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5 English novelizations of popular Japanese anime

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By Limarc Ambalina

America has Hollywood, Korea as has K-pop, and Japan has anime (among other cultural phenomena).

While Japan has a lot to offer and is known for a plethora of things in terms of food, landmarks and culture, perhaps the one thing that everyone thinks when they think Japan is anime. In Japan, you can find anime characters on clothing, food and beverage packaging, gift cards, and even used as advertising for major companies. Anime is everywhere and for good reason: it gives people an escape from the pressures of their daily lives, it teaches children morals and ethics, and promotes common values of hard work, friendship, love and much more. Popular anime even spawn film, video game and novel adaptations. For those of us who are both anime lovers and bookworms, novel adaptations or novel spin-offs of popular anime are exactly what we’re looking for.

The five novels on this list have either been adapted from popular anime or the source material from which the anime was created and of course — all of the novels on this list are available in English.

1. Death Note: Another Note

"Death Note" is an anime with a very unique plot that somehow managed to break into the mainstream realm of the industry. The anime follows Light Yagami, a high school student who finds a notebook on the ground. The notebook has instructions which claim that whoever’s name is written in the book shall die. Light, an academic genius and bored by the tediousness of school life takes it upon himself to rid the world of all crime by using the notebook to murder the world’s worst criminals. The manga and anime were so popular that they spawned film, tv series, video game, and novel adaptations.

The novel follows an FBI agent names Naomi Misora and sleuth private detective named L who were assigned to capture Light. However, the novel is about another set of murder cases which serve as a prequel to the main "Death Note" series. Fans of murder mysteries should definitely give this book a read. The novel itself is a solid murder mystery, strong enough to stand alone from the "Death Note" series. The creators of the series Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata are also well known for their recent hit "Bakuman."

Death Note: Another Note (Nisioisin, VIZ Media LLC, February 2008, ¥1,744).

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© GaijinPot

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