Fullmetal Alchemist

Welcome to Kuriousity

News, reviews and features with a focus on manga, self-published works and a Canadian perspective. Enjoy fulfilling your Kuriousity!

SITE RETIRED - Thank you for the years of support and readership!

Posts Tagged Light Novels

Review: Sweet Admiration


Author: Yuuki Kousaka
Manga-ka: Midori Shena
Publisher: DMP/June
Rating: Mature (18+)
Released: March 2008

Synopsis: “Though Katsuya only spent one summer with brothers Kazuki and Shio, the impression that the beautiful Shio left was one that would last a lifetime. Truth be told, even after 12 years, Katsuya still can’t get Shio out of his head. So quite impulsively, Katsuya goes off to Tokyo and applies to the company that Shio helped found. The reunion he had hoped for comes unexpectedly, when he is forced to share a dorm with Shio himself! Acting cold and aloof, however, the Shio of Katsuya’s dreams is not the same as the real Shio. Can Katsuya pick up the pieces of his shattered dreams and start over?”

Sweet Admiration is the story of Katsuya, a country boy who moves to Tokyo for work. The first thing Katsuya does is plan to meet with a childhood friend, Kazuki, in hopes of finding a place to stay while he awaits his company’s housing development. However, things don’t work out as planned; that is, until things suddenly take a turn in his favour when his new boss places him with a roommate in the “company dorms”, with someone Katsuya has had on his mind since childhood: Kazuki’s older brother, Shio.

Read more…


Digital Goes Live, Viz Takes To The Sky

Yukikaze

A few things of note today while I attempt to finish one of the way-to-many partially finished reviews sitting on my desktop :)

 Amazon.ca has a listing for Kambayashi Chohei’s science fiction light novel, Yukikaze. As there’s no artist listed, I’m making the assumption it’s the light novel and not a manga (not sure if one exists?). New news, old news, either way it’s good news for fans like me! I absolutely loved the anime and have awaited the day I’d get a chance to read the original novel. According to Amazon, that day will be January 19, 2010.

 Freelance manga adapter, Ysabet, has a LiveJournal post with a credits correction pertaining to the upcoming volume two of Shinobi Life. Contrary to the book, adaptation credit goes to her while the translation was done by Lori Riser. Also, Ysabet lives in the same city as me so how cool is that? Pretty darn cool because Halifax is awesome like that.

 Speaking of LiveJournal, Digital Manga has taken to the community site with two accounts for its imprints: one for June Manga and another for 801Media. They also have another account, june_manga_chat, where they invite questions and discussion pertaining to their titles, while the other two accounts seem primarily for newsletter and preview-type posts. (Source: The Yaoi Review)

 And speaking of Digital Manga, their imprint 801Media has recently announced the winners of their 801-chan Contest. Entrants were invited to script short 4-panel strips as seen in the back of their books starring the imprints mascot characters. Six winners were chosen (including myself, yay!) and they’ll all have their scripts drawn into the full-colour strips by the original artist and the strips will then be published in future releases. Congrats to all the winners!


Kuriousity’s Holiday Shopping Helper!

It’s that time of year! The time where most are scrambling to find that perfect gift for their friends and family, that gift that’s sure to give you that satisfied, fluffy feeling inside for giving someone you care about something they really love! But there’s so much out there to choose from (and not always affordable options either!), and buying for an anime and manga fan isn’t any easier with all the goodies out there.

So while I was sitting and pondering some of my own gift-buying dilemmas for my friends, I thought I’d put together a list for people that may offer some helpful inspiration. You can read it all under the cut.

Read more…


No Light Novels from Go!Comi Afterall

Editor Audry posted again on the Go!Comi forums today, disproving hope-induced rumours that Go!Comi may be preparing to publish translated Japanese light novels.

“I’ll give you a hint.  It has absolutely NOTHING to do with Japanese light novels. “

Ah well, it was a nice thought while it lasted, right? Original-published fiction appealing to their manga-reading demographics seems plausible. I’m sure we’ll know what they’re actually up to soon enough.


Go!Comi Prepares to Publish Fiction

Go!ComiAnd by fiction, I assume novels? Light novels, perhaps? Audry hasn’t told us much yet but a new forum on their site posted a few days ago dropped an ever so subtle hint:

“What’s this new section doing here?  What’s it for?  Is Go! going to publish fiction???  Keep checking back to find out more!”

Personally, I’d love it if they tried their hand at some light novels. They already do a fantastic job with both the choice and treatment of their manga series, so I’d really like to see the same dedication go towards a medium that’s still struggling to find its place here.


Review: CLAMP Paranormal Investigators (Complete Series)

Author:Tomiyuki Matsumoto
Manga-ka: CLAMP
Publisher: Tokyopop
Rating: Teen (13+)
Released: September 2004 – March 2005

Synopsis: “Five students run a study group to explore mysterious and unexplained phenomenon: Takayuki is a genius with a ghost sidekick; Mifuyu is a master swordsman; Rion communicates with spirits and lost souls; Koji has famous ninja blood and remarkable skills to match; Yuki has the ability to teleport and likes to cross-dress. Filled with action, mystery, twists, turns and clues up the yin-yang, this new novel series will have you saying, ‘Elementary, my dear detective…the truth is out there!”

CLAMP Paranormal Investigators is a three part series of light novels written by Tomiyuki Matsumoto and illustrated by CLAMP. Though CLAMP has illustrated numerous light novels (none others released in English), this one takes place within the walls of CLAMP’s own CLAMP School, a main location for a variety of their series. It follows a mix-matched team of students as they solve one mystery after another, from monsters to ghosts, nothing goes unnoticed by the CLAMP Paranormal Investigators!

Read more…


Take me back to the top!