It's a well-known fact that light novels are very popular among young men, but did you know that there are also many female-oriented works in light novels, depicting the delicate minds of girls through a fantasy-like dream stage, and this kind of light-hearted and easy-to-understand fiction also fascinates many young women?

Novels aimed at women were previously known as "shoujo novels" and can be traced back to the Meiji era in Japan. Since its inception, "shoujo novels" have been loved by young Japanese girls, and in the eighties and nineties of the twentieth century, popular fiction writers such as Tsuneko Himuro and Suko Arai became more active, setting off a boom in shoujo novels that swept across Japan. Now, works such as "Tale of the Twelve Kingdoms" (written by Fuyumi Ono), which was reopened last year and caused heated discussions in the city, and "Our Lady of the Virgin" (written by Ono Oyuki), which is very popular even with male fans, have had a great impact on the current new light novel works. Although the popularity has since waned, it seems that this craze is about to make a comeback.

The high popularity of male-oriented light novels has also had an impact? Fantasy novels are making a comeback!

At present, the Japanese publisher industry is in a predicament of sluggish sales, and the only ones that show growth momentum are light novel books. Although the popularity of light novels has increased due to commercial promotion projects such as animating and manga books, most of the works in the book are aimed at men, and the works for women have not received much attention. However, with the increase in sales and popularity of male-oriented works, it seems that there are some positive effects on female-oriented works.

According to Nahoko Yamaji, the head of Kinokuniya Shoten's new main store, "I wonder if you have been influenced by recent anime?" Female readers seem to have a much better understanding of fantasy than before, and as a result, there has been a lot more new brand of books for women in the last decade." In addition, Nahoko Yamaji said, "In recent years, light fiction books for women have gradually developed new novel genres such as BL (BoysLove), TL (Teenslove)', and VOCALOID novels, and the rapid growth in sales of these new novel genres shows that readers' preferences are diversifying."

On the other hand, Ms. Keiko Tamura, the person in charge of Shuquan BOOKTOWER, which is located in Akihabara, a mecca of public houses, pointed out; "Although the variety has indeed increased, the sales of women's works are still far less than the sales of men's works in terms of the scale of overall sales. We want to have more popular titles that are distinctive, representative of a genre of fiction, and in order to achieve this, commercial promotion plans such as animation are really essential."

Although the light novels for women lack flashy battle scenes, on the contrary, the characters and qualities of the protagonists of each story are deeply portrayed, and the relationship and emotional entanglements between them are also fully described, so it may also be helpful for male readers to find lovers. Therefore, although this may be a light novel work for women, it is actually purchased by quite a few male customers.

What is a female-oriented light novel?

In order to find out how the producer thinks about this issue, we interviewed the editorial department of the women's light novel brand "B'sLOG Bunko". They said: "The most important thing is to have a 'girl's heart' contained in it, and the so-called 'girl's heart' is 'something that can still arouse the budding and passionate in women's hearts no matter how old they are.'"

In recent years, in response to the growing range of women's preferences, including manga, anime, illustration, voice actors, and other fields, the Editorial Department has put forward the slogan "Absolute Girl Declaration" with a focus on how to arouse women's inner passions. In addition to the love element, which is one of the most important themes of shoujo novels, it is also essential to create so-called "shoujo light novels" by combining the elements of love as one of the most important themes of shoujo novels, as well as the unique characteristics of light novels, such as character charm, diverse worldviews, and the spirit of challenging the framework to break through the framework.

When it comes to "girl's novels", many people may think that it is a dull romance novel, but after actually reading it, the author found that this is not the case. The whole work contains many characters and a variety of storylines, and is full of laughter, tears, and heartbeats. There are so many types of girls' fiction that a hundred flowers are blooming. The entire shoujo novel system can be divided into two categories, one is works centered on female protagonists, and the other is works centered on male protagonists.

Fantasy and romance themes are often used in works centered on female protagonists, but most of these female protagonists are not the kind of vases that only people can protect, they will also fight with weapons or go to work to support themselves. The posture of these female protagonists in the work may also be a realistic reflection of the fact that women in today's society are getting stronger and stronger year by year.

On the other hand, although there are also works centered on the male protagonist that use fantasy as the theme of the story, most of them use modern society as the setting of the story. The hero of the story is surrounded by many charismatic characters, from which he constantly meets people, cultivates friendships, experiences hardships together, and finally grows. It is said that this kind of work that depicts the growth of male protagonists is the most tugging at the heartstrings of female readers. This kind of work is different from BL works that depict gay sex, and is more similar to the "passion" and "passion" of shonen manga.

In recent years, a large number of women have won a lot of support from female fans by animating the game, but it is not only these that tug at the heartstrings of women, but also the recent up-and-coming women-oriented fiction works cannot be ignored! The world that makes girls confused and fascinated will continue to expand in the future!