All You Need Is Kill Is All You Need for a Taste of Haikasoru
[If you’ve experienced downtime on this site the past day or two, it’s most likely due to DDoS coming from China. Why? I don’t know. Shady neighbors on a shared host ISP I guess.]
What is Haikasoru? It’s a marketing label. Imprint, as they call it. Same with the term light novel, except it’s more a marketing word to describe a release format. (Also, it’s the name of the Haikasoru’s website, which is a pretty interesting blog in of itself, once you learn how to navigate around the annoying, ad-like front page.)
Actually, there’s this rift or friction in the way marketing works for Haikasoru, and in marketing Japanese pop fiction to an American audience. The basic problem is how do we handle serialized works that are later published in a “lighter” imprint? They generally read quite differently than a traditional, mainstream novel, both in Japan and in the Americas.
The whole light novel marketing label doesn’t have a lot going for it too, in that right now people are using it on all sorts of prose that are probably not quite a light novel. Like Faust, for example. That’s a literary magazine-book, technically. And yeah, see the cause of the problem yet? The notion I get for light novels is like “hey I know you don’t care for manga, so read this book instead because it’s the same kind of trashy story people love to read” rather than something genuinely more interesting. At least I don’t insult Boogiepop (although I’m not sure I’ll hold back on its derivatives).
And all of this ignores the whole problem that Japanese pop fiction are like rockets trying to reach escape velocity from the planet called “MANGA.” At least in the eyes of Americans. Maybe this is why Haikasoru titles are to be found in the SF/Fantasy section instead of the manga shelves.
So Haikasoru is just another brand Viz concocted trying to push these pop fiction in America. Some of these are not very light novel-ish, although my first piece from the label is a genuine light novel piece. All You Need Is Kill, by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, was originally released in book format under a light novel label.
If you want the low-down review on KILL, read Eastern Standard’s take. I agree with them completely pretty much, except I have a few things to add or elaborate on.
1. The uncredited, real translator. For what it is worth to us, the translation to KILL is a 2-man job. I am glad for the transparency at least, in the process? Or am I suppose to be like “wow, why isn’t he credited?” Whatever. Good job guys.
2. A lot of SF coming down the pipe from Haikasoru will be heavily influenced by western SF. Or Japanese SF in general is heavily influenced. What a big surprise. KILL definitely “wears its influences on its sleeves” but I’d go further and say it’s not all Western/American. If you read the comments at the Eastern Standard review you might see me gawk at the discovery of Sakurazaka’s role in Yokuwakaru Gendai Mahou. And then I did a quick wiki lookup and saw he also authored (and won an award) for Saitama Chainsaw Shoujo (which is now also a 1-shot manga). Ugh. Yeah. So if someone who is familiar with Sakurazaka’s works, please let me know if my gut feeling is right and that KILL is the off-the-path lucky hit that gets ported over and not his bread-and-butter type of work.
This is a slice of Japanamerica, certainly.
3. And not surprisingly, I think his influences are more in the feeling that some types of science fiction aesthetics have in terms impact. Like, for example, a thriller feeling in a tightly spun tale which involves the difference in technological development between two warring races but of different culture that played a bigger role in survival, or a more loosely told story driven more by affection and development of characters in a new, grungy and uncertain future. The whole science-fiction groundhog day concept is not new, nor is the whole military backdrop for armor suit pilots waging war on extraterrestrials, nor is the cliche romance surprised sidearm action. I think all of those contribute more to the feel and texture of the story rather than the “sci-fi-ness” of it all. In contrast to KILL’s sister release title from Haikasoru, The Lord of Sands of Time, KILL is barely science fiction; it’s like Starship Troopers the movie…
4. At any rate, Sakurazaka’s style and characters are fun to read. It’s definitely all you think a light novel is suppose to be, ironically. However it’s not nearly as cheesy as most other I’ve ran across, and the play to a honest narrative as a military grunt works…for the most part.
Yeah, cheese. At this point in the Japanese pop fiction invasion, less cheese is better, IMO.
5. I hate the price point. 200 pages or so for $15 is just ridiculous, for a paperback. Yes, the front cover is ABe Yoshitoshi. And yes, why do people never use that image when it’s easily way more awesomely drawn than LORD’s? I don’t know, maybe people who dig SF like exotic landscapes. Or girls carrying a stick. But it’s too expensive. I got to read it because I’m abnormal when it comes to spending on this Japanese crap, and had a 40% off coupon. It would not have happened otherwise short of a sale or as a present or sample. The saving grace here may very well be that the novel has a sensible text density. Maybe it would have been a more pleasant deal to have it in hard cover but at a small premium, at $18-20? Or price it like American manga at $10-11.
And…that’s that. Go read it, because it’s a cute light novel, an enjoyable pulp fiction.
What, I get no link love? Anywho, I wasn’t surprised by the high price, even if I didn’t necessarily like it. I don’t like your hardcover idea, though, because regardless of increased quality, the last thing I need is to pay even more. And I generally don’t like hardcovers.
I don’t know, I would link to you if I remembered :D But all I really wanted to do was post Iglesias’s review and add a couple things, and pimp Haikasoru’s own site.
Not sure if you read Lord of Sands of Time yet, but that book kicks this one’s butt in a lot of ways.
The thing is, I wasn’t surprised at the high price, and for throw-away, light novel quality pulp stuff, $15 was just a little too high. Considering you can finish the book in 3 hours easily…so little value!
but it has a lot of re-read value IMO. I can see myself plowing this one at least once a year or less while taking a shit.
That it does, but that depends on how much you like it. I probably like it less than you…