- 10,896
- 12,314
Saiki's profile is in need of various revisions, but this thread will focus on the most basic one: Remove all the non-canon stuff from the profile.
Let's get started.
It's sure clever to use the japanese scan here, because it hides well that the scan itself says clearly why this shouldn't be used.
Here is the english version:
This is a poem (a Haiku specifically) sent in by a reader. It's kinda similar to Oda drawing things people requested on the chapter covers in One Piece. It's simultaneously non-canon and flowery language.
This is neither describing a way Saiki can get powers via Reactive Evolution based on reader E-mails nor a canonical statement of there being 300 abilities. This is just the author commenting on an event they did.
The actual chapter in question gives us the canonical in-universe reason Saiki suddenly has these weird abilities: His power limiter is damaged.
So, Saiki K. has two Light Novel spin offs. These novels are not written by the manga's author Shūichi Asō, but by a different author, Sho Hinata. (source: e.g. here, or here a japanese one that specifies written by Sho Hinata, original work by Aso, hence you find him sometimes listed along Sho in some sources)
As something not written by the author, it is of course non-canon until evidence is provided of the opposite.
Now, the profile lists the following evidence in that regard:
"Note: The Extra Stories of Psychics is considered to be the canon to the main timeline because of the several statements from the manga about it. The same kind of statements exists inside the stories[1][2] which further supported by these connections."
First things first: The novel referencing the manga, of course, doesn't mean the novel is canon to the manga. Otherwise, my Naruto fanfic referencing the manga would proof that it is canon as well... So we can disregard that entire line of evidence from the get go.
Now, the statements of the manga mention the novel. Look at the scans linked. They specifically mention it as existing as a paperback book in the universe and only as that. They at no point say in any way that what is written in the book actually happens. It is effectively just a 4th wall-breaking gag, at the same capacity as a character turning to the reader and saying "also check out the anime", and holds equally little importance to proving the novel canon.
In fact, that the novel is brought up but exclusively as a work of fiction, makes me just more convinced that it isn't supposed to have actually happened.
Lastly, the connections.... those aren't connections. They are just cameos and 4th wall breaking gags the author has incorporated regarding other works he wrote. They do in fact not even mention the novel, they only mention characters from the authors other works, who also made cameos in the novel.
Which actually brings me to one more reason as to why I don't think it's canon: It's a god damn crossover. And it straight up acknowledges that some of the characters have non-canon abilities
So yeah, long story short, I don't think the novels are canon to the manga, mainly is there just is no evidence for anything in them having happened in canon.
Let's get started.
The anime isn't canon
Not sure what else to say about this. Given, I think it's only used for some scans that can be replaced with manga stuff, but still worth specifying.The video game isn't canon
The page lists "creates an explosion in the trailer of his game" as justification for FTL. A trailer to a game is not canon, especially since not even the Nintendo 3DS game itself is canon.Random poems sent in by users aren't canon
Another justification for lightspeed is "Saiki can casually run at the speed of light" where then a translation is linked reading "This man is capable of racing as fast as light".It's sure clever to use the japanese scan here, because it hides well that the scan itself says clearly why this shouldn't be used.
Here is the english version:
Author commentary on how he get input from readers isn't canon
The damage limiter key lists the following: "Enhanced Reactive Evolution (When his limiter was damaged Saiki began to develop more abilities in a short time which in total consists of approximately 300 new powers)" and links to the following author statement "I'm reading a postcard recruiting super (useless) ability ♪ ( ´▽｀) Thank you to everyone who applied! Probably around 300 emails? All of them were interesting so it was hard to narrow it down lol I will do my best to convey this fun through manga!"This is neither describing a way Saiki can get powers via Reactive Evolution based on reader E-mails nor a canonical statement of there being 300 abilities. This is just the author commenting on an event they did.
The actual chapter in question gives us the canonical in-universe reason Saiki suddenly has these weird abilities: His power limiter is damaged.
The novel isn't canon
Alright, here's the big one. We have talked about this in prior threads, so this will be a repeat of that. We need to vote on a conclusion on this.So, Saiki K. has two Light Novel spin offs. These novels are not written by the manga's author Shūichi Asō, but by a different author, Sho Hinata. (source: e.g. here, or here a japanese one that specifies written by Sho Hinata, original work by Aso, hence you find him sometimes listed along Sho in some sources)
As something not written by the author, it is of course non-canon until evidence is provided of the opposite.
Now, the profile lists the following evidence in that regard:
"Note: The Extra Stories of Psychics is considered to be the canon to the main timeline because of the several statements from the manga about it. The same kind of statements exists inside the stories[1][2] which further supported by these connections."
First things first: The novel referencing the manga, of course, doesn't mean the novel is canon to the manga. Otherwise, my Naruto fanfic referencing the manga would proof that it is canon as well... So we can disregard that entire line of evidence from the get go.
Now, the statements of the manga mention the novel. Look at the scans linked. They specifically mention it as existing as a paperback book in the universe and only as that. They at no point say in any way that what is written in the book actually happens. It is effectively just a 4th wall-breaking gag, at the same capacity as a character turning to the reader and saying "also check out the anime", and holds equally little importance to proving the novel canon.
In fact, that the novel is brought up but exclusively as a work of fiction, makes me just more convinced that it isn't supposed to have actually happened.
Lastly, the connections.... those aren't connections. They are just cameos and 4th wall breaking gags the author has incorporated regarding other works he wrote. They do in fact not even mention the novel, they only mention characters from the authors other works, who also made cameos in the novel.
Which actually brings me to one more reason as to why I don't think it's canon: It's a god damn crossover. And it straight up acknowledges that some of the characters have non-canon abilities
So if the novel is non-canon to some of the series involved in the crossover, it is ultra suspicious to assume it's canon to Saiki K. in particular, when nothing that happened in it has actually been acknowledged to have actually happened in main canon.
So yeah, long story short, I don't think the novels are canon to the manga, mainly is there just is no evidence for anything in them having happened in canon.
