Highlights
- Romantic light novels with a dark side are perfect for readers looking for something different.
- "I Want to Eat Your Pancreas" tells a bittersweet romance story about a boy and his classmate with a fatal pancreatic condition.
- "Three Days of Happiness" explores the value of life beyond monetary value, as a man sells his lifespan and learns about love.
Emotions can run high during the Halloween season. There’s the fear of spooky things lurking in the darkness, the joy of dressing up as scary figures like vampires, werewolves, and 90s boyband members, and the disappointment of getting a rock while trick-or-treating.
8 Best Completed Horror Light Novels You Should Read
These light novels are light only in name, containing tales of dark terror between their pages.
But can love also bloom among the falling leaves? There’s no one saying it couldn’t, but going with any ordinary romance story feels out of step with the season. Instead, these romantic light novels have a dark side worth reading.
9 I Want to Eat Your Pancreas
- Written by Yoru Sumino.
- Illustrated by Ioundraw.
Despite sounding like a zombie story, this topic starts light with I Want To Eat Your Pancreas. It began life as a web novel on Shōsetsuka ni Narō. Then it was turned into a light novel, which was adapted into a manga by Izumi Kirihara. Though most people may recognize it for its 2018 anime movie, the story is the same across each media: while waiting at a hospital, a boy comes across his classmate Sakura's diary.
On returning it, she tells him that she’s got a fatal pancreatic condition but wants to live as normal a life as possible. They become close friends, then something more as they cross off entries on her bucket list, much to the resentment of Sakura’s friends who don’t know of her condition. It’s a bittersweet romance that’ll pull on the heartstrings, though it’s unlikely to affect people’s pancreases.
8 When Hikaru Was On Earth
- Written by Mizuki Nomura.
- Illustrated by Miho Takeoka.
When Hikaru Was On Earth is a curious one as it combines the harem story setup with the premise of the Disney Channel sitcom Teen Angel. Hikaru, the “harem king” of his high school, passed away in an accident. He had a legion of female admirers, but few male friends. The closest one is Akagi who, though he only exchanged a few words with Hikaru, attends his funeral.
This act of kindness led to Hikaru suddenly appearing before him again as a ghost. Only Akagi can see him, so Hikaru asks him to fulfill a promise he made to his fiancée Aoi: get her seven gifts for her 17th birthday. He agrees to do it, despite lacking Hikaru's charm, and in the process possibly bring closure to Hikaru’s old fan club and discover if his death truly was accidental.
7 Book Girl
- Written by Mizuki Nomura.
- Illustrated by Miho Takeoka.
Nomura and Takeoka are better known for Book Girl, their series of short stories surrounding Konoha and Toko, the duo behind their high school’s literature club. Konoha wrote a best-selling novel, but since he wrote it under a female pseudonym, he doesn’t get the fame. He does get to write stories for Toko, who’s actually a yōkai who feeds on books as "snacks."
8 Best Horror Light Novels With No Anime Adaptations
These excellent light horror novels don't currently have anime adaptations, at least not yet.
They get involved in a mix of mystery, thriller, and romance stories. The first story, Book Girl and the Suicidal Mime combines all three when the duo gets a request from Chia to write a love letter for Shuji, one of the archery team members. Except the only Shuji they know committed suicide ten years ago. How does Chia know him, and how could she be in love with him? Find out via its Yen Press release.
6 86
- Written by Asato Asato.
- Illustrated by Shirabii.
86 takes things in a more sci-fi direction, which doesn’t seem particularly Halloween-like, but it wraps a forbidden romance in a tale of discrimination and corruption. The "86" are Colorata, the minority race oppressed by San Magnolia’s Alba, who stripped them of their rights and reclassified them as subhumans. They’re interred in the 86th district (hence the name), and can only earn personal names through serving in the military.
They do this by piloting mechs called Juggernauts against the rival Empire of Giad. Alban noble and military general Lena, though supportive of Coloratan freedom, is assigned to lead the Spearhead Squadron, made up entirely of 86'r veterans, including squad leader Shinei, aka "The Undertaker." Lena and Shinei bond, learning more about Alba's government and the war itself in the process.
5 Three Days Of Happiness
- Written by Sugaru Miaki.
- Illustrated by Shōichi Taguchi.
Usually, light novels tend to fall behind their manga or anime adaptations, but it’s easier to find Three Days of Happiness in English via Yen Press. Its manga version I Sold My Life for ¥10,000 Per Year, also illustrated by Shōichi Taguchi, is still officially Japan-only. The story follows Kusunoki, a man stuck in a rut in life. While trying to pay bills, he learns of a place where he can sell chunks of his lifespan.
After finding the place the clerk, Miyagi, tells him his life is only worth ¥300,000 ($2,000). Distraught, he sells all but three months just so he can live long enough to enjoy the leftover money. Miyagi agrees but watches over him for his remaining time. During those three months, he’ll learn he can still find love, and that life can be precious beyond monetary value.
4 Grandmaster Of Demonic Cultivation
- Written & Illustrated by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu.
Not all light novels are Japanese in origin, nor are they strictly about boy/girl pairings. The Boys’ Love (BL) genre has also caught on in China with danmei stories like Mo Xiang Tong Xiu’s Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, which then became a success in the West via Seven Seas Entertainment. Set in the past, it sees the formerly respected cultivator-turned-feared mage Wu Wuxian killed in an ambush, where his death is celebrated throughout the land.
9 Best Dark Fantasy Web Novels
For fans looking for more web novels to read and have an interest in dark fantasy, check out the best examples to start with
However, he’s brought back thirteen years later in the body of a man called Mo Xuanyu. Wuxian tries to live quietly, but he gets pulled into an investigation revolving around a series of zombie attacks. Not only that but he’s accompanied by a cultivator called Lan Wangji, who suspects more about "Xuanyu" than he lets on. In turn, Wuxian finds himself attracted to Wangji’s looks and skills. Maybe the demonic cultivator can find a new life through love.
3 Heaven’s Official Blessing
- Written & Illustrated by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu.
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation was one of three titles by Xiu that hit the New York Times Best Seller list, reaching #9 and earning itself a live-action adaptation. It wasn’t even the most successful of Xiu’s works, as Heaven’s Official Blessing went one spot higher on the list at #8. It’s also received a live-action series, Eternal Faith, and a donghua (Chinese cartoon) adaptation.
It saw Xie Lian, the late prince of the Xian Le kingdom, get pulled up to Heaven only to get banished back to the mortal realm. He gets a second chance, only to be sent back down as soon as he arrives. 800 years later, he returns and is reduced to Heaven’s scrap collector. During one lowly task, he comes across the ghost king Hua Cheng. He’s warned to stay away from him, yet he learns Cheng’s been watching over him for longer than he thinks.
2 Roll Over And Die!
- Written by kiki.
- Illustrated by kinta.
If readers would rather read about women in love, they have Roll Over and Die! The story is also still running as a regular novel on Shōsetsuka ni Narō, a light novel in Micro Magazine, and a manga via Sunao Minakata in Comic Ride, with the latter two officially translated into English by Seven Seas Entertainment. On the surface, it’s an ordinary fantasy story, as Flum is one of a party of heroes. She’s fated to destroy the Demon Lord despite her woeful stats.
All she has going for her is her Reversal Affinity, which she can’t even use. Thinking her useless, the party’s sage Jean decides to sell her into slavery. But when she’s chucked to monsters with just a cursed sword, she learns just how her Affinity works when it changes the weapon into a powerful Holy blade. With her companion Milkit, she’ll now stop at nothing to reclaim her ordinary life from all obstacles.
1 Torture Princess: Fremd Torturchen
- Written by Keishi Ayasato.
- Illustrated by Saki Ukai.
Lastly, there are few romances darker than Torture Princess. When Kaito is strangled to death by his abusive father, he finds himself in another world at the hands of Elisabeth Le Fanu, the titular noble of abuse. She gives Kaito a choice: become her butler or die. He initially opts for death, but when he’s told it’d be slow and painful, he chooses to be a butler instead.
Now he has to help her put down fourteen demons for the Church, which once completed will end with Elisabeth’s execution. As he gets to know Elisabeth and her automaton Hina more, he tries to stop her fate as, ironically, the Torture Princess freed him from a worse fate in the real world. The novel and its manga adaptation are both available in English via Yen Press.