Here are the Top 10 Light Novels in Japan for the week of March 19-25, 2018.
I also cover this list in video format. You can watch the video on YouTube.
#10
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Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. Vol.12
12,578 Copies Sold this week
aka In Another World With My Smartphone
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/in-a-different-world-with-a-smartphone/
Licensed for English release by J-Novel Club. Volume 7 released March 8, 2018
12 episode anime streamed on Crunchyroll. It covered volumes 1-3 of the light novel series.
What it’s about…
After a freak accident involving some lightning winds up zapping him dead, 15-year-old Mochizuki Touya wakes up to find himself face-to-face with God. “I am afraid to say that I have made a bit of a blunder…” laments the old coot. But all is not lost! God says that he can reincarnate Touya into a world of fantasy, and as a bonus, he gets to bring his smartphone along with! So begins Touya’s adventure in a new, anachronistic pseudo-medieval world. Friends! Laughs! Tears! Inexplicable Deus ex Machina! He sets off on a journey full of wonder as he absentmindedly travels from place to place, following whatever goal catches his fancy. The curtains lift on an epic tale of swords, sorcery, and smartphone apps!
Purchase the In Another World with My Smartphone light novels in English
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#09
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Shin Tenchi Muyou! Ryououki Gaiden: Tenchi Muyou! GXP Vol.16
12,581 Copies Sold this week
What it’s about…
Seina Yamada may just be the unluckiest guy in the world. As Tenchi Masaki’s classmate, this walking time bomb seems to spread destruction and bad fortune wherever he goes. But when a suprise encounter with a beautiful woman leaves him with lipstick on his face and a Galaxy Police pamphlet, it seems his luck is about to turn around. Now, he has become a member of the GP Academy and is about to face the challenges of squaring off against space pirates, adapting to a new advanced society, and sneaking out after curfew with his friends.
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#08
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Log Horizon Vol.11
13,078 Copies Sold this week
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/log-horizon/
Licensed for English release by Yen On. 10 volumes have been release to date.
50 episode anime streamed on Crunchyroll and covered volume 1-10 of the light novels.
The manga is also licensed by Yen Press.
What it’s about…
By its eleventh expansion pack, the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Elder Tale (エルダー・テイル Erudā Teiru) has become a global success, having a following of millions of players. However, during the release of its twelfth expansion pack: Novasphere Pioneers (ノウアスフィアの開墾 Nōasufia no Kaikon), thirty thousand Japanese gamers who are all logged on at the time of the update, suddenly find themselves transported inside the game world and donning their in-game avatars. In the midst of the event, a socially awkward gamer called Shiroe along with his friends Naotsugu and Akatsuki decide to team up so that they may face this world which has now become their reality along with the challenges which lie ahead.
Purchase the Log Horizon light novels in English
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#07
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Hai to Gensou no Grimgar Vol.12
13,154 Copies Sold this week
aka Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/grimgal-of-ashes-and-illusion/
Licensed for English release by J-Novel Club (eBook) & Seven Seas (Print). Volume 8 releases in eBook in April 2018. The manga is licensed by Yen Press
12 episode +1 OVA anime covered volumes 1-2 and streamed on Crunchyroll.
What it’s about…
Why are we doing this…? When Haruhiro came to, he was in the darkness. Not knowing why was he here, or where “here” even was. With him were others who also remembered little more than their own names. What they found when they came out of the underground was a world that was `just like a game.” In order to survive, Haruhiro forms a party with others in the same situation as him, learns Skills, and takes his first steps forward into the world of Grimgar as a Trainee Volunteer Soldier. Not knowing what awaits him… This is a tale of adventure born from the ashes.
Purchase the Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash light novels in English
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#06
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Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata Memorial Regular Edition
15,447 Copies Sold this week
aka How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/saenai-heroine-no-sodatekata/
No English license for the light novels. The manga is licensed by Yen Press
25 episode anime had it’s 1st season licensed by Aniplex & 2nd season licensed by Amazon.com
A definitive “Saekano” fan book including unpublished novels, character commentary, rare illustrations and more!
What the series is about…
Main series description…
The life of Tomoyo Aki, a highschool otaku working part time to support his BD hoarding. With remarkable luck, he bumps head-first into, Megumi Katou, the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. Naturally, the meeting twists his life into a complicated torrent of relationships. Eriri Spencer Sawamura, his half-foreigner childhood friend who’s always valued her relationship with Tomoyo. Kasumigaoka Utaha, a cold, composed renowned literary genius who shoves everyone aside from our protagonist. What is this? An eroge introduction?
The tale of a small not quite doujin circle, but not quite indie studio’s journey through the tough territory of comiket and beyond.
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#05
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Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei Vol.24
17,684 Copies Sold this week
aka The Irregular at Magic High School
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/mahouka-koukou-no-rettousei/
Licensed by Yen On. Volume 7 releasing March 27, 2018
26 episode Anime covered volume 1-7 excluding volume 5. Available on Crunchyroll
What it’s about…
Magic.
It is a product of neither legends nor fairy tales, but instead has become a technology of reality since a time unknown to people.
Supernatural power became a technology systematized through magic, while magic became a technical skill. A “Supernatural Power User” became a “Magic Technician”.
Magic Technicians (in short, Magicians) are nurtured through Magic High Schools and Universities.
This is a story about:
A defective elder brother and low achiever.
A perfect, flawless younger sister and high achiever.
After both siblings entered a Magic High School,
The stage of daily turbulence was unveiled —.
Purchase The Irregular at Magic High School light novels in English
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#04
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High School DxD Vol.25
24,360 Copies Sold this week
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/high-school-dxd/
No English license for the light novels.
The manga is licensed for English release by Yen Press. Volume 10 released in December.
Anime adaptation – 36 episodes + 4 OVAs. Licensed in NA by Funimation. Available on Crunchyroll. The anime has covered volumes 1-7 & part of 8. The 4th anime season, High School DxD Hero is scheduled for an April 2018 release.
What it’s about…
Hyoudou Issei is a (perverted) high school boy. When he goes out on a date with his first girlfriend Amano Yuuma, he is killed by her. Her true identity is Raynare, a fallen angel sent by a secret society Grigori to eliminate dangerous divine weapons. Issei is reincarnated as a devil by his senpai Rias Gremory, a Duke of Hell. Issei serves as Rias’s low-rank devil and fights against the fallen angels.
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#03
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Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records Vol.11
25,128 Copies Sold this week
aka Akashic Records of the Bastard Magical Instructor
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/akashic-records-of-the-bastard-magical-instructor/
No English license for the light novels.
The manga is licensed for English release by Seven Seas. Volume 3 releases in April.
Anime adaptation – 12 episodes. Licensed in NA by Funimation.
What it’s about…
Sisti attends a magical academy to hone her skills in the magical arts, and hopes to solve the mystery of the enigmatic Sky Castle. After the retirement of her favorite teacher, the replacement, Glen, turns out to be a tardy, lazy, seemingly incompetent bastard of an instructor. How was it that Glen was hand-picked by the best magician in the academy!?
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#02
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Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu Vol.16
27,223 Copies Sold this week
aka Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/rezero-kara-hajimeru-isekai-seikatsu/
Licensed for English release by Yen On. Volume 6 released February 27, 2018
What it’s about…
Suddenly, high school student Subaru Natsuki has been summoned to another world on the way back from the convenience store. With the biggest crisis of his life being summoned to another world, and with no sign of the one who summoned him, things become even worse when he is attacked. But when he is saved by a mysterious, silver-haired girl with a fairy cat, Subaru attempts to return the favor by helping her track down something that was stolen from her. When they finally manage to get a clue, Subaru and the girl are attacked and killed by someone. Subaru then awakens in the place he was summoned and notices he gained the ability “Returns by Death” and has become a helpless boy that only has the ability to rewind time to a certain point by dying. Beyond the despair, can he save the girl from the fate of death?
Purchase the Re:Zero light novels in English
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#01
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Date A Live Vol.18
32,335 Copies Sold this week
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/date-a-live/
No English license
22 +2 OVA episode anime series. Licensed for NA release by Funimation. The anime covered volume 1-7 of the light novel series.
What it’s about…
April 10th. Yesterday was the last day of spring vacation, so starting this morning it was a school day. After being woken up by his cute little sister, Itsuka Shidou believed that it would be the start of another normal day. As for predicting the chance meeting with the girl who called herself a spirit……
Along with a sudden shockwave, the townscape vanished without a trace. In a corner of the street which had now become a crater, the girl was there.
“?You, have you come to kill me too?”
She is the disaster that will destroy humanity, a monster of unknown origin, and a being rejected by the world. There are only two ways to stop this girl: annihilation, and conversation. His little sister Kotori, wrapped in a military uniform, thus said to Shidou: “Since it’s like this, just go date her, and make the spirit fall for you!” “Wh.. whaaaaaaaat!?” Enter a new age of boy meets girl!!
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