Imagination Looking Novelty

[b0mb3r]

Lol if there is such a name like that in the light novel section someone tell me. Today's topic is an outlet for my curiosity. Today's question is:

When you read light novel do you imagine the character real looking or the character portrayed in their illustration reading it like it was anime in the brain?

Real vs Anime look I am saying.

Yes the illustration does help and make the reader think in anime form but do you guys actually skip the picture and imagine if these people are real individuals? Or is it because the writing in the novel portray anime in a novel form (examples like there are tsudere character in the book so you use it for reference from any anime or do you know anyone personally who acts like a tsudere person in your life?)

[Beware the talking cat]

It completely depends for me, on whether or not I've seen the anime already.

For example, with something like shakugan no shana, where I watched the anime first, I only see the anime characters.

Or something like Toradora, where we had the novels first, I originally had mental pictures of the characters, which I then had to reconcile with the anime. Of course, now I only see the anime characters.


I think the interesting case is Fate/Zero, where I only have visual sources for half the characters. There I end up with an interesting amalgamization of anime characters and my anime-styled image for most of the remaining characters--only with a couple characters (like Kitsurugu's assistant) who end up looking like normal people. Anime characters interacting with 3d characters is a rather odd experience.

[b0mb3r]

^ well i was thinking if you imagine light novels (which had no anime..yet) and ignoring the character illustration that if you imagine them to be real life people.

[ShadowZeroHeart]

As cat has mentioned, its very similar in my case. When I have watched the anime first, the impression sticks.

But if I read the novel first, I would look for the resemblance, which most of them tend to have.

For novels that are not/yet-to-be animated, the illustrations tend to do the showing, though it is hard to at times, with some characters not being portrayed at all.

[chrnno]

It depends on wheter I read the novel first or saw the anime.

If it was the anime then it stuck to me if not then I would use the illustration(if any available) to try to imagine the character, sometimes it ends up looking like an anime one sometimes like a real person, depends from character to character.

[Assassin]

... I guess I'm guilty for being too overdependent on a novel's illustration, and tend to avoid those without.

I prefer to imagine characters as they are in their own universe.

[ShadowZeroHeart]

... I guess I'm guilty for being too overdependent on a novel's illustration, and tend to avoid those without.

I prefer to imagine characters as they are in their own universe.

It is quite fine to depend on a novel's illustrations. They are part of the novel in itself, and you should really put that into consideration. Besides, letting your imagination run too wild over might not be a good thing

[b0mb3r]

so none of you guys imagine them to be realistic people?

[ShadowZeroHeart]

so none of you guys imagine them to be realistic people?

If I ever see someone as dumb as Yoshii in real life, I probably would try my best to stay out of his class... If you know what I mean... Fun, is one thing, but watching and being part of it are quite different... Besides, you know how things go, even if there are a few girls going for the same guy, its probably not gonna be you. So best to not get mixed around, coz one guy tends to get all the girls.

[Assassin]

so none of you guys imagine them to be realistic people?

If I ever see someone as dumb as Yoshii in real life, I probably would try my best to stay out of his class... If you know what I mean... Fun, is one thing, but watching and being part of it are quite different... Besides, you know how things go, even if there are a few girls going for the same guy, its probably not gonna be you. So best to not get mixed around, coz one guy tends to get all the girls.

Ditto here... although if I somehow get bothered to actually notice them, it also depends on whether I like it or not. I'm not pleasant even to myself when my fuse finally gets blown.

[b0mb3r]

okay, okay my bad to let realism into our fantastic fantasy world of light novel/manga/anime/visual novels.

Is just that when I see good cosplay I always like to attempt to read the books what does the character would look like in our world. Then again when homer simpson went into our world (the VR episode ages ago) it look pretty bad. But then there are those little figures otaku collected them. Imagine them their scale 1:1 size, android, A.I. and movement. That or those crazy VR types of games like the manga Ressentiment

[ShadowZeroHeart]

okay, okay my bad to let realism into our fantastic fantasy world of light novel/manga/anime/visual novels.

Is just that when I see good cosplay I always like to attempt to read the books what does the character would look like in our world. Then again when homer simpson went into our world (the VR episode ages ago) it look pretty bad. But then there are those little figures otaku collected them. Imagine them their scale 1:1 size, android, A.I. and movement. That or those crazy VR types of games like the manga Ressentiment

Sorry, and no offense here... but I am not that supportive about Cos-playing... The reason is actually very simple(if cosplayers will ever forgive me), being that I LOVE the characters... And there are some bad cosplays out there... For example, I am a BIG fan of Suigintou(Rozen Maiden, Manga), but I don't wanna see someone cosplay as her, especially if there is a chance of making me puke if I ever see pictures of Suigintou again...

So, no, i keep my fantasy and reality separate.

[b0mb3r]

Sorry, and no offense here... but I am not that supportive about Cos-playing... The reason is actually very simple(if cosplayers will ever forgive me), being that I LOVE the characters... And there are some bad cosplays out there... For example, I am a BIG fan of Suigintou(Rozen Maiden, Manga), but I don't wanna see someone cosplay as her, especially if there is a chance of making me puke if I ever see pictures of Suigintou again...

So, no, i keep my fantasy and reality separate.

IMAGINE BREAKER! No offense here friend. I understand that there are some truly horrifying cosplay out there. Sankaku Complex does that to your life when showing those pictures.

[Teh_ping]

Ahhh cosplay...... went to AFA 09 last year. More than half of them were so horrible, I needed brain bleach.

To me, I'll see the character art on the cover page to see how the characters looked like, then I'll fill in the remaining holes through descriptions. A personal example here. I've never ever read or saw any sources of TAMnI before I even started work on it. When Shana was taken down, my friend actually requested me to transfer over to the Index series, so yeah, that's how I ended up there. It was hard for me to get the flow of the story at first because I have no idea of what the story is like (Up till now, I still haven't seen any of the anime episodes at all...) I had to fill in the void with my imaginations, which luckily isn't so bad as the descriptions are rather detailed, and there are illustrations as well. It's thanks to the descriptions that I didn't end up imagining 'Parallel Sweets Wonderland' in Vol 7 as being like the funfair in Dark Carnival of L4D2...

[Assassin]

Sorry, and no offense here... but I am not that supportive about Cos-playing... The reason is actually very simple(if cosplayers will ever forgive me), being that I LOVE the characters... And there are some bad cosplays out there... For example, I am a BIG fan of Suigintou(Rozen Maiden, Manga), but I don't wanna see someone cosplay as her, especially if there is a chance of making me puke if I ever see pictures of Suigintou again...

So, no, i keep my fantasy and reality separate.

Ah, I found myself a comrade in you. Heh heh heh.

What you said is pretty much what I had in mine, so I won't elaborate further.

... Gotta keep silent about the other reasons I don't like cosplayers themselves much, though.

To me, I'll see the character art on the cover page to see how the characters looked like, then I'll fill in the remaining holes through descriptions. A personal example here. I've never ever read or saw any sources of TAMnI before I even started work on it. When Shana was taken down, my friend actually requested me to transfer over to the Index series, so yeah, that's how I ended up there. It was hard for me to get the flow of the story at first because I have no idea of what the story is like (Up till now, I still haven't seen any of the anime episodes at all...) I had to fill in the void with my imaginations, which luckily isn't so bad as the descriptions are rather detailed, and there are illustrations as well. It's thanks to the descriptions that I didn't end up imagining 'Parallel Sweets Wonderland' in Vol 7 as being like the funfair in Dark Carnival of L4D2...

... I think I must have a pretty... uh, describe it the way you like; but I imagine 'Parallel Sweets Wonderland' as a funfair with giant candy canes everywhere. Pretty much taking it literally, heheh.

By the way a lot of thanks for the translation on volume 7. Finally I can see how Kaori started to go deredere on Touma.