And I shall interlard my kirin reading with more Konron no Tama, just because. Mh well, just because to date the 12K novels have added nothing to the anime.
There's an article waiting to be written about how anime is to manga & shousetsu as dramatizations are to novels ie people don't *really* start writing a work until they hear it speak and see it move. Then suddenly anyone can do it- and does. The characters in text get a visible body; the characters in manga acquire colour and voices. Half the writer's work is done for you. Is why it's a lot easier to write LotR stories after the films and FMA yaoi after the anime. In fact some day I shall natter at