Latest: Japan Weekly Light Novel Sales Ranking As of July 28 2025 Announced by Oricon

Oricon (Japanese research organization) released its weekly Light Novel ranking for the week of July 28 2025.
※The English titles of works may not always be accurate as some have not been released overseas. Thank you for your understanding.

Related rankings are compiled here
Oricon Comic Ranking Summary

5th 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 Gyokuyou 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 Gyokuyou, 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 Gyokuyou 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 Gyokuyou’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...

4th place: The Ryuo's Work Is Never Done! vol.20

A decade-long saga of shogi and determination—this grand strategy novel finally reaches its ultimate conclusion.

“I absolutely refuse to accept this.”
An emergency meeting of the shogi association is called to decide the fate of the professional admission test, and standing before Ai is the strongest examiner yet.
Meanwhile, Yaichi crosses the sea to defend his Ryuo title—only to be ambushed by the so-called “Lost Generation” of hidden contenders!

“Shall we begin? The final war between Static Rook and Ranging Rook...!”
As the two great strategies of shogi clash with their very survival on the line, every player fights desperately to prove their own worth.
Opening, middlegame, endgame—no matter where you look, it’s a series of intense battles!
This is the electrifying final volume where every last piece comes alive!

“Yaichi Kuzuryu-sensei… Will you make me your ——— once again?”

The unprecedented and unmatched shogi light novel… finally reaches its endgame.