History Main / LightNovels

* Literature/ChillinInAnotherWorldWithLevelTwoCheatPowers *

The term "light novel" is a misnomer. While many people believe that the word "light" in the name means the novel is '''short''' (they usually don't last much longer than 200 pages, somewhere between a long novella or a very short novel, but some are outright {{doorstopper}}s) or that it uses '''manga-style illustrations''' (while most light novels have illustrations in them, there are some that don't have any), the truth is that this actually refers to the text inside. Modern light novels use simpler, easier-to-read everyday kanji as opposed to "hard" novels, which generally contain much older words which, even for Japanese readers, may necessitate keeping a dictionary on hand to understand. This distinction is LostInTranslation because Japanese is one of the only languages in the world where multiple writing systems are routinely used in the same ''sentence''. The closest parallel in the Western world is probably the distinction between mass-market popular fiction and higher level literary fiction.

* Literature/GoodLuckNinomiyaKun

* ''Literature/ChillinInAnotherWorldWithLevelTwoCheatPowers'' *

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The light novel genre is OlderThanTheyThink, existing in some form at least since TheEighties, when authors like Creator/HideyukiKikuchi and Baku Yumemakura made a career out of light, fantasy-oriented short novels. With the rising popularity of Hajime Kanzaka's ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'', followed by Kouhei Kadono's ''Literature/BoogiepopSeries'' a decade later, light novels started taking their established format, which eventually took a jump in the 2000s with ''Literature/ShakuganNoShana'' and ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'', the point in which the genre became inextricably joined with the anime and video game business. The peak of the wave came in 2006 with ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'', after which light novels basically skyrocketed in popularity and number. Some of the last seminal works, like ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'', still redefined the genre in new ways, popularizing elements like the HaremSeries and the [[TrappedInAnotherWorld Isekai]] SubGenre, which are near-ubiqutious in the light novel market today.

The light novel genre is OlderThanTheyThink, existing in some form at least since TheEighties, when authors like Creator/HideyukiKikuchi and Baku Yumemakura made a career out of light, fantasy-oriented short novels. With the rising popularity of Hajime Kanzaka's ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'', followed by Kouhei Kadono's ''Literature/BoogiepopSeries'' a decade later, light novels started taking their established format, which eventually took a jump in the 2000s with ''Literature/ShakuganNoShana'' and ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'', the point in which the genre became inextricably joined with the anime and video game business. The peak of the wave came in 2006 with ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'', after which light novels basically skyrocketed in popularity and number. Some of the last seminal works, like ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'', still redefined the genre in new ways, popularizing elements like the HaremSeries and the [[TrappedInAnotherWorld Isekai]] sub-genre, which are near-ubiqutious in the light novel market today.

* Literature/TheLegendOfTheLegendaryHeroes