Author | Lightnews

Carly Smith 📖✍️

@carlysmith.net

460 followers 200 following 320 posts

Writer, freelance light novel/manga editor. 🌈 She/her. 📖 Editor for Until I Meet My Husband, Qualia the Purple, Reborn to Master the Blade, My Magical Career at Court, I'm a Terminal Cancer Patient, and more! https://www.carlysmith.net/

www.carlysmith.net

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Carly Smith 📖✍️ @carlysmith.net · Oct 21

Hi all! I figured it's time to do an introduction post.

I'm a freelance editor. You may have seen my work in things like Qualia the Purple, Otonari Complex, The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, and Reborn to Master the Blade, to name a few.

よろしくお願いします 🙇

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Carly Smith 📖✍️ @carlysmith.net · 16d

The conclusion to Otonari Complex is here. I received my comp copy in the mail recently--just in time for it to be in bookstores tomorrow 👀

It was a delight to serve as the adapter on this one! Though @jennichijou.bsky.social's translation was fabulous. And @cranchyroll.com's lettering is 💯

#manga

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Carly Smith 📖✍️ @carlysmith.net · 21d

In middle school, I was a Daisuke stan when all my friends were Dark stans.

It'll be good to see what this new version is like!

Yen Press @yenpress.com · 21d

Guess who's back? Why, our beloved Daisuke (and Wiz), of course! 😍🪽

Don't forget to pre-order your copy of D.N.Angel New Edition, Vol. 1, available November 2025! buff.ly/KpDTbrp

Reposted by Carly Smith 📖✍️

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 21d

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

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Carly Smith 📖✍️ @carlysmith.net · 21d

I should be working, but I keep looking up Kyoto dialect stuff in advance of my travels...

Carly Smith 📖✍️ @carlysmith.net · 25d

Hey go watch (or read) The Summer Hikaru Died

Carly Smith 📖✍️ @carlysmith.net · 25d

Now that this season of anime is ending, I can say that this was probably the most stacked season of anime that I can remember in a long time. I remember Summer 2011 being quite good.

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Carly Smith 📖✍️ @carlysmith.net · Sep 17

Stuck in my head today: "I have no shelf control" sung to the same melody as "this is my last resort"

Carly Smith 📖✍️ @carlysmith.net · Sep 3

LOL Light novels are a different breed! I see that phrase in similar forms a lot. Narration gets weirdly specific, too, with directions of slashes or someone sitting "diagonally on the other side" and stuff like that. So wordy and unwieldy. 😰

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Carly Smith 📖✍️ @carlysmith.net · Sep 3

I turned my gaze diagonally behind me. ➡️ I looked over my shoulder.

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Carly Smith 📖✍️ @carlysmith.net · Sep 3

I should make a thread of Japanese to English translationisms that I frequently edit as someone who works on a lot of light novels and sees a lot of the same turns of phrase in narration.

Consider this a thread now.
#amediting #amtranslating

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Carly Smith 📖✍️ @carlysmith.net · Aug 29

The lion sleeps tonight

Orange cat with one front paw covering half of his face while he sleeps on a bed

Reposted by Carly Smith 📖✍️

Susan Rinkunas @susanrinkunas.com · Aug 29

I got an NYT push alert about Taylor Swift getting engaged, but not about the United States spying on Greenland

Will Saletan @saletan.bsky.social · Aug 27

“Denmark summoned the head of the U.S. Embassy … after allegations emerged that three Americans with close ties to President Trump were running ‘covert influence operations’ in Greenland.”

Is there a Nobel prize for creating a conflict by threatening to seize the territory of a democratic ally?

Denmark Summons U.S. Envoy Over Espionage Allegations

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Carly Smith 📖✍️

Sarah T. // サラ @PhD in fujoshing @sarasaraht.bsky.social · Aug 28

so if you’ll indulge me, I want to say a bit more about what it’s been like working on The Otaku Love Connection with minami! minami and I first met when we both worked for cybird in tokyo. we quickly discovered that we were both deeply involved in otaku fangirl culture and liked the same media

Square Enix Manga & Books @square-enix-books.com · Aug 21

🥳 @sakaimii.bsky.social wins BEST TRANSLATION for their amazing work on The Otaku Love Connection Vol. 1 at the AnimeNYC 2025 American Manga Awards! 💌 Congratulations, minami and editor @sarasaraht.bsky.social !!

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Carly Smith 📖✍️ @carlysmith.net · Aug 27

Definitely my favorite panel of the weekend!

Carly Smith 📖✍️ @carlysmith.net · Aug 27

This anime fucked me up in all the right ways!!!

I was SOBBING, turning to my spouse as they said, "Oh, did I mention that Devilman is quite sad? 😇"

WTK @wtk.bsky.social · Aug 27

DEVILMAN crybaby: Complete Series Blu-ray Deluxe Edition via Anime Limited store.crunchyroll.com/products/dev...

Carly Smith 📖✍️ @carlysmith.net · Aug 27

and additional reading: www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2025...

Manga in The Crosshairs: The State of Manga Bans in 2025

Coop Bicknell interviewed librarians across the country about how the latest Executive Orders and lists targeting LGBTQ+ are affecting students' ability to read age-appropriate comics.

www.animenewsnetwork.com

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Reposted by Carly Smith 📖✍️

Anime News Network @animenewsnetwork.com · Aug 27

Daniel Cruz of PEN America emphasized the toll censorship can take on authors: “Authors stop writing the content that's getting censored.”

The Legal and 'Soft' Censorship Affecting Manga in America

www.animenewsnetwork.com

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Carly Smith 📖✍️ @carlysmith.net · Aug 27

To close it off, PEN America's rep encouraged us to work on the grassroots level, to build our communities and have conversations about book bans and the importance of the First Amendment. Things are really, really bad right now, which is why it's more important than ever to push back.

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Carly Smith 📖✍️ @carlysmith.net · Aug 27

And if you have the money, buy the books you want to see more of! Manga with LGBTQIA+ stories and protagonists have fortunately been doing really well lately, and that encourages publishers to license more of them! It means a team can go to marketing and show them we want these things.

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Carly Smith 📖✍️ @carlysmith.net · Aug 27

Attend your local school board meetings, because you KNOW angry parents (and even those who aren't parents) are using schools and libraries as battlegrounds to restrict books and knowledge. Be a safe space for kids in your life to come to you to ask questions about uncomfortable topics.

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Carly Smith 📖✍️ @carlysmith.net · Aug 27

So what can we do? Reach out to your local library and let them know what you want to see on the shelves. And if they don't have those stories, ask them to acquire them. Let them know you WANT to see queer stories, BIPOC stories, and tell them you appreciate their work in making books accessible!

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Carly Smith 📖✍️ @carlysmith.net · Aug 27

But this is also hitting libraries hard, particularly school libraries. There's a push right now to remove content with *any* nudity regardless of context. PEN America's representative even noted that in one case, the dictionary was removed for defining "sex."

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Carly Smith 📖✍️ @carlysmith.net · Aug 27

Plus, when there's shrink-wrapping, there's no way to signal to potential readers of how explicit the book really is, even if it's just one page, nor is there a way for a reader to flip through and check for themselves beforehand, so the implication is that shrink-wrapped books are VERY porny.

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Carly Smith 📖✍️ @carlysmith.net · Aug 27

If we let stories about queer romance be marked as mature even when there's nothing explicit, this is in fact censorship on queer stories! There will be a pressure from sales teams not to pick up these stories because they will be way too hard to move on shelves. This also impacts BIPOC authors.

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Carly Smith 📖✍️ @carlysmith.net · Aug 27

Publishers are less likely to pick up series they think will be considered "mature" and will need to be shrink-wrapped so that they can be sold in stores like Barnes and Noble--this is a sales team's worst nightmare. It is so much harder to sell a book when it's shrink-wrapped.

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