Latest: Japan Weekly Light Novel Sales Ranking As of June 9 2025 Announced by Oricon

3rd place: Who Killed the Hero? Hero's Chapter

To me… you were the one true hero, my dear brother.

Several years after the Demon King's defeat, the kingdom holds a memorial festival to honor the fallen. As the capital buzzes with the excitement of the event, the hero reunites with a princess from the Kingdom of Lydonia—someone he met at the very beginning of his journey.

With a slightly tense expression, he greets her. But in return, she accuses him in a cold, heavy voice:
"Was it you who killed the Hero of Lydonia?"

Recalling that the hero she speaks of was her brother—the prince—he feels a faint ache in his heart as he replies:
"It was the monster known as the Shapeshifter who killed the prince. You know this to be true."

And yet...

This is the tale of another hero and a princess—two souls who met at the start of a long journey.

2nd place: The Apothecary Diaries Vol. 16 Limited Edition with Anime Season 1 Script

■ Season 1 TV Anime Script Collection
A complete script collection of the anime's first season, written by the talented and popular screenwriters:
Yūko Kakihara, Misuzu Chiba, Hitomi Ogawa, and Yuniko Ayana.
400 pages, A5 size, deluxe binding—an ultimate collector’s edition.

■ Volume 16 of the Original Novel
Half a month has passed since the Emperor’s surgery was successfully completed, and the season edges toward winter.
Thanks to the treatment being entrusted to a senior court physician, Maomao’s busy yet steady daily life has resumed.

But one day, when Lady Gyokuyō reads a letter addressed to the old physician, her face turns pale.

“This might become something terrible.”
The letter reports an increase in patients suffering from blisters.

Maomao senses something ominous—and her premonition comes true.

“An outbreak of smallpox.”
A terrifying epidemic known for its high infectivity and mortality rate, and for leaving lasting scars on the face and body.

There is no known cure, and even Maomao realizes it would be nearly impossible to find one now.
If it spreads, it could lead to the total quarantine of entire villages.

In the midst of such despair, hope comes from a surprising place:

“I survived because of a doctor,” says Lady Gyokuyō, who had once recovered from smallpox herself.
The only physician Maomao knows who specializes in smallpox is Kokuyou.

After an interview process, Kokuyou is officially appointed and dispatched with Gyokuyō to a rural village of several hundred residents, where the infection is beginning to spread.

Meanwhile, Maomao is approached by Jinshi with a troubling matter.
The daughter of the head of the Empress Dowager’s family is suspected of having cast a curse on someone.

That daughter is Zhizi, a frail girl born of a concubine and the Empress Dowager’s niece.
Maomao begins investigating at the Empress Dowager’s request to save her niece—only to discover that Zhizi may have been poisoned.

As Maomao listens to Gyokuyō’s accounts while she battles the outbreak, a question arises:

“Where did the smallpox come from?”
In seeking the source of the infection, Maomao and her companions uncover a shocking truth...

1st place: The Apothecary Diaries Vol. 16

■ Volume 16 of the Original Novel
Half a month has passed since the Emperor’s surgery was successfully completed, and the season edges toward winter.
Thanks to the treatment being entrusted to a senior court physician, Maomao’s busy yet steady daily life has resumed.

But one day, when Lady Gyokuyō reads a letter addressed to the old physician, her face turns pale.

“This might become something terrible.”
The letter reports an increase in patients suffering from blisters.

Maomao senses something ominous—and her premonition comes true.

“An outbreak of smallpox.”
A terrifying epidemic known for its high infectivity and mortality rate, and for leaving lasting scars on the face and body.

There is no known cure, and even Maomao realizes it would be nearly impossible to find one now.
If it spreads, it could lead to the total quarantine of entire villages.

In the midst of such despair, hope comes from a surprising place:

“I survived because of a doctor,” says Lady Gyokuyō, who had once recovered from smallpox herself.
The only physician Maomao knows who specializes in smallpox is Kokuyou.

After an interview process, Kokuyou is officially appointed and dispatched with Gyokuyō to a rural village of several hundred residents, where the infection is beginning to spread.

Meanwhile, Maomao is approached by Jinshi with a troubling matter.
The daughter of the head of the Empress Dowager’s family is suspected of having cast a curse on someone.

That daughter is Zhizi, a frail girl born of a concubine and the Empress Dowager’s niece.
Maomao begins investigating at the Empress Dowager’s request to save her niece—only to discover that Zhizi may have been poisoned.

As Maomao listens to Gyokuyō’s accounts while she battles the outbreak, a question arises:

“Where did the smallpox come from?”
In seeking the source of the infection, Maomao and her companions uncover a shocking truth...

Related rankings are compiled here
Oricon Comic Ranking Summary

Oricon Weekly Light Novel Sales Ranking

Ranking / Estimated number of copies sold / Estimated cumulative sales volume / Title / Author

1 80,608 80,608 The Apothecary Diaries Vol. 16 (Author) Natsu Hyūga / (Illustrator) Tōko Shino
2 11,852 11,852 The Apothecary Diaries Vol. 16 Limited Edition with Anime Season 1 Script (Author) Natsu Hyūga / (Illustrator) Tōko Shino
3 4,944 4,944 Who Killed the Hero? Hero's Chapter (Author) Daiken / (Illustrator) toi8
4 3,658 61,836 Detective Conan: The Phantom of the One-Eyed (Author) Shima Mizuki / (Original Story) Gosho Aoyama / (Script) Takeshi Sakurai
5 3,100 25,043 Too Many "Defeated Heroines"! Vol. 8 (Author) Takibi Amemori / (Illustrator) Imigi Muru
6 2,733 2,733 The God's School Dropout Vol. 5 (Author) Natsu Hyūga / (Illustrator) Akagawara Modomu / (Production Cooperation) Hana to Yume Editorial Department
7 2,520 5,143 I Want to Live a Slow Life in the Countryside After Reincarnating: Duke's Household Hospitality (Author) Renkin-Ō / (Illustrator) Abeno Chako
8 2,304 315,598 The Apothecary Diaries Vol. 5 (Author) Natsu Hyūga / (Illustrator) Tōko Shino
9 2,183 4,159 Hanataba (Author) Eiko Kono / (Illustrator) Haru / (Supervisor & Original Story) MIMI
10 2,029 2,029 I'm a Mob Priest, but I Realized This World Is an Otome Game, So I'm Raising the Heroine (Author) Leonhard D / (Illustrator) Riichu

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