2016 (First Half) | Top Light Novel Sales by Series
Rank Sales Name 1 757,412 Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! 2 489,374 Sword Art Online 3 371,880 Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei 4 321,535 Sword Art Online: Progressive 5 308,471 Monogatari Series 6 304,721 No Game No Life 7 302,013 Hai to Gensou no Grimgar 8 297,459 Boukyaku Tantei Series 9 280,586 Kokuhaku Yokou Renshuu Series 10 263,357 Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 11 238,163 Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut 12 213,521 Overlord 13 210,762 Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka 14 178,019 Netgame no Yome wa Onna no Ko ja Nai to Omotta? 15 165,442 Haikyuu!! Shousetsu-ban!! 16 157,460 Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! Spin-off 17 155,250 Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry 18 138,679 Orange 19 132,196 Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken 20 128,460 Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index 21 127,373 Owari no Seraph: Kyuuketsuki Mikaela no Monogatari 22 123,649 Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. 23 120,955 Eiga Ansatsu Kyoushitsu 24 119,692 Gakusen Toshi Asterisk 25 105,145 Imouto sae Ireba Ii. 26 104,704 Bungou Stray Dogs 27 104,267 Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei SS 28 101,012 Gate: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri Gaiden 29 100,077 Owari no Seraph: Ichinose Guren, 16-sai no Catastrophe 30 96,084 Date A Live
Brody Wood
Haremshitter please, please go away.
Cameron Miller
>1 757,412 Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!
>Anime such a huge hit that they actually gave it a second season >LN sales skyrocketed too
How much money is Kadokawa going to make from Konosuba?
Jacob Ward
>1 757,412 Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! >2 489,374 Sword Art Online
Looks like SAO finally left it's throne. And by a big margin too.
Ian Brown
Oregairu is plummeting. Good.
Caleb Lee
Is Log Horizon on hiatus or something? It used to have great sales so it's weird to see it out of the top ranks.
Josiah Kelly
>19 132,196 Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken Is this going to be next isekaishit show that's inevitably going to get an anime?
Aiden James
There's been no new release this year, so yeah, there's nothing to buy. I'm impressed it managed to sell 123k volumes with no new release.
Angel White
I've read volume 1 of Konosuba (in Japanese, pretty much the easiest LN I've read yet) and I didn't really think it was anything special.
Funny, yeah, but I don't see why it's so popular.
Michael Young
I don't know. Last time I heard, the author was arrested due to tax evasion.
Probably, the amount of SAO shit on it fucking hurts.
I'd rather have a Boukyaku Tantei anime. The live action wasn't enough.
Leo Gonzalez
different strokes for different folks, i personally find it funny and comedic with a nice flow
Angel Hughes
It's a deconstruction of isekai and has interesting characters.
Jackson Collins
>shit Take that back
Nicholas Wood
>1 757,412 Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo! Aqua-sama blessings!
I'm curious where was Konosuba sellings were prior to the premiere this January?
Because it did made more money than expected
Leo Walker
I don't disagree, but that wasn't enough to make me choose it over more interesting series (e.g. Alderamin).
Hunter Robinson
Were the last 2 volumes of Zero No Tsukaima ever published? I heard they were going to use the author's notes.
Anthony Jackson
>3 371,880 Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei
Praise be Onii-sama
S2 when?
(No not a fucking movie that takes years to sub)
Henry Young
one was publisbed but i dont know the release date for the second one
Bentley Moore
>3 371,880 Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei The hell? I always thought Mahouka was more niche in Japan than that given the amount of mockery it seems to get for its prose and right-wing views online.
Thought it would be somewhere around where Gate is on that list, honestly.
Xavier Howard
>6 304,721 No Game No Life SECOND SEASON FUCKING WHEN
John Howard
>no game no life no season 2
Colton Ward
Didn't you remember? That shit like averaged 8-9k or something in sales.
Evan Perez
And look what ranks above and below it.
SAO, Konosuba, and Monogatari, which sold a helluva lot more than 8-9k.
Jaxson Nguyen
>20 128,460 Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Surely they'll make Index S3 now to boost sales again, r-right?
Ryder Phillips
>Mushoku Tensei didn't even make the list So much for the top-rated Narou novel of all time, eh? So are we getting a Slime Tensei anime anytime soon then.
Jackson Allen
I'm still wondering why they still haven't done it.
Christian Ramirez
comedy is relative, personally i found it to be one of the funniest things i've seen/read.
Easton Williams
I was looking for the publication date of the first novel and I found this: >Richard Eisenbeis of Kotaku hails Sword Art Online as the smartest series in recent years, praising its deep insight on the psychological aspects of virtual reality on the human psyche, its sociological views on creating a realistic economy and society in a massively multiplayer online game setting, and the writing staff's ability to juggle a wide variety of genres within the series. Eisenbeis noted how the romance between Kirito and Asuna is explored bringing "definition to exactly what love is like in a virtual world." However, at the time of this preliminary review, he had only watched the first 12 episodes of the series. He has since gone on to review the second half of the series, lauding its excellent use of plot twists and praising its well written and believable villain. However, he felt that some of the initial positive aspects of the series were lost in the second half, such as the focus on psychological repercussions and social interactions that could be realistically seen in an online game. Criticism was also levied on the aspect of turning Asuna into a damsel in distress, stating that a female lead as strong as her was "reduced to nothing but the quest item the male lead is hunting for." Eisenbeis closes his review of the series by stating in regards to the two halves, "Both, however, are enjoyable for what they are." Steve of DeviceCritique also praises Sword Art Online for exploring the psychological and social aspects of virtual reality gaming.
Not that it's a big deal but do people really take SAO seriously?
Matthew Lopez
>It's a deconstruction of isekai and has interesting characters. Protip: EVERY isekai that comes out nowadays tries to deconstruct the isekai genre in some manner, usually by the genre-savvy main character not-so-subtly dropping meta commentary about his predicament constantly. Amateur authors don't seem to get that pointing out and making fun of every cliche you write in your story isn't funny, it just gets fucking annoying after a while, especially when you use it as a justification to write the shittiest most by-the-books setting ever just so the protagonist can make fun of it.
At this point I honestly prefer to reading a straight-up vanilla isekai story that ISN'T stuffed to the gills with snark and sarcasm and just plays its premise straight.
Landon Myers
>Richard Eisenbeis Isn't this the guy that threw a fit about Kill la Kill "glorifying wrist-cutting and self-harm"?
Cooper Scott
Who the fuck cares about SAO now?
Ryan Hall
Judging by those sales, Japan apparently.
Luke Wilson
>EEEEEEEE? BUT SHE ISN'T WEARING ANY PANTSU! >EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Benjamin Murphy
Is Nishio Ishin one person? If yes, his output is insane.
Probably was one in the beginning, but nowadays it's multiple writers working under the penname.
Jacob Adams
>Zero No Tsukaima Volume 21 didn't ranked it hurts so much
Andrew Morris
it's a group more than several writters iirc
Austin White
It's just Kamachi.exe with a wordplay module installed and turned up to overdrive.
Thomas Diaz
>Light novels
Luis Clark
Which isekai LNs aren't terrible?
Jose Hernandez
>Mahouka SS and Mahouka main volumes are counted separately This is interesting
Joseph Bennett
Where can i find this chart?
Logan Price
>no shieldbro Well i should have expected somethign like this, considering the LNs barely can break 10k.
Thomas Adams
See Kadokawa, you don't absolutely need A-1 and Jewplex anime marketing to promote this shit. This is probably a way cheaper approach too that pisses off a lot less potential new fans in the process.
Asher Clark
Yeah that guys a fucking idiot. Objectively bad taste in pretty much everything too which is not easy to do
Leo Richardson
Slime anime when
Mason Long
>20 128,460 Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index DED E D
Jose Brooks
Holy shit, none of them are good. Why is manga so much better as medium in every ways?
Carter Brooks
>25 105,145 Imouto sae Ireba Ii.
nice
Christopher Martin
>17 155,250 Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry
>24 119,692 Gakusen Toshi Asterisk
>The latter has had a split core season and is still selling less
Asterisk really is garbage.
Asher Turner
Can't wait until YP licence every single one of those series and translations then stop and all these faggots on Sup Forums who are posting on the wrong board finally fuck off since they are poor and hate official shit.
Easton Howard
No Rokujouma? You have shitty taste Japan.
Alexander Morris
Both are fucking shit.
Levi Gray
Isekai is all trash for plebs to consume.
Cameron Jenkins
just avoid the ones about summoned cheat heroes, so long as MC has a interesting hobbies other than his harem and murder it's probably half decent.
Aiden Nguyen
A lot of people care about SAO. Just because you don't see it on your sekrit imageboard a lot doesn't mean people stopped caring.
Nathaniel Sanders
So if you combine SAO and SAO:P then it beats everything. SAO is still king.
Charles Gutierrez
Well if you combine Konosuba and the spin off Konosuba still wins
Still pretty crazy to see konosuba just dominating, how popular was it before the anime?
Andrew Edwards
>20 128,460 Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index
Just put it out of it's fucking misery.
Andrew Hill
>1 757,412 Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!
Nice.
James Moore
If you combine both their spinoffs, the margin isn't that big.
Oliver Phillips
>index still popular >no new anime
Why?
Samuel Gray
>so many entries >they're all basically the same: harems for 14 years olds Is LN's the shittiest medium in existence? There's literally nothing redeemable about them.