OLN: Michi no Kako (Unknown Past)

[Kitagishi Manto]

Unknown Past is the first volume of a light novel series I've been meaning to work on for some time but have been postponing due to translation issues. However, after speaking with a member of the Baka-Tsuki staff, I've finally decided to post it, regardless of the lack of translation, and hope I might one day get enough support for it to become an official work that will be appreciated by its intended audience.

I am open to suggestions to improve the work, as I want to make this "light" novel appeal to as many people as possible.

Volume Synopsis

In a world where magic is controlled through song, many different cultures from an age long forgotten have been established. Much of the history of all ages before the present age have been lost, save for some music and technology. This is the Fifth Age, a time following the ages of humans, elves, dwarves, and yokai.

Everybody in the world has a unique form of magic since they were born that is activated by singing a particular type of song. Nine different magical types, referred to as tones, exist.

Everyone can use magic, save for Oren Tsurai.

An amnesiac trapped in a full body cloak that cannot be removed, he knows nothing of who he was. However, his new life is peaceful, with a loving family and few troubles.

But what happens when your home, the place of your few memories, is taken away from you in the name of an unknown revolution? What happens when someone ignorant of how the world works is thrown into struggles of corruption, lies, and betrayal? Follow the tale of someone who yearns for not only revenge, but a desire to learn who he really is in order to prevent future misfortunes from occurring.

Follow the tale of a boy with an unknown past.

Main Genres: Shonen, Fantasy, Music, Action, Comedy, Romance, Politics

The novel is in the link below.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14TMBpw ... sp=sharing

[bluntedpoet]

I learned that the author, Kitagishi Manto, wrote this first volume of Unknown Past while in his senior year of college. Let me start by saying that I've worked in higher education for 17 years now, and I would rank Unknown Past as one of the finest pieces of writing I have encountered by a college student in that time. It's not the sheer volume of the work that makes it impressive, it's because it might be the most fully developed fictional world that I've seen a student create. The history of the world, the concept of rhime, the incorporation of music, the various tones and sub-tones---it was a lot to manage, and I thought Manto presented things with great skill. Very impressed. He employed descriptive writing that enabled me to visualize everything in my head as if it were an anime presentation. I can't help but think it would indeed make for a remarkable anime adaption, with the music soundtrack and lyric components making it have something new and original to offer. . .

There are a fair amount of surprises, twists, and turns to keep things interesting for the reader. There are also some obvious set-ups for the next volume, and I sure hope Manto is working on it, and plans to post here again soon!. . .

[Kitagishi Manto]

Hello again everyone. I apologize for the late material, as both my schedule as well as the schedule of my editor have been rather hectic.

Nevertheless, here is the first half of the second volume.

I'm still working on the unedited second half, so it will still be a while before the full volume is complete. That being said, this edited first half is still subject to change and, unlike my first finished volume I previously submitted, I would like it if more feedback would be included to help shape the incomplete second half. Thank you.

Here is the link to the first half of the second volume:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=19nYB- ... LDt3non5nd

For those who wish to contact me without submitting any comments in this subforum, email me at [email protected].

[Kitagishi Manto]

Hello again.

Thank you for your patience. This took longer than expected considering how my graduate school responsibilities and my editor's busy schedule resulted in many postponements, but here is the link to the FULL edited second volume of Unknown Past:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=10AC1D ... WOM8x98hiA

Sadly, due to my busy graduate school schedule, I will be very busy and will likely have to put Unknown Past on hiatus for a while. I do hope you understand.

In the meantime, I would REALLY appreciate feedback from readers to further improve these existing volumes and/or get better ideas of how I could write/improve future volumes. If you have an recommendations for future characters, plot points, settings, etc., please let me know.

And lastly, I wish to conduct a survey within this Baka-Tsuki subforum here:
What are your top 3-5 songs (English, Japanese, or OST) that you would want to "hear" in Unknown Past? It can be pre-existing music from other anime, games, etc. Only restriction: not all of them can be from the same "type" of media (ex: not all can be from anime).

Thank you all for being supportive with the large number of views, and I hope that Unknown Past will remain relevant for some more time through future recommendations.

[Kitagishi Manto]

Hello everyone. Sorry for being on haitus. While I have yet to officially start working on volume 3, I have been working on a few short skits using the characters from volume 2 and plan to provide them before the end of December (after editing them).

In the meantime, I will also be posting Unknown Past content (when I have time) on Royal Road (RoyalRoad). If you want to provide feedback there or here, please do so (I really need feedback after three years of near silence). I'm also considering setting up a form of crowdfunding (debating which one to use) for commissioning illustrations. Some character art that has been commissioned is already provided there.

[Kitagishi Manto]

As promised, here are some of the side stories that have been edited:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1kPpsk ... Shm9ViiHr_

One other side story is excluded because it's still in the editing phase, and I have a few more lined up for later, but I hope you enjoy them.

[Kitagishi Manto]

Hello again everybody. Thank you to all of the people who have chosen to read this series up to this point. I apologize for not updating the series as much as I would like to, though for various reasons progress has been slow.

I have been informed a few times that my first volume's Drive link wasn't allowing people to read it without requesting access. I ended up learning that this was due to a Terms of Service change on Google Drive's part, so the Drive link in the first post has been updated. In the event there are still any issues, please email me or post a link here saying that the link isn't working. I apologize for the delay in fixing this.

As for any updates, I have been working to get my first volume translated into Japanese, though the process is currently on hiatus due to present life situations. One of the reasons for the delay in volume 3 is the fact that I am attempting to work with the JASRAC and NexTone copyright companies to get permission to use the songs that have lyrics used in the first two volumes before any official publications are done. Admittedly, the process has been slow and will likely be expensive long term, so I am attempting to negotiate with the two companies to see if there's any way to still allow for the song lyrics to be included. In the event I have to remove the lyrics of existing songs from these volumes, it will be because an agreement has not been reached, and while I understand that this would dampen the experience, I do hope you understand the reasons why given my financial situation (and just wanting to avoid any legal issues). For now, there's no issue posting the versions as they are here though.

As for Volume 3 itself, I'm afraid I haven't made much progress as I would like, though for various life reasons coupled with some writer's block, it is what it is. If you want to read what I currently have, I provided the link to the unedited version of what I do have at this time here (bear in mind that my unedited versions are pretty messy compared to the edited ones up to this point): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ekvRY3 ... sp=sharing

I am open to talking with people about ideas for volume 3, song recommendations (though I will have to see if an agreement can be reached with JASRAC or NexTone), or anything else you wish to discuss regarding this series at large, so feel free to email me, post a message here, or DM me on Discord (XenoYs#5305). Sorry if this message isn't what you wanted to see, but as things are in my life, I haven't been able to write as much as I want.