is an editorial category of

Japanese comics 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 history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics an ...

marketed toward young adult men. In Japanese, the word means "youth", but the term " manga" is also used to describe the target audience of magazines like ''

Weekly Manga Times is a Japanese weekly manga magazine for men published by Houbunsha since November 1956. The publisher claims it was Japan’s first weekly manga magazine, and the magazine is published every Friday. While its name resembles that of its sister m ...

'' and ''

Weekly Manga Goraku is a Japanese weekly manga magazine published since 1968, by Nihon Bungeisha. The magazine is published every Friday. Serialized works Listed alphabetically by title. *''69 Denashi'' (Yasuhito Yamamoto) *''Ad Boy'' (Makoto Niwano) *''Aisu Otoko ...

,'' which write on topics of interest to male university students and workingmen. manga is distinguished from manga, which is for adolescent boys, and , which are intended for adult audiences and often contain explicit content. Some manga like ''

xxxHolic ''xxxHolic'' (stylized as ''×××HOLiC''; pronounced "Holic") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by the manga group Clamp. The series, which crosses over with another Clamp work, '' Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle'', r ...

'' share similarities with manga. manga can focus on action, politics, science fiction, fantasy, relationships, sports, or comedy. The female equivalent to manga is manga. Usually, Japanese manga magazines with the word "young" in the title (''

Weekly Young Jump is a Japanese manga magazine published by Shueisha. Launched in 1979, it is published under Shueisha's '' Jump'' line of magazines. The chapters of series that run in ''Weekly Young Jump'' are collected and published in volumes under the "Y ...

,'' for instance) are . There are also mixed / 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 merged with Square to form Square Enix. It publishes manga in several anthologies aimed at different reader demographic groups in t ...

'' and ''

Comp Ace is a Japanese computer game and manga magazine published by Kadokawa Shoten. ''Comp Ace'' began as a special edition version of another one of Kadokawa Shoten's magazines, '' Comptiq''. The first issue was released on March 26, 2005, and was p ...

''. Other popular manga magazines include ''

Weekly Young Magazine is a Japanese weekly anthology magazine published in Tokyo each Monday by Kodansha. The magazine started on June 16, 1980, and is targeted at the adult male () demographic. It was published bimonthly (under the title ), on the second and fourth ...

'', ''

Weekly Young Sunday was a weekly manga magazine published by Shogakukan in Japan since the first issue on March 27, 1987. It replaced ''Shōnen Big Comic was a bi-weekly manga magazine published by Shogakukan in Japan from 1979 to 1987. From 1976 to 1979, the ...

'', ''

Big Comic Spirits is a weekly Japanese ''seinen'' manga magazine published by Shogakukan. The first issue was published on October 14, 1980. Food, sports, romance and business are recurring themes in the magazine, and the stories often question conventional val ...

'', ''

Business Jump , was a Japanese seinen manga anthology published by Shueisha under the '' Jump'' line of magazines. The manga of ''Business Jump'' were published under the "Young Jump Comics" line. This magazine's mascot was an anthropomorphic, Western-style mou ...

'', ''

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 Afternoon is the time between noon and sunset or evening. It is the time when the sun is descending from its peak in the sky to somewhat before its terminus at the horizon in the west. In human life, it occupies roughly the latter half of the s ...

''.

History

manga magazines were preceded by ''Weekly Manga Times'', a weekly magazine for men that first started publishing in 1956, and by the 1959 emergence of two popular magazines: ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' and ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday''. The first magazines emerged in 1967 with 's ''Young Comic'' and

Futabasha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in , Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Futabasha is known for its manga works, and its 1967 magazine Manga Action first conceived of the manga category, decades before the other major companies tested th ...

's ''

Weekly Manga Action is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Futabasha. It is currently published twice a month, on the first and third Thursday. The magazine was originally formed as and began publishing weekly from July 7, 1967. It is considered the f ...

'', the latter of which scored big hits with ''

Lupin III , also written as ''Lupin the Third'', ''Lupin the 3rd'', or ''Lupin the IIIrd'', is a Japanese media franchise created by Monkey Punch. The series follows the endeavors of master thief Lupin III (character), Lupin III, grandson of gentleman t ...

'', ''

Lone Wolf and Cub is a Japanese manga series created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima. It was serialized in Futabasha's manga magazine '' Weekly Manga Action'' from September 1970 to April 1976, with its chapters collected in 28 ' volumes. ...

'', and later ''

Crayon Shin-chan is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshito Usui. ''Crayon Shin-chan'' made its first appearance in 1990 in a Japanese weekly magazine called ''Weekly Manga Action'', which was published by Futabasha. Due to the death of ...

''. Several more manga magazines began in 1968, including ''Big Comic'', 's ''Color Comics'', ''Manga Comic'' (also from ), and ''Play Comic'' (). The year 1972 saw the addition of ''Big Comic'''s sister magazine, ''

Big Comic Original is a Japanese manga magazine published by Shogakukan, aimed at an older adult and mostly male audience. It is a sister magazine to the manga magazine '' Big Comic'', the biggest difference being that it goes on sale twice a month in the weeks ...

'', 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 Aw ...

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

Shueisha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Shueisha is the largest publishing company in Japan. It was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The ...

, known for ''

Weekly Shonen Jump Weekly refers to a repeating event happening once a week Weekly, The Weekly, or variations, may also refer to: News media * ''Weekly'' (news magazine), an English-language national news magazine published in Mauritius *Weekly newspaper, any news ...

'' for teen boys, entered the market with ''

''. Many ''Young Jump'' series have been adapted into anime or live-action TV programs, such as ''

Elfen Lied is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Lynn Okamoto. It was serialized in Shueisha's Seinen manga, manga magazine ''Weekly Young Jump'' from June 2002 to August 2005, with its 107 chapters collected into twelve volumes. ''El ...

'', ''

Gantz ''Gantz'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiroya Oku. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Young Jump'' from June 2000 to June 2013, with its chapters collected in 37 vo ...

'', ''

Hen Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman. Hen, HEN or Hens may also refer to: Places Norway *Hen, Buskerud, a village in R ...

'', '' Kirara'', ''

Liar Game ''Liar Game'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Shinobu Kaitani. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Young Jump'' from February 2005 to January 2015. It was adapted into a Ja ...

and'' ''

Oku-sama wa Joshi Kōsei is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by . It started in the supplementary edition of Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Young Jump'', ''Young Jump Zōkan Mankaku'' in January 2001, and transferred to the main magazine in Oc ...

.''

Characteristics

manga often explore similar themes to manga, but tend to feature darker or otherwise more mature story lines which may include graphic depictions of sex or violence. Genres of manga, too, are similar to those frequently found in manga - including

action Action may refer to: * Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person * Action principles the heart of fundamental physics * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video gam ...

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

romance Romance may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings ** Romantic orientation, the classification of the sex or gender with which a pers ...

slice of life Slice of life is a depiction of mundane experiences in art and entertainment. In theater, slice of life refers to Naturalism (theatre), naturalism, while in literary parlance it is a narrative technique in which a seemingly arbitrary sequence ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

, and

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

- but some genres are more popular in than manga. For example, harem manga is perennially popular in publications. Sexism is pervasive in Japanese media made for young men, and manga is no exception. For example, manga often features highly sexualized images of schoolgirls meant to titillate heterosexual adult male readers, and when male nudity is present, it is typically depicted "as a form of sexual aggression and an assertion of social status".

Magazines

The following is a list of the top Japanese manga magazines by monthly circulation during the timespan of October 1 to December 31, 2024.

References

External links

Japanese Magazine Publishers Association
(archived 2 April 2007) {{DEFAULTSORT:Seinen Manga Anime and manga terminology Men's entertainment

History

Characteristics

Magazines

See also

References

External links