was a
literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...
published irregularly by
Kodansha
is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...
since 2003 promoted as a "Fighting Illustrated Novels Magazine." The magazine featured young writers and a style derived from
light novels
A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a ''wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language ...
. The latest issue, Vol. 8, was published at the end of September 2011, and the magazine announced its dissolution with Vol. 9.
Del Rey Manga
Del Rey Manga was the manga-publishing imprint of Del Rey Books, a branch of Ballantine Books, which in turn is part of Random House, the publishing division of Bertelsmann.
History
Del Rey Manga was formed as part of a cross-publishing rela ...
released an English language edition in August 2008 and planned to publish at least two volumes total, with content culled from all issues of the Japanese magazine. Local language editions in South Korea and Taiwan have also been released.
Overview
Based on the prototype of the
doujinshi
, also romanized as ', is the Japanese term for self-published print works, such as magazines, manga, and novels. Part of a wider category of '' doujin'' (self-published) works, ''doujinshi'' are often derivative of existing works and created by ...
published by Bungaku Flea Market, the first issue was launched as part of a project to develop a new magazine project to commemorate Kodansha's 100th anniversary (in 2009). The editor-in-chief was the project proposer,
Katsushi Ōta
is a Japanese editor. As of 2020, he is president of Seikaisha, a publishing company established as a wholly owned subsidiary of Kodansha.
Career
Ōta was born in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture and graduated from the department of Japanese lite ...
(who was working in Kodansha's Literary Book Publishing Department No. 3 at the time of the first issue), and in the early stages the magazine was edited only by him. The format was a 17 x 11 cm paperbook book size, and the number of pages increased as the publication progressed, and branched out into sister publications like ''Pandora'' and ''Comic Faust''.
The contents consisted mainly of short stories written specially for the magazine, as well as reviews, manga, color illustrations, essays, and interview articles. The novels were mainly written by
Ōtarō Maijō
is a Japanese novelist from Fukui Prefecture. Winner of the 19th Mephisto Prize for ''Smoke, Soil, and Sacrifices'', and the 16th Mishima Yukio Prize for ''Asura Girl''. His short story, "Drill Hole in the Brain" was translated into English as p ...
,
Yuya Sato, and
Nisio Isin
, stylized as NISIOISIN to emphasize the palindrome, is a pseudonymous Japanese novelist, manga author, and screenplay writer.
Nisio debuted in 2002 with the novel ''The Beheading Cycle'' (the first in his ''Zaregoto'' series), which earned him ...
, who were members of the ''Tandem Rotor Methodology'' dōjin group and
Mephisto Prize The is a Japanese literary award for unpublished genre fiction novels, mainly for mystery novels. It was established in 1996 by the editors of ''Mephisto'' magazine and is awarded on an irregular basis. The winning work is published by Kodansha and ...
winners, and were later joined by
Otsuichi
is the pen name of , born 1978. He is a Japanese people, Japanese writer, mostly of horror fiction, horror Short story, short stories, as well as a filmmaker. He is a member of the Mystery Writers of Japan and the Honkaku Mystery Writers Club of ...
,
Tatsuhiko Takimoto
is a Japanese author best known for his novel '' Welcome to the N.H.K.''
Career
''Welcome to the N.H.K.'' began as a single novel by Takimoto with a cover illustratation by Yoshitoshi ABe, which was published by Kadokawa Shoten in Japan on Ja ...
, Takekuni Kitayama,
Kinoko Nasu
is a Japanese author, best known for writing the light novel ''The Garden of Sinners'' and visual novels ''Tsukihime'' and ''Fate/stay night'', and a co-founder of Type-Moon. He graduated from Hosei University with a major in human science.
...
, who was highly regarded as a scenario writer for visual novels, and
Ryukishi07
is the pen name for a Japanese writer who is the leading member for the group 07th Expansion. He is the creator of the ''When They Cry'' visual novel series, which includes ''Higurashi When They Cry'', ''Umineko When They Cry'' and ''Ciconia Whe ...
. Because of its editorial concept that emphasized visual elements, it was considered a light novel magazine in the broad sense of the word, but because of the above-mentioned origin of the authors, many of the works published in the magazine differed from the light novels of the same era, and some of the published works came to be called "Faustian." The word was also proposed as a genre of the novels.
Editor-in-Chief Ōta cited
Kouhei Kadono
is a Japanese author, best known for the ''Boogiepop'' series which has received multiple manga adaptations, a live action film, and two television anime.
Biography
Born on December 12, 1968, Kadono graduated from Hosei University.
In 1998 ...
as the originating author who directly influenced the formation of ''Faust'' from the world of light novels.
From the time of its first issue, the magazine employed
Hiroki Azuma
(born May 9, 1971) is a Japanese cultural critic, novelist, and philosopher. He is the co-founder and former director of Genron, an independent institute in Tokyo, Japan.
Biography
Azuma was born in Mitaka, Tokyo. Azuma received his PhD in ...
, Kiyoshi Kasai,
Tamaki Saitō
is a Japanese psychologist and critic. He specializes in the psychiatry of puberty and adolescence.
Saitō is Director of Medical Service at Sofukai Sasaki Hospital in Funabashi, Chiba.
Saitō is notable for his study of ''hikikomori'', a ter ...
, and others to support the authors in terms of commentary and critique. The first issue was scheduled to include a review by
Eiji Ōtsuka
is a Japanese social critic, folklorist, media theorist, and novelist. He is currently a professor at International Research Center for Japanese Studies, Kyoto. He graduated from University of Tsukuba with a degree in anthropology, women's fol ...
, who presided over its sibling magazine ''Shingenjitsu'' (
Kadokawa Shoten
, formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing based in Tokyo, Japan. It became an internal division of Kadokawa Corporation on October 1, 2013. Kadokawa publishes manga, light novels, manga anthology magazines su ...
), but it was not published because of its criticism of the high praise that Ōtarō Maijō was receiving from critics (it was later published in the January 2004 issue of Waseda Bungaku as "If the World Were a Village Named Ōtarō Maijō.").
The magazine featured an elaborate overall design, with original fonts for each novel and a fold-out cover.
From the perspective of the publishing business, the magazine was unique in that it took advantage of the bottlenecks in the publishing distribution system maintained under the
resale price maintenance
Resale price maintenance (RPM) or, occasionally, retail price maintenance is the practice whereby a manufacturer and its distributors agree that the distributors will sell the manufacturer's product at certain prices (resale price maintenance), a ...
and consignment systems, and brought the methods of weekly magazines and manga magazines for mass consumption, Kodansha's forte, to
literary magazines
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters ...
. As a distribution classification, the magazine was a
mook
Mook or Mooks may refer to:
Places
* Mook, Iran (disambiguation)
* Mook, Kentucky, an unincorporated community, United States
* Mook en Middelaar, a municipality in the Netherlands
Entertainment
* Mook (publishing), a portmanteau of magazine a ...
, and both the magazine code "Magazine 63899-48" and the
ISBN
The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.
An ISBN is assigned to each separate edition and ...
were assigned to it (up to Vol. 7).
Vol. 8 had no magazine code indicated and was treated as a standard book. It was also mentioned in the editorial postscript and in Ōta's tweet
that Vol. 9 would leave Kodansha and be published by Seikaisha, but there has been no further movement toward publication since then.
Prominent Contributors
*
Nisio Isin
, stylized as NISIOISIN to emphasize the palindrome, is a pseudonymous Japanese novelist, manga author, and screenplay writer.
Nisio debuted in 2002 with the novel ''The Beheading Cycle'' (the first in his ''Zaregoto'' series), which earned him ...
*
Otaro Maijo - a novelist who was awarded
Yukio Mishima Prize
The is a Japanese literary award presented annually. It was established in 1988 in memory of author Yukio Mishima. The Mishima Yukio Prize is explicitly intended for work that "breaks new ground for the future of literature," and prize winners te ...
from Shinchosha Publishing, 2003, for ''Asura Girl''
*
Yuya Sato - a novelist who was awarded
Yukio Mishima Prize
The is a Japanese literary award presented annually. It was established in 1988 in memory of author Yukio Mishima. The Mishima Yukio Prize is explicitly intended for work that "breaks new ground for the future of literature," and prize winners te ...
from Shinchosha Publishing, 2007, for ''The 1000 novels and a Backbeard''
*
Otsu-ichi
is the pen name of , born 1978. He is a Japanese writer, mostly of horror short stories, as well as a filmmaker. He is a member of the Mystery Writers of Japan and the Honkaku Mystery Writers Club of Japan.
He made his debut with ''Summer, Fir ...
*
Tatsuhiko Takimoto
is a Japanese author best known for his novel '' Welcome to the N.H.K.''
Career
''Welcome to the N.H.K.'' began as a single novel by Takimoto with a cover illustratation by Yoshitoshi ABe, which was published by Kadokawa Shoten in Japan on Ja ...
*
Kouhei Kadono
is a Japanese author, best known for the ''Boogiepop'' series which has received multiple manga adaptations, a live action film, and two television anime.
Biography
Born on December 12, 1968, Kadono graduated from Hosei University.
In 1998 ...
*
Kinoko Nasu
is a Japanese author, best known for writing the light novel ''The Garden of Sinners'' and visual novels ''Tsukihime'' and ''Fate/stay night'', and a co-founder of Type-Moon. He graduated from Hosei University with a major in human science.
...
*
Ryukishi07
is the pen name for a Japanese writer who is the leading member for the group 07th Expansion. He is the creator of the ''When They Cry'' visual novel series, which includes ''Higurashi When They Cry'', ''Umineko When They Cry'' and ''Ciconia Whe ...
Faust Award
The Faust Award is a fiction prize for which the magazine began accepting submissions at the same time ''Faust'' was first published in Japan. It was open to short stories, and in accordance with ''Faust's'' overseas expansion, it was also held in Taiwan and South Korea. In Japan, the results of the 5th Faust Award, which closed on March 31, 2006, have not been announced, and although applications were accepted up to the 6th round, the results remain unknown. Taiwan's Fúwénzhì Newcomer Award, which had ceased accepting entries since the publication of the Taiwanese version of ''Faust'' was suspended in the summer of 2007, was renamed the Fúwénzì Newcomer Award in October 2009, and was reborn as an award for full-length light novels and BL novels. In Korea, the contest was still accepting entries, but it was announced in Vol. 6A, released in July 2009, that the contest will now focus mainly on full-length works.
Publication history
Japan
* Vol. 1, October 2003, 528 pages, 933 yen (later 980 yen)
* Vol. 2, March 2004, 600 pages, 1100 yen
* Vol. 3, July 2004, 752 pages, 1365 yen
* Vol. 4, November 2004, 800 pages, 1470 yen
* Vol. 5, May 2005, 840 pages, 1575 yen
* Vol. 6A, November 2005, 908 pages, 1680 yen
* Vol. 6B, December 2005, 1002 pages, 1785 yen
* Comic Faust, June 2006
* Vol. 7, August 2008, 1240 pages, 1890 yen
* Vol. 8, September 2011, 1174 pages, 1890 yen
Taiwan
* Vol. 1, February 2006
* Vol. 2, June 2006
* Vol. 3A, August 2006
* Vol. 3B, November 2006
* Vol. 4A, August 2007
South Korea
* Vol. 1, April 2006
* Vol. 2, August 2006
* Vol. 3, January 2007
* Vol. 4, June 2007
* Vol. 5, April 2008
* Vol. 6A, July 2009
* Vol. 6B, August 2009
English
* Vol. 1, August 2008
* Vol. 2, June 2009
References
External links
*{{in lang, ja}
''Faust''
2003 establishments in Japan
Literary magazines published in Japan
Magazines established in 2003
Irregularly published magazines
Nisio Isin
Magazines published in Tokyo