Visual & Light Novels
Haha, wow I just figured out what cross-posting meant.
I'm smart.
Though anyways, this is a response I made to this collumn on ANN, I just thought I would place it here.
I am really, really interested in reading more Visual Novels and Light Novels and am really sad that it isn't that popular in the west. Although, I can understand why. I started my visual novel journey with the demo of Umineko no Naku Koro Ni in 2008, followed by the demo of Ever 17 -the out of infinity-. These two really changed my view on reading.
After the finale of the Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai anime, I stumbled upon an article on ANN one day about Umineko No Naku Koro Ni and the visual/sound novel sold out in 30 minutes. I was hyped up, wondering what this new series was about and why it had the same 'no naku koro ni' as Higurashi. However, soon I forgot about it, but sometime in 2008, I decided to download the demo from the website and it was to the island of Rokkenjima I go!
Reading this was really revolutionary for me. To be able to read a story and to hear the sfx/bgm to enhance the reading was just amazing, I felt like it made the journey more realistic and engaging to me. I mean, my interest in reading novels was waning at the time, so combining the styles of anime/managa was the extra kick I needed to get back into it.
Ever17 on the other hand was a different experience. While Umineko no Naku Koro ni was a linear novel with no choices, Ever17 was the opposite. You were more involved in it because you had to make choices, which changed the impact of the characters later on. I hadn't been exposed to this sort of concept before, so it was an exciting experience that resulted in a heart wrenching adventure with a final route that blew my mind.
I wanted to buy Ever17, but was sad to realize that it was out of print due to Hirameki's fall. However, this Fanime I was lucky enough to find myself a copy at the Swap Meet for only $10, considering that it's an out-of-print title, that's a pretty good deal. Also purchased myself Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni from the mangagamer booth at the Dealers Hall, so overall those were my holy grail for the convention.
Now for light novels: my first exposure to these was a mixture of Shishigami no ballad and Slayers. Slayers was one of my gateway anime, so I was really pleased to hear that Tokyopop had plans to release the original novels. It was a disappointment to miss out on volumes six to eight, and even more so when Tokyopop stopped releasing them altogether. It was a real blow, because you invest yourself in the novels and want to see it through to the end, but then something unavoidable like that happens.
Slayers and Welcome to the NHK remain as my favorite Light Novels right now. Even if one is incomplete.
Discussing Visual Novels and Light Novels with my peers is difficult because they've either not heard of them or refer to them as Middle/High school reading material. Personally, I find this prejudice unfair, because a lot of people will have the opinion that this genre is childish and immature based on one experience. If you were to make the same assumption about classic Literature based on one bad experience, it's likely you would be chastised and told to read another before coming to such an ignorant conclusion. The less people know of a specific genre, the more inclined they tend to be with making unjustified claims. I understand we're a niche community, but it's still frustrating at times that others are so unwilling to give it a try and give it such unsavory labels.
I really like the fact that Mangagamer goes to anime conventions to sell their visual novels. It really motivates me to buy them physically since I like holding them like many do with purchasing books. I would love it if more of these companies would reach out to fans during anime conventions to spread the word out about this wonderful medium. I think it is really smart to aim for the Visual Novels that have anime adaptations like Steins;Gate, Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, Shuffle, etc. If one likes it so much, they could just buy it to learn more of the story.
I plan on reading the The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, To Aru Majutsu no Index, and Sword Art Online Light Novels sometime. I wonder if when Sword Art Online airs on Toonami the Light Novel will be licensed, but I guess it will have to with how well it does on Toonami? Though I would really want to see more Light Novels on shelves, it's hard to find them really.
TL;DR I would love more Visual/Light Novels to be released as they are precious to me. They gave me motivation to read more novels in general and expand my knowledge. Thanks to Umineko no Naku Koro Ni, I'll never see mysteries the same way again. I hope for companies to advertise them more during anime conventions.