J-Novel Club held a panel at Anime Expo (5-8 July 2018, Los Angeles Convention Center), where they announced eight new licenses to increase their library of Japanese light novels by a third. The announced titles are Amagi Brilliant Park, Kokoro Connect, Gear Drive, Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles, JK Haru is a Sex Worker in Another World, Last and First Idol, and Märchen der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight. You can find the synopsis of each novel listed down below!

More good news for those who always wanted to own a Japanese light novel in English as a physical book because J Novel Club will start publishing! The first in line is one of the most popular titles: In Another World With My Smartphone. So far nine of the thirteen Japanese volumes have been released with Volume 10 coming out in Fall 2018. The first volume will be released as a paperback in the US and Canada and will be available at all good bookshops. More information about the release, format, pricing, and distribution will follow soon, as well as other titles that will get a print version. Stay tuned!

Amagi Brilliant Park

This novel series is written by veteran author Shouji Gatou, creator of the Full Metal Panic! series and spinoffs and illustrated by Yuka Nakajima. Amagi Brilliant Park started serialization in 2013 and currently has 8 volumes in Japan, as well as a 3-volume spinoff series. In 2014, the series received an anime adaptation.

Amusement parks should be a wonderful, happy place. But Amagi Brilliant Park is nothing like that, located on the outskirts of Tokyo and known for inedible snacks, attractions that are falling apart and with mascots who regularly get into fistfights with guests. Kanie Seiya is dragged to this amusement park at literal gunpoint by a mysterious girl who demands that he helps them save the park!

Kokoro Connect

Kokoro Connect is written by Sadanatsu Anda. In the center of the story is the Cultural Research Club with a variety of unique characters: a pro-wrestling fanboy, a goofy ditz, a master of snark, a laid-back jokester, and a total girly-girl. Everything goes cray when they suddenly find that they have swapped bodies with each other. What they take as a funny joke at first soon starts to threaten to destroy the foundations of their friendship when boundaries are crossed and dark secrets come to light. Of course, they also need to find out what lead them to swap bodies. Will it ever stop?

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen

Sorcerous Stabber Orphen has 40 volumes of novels, multiple manga adaptations, and two anime seasons. Now the novel by veteran author Yoshinobu Akita and illustrated by Yuuya Kusaka will be available in English.

Orphen is the hero of this story and a drop-out Sorcerer from the prestigious Tower of Fangs. He is on his way to save Azalie, a girl he looked up to like a sister and arrives in the bustling city of Totokanta, where he reunites with her for the first time in five years. But what is the truth behind her monstrous transformation, and just what secrets lurk behind the Sword of Baldanders…?

Gear Drive

In this series by Kabayakidare with illustrations by Koutaro Sugi, we follow 15-year-old Anti Kythera. In this world where everybody has magic, she is the odd one who can’t even use the most basic of skills. Luckily, there is the Skill Bestowal, a ceremony that can help even the chronically magicless discover their talent. But what she gets isn’t what she expected and even less something she wanted. She can control golden gears with her skill called Gearcraft. It will need a lot of imagination and effort for her to discover the secrets of her unique power and Anti will have to find out if she can tame the tiara-shaped artifact that’s called ‘Crown Gear.’

Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles

Rio is an orphaned boy living in the slums. When he is seven years old, he realizes he is actually the reincarnation of Haruto Amakawa, a Japanese university student with a tragic past. The discovery shocks him but at the same time he finds out about his strong magical abilities. He uses those abilities to solve the kidnapping case of a girl and as a reword he is enrolled into a prestigious academy for noble children. The light novel is written by Yuri Kitayama and illustrated by Riv.

JK Haru is a Sex Worker in Another World

This story by Ko Hiratori is recommended for readers of ages 17 and up. Haru Koyama ends up getting killed in an accident together with her weird classmate Chiba. Instead of simply dying, they end up getting transported to another world. A dream come true, some would think, but only Chiba ends up with cheat abilities and Haru has to work in the sex industry instead. She needs money to survive after all. The world they landed in treats women even worse than the place she came from so things get rough. But Haru works hard to make the best of her life with Chiba’s idiocy, her virgin friend Sumo’s emotions, and the various kinks her customers throw at her.

Last and First Idol

This novel is the debut work of Gengen Kusano and includes illustrations by TNSK. It is a collection of three stories including the titular Last and First Idol, an existential widescreen yuri baroque proletariat hard sci-fi idol story carving out a new legend in science fiction history and Evolution Girls, in which some gacha-expert friends race to find the truth of the universe. Lastly, there is Dark Seiyuu, a brand-new space opera about voice actors.

Märchen der Werwolf: The Annals of Veight

In this novel by Hyougetsu and illustrated by Nishi(E)da we meet Veight. Veight is a reborn werewolf and now leads the Demon Lord’s third regiment under the title of Vice-Commander. He has conquered the trading hub known as Ryunheit and soon learns the struggles of governing a city of mixed human/demon population. Armed with an understanding of inter-species relations and a desire for peace, he spends his days quelling violent demons and pacifying disruptive humans in his pursuit to bring balance and tranquility.

Amagi Brilliant Park, Kokoro Connect, Gear drive, Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles and Sorcerous Stabber Orphen can be found on J Novel Club at the end of August, the other three titles will come out in Fall 2018. A free preview of all of them can be found on the website already, the first half of volume one can be read for the series that will come out in August. You can become a member for only $4.50 a month and read a new chapter each week from more than 20 ongoing series! Check out their website!

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