I wanted to know how much Japanese I would need to know in order to understand different media formats. Of course, each novel, tv show, manga, etc. will have it’s own level of difficulty, but I wanted to know at what level would I be able to pick something up without having to worry about the level and feel comfortable that I would likely understand it.
Important notes about the data:
This data is all from Learn Natively, so anything that is not listed on the site is not taken into account.
Also, the difficulty levels tend to fluctuate, so this data is not very precise. I have seen certain shows move 3-4 levels up or down in a few months due to them getting more gradings from more users.
With the above in mind, all of the data I am providing is only an approximation of the actual difficulty level of Japanese media. However, I do believe that in aggregate it is useful for getting an idea of what level of Japanese is required on average for different types of Japanese media.
Methodology:
I went through Learn Natively and compiled the different Japanese media into a spreadsheet according to difficulty. (I only pulled the number of results at a given level, not the individual titles.)
I looked at Video (Movies and TV), and I looked at Books (Manga, Light novels, Novels, and Short stories). I did not include textbooks, children’s books, graded readers, etc. I only included the media types explicitly mentioned above.
I excluded anything with a temporary rating as many of those do not have a single grading and the level is just the best guess of the person who submitted it. I looked at each sub-type (TV, manga, novels, etc.) separately and counted the number of results for each level of difficulty as well as the total for that sub-type. This gave me a percentage of results at that given level.
Here are my results:
Video (TV):
TV had a total of 831 results.
The percentage you can understand based off JLPT level:
N5 (L12): 0% - No TV series exist at this level without a temporary rating.
N4 (L19): 2.29%
N3 (L26): 42.24%
N2 (L33): 96.39%
N1 (L40): 100% - No “N1+” (L41+) TV series exist without a temporary rating.
Learn Natively level you need based off what percentage you want to understand:
10%: L22 (L21 is 8.9%, just shy of the 10% mark)
20%: L24
25%: L25 (L24 is 24.4%, just shy of the 25% mark)
33%: L25
50%: L27
67%: L29
75%: L30
80%: L30
90%: L31
100%: L40
Video (Movies):
Movie had a total of 318 results.
The percentage you can understand based off JLPT level:
N5 (L12): 0% - No movies exist at this level.
N4 (L19): 0.63%
N3 (L26): 46.54%
N2 (L33): 95.60%
N1 (L40): 100% - No “N1+” (L41+) movies exist without a temporary rating.
Learn Natively level you need based off what percentage you want to understand:
10%: L23 (L22 is 8.8%, just shy of the 10% mark)
20%: L24
25%: L25 (L24 is 23.3%, just shy of the 25% mark)
33%: L25
50%: L27
67%: L28
75%: L29
80%: L30
90%: L31 (L30 is 88.7%, just shy of the 90% mark)
100%: L39
The data shows that TV and movies are approximately equal in average difficulty. TV has slightly higher percentage of lower difficultly results and requires a slightly higher level for full understanding, but they are fairly close. When taken with the fact that all of this data is only approximating actual difficulty, it is easy to say that TV and movies are likely the same difficulty as each other.
Book (Manga):
Manga had a total of 2079 results.
The percentage you can understand based off JLPT level:
N5 (L12): 0.14%
N4 (L19): 7.12%
N3 (L26): 75.28%
N2 (L33): 98.70%
N1 (L40): 100% - No “N1+” (L41+) manga exist without a temporary rating.
Learn Natively level you need based off what percentage you want to understand:
10%: L20
20%: L21
25%: L22
33%: L23
50%: L24
67%: L26 (L25 is 66.0%, just shy of the 67% mark)
75%: L26
80%: L27
90%: L29 (L28 is 89.5%, just shy of the 90% mark)
100%: L38
Book (Light Novel):
Light Novel had a total of 530 results.
The percentage you can understand based off JLPT level:
N5 (L12): 0% - No Light Novels exist at this level.
N4 (L19): 0% - No Light Novels exist at this level.
N3 (L26): 14.53%
N2 (L33): 82.64%
N1 (L40): 98.81%
Learn Natively level you need based off what percentage you want to understand:
10%: L26 (L25 is 8.68%, just shy of the 10% mark)
20%: L27
25%: L28 (L27 is 22.8%, just shy of the 25% mark)
33%: L28
50%: L30 (L29 is 49.1%, just shy of the 50% mark)
67%: L31
75%: L32
80%: L33
90%: L35 (L34 is 89.8%, just shy of the 90% mark)
100%: L43
Book (Novel):
Novel had a total of 881 results.
The percentage you can understand based off JLPT level:
N5 (L12): 0% - No Novels exist at this level without a temporary rating.
N4 (L19): 0% - No Novels exist at this level.
N3 (L26): 7.49%
N2 (L33): 64.31%
N1 (L40): 93.41%
Learn Natively level you need based off what percentage you want to understand:
10%: L27
20%: L28
25%: L29
33%: L30 (L29 is 31.0%, just shy of the 33% mark)
50%: L32
67%: L34
75%: L35
80%: L36
90%: L40 (L39 is 88.4%, just shy of the 90% mark)
100%: L50
Book (Short Story):
Short Story had a total of 135 results.
The percentage you can understand based off JLPT level:
N5 (L12): 0% - No Short Stories exist at this level.
N4 (L19): 0.74%
N3 (L26): 17.78%
N2 (L33): 68.15%
N1 (L40): 100%
Learn Natively level you need based off what percentage you want to understand:
10%: L25 (L24 is 8.9%, just shy of the 10% mark)
20%: L27
25%: L28
33%: L29
50%: L32 (L21 is 48.9%, just shy of the 50% mark)
67%: L33
75%: L35
80%: L35
90%: L36
100%: L40
There is a clear pattern in difficulty for books. From easiest to hardest (on average), it goes: Manga → Light Novel → Short Story → Novel
Also, when we compare the different types of books to Video, we can see that Manga is noticeably easier than Video and the rest of the Book types are noticeably more difficult.
So, if we put everything together we get an average difficulty pattern of: Manga → Video (TV/Movie) → Light Novel → Short Story → Novel
Overall, here is how useful each JLPT level is:
N5 (L12): Largely useless. It allows you to dip your toes into a select few results (2 Manga series, and nothing else). It will not get you very far and is only useful as a stepping stone to further levels.
N4 (L19): More useful than N5, but that is not saying much. It will allow you to read a few manga (7.12%) and even fewer TV shows (2.29%). For Short Stories and Movies it gives you a starting place to start consuming them (<1% each). The bright side is that you are not far from accessing a lot more, particularly for Manga. If you can raise your level to L21 (Lower N3), then you will be able to access 20% of manga.
N3 (L26): This is where the world of Japanese media really starts opening up. You will be able to watch nearly half of TV shows and Movies as well as read roughly 75% of Manga! This is the first JLPT level that comes with proper understanding of a lot of native material. Unfortunately, most non-manga written material will still be well beyond your understanding.
N2: This level is often what is considered necessary for living/working in Japan. And we can see why in this data. With N2 you will be able to understand over 90% of TV, Movies, and Manga, as well as over 80% of light novels. No more worrying about how difficult something is for you! You can pick nearly anything up without considering the difficulty! It’s still not quite enough to master Novels and Short Stories however. You will be able to understand roughly 2/3 of Novels and Short Stories and may still feel the need to double-check the difficultly when you pick up something new. After all, there is still a 1/3 chance that it will be too difficult for you.
N1: Often seen as pointless, we can see why this level exists. Sure, you don’t need it to understand TV, Movies, or Manga, but it is necessary for understanding Novels and Short Stories. 1/3 of all Novels and Short Stories on this site are N1 or N1+. It is also helpful for understanding Light Novels, with nearly 20% of Light Novels on this site being N1 or N1+. With N1 you can understand nearly anything that you come across in any media format. The odd book/video that is difficult for you will likely be somewhat difficult for native speakers as well.
Fun data facts:
The largest jump in percentage of understanding in a single level is with Movies going from L24 (23.27%) to L25 (39.62%) with a 16.35% jump.
The largest number of results for a specific media type at a specific level is Manga at L24 which has 280 results.
There are no Manga listed (excluding temporary ratings) at L11.
There are no Light Novels listed (excluding temporary ratings) at L21, L41, or L42.
There are no Novels listed (excluding temporary ratings) at L21.
There are no Short Stories listed (excluding temporary ratings) at L21, L22.
There are no TV series listed (excluding temporary ratings) at L17.
Movie is the only media type to not skip a difficulty level. It has results for every level from L19 to L39.
Short Story has the fewest results at 135.
Manga has the most results at 2079.
The lowest difficulty with at least 1 result (excluding temporary ratings) is L10, which as a single Manga at that level.
The highest difficulty with at least 1 result (excluding temporary ratings) is L50, which as a single Novel at that level.
File:
Here is the file with the compiled data for anyone who wants to take a look themselves.
LearnNativelyJapaneseLevelComparison_Feb_15_2024.csv (9.0 KB)
In the file, the column “Amount per level” is the number of results for that specific type of media at that specific level (E.g. Manga L20 is only the manga that is rated L20 specifically).
The column “Total Amount up to level” in contrast is the number of results for that specific type of media up to and including that level (E.g. Manga L20 is all of the manga rated L20 or below).
“% of total at level” and “% of total at or below level” are the percentage of that specific media type for the “Amount per level” and “Total Amount up to level” respectively.
The rest of the column names are self explanatory.
