Latest: Japan Weekly Light Novel Sales Ranking As of June 16 2025 Announced by Oricon

3rd 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...

2nd 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.

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 37,421 118,029 The Apothecary Diaries Vol. 16 Natsu Hyuuga (Story) / Touko Shino (Illustration)
2 4,419 9,363 Who Killed the Hero? Hero's Chapter Inu (Story) / toi8 (Illustration)
3 3,091 14,943 The Apothecary Diaries Vol. 16 Limited Edition with Anime Season 1 Script Natsu Hyuuga (Story) / Touko Shino (Illustration)
4 2,780 64,616 Detective Conan: One-eyed Flashback Shima Mizuki (Story) / Gosho Aoyama (Original Work) / Takeshi Sakurai (Script)
5 2,333 317,931 The Apothecary Diaries Vol. 5 Natsu Hyuuga (Story) / Touko Shino (Illustration)
6 2,203 2,203 Actually, I'm a Talented Reincarnated Young Girl, and I'm Still Carrying Out Missions Today～Picked Up by the Cold-Blooded Chancellor Dad, Saving the Kingdom with My Insight and Book Knowledge～ Ren Amemiya (Story)
7 2,193 2,193 The Clumsy Talented Girl Will Withdraw as You Wish～The Regret of the Fiance Who Chose Love Over the Country, and the Remaining People～ Chiko Mizuki (Story)
8 2,136 2,136 I Was a Seven-Year-Old Abandoned Princess When I Reincarnated～Left Alone in a Ruined House, But My Talent Blossomed in an Enemy Nation's Duke's Family!?～ Hana Fujimi (Story)
9 2,101 2,101 I Tamed a Spider Monster, So I'll Do My Best at Sewing with Spider Silk! Vol. 2 Akisake (Story) / Tamura You (Illustration)
10 2,060 298,213 The Apothecary Diaries Vol. 6 Natsu Hyuuga (Story) / Touko Shino (Illustration)

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