Weekly Shōnen Magazine

Weekly Shōnen Magazine (Japanese: 週刊少年マガジン, Hepburn: Shūkan Shōnen Magajin) is a weekly shōnen manga anthology published on Wednesdays in Japan by Kodansha, first published on March 17, 1959. The magazine is mainly read by an older audience, with a significant portion of its readership falling under the male high school or college student demographic. According to circulation figures accumulated by the Japanese Magazine Publishers Association, the magazine's circulation has dropped in every quarter since records were first collected in April–June 2008. This is, however, not an isolated occurrence as digital media continues to be on the rise.

Weekly Shōnen Magazine
Cover of first issue, featuring sumo wrestler Asashio Tarō III
Editor-in-ChiefShintaro Kawakubo
CategoriesShōnen manga[1][2]
FrequencyWeekly
Circulation883,804[1]
(July–September, 2016)
PublisherKodansha
First issueMarch 17, 1959 (1959-03-17)
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
WebsiteWeekly Shōnen Magazine

It is one of the best-selling manga magazines. By March 2008, the magazine had 2,942 issues, having sold 4.55 billion copies, with an average weekly circulation of 1,546,567. At an average issue price of ¥129 ($1.29), the magazine had generated approximately ¥590 billion ($5.9 billion) in sales revenue by March 2008. In addition, about 1 billion compiled tankōbon volumes had been sold by March 2008.[3]

Jason Thompson stated that it is "more down-to-earth, as well as just a tad more guy-oriented" compared to Weekly Shōnen Jump and likened this magazine to "more like something you'd find in the guys' locker room."[4]

Features

Series
Main article: List of series run in Weekly Shōnen Magazine

There are currently 25 manga titles being serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine. Out of them, Ahiru no Sora is on hiatus.

Series title Author(s) Premiered
A Couple of Cuckoos (カッコウの許嫁, Kakkō no Iinazuke) Miki Yoshikawa January 2020
Ahiru no Sora (あひるの空) Takeshi Hinata December 2003
Akabane Honeko no Bodyguard (赤羽骨子のボディガード, Akabane Honeko no Bodigādo) Masamitsu Nigatsu September 2022
Blue Lock (ブルーロック, Burū Rokku) Muneyuki Kaneshiro, Yusuke Nomura August 2018
The Blue Wolves of Mibu (青のミブロ, Ao no Miburo) Tsuyoshi Yasuda October 2021
Brave Bell Meeb, Okane June 2023
The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses (女神のカフェテラス, Megami no Kafe Terasu) Koji Seo February 2021
Edens Zero Hiro Mashima June 2018
Four Knights of the Apocalypse (黙示録の四騎士, Mokushiroku no Yonkishi) Nakaba Suzuki January 2021
Gachiakuta (ガチアクタ) Kei Urana February 2022
Go! Go! Loser Ranger! (戦隊大失格, Sentai Daishikkaku) Negi Haruba February 2021
Hajime no Ippo (はじめの一歩) George Morikawa October 1989
Kanan-sama wa Akumade Choroi (カナン様はあくまでチョロい) Nonco June 2022
Kimura × Class Tōru Sumiishi, Nau Doi June 2023
Medaka Kuroiwa Is Impervious to My Charms (黒岩メダカに私の可愛いが通じない, Kuroiwa Medaka ni Watashi no Kawaii ga Tsūjinai) Ran Kuze May 2021
Mononoke no Ran (もののけの乱) Yōsuke Takeda October 2023
Rent-A-Girlfriend (彼女、お借りします, Kanojo, Okarishimasu) Reiji Miyajima July 2017
Seitokai ni mo Ana wa Aru! (生徒会にも穴はある!) Muchimaro April 2022
Shangri-La Frontier (シャングリラ・フロンティア〜クソゲーハンター、神ゲーに挑まんとす〜, Shangurira Furontia ~ Kusogē Hantā, Kamigē ni Idoman to su ~) Katarina, Ryosuke Fuji July 2020
To Your Eternity (不滅のあなたへ, Fumetsu no Anata e) Yoshitoki Ōima November 2016
Tune In to the Midnight Heart (真夜中ハートチューン, Mayonaka Heart Tune) Masakuni Igarashi September 2023
Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister (甘神さんちの縁結び, Amagami-san Chi no Enmusubi) Marcey Naito April 2021
Usayama Joshi Kōkō 2-nen 1-kumi!! (兎山女子高校2年1組!!) Yuki Shimizu April 2023
When Will Ayumu Make His Move? (それでも歩は寄せてくる, Soredemo Ayumu wa Yosetekuru) Sōichirō Yamamoto March 2019
Yowayowa Sensei (よわよわ先生) Kamio Fukuchi November 2022

Circulation
Circulation
Date(s)January–MarchApril–JuneJuly–SeptemberOctober–DecemberMagazine salesRef
March 1959 to March 2008 1,546,567 4,550,000,000 [3]
April 2008 to December 2008 — 1,755,000 1,720,000 1,691,667 67,166,671 [5]
20091,664,1671,633,3341,614,6161,593,637 84,574,802 [6]
20101,571,2311,565,0001,556,2501,551,819 81,175,900 [7]
20111,529,6931,491,5001,489,5841,472,084 77,777,193 [8]
20121,447,5001,436,0171,412,5841,404,834 74,112,155 [9]
20131,376,7921,357,0001,324,2091,308,117 69,759,534 [10]
20141,277,5001,245,4171,211,7501,192,267 64,050,142 [11]
20151,156,0591,127,0421,107,8401,085,110 58,188,663 [11][12]
20161,038,4501,015,659995,017986,017 52,456,859 [1][13]
2017964,158932,713883,804840,667 47,077,446 [13]
January 2018 to March 2018 815,458 — — — 10,600,954 [13]
March 1959 to March 2018 1,512,692[3][13] 5,236,940,319

Magazine Pocket

Magazine Pocket (マガジンポケット, Magajin Poketto), or MagaPoke (マガポケ), is an online web comic site run by Kodansha and tied in to their Weekly Shōnen Magazine line. It runs original manga created for the site as well as manga moved from one of the print magazines related to Weekly Shōnen Magazine. It opened on August 3, 2015.

Reception

The Weekly Shōnen Magazine achieved success in the 1970s and subsequently had increased sales. As a result, it became the top-selling manga magazine in Japan of its period, appearing popular amongst many otaku. But the position was later occupied by Weekly Shōnen Jump, when this competitor was born in 1968, knocking Shōnen Magazine off the top spot. Shōnen Jump had begun to circulate and dominate the manga magazine market. This started from the 1970s and continued throughout the 1990s, owed mainly to Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball.

In the middle of the 1990s, Shōnen Jump suffered the loss of Dragon Ball, as the franchise had come to an end in 1996, and thus lost much of its readership. Shōnen Magazine had now made a comeback in October 1997, regaining its original position as the top-selling manga magazine of its day until this was brokered in 2002. Currently, the two magazines have competed closely in terms of market circulation. Sales of the two magazines now remain very close. Circulation has dropped below two million.[14] In a rare event due to the closeness of the two magazine's founding dates, Weekly Shōnen Magazine and Weekly Shōnen Sunday released a special combined issue on March 19, 2008. In addition, other commemorative events, merchandise, and manga crossovers were planned for the following year as part of the celebrations.[15]

Others include Shōnen Magazine, published by Kobunsha of the same Kodansha group. Shōnen Magazine famously serialized Tetsujin 28-go, the first mecha anime from July 1956 to May 1966.

See also

References
  1. "Boy's Manga" (in Japanese). Japanese Magazine Publishers Association. September 2016. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
  2. Thompson, Jason (2007). Manga: The Complete Guide. Del Rey Books. pp. 338–339. ISBN 978-0-345-48590-8.
  3. "Shonen Magazine, Shonen Sunday Mark 50th Anniversary (Updated)". Anime News Network. March 18, 2008. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  4. Thompson, Jason (February 2, 2012). "Jason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga - Harlem Beat". Anime News Network. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  5. 2008 circulation figures:
  6. 2009 circulation figures:
  7. 2010 circulation figures:
  8. 2011 circulation figures:
  9. 2012 circulation figures:
  10. 2013 circulation figures:
  11. "Top Manga Magazines' Circulation Dropped 10%+ in 1 Year". Anime News Network. April 28, 2015. Retrieved August 13, 2016.
  12. 2015 circulation figures
  13. "Circulation figures "Boy's Manga" January-March, 2016". Japanese Magazine Publishers Association. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
  14. "Weekly Shonen Magazine Circulation Drops Under 2M".
  15. Shonen Magazine, Shonen Sunday Mark 50th Anniversary (Updated) - Anime News Network
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