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Novel difficulty list

This is a list of novels, both light novels and traditional novels, ranked by their difficulty, on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 is very easy and 100 is very hard. You can use it to find the most appropriate novel to read based on how good your Japanese is.

If you already have a novel in mind which is around your level you can also search for it, and then click on "Show details..." to see other novels of similar difficulty.

The difficulty ratings were generated automatically by a machine learning model. If you're interested in how we calculated them take a look here. We do not distribute any copyrighted materials from any of these works; we only provide aggregate statistics.

We also have other difficulty lists if you're interested:

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Showing 1501..1518 from 1518 entries

Cover of Durarara!!
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Novel
Durarara!!
Length (in words)655746
Unique words22129
Unique words (used once)7822
Unique words (used once %)35%
Unique kanji2556
Unique kanji (used once)247
Unique kanji readings5084
Average difficulty87/100
Peak difficulty (90th percentile)97/100
Average sentence length26.5
Characters1497646
Volumes13
MyAnimeListAmazon
Show details...
Cover of Nangoku Taiheiki
⋯
Novel
Nangoku Taiheiki
Length (in words)195427
Unique words13247
Unique words (used once)5526
Unique words (used once %)41%
Unique kanji2540
Unique kanji (used once)379
Unique kanji readings5139
Average difficulty87/100
Peak difficulty (90th percentile)94/100
Average sentence length19.8
Characters414607
Volumes2
Amazon
Show details...
Cover of 86
⋯
Novel
86
Length (in words)751601
Unique words25050
Unique words (used once)7472
Unique words (used once %)29%
Unique kanji2826
Unique kanji (used once)205
Unique kanji readings5664
Average difficulty87/100
Peak difficulty (90th percentile)98/100
Average sentence length24.7
Characters1710255
Volumes13
MyAnimeListAmazon
Show details...
Cover of Angel Howling
⋯
Novel
Angel Howling
Length (in words)414096
Unique words16252
Unique words (used once)5720
Unique words (used once %)35%
Unique kanji2338
Unique kanji (used once)249
Unique kanji readings4524
Average difficulty87/100
Peak difficulty (90th percentile)98/100
Average sentence length19.8
Characters960487
Volumes10
MyAnimeListAmazon
Show details...
Cover of Sabikui Bisco
⋯
Novel
Sabikui Bisco
Length (in words)299488
Unique words16828
Unique words (used once)6111
Unique words (used once %)36%
Unique kanji2428
Unique kanji (used once)225
Unique kanji readings4754
Average difficulty87/100
Peak difficulty (90th percentile)95/100
Average sentence length20.7
Characters669404
Volumes5
MyAnimeListAmazon
Show details...
Cover of Clockwork Planet
⋯
Novel
Clockwork Planet
Length (in words)256018
Unique words17430
Unique words (used once)6850
Unique words (used once %)39%
Unique kanji2384
Unique kanji (used once)248
Unique kanji readings4578
Average difficulty87/100
Peak difficulty (90th percentile)96/100
Average sentence length20.8
Characters587125
Volumes4
MyAnimeListAmazon
Show details...
Cover of Guin Saga Gaiden
⋯
Novel
Guin Saga Gaiden
Length (in words)72476
Unique words7842
Unique words (used once)3578
Unique words (used once %)45%
Unique kanji1640
Unique kanji (used once)336
Unique kanji readings2705
Average difficulty87/100
Peak difficulty (90th percentile)96/100
Average sentence length32.0
Characters169565
Volumes1
Amazon
Show details...
Cover of Quantum Devil Saga Avatar Tuner
⋯
Novel
Quantum Devil Saga Avatar Tuner
Length (in words)401860
Unique words19044
Unique words (used once)6701
Unique words (used once %)35%
Unique kanji2444
Unique kanji (used once)263
Unique kanji readings4543
Average difficulty88/100
Peak difficulty (90th percentile)97/100
Average sentence length27.3
Characters946563
Volumes5
Amazon
Show details...
Cover of Youjo Senki
⋯
Novel
Youjo Senki
Length (in words)986413
Unique words28953
Unique words (used once)8714
Unique words (used once %)30%
Unique kanji2841
Unique kanji (used once)231
Unique kanji readings5718
Average difficulty88/100
Peak difficulty (90th percentile)98/100
Average sentence length24.1
Characters2287641
Volumes12
MyAnimeListAmazon
Show details...
Cover of Saredo Tsumibito wa Ryuu to Odoru: Dances with the Dragons
⋯
Novel
Saredo Tsumibito wa Ryuu to Odoru: Dances with the Dragons
Length (in words)1169151
Unique words26619
Unique words (used once)8012
Unique words (used once %)30%
Unique kanji2697
Unique kanji (used once)215
Unique kanji readings5350
Average difficulty88/100
Peak difficulty (90th percentile)99/100
Average sentence length18.1
Characters2537966
Volumes10
MyAnimeListAmazon
Show details...
Cover of Moeyo Ken
⋯
Novel
Moeyo Ken
Length (in words)157250
Unique words15021
Unique words (used once)6791
Unique words (used once %)45%
Unique kanji2552
Unique kanji (used once)416
Unique kanji readings4970
Average difficulty89/100
Peak difficulty (90th percentile)96/100
Average sentence length21.0
Characters341444
Volumes1
Amazon
Show details...
Cover of Fate/Zero (TYPE-MOON BOOKS ver.)
⋯
Novel
Fate/Zero (TYPE-MOON BOOKS ver.)
Length (in words)272859
Unique words19311
Unique words (used once)7084
Unique words (used once %)36%
Unique kanji2780
Unique kanji (used once)296
Unique kanji readings5582
Average difficulty89/100
Peak difficulty (90th percentile)96/100
Average sentence length31.1
Characters620439
Volumes4
MyAnimeList
Show details...
Cover of Ningen Series
⋯
Novel
Ningen Series
Length (in words)332228
Unique words17791
Unique words (used once)6830
Unique words (used once %)38%
Unique kanji2477
Unique kanji (used once)310
Unique kanji readings4746
Average difficulty89/100
Peak difficulty (90th percentile)97/100
Average sentence length24.1
Characters788413
Volumes7
MyAnimeListAmazon
Show details...
Cover of Zero Machina Kakuu Sanagi wo Shiie wa Utenai
⋯
Novel
Zero Machina Kakuu Sanagi wo Shiie wa Utenai
Length (in words)189384
Unique words15540
Unique words (used once)6078
Unique words (used once %)39%
Unique kanji2469
Unique kanji (used once)256
Unique kanji readings4736
Average difficulty90/100
Peak difficulty (90th percentile)97/100
Average sentence length24.3
Characters431847
Volumes10
Amazon
Show details...
Cover of Ryouma ga Yuku
⋯
Novel
Ryouma ga Yuku
Length (in words)577862
Unique words28338
Unique words (used once)10291
Unique words (used once %)36%
Unique kanji3157
Unique kanji (used once)399
Unique kanji readings6711
Average difficulty90/100
Peak difficulty (90th percentile)99/100
Average sentence length24.1
Characters1249940
Volumes1
Amazon
Show details...
Cover of Katanagatari
⋯
Novel
Katanagatari
Length (in words)339363
Unique words14730
Unique words (used once)5258
Unique words (used once %)35%
Unique kanji2300
Unique kanji (used once)260
Unique kanji readings4370
Average difficulty91/100
Peak difficulty (90th percentile)97/100
Average sentence length25.4
Characters755485
Volumes12
MyAnimeListAmazon
Show details...
Cover of Legend of the Galactic Heroes Side Stories
⋯
Novel
Legend of the Galactic Heroes Side Stories
Length (in words)290152
Unique words19028
Unique words (used once)7416
Unique words (used once %)38%
Unique kanji2414
Unique kanji (used once)305
Unique kanji readings4348
Average difficulty91/100
Peak difficulty (90th percentile)99/100
Average sentence length32.0
Characters691178
Volumes5
Amazon
Show details...
Cover of Legend of the Galactic Heroes
⋯
Novel
Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Length (in words)703664
Unique words25455
Unique words (used once)8083
Unique words (used once %)31%
Unique kanji2679
Unique kanji (used once)251
Unique kanji readings4999
Average difficulty92/100
Peak difficulty (90th percentile)99/100
Average sentence length33.8
Characters1674141
Volumes10
Amazon
Show details...