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Light Novels With Shōjo Manga Energy




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samuelp
Industry Insider


Joined: 25 Nov 2007
Posts: 2232
Location: San Antonio, USA
PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2023 1:19 pm Reply with quote
No mention of "Early and Fairy"? Maybe that's _too_ classic shoujo energy.
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manapear



Joined: 02 May 2014
Posts: 1526
PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2023 2:37 pm Reply with quote
If Apothecary Diaries was cited as an official inspiration for Raven of the Inner Palace, I'll call my bad, but I'd say what feels like a bigger inspiration is The Twelve Kingdoms. The lore, world-building and themes feel feel closer to me, at least. (Yoko and Shouxue would probably get along so well too.)
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7358
PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2023 2:40 pm Reply with quote
I'm reading 7th time loop, that's shojo vibes for certain!
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invalidname
Contributor



Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 2450
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2023 4:18 pm Reply with quote
Great idea for an article. I read the first few chapters of Dahlia in Bloom from a JNovel Club sampler they gave out at Anime Central last year and really liked it. I bought the first eBook, but now I need to actually start reading it.
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Cho_Desu



Joined: 27 Dec 2022
Posts: 196
PostPosted: Thu Jun 15, 2023 12:25 am Reply with quote
This might be the last time I ever see Book Girl brought up on this site, so I might as well give my spiel. Book Girl is possibly the series of stories (of any medium) that's nearest and dearest to my heart, and is what made me a fan of light novels. (Well, the sorts of light novels that were releasing at the time.)

My profile pic is Konoha Inoue, the sad boy protagonist of the Book Girl series. The eponymous book girl (Tohko Amano) is the other main character, who helps him out with whatever high school mystery + drama that ensues in each volume. Kim really emphasizes the drama side of things in this article, but I think it's worth noting the mysteries are also engaging in their own right. And while every story does have its soap opera-esque twists, it never comes off as being simply for the sake of drama IMO. The author is very good about showing the flaws and struggles of even the most secondary of characters. Bit by bit, we get to know their points of view and how they relate to some work of classic literature, which eventually reveals the motives behind their crimes and the inner core of their tragedies.

If you search online, you may find that there was an anime film made for Book Girl. It strangely adapts the fifth book (and IMO does a poor job of it). The fifth book just doesn't hit hard without the first four books building up to it, so I strongly recommend just sticking with the novels.

The author (and illustrator) have another series releasing in English, titled Bond and Book, which is also very good. (It's been a while since the last volume though...) I wish more people would give these stories a shot, but I understand that it's about the farthest thing possible from what's popular for light novels at the moment. I'm just happy to have them.

To mention another series on the article's list, I'll second the recommendation for My Happy Marriage. It will be interesting to see if the anime adaptation makes waves outside of Japan at all, because it'd be nice to have a *new* shoujo-ish series actually make it big. (Feel like it's been a long time...) I suppose I'm an easy mark though, when it's a story about a depressed girl with no self-esteem who wears pretty kimonos and is betrothed to a stern yet softie ikemen. OTL
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