The Final Frontier of Japanese Media - Part II

I hadn't intended for my first post on light novels a couple weeks ago to get some of the reactions it did, (especially as not many of my basic ideas hadn't showed up in other people's posts) but I got several responses, emails and even comments from friends that made me want to take a heavier swing at the light novel phenomenon in America.

Post-Anime Expo we have had a variety of reactions, from the excited to the outright worried. I suppose a few announcements are saved for the granddaddy of media events, Comic-Con which happens in two weeks in San Diego, but there was very little in the way of light novel announcements at AX. This does little to quell my worries for the state of the light novel in English today. I have the highest hopes, don't get me wrong, and as a translator I like doing light novels and will fight to keep readers informed of what is out there. I hope both readers and publishers give this popular Japanese phenomenon the proper chance in English

One of the comments I received was that since there is "better fiction" in English, light novels hold only a limited appeal. Light novels have found their place in Japan, this in a country that is much better read than average in the US. So the question of why remains. Why has Japan caught the light novel bug when young American readers aren't picking them up in the same numbers?

At a recent BBQ a friend of mine suggested that Americans aren't commuters in the same way Japanese are, and therefore the appeal of a "light novel" (for reading on the bus or train to pass the time) might be higher in a country where fewer people drive themselves to work or school. I think there might be something to this idea. This might be one of the reasons they are more popular in Japan, as the driving age is 18, and far fewer young people drive in Japan compared to the US.

I spoke to a friend from Japan recently and she informed me the original creation of the Japanese katakana-English phrasing "light novel" came from "young adult novel". The term "young adult novel" translated phonetically into Japanese sounds like "adult [pornographic] novels for kids" so it is clear why the term "light novel" was created in Japanese English. But still, the image of the name carries the "light" ("opposite of heavy", "meaningless") meaning in both English and in Japanese. Could it be possible that the naming of the genre itself has hurt it unfairly? I tend to think so. When I say I am working on a "light novel" most people don't know what I am talking about. "Does that mean it is really short?" is a question I get. There are all kinds of "light novels", and not all of them are light. I'll save my new suggestion for the end.

Another problem that was pointed out to me is the translations aren't always as smooth as they should be. This is certainly true, especially in a couple early well-publicized cases. As I said before, in theory, translation should only be as good as its source material. Like games, manga and anime, this is a fairly new frontier in Japanese publishing in English, and a few hurdles will be knocked over before a reliable system is cemented. I worry that American readers are less patient than they were ten or even five years ago, and the reputation of a few less-than-perfect novels will stain the genre. One commenter said her husband has completely given up on the genre after a couple bad experiences. That is certainly understandable at a time when entertainment dollars are stretched thin. At the same time, I didn't stop buying CDs in 1986 even though the first couple I got weren't that good.

Seeing from AX, light novels have been pulled back on in some ways. There weren't a lot of light novel announcements, and none from my friends at Dark Horse. The market cannot support the volume of manga and anime that is out there, and publishers are cutting back on release schedules. I would contend, however, that readers of light novels don't have to be the same thin slice of otaku-dom that spends their money on manga and anime.

I was recently at a novelty shop in NW Portland and the guy behind the counter was reading a one of the Vampire Hunter D novels, which have been a successful series (it must be...they are up to 11 volumes). I mentioned to the clerk that I had read that same volume, though hadn't read all the volumes. He gushed about how much he loved the series and I asked if he had ever seen any of the anime movies and he replied "There're animated movies of D?"

Surely this is atypical, but certainly not impossible. The question becomes, if anime and manga fans aren't quick to pick up on light novels, why not market to those that might be? As DH editor Carl Horn pointed out recently at an industry panel at AX, most Americans have never read a manga or seen an anime. The same is true of light novels.

Last time I suggested big-box stores create a "light novel" shelf, but part of me wonders if these books don't sometimes deserve to be thrown into the foreign language or fiction sections to stand on their own. Why is Maid Machinegun, a stand-alone "light novel" shelved with manga in some stores, when the pulpy Shinjuku Shark is in shelved in "mystery/crime"? Is it because Maid Machinegun has a manga-looking cover and is labeled as a "Del Rey manga" on the back cover, even though it isn't a manga, nor is based on one (though there are a few pages of manga in the back). What if Maid Machinegun were packaged more like Shinjuku Shark? Would it help? Would it hurt?

Are publishers painting themselves in a corner by focusing light novel marketing on manga and anime fans? The answer to that question is not for me to say, and for certain titles, like Psycho Busters, the answer is probably no. The appeal for that title is probably limited to the manga readers. However, titles like Maid Machinegun, Dark Wars: The Tale of Meiji Dracula, The Dirty Pair, the aforementioned Vampire Hunter D and even the Ghost in the Shell novels can be satisfying reads for those that have never cracked a manga or watched any anime.

Japanese light novels are often very different from traditional English prose. There are some things about the structures of light novels that make reading them a unique experience that a few readers have criticized, but I think it is something that readers will grow to embrace just like non-flipped manga.

In the light novels I have read and translated most paragraphs are one or two sentences. They can be dialogue-heavy, but the the identity of the speaker isn't always readily clear. Despite the present inclination to write "direct translations" to satisfy fan desires, I do find myself adjusting sentences occasionally for clarity. This is in consultation with the editor and is always done thoughtfully and with care. The supreme goal is for the reader in English to experience the same things at the same time as the Japanese reader. Despite the "light" label, these stories can be as moving and emotional as anything else.

Light novels are often written in the first person, or a funky first-person/semi-omnipotent voice. Another point is that the narrator can change, at least that is true in the Blood+ novels. This allows for internal dialogue to come out that couldn't in the anime. In the Blood+ novels we find out more about characters like David, Karl and James. I am reminded of a conversation I had with Philip Simon, the editor of the Blood+ manga, also released by Dark Horse about a year ago. In the manga David comes across as a bit of a prick, but we are given hints to be more sympathetic with him in the novels. I hadn't read the manga at that time, and he hadn't read the novels, and we both had just seen the first few episodes of the anime. It was interesting seeing how David introduces Saya to her situation in the anime (coldly) in the manga (by shooting her her in the chest to show her she can't die) and in the novel (stoic, but with an internal dialogue that reveals more than his steel expression can reveal in the anime). Unlike English books in this multiple-narrator structure, the chapter titles aren't the name of the narrator, so sometimes the fun in the opening paragraphs is deducing who is talking.

I probably asked more questions than I answered, but one suggestion I would have is moving away from the term "light novel". Americans aren't going to go looking for "light novels" and as a mature reader, it sounds like something I shouldn't enjoy.

How about J-Pulp? That sounds like a guilty pleasure I'd really like to get my hands on.