-looking forward to the future-light novels and JP lit

I’m not going to lie, this is probably one of my most-looked forward to posts in a while, because I love getting the word out about any light/Japanese novels that I can so that they’ll do well and we’ll get even more! Seriously, I did this post super quick compared to the other ones. After this has been up for a few days, I think I’m going to do a feedback post with some of my ideas for making this easier next time and to get your input too! :] Hope you all enjoy!! (And a semi-warning, cuz there’s a whole lot of Haikasoru fangirling going on past this cut.) (And of course the super-long tag list warning again, haha.)

Unless noted otherwise, these are stand-alone novels.

The Book of Heroes by: Miyuki Miyabe
January 19, 2010
US publisher: Viz Media – Haikasoru imprint
Price: US $23.99
From the publisher: A young girl travels into a magical world to save her brother from real-world bullies. L to R (Western Style). When her brother Hiroki disappears after a violent altercation with school bullies, the young Yukiro finds a magical book in his room. The book leads her to another world where she learns that Hiroki has been possessed b a spirit from the Book of Heroes. She visits the magical Nameless Land, where she is told how to save her brother, and is sent back to Earth with a young monk named Sora and the magical book, now a mouse named Azu. Yuri has to piece together the mystery of Horiko, and has a library of powerful magic books at her disposal to do so! When her brother Hiroki disappears after a violent altercation with school bullies, the young Yukiro finds a magical book in his room. The book leads her to another world where she learns that Hiroki has been possessed b a spirit from the Book of Heroes. She visits the magical Nameless Land, where she is told how to save her brother, and is sent back to Earth with a young monk named Sora and the magical book, now a mouse named Azu. Yuri has to piece together the mystery of Horiko, and has a library of powerful magic books at her disposal to do so!
My ramblings: I’m getting the new Haikasoru reprint of Miyabe’s Brave Story for Christmas (I’m bad and I snoop), so hopefully I’ll love it just as much as I expect to love this. (oh, check out the official cover in this post the Haikasoru site/blog, it now has lovely gold ink for the title and author name). On a sort of similar note, Viz seems pretty confident about Miyabi’s work, since Brave Story did get a reprint and The Book of Heroes is the first of the Haikasoru titles to be printed in hardcover, which makes me even more excited about both of them. Nick Mamatas (Haikasoru editor) calls it both fantasy and anti-fantasy, which makes me even more curious about the story, though all this talk about The King in Yellow makes me feel like I need to read the source material for that now (apparently it’s available as a free e-book from Project Gutenburg, so I should get on that before I get the novel).

Yukikaze by: Chohei Kambayashi
January 19, 2010
US publisher: Viz Media – Haikasoru imprint
Price: US $14.99
From the publisher: More than thirty years ago a hyper-dimensional passageway suddenly appeared… the first stage of an attempted invasion by an enigmatic alien host. Humanity managed to push the invaders back through the passageway to the strange planet nicknamed “Faery.” Now, Second Lieutenant Rei Fukai carries out his missions in the skies over Faery. His only constant companion in this lonely task is his fighter plane, the sentient FFR-31 Super Sylph, call sign: YUKIKAZE.
My ramblings: So…I hadn’t actually heard of Yukikaze before this (apparently it has a 5-episode anime adaptation and the fact that Viz licensed this is awesome), but I still think it looks awesome even if I hadn’t seen the anime (though it certainly makes me want to watch the anime now too!). I’m always up for more scifi, and apparently this is some top notch stuff, so thanks Viz/Haikasoru! ;]

Chibi Vampire by: Tohru Kai and Yuna Kagesaki
Complete at 9 volumes
Volume 6 March 30, 2010
US publisher: Tokyopop
Price: US $10.99
From the publisher: Karin Maaka can bite a throat like a proper vampire, but where others of her kind need hot red blood, she has too much of it! Every month, she’s compelled to inject blood into her victims the way a snake injects venom. And her handsome classmate Kenta Usui makes her feel like she’s is going to spurt blood like a geyser. Talk about embarrassing! When Karin’s latest victim turns out to be as rich as he is good looking, it causes hilarious chaos at her school. Will she ever live in peace? The much talked-about manga is now a supernatural-love-comedy-mystery novel starring our favorite clumsy blood injector, Karin!
My ramblings: I haven’t read the Chibi Vampire/Karin series, but since Tokyopop is finally putting out another of the light novels, I might just have to now, because this certainly looks good for their other light novels!

Gosick by: Kazuki Sakurakaba
Ongoing with 9+ volumes
Volume 2 March 2, 2010, Volume 3 June 30, 2010
US publisher: Tokyopop
Price: US $12.99
From the publisher: Kazuya finds a classified ad inviting descendants of the gray wolf to return home to the summer festival. Remembering rumors that Victorique was the gray wolf reborn, he shows her the ad – and she reveals she was charged with murdering the mayor and banished from the village at the age of fifteen, and now she’s come to prove her innocence…
my ramblings: Thanks to sylphalchemist for mentioning this one!! :D I haven’t read the first volume, but the cover sure makes me want to go back and get it before volume 2 comes out so I can read it when it does.

Kieli by: Yukako Kabei
Complete at 9 volumes
Volume 2 March 2010, Volume 3 September 2010
US publisher: Yen Press
Price: US $10.99
From the publisher: Kieli is a reclusive girl isolated by her ability to see ghosts. Her only friend is her “roommate,” Becca, the precocious spirit of a former student still residing in Kieli’s dorm. Everything in Kieli’s life changes suddenly when the girls meet the handsome but distant Harvey who, like Kieli, can see ghosts. He also turns out to be one of the legendary Undying, an immortal soldier bred for war now being hunted by the Church. When Kieli joins Harvey on a pilgrimage to lay to rest the spirit of a corporal possessing an old radio, as unlikely as it seems, she feels she may have finally found a place where she belongs in the world. And in Kieli, Harvey may have found a reason to live again.
My ramblings: I kind of just skipped over the first volume in this series, but am now thinking about getting it in time for the second one, since it looks rather interesting, and I’m sure since it’s from Yen Press it’s probably got a pretty darn good translation. I know there was a preview in Yen+ for 3 issues, but at the time I couldn’t find the magazine in stores near me and I don’t have a subscription, so unfortunately I can’t say anything about the actual novel yet. And I actually like the cover for this; it’s completely different from the Japanese cover, but it’s not as bad as the Spice and Wolf cover, it actually kind of reminds me of the covers for the House of Night series (take that as you will, since they’re not the best novels out there, though fairly interesting).

Slum Online by: Hiroshi Sakurazaka
March 16, 2010
US publisher: Viz Media – Haikasoru imprint
Price: US $13.99
From the publisher: Reality bites for college freshman Etsuro Sakagami, but on the MMO Versus Town he’s a karate master who can handle anything. Who will be his greatest opponent-the seemingly invisible Slasher Jack, or his would-be girlfriend Fumiko? Etsuro Sakagami is a college freshmen who feels uncomfortable in reality, but when he logs onto the combat MMO Versus Town, he assumes the personality of “Tetsuo,” a karate champ on his way towards becoming the most powerful martial artist around. While his relationship with new classmate Fumiko goes nowhere, he spends his days and nights online in search of the invincible fighter Slasher Jack. Floating in between real and virutal, at last, Etsuro finds himself face to face with his most powerful opponent…
My ramblings: I have a kind of love/hate relationship with good ‘ole Hiroshi Sakurazaka, since he wrote All You Need is Kill, which I reviewed a few months back (and didn’t necessarily love), but he’s also the one who wrote the source novels for Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou (anime from last season that’s streaming on Crunchyroll), which I actually enjoyed (though I know it wasn’t terribly popular). Slum Online looks to be more like Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou than All You Need is Kill, so I think I’ll like it a lot more (and I’m definitely going to give it a chance).

The Stories of Ibis by: Hiroshi Yamamoto
March 16, 2010
US publisher: Viz Media – Haikasoru imprint
Price: US $15.99
From the publisher: In a world where humans a minority and androids have created their own civilization, a wandering storyteller meets the beautiful android Ibis. She tells him seven stories of human/android interaction in order to reveal the secret behind humanity’s fall. The story takes place centuries in the future, where the diminished populations of humans live uncultured lives in their own colonies. They resent the androids, who have built themselves a stable and cultural society. In this brutal time, our main character travels from colony to colony as a “storyteller,” one that speaks of the stories of the past. One day, he is abducted by Ibis, an android in the form of a young girl, and told of the stories created by humans in the ancient past.
The stories that Ibis speaks of are the 7 novels about the events surrounding the announcements of the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in the 20th to 21st centuries. At a glance, these stories do not appear to have any sort of connection, but what is the true meaning behind them? What are Ibis’ real intentions?
My ramblings: Check out a preview of the novel here at Words Without Borders! I haven’t gotten around to reading the preview yet (bad me!), but the frame story of this novel really intrigues me.

The Twelve Kingdoms by: Fuyumi Ono
Complete at 7 volumes
Volume 4 (Skies of Dawn) March 2, 2010
(Volume 5 – March 9, 2011, Volume 6 – March 8, 2012, Volume 7 – March 7, 2013)
US publisher: Tokyopop
Price: US $19.99
From the publisher:After a year of depending on her ministers to govern the kingdom of Kei, Yoko follows Keiki’s advice and descends the mountain to live among her people, eager to learn how to be a better leader from the village’s wise-man, Enho. However, when Enho is kidnapped, Yoko finds herself thrust into an all-out war between the kingdoms. Friendships and alliances are put to the test during the Battle of Wa Province. Can Yoko summon the strength to take up her responsibilities as king?
My ramblings: I keep having to tell myself that this series hasn’t been put on hiatus yet by Tokyopop, it just comes out at one volume a year! It’s such a long time to wait for such a fantastic series! The only problem I have with this volume is that Tokyopop has once again upped the price (to $19.99!!), but as long as the paper quality is better in this volume than the last one (and I think it should, since Tokyopop seems to have fixed the paper problem recently), I’ll be extremely willing to pay for it! It’s absolutely worth it to buy the hardback versions of these novels and not wait another year for the paperback version.

Trinity Blood: Rage Against the Moons by: Sunao Yoshida and Thores Shibamoto
Complete at 6 volumes
Volume 4 (Judgement Day) April 27, 2010
US publisher: Tokyopop
Price: TBD (assumed to be US $10.99)
From the publisher: Set in a post-apocalyptic world, the war between humans and vampires rages on. While a group of vampire extremists manipulates events to ensure the war’s continuation, a Vatican special ops group called AX, must use everything–even a vampire who preys on the blood of other vampires–to protect the peace effort.
My ramblings: I really hope Tokyopop keeps putting these out! I finally made it to the halfway point in the both series (Reborn on the Mars and Rage Against the Moons), and would really like to be able to finish them both. Hopefully the fact that ROM 3 (review likely coming soon ;] )was just published a few months back means that Tokyopop is finally taking these off of hiatus!

Loups-Garous by: Natsuhiko Kyogoku
May 2010
US publisher: Viz Media – Haikasoru imprint
Price: US $16.99
From the publisher: Virtual reality. Murder. Werewolves. And teen girls! In a future where nothing is as it seems, can old legends come true? In the near future, humans will communicate almost exclusively through monitors, making real interaction a rarified and weak occurance for those living in a near totalitarian society. In this new world of communication, children are only allowed to interact personally on school grounds. So when a serial killer starts slaughtering junior high children the communication routes go under futher surveillance. And despite all the safeguards put in place to avoid physical interaction, the killer’s latest victim turns out to have been in contact with three young girls: Mio Tsuzki, a certified prodigy; Hatsuki Matsuno, a quiet but opinionated classmate; and Ayumi Kono, her best friend. And as the girls get caught up in trying to quell curiosity under such terrorist scrutiny, Hatsuki learns that there is much more than meets the eye of their monitored communications.
My ramblings: Viz just keeps getting novels and manga right before an anime adaptation is announced. Sup with that? ;] But in all seriousness, and this is probably going to actually sound silly, but werewolves seem to be the new vampires, so this is probably going to do just fine here.

The Next Continent by: Issui Ogawa
May 18, 2010
US publisher: Viz Media – Haikasoru imprint
Price: US $16.99
From the publisher: Humanity is returning to the moon, but this time the mission is Japanese, and in private hands for commercial purposes. The year is 2025 and Otaba General Construction—a firm that has built structures to survive the Antarctic and the Sahara—has received its most daunting challenge yet. Sennosuke Touenji, the chairman of one of the world’s largest leisure conglomerates, wants a moon base fit for civilian use, and he wants his granddaughter Tae to be his eyes and ears on the harsh lunar surface. Tae and Otaba engineer Aomine head to the moon where adventure, trouble, and perhaps romance await.
My ramblings: The Lord of the Sands of Time (reviewed here), also by Ogawa, was one of the first two novels from Haikasoru, and I absolutely love it! I actually hoped for more from Ogawa in my review, and Viz /Haikasoru is sure delivering. If The Lord of the Sands of Time is any indication, this novel is sure to be fantastic also.

Spice and Wolf by: Isuna Hasekura
Ongoing with 13+ volumes
Volume 2 June 2010, Volume 3 December 2010
US publisher: Yen Press
Price: US $10.99
From the publisher: The life of a traveling merchant is a lonely one, a fact with which Kraft Lawrence is well acquainted. Wandering from town to town with just his horse, cart, and whatever wares have come his way, the peddler has pretty well settled into his routine—that is, until the night Lawrence finds a wolf goddess asleep in his cart. Taking the form of a fetching girl with wolf ears and a tail, Holo has wearied of tending to harvests in the countryside and strikes up a bargain with the merchant to lend him the cunning of “Holo the Wisewolf” to increase his profits in exchange for taking her along on his travels. What kind of businessman could turn down such an offer? Lawrence soon learns, though, that having an ancient goddess as a traveling companion can be a bit of a mixed blessing. Will this wolf girl turn out to be too wild to tame?
My ramblings: Now, I know there’s been a lot of fuss about the cover (and even I don’t love it), but it’s still awesome that Yen Press is willing to take the chance to publish this (and they are even going out of their way to print more of the original covers for people who buy them online). I can’t wait to buy the first volume soon and then the next 2 next year.

Zaregoto by: NISIOISIN
Complete at 9 volumes
Volume 2 (The Kubishime Romanticist) June 22, 2010
US publisher: Del Rey Manga – FAUST imprint
Price: US $9.99
From wikipedia: Ii-chan is invited to a party by a classmate, but the next day one of the guests is found dead.
My ramblings: I really hope this finally gets published! It keeps getting pushed back by Del Rey and that made me really sad, since the first volume is a great read, and I think now that people have had more exposure to NISIOISIN (through the Bakemonogatari anime and the upcoming Katanagatari anime, the xxxHolic novel (from Del Rey, the Death Note novel (from Viz), and both volumes of Del Rey’s own FAUST anthology), it will likely do better than the first volume (I’m assuming that it didn’t sell well and that’s why the second volume keeps getting pushed back). Actually, I recently looked at the Random House website (of which Del Rey Manga is an imprint) and it actually has the volume up for pre-order with the cover, which it didn’t even just a few days ago, so things are definitely looking up for Zaregoto volume 2!!

Haruhi Suzumiya Series by: Nagaru Tanigawa
On Hiatus with 9+ volumes
Volume 3 (The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya) July 1, 2010
US publisher: Yen Press and Little, Brown Books
Price: US $14.99 (hardcover), US $8.99 (paperback)
From the publisher: On the outside she’s just another cute outsider, starting high school as a freshman, in a suburban city where nothing exciting happens and no one understands her – until she meets Kyon. Although Kyon’s been warned away by all of his friends that Haruhi has left a trail of broken lives behind her, he decides to befriend her and that’s when the unexpected happens. Haruhi, it turns out, is a lot more than she seems, and the group of students she’s organized to help her search for the extraordinary in the world turns out to be exactly what she’s was looking for: A time traveler, an alien, and an esper. But here’s the catch, they can never let Haruhi know what they are or the world may end!
My ramblings: I loved the first volume of this series (still need to get volume 2!), and can certainly see why the anime does so well (2 series and an upcoming movie is certainly nothing to laugh at), though I do hope that Tanigawa gets around to finishing the series before Yen Press and Little, Brown catch up in the English releases. (side note: it looks like the third volume will still be getting the simultaneous hardback and paperback treatment, which is awesome!)

Harmony by: Project Itoh
July 20, 2010
US publisher: Viz Media – Haikasoru imprint
Price: US $14.99
From the publisher: In the future, Utopia has finally been achieved thanks to medical nanotechnology and a powerful ethic of social welfare and mutual consideration. This perfect world isn’t that perfect though, and three young girls stand up to totalitarian kindness and super-medicine by attempting suicide via starvation. It doesn’t work, but one of the girls–Tuan Kirie–grows up to be a member of the World Health Organization. As a crisis threatens the harmony of the new world, Tuan rediscovers another member of her suicide pact, and together they must help save the planet…from itself.
My ramblings: ( haha, I tipped ANN off to this and Rocket Girls. xD ) Ok, in all seriousness, this novel looks really good! Though it’s certainly sad that the author died of cancer shortly after finishing the novel (which he apparently wrote in the hospital)! D: The novel won the 30th Nihon SF Taishō Awards from the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of Japan, so I think it’s safe to say that it’s probably pretty darn good.

Rocket Girls by: Housuke Nojiri
Complete at 4 volumes
Volume 1 July 20, 2010, Sequel Fall 2010
US publisher: Viz Media – Haikasoru imprint
Price: US $13.99
From the publisher: Yukari Morita is a high school girl on a quest to find her missing father. While searching for him on the Solomon Islands, she receives the offer of a lifetime—she’ll get the help she needs to find her father, and all she need do in return is become the world’s youngest, lightest astronaut. Yukari and her teen friends, all petite, are the perfect crew and cargo for the Solomon Space Association’s launches, or will be once they complete their rigorous and sometimes dangerous training.
My ramblings: Another novel that has an anime adaptation and apparently this has 3 sequels, one of which, according to the Haikasoru catalog for summer ’10, will be published later in 2010!! So there’s another one for the list. ;] Nojiri is the author of another Haikasoru title, Usurper of the Sun, so it’s probably pretty good too. I’m not sure if Viz/Haikasoru will be publishing all 4 of the novels or just 2 of them, but it looks pretty definite that at least 2 of them will be published (it’s also possible that they’re putting 2 volumes in each of their volumes [like a 2-in-1 omnibus], though probably not terribly likely).

My Girlfriend’s A Geek by: Pentabu
Complete at 2 volumes
Volume 1 September 2010, Volume 2 March 2011
US publisher: Yen Press
Price: US $10.99
From the publisher: Taiga is a college student who’s always scraping by. All he wants is a part-time job and a cute girlfriend. So when he spies a “help wanted” sign outside an office and a hot girl inside, he takes the job, no questions asked. Everything goes well, prompting him to steel his courage and ask Yuiko, a full-time employee at the office, out on date. And when she asks him if it’s okay that she’s a “fujoshi,” he tells her it’s fine out of sheer excitement. But poor Taiga has no idea how much trouble he’s just gotten himself into!
My ramblings: Well…I’m not sure whether or not to be insulted by the summary (cuz it sounds kind of fun, but maybe a little insulting possibly?)… but it’s a legit shojo light novel, so I’m absolutely checking it out! Plus it seems like it will be more funny than insulting, from the very end of that summary. Apparently the people at Yen Press said that it’s a bunch of blog posts from the guy about his girlfriend, so that should be an interesting format to see. And the Japanese cover is pretty and non-animanga-ish already, so Yen Press shouldn’t be changing it too much. ;] (I’m just kidding, I promise, though I really don’t think they’ll have to change this one, since it looks like the kind of cute book that would sell well with pre-teen/teen girls already.)

The Ouroboros Wave by: Jyouji Hayashi
September 21, 2010
US publisher: Viz Media – Haikasoru imprint
Price: US $14.99
From the publisher: Ninety years from now, a satellite detects a nearby black hole scientists dub Kali for the Hindu goddess of destruction. Humanity embarks on a generations-long project to tap the energy of the black hole, and found colonies on planets across the solar system. Earth and Mars and the moons Europa (Jupiter) and Titan (Saturn) develop radically different societies, with only Kali, that swirling vortex of destruction and creation, and the hated but crucial Artificial Accretion Disk Development association (AADD) in common.
My ramblings: I’m not really too sure about this one, since I can’t really find anything about either the author or novel anywhere, but I’m willing to give it a chance, especially since Viz likens it to Bradbury, which is certainly a good thing!

Summer, Fireworks, and My Corpse by: Otsuichi
September 21, 2010
US publisher: Viz Media – Haikasoru imprint
Price: US $14.99
From the publisher: Two short novels, including the title story and Black Fairy Tale, plus a bonus short story. Summer is a simple story of a nine-year-old girl who dies while on summer vacation. While her youthful killers try to hide the her body, she tells us the story—from the POV of her dead body—of the boys’ attempt to get away murder. Black Fairy Tale is classic J-horror: a young girl loses an eye in an accident, but receives a transplant. Now she can see again, but what she sees out of her new left eye is the experiences and memories of its previous owner. Its previous deceased owner.
My ramblings: More Otsuichi! :D (Is it bad that I keep fangirling over him when I haven’t even actually read anything from him? I think it is…I really need to get Goth, ZOO, and Calling You!) Plus I like the idea of two short stories in this one volume; it makes me feel like I’m paying less for more (even though that’s not really the case, haha). It makes me laugh that Haikasoru calls this their “Halloween Special” in the seasonal catalog since it’s in the vein of “dark fiction/horror/ghost stories” and coming out a month before Halloween.