Recommendations Japanese-inspired novel that is not fantasy?

megu3

megu3

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Pretty much like in the title. Most novels on this site are fantasy, and I guess some of them are actually good and original, but I just tend to dislike this genre.
I know that it's a really broad term, and there are some kinds I have nothing against, like urban fantasy, but in general I want the novel to take place in the present day (in our world) or in the future (if it's science fiction, no VRMMO though!). Novels taking place in the near past are alright too (let's say up to 100 years ago) (Higurashi, Baccano?).

Therefore, it can be science fiction, it can be a rom-com, hell it can even be an action spy series if something like that exists here. Slight supernatural elements in a normal world (take Bunny Girl Senpai for example) are alright too. No fanfiction though. It can be ongoing, but I don't mind if it's completed (try to avoid dropped though)

By Japanese-inspired, I mean inspired by Japanese light novels (or anime). It would be nice if the characters had Japanese names and the story took place in Japan, but it's not necessary.

Ah, and no CEOs.
 
JayDirex

JayDirex

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@megu3 Three for you, if interested. Light novels in nature (Tsundere's, Teen-Girl Assassins, All girls school) the theme is organized crime, NYC. They go in this order. But they are all INDIVIDUAL stand alone stories (meaning you don't have to read them in order or need the others to grasp the story, but it helps).

1. Why Do Bad Girls Love Dan (ignore the troll one stars, it's good)
2. Rica Wants Him Dead
3. The Villainous Lee Twins
 
Yairy

Yairy

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I'm going to shamelessly plug my story Sleeping Princess only because others who are looking for the same kind of style story might find it here too.

It's GL and might not be your taste but it's pure modren and is stylized to a light novel nature with images and such.

Japanese names, usage of prefixes, based in Hiroshima Japan. It's ongoing with 140k words so a bunch of content so far...
 
EternalSunset0

EternalSunset0

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I'll be self-plugging my story. I feel that it passes your conditions. Japanese names, Japan-like setting (with modified names), I tried to make it look as much like an actual LN as possible (each arc is an individual volume with a generally self-contained story). Even the release schedule lol (4 to 6 months in between volumes).

I also tried to make the glossary look as much like an LN's front page with character introductions, too.

However, the major point against it based kn your qualifications is that it's heavily inspired by stuff like Persona 4, Bleach, Shakugan no Shana, Index, Twin Star Exorcists, etc so I dunno if that's too much fantasy for you. Basically the setting is in the near-future, but the story is very supernatural.

But you did say Urban Fantasy is fine, so I assumed what you didn't want are the RPG/medieval worlds of most Isekai.

Here's the first volume. The other arcs are on my profile too. So far, 3 out of probably 8 volumes are out.
 
Silver_Sky

Silver_Sky

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If you go to your profile(small blip) on the main site scroll down to release filtering, it'll take you to a page where you can exclude genres, there you can block fantasy and search for yourself from there.

Personally I like a lot of ideas on this site but I feel so many lack delivery, a gap between pro and beginner kind of feel, a general tone of story that im picky about so can't really recommend anything sorry...
 
B

Boy

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megu3 said:
Pretty much like in the title. Most novels on this site are fantasy, and I guess some of them are actually good and original, but I just tend to dislike this genre.
I know that it's a really broad term, and there are some kinds I have nothing against, like urban fantasy, but in general I want the novel to take place in the present day (in our world) or in the future (if it's science fiction, no VRMMO though!). Novels taking place in the near past are alright too (let's say up to 100 years ago) (Higurashi, Baccano?).

Therefore, it can be science fiction, it can be a rom-com, hell it can even be an action spy series if something like that exists here. Slight supernatural elements in a normal world (take Bunny Girl Senpai for example) are alright too. No fanfiction though. It can be ongoing, but I don't mind if it's completed (try to avoid dropped though)

By Japanese-inspired, I mean inspired by Japanese light novels (or anime). It would be nice if the characters had Japanese names and the story took place in Japan, but it's not necessary.

Ah, and no CEOs.
Click to expand...
TRY https://www.scribblehub.com/read/36...-created-an-evil-organization/chapter/364498/
 
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