What are your favourite Top 5 (2025)

[Serah]

@strangeattractor I imagine you would totally love I Got Caught Up in a Hero Summons, but the Other World Was at Peace!

As far as I know there is currently no proper licensed official English translation for the light novel. And I strongly recommend NOT to check on the manga due to its "bad" translation.

But there is a very popular fan translation which covers the light novel as well as the web novel version which I would recommend to you, based on your likings.

[Passiflora C]

All 5 of them are Infinite Dendrogram. Heaven bless whoever of the team thought, 'hey, it'll be a good addition for JNC. Let's take this!'
I like battles n chuuni stuff after all. Naturally, I like good art too. I sometimes wonder if I read for the illustrations, or the illustrations exist simply to complement the reading.
Well, I'm certain I wouldn't pick up what I do if the illustrations weren't excellent.

Anyway, honorable mention to The Combat Baker and Automaton Waitress, which I'm re-reading for the 11th time, & Zilbagias.

...
You know.
They say you stop caring for shounen/battle stuff as you grow older, however... it appears all my predispositions are increasingly bending thataway.
Infodumps, world war, endless mayhem, politics that seem to consume everyone and everything, millions of characters, plots intersecting and intertwining, concretized objectives, multiple POVs, world-building that stretches on for hundreds of pages, lots of deaths, carnage, everyone always in danger, titanic narratives, [BAD] endings, bittersweet endings.

The more brutal, the better.
The greater the density of contrivance, the more interesting.
The more contraptive the contraption, the more unconventional the already unconventional, the better.
I even like when the author deliberately spites his readers.

(´・ω・`)
Yep.
Consequently,
I can no longer read romcoms or whatever genre you might classify D-genesis as, though I did enjoy Saekano for some reason.

Now then.
It took me 4 pages (Vol. 1) to drop the Apothethecary Diaries.
It took 8 sentences to know I'll read Zilbagias all the way.
It took 1 illustration to know I'll read trpg all the way.

(Are the threads being lurked to observe user-input? Sorry for being blunt, PR team.. also, I'll take this moment to say: please get more scifi and please issue some wide plea toward all editor employees asking them to shed the effectualization of em-dashes at excess since it degrades the overall reading experience. RW had way too many em-dashes spilled across the pages from v2 onwards where commas or semicolons would do. No, really, just read and you'll see there's an em-dash in almost every other sentence where conjunctive, transitive, and conjunctural use or, again, a comma and even period would do! It's strange! It's weird! What happened, editor @NegativePrimes? Sorry for complaining here. I like the story, so I was a bit disappointed. I guess I'm no different to the party demonstrating disagreeability with em-dashes following its adamant appearance in AI-text. The sudden '(—)' pauses when reading are incredibly painful and tragic. )

All that said, I think I lost the ability to read vanilla stories with equally vanilla protagonist who do 'good 'to triumph over evil.

[Serah]

@Passiflora-C Nice comment!

I agree with you regarding the sci-fi stuff seem surprisingly lacking on JNC. At leas the sci-fi stuff I read seem all being published by others.

Speaking of which, have you checked out I'm the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! ?

Not sure whether it is your alley, based on your description, but it sure makes me think of that after reading what you wrote. That series also got recently an anime while the manga is of good quality as well. ^^

[Passiflora C]

@Serah

Speaking of which, have you checked out I'm the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! ?

Yep. I've more or less read everything from Mishima except for Dragoon. Its good his inexplicable anger against little sister characters has abated in OreAku lol.
Ah, you should read Seventh and Otome mob if you need further context on that. In fact, you should read them regardless.

[Serah]

@Passiflora-C said in What are your favourite Top 5 (2025):

@Serah

Speaking of which, have you checked out I'm the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! ?

Yep. I've more or less read everything from Mishima except for Dragoon. Its good his inexplicable anger against little sister characters has abated in OreAku lol.
Ah, you should read Seventh and Otome mob if you need further context on that. In fact, you should read them regardless.

Already done. ;)

Not what I would consider top 5, but defintitely stuff which appeared on my reading list in the past. Currently I am all in with Pens Down, Swords Up: Throw Your Studies to the Wind due to the humour and pacing. https://forums.j-novel.club/topic/9558/pens-down-swords-up/1

[Lily Garden]

Off the top of my head and in no particular order:

Holy grail of Eris
A mystery/intrigue story with a dynamic duo of forthright Constance and the ghost of the villainess Scarlet. After Scarlet saves Constance from social ruination, Constance agrees to help Scarlet get her revenge on those who orchestrated her execution; but those operating in the shadows of the kingdom do not want the secrets of the past brought to light…

Fun and well written leading ladies in an engaging tale of political intrigue. Sort of like a buddy cop film mixed with classic ametur detective girl story. The world needs more LNs with pairs of ladies. Anime adaptation comes out this fall.

Tearmoon Empire
A story of a formerly selfish and still kinda lazy princess Mia trying to live up to the high expectations placed after her attempts to prevent a bad ending from the previous timeline paint her as a Great Sage.

A story of failing upwards and second chances with a lot of heart. Mia’s growth as a character over the series is a joy to watch and while she makes great strides, she never loses the core of person she was at the beginning of the series; a girl with a tendency to be chicken and lazy but still has a good heart. The story treats it characters with compassion, even its antagonists.
Also the best written LN I’ve read in terms of how the author crafts sentences and passages. As the series progresses the world of Tearmoon unfolds like a rose revealing new layers and new perspectives.

Altina the Sword Princess
Probably the best military tactics LN ever written. Interesting and layered characters. I reread chapters over again just to see the brilliant plans unfold. Waiting impatiently for the author to write the next volume.

Tales of Marielle Clarac
Dynamic heroine in a story of adventure and intrigue. Great banter, I love properly written banter. A touch of historical romance to make it all hold together seamlessly.

Min-Maxing My TRPG Build in Another World
Solid world building with great character writing. You can tell the author really thought about how the world fits together and how the different types of people would interact and develop society & culture. The best action-oriented isekai I’ve read.

Honorable mentions:
Bookworm

The Combat Baker and the Automaton Waitress

[Serah]

@Lily-Garden that is a very interesting list as well!

Even with some titles I have not thought about for quite a while. Might consider them even classics of JNC. ^.^

Two novel series which come to my mind which might fit to that list could be Accomplishments of the Duke's Daughter and The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen. The latter surely has the classic Tearmoon vibe, though that might apply to 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! as well... sorta...

[vilobion]

@Lily-Garden said in What are your favourite Top 5 (2025):

Altina the Sword Princess
Probably the best military tactics LN ever written. Interesting and layered characters. I reread chapters over again just to see the brilliant plans unfold. Waiting impatiently for the author to write the next volume.

Yeah Altina is very high on my list of "Deserved more volumes" but I can't fault the author for focusing more attention on How Not to Summon a Demon Lord even if it hurts my soul.

[Serah]

@vilobion I feel like "military tactics novels" are not that popular to begin with. There was once a StarCraft-alike-light-novel which seemed very promising and I liked. But it suddenly got discontinued. Mynoghora took up the banner, but it also goes in a different direction which is not my liking.

The "sort of" best is probably from Sengoku Komachi Kuroutan, but the part of that is rudimentary and limited.

[karasutengu]

@Serah said in What are your favourite Top 5 (2025):

Speaking of which, have you checked out I'm the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! ?
Not sure whether it is your alley, based on your description, but it sure makes me think of that after reading what you wrote. That series also got recently an anime while the manga is of good quality as well.

Agreed. The anime is well worth watching.

[Zeteni]

My top five shifts around a lot and is more functionally a top seven, but here goes.

1: Ascendance of a Bookworm.
I'm a sucker for good world building and Bookworm has far and away the best of that I've seen in any media ever. After the first two cours of anime aired, I had to know more and thankfully the latest volume that was out was what immediately followed after the anime concluded with the next volume coming out three days later. It's how and why I got into light novels.

2: Min-Maxing my TRPG
I'm a tabletop dork but what I really enjoy about this one is also its world building and its prose. It's delightfully weird and the author's love and knowledge of TTRPGs really shows. It also has the most well written action scenes I've seen and where I typically struggle to visualize them based on the written word, this author makes it easy.

3: D-Genesis: Three Years After the Dungeons Appeared
This series scratches a very particular itch I have; rather than using RPG elements on real world Earth to serve as the backdrop of a power fantasy, this series actually explores the socioeconomic and political impact of such. It also does it primarily through two endearing dorks that are just like me frfr.

4: Zilbagias the Demon Prince
I wrote a whole ass review for this one already that you can read here. tldr; it's a grimdark series done right.

5: Rebuild World
An excellent post-apocalyptic sci-fi series that functionally has a lot in common with fantasy adventure series but wearing a sci-fi hat. It executes on those patterns very well but my favorite aspect is how it handles the psychologies and motivations of the main characters. It really sets it apart from its peers.

---

Honorable Mentions

These contest entries could easily be in the top five but it's also hard to place something there that has only a single volume out yet isn't intended to be a one shot.

An Unruly Summon
An excellent deconstruction and loving parody of fantasy isekai that does something we desperately need in more isekai series; an MC that asks questions and is suspect of the world they find themselves in. Someone who behaves with a semblance of realism to their circumstances. Not that the latter never happens, but in this it's the focus.

ATLAS: Her the Combatant and Him the Hero
There's a reason this was the grand prize winner of the first JNC contest. Excellent prose, delightful action scenes, an intriguing setting, but most of all, the most engaging start of a romance I've seen. After having read the leads interacting with each other and flirting it occurred to me how little chemistry exists in even romance focused series. It's plain as day to see how the MCs can and will be into each other in this one, far more than most.

---

Rising Stars

These could usurp positions within my top five.

Imperial Reincarnation
A politics centered series that really is about the politics and handles it all in a very realistic way.

The Bladesmith's Enchanted Weapons
Something truly bizarre and incredibly unique series that's filled with perverse (complementary) charm. It also gets the smithing right.

The Trials and Tribulations of My Next Life as a Noblewoman
It cannot be understated how much this series lives up to its title. On the surface it looks like it could be a standard noblewoman isekai. It absolutely is not.

The Tiny Witch from the Deep Woods
Balances serious and lighthearted wonderfully and I'm very invested in where it's planning to go in the long term.

[Serah]

@Zeteni nice!

Also, kudos for the review!

Kinda brings up the question why JNC does not have that - I mean sort of review section for the novels on the main page, like e.g. amazon does for books. I sometimes write reviews there, like for Realist Hero and some other titles back then - though rarely and only for stuff I really really like or I felt like giving a warning to other customers because it was really bad.

Might be helpful for situations like with my current favourite series where the summary on the store page -in my personal opinion- is misleading and hiding a good title that way.

Also, very cool titles you mentioned as Rkising Stars. I have them too on screen and am curious how they continue. Still feeling a little burned after Enough with This Slow Life! I Was Reincarnated as a High Elf and Now I'm Bored, but you can never know for sure unless you are a while in ~

[NegativePrimes]

@Passiflora-C said in What are your favourite Top 5 (2025):

Negative

Since you ask: Semicolons are discouraged in the JNC light novel style, though not banned. Many em dashes (though not all) are simply substituting for those.

[Passiflora C]

@NegativePrimes
So that's how it is. I see. Got it.
You're doing a splendid job BTW, all considered, so thanks for that and for answering too.

[Lex]

I can't easily make a top 5 list of my favorite novels, but I can easily talk about five series I love a lot.
Let's start with Highschool DxD, my favorite battle harem series. It has everything, great characters, great battles, an interesting setting, fanservice, with tue bonus point of not needing to make every human male irrelevant or incompetent to make the protagonist shine like too often happens.
The misfit of demon king academy: did you really think I wasn't going to mention this? Together with One Ounch Man and Instant Death Cheat is one of the greatest examples of how you can make an interesting story about a ridiculously overpowered protagonist.
Full Metal Panic: one if the first novels I've read, I love mecha so ai can't not love this.
Mobuseka: romance is bad but everything else is great, and I love the dynamic between Leon and Luxion. This series made me interested in all the other works from the author.
Rebuild world: love the action, love the setting, love how we see Akira constantly improving, and I'm super curious to get the answers to the mysteries.

Honorable mentions, because narrowing the list was really hard, for Bunny girl senpai, which has probably the best relationship between the main couple I've seen, and An introvert hookup hiccups, the sweetest romcom ever.

Maybe next year I'll post again with a different list since I already have many candidates in mind.

[NegativePrimes]

@Passiflora-C Thank you! I'm glad you enjoy our work!

[Serah]

A Maid from Another World's Three-Star Gourmet ~I Made Modern Food and It Became a Huge Hit at the Royal Palace~ | 異世界メイドの三ツ星グルメ ～現代ごはん作ったら王宮で大バズリしました～

I could not find an English version for that, so I made also a thread in the web novel section. However, the fun story, light hearted yet heartwarming story - carried by a surprisingly good pacing - makes it a runner up for most fun light novels I have read this year.

For those who like the maid / food / comedy stories it is sure worth a look. I wonder if there is any chances JNC would get it.

Also, a manga is available too!

[sorvani]

@Serah said in What are your favourite Top 5 (2025):

On another note: anyone else here using syosetu.com because they cannot wait for the next chapter to be released?

Since my iPhone and all browsers on my computers now translate with a simple tap/click, I've read many things directly, but I do not read anything being published in English already because there are almost always major changes from WN to LN. For things not currently being published in English I'll read it since I have no idea if it will ever get licensed.

My Current Bookmark stats there:

Obviously my own customized names, I like that there are 10 lists you can setup in your bookmarks.

[sorvani]

2025 Top 5

1. D-Genesis: Three Years After the Dungeons Appeared
   Modern dungeon are my top fav category. I wish more of these were well written.

2. To Another World... With Land Mines!
   Honestly, I just love the world building and pacing of this (minus the food dungeon).

3. Dungeon Busters
   I wish it hadn't died on the vine. Technically the author has made a few minor updates on Syosetu (based on post dates), but only a couple.

4. Ascendance of a Bookworm
   Just some of the best world building I have seen since Wheel of Time.

5. The Ideal Sponger Life
   At first this one was just an interesting take on a summoning isekai, but then developed into a really intriguing political story.

---

Honorable Mention:

Lazy Dungeon Master
A very awesome series, I disagree with @Travis-Butler's opinion on the fetish stuff being too much and lazy writing, but the series is not enough to be a top 5.

Another World Survival: Min-maxing My Support and Summoning Magic
The warped sex/harem kills this from ranking higher, but the rest of the story was very interesting.

Everything FUNA
Something about FUNA's writing just makes it all fun, and Saving 80,000 gold is my favorite of the three. Followed by Potions and then Abilities. Honestly, I would be hard pressed to decide if LDM or 80k is my #6.

---

Things I want to read but have not:

I'm the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire
I loved the WN via MTL, I just never started the LN.

Tearmoon Empire
I have no idea why I never started this over the years. Been on my list of things to read forever.

[Serah]

@sorvani I also prefer naturally translations, as a matter of course - it is simply easier for the mind instead of having to adjust the context every time.

In fact, I am in awe how the Japanese language handle it - it sort of "keeps your mind constantly on toe".

My mentioned favourite of the year, I can recommend as the web version content is 1:1 so far, with the exception of bonus side stories.

Also I Got Caught Up in a Hero Summons, but the Other World Was at Peace! is a daily treat for which I recommend the fan translation.

I'm the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire I consider moderate fun, and therefore happily recommend it!

Tearmoon Empire I liked too, but only until volume 3, I think. I stopped reading when I felt the story was finished and the author continued for various reasons, similar like it was with My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!

Everyone who has not tried syosetu.com yet, I can only encourage to give it a try with your love for light novels.

Google Translator has become immensely good over the years that it is surprisingly accurate, as long as you are aware of certain Japanese specialities, regarding the language. Like the fact that words are omitted and a lot of things, especially gender is context based. (e.g. manga is as well singular and plural)

In addition to the fact that you can read many series which just arrived in the west early on, it gives -depending on the author- some additional insights of the author thoughts as they have the option to add "afterwords" to each chapters.

The majority of web novels which got adapted into light novels and then eventually licensed to the west are 1:1 adaption, with few exceptions.

Isekai Walking e.g. has like 15% different compared to the web version.

For me such things is just a reason to read it twice. Once the web version and once the licensed translated light novel version is out, the licensed translated version as well.

If a series I like especially much, I even try to get my hands on the Japanese ebooks/prints, like for Realist Hero.

Found myself using book walker a lot to keep track of release dates since then, which is quite comfortable.