harem being one of my favorite gender let me go through most of the baka-tsuki novels . I was really happy that those translators were very dedicated to their projects, i really can't thank them enough for the joy they have brought me. Seeing some of these replies really does bring back old memories.Thanks op, you made my day. Now time to bask in the mellow flavor of the good old times.
Baka-tsuki was where I started novel wise. Anime first. then I started manga when I could not wait for naruto during that short time period after the first anime ended and I was just waiting for shippuden. then I just kept reading all sorts of manga until I inevitably ran out. Went to Baka-tsuki a bit until I found this site that lead me to where other novels get their translations linked. The manga that started my novel craze was Tate no Yuusha. I pretty much had to read further the moment I read the first chapter in the manga and that was all there was at the time. And pretty much a chapter or more a day was translated for that series. Yoraikun being one of the more prominent translators. a translator god that was fast and had superb quality. In the midst of that, there was me following the translation status of Monster Girl Quest
Watched anime after being introduced to it by a friend. Took a break because it wasn't my type back then. Returned to watch it a few years later for the sake of nostalgia (it was Black Butler BTW), loved it. Watched some more anime. Read some manga. Wasn't really my type. Found devil is a part-timer. Loved it. Read the story. Read a few more stories, though none as good as Devil is a part-timer until Overlord. Still quite a few gems. I remember them. They translated "is that a zombie?", right? I wonder if that group is dead now.
My thirst for fanfictions and op mcs, anime like OPM were good but they don't do the mc justice and so webnovels and mtls....
I ventured into light novels during the isekai era, like 4 years back? I was reading lots of isekai manga, and at some point I couldn't stomach a few cliffhangers and went to check out the novel. Some novel versions were so good I had to read them all over again. Then I read Death mage, whose manga I had loved but there were only three pitiful chapters out. After that, I decided to dive deeper into this fantastical library. This makes me wanna read Isaac again. I want to stockpile some more tho...
Started with anime, didn't like it so I went to manga and I found it really nice to read. Then, I discovered roll over and die, that seemed really good but the manga had only 7 chapters and then I discovered light novels exist.
What can I say, it's because I came from asian region. Easy like that. But if you want to know how came I like japanese light novel, then it's because at that time I tired from Manga and Anime. Very tired that I can't feel fun anymore. But then I found the Baka to test and I laugh so much from the anime. After that I want to find the manga but what I found is the Baka-Tsuki. At first I feel weird but when I read it, a new world entertainment for me open. A reading. At that time I sacrifice my time of readings Manga and watching anime. I read majority of Baka-Tsuki novel that been translation. I still remember that I refresh more than 100+ just to see the new update. Lol. At the time I read at Baka-Tsuki, I see a link that connect to batoto site that in forum saying that a few link site to the novel that been translating light novel and web novel. You don't know how happy I am at that time for I see many site translates light novel. But unfortunately, at the batoto at that time I can't look when will their will update but when I read some comment saying go to Aho-Update to see the novel been update daily. I feel very happy for I don't need anymore to search novel when the Aho-Update came but unfortunately Aho-Update at that time is don't had much link and some novel never in the link Aho-Update came but shortly after that Novel Update site came. Simple but had more link. Don't want to talk about Novel Updates for I still using it and many our friend here know what happen after that. I still feel regret for not join the forum at the start for forum at the start them had many member that talk and joke. Lol
Unlike most people in this thread, my journey here had nothing to do with manga/anime. Late spring/early summer 2020, and (being the person in our household who least needed the decent quality internet devices for school/work) I'd spent 2-3 months in my bedroom with an antiquated laptop so low-spec that it couldn't really handle things like games or videos... I'd pretty much run out of things to read in all my usual haunts by the time I found my way to NU.
I started with western sci-fi, fantasy, teen novels. I kept buying them and reading them. As for watching, I only watched Hollywood movies and western series. I was a teenager at that time and looked down on kiddy stuffs like cartoons. One day, I was bored and was surfing through TV channels. Suddenly saw a Japanese anime channel called Animex and thought what the heck is this?! My first anime was Maid Sama and it completely hooked me up. I had a friend, who was a cosplayer, who knew a lot about this anime and manga stuffs and got me, this newbie, to watch Vampire Knights, Winter Sonata and Romeo X Juliet. Yeah all the romantic stuffs. So what happened is that all those love tringles made me devour manga one after another, and discovered genres like incest, yuri, and yaoi. After a while, it drove me insane with unsatisfied answers. So I took a break from anime and manga and went into a philosophical mood where I discovered my sexual orientation. So I googled some stuffs and weirdly got introduced to Korean boy bands. From then on I got hooked on fanfictions and only read fanfictions, whether it is about the Korean bands I followed or western novels I read. Still now, my fav pairing is Draco/Harry and Voldemort or Tom Riddle/Harry Anyway, when I got into uni, I made a friend who is an anime lover. It was her who re-introduced me to anime and I think it was the beginning of the era of the emergence of isekai genre. So I naturally got hooked on this isekai stuffs and thought let's me what the manga world has about this genre. And oh god, does the manga world have it in plenty! So I put a pause on my fanfictions, and started to find various Japanese or Korean isekai, transmigration, reborn, and rebirth mangas. I think it was after watching The Rising of the Shield Hero (Aka: Tate No Yuusha) that I thought about searching about the light novels. And so, I entered the light novel, web novel, and Chinese novel world. Yeah, at that time I still didn't know about Chinese manga or novel or anime. At first, I was reading on aggregate websites because I didn't where to go. Then I found novel updates and from then on, I have never looked back, especially after discovering QT genre and reading my first QT BL novel Quickly Wear the Face of the Devil. And now I've graduated and am on my way to master's. However, my reason for still holding on to asian novels, especially bl novels, is that there's a serious shortage of western gay novels. I want original yaoi or yuri novels and fanfictions sort of stopped being the thing which can fill up the void so to say (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ And so, I've found a way to fill up the void and also an escape from the reality in asian BL and occasionally some good BG and GL novels. (P.S: Idk why I suddenly feel like I've not grown up yet ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)