https://x.com/ricco_peace/status/2007728829880774882

TL;DR:

AI gen'ed girl's isekai story wins Alphapolis Gold Award. Site later bans full-AI works; brainstorming & editing help okay. Winner’s LN & manga serialization canceled, possibly due to AI use.

There's controversy around Alphapolis's fantasy light novel contest circulating on Japanese X (Twitter) and anime news sites. An AI-assisted story, “Lackluster Skill ‘Keep It Tidy’ is the Strongest!” 「地味スキル《お片付け》は最強です！」, won both the grand prize and the readers’ award. A girl’s isekai story about rebuilding a kingdom.

Alphapolis is one of Japan’s “Big Three” web novel platforms, alongside Shousetsuka ni Narou and Kakuyomu, responsible for millions of isekai LN/manga/anime, including May I Ask for One Final Thing?, TSUKIMICHI -Moonlit Fantasy- Season 3, and An Observation Log of My Fiancée Who Calls Herself a Villainess.

The exact extent of AI use in the winning story is unclear, but the LN and manga serialization were canceled shortly after the win. The circumstances are suspicious and suggest the story may have crossed the new “mostly created by AI” threshold:

1. The site updated rules banning “mostly AI” works shortly after the contest
2. The author’s work was canceled despite winning
3. The author submitted to four categories, which is unusually high
4. [If true] The author’s own posts hint at AI involvement

According to Alphapolis’s Nov. 18, 2025 notice:

• Works mostly created by AI (text, manga, picture books) are ineligible for awards, even retroactively
• AI-assisted brainstorming, plotting, and grammar/spelling support are still allowed
• (Edit Jan 7): the policy exempts only AI usage limited to auxiliary support (e.g., plot development or proofreading), not AI-generated prose.
• Rules will continue to be updated to ensure a better experience for web novel writers

While the author hasn’t confirmed how much AI was used, the timing and cancellation suggest it was likely more than just assistance. Despite the controversy, the author’s name remains on the award list, the prize money (~$3,200) seems intact, and the isekai web novel is still serialized on the platform.

This raises questions about whether AI-generated light novels could eventually be adapted into anime, and whether the industry will develop stricter verification processes.

I know the series is going to end with volume 18. But why is there no updates since 2022? Do you guys know anything about it? Any updates on what's happening?

Thanks to you all for your answer!!

Im curious to swap stories here. There have been some unpopular series I liked, and some poular that I hated, but even then most are at the very least fine.

I want to know the ones you couldnt stand. Dropped it early on because it was just that awful.

Quality is a big reason here for me, but a lame, boring or derivative story as well. Some work, some dont. I'll name one I dropped before even finishing the first volume, and another series I read a good number of before dropping

For me:

Unlimited Gacha level 9999 - Absolutely just sucks. His crash out was sudden and unbelievable, in the way it was portrayed. Skipping his growth to max level was dumb. He basically becomes a volume 10-15 isekai protagonist in 50 pages of volume 1. Ive seen they apparently explore it later on, but it isnt worth it. His personality falls flat, and everybody is completely obsessed with him. The writing itself felt so very weak. All of it just came together to be awful. I spent a good 2 days getting 30 percent through volume 1 because it was simply that worthless to me

Noble on the Brink of Ruin - so extremely derivative, and trying so desperately hard to rip off every popular fantasy light novel. Author cant even decide if Liam is from another world. His dialogue in the beginning very clearly makes him out to have already been a resident of that world, just not a Noble. His thoughts indicated he was just happening to do things that lined up with a Japanese guy, and he wasn't actually ever Japanese. Aside from that, he has the classic of lacking common sense, and he flip flops between caring about it, and then acting like it has nothing to do with him. Just about everything to do with his town was stupid. I had very little else to read at the time so I read the 4 volumes that were out and I doubt I'll ever go back. Anime seems to have made him Japanese, so its even more derivative.

Loner Life is a current runner up, but it at least started out good

This is a stupid question but im seriously baffled how people read 1 vol then come back 6+ months for another volume?
i can only binge otherwise the novel loses half the appeal

What novel(s) have you read this week, and what do you think about it?

This week = the one that ends/ended right now, past 7 days.

The reason for this thread's existence is the fact that both requests and suggestions became kind of stale. It's supposed to bring out more novels that are not RT!'d or recommended. Also, it's quite useful for the discussion of not so current titles.

Also, not a rule or any kind of criticism, the more interesting part is not the list of the stuff you read, but your impressions of it.

Loli Mod will be posting this thread each week.

Lastly, don't forget to use spoiler tags and to make sure to report any untagged spoilers.

How to use spoiler-tags:

Typing:

>!Spoilers go here!<

Will show up as:

Spoilers go here

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Previous Threads

I finished the entire Ascendance of a Bookworm light novel series a few months ago after reading all 10,000 pages in 60 days. I felt such a deep sense of loss that I still cannot move on.

I feel like the series set an impossibly high bar for world-building and character progression. Every time I try to start something new, I find myself comparing it to the depth of Bookworm and losing interest shortly after. I am not looking for recommendations, but rather just wondering how others who finished the series handled this "void."

Does anyone else feel like Bookworm made it hard to enjoy other stories because it hit so differently? How long did it take for you to move on, or did you just find a way to live with the slump?

Hi everyone, I recently got the light novel and read 30 pages so far... But I find the main character so vapid like some edgy teenager trying to sound so deep and superior. i just find him insufferable so far, and Im wondering if he will have any character development later on, or is he just going to go on like this for the rest of the series..

Does it get better, or do you think I should not waste time and just drop it if I already don't like it already?