Kaga Ryosuke, a helplessly romantic teenager, was walking in the rain when he sees a beautiful girl with red eyes drenched in the rain. Everyone... more>> was avoiding her, but Ryosuke was taught to treasure women so he offered his help by letting her dry off at his home. Ryosuke can't imagine that this mysterious girl would stab him in the chest and leave him to die… Or did she? Who is this pretty girl and what does she want with him? <<less

Jindai High School was a relatively safe place, right up until Sousuke Sagaka transferred there. A total nut, he wreaks havoc on the school's student body and gets into a world of trouble with the teachers!... more>>

But there's more to Sousuke than meets the eye--not just a hell-raising student, he's actually a member of an elite military unit, on an undercover mission to protect the beautiful schoolgirl Kaname Chidori from the KGB. Discover the mystery as this comedy-action-science-fiction story unfolds! <<less

The story takes place in approximately the year 3000, when humankind arrived at the peak of its civilization, but is losing it’s will to keep... more>> living. It follows a girl, called “princess” by those around her, living on a small island with a fifty person colony and a shinning coral reef. She is a descendent of the Moon people, and it focuses upon how her ancestors supposedly came to Earth. <<less

A freshman of Miyasaka High, Kurogane Taito was average at everything. And all this while, he had believed himself to be an ordinary regular guy. But, he was wrong. The reason was because of a certain event 9 years ago. For the sake of a promise he had made then, he had already stopped being ordinary a long time ago. However, not a single fragment of his memory about that promise remained. Who had stolen his memory and to what ends? One day, as a consequence of a certain event that had descended upon his ordinary life, his memories were restored. That marked the beginning of his “extraordinary” life... ... more>>

--- you’ve finally died. I’ve been long waiting for this day ---
I’ve always thought that I’m a supporting character in life.

My story.
I’ll “die 7 times” for your sake

Everything starts from that promise. A story of a reverse school fantasy! <<less

A semi-serious school action story revolving around the main protagonist, Tomoharu Natsume. He is haunted by his childhood friend, Misao Minakami, who became a ghost... more>> ever since he barely survived an airplane accident three years earlier. Tomoharu Natsume takes the opportunity to live on his own when he enters high school in his new place of residence, Meiou-tei, and starts enjoying a carefree high school life. His life changed when a beautiful girl named Kurosaki Shuri appears with a trunk which she claimed Tomoharu's brother, Naotaka Natsume, asked her to deliver to him. The presence of the trunk causes the appearance of Takatsuki Kanade, a girl dressed like a shrine maiden who is after the trunk. Tomoharu is in possession of the trunk, which reveals secrets about the world they live in. <<less

A terrible calamity has fallen onto Zhang Fan, not only becoming one of the three survivors of Grass Temple Village, where everyone else was horribly... more>> massacred, he was also tasked to carry one of the most evil artifacts, the Sinister Bead, and taught one of the most secret teachings of the Skysong Sect, the Brahmin Wisdom. Now he cultivates in the Jadeon Sect, his knowledge and possession will draw him into a chaotic story where he will have to carry some of the greatest burdens of the Martial World. <<less

Asaba Naoyuki is an ordinary junior high school student. As a member of his school's press club, he's just spent the summer camping outside the... more>> local military base, in hopes of seeing the UFOs that are secretly kept there, according to local legend. Returning to school, he meets a strange girl, Iriya Kana, and gradually comes to realize that she is more than merely strange - and that a dark secret lies beneath the world that he knows. <<less

Kara no Kyoukai is a series of stories written by Kinoko Nasu with illustrations by Takashi Takeuchi.... more>>

The first five chapters were posted online on Nasu and Takeuchi's dojin website "Takebouki" starting Oct 1998, and the last two chapters being released at Comiket 56 in 1999. In 2001, part of the story was included in "Tsukihime PLUS-DISK," created by TYPE-MOON, the doujin circle Nasu and Takeuchi joined. The story gained huge popularity, and the doujinshi edition of the stories saw release on December 30, 2001 at Comiket 61.

Note; The cover image is from The Garden of Sinners non-novel volume 1 edition published in 2004. <<less

The story unfolds in another 'possible' modern age. The main characters are youngsters called "Kildren", who are destined to live eternally in their adolescence. The... more>> Kildren are conscious that every day could be the last, because they fight a "war as entertainment" organized and operated by adults. But as they embrace the reality they are faced with, they live their day-to-day lives to the full. <<less

The main character, Ayase Yuuto is your average boy without any special traits. He attends a private high school where he is one of the many and doesn’t stand out, until, one day, he happens to discover the secret of the school princess Nogizaka Haruka, and his life changes drastically from there on.... more>>

Haruka, the school’s most unattainable girl, is so idolized in the school for both her looks and intelligence, that her classmates nickname her Nuit Étoile (The Silver Star of the Night) and Lumière du Clavier (The Shining Princess on the Piano). However, nobody knows that it is only a fake role she assumes to hide her true nature. In reality she is a die-hard fan of anime, manga, and otaku culture. <<less

Due to a certain incident, Sado Tarou has awakened to a bothersome constitution where he starts feeling good whenever females does this and that to... more>> him. At this rate, he can't even engage in a normal relationship! To fix his constitution and to confess to his beloved "Shiori-hime", Sado Tarou visited "they who grant the student's wishes",the Second Volunteer Club, but in there was Isurugi Mio, a beautiful girl who has greatly mistaken herself as god and Yuuno Arashiko, an abominable girl who has served as the trigger to his awakening. The ecstatic traps released from the girls one after another. Do your best Tarou! And you can't feel good at that! <<less

"You too can become a wizard!" Thus begins Koyomi's story.... more>>

Wanting to change herself, Koyomi becomes a student of Misa, the modern era's strongest wizard. Koyomi is clumsy and short for her age, but it looks like she has magical talent... however, just as her first spell terminates strangely, daemons appear and start causing trouble. <<less

The young man Huey took over the old mansion of his deceased bibliomanic grand father as well as the book collection that's stored in there. But there was a condition: he also had to inherit the "Bibliotheca".... more>>

When he inspects the mansion, Huey discovers a cellar filled with piled up books. In the midst of them he comes across a black-dressed girl who's silently reading a book. She's called Dalian and has a big lock hanging in front of her. She herself is the entrance to the "Bibliotheca of Dantalian" which contains the prohibited "Phantom Books". <<less

The story revolves around Tazusa Sakurano, a Japanese Olympic figure skating candidate, and Pete Pumps, a Canadian stunt pilot. During a qualifying round in Montreal,... more>> Canada, Tazusa falls in the middle of a Triple Lutz and loses consciousness. At the same time, Pete dies mid-performance when his stunt plane crashes due to mechanical trouble. Unfortunately for Tazusa, Pete ends up involuntarily inhabiting her body for 100 days. <<less

Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan (撲殺天使ドクロちゃん, literally Club-To-Death Angel Dokuro-chan) is a novel series written by Masaki Okayu and illustrated by Torishimo. It centers around a young... more>> boy named Kusakabe Sakura and an angel, Dokuro-chan, who comes from the future. She's cute, loving, and frequently kills him violently with a giant spiked club named Excalibolg (only to resurrect him seconds later), but that's how she shows her love for him. <<less

A normal high school boy Ryūji Kisaragi's peaceful life is turned into an adventure by the return of his second cousin, Eriko. Ryūji and Eriko... more>> seize a relic box from a black market broker named FANG. In the box, they find a red dragon girl whom Ryūji names Rose because of her rose like pattern on her left hand. In order to protect Rose from the black organization, Ryūji decides to fight using his power as a breaker. <<less

Goshūshō-sama Ninomiya-kun's story revolves around Shungo Ninomiya, a male high school student trained in difficult hand-to-hand combat. He lives in a huge house with his... more>> older sister Ryōko, who is almost always gone on some dangerous mercenary mission. One day, his sister sends Mayu and Mikihiro Tsukimura, two siblings, to live with him to help Mayu overcome her fear of men. Unfortunately this is accomplished by making Mayu and Shungo share the same room and even sleep together in the same bed. Making things even worse, Reika Hōjō, the student-council chair, is blackmailed into becoming their maid due to a video that Ryoko recorded, in which she tries to seduce Shungo. <<less

Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei (デジタル・デビル・ストーリー　女神転生, Dejitaru Debiru Sutōrī lit. "Digital Devil Story: Goddess Reincarnation") is the first book in a trilogy of novels written... more>> by Aya Nishitani. It was written in the late 1980s, and is the original source material that would eventually spawn the entire Megami Tensei franchise. The novel was soon adapted in anime form and billed under the same title. <<less

Jiang Feng, a handsome young martial artist, was injured during a misadventure and ended up being saved by the sisters Yaoyue and Lianxing of the Palace of Shifting Flowers, who were considered the most powerful female martial artists in the pugilistic world. The two sisters fell in love with Jiang Feng, but he spurned them because of their arrogance. Instead, he fell in love with their servant girl, Hua Yuenu.... more>>

Jiang Feng and Hua Yuenu were forced to flee from the Palace after Hua became pregnant with Jiang’s child. However, they ended up being betrayed by Jiang Feng’s servant, Jiang Biehe, and attacked by bandits. During their harrowing flight, Hua Yuenu gave birth to a pair of twin boys abut ended up dying together with Jiang Feng during a bandit attack. Yaoyue and Lianxing soon caught up with the couple only to find them dead. Refusing to forgive Jiang Feng for rejecting her love, Yaoyue vowed to take her revenge by making his two sons destroy each other. To do that, they adopted one of the boys as their own child and abandoned the other.

The other boy was soon saved by Yan Nantian, Jiang Feng’s sworn brother and one of the most powerful martial artists in the pugilistic world. Unaware of the first boy’s fate, Yan Nantian pursued Jiang Biehe into the Villains’ Valley, a place populated entirely by criminals. There, he encountered five of the notorious Ten Great Villains whom he defeated easily before falling into a trap set by them. The villains ended up torturing Yan Nantian till he fell unconscious, but chose not to harm the second boy, instead deciding to raise him as their apprentice in order to groom him into the greatest villain in history. <<less

19-year Segawa Yuuta was looking forward to start his new university life and go through a normal university life, making new friends, etc, etc. But... more>> suddenly, when the plane which his elder sister and brother-in-law were on went missing, he became the 'father' of his three young nieces! Now, his six-tatami mat apartment not just has to accommodate himself, but 14-year old Sora, 10-year old Miu, and 3-year old Hina. What will be the fate of Yuuta? <<less

On the continent of the Dragon Vein, the weak were like the ants. Anyone who wanted to become a powerhouse could only make it through cultivation. Only the strong could fly into heaven, drill into the earth, move the mountains and overturn the sea. And the one who reached the king’s realm could even shake heaven and earth…... more>>

A young man called Chen Feng, due to the severe damage of his pubic region, could never cultivate for his whole life. But some day he inherited a drop of blood from his mysterious master and obtained a transcendental physique for cultivation, then opened a new chapter of his legendary life… <<less

On the outskirts of the Pleasure City of Midas lies the Ceres special autonomous area, commonly known as the slums. Gang leader Riki, looking for an easy pocket to pick in the nightlife districts, gets caught red-handed…by none other than one of the highest-ranking, golden-haired android elites ruling from the capital Tanagura: the “Blondy” Iason Mink!
By all rights, a Blondy standing at the pinnacle of aristocracy and a slummer should have never crossed paths—their chance encounter marks the beginning of a love twisted by obsession, soon spiraling into a karmic chain of events...... more>>

⬇️ //// About the Japanese novel and anime adaptations ////
⬇️ //// About the English translation ////
⬇️ //// Current translation status ////
⬇️ //// Drama CDs, prequel and side stories ////

//// About the Japanese novel and anime adaptations ////

Originally serialized in the bimonthly magazine Shosetsu June (小説ジュネ) spanning six chapters from December 1986 to October 1987, the novel was released with minor revisions into a hardcover edition in 1990.
This first version of the story received a two-episode/OVA anime adaptation in 1992 and 1994.

Between the years 2001 and 2007, the original story was greatly expanded upon and released in six paperback volumes. After a change of Japanese publisher, two more volumes were released between 2009 and 2010, completing the series (the six aforementioned volumes were released as volumes 1-4 in the newest Japanese edition).
This second version of the story was meant to be adapted into a twelve-episode OVA anime—initially planned to release in 2010—but was postponed to 2012, only to be discontinued after the fourth episode’s release.

//// About the English translation ////

The English paperback expanded edition is made up of eight volumes: the six first volumes (Seibido/Crystal edition) + the two later volumes (#7 and #8 in English, but #5 and #6 in the newest Tokuma/Chara edition).
The change in Japanese publisher led to a change in translator for the English edition between vol1 to 6 and vol7 to 8: it is highly recommended to read the fan translations of #7 and #8 as opposed to reading the licensed edition, due to the massive loss in translation (expect a 50% word count difference between the two).

//// Current translation status of the different editions of the novel (as of April 20th, 2024) ////

. Shosetsu June edition, unlicensed: 2/6 chapters, ongoing fan translation.
. 1990 hardcover edition, unlicensed: 2/6 chapters, ongoing fan translation. An older fan translation had 4/6 chapters translated but the project was dropped.
. 2000’s expanded edition, English licensed: fully translated, complete.

//// Drama CDs, prequel and side stories ////

– The Shosetsu June story was adapted into a drama cassette and a drama CD (Dark Erogenous).
– The expanded story was adapted into three drama CDs (Destiny, Nightmare, Resonance)
– A prequel called Midnight Illusion was serialized in Shosetsu June between December 1992 and April 1993, and released as a hardcover in 1996. 3/6 chapters have been fan-translated into English.
– The 5 side stories have all been fan-translated into English (Kizu/Wound, File-0, Cal’s Sighs, Musk, Illusion Night) and are based on the expanded version of the novel.

Look up online “Ai no Kusabi Master List LiveJournal” to find the links to all the material listed above and more.

[This page was updated as per an anon’s request, all credit goes to the AnK community where credit is due.] <<less

Akikan (”Empty Can”) is the unlikely story of high school boy Kazuichi Souda, whose can of melon soda magically transforms into a human girl. More... more>> "akikan" girls begin appearing, each of them needing to be infused with carbon dioxide from their respective drink types to survive. The akikans were created as part of the 'Akikan Elect' to determine whether steel cans or aluminium cans are superior. The akikans must battle each other until only the strongest type is left standing. <<less

Allison is an adventure series set in a world containing one continent (extending roughly from the Equator to 60 degrees North latitude) which is divided down the center by a towering mountain range and a huge river. The industry and technology of the world are roughly equivalent to Europe in the 1930s. Due to the geography, two cultures developed on either side of the divide, and at the time the story begins, the cultures have been at war on and off for hundreds of years. The bloodiest conflict yet began thirty-five years before the start of the story; both sides are so exhausted by the conflict that an uneasy armistice is signed after some five... more>> years of fighting. Aside from a brief conflict over the jurisdiction of the river, resulting in the formation of a buffer zone on either side, this peace has largely been unbroken. The east side of the world is known as Roxche, though formally the region's name is the Roxcheanuk Confederation. The entire region comprises sixteen countries which all speak a common language. The west side is known as Sou Beil, though formally the region's name is the Allied Kingdoms of Bezel Iltoa. The region comprises the two kingdoms of Bezel and Iltoa which both serve to bring together a small number of countries under a common language different than that of the eastern region. There are far more blond-haired people in the West than the East.

At the beginning of the first novel, Allison, a pilot in the Roxche Air Force, has come to visit her childhood friend Wilhelm ("Wil" for short), who has remained at school over his summer break to continue his studies. While traveling in the countryside near the school, the two encounter an old man well-known to Wil's schoolmates as a teller of tall tales. Nevertheless, he captures their interest with his talk about a "treasure" which, if found, is said to be able to put an end to the war. No one would believe him that the war between the countries could ever end, so no one listened to him. When the old man is abducted and taken over to Sou Beil, Allison and Wil steal an airplane and chase the abductors across the river into the next region. Fortunately, the two were raised as orphans by a woman who came from the West, and thus can speak both languages. <<less

Seiya Kanie is a good looking, perfectionist boy who is forced by the mysterious Isuzu Sento to visit an amus**ent park named Amagi Brilliant Park, which is in serious financial trouble and about to be closed forever.... more>>

The park is actually staffed by refugees from a magical realm called Maple Land, and the park is a facility for harvesting magical energy from visitors while they’re having fun. As such, the park is the only way the refugees can maintain their existence in the human realm.

To save the park from closing, Seiya is hired by the owner, Latifa Fleuranza, to use his skills in entertainment to become its new manager. However, to not lose the land to a real estate agency, they have only three months left to attract 250,000 visitors, a feat that seems impossible given the park’s current situation. <<less