Here’s the list of the series I’m considering for picking up as replacement for Dungeon Battle. They’re sorted alphabetically
A Saladbowl of Oddballs
The poor Private Detective Sousuke tails a girl for a job, just to find out that she’s an otherworldy Imperial princess who had to flee her country after a rebellion killed the imperial family, coming to modern Japan through a gate. Soon thereafter her personal knight Livia also arrives, marking the beginning of the three mingling with each other.
It’s a novel with a lot of gags and slice of life stuff. It’s a light read following the idea of vibe of Hataraku Mao-sama! to some extent. It had three LN volumes released in JP, currently ongoing, and its first manga chapter came out the other day as well. The author wrote Imouto saeireba ii which some of you might know since it’s got an anime adaption.
Given that fame and the recent tendencies of English publishers, this novel could get licensed at some point.
Grancrest Senki
A fantasy story of magic, sword and wars. It’s no isekai and has a similar vibe to Madan no Ou to Vanadis, another story I’m releasing on my blog. It has had an anime release and remains untranslated altogether to this day.
Once upon a time, the world was ruled by Chaos. Chaos is one of many features of this mysterious world. Its concentration distorts the laws of nature, which leads to the emergence of demons and natural disasters, which people call “the scourge of Chaos.” Then came “a man with a holy crest” and “returned the order.” He was called the Lord. He was the only one who could use the crest and therefore protected people from Chaos. As a result of his actions, the territories occupied by people expanded instantly. So the Lord must be. But, everything has its own good and bad side. When the level of Chaos has gone down, the Crests have become instruments used in power struggles. At the moment, all people are divided between the Fantasia Union and the Factory Alliance.
Over time, the two power blocs’ rulers decided to arrange the wedding of their heirs to unite and complete the creation of the Grand Crest – a symbol of order for the eternal peace. However, both dukes were eliminated, and wars were unleashed on their territories with new forces. At the center of this battle was a student from the Magical Academy named Siluca, on which the earl named Lord Villar laid his eyes. The purpose of Siluca was to conclude an agreement with Villar, and on the way to Altirk (where Villar ruled), she was surrounded by hostile soldiers, but Lord Theo came to her aid. And they begin their adventures. (wiki)
The series is completed at 11 volumes.
Tags: Depiction of Cruelty, Adventure, Fantasy, Wars, Tragedy, Romance
Lineage of Sorcery
In the country of Larvata, mages are oppressed and seen as filthy beings. Leon is a talented but rather weak mage. Zechs is an orphan boy with great innate magical talent. Their meeting will change their lives as well as the world around them.
You can read the first manga chapters here: https://mangadex.org/title/bda4265d-4362-49f3-8567-50542d31491b/madou-no-keifu
There exist 4 volumes of the novel. All books with more than 500 pages since it’s a novel and not a light novel.
Tags: R15, Depiction of Cruelty, Magic, Military, Seinen, Drama, Action
Sengoku Komachi
One fateful day, a girl time slipped into the Sengoku Era.
It was an abrupt enough event to be dubbed god’s whim, done to sate hellish boredom.
The girl has no power to change the world.
She was a very ordinary, common, and plain girl that can be found anywhere.
And that girl can do no more than a single thing.
Survive the Sengoku Era ——– that’s all.
This one has had its WN translated at the beginning: You can find it here: https://www.novelupdates.com/series/chronicles-of-the-hardships-of-komachi-in-the-sengoku-era/
There also exists a manga adaption which can be found here: https://mangadex.org/title/a4304d3b-191d-471f-8c78-353d403a35d0/sengoku-komachi-kuroutan-noukou-giga
Currently 15 LN volumes have been released.
Tags: Ancient Times, Army Building, Clan Building, Depictions of Cruelty, Farming, Female Protagonist, Kingdom Building, Modern Knowledge, Multiple Transported Individuals, Pets, Time Travel, Wars
Survival in a Class-Based World
The only novel in this list without any other adaption. It is the highest-rated novel in the R18 section of Narou. I checked it out and binged it in 2 days. Currently it has 86 chapters, but those chapters are Hachinan-length chapters, aka LN chapter length.
The story is a mix of Sc-Fi and postapocalyptic, close in theme to World End Harem.
The Protagonist Yuuta is reborn into a world with a man/woman ration of 1/10,000 through genetic engineering. Coming from our time’s Japan, he has to adapt to a very class-based world with a complex setting of rules. The charm of this novel lies in its intricate societal and intrapersonal settings. The author manages to clearly depict the rules of the world and only moves within those rules. As such his MC is OP, if you want to call it so, but within the system. The novel would be just as good without the sex scenes (though those aren’t bad either). It follows multiple PoVs which follow side characters with a fairly deep character depth. Most sex scenes are depicted from the woman’s point of view, though their number isn’t as high as you’d expect of a sex novel. It’s a harem novel with all women being huge-chested, so it’s nothing any loli-lovers would read. Also, the sex and relationships are all vanilla. The author said through his character that he hates violence, rape, NTR, and all this stuff, and up until 86 I haven’t encountered any non-consensual sex.
Tags: R18, Sc-Fi, Politics, Classes, Sex (all kinds of), Intrigues, Drama
The Mentor in the Borderlands
This novel is a bit special. It follows different characters in how they become adventurers and meet a certain boy who’s known for rearing people into great mages and strong warriors. It’s what you’d call as the most standard fantasy story among the ones listed here as it’s pretty much pretty girls fight, have their little issues, meet boy, fall in love etc. pp. But by using the episodic approach to intorduce the girls, the character depth is there, and well there’s enough shounen-like battles and stuff to make it an enjoyable read.
It’s been completed at 6 volumes (last one this year), and also possesses a manga adaption.
The Old Knight of a Frontier District
In the eastern frontier of the continent there was a house Telsia and a knight who served them for many years. Age had taken its toll on his body, and knowing that the last of his days grew ever nearer, he retired from his service to his lords, surrendered nearly all he owned, and set off on a journey–a solitary journey that he might taste all the curious foods and see all of the interesting sights that this world had to offer. What he did not realize, however, was that this journey was but the beginning of a tale that would be told in the continent for many years to come.
You can read the beginning of the WN here: https://www.novelupdates.com/series/the-old-knight-of-a-frontier-district/
You can also read a manga adaption here: https://mangadex.org/title/7e64a45c-c6b2-4983-9694-7d13509a5751/henkyou-no-roukishi-bard-loen
This novel is completed at 5 volumes.
The Girl Who Ate Death
I think most of you might have read the WN of this novel. It is one of the most famous fan TL projects when it comes to WN. Sadly, the translation is lacking, albeit the English is good, doing the novel itself wrong. Someday I’m planning to TL the two LN volumes properly since they also add some extra information to the story.
You can read the entire WN here (but please be careful as only MTLers worked on it): https://www.novelupdates.com/series/the-girl-who-ate-a-death-god/
The beginning of the LN in good quality can be found here: https://www.novelupdates.com/series/the-girl-who-ate-a-death-god-ln/
