Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei novels have been licensed by Yen Press

[ProxyAccount]

Originally Posted by dragon1412

This actually make me having rather mixed feelings about this, for once, i don't think Mahouka can make it in America, since if what my Iceland teacher is correct then America, mostly don't have much knowledge about physics and chemistry if they aren't specialized in it while in Asian country both of them are mandatory subjects.

This is off-topic, but basic classes in physics and chemistry are required for high school graduation. Retention and depth of education are a different matter. Obviously, students pursuing engineering or science degrees are more likely to take the advanced classes. This is because after high school, only engineering and science majors are required to take them as part of their degree program's "core". Whether one agrees with this is a different matter altogether.

One of Mahouka greatest charm is it magic system, which kind of a kill joy if you don't understand the principle behind it and Mahouka was never an easy to read book.

It is pseudo-science at best. No understanding of chemistry or physics is required.

[Blonddude42]

Originally Posted by ProxyAccount

It is pseudo-science at best. No understanding of chemistry or physics is required.

An understanding of physics does make it more interesting. It helps you appreciate the thought behind it more. Without some knowledge you start thinking "it works because magic"

Although I do agree with it being a pseudo science. It can never really be an actual science.

[dragon1412]

Originally Posted by LKK

^^ I'm not terribly worried about that particular issue. Mahouka has several interesting themes besides it magic system. It has enough of them that even someone like me who finds the physics underlying the magic a bore can be entranced by the novel series as a whole.

Well the military and story aspects is good as well, but i feels that not understanding the system might make one feels dull. And Mahouka is also rather infamous for it grammar as well, i'd love to see how YP translator getting their head into this.

Originally Posted by ProxyAccount

This is off-topic, but basic classes in physics and chemistry are required for high school graduation. Retention and depth of education are a different matter. Obviously, students pursuing engineering or science degrees are more likely to take the advanced classes. This is because after high school, only engineering and science majors are required to take them as part of their degree program's "core". Whether one agrees with this is a different matter altogether.

It is pseudo-science at best. No understanding of chemistry or physics is required.

Not really, i'd say the the physics knowledge is required, Inferno and basic system magic is easy to understand, but when we get to Muspelhelm, Niffhelm, ... then the knowledge is needed, especially the part about the Furnace. I do agree it is pseudo science at best though knowing about the principle behind it and how it works make me think"wow, so it use like that"

In my knowing of America education from my teacher, he said that most America have troubles with what called basic maths which equal to a normal Asian 5-6th graders. If that is so then they would get into a lot of trouble with Mahouka.

[Rasen]

Originally Posted by dragon1412

In my knowing of America education from my teacher, he said that most America have troubles with what called basic maths which equal to a normal Asian 5-6th graders. If that is so then they would get into a lot of trouble with Mahouka.

Your teacher is a jerk.

But seriously, America does have lower test scores. But you have to figure that anyone who has trouble with basic math probably has other things to worry about than reading light novels, or reading in general.

That being said, we're a large enough country that we still have a lot of people with at least a basic understanding of math and reading, and if you remind them, basic physics and thermodynamics. And those are the people who publishers (of anything, really) hope to sell to. A potential audience of at least 21 million (the people who are going to attend college)

I think the biggest obstacle to Mahouka's success is Miyuki's feelings for Tatsuya. Even if she never actually does anything, just the idea of crossing that forbidden line will be enough to send people into a frenzy. (Cousins have a hard enough time. Full-on brother and sister make even the most liberal of people squeamish. I think the only ones that got away with it are Luke and Leia. And that's because they didn't know.)

[ProxyAccount]

Originally Posted by dragon1412

Not really, i'd say the the physics knowledge is required, Inferno and basic system magic is easy to understand, but when we get to Muspelhelm, Niffhelm, ... then the knowledge is needed, especially the part about the Furnace. I do agree it is pseudo science at best though knowing about the principle behind it and how it works make me think"wow, so it use like that"

Perhaps middle school/junior high science classes would be helpful, but the novels pretty much explain all that the reader needs to know to understand how magic works in the MKnR world.

In my knowing of America education from my teacher, he said that most America have troubles with what called basic maths which equal to a normal Asian 5-6th graders. If that is so then they would get into a lot of trouble with Mahouka.

By all means, listen to your teacher when he's talking about a foreign country, instead of a person that was born, [partly] raised, and educated there. He might be referring to the average PISA score. South Korea (ROK) averaged 554 and Japan averaged 536. The OECD average is 494.The reported U.S. average is 481. Iceland, in case you're curious, averaged 493.

The United States covers over 9 million sq km and has over 300 million people with over 1 million legal immigrants every year. We are hardly homogeneous when it comes to culture, education, or social and economic status.

Beyond that, the term "use it or lose it" would apply to individuals post-education. However, how would this apply to the intended audience of MKnR? It targets young adults and possibly those still in higher-education, not middle-age workers that have been in the workforce for more than a decade.

[Carlosmig1105]

Hopefully this and other licensed LN come to the US within a couple of years. I don't want to forget about these series and lose interest because the publishers are taking too long.

[Rasen]

Originally Posted by Carlosmig1105

Hopefully this and other licensed LN come to the US within a couple of years. I don't want to forget about these series and lose interest because the publishers are taking too long.

Think of it as a test for how much you are really interested in the series. It will also give you time to save up enough money for it.

[dragon1412]

Originally Posted by Rasen

Your teacher is a jerk.

But seriously, America does have lower test scores. But you have to figure that anyone who has trouble with basic math probably has other things to worry about than reading light novels, or reading in general.

That being said, we're a large enough country that we still have a lot of people with at least a basic understanding of math and reading, and if you remind them, basic physics and thermodynamics. And those are the people who publishers (of anything, really) hope to sell to. A potential audience of at least 21 million (the people who are going to attend college)

I think the biggest obstacle to Mahouka's success is Miyuki's feelings for Tatsuya. Even if she never actually does anything, just the idea of crossing that forbidden line will be enough to send people into a frenzy. (Cousins have a hard enough time. Full-on brother and sister make even the most liberal of people squeamish. I think the only ones that got away with it are Luke and Leia. And that's because they didn't know.)

Originally Posted by ProxyAccount

Perhaps middle school/junior high science classes would be helpful, but the novels pretty much explain all that the reader needs to know to understand how magic works in the MKnR world.


By all means, listen to your teacher when he's talking about a foreign country, instead of a person that was born, [partly] raised, and educated there. He might be referring to the average PISA score. South Korea (ROK) averaged 554 and Japan averaged 536. The OECD average is 494.The reported U.S. average is 481. Iceland, in case you're curious, averaged 493.

The United States covers over 9 million sq km and has over 300 million people with over 1 million legal immigrants every year. We are hardly homogeneous when it comes to culture, education, or social and economic status.

Beyond that, the term "use it or lose it" would apply to individuals post-education. However, how would this apply to the intended audience of MKnR? It targets young adults and possibly those still in higher-education, not middle-age workers that have been in the workforce for more than a decade.

well, what i heard from him is that America have highly specialized education, so unless you are major in that subjects, it's going to be pretty bad.

Back to the topic, like Rasen said, the theme in Mahouka is not exactly suited for the West. And there is also differences in political view.

@Rasen: i actually highly doubt that, i mean, Mahouka boast one of the highest difficulty in term of Japanese The translators there don't know what they are getting their head into

[tigerdave]

Originally Posted by dragon1412

well, what i heard from him is that America have highly specialized education, so unless you are major in that subjects, it's going to be pretty bad.

There is a huge educational gap between socioeconomic backgrounds in the US. Really, it's pretty staggering. I'm an education student in college (going to be a school counselor), and one of my teachers compared middle to upper class test scores to international rankings and showed that those students would rank among the better European countries. Meanwhile, high schoolers from lower socioeconomic backgrounds have reading and math skills that rate at the early elementary grade levels. As someone else mentioned, the target market for these books in the US will be the same kids who have middle to upper class backgrounds and have the competence to understand material such as Mahouka.

[Jiminy]

Originally Posted by dragon1412

Back to the topic, like Rasen said, the theme in Mahouka is not exactly suited for the West. And there is also differences in political view.
@Rasen: i actually highly doubt that, i mean, Mahouka boast one of the highest difficulty in term of Japanese The translators there don't know what they are getting their head into

About the Language: Most of that kind of complexity will be lost in translation. Hence it will only affect the time it takes to translate a book.
About the political view: Mahouka is a Japanese sci-fi fantasy light novel - Although it is unique in a way, there are some other sci-fi or fantasy books with similar tendencies that have had success. I don't think there are any obstacles in that regard. Especially because most people (people like me) just ignore it anyway.

I have to agree with Rasen. The major problem in America will be Miyuki x Tats.

Originally Posted by Rasen

Think of it as a test for how much you are really interested in the series. It will also give you time to save up enough money for it.

true. Once I have received my CS degree I will become billionaire. Or maybe not, I haven't decided yet. Anyway the Money is not the issue. The patience on the other hand … 7 years … well I guess I will fail that test eventually and start looking for other alternative sources than yenpress (even if that means I have to learn Japanese somehow. - It seems YenPress really is good at promoting the Japanese language)

Originally Posted by dragon1412

... , since if what my Iceland teacher is correct then America, ...

btw what is a Iceland teacher good for considering you are somewhere in Asia

[LKK]

Modly hint: The off-topic discussion of American education compared to other countries' education has gone on long enough.

[dragon1412]

Originally Posted by Jiminy

About the Language: Most of that kind of complexity will be lost in translation. Hence it will only affect the time it takes to translate a book.
About the political view: Mahouka is a Japanese sci-fi fantasy light novel - Although it is unique in a way, there are some other sci-fi or fantasy books with similar tendencies that have had success. I don't think there are any obstacles in that regard. Especially because most people (people like me) just ignore it anyway.

I have to agree with Rasen. The major problem in America will be Miyuki x Tats.

This was what i worried about the most, since Mahouka book isn't exactly thin in the 1st place, unless they have a team working on this, i doubt we gould be able to get a book in 4 months.

You should just go learn Japanese, 3 years at most is all it take for you to tank Mahouka

[Jiminy]

Originally Posted by dragon1412

You should just go learn Japanese, 3 years at most is all it take for you to tank Mahouka

Of course. I've seen once a documentary about some English (little research ... : Daniel Tammet) who learned icelandic in just one week. I didn't try it yet but if something like that works out for me as well I will translate v16, I promise. (on the other hand when I was forced to learn French Let me just say there are way too many words) And if not ... I can still curse YenPress. At least this will make me feel better.


How ever I believe Mahouka can be successful in the States. The mix of magic and science, the world building, ... There is enough to appeal to readers. And if it is a success YenPress might be tempted to put in a little more effort and speed up the whole process a little. Or at least I hope so. Don't know how this publisher usually handles such things.

[dragon1412]

Originally Posted by Jiminy

How ever I believe Mahouka can be successful in the States. The mix of magic and science, the world building, ... There is enough to appeal to readers. And if it is a success YenPress might be tempted to put in a little more effort and speed up the whole process a little. Or at least I hope so. Don't know how this publisher usually handles such things.

I actually have to denied this, YP, in 2014 taking 4 new titles, presumed to take over the title that is going to end soon and in 2015, as of now, already taken 9-10 new series, and the books that is published 2015 is about nearly 2 times compare to 2014, and that number is incomplete since we are only in March. They have about 2.5-3 times the workload compare to 2014, and this is already not counting the new manga titles they are working on. I already surprised enough that they can keep SAO at the same pace, let alone speeding another novel, like back in Index thread, i did said this is an extremely risky move, if they success then more expansion, but if they aren't... either way, the only way for them to do more is to hire more translators, which isn't exactly the smartest thing considering the current economy.

[ProxyAccount]

The issue isn't the number of translators--they'll have to pay to translate works, whether now or later. The issue is market saturation and whether they can catch the waves of popularity for those respective products and keep up in order to make those licenses pay off.

[bakato]

Originally Posted by dragon1412

I actually have to denied this, YP, in 2014 taking 4 new titles, presumed to take over the title that is going to end soon and in 2015, as of now, already taken 9-10 new series, and the books that is published 2015 is about nearly 2 times compare to 2014, and that number is incomplete since we are only in March. They have about 2.5-3 times the workload compare to 2014, and this is already not counting the new manga titles they are working on. I already surprised enough that they can keep SAO at the same pace, let alone speeding another novel, like back in Index thread, i did said this is an extremely risky move, if they success then more expansion, but if they aren't... either way, the only way for them to do more is to hire more translators, which isn't exactly the smartest thing considering the current economy.

But isn't it unlikely that they would pick up so many series if they weren't confident that they had the resources to handle them all?

[dragon1412]

Originally Posted by ProxyAccount

The issue isn't the number of translators--they'll have to pay to translate works, whether now or later. The issue is market saturation and whether they can catch the waves of popularity for those respective products and keep up in order to make those licenses pay off.

Originally Posted by bakato

But isn't it unlikely that they would pick up so many series if they weren't confident that they had the resources to handle them all?

What make them took a action, is the wave of LN anime adaptions back in 2014 where many LN got adapted to Anime. And like i said, Back in 2009, the few titles they took : Haruhi, Spice and wolfs,\... etc is coming to an end and they need new series to replace it, which is why 2014 have 4 new series, but 2015 they already took more than 2 times that amounts, like it or hate it, this cost a lot just for license alone, and translator aren't exactly cheap in the 1st place. I'm not saying they do not have the resource to handle them all, but they should be pretty nearing their limit capability Since YP have the tendency of also taking manga adaption the respective novels and this is already not counting all those new manga titles.

If you took a closer look, the titles they took all have anime aired recently or going to get aired recently, Index( RailgunS), Log Horizon, Black bullet, Hataraku Maou sama, and even Mahouka. Like Proxy said the problem here is market saturation, which is why i worried about this, Anime and LN fanbase in America isn't exactly that large in the 1st place.

[zerozeronine]

Originally Posted by dragon1412

What make them took a action, is the wave of LN anime adaptions back in 2014 where many LN got adapted to Anime. And like i said, Back in 2009, the few titles they took : Haruhi, Spice and wolfs,\... etc is coming to an end and they need new series to replace it, which is why 2014 have 4 new series, but 2015 they already took more than 2 times that amounts, like it or hate it, this cost a lot just for license alone, and translator aren't exactly cheap in the 1st place. I'm not saying they do not have the resource to handle them all, but they should be pretty nearing their limit capability Since YP have the tendency of also taking manga adaption the respective novels and this is already not counting all those new manga titles.

If you took a closer look, the titles they took all have anime aired recently or going to get aired recently, Index( RailgunS), Log Horizon, Black bullet, Hataraku Maou sama, and even Mahouka. Like Proxy said the problem here is market saturation, which is why i worried about this, Anime and LN fanbase in America isn't exactly that large in the 1st place.

I find it stable enough,since publishers like Yen,Viz and Kodansha are still thriving and anime streaming sites like Funimation and Crunchyroll are still alive and kicking.And the U.S won't be Yen Press only customer,since I would see a large chunk of English readers from other countries will be ordering it online,I know I would.

Tokyopop only went bankrupt when Kodansha pulled all their licenses' from them,that kept Tokyopop afloat,since most of those series were TP best seller's.

[anup158]

Still think that too many series have been licensed this year to have them update regularly with good quality. It wont be better for anyone if they leave some of the series midway because they are not having enough benefits.

[amtro]

YP hires freelancers. The accuracy and quality of such translations will vary wildly, but the quantity of novels they can take on is limited only by how many they feel like commissioning.