Short Stories

Short stories (短編小説/ショートストーリー) are stories given exclusively under various different conditions.

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Short stories are bonuses included with the purchase of products from the franchise. The exact circumstances for obtaining them vary from one to another, as does their length, although they are always available for a limited time. Some volumes have a limited edition that includes, among other things, a short story. More rarely, a short story has sometimes been given away as part of a promotion for the sale of certain franchise products or celebrations by GA Bunko, the franchise's publisher.

However, by far the most common form in which they are given are the special short story leaflets (スペシャルショートストーリーリーフレット). These are small leaflets with a length of two to three pages given to buyers when purchasing their corresponding volumes at certain stores. Similarly, a few short stories have been included in the purchase of a digital version of their respective volumes.

Short stories that are leaflets, included in limited editions, or given out in digital format supplement the volumes they were released with. They relate to something that happened in that volume, though this does not necessarily mean that one takes place during it, as occasionally they take place before or after their respective volumes. Those given out in special promotions or for GA Bunko celebrations, by their nature, tend to be stand-alone stories. Nonetheless, most tend to follow the theme of the celebration or promotion they are given out for.

Although usually only available for a limited time, compilations of them have been released in commemoration of franchise anniversaries. All of the short stories from up to volume 12 of DanMachi, volume 9 of Sword Oratoria and Episode Ryuu were released in two compilations, one for the main series and a second for both spin-offs, as part of the 5th Anniversary Campaign.

Two short story compilation volumes were later released as part of the ninth of the ten projects commemorating the franchise's tenth anniversary. The first is of DanMachi and contains all of the short stories from up to volume 17, while the second contains all of Sword Oratoria's short stories from up to volume 12 as well as the ones from Episode Ryuu and Episode Freya. In addition, each one features two new additional short stories.