Light novel POS ranks for Year 2018

Figures in brackets after the volume titles indicate 2017’s rankings if applicable. RE indicates a volume that came out before 2017 but did not appear in last year’s rankings. If a volume came out in 2017 but did not rank, then this is indicated. If a volume is new then no figure is given.

The list below is the POS (bunsho) ranking for the full year 2018. The rankings cover the top 500 sellers of all books during the year, but those given below are just the light novels on the list. This is why there are many gaps in the rankings. There are no sales figures given for this data, and the data set is different from the one Oricon uses, which explains differences in the rankings. It has the advantage, though, of reporting much lower ranks than Oricon does.

Please note that unlike previous years this data was taken directly from the top 500 myself. There may be things that are missing as a result (eg. I didn’t spot Ameku Takao no Jiken Karte when going through as the rankings give the volume title only for that one). If you notice anything missing please let me know

Bear in mind that, unlike Oricon, POS rankings use the calendar year for the yearly rankings data.

*25. Kimi no Suizou wo Tabetai (001)
*36. Mata, Onaji Yume wo Miteita
*52. Biblia Koshoudou no Jiken Techou 8
*56. Overlord 13
*57. Sword Art Online Progressive 5
*76. Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei 24
*78. Mirai no Mirai (Kadokawa Bunko version)
*81. Sword Art Online Porgressive 6
*85. Sword Art Online 21
*87. Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei 25
*95. No Game No Life 10
100. Ashita no Kodomo-tachi
101. Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka 13
102. Tabineko Report (058)
106. Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei 26
112. Meitantei Conan: Zero no Hikkounin
132. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 14
135. Kimi wa Tsukiyo ni Hikari Kagayaku (062)
152. Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei 27
155. Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru. 13
163. Kaiketsu Zorori no Dragon Daiji 2
170. Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e 8
172. Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e 7.5
174. Saigo no Isha wa Ameagari no Sora ni Kimi wo Negau Part 1
199. Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka 14
200. One Piece novel A 1
201. Kaiketsu Zorori no Chitei Tanken
204. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 15
216. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 16
222. Saigo no Isha wa Ameagari no Sora ni Kimi wo Negau Part 2
225. Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e 9
227. Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken 12
228. Kagerou Daze 8 (didn’t rank last year)
242. Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken 13
245. Cake-Ouji no Spécialité
253. Kamisama no Goyounin 8
256. Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei: Shiba Tatsuya Ansatsu Keikaku 1
266. One Piece novel A 2
277. Saigo no Isha wa Sakura wo Miagete Kimi wo Omou (131)
314. Ryuuou no Oshigoto! 7
316. Yoimonogatari
329. Mirai no Mirai (Kadokawa Tsubasa Bunko version)
331. Ameku Takao no Jiken Karute 6
347. Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai (RE)
355. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 17
358. Ryuuou no Oshigoto! 8
365. Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online 7
381. Shinrei Tantei Yakumo: Another Files: Nageki no Ningyou
382. Overlord 1 (RE)
389. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 15 (didn’t rank last year)
419. Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online 1 (RE)
429. Accel World 23
437. Boku no Hero Academia: Yuuei Hakusho 3
440. Overlord 12 (124)
444. Kaiketsu Zorori Robot Dai Sakusen
451. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 13 (250)
454. Ryuuou no Oshigoto! 9
481. Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index 20
483. Goblin Slayer 7
487. Ryuuou no Oshigoto! (RE)
491. Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken 1 (RE)
495. Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online 8
498. Hoshi no Kirby: Kessen! Battle Deluxe
499. Shika no Ou 1 (048)

Last year: 2017

Source: POS (Shoseki blog)

Light Novel POS ranks for Year 2017

Figures in brackets after the volume titles indicate 2016’s rankings if applicable. RE indicates a volume that came out before 2016 but did not appear in last year’s rankings. If a volume came out in 2016 but did not rank, then this is indicated. If a volume is new then no figure is given.

The list below is the POS (bunsho) ranking for the full year 2017. The rankings cover the top 500 sellers of all books during the year, but those given below are just the light novels on the list. This is why there are many gaps in the rankings. There are no sales figures given for this data, and the data set is different from the one Oricon uses, which explains differences in the rankings. It has the advantage, though, of reporting much lower ranks than Oricon does.

Bear in mind that, unlike Oricon, POS rankings use the calendar year for the yearly rankings data.

**1. Kimi no Suizou wo Tabetai
*17. Biblia Koshodou no Jiken Techou 7
*24. Sword Art Online 19
*25. Chotto Ima kara Shigoto Yametekuru (074)
*36. Shousetsu Kimi no Na wa. (Kadokawa Bunko) (001)
*39. Mangan
*42. Uchiage Hanabi, Shita kara Miru ka? Yoko kara Miru ka? (Kadokawa Bunko)
*43. Sword Art Online 20
*48. Shika no Ou 1
*58. Tabineko Report
*62. Kimi wa Tsukiyo ni Hikari Kagayaku
*75. Shika no Ou 2
*77. Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei 21
*88. Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei 22
*91. Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru. 12
*92. Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei 23
100. Meitantei Conan: Karakurenai no Love Letter
110. Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka 12
115. Kimi no Na wa. (Kadokawa Tsubasa Bunko) (036)
116. Shika no Ou 3
118. Shika no Ou 4
122. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 11
124. Overlord 12
131. Saigo no Isha wa Sakura wo Miagete Kimi wo Omou
171. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 12
173. Kami-sama no Goyounin 7
183. Musubimonogatari
187. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 12
206. Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e 5
212. Tenkoku made no 49 Nikkan (didn’t rank last year)
226. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 1 (106)
227. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 13
228. Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e 6
229. Youjo Senki 1
238. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! (124)
240. Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e (RE)
250. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 13
252. Yuurei Tantei Yakumo: ANOTHER FILES: Bourei no Negai
248. Uchiage Hanabi, Shita kara Miru ka? Yoko kara Miru ka? (Kadokawa Tsubasa Bunko)
273. Shinobumonogatari
276. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 11 (didn’t rank last year)
279. Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e 4 (didn’t rank last year)
291. 86 -eighty-six-
294. Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e 2 (RE)
303. Honooro wo Ikumono
309. Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e 3 (didn’t rank last year)
314. Kamisama no Negaigoto
316. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 2 (159)
317. Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e 7
320. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 14
339. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 5 (215)
352. Eromanga-sensei 1 (RE)
353. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2 (156)
368. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 6 (233)
370. Sword Art Online 1 (RE)
378. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 10 (311)
383. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 10 (368)
386. Haru Tonari wo Matsu Kimi e (didn’t rank last year)
384. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 3 (167)
394. Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index 18
397. Eromanga-sensei 8
400. No Game No Life: Practical War Game (didn’t rank last year)
401. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 9 (346)
409. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 4 (185)
410. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 7 (247)
415. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 8 (240)
417. Kokuhaku Yokou Renshuu: Kinyoubi no Ohayou (289)
418. Boku wa Nando Demo, Kimi ni Hajimete no Koi wo Suru (059)
419. Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records
426. Hyouka (RE)
427. Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records 8
428. Youkai Apart no Yuuga na Nichijou: Las Vegas Gaiden
432. Shinyaku: Mary to Majo no Hana
440. Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e 4.5 (didn’t rank last year)
441. Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken 10
450. Eromanga-sensei 9
451. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! Spinoff: Zoku Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Bakuen wo! (didn’t rank last year)
460. Kokuhaku Yokou Renshuu: Heart no Shuchuu
474. Arslan Senki 15
476. Accel World 22
482. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 3 (207)
483. Youjo Senki 2
485. No Game No Life 6 (RE)
486. Isekai Shokudou 4
490. Sword Art Online 18 (045)
494. Eromanga-sensei 2 (RE)
495. Gamers! (RE)

Last year: 2016

Source: POS via book-rank.net

Most requested English light novel licenses #3 – J-Novel Club edition

This post is, of course, related to my two previous blog posts on most requested English light novel licenses. However, this time it comes not from people sending tweets to Yen Press, but from requests to J-Novel Club.

More specifically, I have gone through every posts on the suggestions board of their website’s forums, counting the number of unique users supporting any given series being picked up. The site also features a liking system, and people liking a post suggesting a series has also been included where appropriate. However it is worth noting that most posts contain more than just a single suggestion (unlike tweets on twitter) so there were only a few cases where these were actually able to be included. A couple of the posts that are included do have notable impacts on the list.

As you will see below the list is quite different from the previous ones (and far more so than that between the two previous lists).

There are several possible reasons, including:
– A different userbase.
– The existance of dedicated threads, which could provide passive encouragement to others to share their wishes.
– The fact that it is a forum thread rather than a tweet, which obviously enables people to go into more detail about series that they like or to list out more series at once.
– The fact that the staff actually reply to such threads, and the contents of these replies, could influence what people suggest.
– J-Novel Club’s existing agreements with Hobby Japan and Overlap mean that their titles are more likely to be suggested, and may have made people less willing to suggest titles from other labels.

Series that were already licensed by someone (whether J-Novel Club or another distributor) were ignored, as before, but the fact that this list covers back to right at the start of the site’s existance means that there are inevitably series listed that have since been licensed. These series have still been included but are marked by an asterisk (*). As this was previously used for series that would be licensed rescues, these are now indicated with a caret (^) instead.

Here (after the break if you’re reading this from the main page) is the list of titles requested and the number of requests for each:

Longest light novel series (by volume count) with volumes out in the past year

As my thoughts were wandering randomly through various things earlier, I started wondering what the longest ongoing light novel series were. I started by trying to think if I could work it out, but the idea fell apart rather quickly as it often isn’t obvious whether or not a series has finished. Indeed, for some series it would probably mean tracking down the author in person to ask them. In other words, out of the question.

So I considered what I could do instead, and quickly decided on doing a list of the longest series to have seen volumes out in the past year. After all, I had all the data right here on this blog, and it is for the most part from this blog that I gathered the data.

It’s worth pointing out that this is covering everything with releases in the past year. As such there are series on this list that finished months ago, and there are ongoing series which would be long enough to be on this list but aren’t on account of having not had a new volume out in the past year.

Side stories and gaiden volumes are not included. Nor is any content that is not available as a conventional part of the series (eg. anime bonuses). For the sake of simplicity, half volumes and volume zeros are also excluded. They’re usually like gaiden volumes anyway. Sequel volumes, however, are included, so long as they are part of the main series.

Sequel and spinoff series are counted as separate to the earlier volumes. Hayou no Tsurugi and the Monogatari Series are both slightly special cases in that they are several sub-series within a single continuous series. In the case of Hayou no Tsurugi I included only the current subseries, whereas for the Monogatari series I included the whole thing. This, incidentally, is the opposite of MAL’s treatment so you can consider it as recompense for that if you’d like. If you want to include all of Hayou no Tsurugi then it’s 40 volumes plus 8 gaiden scattered across the series. If you want to include only the current sub-series of Monogatari then you can remove it from the list entirely.

Series with rereleases but no new volumes in the time covered are not included. Ditto series with only gaiden releases in the past year.

The cutoff for inclusion is 10 volumes, and everything included in my weekly light novel releases posts are included here. If a series is on here which you think shouldn’t be, blame Amazon.

Format:
Title (label) – volume count

Shounen Onmyouji (Kadokawa Beans Bunko) – 42 volumes, although the official volume count is 50 as it includes gaiden volumes
Ryuu & Dr. Series (Kodansha X Bunko White Heart) – 31 volumes
Hayou no Tsurugi (Cobalt Bunko) – 30 volumes in current sub-series
Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? (HJ Bunko) – 25 volumes
Hidan no Aria (MF Bunko J) – 24 volumes
GENESIS SERIES: Kyoukaisenjou no Horizon (Dengeki Bunko) – 23 volumes
Baccano! (Dengeki Bunko) – 22 volumes
Highschool DxD (Fujimi Fantasia Bunko) – 22 volumes
Monogatari Series (Kodansha BOX) – 22 volumes in total
Zero no Tsukaima (MF Bunko J) – 22 volumes
Accel World (Dengeki Bunko) – 21 volumes
Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei (Dengeki Bunko) – 21 volumes
Campione! (Superdash Bunko/Dash X Bunko) – 20 volumes
Kino no Tabi (Dengeki Bunko) – 20 volumes
Sanzensekai no Karasu wo Koroshi (Wings Bunko) – 20 volumes
Saredo Tsumibito wa Ryuu to Odoru (Gagaga Bunko) – 19 volumes
Seiken Tsukai no World Break (GA Bunko) – 19 volumes
Sword Art Online (Dengeki Bunko) – 19 volumes
Ookami to Koushinryou (Dengeki Bunko) – 18 volues
Madoushi wa Heibon wo Nozomu (Arian Rose) – 17 volumes
Oda Nobuna no Yabou (GA Bunko/Fujimi Fantasia Bunko) – 17 volumes
Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index (Dengeki Bunko) – 17 volumes
Hataraku Maou-sama (Dengeki Bunko) – 16 volumes
Kanojo ga Flag wo Oraretara (Kodansha Ranobe Bunko) – 16 volumes
Madan no Ou to Vanadis (MF Bunko J) – 16 volumes
Okobore Hime to Entaku no Kishi (B’s Log Bunko) – 16 volumes
Ore ga Heroine wo Tasukesugite Sekai ga Little Apocalypse (HJ Bunko) – 16 volumes
Outbreak Company (Kodansha Ranobe Bunko) – 16 volumes
Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance (MF Bunko J) – 16 volumes
Strike the Blood (Dengeki Bunko) – 16 volumes
Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (MF Books) – 16 volumes
Uchi no Isourou ga Sekai wo Shouaku Shiteiru! (GA Bunko) – 16 volumes
Date A Live (Fujimi Fantasia Bunko) – 15 volumes
Nareru! SE (Dengeki Bunko) – 15 volumes
Omae wo Otaku ni Shiteyaru Kara, Ore wo Riajuu ni Shitekure! (Fujimi Fantasia Bunko) – 15 volumes
Oushuu Youi-tan (Kodansha X Bunko White Heart) – 15 volumes
Nidome no Jinsei wo Isekai de (HJ Novels) – 14 volumes
Shin Tenchi Muyou! Ryououki Gaiden Tenchi Muyou! GXP (Fujimi Fantasia Bunko) – 14 volumes
(Kari) Hanayome no Yangotonaki Jijou (B’s Log Bunko) – 13 volumes
Fairytale Chronicle (MF Books) – 13 volumes
Juuou Mujin no Fafnir (Kodansha Ranobe Bunko) – 13 volumes
Magika no Kenshi to Basileus (MF Bunko J) – 13 volumes
Mushoku Tensei ~Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu~ (MF Books) – 13 volumes
Netoge no Yome wa Onna no Ko Janai to Omotta? (Dengeki Bunko) – 13 volumes
Nourin (GA Bunko) – 13 volumes
Rail Wars! (Sohgeisha Clear Bunko) – 13 volumes
Taimadou Gakuen 35 Shiken Shoutai (Fujimi Fantasia Bunko) – 13 volumes
Hashire, Ute! (MF Bunko J) – 12 volumes)
Heavy Object (Dengeki Bunko) – 12 volumes
Hoshikuzu Eiyuuden (Ponycan BOOKS Light Novel Series) – 12 volumes
Hundred (GA Bunko) – 12 volumes
Hyakuren no Haou to Seiyaku no Valkyria (HJ Bunko) – 12 volumes
Inou Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de (GA Bunko) – 12 volumes
Kimaira (Asahi Novels) – 12 volumes
Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru (GA Bunko) – 12 volumes
Ore, Twintail ni Narimasu (Gagaga Bunko) – 12 volumes
R.O.D (Superdash Bunko) – 12 volumes
Ryuugajou Nanana no Maizoukin (Famitsu Bunko) – 12 volumes
Absolute Duo (MF Bunko J) – 11 volumes
Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka (GA Bunko) – 11 volumes
Gakusen Toshi Asterisk (MF Bunko J) – 11 volumes
Haken no Kouki Altina (Famitsu Bunko) – 11 volumes
Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko (MF Bunko J) – 11 volumes
Kuusen Madoushi Kouhosei no Kyoukan (Fujimi Fantasia Bunko) – 11 volumes
Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku (Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! Bunko) – 11 volumes
Maou na Ano Ko to Murabito A (Dengeki Bunko) – 11 volumes
Nejimaki Seirei Senki: Tenkyou no Alderamin (Dengeki Bunko) – 11 volumes
Only Sense Online (Fujimi Fantasia Bunko) – 11 volumes
Ore ga Ojousama Gakkou ni “Shomin Sample” Toshite Rachirareta Ken (Ichijinsha Bunko) – 11 volumes
Overlord (ENTERBRAIN) – 11 volumes
Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry (GA Bunko) – 11 volumes
Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu (MF Bunko J) – 11 volumes
Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata (Fujimi Fantasia Bunko) – 11 volumes
Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut (GA Bunko) – 11 volumes
Boku to Kanojo no Game Sensou (Dengeki Bunko) – 10 volumes
Bu ni Mi wo Sasagete Hyaku to Yonen. Elf de Yarinaosu Musha Shugyou (Fujimi Fantasia Bunko) – 10 volumes
Hachi-nan tte, Sore wa Nai deshou! (MF Books) – 10 volumes
Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! (Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko) – 10 volumes
Kou-1 desu ga Isekai de Joushu Hajimemashita (HJ Bunko) – 10 volumes
Magicraft Meister (MF Books) – 10 volumes
Masou Gakuen HxH (Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko) – 10 volumes
Next Life (Hero Bunko) – 10 volumes
Ochitekita Naga to Horobiyuku Majo no Kuni (MF Bunko J) – 10 volumes
Reinousha Minato (Media Works Bunko) – 10 volumes
Sengoku Bocchi (Sakura no Mori Bunko) – 10 volumes
Shinmai Maou no Testament (Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko) – 10 volumes
Wakeari Seitokai! NEXT (Mahou no i-Rand Bunko) – 10 volumes

P.S. If you know that any of this is inaccurate as of the time of this post, or any series that are missing, please let me know. There were a couple of series for which I found that I was missing the latest volume in these blog posts. This post will not be updated for changes over time.

Light novel POS ranks for Year 2016

Figures in brackets after the volume titles indicate last year’s rankings if applicable. RE indicates a volume that came out before last year but did not appear in last year’s rankings. If a volume is new or came out last year but did not rank then no figure is given.

The list below is the POS (bunsho) ranking for the full year 2016. The rankings cover the top 500 sellers of all books during the year, but those given below are just the light novels on the list. This is why there are many gaps in the rankings. There are no sales figures given for this data, and the data set is different from the one Oricon uses, which explains differences in the rankings. It has the advantage, though, of reporting much lower ranks than Oricon does.

Bear in mind that, unlike Oricon, POS rankings use the calendar year for the yearly rankings data.

**1. Shousetsu Kimi no Na wa.
*36. Kimi no Na wa. (Kadokawa Tsubasa Bunko)
*38. Sword Art Online 17
*45. Sword Art Online 18
*50. Kimi no Na wa. Another Side:Earthbound
*59. Boku wa Nando de mo, Kimi ni Hajimete no Koi wo suru.
*73. Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei 19
*74. Chotto Ima Kara Shigoto Yametekuru (040)
*85. Shousetsu Kotonoha no Niwa
104. Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei 20
106. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 1 (RE)
107. Kokuhaku Yokou Renshuu Koiiro ni Sake
111. Shousetsu Byousoku 5 Centimetre
124. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! (RE)
143. No Game No Life 9
151. Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei SS
153. Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka 10
156. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2 (RE)
159. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 2 (RE)
167. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 3 (RE)
172. Wazamonogatari
173. Overlord 10
184. Eiga Ansatsu Kyoushitsu -Sotsugyou hen-
185. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 4 (RE)
199. Kagerou Daze 7
207. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 3 (RE)
213. Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka 11
215. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 5 (RE)
216. Kamisama no Goyounin 6
227. No Game No Life 8
233. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 6
235. Overlord 11
239. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 4 (RE)
240. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 8
246. Kokuhaku Yokou Renshuu (176)
247. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 7
269. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 5 (RE)
272. Kamisama no Goyounin 5
273. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 8
289. Kokuhaku Yokou Renshuu Kinyoubi no Ohayou
291. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 6
295. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 7
310. Kokuhaku Yokou Renshuu Yakimochi no Kotae (231)
311. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 10
314. Nademonogatari
319. Accel World 20
324. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 9
327. Bungou Stray Dogs: Dazai Osamu no Nyuusha Shiken (RE)
332. Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index 15
337. Chocolate Confusion
342. Zutto Mae Kara Suki Deshita.
346. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 9
360. Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index 16
365. Sword Art Online Progressive 4 (103)
366. Kaitou Tantei Yamaneko (RE)
368. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 10
379. Kokuhaku Yokou Renshuu Hatsukoi no Ehon (279)
381. Bungou Stray Dogs: Dazai Osamu no Kuro no Jidai (RE)
384. Eiga Novelisation: Orange
392. Kokuhaku Yokou Renshuu Ima Suki ni Naru (196)
395. Kamisama no Goyounin (128)
409. Bungou Stray Dogs: Tanteisha Setsuritsu Hiwa
412. Kimi ga Otoshita Aozora
431. Kaitou Tantei Yamaneko Kurohitsuji no Banka
434. Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji Eiga Novelisation
438. Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! Spin-off Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Bakuen wo! Megumin no Turn (RE)
464. Kaitou Tantei Yamaneko (Kadokawa Tsubasa Bunko)
477. Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online 4
490. Mikkakan no Koufuku (RE)
495. Isshun no Eien wo, Kimi to

Last year: 2015 (note: the list of labels included is different from last year’s rankings)

Source: POS via book-rank.net

An attempt at ranking English language sales of light novel series

Note that the word “attempt” is an important one here.

As you probably already know if you are reading this, every week I post the weekly releases of light novels both in English and in Japanese on this blog. What you may or may not know is that the order of novels in the post is ranked. The ranking priority goes date -> label ordered by top ranking of that label -> order within that label. For the Japanese releases I use the order on Amazon, which isn’t always quite the same as the sales rankings but is far quicker to do. For the English releases I use Book Depository.
Why do I use them when I don’t tend to even buy my stuff from them? Simple – they are the only retailer that meets all five of the basic requirements:
– They have a ranking that covers every book on the site and which is continuously updated.
– They sell all light novels that get physical English language releases.
– They are a relatively large retailer.
– They sell worldwide, and don’t focus on a specific country or region.
– Sales are not skewed by the actions of the retailer (eg. Amazon’s history of hiding light novels under their manga adaptations)

This data is usually collected on a Sunday (occasionally Monday morning instead), and with the vast majority of English language releases coming out on a Tuesday this means that the rankings are for 2 days before release, and thus give you relatively comparable figures.

However, I only started actually taking long-term note of the actual rankings in the middle of the year, so I can’t give you every volume or the volume 1s of each series or something. What I can do, however, is to give a list of the latest volumes of each series, including the upcoming week’s releases.

Bear in mind that a couple of weeks I lost the actual figures for. However, in all bar one of these cases (Tokyo Ghoul : Days being the exception) I am confident of the site rank to the nearest thousand, and in no cases is the below out by more than one rank*.

So, from best rank to worst, here’s the list:

1. My Youth Romantic Comedy is Wrong as I Expected 1
2. Bakemonogatari part 1
3. Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World- 2
4. Sword Art Online Progressive 004
5. Overlord 2: The Dark Warrior
6. Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? 7
7. No Game No Life 5
8. Sword Art Online 9: Alicization Beginning
9. Tokyo Ghoul : Days
10. The Rising of the Shield Hero 6
11. Goblin Slayer 1
12. The Devil is a Part-Timer 6
13. The Irregular at Magic High School 3: Nine School Competition Arc 1
14. Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Catastrope at Sixteen 3
15. Psycome 2 : Murder Princess and the Summer Death Camp
16. Durarara! 5
17. Log Horizon 6: Lost Child of the Dawn
18. The Isolator 3: The Trancer
19. Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria Vol. 1
20. Legend of the Galactic Heroes : Endurance
21. Accel World 08: The Binary Stars of Destiny
22. Strike the Blood 4: Labyrinth of the Blue Witch
23. Naruto: Itachi’s Story 2
24. A Certain Magical Index 9
25. Baccano! 3: 1931 the Grand Punk Railroad: Express
26. Kagerou Daze V: The Deceiving
27. Black Bullet 5: Rentaro Satomi, Fugitive
28. The Asterisk War 02: Awakening of Silver Beauty
29. Vampire Hunter D : Throng of Heretics (volume 24)

Excluded:
Spice and Wolf – too long since the last volume
Haruhi – series is on long term hiatus rather than ongoing and English releases are caught up, too long since the last volume.
Naruto Hiden – too long since the last volume, unclear if the latter half are actually going to be released.
Everything with no physical release (which I don’t post on this blog either).

Drawbacks to bear in mind:
These are ordered by RANKING, not sales. The same rank will to a certain extent be inevitably be a different sales figure at different times of year. In particular I would expect series released this week to get a lower rank than they would usually at a given sales level. Then again the timing may lead to them getting more sales as well.
The rankings are those of the latest volumes. New series will always do better than ones that have been going for a long time, which is why I included the volume number/name in the list.
As stated above, a couple of the series that haven’t seen releases in a while were done from memory but I can guarantee that nothing is out by more than one rank on the list above.
This being done from bookdepository’s rankings mean that no other retailer’s sales are relevant. This is thus a relatively small sample size, and Book Depository is probably not representative of the overall market.

* The uncertainties are between Tokyo Ghoul : Days and Sword Art Online, and between Strike the Blood and Accel World. In the former case I am about 55% confident that SAO is higher, and in the latter case, the penultimate volume of Accel World came out on the same day as the latest Strike the Blood volume, and got a better rank than it, which is why I put it higher.

2016’s TV anime by source material

This is a follow up on last year’s post.

Total: 243 TV anime
92 manga (37.8%)
69 original (28.4%)
24 game (9.9%)
16 light novel (6.6%)
8 novel
6 otome game
5 visual novel
5 card game
4 picture book
4 source unknown
3 manhua
3 mixed media project
1 folk tales
1 drama cd
1 book
1 visual book

Read more for breakdown by season and a brief analysis of some points of possible interest.

Most requested English light novel licenses #2 (July/August/September)

Back at the start of May I made a blog post on the most requested English light novel licenses from tweeting Yen Press’s twitter. But of course the series that are requested will change over time, based on new series airing, anime adaptations, or other circumstances.

So, a few months on, I’ve taken another 3 month snapshot to get a different view of things.

Unfortunately it is too early to tell whether or not those requests have any correlation to licenses, let alone any influence on it. This is especially the case given that their last light novel license announcement was on 1st July (which is the first day covered here), which may have been too soon for any license initiated by requests to have any influence anyway.

Of those series that were licensed since the start of May, KonoSuba was the most requested in the previously covered period, and Rokka no Yuusha was requested by one person. Goblin Slayer and Death March were not requested at all.

Vertical have licensed a few things in the time since as well, and Seven Seas has picked up a volume, but none of these were requested from Yen Press in either set of data.

As with last time, requests for continuations/more volumes of releases of series that Yen Press already hold the license to were ignored. The exception to this is the Spice and Wolf extra stories (grouped together as it wasn’t always obvious which was being requested) as these would likely require a new license.

The same basic approach was taken as last time to counting the tallies. You can view that post if you want the details. The most significant thing to remember is that each person’s request was only counted once no matter how many times that individual requested the series.

Here is the list of titles requested and the number of requests for each:

Ookami to Koushinryou Spring Log etc. – 27
Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria – 11
Nejimaki Seirei Senki: Tenkyou no Alderamin/Alderamin on the Sky – 8
Hai to Gensou no Grimgar/Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash – 7
Date A Live – 6
Highschool DxD – 5
Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry – 5
Amagi Brilliant Park – 4
Magdala de Nemure – 4
Re:Zero Ex/Re:Zero Tanpenshuu (bunched together as not always clear which is being requested) – 4
Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata – 4
Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru Sou Desu yo? – 3
Hitsugi no Chaika – 2
Kino no Tabi/Kino’s Journey* – 2
Masou Gakuen HxH – 2
Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai! – 2
Tokyo Ravens – 2
Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou – 1
Arslan Senki/Heroic Legend of Arslan – 1
Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai – 1
Bungou Stray Dogs novels – 1
Campione – 1
Chrome Shelled Regios – 1
Dorei Career Planner wa Seikou Dekiru Shokugyou – 1
Ecstas Online – 1
Fate/Zero – 1
Full Metal Panic!* – 1
GOSICK* – 1
Hibike! Euphonium/Sound! Euphonium – 1
Hidan no Aria* – 1
Inou Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de – 1
Kimi no Na wa. – 1
Knight’s & Magic – 1
Kotenbu Series/Hyouka/Classics Club Series – 1
Kyou kara Maou – 1
Kyoukaisenjou no Horizon/Horizon on the Middle of Nowhere – 1
Madan no Ou to Vanadis – 1
Magika no Kenshi to Basileus/Magika Swordsman and Summoner – 1
Maouyuu Maou Yuusha – 1
Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu – 1
Netoge no Yome wa Onna no Ko Janai to Omotta?/And You Thought There is Never a Girl Online – 1
NEW GATE – 1
Ore no Nounai Sentakushi ga, Gakuen Love Come wo Zenkryoku de Jama Shiteiru/NouCome – 1
Popolochronicle – 1
ROD Read or Die – 1
Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? – 1
Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance – 1
Shakugan no Shana* – 1
Shimoneta to Iu Gainen ga Sonzai Shinai Taikutsu na Sekai/ShimoSeka – 1
Shinmai Maou no Testament – 1
Slayers* – 1
Sword Art Online Gun Gale Online – 1
Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken – 1
Toradora – 1
Trinity Seven: 7-nin no Mashotsukai The Novel – 1
Tytania – 1
Uchi no Musume no Tame naraba, Ore wa Moshikashitara Maou mo Taoseru kamo Shirenai – 1
Vamp!* – 1

*Titles marked with an asterisk would be license rescues. Vamp! was never actually released, whereas all the other series were dropped after the first volume(s) came out.

That’s 139 requests (44 more than last time) for 58 series (18 more than last time) in total. This shows a significant increase, which may indicate a larger fandom, or just be a symptom of Yen Press becoming more talkative on social media.

Spice and Wolf got such a high number in part because of Yen Press’s teasing prior to the announcement of the collector’s edition. HakoMari also saw a big increase in requests. Alderamin goes up thanks to its anime, and Grimgar and Rakudai stay on high figures even as their anime adaptations fade in prominence, while Date A Live seems to have established itself as a perennial source of requests and DxD and SaeKano are inevitable due to them having the manga license.

There are quite a few new things on the list this time, some of which I had never heard of before (had you heard of Popolochronicle?), and a few series that were requested in the previous period were not requested before, but nothing got 2 or more requests that had previously had none other than series with anime adaptations in the period covered, whilst everything that got 2 or more requests in the last period were requested again this time (other than KonoSuba for obvious reasons), so this may just be a case of them being included on the list by chance.

I might do another of these at some point, but won’t make it a regular thing. I don’t want people to start bugging Yen Press with requests just to increase the series on these rankings. This is part of the reason why I did not continue straight on from the last set of data. The other reason being to try to reduce the number of license announcements in the time covered. That said, at some point it may become possible to look back at the list with regards to what actually gets picked up.

Most requested English light novel licenses

After repeatedly seeing people expressing a desire for this or that light novel series to get licensed for release in English, I decided to take a look at what series are the most often requested light novels to get licensed for English language release.

Obviously there isn’t an easy way to sum together everything, so I decided to use a single source – requests made with the @yenpress hashtag on twitter. This is a good source as:
-You can make sure that one person’s desire for a series is only counted once (there are some people who have requested the same series half a dozen or so times in the 3 month period).
-Anyone can make posts asking for them and many people do.
-Yen Press is the main English language light novel licensor. Plus most other light novel publishers are not suitable for various reasons.
-It’s easy to sort through and a continuous data source.

For the time range I took the last 3 months – the period from February to April 2016. The dates chosen have obviously had an effect on the requests, and I may decide to repeat this at a later date to get a better perspective on the longer term trends.

Any post expressing an interest in the series being licensed was included. Posts that did not specify whether it was the manga or light novel that the person was interested in were assumed to be the light novel so long as that was released before the manga. Posts that specifically requested the manga, however, were ignored.

Requests for continuations of releases of series that Yen Press already hold the license to (most notably the Bungaku Shoujo short story volumes) were ignored. However, requests for license rescues are included.
Kingdom Hearts requests were ignored as I don’t know what they were actually asking for. There were about 3 or 4 of these, some of which may have been from the same person.
For obvious reasons, anything that is already being released was ignored.

Incidentally, there are no requests from me in the data.

There are 40 things in total that have been requested during the period covered, and these are listed below alongside the number of unique requests:

Kadokawa’s investment in Yen Press – what does it mean to us fans?

So, in case you didn’t know already, the Japanese publishing company Kadokawa have purchased a majority (51%) stake in Yen Press, who are, amongst other things, the largest publisher of English language light novels under their Yen On label. You can find the announcement from Yen Press here. Yen Press were formerly wholly a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, who retain a 49% share of the company.

So far so good, but what does this actually mean for those of us who buy their manga and light novels?

There are several significant advantages to the deal for the fans:

• Better access to Kadokawa’s large catalogue of titles.
Kadokawa are the largest publisher of light novels in Japan, and about 2/3 of all light novel titles with anime adaptations, which tend to be those that Western fans are most familiar with, are published by Kadokawa. Getting better access to these titles would mean that more of them could get a release in English. Could this also spell the end of the total absence of Fujimi Fantasia licenses? This is, after all, a label owned by Kadokawa.

• Better cooperation with Kadokawa over their releases.
A large proportion of Yen Press’s light novel releases are titles published in Japan by Kadokawa, and with Kadokawa owning a majority stake in Yen Press, they’ll be able to coordinate work better, waste less time on negotiations and get easier access to materials and information that is yet to be made public.
But this doesn’t just affect existing licenses – future licenses can be better coordinated with anime adaptations and so forth. You may wonder why that would be a benefit for the fanbase rather than the company, but here what benefits one benefits both – as releases timed to get the maximum benefit of an anime adaptation means that you can buy the series when you’re most eager to read it as well.

• Kadokawa is an ambitious and expansionist company, and they’re in it for the long term. In recent years they’ve undertaken a number of high profile restructurings, acquisitions and mergers. What does this mean for Yen Press? Well, they’ve made the investment with the belief in its ability to grow, and they personally hold a lot of keys to unlocking that growth. The two factors come together to mean that we’ll likely be seeing quite a few more titles in the future than we have to date. Which is always a good thing.

As for the down sides… Well, there aren’t many – at least not immediately. If Kadokawa try to interfere too much it could end up with titles getting licensed that shouldn’t be, or titles not getting licensed that should have been, but the majority ownership also gives Kadokawa a big incentive to do things right for the Western market, which should correct this in the medium to long term.

Kadokawa stated on the press release that they don’t intend to limit the titles to their own releases, and Yen Press have confirmed that there is no intention of dropping any titles, but it is possible that some issues with acquiring licenses may emerge on the other side – in the form of other Japanese publishers not wanting to release their titles under a company owned by one of their competitors.

That said, the main reason why other English branches of Japanese publishers don’t get licenses from elsewhere is because they don’t even try to get them. Vertical’s part-ownership by Kodansha hasn’t stopped them from acquiring titles from other publishers, after all, and I don’t see this affecting Yen Press’s longstanding relationship with Square Enix, unless it persuades them to set up presence in the West as well. It is possible, though, that some of the more occasional licensors to Yen Press, particularly those with their own companies in the Western market, might be less inclined to license series to Yen Press as a result.

In fact perhaps the most significant potential adverse impact is not on Yen Press at all, but on Seven Seas. This latter company has the licenses to quite a few Kadokawa manga titles. If Kadokawa choose to release more of their titles through Yen Press, it could end up coming at Seven Seas’ expense… Seven Seas, incidentally, are yet to give their own take on the news.