Shōnen manga

Terminology and etymology

{{Transliteration|ja|Shōnen}}

The Japanese word shōnen, meaning "young boy", historically referred to juveniles in a general sense and was used by the Japanese publishing industry until the end of the 19th century to designate publications aimed at children and young people. The word shifted to its current usage of referring specifically to media aimed at adolescent boys, beginning with the practice of segmenting periodicals, especially manga magazines, by sex and age-specific target groups, which was established at the beginning of the 20th century and accelerated starting in the 1960s. This segmentation system is now openly used as a categorization system by manga publishers and extends into works that are adapted from manga, such as anime.

{{Transliteration|ja|Shōnen}} manga

ja manga refers to manga aimed at an audience of adolescent boys, with the primary target audience alternately defined as 10 to 19 years old and as 12 to 21 years old. It is the most popular category in the Japanese market of the four primary demographic categories of manga (ja, ja, ja, and ja).

The actual readership of ja manga, as is the case for all demographic categories of manga, extends significantly beyond this adolescent male target group to include all ages and genders. For example, a 2006 survey of female manga readers found that Weekly Shōnen Jump was the most popular manga magazine among this demographic, placing ahead of magazines that specifically target a female readership. The target group orientation of ja manga is particularly evident in the non-manga content of ja manga magazines, which include advertising and articles on topics tailored to the interests of young males, such as video games. Non-manga content often corresponds to a major manga series in a given magazine, for example, advertisements for a video game adaptation of the series or articles about an animated film adaptation of the series.

History

Pre-war and wartime era

Children's magazines with sex-segregated readerships have existed in Japan since the early 1900s. While early youth magazines were ostensibly unisex – Shōnen Sekai was the first youth magazine in Japan in 1895, targeting a readership of both boys and girls – in practice, the editorial content of these publications largely concerned topics that were thought to be of interest to boys. This provoked the emergence of first exclusively ja (girls) magazines in 1902, and ja magazines subsequently began to exclusively target a male audience.

Initially, these magazines did not publish manga. The first ja magazine to do so was Shōnen Pakku, first published in 1907. This was followed by Shōnen Club in 1914 and later Yōnen Club. Among the most successful and influential manga series in these early ja magazines were Norakuro by Suihō Tagawa, which follows the life of an anthropomorphic dog soldier, and Tank Tankuro by Gajo Sakamoto, about a robot-like character who can change his appearance.

ja magazines enjoyed significant popularity during the 1920s and 1930s, with Yōnen Club selling over 950,000 copies. During the Second Sino-Japanese War and Second World War, magazine sales declined and publications were used increasingly for wartime propaganda purposes. The manga content in these publications was reduced, and the series that remained typically focused on patriotic and militaristic themes, such as stories about samurai. In other stories, robots were depicted as fighting in the war against the Allied forces, as analogous to western superhero comics that depicted superheroes fighting the Axis powers during this same period.

Post-war era

During the post-war occupation of Japan, the Japanese publishing industry was rebuilt under initially strict guidelines. Stories focused on war, combat, and most competitive sports were banned with the aim of discouraging belligerence and hindering the use of manga for pro-Imperial propaganda. Manga developed during this period under the influence of artist Osamu Tezuka, with series such as Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. Tezuka was inspired by American cartoons, and pioneered the so-called "story manga": long-running manga series with a cinematic style and continuity across multiple chapters, contrasting what had previously been a medium defined by one-off comic strips. Science fiction stories about robots, space travel, and heroic space-faring adventures enjoyed popularity during this period; many sci-fi stories took themes and concepts from war comics and re-imagined them with pacifist ideals, such as Tetsujin 28-go by Mitsuteru Yokoyama.

One of the first new ja manga magazines of the post-war period was Manga Shōnen, which launched in 1947 and published works by Tezuka, Leiji Matsumoto, and Shōtarō Ishinomori. As post-war censorship codes were repealed and Japan entered a period of significant economic development in the 1950s, sales of manga and the number of manga magazines increased significantly, and ja and ja manga came to further establish themselves as distinct categories. The first works of sports manga also emerged from ja manga during this time; notable early works include ** by Eiichi Fukui as the first manga series in the genre, and Ashita no Joe by Asao Takamori and Tetsuya Chiba, which became one of the most commercially successful works in the genre.

1959 saw the launch of Shōnen Sunday and Weekly Shōnen Magazine, the first weekly ja manga magazines. Other weeklies, such as Shōnen Champion, Shōnen King, and Shōnen Ace, emerged in the 1960s. Weekly Shōnen Jump was first published in 1968, and would establish itself as the best-selling manga magazine across demographic categories, a position it holds to this day. Many of the most popular and commercially successful ja series originated in Weekly Shōnen Jump, including Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama, Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto, Bleach by Tite Kubo, One Piece by Eiichiro Oda, and Slam Dunk by Takehiko Inoue.

Modern era

ja manga became formalized as a category of manga aimed at an older male audience in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and many ja artists associated with the realist ja movement migrated to ja manga. The demise of the ja (rental manga) market led many ja artists to move into magazine publishing, including ja manga, bringing their distinct themes and style with them. As a result, ja manga came to deal with more serious and political themes, and saw an increase in depictions of violent and explicit subjects, as well as an increase in profanity. Significant artists of this era include Shigeru Mizuki, creator of the horror series GeGeGe no Kitarō; and George Akiyama, whose ja manga series Ashura depicts cannibalism, child abuse, and mass murder. Although this provoked a public backlash, it did not lead to the decline for the industry: series with anarchic, offensive humor became popular in ja and ja manga alike, with Crayon Shin-Chan by Yoshito Usui becoming an internationally famous example of this phenomenon. Manga artist Go Nagai originated the sexually charged ja genre with Harenchi Gakuen, which was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump.

The stylistic and thematic differences between ja and ja began to narrow considerably beginning in the 1980s, with widespread exchange of stylistic devices and themes. For example, the characteristic large eyes of ja manga became common in ja manga to convey the emotions of characters, and female characters have enjoyed greater prominence as both supporting and primary characters in ja manga. Other graphic storytelling techniques that originated in ja manga, such as montages of multiple panels, were imported into ja manga and have become common stylistic devices.

In the 1980s, combat-focused "battle manga" stories became popular, with Dragon Ball and Fist of the North Star emerging as representative works of this development. Manga critic Jason Thompson credits the success of Dragon Ball, first published in 1984, as originating a trend that has persisted to contemporary ja manga of favoring cartoonish art styles over the more mature art styles of ja titles such as City Hunter and Fist of the North Star.

Female manga artists also began to enjoy increasing critical and commercial success as ja manga creators. As a result of the combined influence of ja and the rise of female artists, romance emerged as a subgenre of ja manga, especially romantic comedy. When manga began to emerge in the Western world in the early 1990s, the ja category was so dominant in these new markets that it came to shape the image of manga as a whole. While ja made gains in popularity by the 2000s, ja remains the most popular category of manga, both in Japan and internationally.

Characteristics

Themes and genres

This thematic orientation of ja manga is readily inferred from the formal values or slogans that ja manga magazines assign themselves: for example, "friendship, perseverance, and victory" for Weekly Shōnen Jump, and "courage, friendship and fighting spirit" for CoroCoro Comic. The editorial focus of ja manga is primarily on action, adventure, and the fighting of monsters or other forces of evil. Action stories are so dominant in ja manga that some manga and non-manga works are occasionally designated as ja not because of their ostensible target group, but because of their content focus on action and adventure. Though action narratives dominate the category, there is deep editorial diversity and a significant number of genres and subgenres within ja manga, especially when compared to other comic cultures outside of Japan. This includes but is not limited to comedy, crime, romance, slice of life, and stories about activities such as sports and the lives of different types of working professionals.

The action genre is itself is expressed through a variety of subgenres, from historical and contemporary drama to science fiction and fantasy. ja war fiction has been alternately jingoistic or critical of militarism and violence, with Barefoot Gen by Keiji Nakazawa as a notable example of the latter. Samurai appeared frequently as idealized role models for boy readers in early ja, analogous to representations of cowboys in western comics; samurai stories shifted to comedy and sportsmanship in the post-war period, before returning to themes of idealized themes of good versus evil. Though ja manga typically attempts to convey a message of peace, the category has been criticized by individuals such as director Hayao Miyazaki for promoting overly simple good/evil dichotomies.

Narrative conventions

A ja protagonist is often characterized by contradictory qualities: short-tempered and cool, mischievous and rebellious, serious and cynical, clumsy and infallible, or who appears as a good-for-nothing but possesses hidden abilities. In some cases, the contradiction takes on a literal form in the form of henshin, where the hero is able to switch between two personas with different appearances and personalities; examples of this device include Yu-Gi-Oh by Kazuki Takahashi and Samurai Deeper Kyo by Akimine Kamijyo. Transformation abilities are often linked with bonds to a spirit, monster or robot. A major narrative device in ja manga is rivalry between the protagonist and his opponent, with a fight or a quest often appearing as a central element; Dragon Ball is among the most popular and commercially successful examples of this archetypal story.

Typically, a ja protagonist is an outsider, or in some way disadvantaged compared to others, but who through training, perseverance, and willpower eventually succeeds against all odds. Plots typically follow the basic structure of the hero's journey, with much of the story focused on the protagonist's training and transformation into a hero, and on characters who earn their status as heroes through effort and tenacity rather than by virtue of birth or assignment. For long-running series, the hero's journey repeats itself; as a new story arc begins, the enemy becomes more powerful and the danger to be overcome becomes greater. In addition to these external conflicts, a ja protagonist often also faces internal conflicts, typically focused around maturity and growing older. In contrast to ja manga, which often focuses on the thoughts and interior monologue of the hero, ja typically advances plot through dialogue and action. Happy endings are common in ja manga, but are not obligatory,

Visual style

Comics theorist Neil Cohn regards the art style of ja as generally "edgier" than that of ja manga, and notes how most regular manga readers are able to easily distinguish between ja and ja based on visual appearance alone. Visually, a ja protagonist often possesses what manga critic Jason Thompson describes as "insanely spiky hair" that distinguishes the protagonist's silhouette from that of other characters. The eyes of ja characters in the post-war period are significantly smaller than those of characters in ja manga; large eyes are used in ja manga to better convey the emotions of the characters, an aspect which has historically been given less focus in ja manga. A common visual device in ja action scenes is to depict the contours of figures with rough, coarse motion lines to give the appearance of movement.

Role of women

Historically, the protagonists of ja manga were almost exclusively men and boys; women and girls appeared primarily in supporting roles as sisters, mothers, or girlfriends, if at all. This was especially true of ja stories that developed out of ja manga beginning in the 1970s, with The Abashiri Family by Go Nagai as one of the earliest representative works of this development, as well as an early example of a ja manga with a female protagonist.

Since the 1980s, women and girls have played a more active role in ja manga, fighting alongside male characters and not merely as passive support. Dr. Slump by Akira Toriyama was an early representative work of this development, with its mischievous child protagonist Arale Norimaki being among the first ja manga to depict this type of archetypal character as a girl rather than a boy. The 1980s also saw female ja manga artists rise to greater prominence: notably horror manga artist Kei Kusunoki, and Rumiko Takahashi with her romantic comedies Urusei Yatsura and Ranma ½.

Especially in ja series that are aimed at an older audience, female characters are often presented in a manner that is attractive to the male target audience as ja (literally "beautiful young girls"). They exist as objects of romantic or sexual desire not merely for the male characters, but also for the ostensibly heterosexual male reader as a form of fan service. While these objectifying tropes have persisted in ja manga, women have also developed more active roles in these fan service-oriented stories. A common romantic comedy trope in ja manga since the 1980s has been to pair a weak male protagonist with a strong female love interest who is not only the target of his romantic and sexual desire, but also his good friend and confidante.

In the harem genre, which originated from ja manga, a male protagonist is surrounded by several female characters who desire him, and who are often more confident and assertive than he is; examples include Negima! Magister Negi Magi by Ken Akamatsu and Hanaukyo Maid Team by Morishige. In other cases, the male protagonist is unsuccessful in his attempts to woo the female character, or the story is focused around the originally naïve and infantile male protagonist maturing and learning how to develop healthy relationships with women.

For certain ja series, a female readership who read in or interpret subtextual homoerotic relationships between canonically heterosexual male characters constitute a significant proportion of the series' audience; this is especially true of series featuring male characters who are ja (literally "beautiful boys"), or who are perceived as such by readers. This reading of ja manga is expressed in the form of fan works such as ja (self-published amateur manga) and the boys' love (BL) genre of manga and anime, which includes both original and derivative works. Manga scholar Yukari Fujimoto notes in her analysis of the female readership of the ja titles One Piece, Naruto, and The Prince of Tennis that homoerotic interpretations of ja manga tend to be most common among titles that do not include prominent female characters that a female readership is able to identify with.

Magazines

Main article: List of manga magazines

ja manga is traditionally published in dedicated manga magazines that specifically target an audience of ja. At the industry's peak in the mid-1990s, there were 23 total ja magazines, which collectively sold 662 million copies in 1995. The total manga magazine market that year included 265 magazines, with a total of 1.595 billion copies sold.

A manga magazine is typically several hundred pages long, and contains over a dozen series or one-shots. The largest Japanese ja magazines in terms of circulation are Weekly Shōnen Jump by Shueisha, Weekly Shōnen Magazine by Kodansha, and Weekly Shōnen Sunday by Shogakukan; these publishers are also the largest publishers of manga generally. The fourth largest magazine, albeit by a significant margin, is Weekly Shōnen Champion by Akita Shoten, which was among the most popular manga magazines in the 1970s and 1980s.

The magazines CoroCoro Comic and the now-defunct Comic BomBom technically belong to the ja (children's manga) demographic, but are often counted as ja magazines as they target an audience of school-aged boys. A list of the top ja magazines by circulation as of 2015 are listed below:

References

Bibliography

References

1. "「少年(しょうねん)」の意味や使い方 わかりやすく解説 Weblio辞書".
2. "印刷部数公表".
3. Thompson, Jason. (March 10, 2011). "Jason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga – Dragon Ball".
4. (November 24, 2007). "George Akiyama: the unstoppable king of trauma manga".
5. (March 7, 2014). "How to Identify the Basic Types of Anime and Manga".
6. (March 30, 2007). "40-year veteran of ecchi manga Go Nagai says brains more fun than boobs".