was a monthly

manga magazine 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 used ...

published by Gakudōsha between December 1947 and October 1955. The magazine was important in forming and promoting

shōnen manga is an editorial category of Japanese comics targeting an audience of adolescent boys. It is, along with manga (targeting adolescent girls and young women), manga (targeting young adult and adult men), and manga (targeting adult women), ...

in post-war Japan.

Legacy

The magazine was first published on 20 December 1947. The magazine under the editorship of Kenichi Katō motivated its readers in its unique "readers section" to send in their own comics to the magazine for competitions. Many new artists emerged due to this; for example

Yoshihiro Tatsumi was a Japanese manga artist whose work was first published in his teens, and continued through the rest of his life. He is widely credited with starting the gekiga style of alternative manga in Japan, having allegedly coined the term in 1957. Hi ...

and

Hideko Mizuno is one of the first successful female Japanese shōjo manga artists. She was an assistant of Osamu Tezuka staying in Tokiwa-sō. She made her professional debut in 1955 with ''Akakke Kōma Pony'', a Western story with a tomboy heroine. She be ...

at a young age sent in manga to competitions of the magazine. Young artists published in the magazine were often contacted by other publishers for commissions.

Shotaro Ishinomori was a Japanese manga artist who became an influential figure in manga, anime, and , creating several immensely popular long-running series such as '' Cyborg 009,'' the ''Super Sentai'' series (later adapted into the ''Power Rangers'' series), ...

Fujiko Fujio was a manga writing duo formed by Japanese manga artists and . They formed their partnership in 1951, and used the Fujiko Fujio name from 1954 until dissolution of the partnership in 1987, upon Fujimoto's illness. The pair was best known ...

Jirō Tsunoda Jirō Tsunoda (Japanese: つのだじろう ''Tsunoda Jirō'', born 3 July 1936) is a Japanese manga artist. He is known in Japan for his horror manga series such as '' Kyōfu Shinbun'' and '' Ushiro no Hyakutarō'' as well as illustrator of the ...

and

Leiji Matsumoto is a Japanese mangaka, creator of several anime and manga series. His wife Miyako Maki is also a manga artist. Early life Matsumoto was the middle child of a family of seven brothers, and, in his early childhood, Matsumoto was given a 35m ...

started their professional careers in the magazine. Tezuka founded his magazine ''COM'' in 1967 with the intention to give space for new manga artists to experiment, like ''Manga Shōnen'' had been during its existence. The magazine managed to capture the new graphic developments of story manga, as it was popular in the

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

-based

akahon can refer to the early literary medium that circulated in Edo-period (1603–1867) Japan, circa 1661–1748, to the manga that was the dominant form of literary entertainment in Japan during the post-WWII period around 1946 to 1950 or to the co ...

market and gained a big readership. Kenichi Katō had previously been the editor of the popular boys magazine ''

Shōnen Club ''Shōnen Club'' (''Shōnen Kurabu'' / 少年倶楽部, later 少年クラブ in 1946) was a monthly boys' magazine begun by Kodansha in November 1914. The magazine initially featured articles, poetry and serialized novels, but it began to focus ...

'' at

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 ...

and had good connections to some of the most popular artists at the time. ''

Kimba the White Lion ''Kimba the White Lion'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese '' shōnen'' manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka which was serialized in the ''Manga Shōnen'' magazine from November 1950 to April 1954. An anime based on ...

'' by

Osamu Tezuka Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu''; – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, and animator. Born in Osaka Prefecture, his prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such ...

was the most popular series from the magazine.

Features

Among the series featured in the magazine were: * '' Bat Kid'' by

Kazuo Inoue is a Japanese former professional racing cyclist. He finished second in the Japanese National Road Race Championships in 2008 and 2014, and represented Japan in the 2008 UCI Road World Championships. He has won the elite road race competition at ...

and

Eiichi Fukui Eiichi Fukui (福井英一, March 3, 1921 – June 26, 1954) was a manga artist. Life Fukui graduated from middle school in 1938 and then began working in the animation industry. During World War II, he worked for Nippon Eiga sha, which produc ...

(1947-1949) * ''

'' by

(1950-1954) * ''Manga Classroom'' by Osamu Tezuka (1952-1954) * ''Donmai-kun'' (ドンマイ君) by Eiichi Fukui * ''Phoenix'' by Osamu Tezuka (1954-1955) * ''Nikyū Tenshi'' (二級天使) by

(1955)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manga Shonen 1947 establishments in Japan 1955 disestablishments in Japan Defunct magazines published in Japan Magazines established in 1947 Magazines disestablished in 1955 Magazines published in Tokyo Shōnen manga Monthly manga magazines published in Japan