Even Kirisuto Shimbun, Japan’s most prominent Christian newspaper, has seen the light novel light, as it’s announced a new Christian-themed light novel contest (following the first such competition which has held last year).
Given such numerical precedents as the Ten Commandments and seven deadly sins, you might expect the Christian light novel contest to also have several stifling rules, but it turns out that Kirisuto Shimbun is giving aspiring authors plenty of creative freedom, including the option to criticize Christianity in their story.
The winning author’s complete novel will be serialized in Ministry, the magazine published by Kirisuto Shimbun.
Combining breezily paced plots with anime-style storytelling conventions, popular light novels have blossomed into multimedia juggernauts with animated and video game adaptations.