>>281764436
Light Novels are disgustingly horrible. They're essentially just screenplay versions of shitty anime, except there aren't even any visuals.
I have a generally foul opinion of Japanese writing in general because, obviously, that's all anyone talks about here. Also, I can't think of a Japanese novel that's ever actually gotten big in the west.
It's unfortunate, but I really do think that their only viable cultural exports are anime and manga. Their writing seems to suck, their music is too corporate pop-sloppa, and so on. If you ask me, I think its because their society is so safe, insular, well-mannered, regimented. They're very suppressed in their emotions, as well as their experiences. Isolated. They don't have much to say, really. You could make a solid argument that the only real reason even manga/anime are big is ironically because the corporate slave mentality they have gives their society enough raw output to overpower other countries with sheer numbers; the west doesn't have enough animators and artists to slave away for that long for that cheap. This means their skills get honed quickly and they have a competitive advantage in those specific industries because of their work ethic, but they're genuinely too spiritually stunted by their collectivist culture to make good music/novels/any other art.
