is an editorial category of

Japanese comics Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is use ...

marketed toward

young adult A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...

men. In Japanese, the word ''seinen'' literally means "youth", but the term "''seinen'' manga" is also used to describe the target audience of magazines like '' Weekly Manga Times'' and ''

Weekly Manga Goraku is a Japanese weekly manga magazine published since 1968 by Nihon Bungeisha which targets a demographic of adult men. The magazine is published every Friday. Serialized works Listed alphabetically by title. *''69 Denashi'' (Yasuhito Yamamoto) * ...

'' which cater specifically to men's interests, and are marketed towards a demographic of young adult men between the ages of 18 and 40. ''Seinen'' manga are distinguished from ''shōnen'' manga which are for young teen boys, although some ''seinen'' manga like '' xxxHolic'' share similarities with ''shōnen'' manga. ''Seinen'' manga can focus on action, politics, science fiction, fantasy, relationships, sports, or comedy. The female equivalent to ''seinen'' manga is ''josei'' manga. ''Seinen'' manga have a wide variety of art styles and variation in subject matter. Examples of ''seinen'' series include: '' Berserk'', '' AKIRA'', '' 20th Century Boys'', ''

One Punch Man is a Japanese superhero manga series created by One. It tells the story of Saitama, a superhero who, because he can defeat any opponent with a single punch, grows bored from a lack of challenge. One wrote the original webcomic manga v ...

'', '' Golden Kamuy'', '' Ghost in the Shell'', '' Hellsing'', '' Kingdom'', ''

Initial D is a Japanese street racing manga series written and illustrated by Shuichi Shigeno. It was serialized in Kodansha's '' seinen'' manga magazine '' Weekly Young Magazine'' from 1995 to 2013, with the chapters collected into 48 ' ...

'', '' Maison Ikkoku'', '' Master Keaton'', '' Mushishi'', '' Oh My Goddess!'', '' Outlaw Star'', and '' Tokyo Ghoul'', as well as the formerly ''shōnen'' manga series '' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' and '' Trigun''. A common way to tell if a manga is ''seinen'' is by looking at whether ''

furigana is a Japanese reading aid consisting of smaller kana or syllabic characters printed either above or next to kanji (logographic characters) or other characters to indicate their pronunciation. It is one type of ruby text. Furigana is also kn ...

'' is used over the original

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequ ...

text: if there are ''furigana'' on all kanji, the title is generally aimed at a younger audience. The title of the magazine it was published in is also an important indicator. Usually, Japanese manga magazines with the word "young" in the title ('' Weekly Young Jump'' for instance) are ''seinen''. There are also mixed ''shōnen''/''seinen'' magazines such as ''

Gangan Powered is a manga imprint owned by Square Enix Holdings. It originated as a manga imprint for Enix before the company re-branded as Square Enix. It publishes manga in several anthologies aimed at different reader demographic groups in the Japanese ma ...

'' and '' Comp Ace''. Other popular ''seinen'' manga magazines include '' Weekly Young Magazine'', '' Weekly Young Sunday'', '' Big Comic Spirits'', '' Business Jump'', ''

Ultra Jump is a Japanese monthly seinen manga magazine published by Shueisha under the Jump line of magazines. Originally, the magazine was a special issue of '' Weekly Young Jump'' which was first issued in 1995. On October 19, 1999, the special issue bec ...

'', and '' Afternoon''. One of the earliest manga magazines published in Japan was a ''seinen'' publication: '' Weekly Manga Times'', was released in 1956. It was aimed squarely at middle-aged men, featuring erotic fiction and manga and talestwo of the main ''shōnen'' manga titles appeared: ''

Weekly Shōnen Magazine 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 hig ...

'' and ''

Weekly Shōnen Sunday is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, ...

''. Then in 1967, the first of the magazines aimed at younger men appeared: '' Weekly Manga Action'', which scored big hits with '' Lupin III'', '' Lone Wolf and Cub'', and later '' Crayon Shin-chan''. '' Big Comic'' followed in 1968, perhaps best known for its series '' Golgo 13''. The year 1972 saw the addition of '' Big Comic Original'', which featured ''

Tsuribaka Nisshi is a Japanese fishing-themed manga series written by Jūzō Yamasaki and illustrated by Kenichi Kitami. It has been serialized in Shogakukan's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Big Comic Original'' since 1979. It won the 28th Shogakukan Manga Awa ...

'', a manga about two older men who enjoy fishing; the manga was made into a series of popular movies. In 1979, the publisher

Shueisha (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The fol ...

, known for ''

Weekly Shonen Jump Weekly, The Weekly, or variations, may refer to: News media * ''Weekly'' (news magazine), an English-language national news magazine published in Mauritius *Weekly newspaper, any newspaper published on a weekly schedule *Alternative newspaper, als ...

'' for teen boys, entered the ''seinen'' market with '' Weekly Young Jump''. Many ''Young Jump'' series have been adapted into anime or live action TV programs, such as '' Elfen Lied'', '' Gantz'', '' Hen'', '' Kirara'', '' Liar Game'', '' Oku-sama wa Joshi Kōsei'', and '' Zetman''.

Magazines

A list of the top Japanese ''seinen'' manga magazines by circulation in the time-span from October 1, 2009 to September 30, 2010.

References

External links

Japanese Magazine Publishers Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seinen Manga Anime and manga terminology Men's entertainment

Magazines

See also

References

External links