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HiveCommander posted:I agree, Despite the creeper moments, holy poo poo I do not expect those Turning Point chapters to play out like they do. It's also cool that the author managed to mess around with time travel without completely screwing the story with plot holes. I once argued with someone that the proper way to use that plot hook was to tell the story from the final loop. And then assemble how the final loop was impacted by previous actions from INSIDE the final loop. On the topic of reincarnation stories, though, there's another one with a female protagonist the exact name of which I cannot recall. I'm fairly sure it hasn't been translated though. It plays off a bit of a different track than making the main character completely broken in that while the heroine is a potential magic user she's born blind. I think it was called something like Cloudy Eye? Gearhead fucked around with this message at 05:57 on Jan 30, 2015 |
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Jan 30, 2015 05:50
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I've started reading Arifureta and it is just so wonderfully terrible that it might fill the mahouka-shaped hole in my heart. Even in the 'edgelord with rpg stats' genre, it is remarkably uninspired.
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Jan 30, 2015 10:46
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Serious Frolicking posted:the mahouka-shaped hole in my heart.
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Jan 30, 2015 14:56
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Serious Frolicking posted:I've started reading Arifureta and it is just so wonderfully terrible that it might fill the mahouka-shaped hole in my heart. Even in the 'edgelord with rpg stats' genre, it is remarkably uninspired. I decided to look Arifureta over and I can't help but feel like his whole eating monsters gimmick got discarded entirely too soon in favor of the writer deliberately bolting stereotypes on him. His rapid collection of more women in a steady progression of different shades of freaky is kinda weak too. I think I would've been happier if he'd just stuck with a monster-eating man roaming around the countryside looking for new meals with his vampire queen sidekick.
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Jan 31, 2015 05:18
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Gearhead posted:I think I would've been happier if he'd just stuck with a monster-eating man roaming around the countryside looking for new meals with his vampire queen sidekick.
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Jan 31, 2015 05:27
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To be honest, sometimes I don't want to read about a character's struggle or journey or growth. Sometimes I just want to read about some over-powered, wish-fulfillment, masturbatory, living god walking around and curb-stomping everyone who gets in his path while having all the hot chicks being slavishly devoted to him. Arifureta gives me this one chapter a week dose of power-fantasy garbage and I giggle like a retarded kid whenever I read it. It's the literary equivalent of maxing out your stats in an RPG, throwing on end-game armor and running around the beginner areas one-shotting everything just to see how high you can pile the corpses. It's dumb fun.
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Jan 31, 2015 05:30
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organism posted:To be honest, sometimes I don't want to read about a character's struggle or journey or growth. Sometimes I just want to read about some over-powered, wish-fulfillment, masturbatory, living god walking around and curb-stomping everyone who gets in his path while having all the hot chicks being slavishly devoted to him. Arifureta gives me this one chapter a week dose of power-fantasy garbage and I giggle like a retarded kid whenever I read it. It's the literary equivalent of maxing out your stats in an RPG, throwing on end-game armor and running around the beginner areas one-shotting everything just to see how high you can pile the corpses. It's dumb fun. Man-o-man does TFR have a story for you. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3385144
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Jan 31, 2015 05:37
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Gearhead posted:I decided to look Arifureta over and I can't help but feel like his whole eating monsters gimmick got discarded entirely too soon in favor of the writer deliberately bolting stereotypes on him. The best part is that his initial skill set was indeed weak and useless. He didn't find some clever way to make it work, but instead randomly found an unrelated method to become superhuman by accident. The author doesn't seem to understand that it takes more to make the protagonist likable than simply jamming a wide assortment of puerile concepts into one character. The protagonist isn't clever because the writer is too dim to understand what cleverness is. What's more, the actual story is intensely dull.
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Jan 31, 2015 05:40
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HiveCommander posted:Good news! Change monster-eating man for lich lord and vampire queen for the MC's personal choice of inhuman sidekick and you've got Overlord! I'm going to have to check this out. Serious Frolicking posted:The best part is that his initial skill set was indeed weak and useless. He didn't find some clever way to make it work, but instead randomly found an unrelated method to become superhuman by accident. The author doesn't seem to understand that it takes more to make the protagonist likable than simply jamming a wide assortment of puerile concepts into one character. The protagonist isn't clever because the writer is too dim to understand what cleverness is. What's more, the actual story is intensely dull. Yeah, that's the impression I'm getting. I think it would've been much more interesting if it had taken a different tactic, such as, in the main character's extreme duress, lost at the bottom of the pit, he starts turning his power on HIMSELF using monsters as raw material. Of course, I'm not sure that a Japanese teen target audience would be down with that level of potential body horror. Maybe play off the idea that the main character has much more in common with monsters/demons/whatever than his own 'former allies.' On the OTHER hand.. this guy exists: 
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Jan 31, 2015 05:47
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I have found this great list which has the current state of web/light novel English translations + easy links. I don't think everything is there or has been updated recently, but who would know?
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Jan 31, 2015 06:28
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Oh right, I almost forgot about the funniest goddamn part of arifureta thus far- the drill instructor bit. The 17 year old boy who depends on a silly gun 90% of the time teaches a bunch of adults how to fight using 'logical movements'.
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Jan 31, 2015 06:57
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ssmagus posted:I have found this great list which has the current state of web/light novel English translations + easy links.
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Jan 31, 2015 07:30
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Oh yay, volume 4 of Only Sense was released. I started reading after Krytyk finished translating volume 3, does anyone know how long he/she usually takes?
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Jan 31, 2015 09:29
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BlitzBlast posted:Oh yay, volume 4 of Only Sense was released. I started reading after Krytyk finished translating volume 3, does anyone know how long he/she usually takes? volume 3 was released 10/18 and the translator finished it 11/13. they seem to have a ridiculously fast pace for all their stuff, dunno if they'll keep it up also looking at amazon 4 doesn't look like its released until the end of next month
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Jan 31, 2015 12:37
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Serious Frolicking posted:Oh right, I almost forgot about the funniest goddamn part of arifureta thus far- the drill instructor bit. The 17 year old boy who depends on a silly gun 90% of the time teaches a bunch of adults how to fight using 'logical movements'. All in all, after having slept on it. The thing that actively bugs me about Arifureta is that it reads like one of two things: The author is talking down to his readers. - or - The author has a really low reading level. EDIT: Reading through Overlord, I find myself enjoying the comic version of it more. There's something about the translation, or it may be a holdover from how the original story was laid out, but I have a hard time just sitting down and reading it. I keep having to go back over lines to make sure I read what I think I read. EDIT 2: I'm to understand, reading through comments, that the first volume of the story was translated roughly and is going to get another pass soon. Having looked over the comic for a better mental image of what is going on, I'll be giving the story a second try now. Gearhead fucked around with this message at 17:46 on Jan 31, 2015 |
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Jan 31, 2015 14:44
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Gearhead posted:All in all, after having slept on it. The thing that actively bugs me about Arifureta is that it reads like one of two things: Why can't it be both? The only people who bother to publish edgelord poo poo are either cynically riding the trend or legitimately believe their derivative schlock is some great work of literature. Unwarranted arrogance by the writer neatly explains your problems with it.
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Jan 31, 2015 22:57
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Gearhead posted:EDIT: Reading through Overlord, I find myself enjoying the comic version of it more. There's something about the translation, or it may be a holdover from how the original story was laid out, but I have a hard time just sitting down and reading it. I keep having to go back over lines to make sure I read what I think I read.
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Jan 31, 2015 23:12
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Paracelsus posted:Yeah, I found that, while I was kinda interested in where it was going story-wise, actually reading was a bit of a struggle to stay engaged. It picks up after the initial chapters, when The Overlord goes out and starts demonstrating what happens when a fully fledged Dark Lord pops up in a mid ranged zone and starts taking the hell over. The prose seems to flow better once he stops being introspective and starts recreating Thriller. EDIT: Caught up with where Overlord is translated to. I can see this becoming a train wreck, quickly, and not in the bad sense. Gearhead fucked around with this message at 02:59 on Feb 1, 2015 |
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Feb 1, 2015 00:21
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Serious Frolicking posted:Why can't it be both? The only people who bother to publish edgelord poo poo are either cynically riding the trend or legitimately believe their derivative schlock is some great work of literature. Unwarranted arrogance by the writer neatly explains your problems with it. I started reading Arifureta due to this thread and personally I think it's just a lack of skill in the writing department exacerbated by a breakneck release schedule without much of an overall vision for the story. Somewhere halfway through volume 3 there's an author's note where he says Poorly translated author's note posted:Now then, it’s the starting of the 2nd chapter. All that said I've only read through volume three and the translation quality took a bit of a nosedive so maybe something is getting lost in translation.
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Feb 1, 2015 15:32
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He referenced the male lead of Kaze no Stigma, who may honestly be a good example of a higher quality anti-hero. The death of the author makes a final call on that a bit hard though.
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Feb 1, 2015 16:19
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I will always have a certain fondness for kaze no stigma because the protagonist relentlessly trolls the standard violent tsundere female lead. But I guess that might be where the arifureta guy got the idea that casual cruelty was a positive character trait.
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Feb 1, 2015 17:55
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To be fair, his cruelty was deliberate and focused to kick her out of her comfort zone. Not JUST because he was an rear end in a top hat. That lady had issues. Not the least of which was that she never REALLY understood there was nothing 'special' about her powers. Gearhead fucked around with this message at 20:12 on Feb 1, 2015 |
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Feb 1, 2015 19:59
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Gearhead posted:To be fair, his cruelty was deliberate and focused to kick her out of her comfort zone. Not JUST because he was an rear end in a top hat. Oh, I'm not much for tsunderes. I think they are toxic, thoroughly unpleasant characters. Being nice once a year doesn't make up for being completely horrible the rest of the time, which is why I liked seeing one taken down a peg in kaze no stigma. For anyone unfamiliar with the show (no real reason to read the books), it was mostly just on the level of teasing. But if someone didn't quite understand the context they might simply see it as a cool guy being abusive. Since Arifureta is every vague idea of what is cool smushed into a vaguely person-like shape, that may be where the casual cruelty came from. Or maybe not! Supposedly cool assholes are found all over the place.
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Feb 2, 2015 02:50
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I gotta agree on the tsundere front. It's a rampantly overused character concept at this point and needs to get retired for a good long while. Of course, since it's an easy stock concept to roll out, it will persist like a fungus. Arifureta seems to be built in cargo cult fashion. Without a real understanding of the underpinnings of what makes something work.
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Feb 2, 2015 04:21
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Er. So I just noticed the latest translated Arifureta is "Volume 9 chapter 2", which confused me, because looking at the Japanese web novel page, the author just started publishing volume 7 chapters. On the translator's site, it seems they've arbitrarily decided to cut it up into volumes of 10 chapters each, so the original volume 1 ends in the middle of translated volume 3, kind of thing. Any idea why? I'm currently halfway into reading the original Japanese volume 3, which somehow puts me in the beginning of translated volume 7. Puzzling. Anyway, I'm pretty sure this is the worst thing ever written. That said, it's strangely fun to read, because I keep giggling to myself about how loving dumb everything is. It's just awful in every way imaginable. It's probably one of the few works that's likely improved by being translated, because no sane editor could ever leave so many repeated words in a paragraph.
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Feb 2, 2015 17:01
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darkgray posted:Er. So I just noticed the latest translated Arifureta is "Volume 9 chapter 2", which confused me, because looking at the Japanese web novel page, the author just started publishing volume 7 chapters. On the translator's site, it seems they've arbitrarily decided to cut it up into volumes of 10 chapters each, so the original volume 1 ends in the middle of translated volume 3, kind of thing. Any idea why? I was talking with someone who does translation on the fly and was asking them about Arifureta. It seems the thing that is driving us ape about the way the story is framed is that it's not written in literary language at all, it's being written in CONVERSATIONAL Japanese. Teenaged male conversational Japanese. This is where all these drat sound effects are coming from in the text.
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Feb 2, 2015 23:54
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Gearhead posted:I was talking with someone who does translation on the fly and was asking them about Arifureta. It seems the thing that is driving us ape about the way the story is framed is that it's not written in literary language at all, it's being written in CONVERSATIONAL Japanese. Teenaged male conversational Japanese. This is where all these drat sound effects are coming from in the text. No... Arifureta is no less literary than any other light novel I've come across. It's just poorly done, with weak vocabulary variation. It's not uncommon to find stupid sound effects in this medium. The author's biggest problem is that he can't write dialogue to save his life, so he's constantly trying to make up for it by injecting detailed explanatory paragraphs on what the characters are feeling while they talk to each other. Often using the exact same words the character just spoke. If anything is conversational, it's Mushoku Tensei, which reads like someone's chat log, casually explaining how loving awesome his life is lately.
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Feb 3, 2015 00:14
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darkgray posted:If anything is conversational, it's Mushoku Tensei, which reads like someone's chat log, casually explaining how loving awesome his life is lately. Well, it is written in first person.
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Feb 3, 2015 00:36
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darkgray posted:Er. So I just noticed the latest translated Arifureta is "Volume 9 chapter 2", which confused me, because looking at the Japanese web novel page, the author just started publishing volume 7 chapters. On the translator's site, it seems they've arbitrarily decided to cut it up into volumes of 10 chapters each, so the original volume 1 ends in the middle of translated volume 3, kind of thing. Any idea why? I believe this came about because web novels don't really have "volumes" and are just continuously updated so the translators decided to arbitrarily divide it up every 10 chapters. However, the author later started breaking it up by story arcs which are inconsistent in length so the translators just stuck to their original 10 chapter divisions.
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Feb 3, 2015 21:21
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New chapter of Knights and Magic!
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Feb 4, 2015 15:51
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By the way, for those of you who enjoy Ark but can't stand Japtem's glacial translating pace, this guy does machine translations. They're rougher than Japtem's, but perfectly understandable and leagues better than google translate. He releases a new translation every 2-3 days.
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Feb 4, 2015 18:06
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To steer discussion away from reincarnation for a moment, I'd like to recommend Ame no Hi no Iris. It's a sad story about an android, which can cynically be dismissed as manipulative, but I enjoyed it all the same. It's a one-off, so pretty quick to read. No idea what the translation is like, but it's supposedly decent. Longer impressions below, but the text contains spoilers, so I'd suggest reading it after the book itself. darkgray a year ago on G+ posted:Finished reading Ame no Hi no Iris by Matsuyama Takeshi this morning. While I did buy it because it showed up on a list of tear-jerkers, I had no idea it would be so ridiculously effective.
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Feb 6, 2015 19:24
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Yet another K&M chapter is out, I'm glad that Sky's managed to get hold of something he can translate from.
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Feb 11, 2015 16:27
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Overlord volume 3 chapter 2 is completely translated. That explains the stinger at the end of volume 2, and actually sets up a nice plot. I also like it showing that, despite their overwhelming power, they can't just run rampant over the world. Or maybe Momonga could, because he's also smart about it and plans ahead, but not his underlings. I'm guessing Shalltear lost her mind and went on a rampage, it sounds like she was still stronger than the humans and did kill the person with the artifact before she was fully controlled. I'd be fine if this volume ended with her being put down and the rest of the main faction learning some humility or caution from it.
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Feb 15, 2015 03:34
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I picked up Sword Art Online Volume One awhile ago, and have been reading that. I'm enjoying the slightly different focus the novel takes than the anime did, with little asides about day to day living in a virtual world. I know nothing about Spice and Wolf, but I think I'll be ordering that soon, judging from the reaction on the thread.
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Feb 18, 2015 02:17
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The Web-Comic of Legendary Moonlight Sculptor has begun to become translated for those who like to read it more in that format. Will take quite some time to catch up though for obvious reasons.
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Feb 18, 2015 12:07
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Robot Wendigo posted:I picked up Sword Art Online Volume One awhile ago, and have been reading that. I'm enjoying the slightly different focus the novel takes than the anime did, with little asides about day to day living in a virtual world. I know nothing about Spice and Wolf, but I think I'll be ordering that soon, judging from the reaction on the thread. The oddity of Sword Art is that it makes a better novel than it does an animated series, at least with how the people who did the animated version did it. A lot of Kirito's behavior makes more sense when you can hear his constant internal commentary.
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Feb 18, 2015 19:34
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Do the light novels have less rapist villains in them? Oh who am I kidding, they probably have more.
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Feb 18, 2015 19:56
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there's only two which is about two too many but the only really creepy one was the guy who had asuna in a cage the whole season. the second guy gets creepy and then shino beats him over the head with a radio, i can live with that
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Feb 18, 2015 20:04
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There really is a ton more of the series than what has been animated. The Underworld arc, due to being fully 2/3 of the series written to date, will probably not be animated. Underworld Arc Spoilers: In which Kirito gets killed for a little while, experiences brain damage from oxygen loss, and gets stuck in a new form of simulation he'd been helping to test to put the information he's lost back in place. Things get ODDER from there.
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Feb 18, 2015 20:40
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