It’s difficult to tell what’s a sci-fi light novel and what isn’t when it comes to light novels. The lightest novel is set in the near future, and most of them feature technology that does not yet exist. For instance, consider the holographic battling system introduced in Yu-Gi-Oh! However, just because most light novels have sci-fi features does not imply that all light novels are sci-fi light novels. The primary litmus test is whether or not technology is crucial to the conflict.Â
Top 25
- 1. Land of the lustrous
- 2. 20th Century Boys
- 3. Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou
- 4. Girls’ Last Tour
- 5. One-Punch Man
- 6. Pluto
- 7. Aria
- 8. Space Brothers
- 9. Hinamatsuri
- 10. Parasyte
- 11. Phoenix
- 12. Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin
- 13. Battle Angel Alita
- 14. Eden: It’s an Endless World!
- 15. BLAME!
- 16. A Certain Scientific Railgun
- 17. Memories of Emanon
- 18. Ultra Heaven
- 19. GUNSLINGER GIRL
- 20. Trigun Maximum
- 21. 7SEEDS
- 22. Emanon Wanderer
- 23. Getter Robo Go
- 24. Abara
- 25. Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch
1. Land of the lustrous
Every unique gem must battle for its way of existence against the danger of Lunarians who would convert them into ornaments on a planet inhabited by crystalline lifeforms known as The Lustrous. Phosphophyllite, the most delicate and brittle of gems, yearns to fight. Phos is tasked with compiling a natural history of their environment. It appears to be tedious and futile work. Phos’s new work, however, puts him in touch with Cinnabar, a gem condemned to dwell in seclusion. Can Phos’s seemingly little job lead both Phos and Cinnabar to the happiness they seek? It is one of Top Sci-Fi light novels.
2. 20th Century Boys
Humanity, which was on the verge of extinction at the close of the twentieth century, would not have entered the new millennium if it hadn’t been for them. They designed a symbol in 1969 when they were young. That sign reappears in 1997 when the impending calamity begins to take shape. This is the narrative of a gang of young lads who attempt to save the planet. When one of his boyhood pals unexpectedly commits himself, Kenji, a modest convenience store manager who once dreamed of being a rock ‘n’ roll singer, recalls a slew of memories from his past. Could this latest death be linked to the development of a strange new cult that has been linked to several previous killings and disappearances? Determined to dig deeper, Kenji reunites with some of his old buddies in the hope of learning the truth behind it all.
3. Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou
Set in a near-future post-apocalyptic Japan where the water level has risen and inundated parts of the coastline and Mt. Fuji has erupted within living memory. The population has shrunk significantly, and political and technical institutions have crumbled. Local villages have evolved into nations, and telephones and television are no longer in use (although coffee vending machines and streetlights stubbornly continue to work). There are some unusual new creatures and plants (like flying fish and glowing streetlight trees). The survivors have chosen a slower-paced, simpler style of life and rely more on one another. Some intelligent, humanoid robots coexist with the human species. It is one of Top Sci-Fi light novels.
4. Girls’ Last Tour
Civilization is no longer alive, but Chito and Yuuri are. So they jump on their beloved Kettenkrad motorcycle and ride aimlessly through the wreckage of the world they once knew. They seek their next food and fuel for their trip day after dismal day. But as long as the two are together, even a gloomy existence like theirs has a ray of light in it, whether they’re slurping soup or looking for machine parts to tinker with. For two girls in an empty world, the experiences and sensations they share give them something to live for. It is one of Top Sci-Fi light novels.
5. One-Punch Man
Everything about a young man named Saitama in this new action-comedy screams “AVERAGE,” from his lifeless look to his bald head to his mediocre body. However, this ordinary-looking man does not have an ordinary condition. He’s a superhero on the hunt for difficult opponents! The problem is that whenever he finds a potential candidate, he knocks the crap out of them with one punch. Can Saitama finally find a wicked foe powerful enough to stand up to him? Follow Saitama on his funny adventures as he seeks out new bad people to challenge! It is one of Top Sci-Fi light novels.
6. Pluto
Someone or something has killed the strong Swiss robot Mont Blanc in an ideal future where humans and machines live. A major person in a robot rights group is assassinated elsewhere. The two events appear unrelated, except for one very obvious clue: both victims’ bodies have been fashioned into some strange collage, replete with artificial horns put beside their heads. Interpol assigns robot investigator Gesicht to this odd and challenging case, and he soon finds that he, too, is a target as one of the world’s seven great robots. It is one of Top Sci-Fi light novels.
7. Aria
Akari Mizunashi has recently moved to Neo-VENEZIA, a futuristic recreation of the historic city of Venice, on the planet Aqua, once known as Mars. The technology of “Man Home” (previously Earth) has not reached this planet completely, and Akari is alone, with no communication with family or friends. Nonetheless, with its lovely labyrinths of rivers and canals, the town becomes Akari’s new obsession, along with her ambition to become a full-fledged gondolier. Akari’s persona becomes both daring and uplifting as she returns to a more “primitive” existence and pursues a new trade. It is one of Top Sci-Fi light novels.
8. Space Brothers
Mutta (born 1993) and Hibito (born 1996) observed what looked to be a UFO headed for the moon one night when they were young in 2006. That night, they resolved to become astronauts and fly to space. Hibito has become an astronaut and plans to visit the moon in 2025. Mutta eventually landed a more typical job with an auto development firm. On the other hand, Mutta has recently lost his job after a violent confrontation with his employer. Not only has he lost his job, but he looks to be banned across the business. Perhaps this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Mutta to pursue his boyhood goal of becoming an astronaut like his younger brother! Nominated for the 2nd and 3rd Manga Taisho Awards and won the 56th Shogakukan Manga Award and 35th Kodansha Manga Award in the General Category.
9. Hinamatsuri
Nitta is a young and ambitious member of the Ashikawa-Gumi yakuza gang. One day, a weird oval-shaped item appears out of nowhere in his flat, changing everything! Hina, a little girl with no expression, lives within the item. The girl possesses powerful telekinetic abilities, which she used to intimidate Nitta and force him to let her dwell in his apartment. Dangers abound when the yakuza member and young psychic share a room for the first time!
10. Parasyte
They come in complete darkness and stillness. These creatures have a voracious appetite for human flesh. They are all over the place. They are parasites, extraterrestrial entities that must infiltrate and dominate a human host to exist. Once infected, they may take on whatever lethal shape they like, including monsters with huge teeth, flying devils, and creatures with swords for their hands. Most, though, have opted to hide their murderous intent under regular human features. So no one knows about their secret–except a regular high school kid. Shin is fighting for control of his own body against an extraterrestrial parasite, but will he be able to warn mankind of the impending horrors?
11. Phoenix
“Everything is born and everything dies. That is the divine rule.” According to tradition, the Phoenix, a Bird of Fire, is the immortal spirit of life, death, and rebirth. She is in charge of the reincarnation cycle as well as the rise and fall of civilizations and species. Those who get her blood will be awarded eternal life, while those who do not obtain her blood will be bestowed limitless wisdom or endless misery. From the beginning of civilization till the end of the human race, those human souls touched by the Phoenix have hunted her in numerous reincarnations, and their deeds in one lifetime decide or reflect the crimes and sorrows of previous lifetimes.
12. Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin
Commander Char Aznable, a Zeon ace pilot, believed he could thwart the Federation’s intention to develop a mobile suit by assaulting their research station on colony Side 7. He was mistaken. With a prototype now operational, the beleaguered Federation troops retaliate with their new weapon, the mobile suit Gundam, with disastrous results. Amuro Ray, a young electronics genius in the thick of the war, is determined not to lose his friends and family in the crossfire. But what can a single child do to combat a horde of mobile suit-clad intruders?
13. Battle Angel Alita
Disgraced cyber-doctor Daisuke Ido discovers a startling find at a landfill in the lawless town of Scrapyard, far under the mysterious space city of Zalem: the severed head of a cyborg lady who has lost all her memories. He gives her the name Alita and gives her the Berserker, a strong new body. While Alita has no recollection of her previous existence, a desperate moment wakes in her nerves the renowned martial arts school known as Panzer Kunst. Alita chooses to become a hunter-killer, chasing down and eliminating those who prey on the helpless in a world where there is no justice but what individuals construct for themselves. But, as she learns to relish in her brilliance, will she be able to maintain her humanity?
14. Eden: It’s an Endless World!
In the near future, a new virus that hardens the skin while disintegrating inside organs wipes off a huge percentage of mankind. Those who aren’t immune are either badly handicapped or given cybernetically upgraded bodies to live with. Taking advantage of a chaotic world, a paramilitary group known as the Propater destabilizes the United Nations and pursues global dominance. Elia, a young survivor looking for his mother, goes into the Andes Mountains with an artificially intelligent battle robot. When he meets a gang of anti-Propater freedom fighters, a whirlwind of colorful personalities ensues. graphic, cyberpunk, and philosophical, Eden is a place where endearing heroes face a constant struggle for survival and violent surprises waiting around every corner!
15. BLAME!
Killy is a man who doesn’t say much. He wanders, seemingly indefinitely, through a lonely, monstrous labyrinth of concrete and steel, fighting off cyborgs and other futuristic nightmares in search of something known as Net Terminal Genes. And he has a very strong rifle, which he fires without hesitation anytime anything approximating danger appears. Who is this calm, aggressive, and determined guy, and what is it that he seeks? The small communities he discovers tucked into the crevices of this towering, dystopic ruin don’t provide him with any leads on his treasure, prompting him to seek out larger enclaves of civilization where people can reveal more about the world he lives in and the quarry he seeks.
16. A Certain Scientific Railgun
Welcome to a world where mysticism and science collide and supernatural powers stem from either science or religion. Academy City, a sophisticated city populated primarily by students, is located in the center of this universe. The vast majority of students are enrolled in the city’s “Power Curriculum Program,” where they must learn to control their latent psychic abilities. Only seven pupils out of several million are judged powerful enough to attain Level 5 rank. Meet Mikoto Misaka, Academy City’s third most powerful Level 5 esper. Together with her best friends Kuroko Shirai and the other members of Judgment, a student-run law enforcement agency, Mikoto delves deep into the dark heart of the scientific sprawl she calls home, and uncovers secrets she wishes she hadn’t!
17. Memories of Emanon
A young Japanese man is contemplating his future. On one side of the water, the Vietnam War is raging; on the other, the Apollo Project has just met with disaster, with three astronauts killed in a capsule fire. And now, on a long nighttime ferry ride back home, he will meet and fall in love with a mysterious young woman with a past more profound than his dreams and fears for the future. Her name, she jokes, is Emanon and she can never be forgotten, just as she can never forget.
18. Ultra Heaven
Nothing has changed in a world where all feelings are artificial and everyone is a potential drug addict. Excess is close at hand and very few substances are considered dangerous and put under strict control by a hygiene office that has full power over the drug-addicted who are in extreme condition. Kabu, the main character, is a small peddler who is heavily addicted to drugs. He is used to any sort of hallucinogenic trip. Kabu may experience happiness via the euphoria of the drug. While hypocritically condemning who gave birth to that civilization that has pushed him to excess. He spends his days hunting for stimulants after an overdose caused by combining two incompatible substances until he meets an enigmatic guy who gives him a new type of illicit substance: Ultra Heaven.
19. GUNSLINGER GIRL
The Italian Social Welfare Agency is not what it appears to be. Yes, it saves young girls who have been abused, but it then brainwashes them and transforms them into merciless murderers for the Italian government’s elite and covert counter-terrorism force. Enter Henrietta, a young girl. After witnessing her family’s brutal murder and barely surviving, the Agency takes her in and uses cutting-edge cybernetic technology to heal her injuries. As she becomes one of the Agency’s most lethal assassins, all traces of Henrietta’s background are erased from her consciousness.
20. Trigun Maximum
The actions of bounty hunters who are pursuing the 60,000,000,000$ prize on Vash’s head for the destruction of a city named July. They are responsible for most of the devastation ascribed to “Vash.” Vash has no recollection of the July devastation, and all he wants is “love and peace.” As he puts it; despite his incredible talent as a gunfighter, he solely uses his firearms to rescue lives wherever he can. As the series develops, we discover more about Vash’s enigmatic past as well as the history of human civilization on Gunsmoke, the desert planet where the light novel s set. The tone of the series is frequently comedic, but it also contains extremely serious character development, and especially in later episodes, it gets fairly emotionally deep.
21. 7SEEDS
Scientists had anticipated this calamity, and in reaction, officials from every country convened to devise a strategy for human survival before the asteroid struck. This meeting resulted in the creation of the Seven Seeds initiative. Each country froze several healthy young individuals, allowing them to withstand the meteor. The computer released them into the world after determining that Earth was once again safe for human life. The Japanese government divided the survivors into five groups: winter, spring, summer A, summer B, and fall. Each group included seven participants and one guide. The guide wore tiny poison tubes around their necks, allowing them to terminate their lives if their circumstances proved unbearable. The Japanese government had planned seven “Fuji” as safe havens for the various factions. The gang would discover seeds and several works of literature first unknown reasons educating them on wilderness survival in each Fuji.
22. Emanon Wanderer
Emanon’s wanderings across late-1960s Japan bring her across other lives in small country towns, with each encounter leaving people transformed in her wake. Yet when love once again leads to pregnancy and the start of a new cycle in Emanon’s birth and rebirth, she is confronted with something she has never before borne: twins, one of them, for the first time, a boy. Will he too grow up to inherit her immortal memories, as all her daughters have before?
23. Getter Robo Go
Years after the events of Getter Robo/Shin Getter Robo, Hayato Jin is the leader of NISAR; a privately owned research and weapons development organization based in Japan. He, and Professor Tachibana, have been developing various weapons and building up their forces to deal with a threat that started fifteen years ago: the mad scientist Rando. When Rando’s forces begin their terrorist operations around the world, NISAR begins its search for exceptional soldiers to pilot their superweapon, the Getter Robo.
24. Abara
This novel takes place in a dystopian world populated with massive buildings. The plot focuses on Gaunas, beings that can create bone-like armor and weaponry around themselves by morphing. The metamorphosis begins at the spine and progresses to the creation of multilayer armor. The narrative centers on Gauna, Kudou Denji, although he previously used Itou Denji as a fictitious identity.
25. Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch
Lelouch Lamperouge is a Britannian student residing in Area 11, which was once known as Japan. The mighty Holy Britannian Empire attacked and stripped the little island country of its identity in 2010. Following a military cargo plane crash, Lelouch walks into a restricted area to inspect the debris. When patrolling Britannian troops threaten to kill him for trespassing, his quest is cut short. Fortunately, he is rescued by the plane’s lone survivor: a mystery lady named C.C., whom he discovered trapped in the plane’s cargo. She bestows to Lelouch the power of Geass, a supernatural ability that requires complete obedience from whomever it is employed on, rendering his instructions unassailable. Lelouch, now equipped with terrible power, takes on the identity of the revolutionary figure Zero, promising to annihilate the accursed Britannian Empire and those who harmed him many years before.
That’s it, folks! The list of top 25 Sci-Fi Light novels comes to an end here. We hope you loved the novels we picked. Comment down the name of any of the novels you think must be added to this list!
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