Shōnen manga
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Shōnen manga (少年漫画, lit. "boys' comics", also romanized as shonen, shounen or syônen) is an editorial category of Japanese comics targeting an audience of adolescent boys. It is, along with shōjo manga (targeting adolescent girls and young women), seinen manga (targeting young adult and adult men), and josei manga (targeting adult women), one of the primary editorial categories of manga. Shōnen manga is traditionally published in dedicated manga magazines that exclusively target the shōnen demographic group.
Of the four primary demographic categories of manga, shōnen is the most popular category in the Japanese market. While shōnen manga ostensibly targets an audience of young males, its actual readership extends significantly beyond this target group to include all ages and genders. The category originated from Japanese children's magazines at the turn of the 20th century and gained significant popularity by the 1920s. The editorial focus of shōnen manga is primarily on action, adventure, and the fighting of monsters or other forces of evil. Though action narratives dominate the category, there is deep editorial diversity and a significant number of genres and subgenres within shōnen manga, especially when compared to other comic cultures outside of Japan, including comedy, crime, romance, slice of life, and sports.
Terminology and etymology
Shōnen
The Japanese word shōnen (少年, /ɕoːnen/ lit. "few years"), meaning "young boy",[1] 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 system of segmentation is now openly used as a categorization system by manga publishers[2][3] and extends into works that are adapted from manga, such as anime.[4]
Shōnen manga
Shōnen manga refers to manga aimed at an audience of adolescent boys, with the primary target audience alternately defined as 9 to 18 years old[5] and as 12 to 18 years old.[6] Of the four primary demographic categories of manga (shōnen, shōjo, seinen, and josei), it is the most popular category in the Japanese market.[7][8]
The actual readership of shōnen manga, as is the case for all demographic categories of manga,
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 magazine enjoyed significant popularity during the 1920s and 1930s, with Yōnen Club selling over 950,000 copies. During the
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.[16] Manga developed during this period under the influence of artist Osamu Tezuka, with series such as Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion.[17][18] 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.[10] Science fiction stories about robots, space travel, and heroic space-faring adventures enjoyed popularity during this period;[19][16] 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.[16]
One of the first new shōnen manga magazines of the post-war period was
Modern era
The stylistic and thematic differences between shōnen and shōjo began to narrow considerably beginning in the 1980s, with widespread exchange of stylistic devices and themes. For example, the characteristic large eyes of shōjo manga became common in shōnen manga to convey the emotions of characters, and female characters have enjoyed greater prominence as both supporting and primary characters in shōnen manga. Other graphic storytelling techniques that originated in shōjo manga, such as montages of multiple panels, were imported into shōnen manga and have become common stylistic devices.[24] 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 shōnen manga of favoring cartoonish art styles over the more mature art styles of shōnen titles such as City Hunter and Fist of the North Star.[25]
Female manga artists also began to enjoy increasing critical and commercial success as shōnen manga creators.[26] As a result of the combined influence of ecchi and the rise of female artists, romance emerged as a subgenre of shōnen manga, especially romantic comedy.[27][28] When manga began to emerge in the Western world in the early 1990s, the shōnen category was so dominant in these new markets that it came to shape the image of manga as a whole.[24] While shōjo made gains in popularity by the 2000s, shōnen remains the most popular category of manga, both in Japan and internationally.[27]
Characteristics
Themes and genres
This thematic orientation of shōnen manga is readily inferred from the formal values or slogans that shōnen manga magazines assign themselves: for example, "friendship, perseverance, and victory" for Weekly Shōnen Jump,[29] and "courage, friendship and fighting spirit" for CoroCoro Comic.[30] The editorial focus of shōnen manga is primarily on action, adventure, and the fighting of monsters or other forces of evil.[31] Action stories are so dominant in shōnen manga that some manga and non-manga works are occasionally designated as shōnen not because of their ostensible target group, but because of their content focus on action and adventure.[32] Though action narratives dominate the category, there is deep editorial diversity and a significant number of genres and subgenres within shōnen manga, especially when compared to other comic cultures outside of Japan.[16] 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.[8]
The action genre is itself is expressed through a variety of subgenres, from historical and contemporary drama to science fiction and fantasy.[8] Shōnen 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.[33] Samurai appeared frequently as idealized role models for boy readers in early shōnen, 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.[34] Though shōnen 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.[35]
Narrative conventions
A shōnen 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 (変身, lit. 'transformation'), where the hero is able to switch between two personas with different appearances and personalities; examples of this device include
Typically, a shōnen protagonist is an outsider, or in some way disadvantaged compared to others, but who through training, perseverance, and willpower eventually succeeds against all odds.
Visual style
Comics theorist Neil Cohn regards the art style of shōnen as generally "edgier" than that of shōjo manga, and notes how most regular manga readers are able to easily distinguish between shōnen and shōjo based on visual appearance alone.[40] Visually, a shōnen protagonist often possesses what manga critic Jason Thompson describes as "insanely spiky hair" that distinguishes the protagonist's silhouette from that of other characters.[8] The eyes of shōnen characters in the post-war period are significantly smaller than those of characters in shōjo manga; large eyes are used in shōjo manga to better convey the emotions of the characters, an aspect which has historically been given less focus in shōnen manga.[36] A common visual device in shōnen action scenes is to depict the contours of figures with rough, coarse motion lines to give the appearance of movement.[41]
Role of women
Historically, the protagonists of shōnen 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 ecchi stories that developed out of shōnen 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 shōnen manga with a female protagonist. Since the 1980s, women and girls have played a more active role in shōnen manga, fighting alongside male characters and not merely as passive support.[42] Dr. Slump by Akira Toriyama was an early representative work of this development, with its mischievous child protagonist Arale Norimaki being among the first shōnen manga to depict this type of archetypal character as a girl rather than a boy. The 1980s also saw female shōnen manga artists rise to greater prominence: notably horror manga artist Kei Kusunoki, and Rumiko Takahashi with her romantic comedies Urusei Yatsura and Ranma ½.[43]
Especially in shōnen 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 so-called bishōjos (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.[44] While these objectifying tropes have persisted in shōnen manga, women have also developed more active roles in these fan service-oriented stories. A common romantic comedy trope in shōnen 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.[42] In the harem genre, which originated from shōnen 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.[45]
For certain shōnen series, a female readership who read in or interpret subtextual
Magazines
Shōnen manga is traditionally published in dedicated manga magazines that specifically target an audience of shōnen. At the industry's peak in the mid-1990s, there were 23 total shōnen 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.[30]
A manga magazine is typically several hundred pages long, and contains over a dozen series or one-shots.[47] The largest Japanese shōnen 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 kodomo (children's manga) demographic, but are often counted as shōnen magazines as they target an audience of school-aged boys.[8][30] A list of the top shōnen magazines by circulation as of 2015 are listed below:[48]
| Title | Circulation |
|---|---|
| Weekly Shōnen Jump | 2,380,000 |
| Weekly Shōnen Magazine | 1,110,000 |
| CoroCoro Comic | 920,000 |
| Monthly Shōnen Magazine | 540,000 |
| Weekly Shōnen Sunday | 370,000 |
| Jump Square | 260,000 |
References
- ^ "「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" [Meaning and usage of "shōnen" - easy explanation - Weblio Dictionary]. www.weblio.jp. デジタル大辞泉. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
- ^ Johnson-Woods 2010, p. 8.
- ^ a b c d Theisen 2013.
- ^ Fujimoto 2013, p. 172.
- ^ McCarthy 2014, p. 26.
- ^ Brenner 2007, p. 31.
- ^ Ledoux & Ranney 1995, p. 212.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Thompson 2007, pp. 338–340.
- ^ Brunner 2010, p. 62.
- ^ a b c d e f Drummond-Mathews 2010, pp. 62–64.
- ^ Brunner 2010, p. 73.
- ^ Shamoon 2012, p. 19.
- ^ McCarthy 2014, p. 12.
- ^ McCarthy 2014, pp. 16–21.
- ^ a b Schodt 1983, p. 51.
- ^ a b c d e f g Gravett 2006, pp. 52–59.
- ^ Thorn 1996.
- ^ Schodt 2007.
- ^ Schodt 1983, pp. 64–66.
- ^ McCarthy 2014, p. 24.
- ^ a b McCarthy 2014, pp. 28–34.
- ^ "George Akiyama: the unstoppable king of trauma manga". ComiPress. November 24, 2007. Retrieved September 6, 2022.
- ^ Connell, Ryann (March 30, 2007). "40-year veteran of ecchi manga Go Nagai says brains more fun than boobs". Mainichi Shimbun. Archived from the original on March 17, 2008. Retrieved September 6, 2022.
- ^ a b c Prough 2010, pp. 94, 97.
- ^ Thompson, Jason (March 10, 2011). "Jason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga – Dragon Ball". Anime News Network. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
- ^ Levi 1996, p. 14.
- ^ a b c d Drummond-Mathews 2010, pp. 70–75.
- ^ Thompson 2007, p. 301.
- ^ Thompson 2007, p. 339.
- ^ a b c Schodt 1996, pp. 82–84.
- ^ Knigge 1996, p. 247.
- ^ Levi 1996, pp. 9, 163.
- ^ Drummond-Mathews 2010, p. 66.
- ^ Drummond-Mathews 2010, p. 68.
- ^ Lamarre 2009, p. 51.
- ^ a b c Levi 1996, p. 9.
- ^ Drummond-Mathews 2010, pp. 64–68.
- ISBN 978-1-4215-0338-7.
- ^ "Interview with Masashi Kishimoto Pt. 2 - Feb 13, 2012". Viz Media. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
- ^ Cohn 2010, p. 189.
- ^ Hui 2013, p. 229.
- ^ a b Schodt 1983, p. 75.
- ^ Ledoux & Ranney 1995, p. 56.
- ^ Lamarre 2009, p. 216.
- ^ Perper & Cornog 2007, pp. 201–214.
- ^ Fujimoto 2013, pp. 172, 184.
- ^ Schodt 1983, p. 13.
- ^ "印刷部数公表". Japan Magazine Publishers Association (in Japanese). Archived from the original on December 21, 2015. Retrieved September 6, 2022.
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