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I tend not to categorize books based on the age group, because it's more of personal preference what are the exact books one would read. Like you said, some adults would still read books that were meant for younger audiences rather than those for their age group because of personal preference/reasons, and there's nothing wrong with that. What I'm focusing on is the writing style, structure, and language difference in both light and standard novels.
Like you've said yourself, most books in general, regardless whether it's a light or standard novel series, do have a focal plot in each volume, and all of these small plots will lead to the bigger plot that covers the whole series. (Of course there are a few exceptions - again, regardless of the novel type - but that's not the main point, so I'm not going to go into details about this.) So yes, even in light novels, each volume has a plot arc of its own, and not a mere chapter of the bigger plot.
Yes, you can argue that the "difference" between light and standard novels are based on the style (which is what I've been saying, and I have reiterated once more in the previous paragraphs of this post) and not the quantity of pages and chapters, the word limit, and length of the books. Also, I think you're misunderstanding my point when it comes to style difference: in a light novel, it can be two-hundred pages long, dialogue heavy with minimal descriptions, little to no use for flowery words - but straightforward narration like your everyday conversation, not poetic. People don't talk to each other in a poetic way normally, right? As I've said, if there's an artistic/poetic flair in how they structure their sentences, that would make it more like a standard than light novel.
Another misconception that all light novels contain some form of illustrations in between pages. This is a rising trend nowadays, but back when light novels first appeared in Japan, there weren't any illustrations or even direct association with the animanga culture, but as a new, experimental form of literary style in fictions. Some books that are not light novels do have illustrations in between pages, such as the old Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys volumes, reprints of classical literature by some publishers, even in contemporary literature if the writer/publisher wanted so (e.g. Percy Jackson: The Demigod Files).
The keyword I used is "usually" (i.e. most of the time), not all - in most general cases, especially well-known titles such as Naruto, Bleach, One Piece (and the list goes on), each plot arc is spanned across many episodes, hence the "episodic" nature. There are exceptions, such as Ghost in the Shell SAC, where each episode has a focal plot on its own, but all the episodes are tied into the bigger plot of the anime season. For manga, using the given example Detective Conan, it has a small plot (by cases) that spans across a few chapters, and these small plots will then contribute to the bigger plot, about the Black Organization. The episodic/chapter nature in animanga is often (not all the time; I have to keep stressing that I have so far avoided using the word "all" the generalize things without considering exceptions - I am well aware of exceptional cases, which I didn't want to go into details since it's not the main point of this discussion) due to constraints set by the publisher (for manga, some have page restrictions), or budget (for anime, each episode would cost a lot of money to make, so long-running anime like Naruto and One Piece can easily cost over hundreds of thousands, even millions, to produce).
I tend not to categorize books based on the age group, because it's more of personal preference what are the exact books one would read. Like you said, some adults would still read books that were meant for younger audiences rather than those for their age group because of personal preference/reasons, and there's nothing wrong with that. What I'm focusing on is the writing style, structure, and language difference in both light and standard novels.
I mean that the focus plot is split up. There will be no introduction/rising action/climax/denouement to a single book, which most books in a series do have (though there are exceptions where things end on cliffhangers). But usually those are new complications and twists leading into a new one-book plot in the next installment. Thus, the background plot might span several volumes in a series, but there's a smaller plot in each book, and that is usually the focus. I meant books where there is no real plot arc in each volume, but where, instead, each book is more like one chapter of a story.
So you're saying that light novels do have a complete plot in each volume, in most cases? Welp, definitely wrong on that point, then.
Like you've said yourself, most books in general, regardless whether it's a light or standard novel series, do have a focal plot in each volume, and all of these small plots will lead to the bigger plot that covers the whole series. (Of course there are a few exceptions - again, regardless of the novel type - but that's not the main point, so I'm not going to go into details about this.) So yes, even in light novels, each volume has a plot arc of its own, and not a mere chapter of the bigger plot.
It sounds to me that light novels are more a stylistic designation. Thus, you could have a novel written in light-novel style.
So a book of two hundred pages, dialogue heavy and very light on descriptions, and with no complicated words (though I'd argue the last one, because really, you can be poetic without flowery words, and there's no good lines to separate them) -- this would be a novel and a light novel at the same time, by what you've said.
Yes, you can argue that the "difference" between light and standard novels are based on the style (which is what I've been saying, and I have reiterated once more in the previous paragraphs of this post) and not the quantity of pages and chapters, the word limit, and length of the books. Also, I think you're misunderstanding my point when it comes to style difference: in a light novel, it can be two-hundred pages long, dialogue heavy with minimal descriptions, little to no use for flowery words - but straightforward narration like your everyday conversation, not poetic. People don't talk to each other in a poetic way normally, right? As I've said, if there's an artistic/poetic flair in how they structure their sentences, that would make it more like a standard than light novel.
Another misconception that all light novels contain some form of illustrations in between pages. This is a rising trend nowadays, but back when light novels first appeared in Japan, there weren't any illustrations or even direct association with the animanga culture, but as a new, experimental form of literary style in fictions. Some books that are not light novels do have illustrations in between pages, such as the old Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys volumes, reprints of classical literature by some publishers, even in contemporary literature if the writer/publisher wanted so (e.g. Percy Jackson: The Demigod Files).
Anime is not always episodic, in fact a lot of the ones I watch are not. The most obvious example I can think of is DBZ, though I don't watch it. And manga versions of things like InuYasha, Detective Conan, and Rurouni Kenshin have short "chapters" based on the fact that they are released in weekly installments. The actual plot arc spans several of these chapters, and even a collected print volume won't start and finish a single plot, but are instead rather arbitrary in many cases.
The keyword I used is "usually" (i.e. most of the time), not all - in most general cases, especially well-known titles such as Naruto, Bleach, One Piece (and the list goes on), each plot arc is spanned across many episodes, hence the "episodic" nature. There are exceptions, such as Ghost in the Shell SAC, where each episode has a focal plot on its own, but all the episodes are tied into the bigger plot of the anime season. For manga, using the given example Detective Conan, it has a small plot (by cases) that spans across a few chapters, and these small plots will then contribute to the bigger plot, about the Black Organization. The episodic/chapter nature in animanga is often (not all the time; I have to keep stressing that I have so far avoided using the word "all" the generalize things without considering exceptions - I am well aware of exceptional cases, which I didn't want to go into details since it's not the main point of this discussion) due to constraints set by the publisher (for manga, some have page restrictions), or budget (for anime, each episode would cost a lot of money to make, so long-running anime like Naruto and One Piece can easily cost over hundreds of thousands, even millions, to produce).