Manga "Shojo Jump"

[Yu Yu Hakusho!]

[font=arial][color=deeppink][size=1]I've had a subscription to the well-known "Shonen Jump" manga-clearly, the title points out that it is targeted towards boys. I still read it because it has some good manga titles in it, but I got to thinking: Why can't there be a montly manga like this one for [i]girls?[/i]
1: Not enough demand. It's not fun to admit, but most girls wouldn't read this in the US, probably because they thought it was uncool or something. Girls in Japan read this stuff on a daily basis-maybe there will be enough demand someday. 2: What company would publish it? Who knows if Viz would bother with something like this. Tokyo Pop and Viz do publish single shojo manga graphic novels, but don't you think it's a lot eaiser and cheaper to get a huge magazine full of different manga?
t.t There probably is an 'unknown' manga thing like this for girls, but I don't know about it...it's probably one of those magazines for girls filled with odd advertisements and strange manga my parents probably wouldn't let me read. x.x
Although it may happed sometime, I'd just like to see another montly manga like Shonen Jump that is for the Shojo crowd out there. ^^ Maybe if enough of us gripe at the right people, something could be done.

^^ Share your thoughts![/font][/color][/size]

[Ryu_Sakura]

There is actually a weekly Shojo Jump in japan, whth that name, silly isn't it? But it's in japanese, and run by the same people who do Shonen Jump or whatever... I've never read Shojo Jump, but I still whish they made it for america. *pouts* Why can't I every get to read anything cool? Grr... Oh.. well... I hope they eventuallt get it out here.
EDIT: In Japan Shonen Jump is weekly.

[Yu Yu Hakusho!]

[color=deeppink][font=arial][size=1][b]Yeah, I know about all the manga in Japan...of course my idea to have it here originated from they way Japan has it. It'd be cool to have a weekly manga, but I like the idea of a monthly one better, so you can take it a little slower. It'd be cool if they had it avilable here, I agree, but I think only a company like Viz would do something like that! t.t[/color][/font][/size][/b]

[Kei]

[color=darkblue]Well, it is true that [u][i]Shounen Sunday[/i][/u] (as it's called in Japan) is weekly, I'm pretty sure that Yu Yu Hakusho! is correct in saying that a monthly magazine would be better, as it would be a lot of good stuff every month compared to a little every week.

She's also correct in assuming that a [u][i]Shoujo Sunday[/i][/u] magazine wouldn't nearly sell as well as Shonen Jump currently does. The main reason for this is that people already know the mangas from their animé forms that have been show on Cartoon Network and by extreme popularity in Japan (i.e. Naruto, which is still currently being aired in Japan). I know for a fact that there are plenty of girls who read Shonen Jump; all the people who have replied to this topic are examples. The thing is, shoujo manga sometimes focuses on girlish things (i.e. relationships, etc.), which may be okay for some, and not for others. The market is too spread out for it to really jump off. While a magazine that publishes [i]Peach Girl, Kare Kano,[/i] and [i]Revolutionary Girl Utena[/i] might sell, it wouldn't be anything that could compete with Shonen Jump.

And if anyone decided to run such a magazine, Viz would be the one to publish it, as they publish Shonen Jump.[/color]

[OtakuSennen]

[color=navy]Well, from what I've heard, [u]Shounen Sunday[/u] is supposed to appeal to both male and female demographics. I mean, Love Hina and Inuyasha were published in it, and those have a pretty wide range of fans, correct?

Technically, Shueisha's [u]Ribbon[/u] is their equivalent to a "Shoujo Jump." It is, like Jump and Sunday, a weekly anthology, and is immensely popular. I can't think of any popular titles that were published in Ribbon off the top of my head, though. I may check the official site later on tonight to check.

Lady Katana hit the major points that I agree with, though. Raijin Comics is published weekly, I believe, and it is a thin magazine. It doesn't quite give off the allure of a thick Shonen Jump, I imagine, to a new reader. 450 pages look a lot more cost-effective than a thin little weekly book, even though there technically are about as many Jump pages to Raijin pages by an end-of-month total.

I can imagine an American Ribbon, Shounen Sunday or Shoujo Jump coming to America eventually, but it would probably be in Viz's best interests to hold off for a while until their current Jump gains a bit more popularity, and romance manga isn't bunched together with action titles by the majority of the girls of the nation.[/color]

[densuke]

The American version of Shounen Jump is anomalous in several ways.

Americans are used to getting each title separately a la Marvel, DC or even Archie.
This is why US published manga is mostly graphic novels or sometimes monthly releases of single issues. This is not news to anyone I am sure.

More importantly, the phonebook-sized Japanese digests, regardless of the target audience, are full of more-or-less filler. There are on average two or three popular titles carrying the ball for each digest of anywhere from 9 to 20 or more titles. Even veteran readers complain of this sometimes.

Viz' "Shonen Jump" is a compilation of several successful shounen series which didn't all appear at the same time in Japan. This makes the digest a decent buy, but it also demonstrates that a similar number of successful and proven shoujo titles would have to be serialized in a similar shoujo digest. Despite the increasing number of shoujo titles being licensed in the US, the titles will have to be shown to be popular and be licensed by one US publisher in order for a digest to arise.

[Gentle]

[COLOR=deeppink][SIZE=1]Yes, true that it would be nice to have a [U]Shoujo Jump[/U] in America for trying to capture a different audience although [U]Shounen Jump[/U] does so already. Mainly, the female audience deals more in romance and drama genres. In Japan, some are these are a bit graphic and would take a few extra years for anyone in America to try and publish. Even though there are some graphic novels here now, they took some time before becoming public.

Finding a decent manga for girls to read would take time to do. Maybe even finding some that would appeal to both genders to increase it's popularity to make more money. Most likely Viz would be the one to do this. If even now, they were thinking of this, if would take years for the project to begin. If suggestion were given to them, it could speed up the process.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[sailor firestar]

well just to let you know there is a shoujo anthology out there for all us girls. Viz's Animerica Extra recently switched to an all shoujo lineup since the publisher is doing so well in the Shonen market already. Current titles include Fushigi Yugi, Banana Fish, Wild com., and a manga adaptation of the Revolutionary Girl Utena movie (they just finished the original manga a few months ago) check it out! :excited: