Novel difficulty list

This is a list of novels, both light novels and traditional novels, ranked by their difficulty, on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is very easy and 10 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 1..50 from 340 entries

Novel

Legend of the Galactic Heroes

Length (in words)	696948
Unique words	25279
Unique words (used once)	7975
Unique words (used once %)	31%
Unique kanji	2679
Unique kanji (used once)	252
Difficulty	10/10
Average sentence length	30.9
Characters	1654659
Volumes	10

Length (in words)	287845
Unique words	18954
Unique words (used once)	7355
Unique words (used once %)	38%
Unique kanji	2409
Unique kanji (used once)	303
Difficulty	10/10
Average sentence length	30.5
Characters	684193
Volumes	5

Length (in words)	272347
Unique words	19393
Unique words (used once)	7081
Unique words (used once %)	36%
Unique kanji	2783
Unique kanji (used once)	297
Difficulty	10/10
Average sentence length	26.1
Characters	618364
Volumes	4

Length (in words)	477752
Unique words	22836
Unique words (used once)	8044
Unique words (used once %)	35%
Unique kanji	2507
Unique kanji (used once)	218
Difficulty	10/10
Average sentence length	21.1
Characters	1088343
Volumes	11

Length (in words)	274481
Unique words	17274
Unique words (used once)	6285
Unique words (used once %)	36%
Unique kanji	2560
Unique kanji (used once)	308
Difficulty	10/10
Average sentence length	22.3
Characters	615291
Volumes	5

Length (in words)	885968
Unique words	27911
Unique words (used once)	8964
Unique words (used once %)	32%
Unique kanji	2667
Unique kanji (used once)	223
Difficulty	9/10
Average sentence length	25.7
Characters	2012729
Volumes	13

Length (in words)	865039
Unique words	26501
Unique words (used once)	8813
Unique words (used once %)	33%
Unique kanji	2731
Unique kanji (used once)	306
Difficulty	9/10
Average sentence length	20.4
Characters	2037357
Volumes	12

Length (in words)	92466
Unique words	11920
Unique words (used once)	5544
Unique words (used once %)	46%
Unique kanji	2192
Unique kanji (used once)	330
Difficulty	9/10
Average sentence length	29.9
Characters	215282
Volumes	1

Length (in words)	932935
Unique words	28802
Unique words (used once)	8635
Unique words (used once %)	29%
Unique kanji	2962
Unique kanji (used once)	242
Difficulty	9/10
Average sentence length	22.6
Characters	2116303
Volumes	22

Length (in words)	283157
Unique words	17667
Unique words (used once)	6541
Unique words (used once %)	37%
Unique kanji	2407
Unique kanji (used once)	246
Difficulty	9/10
Average sentence length	25.9
Characters	653470
Volumes	3

Length (in words)	382460
Unique words	21267
Unique words (used once)	7633
Unique words (used once %)	35%
Unique kanji	2717
Unique kanji (used once)	265
Difficulty	9/10
Average sentence length	24.4
Characters	884362
Volumes	6

Length (in words)	189252
Unique words	15502
Unique words (used once)	6056
Unique words (used once %)	39%
Unique kanji	2467
Unique kanji (used once)	256
Difficulty	9/10
Average sentence length	21.1
Characters	427866
Volumes	10

Length (in words)	699484
Unique words	24452
Unique words (used once)	7994
Unique words (used once %)	32%
Unique kanji	2608
Unique kanji (used once)	230
Difficulty	9/10
Average sentence length	25.2
Characters	1656503
Volumes	12

Length (in words)	934613
Unique words	26891
Unique words (used once)	7785
Unique words (used once %)	28%
Unique kanji	2855
Unique kanji (used once)	216
Difficulty	9/10
Average sentence length	19.7
Characters	2165729
Volumes	16

Length (in words)	180122
Unique words	12168
Unique words (used once)	4969
Unique words (used once %)	40%
Unique kanji	2189
Unique kanji (used once)	275
Difficulty	9/10
Average sentence length	21.2
Characters	414919
Volumes	4

Length (in words)	338954
Unique words	14693
Unique words (used once)	5231
Unique words (used once %)	35%
Unique kanji	2295
Unique kanji (used once)	260
Difficulty	9/10
Average sentence length	22.4
Characters	755145
Volumes	12

Length (in words)	140474
Unique words	12968
Unique words (used once)	5720
Unique words (used once %)	44%
Unique kanji	2347
Unique kanji (used once)	336
Difficulty	9/10
Average sentence length	22.6
Characters	328074
Volumes	3

Length (in words)	841560
Unique words	28625
Unique words (used once)	8694
Unique words (used once %)	30%
Unique kanji	2546
Unique kanji (used once)	218
Difficulty	9/10
Average sentence length	24.5
Characters	1948086
Volumes	20

Length (in words)	289917
Unique words	19110
Unique words (used once)	7305
Unique words (used once %)	38%
Unique kanji	2636
Unique kanji (used once)	295
Difficulty	9/10
Average sentence length	22.7
Characters	667903
Volumes	6

Length (in words)	212919
Unique words	16408
Unique words (used once)	6117
Unique words (used once %)	37%
Unique kanji	2606
Unique kanji (used once)	297
Difficulty	8/10
Average sentence length	23.3
Characters	475043
Volumes	4

Length (in words)	200898
Unique words	12657
Unique words (used once)	5022
Unique words (used once %)	39%
Unique kanji	2181
Unique kanji (used once)	280
Difficulty	8/10
Average sentence length	20.2
Characters	446395
Volumes	3

jpdb beta

Novel difficulty list

Legend of the Galactic Heroes

Legend of the Galactic Heroes Side Stories

Fate/Zero (TYPE-MOON BOOKS ver.)

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

86

Circlet Girl

Monogatari Series

Trinity Blood Canon Shingaku Taisen

Shakugan no Shana

Youjo Senki

Trinity Blood Reborn on the Mars

Zero Machina Kakuu Sanagi wo Shiie wa Utenai

Accel World

Tokyo Ravens

Baccano! 1935

Katanagatari

The Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II

Sanzensekai no Karasu wo Koroshi

Trinity Blood Rage Against the Moons

Leviathan no Koibito

Kara no Kyoukai

Crest of the Stars

1Q84

BEATLESS

Genesis Series: Kyoukaisenjou no Horizon

Shakugan no Shana S

Chrome Shelled Regios

Banner of the Stars

No Game No Life

Orabatora Senki

Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World

Baccano! 1934

A Certain Magical Index

Baccano! 1933 The Slash

The Irregular at Magic High School

Overlord

Kokoro

Bodacious Space Pirates

Isekai Goumon Hime

Inoru Kami no Na wo Shirazu, Negau Kokoro no Katachi mo Miezu, Sore Demo Tsuki wa Yozora ni Noboru

Vivy Prototype

Sword Art Online Progressive

Baccano! 1931 The Grand Punk Railroad

Kyo Kara Maoh!

Soukou Akki Muramasa: Uchuu-hen

Campione

Baccano! 2002

Magical City Night

Fragments of the Stars

Kuroi Ame

Length (in words)	150929
Unique words	13204
Unique words (used once)	5512
Unique words (used once %)	41%
Unique kanji	2284
Unique kanji (used once)	357
Difficulty	8/10
Average sentence length	21.4
Characters	355607
Volumes	3

Length (in words)	404116
Unique words	18450
Unique words (used once)	7014
Unique words (used once %)	38%
Unique kanji	2359
Unique kanji (used once)	252
Difficulty	8/10
Average sentence length	24.5
Characters	954306
Volumes	3

Length (in words)	224560
Unique words	14790
Unique words (used once)	5974
Unique words (used once %)	40%
Unique kanji	2171
Unique kanji (used once)	266
Difficulty	8/10
Average sentence length	24.5
Characters	524551
Volumes	2

Length (in words)	377569
Unique words	17111
Unique words (used once)	6471
Unique words (used once %)	37%
Unique kanji	2387
Unique kanji (used once)	265
Difficulty	8/10
Average sentence length	20.0
Characters	790384
Volumes	3

Length (in words)	151326
Unique words	15162
Unique words (used once)	6462
Unique words (used once %)	42%
Unique kanji	2496
Unique kanji (used once)	319
Difficulty	8/10
Average sentence length	22.9
Characters	342889
Volumes	3

Length (in words)	429790
Unique words	17641
Unique words (used once)	6309
Unique words (used once %)	35%
Unique kanji	2320
Unique kanji (used once)	247
Difficulty	8/10
Average sentence length	20.3
Characters	1020331
Volumes	11

Length (in words)	198222
Unique words	13701
Unique words (used once)	5522
Unique words (used once %)	40%
Unique kanji	2320
Unique kanji (used once)	327
Difficulty	8/10
Average sentence length	22.6
Characters	475313
Volumes	4

Length (in words)	352063
Unique words	18546
Unique words (used once)	6732
Unique words (used once %)	36%
Unique kanji	2463
Unique kanji (used once)	224
Difficulty	8/10
Average sentence length	18.3
Characters	773865
Volumes	8

Length (in words)	508904
Unique words	20735
Unique words (used once)	7453
Unique words (used once %)	35%
Unique kanji	2613
Unique kanji (used once)	295
Difficulty	8/10
Average sentence length	20.0
Characters	1207362
Volumes	11

Length (in words)	1391179
Unique words	29112
Unique words (used once)	7383
Unique words (used once %)	25%
Unique kanji	2768
Unique kanji (used once)	152
Difficulty	8/10
Average sentence length	21.6
Characters	3152395
Volumes	23