Is Occultic;Nine worth reading?

pjthomas404

I watched the anime and thought it was kind of a mess, so I figured I'd ask what the community thought here before deciding whether or not to read it.

That said, what are your opinions?

Jaquobus

I liked it very much so far as a slowly escalating urban mystery, but your mileage may vary. Compared to the anime, it is much slower (the events of episode 1 + a few scenes in later episodes covered all of volume 1) and provides more information about the characters. For instance, large parts of volume 3 are about and from the perspective of Asuna Kisaki, making her a much more interesting character than in the anime.

Yuta Gamon, the main character, is rather insufferable, but there are enough other interesting characters, so that wasn't an issue for me. But before buying the books, you should definitely check out the first part of volume 1 which is available for free on the site.

Edit: Oh, and anime, manga and Light Novel all diverge story wise - and afaik the VN routes are also different.

Paul Nebeling

@pjthomas404 The biggest detractor on the LN is that it's behind the story of the anime. Other than that, it's a good read and the level of detail in the LN is considerably higher than the anime, better character development too. When they get to the climax of the story, it should be a exceptional.

Terrence

The anime covered an entire volume in one episode. So the book may be paced more to your liking if it being fast developing was an issue.

That's good to hear that the VN potentially diverges and has different routes. Definitely would like to play that.

the green death

I echo what’s said here, it’s a great LN. the closest similarity is DRRR! but personally I like O;9 better

lazyproblems

I enjoyed O;9 as a novel quite a bit. The mystery and set-up for the story with different POVs appeals to me.

The problem I have with it is that the release schedule is pretty slow. With the game and anime finished, I’m not sure if it’s a high priority for the author. I definitely found the first three volumes enjoyable, but you just gotta be willing to wait a while for it to be complete.

n33k5

I found that the anime was really confusing back when it first released and that reading the light novel even with its differences to be really helpful in cleaning up some issues with understanding. I'd definitely recommend reading the light novel.