is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga magazine published in Japan by

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of Japanese dictionaries, dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are to ...

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, making it the fourth best selling manga magazine, only behind ''

Weekly Shōnen Jump is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the '' Jump'' line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many action scenes and a fair amount of comedy. The chapters of the series that r ...

'', ''

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 Young Jump is a Japanese ''seinen'' 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 ''tankōbon'' ...

''.

History

''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' was first published on March 17, 1959, as a response to its rival ''

''. The debut issue featured

Shigeo Nagashima is a Japanese former professional baseball player and manager. Biography Nagashima played baseball at his local high school, and on the Rikkyo University baseball team from 1954–1957. He joined the Yomiuri Giants in 1958. His jersey number ( ...

, the star player of the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They ...

on the cover, and a congratulatory article by Isoko Hatano, a noted child psychologist. Despite its name, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' was originally published on Tuesdays of each week, switching to Wednesdays in 2011. The "Sunday" in the name was the creation of its first editor, Kiichi Toyoda, who wanted the title to be evocative of a relaxing weekend. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'''s distinctive "

pointing finger Pointing finger may refer to: * Index finger, in human anatomy * Index (typography), an old punctuation mark which consists of a hand with extended index finger * ''The Pointing Finger'' (1919 film), an American film starring Mary MacLaren * '' ...

" that appears in the lower corner of every page on the left side of the magazine made its subtle debut in the 4/5 issue from 1969. This understated feature, ever present but easily overlooked, was referenced as a plot element in ''

20th Century Boys is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa. It was originally serialized in Shogakukan's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Big Comic Spirits'' from 1999 to 2006, with the 249 chapters published into 22 ''tankōbon'' ...

''. ''Sundays more noticeable mascot, a helmeted fish debuted in the 1980s. Prior to the 1990s and 2000s no serial in ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' had run over 40 volumes, but that began to change with series such as ''

Detective Conan ''Case Closed'', also known as , is a Japanese detective manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama. It has been serialized in Shogakukan's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' since January 1994, with its chap ...

'', '' Major'', ''

Inuyasha is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It was serialized in Shogakukan's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from November 1996 to June 2008, with its chapters collected in fifty-six '' ...

'', '' Karakuri Circus'', ''

Shijō Saikyō no Deshi Kenichi is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Syun Matsuena. Matsuena first published a manga titled ''Tatakae! Ryōzanpaku Shijō Saikyō no Deshi'', which ran in Shogakukan's ''Shōnen Sunday Super'' from 1999 to 2002. ''Shijō ...

'', ''

Hayate the Combat Butler is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kenjiro Hata. It was serialized in Shogakukan's '' Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' magazine from October 2004 to April 2017. Shogakukan released 52 volumes in Japan from February 2005 to Ju ...

'', ''

Zettai Karen Children ''Psychic Squad'', known in Japan as is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takashi Shiina. It was serialized in Shogakukan's ''shōnen'' manga magazine '' Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from July 2005 to July 2021, with its chapt ...

'' and '' Be Blues!'', which maintained a high level of popularity. In a rare event due to the closeness of the two magazine's founding dates, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' and ''

'' 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. The book ''Shonen Sunday 1983'' was published on July 15, 2009 to celebrate the anniversary and the magazines heyday. It reprints manga from 1983, such as ''

Urusei Yatsura is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It was serialized in Shogakukan's '' Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from September 1978 to February 1987. Its 366 individual chapters were published in 34 ''tankōbon'' volu ...

'' and ''

Touch In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch ( haptic perception), as well as temperature ( thermoception), body position ( proprioception), and pain. It ...

'', and has interviews with their creators as well as artists who were inspired by the series from that period, such as

Gosho Aoyama is a Japanese manga artist best known for his manga series ''Detective Conan'' (1994–present), also known as ''Case Closed'' in some English-speaking countries. As of 2017, his various manga series had a combined 250 million copies in print wo ...

. To celebrate ''Weekly Shōnen Sundays 55th anniversary, 55 new manga series were launched in the print and online magazines ''Weekly Shonen Sunday'', ''

Shōnen Sunday S , formerly known as ''Shōnen Sunday Super'', is a monthly '' shōnen'' manga magazine published by Shogakukan in Japan. History and background Originally billed as a special edition of '' Weekly Shōnen Sunday'', titled , it was renamed in 1 ...

'', ''Ura Sunday'', and ''Club Sunday'' throughout the year beginning in March 2014.

Features

Series

There are currently twenty-nine manga titles being serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday''. Out of them, ''

Magic Kaito is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama. It began in Shogakukan's '' Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' in June 1987. The story tells of a phantom thief named Kaito Kid. Aoyama put the manga on hiatus after the first two '' ...

'' is infrequently published; ''

Case Closed ''Case Closed'', also known as , is a Japanese detective manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama. It has been serialized in Shogakukan's ''shōnen'' manga magazine '' Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' since January 1994, with its c ...

'' is serialized on an irregular basis; and ''

Ad Astra per Aspera ''Ad astra'' is a Latin phrase meaning "to the stars". The phrase has origins with Virgil, who wrote in his ''Aeneid'': "''sic itur ad astra''" ('thus one journeys to the stars') and "''opta ardua pennis astra sequi''" ('desire to pursue the h ...

'' and '' Detective Conan: Zero's Tea Time''s continuations are yet to be announced.

Circulation

Editors-in-chief

* Kiichi Toyoda (1959–1960) * Yoshio Kinoshita (1960–1963) * Michio Tamio (1963–1965) * Yunosuke Konishi (1965–1967) * Yoshiya Takayanagi (1967–1969) * Yoshio Kinoshita (1969–1970) * Shizuo Watanabe (1970–1972) * Keizo Inoue (1972–1977) * Kazuki Tanaka (1977–1984) * Koichiro Inomata (1984–1987) * Harunori Kumagai (1987–1991) * Takashi Hirayama (1991–1994) * Harunori Kumagai (1994–1996) * Toyohiko Okuyama (1996–2000) * Shinichiro Tsuzuki (2000–2001) * Shinichi Mikami (2001–2004) * Masato Hayashi (2004–2009) * Masaki Nawata (2009–2012) * Yu Torimitsu (2012–2015) * Takenori Ichihara (2015–2021) * Kazunori Oshima (2021–present)

International versions

Elex Media Komputindo published an Indonesian version of ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' titled ''

Shōnen Star ''Shōnen Star'' was the Indonesian version of '' Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' published by Elex Media Komputindo (member of Gramedia group), the largest comic publisher in Indonesia in 2005. The magazine published Kurozakuro, Robot Boys, My Wing, Mid ...

'' from 2005 to 2013.

Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

began a ''Shonen Sunday'' imprint for titles in North America; starting with

Rumiko Takahashi is a Japanese manga artist. With a career of several commercially successful works, beginning with ''Urusei Yatsura'' in 1978, Takahashi is one of Japan's best-known and wealthiest manga artists. Her works are popular worldwide, where they have ...

's ''

Rin-ne is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi. It was serialized in Shogakukan's ''shōnen'' manga magazine '' Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from April 2009 to December 2017, with its chapters were collected into forty ''t ...

'', which was released on October 20, 2009.

References

External links

*
Viz Media's ''Shonen Sunday'' page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shonen Sunday, Weekly 1959 establishments in Japan Weekly manga magazines published in Japan Magazines established in 1959 Shogakukan magazines Shōnen manga magazines

History

Features

Series

Circulation

Editors-in-chief

International versions

See also

References

Further reading

External links