The Ryuo's Work is Never Done!

Plot

Yaichi Kuzuryū is a prodigy shogi player who won the title of Ryūō at the age of 16. Following his victory, he has been in a slump until he is approached by Ai Hinatsuru, a nine-year-old elementary school girl who begs him to make her his disciple. Astonished by Ai's potential, Yaichi agrees to become her master, and the two then brace themselves together in the world of shogi with their friends and rivals. However, this comes with the condition imposed by Ai's mother that Yaichi is to marry Ai if she does not become a major player before graduating middle school.

Characters

Yaichi Kuzuryū (九頭竜 八一, Kuzuryū Yaichi)

Voiced by: Yuma Uchida

The main protagonist of the series. Yaichi is a sixteen-year-old who won the Ryūō title match at a young age. He is the current youngest Ryūō. Initially, he was overwhelmed by his title and perceived pressure to avoid playing in a "disgraceful" manner. He has a calm personality and often doesn't take things seriously unless they are related to shogi. He was taken aback by Ai's talent and determination, and the way she continues to fight and seek a way to victory has helped inspire him. Yaichi is often wrongly accused of being a lolicon due to the affection he gains from young girls like Ai and her friends Mio, Ayano, and Charlotte in her shogi training group. Despite their affections for him, he is oblivious to their true feelings for him. Yaichi tries to be a good master to his disciples and does his best to teach the easiest steps so that his disciples can catch on quickly. He seems to have feelings for Keika as seen in some episodes of the anime. His play style basically sticks with Static Rook, famous for using Sente's Double Wing Attack and Gote's Tempo Loss Bishop Exchange strategies.

While sometimes it is misunderstood that his name "Yaichi" refers to the eighty-one koma on the shogi board, it actually refers to his birthday, August 1. He is sometimes called as Kuzu-Ryūō (クズ竜王, Kuzuryūō; lit. "Scrap-Ryūō", "Scrap-Dragon King") in the story. Starting from Volume 6, it is implied that stunned by the talent of Yaichi after his 4–3 comeback victory against the Meijin from a 0–3 deficit, the players in Kantō, the east side of Japan, start calling him with a new nickname, which in the story is deliberately hidden from readers as something-"King", and also not known by Yaichi himself because he avoids reading the comments about him on the Internet. The nickname is finally revealed to readers at the very end of Volume 12.

Ginko Sora (空 銀子, Sora Ginko)

Voiced by: Hisako Kanemoto

Yaichi's childhood friend and fellow disciple. Ginko is sharp-tongued, brash, and shows no mercy to her opponents in shogi. She is fourteen years old and considered the most talented female player in the shogi history, one of few with enough talent to potentially enter the main shogi league as a full-fledged professional rather than a professional in the women's league. Ginko currently holds an impressive undefeated record at 47 wins against female pros earning her the name "The Snow White of Naniwa". She became a disciple before Yaichi despite being two years younger than him. She never entered the women's league and continues to pursue the main Japan Shogi Association, and is implied to have done this to pursue Yaichi himself. Though not a female professional, she still holds the Queen and Female Gyokuza (lit. "Throne") titles. Despite her aggressive attitude towards Yaichi, Ginko cares deeply about and has feelings for him, though she is hesitant to show it. In Volume 11, Yaichi confesses to Ginko and she reciprocates his feelings. He brings her to his hometown and confesses to her under the stunning starry night there because that scenery is what he first thought of when he first met her and knew her name.

Media

Light novels

The Ryuo's Work is Never Done! is written by Shirow Shiratori and illustrated by Shirabii. SB Creative published the first volume in September 2015 under their GA Bunko label, with twenty volumes and six short story volumes being released as of July 2025. An English translated digital release was done by BookWalker. In July 2026, J-Novel Club announced that they had licensed the series, using BookWalker's translation as a base.

Manga

A manga adaptation with art by Kogetaokoge was serialized in Square Enix's seinen manga magazine Young Gangan from October 2, 2015, to August 2, 2019. The series covers the story of the first five volumes of the light novels.

Anime

An anime television series adaptation by Project No.9 was announced in July 2017. The series was directed by Shinsuke Yanagi with scripts written by Fumihiko Shimo and character designs by Akane Yano. Kenji Kawai composed the music at Nippon Columbia, and Dreamshift produced the series. The series aired from January 8 to March 26, 2018, and it ran for 12 episodes. Machico performed the opening theme song "Kore Kara" (コレカラ; "From Now On"), while Miku Itō performed the ending theme song "Mamoritai-mono no Tame ni" (守りたいもののために; "For What I Want to Protect"). Same as the manga series, the anime series also covers the story of the first five volumes of the light novels.

Video game

A visual novel-styled shogi game based on the series was released for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch on November 26, 2020.

Reception

The light novel ranked first in 2017 in Takarajimasha's annual light novel guide book Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!, in the bunkobon category. It ranked first again in 2018, second in 2019, and second again in 2020. As of August, 2020, over 2 million of copies have been sold.

Kei Mizutome (水留啓, Mizutome Kei) listed the book as one of four "essential" novels introducing shogi to a wider audience, saying that it was well-researched and that people familiar with the shogi world can guess on whom the characters of the Meijin and Maestro are based.