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Sunday, January 15, 2006

JAPANESE MANGA ANTHOLOGY CIRCULATIONS, 2004

This post on forums.animeondvd.com alerted me that Japanese magazine circulation figures for 2004 were online. I had translated and posted the 2003 figures for manga anthologies, so I thought I'd do the same with these.

The format is:
Title (Publisher), 2004 circulation (2003 circulation, when known)
As with the 2003 list, I've tried to give the titles in the form you're most likely to see them referred to, so I've translated the words meaning "weekly" and "monthly," and words which are clearly Japanese transliterations of English words I've converted back into English. I've put translations of other Japanese words in brackets where they first appear.

The disclaimers to my post of the 2003 list also apply here. I have no idea whether these figures represent average circulation for the year, or the circulation of the latest issue, or whatever. And while this list is far from complete, I have no idea what the criteria were for inclusion. (For an indication of how far from complete it is, check out the Manga Magazine Guide, which lists more manga anthologies -- and publishers -- than you've ever heard of.) Likewise, I don't know whether the titles that appeared on the 2004 list but not on the 2003 list began publishing in 2004 or were being published in 2003 but were left off the list for some reason, and conversely with those on the 2003 list but not the 2004 list.

SHOUNEN (BOY'S) MANGA
Weekly Shounen Jump (Shuueisha), 2,994,897 (3,240,000)
Weekly Shounen Magazine (Koudansha), 2,721,633 (3,190,000)
Corocoro Comic (Shogakukan), 1,198,333 (1,222,000)
Weekly Shounen Sunday (Shogakukan), 1,160,913 (1,311,000)
Monthly Shounen Magazine (Koudansha), 1,041,417 (1,140,000)
Weekly Shounen Champion (Akita Shoten), 500,000 (800,000)
Monthly Shounen Jump (Shuueisha), 446,666 (510,000)
Monthly Shounen Gan Gan (Square Enix), 287,650 (300,000)
Bessatsu [special volume] Corocoro Special (Shogakukan), 240,000 (263,000)
Monthly Dengeki [electric shock or blitzkrieg] Comic Gao! (Media Works), 200,000 (200,000)
Comic Bom Bom (Koudansha), 186,666 (200,000)
V Jump (Shuueisha), 149,833 (310,000)
Magazine Special (Koudansha), 107,083 (110,000)
Shounen Ace (Kadokawa Shoten), 59,167 (300,000)
Dragon Age (Kadokawa Shoten), 55,667 (200,000)
Shounen Sunday Chou (Super) (Shogakukan), 41,000 (65,000)*
Monthly Gan Gan Wing (Square Enix), 29,100 (70,000)
Monthly G Fantasy (Square Enix), 28,350 (70,000)

SEINEN (YOUNG MEN'S) MANGA
WeeklyYoung Jump (Shuueisha), 1,136,666 (1,275,000)
Young Magazine (Koudansha), 1,044,489 (1,220,000)
Big Comic Original (Shogakukan), 1,030,000 (1,184,000)
Big Comic (Shogakukan), 677,916 (741,000)
Morning (Koudansha), 584,167 (660,000)
Weekly Manga Times (Houbunsha), 500,000 (540,000)
Weekly Manga Goraku [entertainment] (Nihonbungeisha), 500,000 (500,000)
Big Comic Spirits (Shogakukan), 460,354 (556,000)
Business Jump (Shuueisha), 416,875 (440,000)
Big Comic Superior (Shogakukan), 370,400 (428,000)
Super Jump (Shuueisha), 370,000 (410,000)
Manga Time (Houbunsha), 320,000 (400,000)
Manga Time Original (Houbunsha), 300,000 (380,000)
Weekly Manga Sunday (Jitsugyounonihonsha), 300,000 (300,000)
Kairakuten [Pleasure heaven] (Wanimagajinsha), 300,000 (150,000)
Young King (Shounengahousha), 280,000 (300,000)
Evening (Koudansha), 266,250 (330,000)
Weekly Comic Punch (Shinchousha), 259,271 (450,000)
Monthly Comic Dengeki Daioh (Media Works), 250,000 (250,000)
Young Sunday (Shogakukan), 245,417 (285,000)
Manga Action (Futabasha), 245,000 (220,000)
Gundam Ace (Kadokawa Shoten), 211,416 (300,000)
Young Animal (Hakusensha), 201,083 (240,000)
Comic Ran [disorder, riot] (Riidosha), 191,201 (200,000)
Young Champion (Akita Shoten), 180,000 (220,000)
Zoukan [special edition] Ran Twins Sengoku Bushou Retsuden [series of biographies of civil wars military commanders], (Riidosha), 180,000
Afternoon (Koudansha), 144,583 (140,000)
Comic Ran Twins (Riidosha), 134,571 (150,000)
Young Comic (Shounengahousha), 125,000 (145,000)
Monthly Comic Tokujou [special energetic] (Shuueisha), 99,166
Young King Ours (Shounengahousha), 95,000 (115,000)
Dengeki Moeoh [moe king] (Media Works), 90,000
Ultra Jump (Shuueisha), 72,000 (90,000)
Monthly Magazine Z (Koudansha), 46,041 (50,000)
Sunday Gene-X (Shogakukan), 39,167
Ikki (Shogakukan), 33,916 (75,000)

SHOUJO (GIRLS') COMICS
Ciao (Shogakukan), 1,065,000 (910,000)
Ribbon (Shuueisha), 729,167 (990,000)
Nakayoshi (Koudansha), 457,083 (520,000)
Bessatsu Margaret (Shuueisha), 378,333 (465,000)
Shoujo Comic (Shogakukan), 301,956 (265,000)
Hana to Yume [flower and dream] (Hakusensha), 300,416 (340,000)
Deluxe Margaret (Shuueisha), 218,333 (290,000)
The Margaret (Shuueisha), 216,666 (280,000)
Margaret (Shuueisha), 209,565 (260,000)
Cookie (Shuueisha), 203,333 (190,000)
Cheese! (Shogakukan), 174,833 (208,000)
LaLa (Hakusensha), 166,750 (200,000)
Petit Comic (Shogakukan), 121,250 (131,000)
Bessatsu Hana to Yume (Hakusensha), 106,166 (130,000)
Betsucomi (Shogakukan), 101,833 (110,000)
Ribbon Original (Shuueisha), 101,666
LaLa DX (Hakusensha), 71,833 (80,000)
Erutiin [All Teen?] (Kindaieigasha), 70,000 (70,000)
Petit Momo [peach] (Kindaieigasha), 70,000 (70,000)
Asuka (Kadokawa Shoten), 38,000 (200,000)
Ciel (Kadokawa Shoten), 23,417 (120,000)

JOSEI (Young Women's) COMICS
You (Shuueisha), 234,166 (270,000)
Dessert (Koudansha), 221,666 (220,000)
Be Love (Koudansha), 206,875 (240,000)
Bessatsu Friend (Koudansha), 203,333 (200,000)
Kiss (Koudansha), 202,583 (240,000)
The Dessert (Koudansha), 197,083 (210,000)
Young You (Shuueisha), 172,500 (190,000)
Elegance Eve (Akita Shoten), 160,000 (200,000)
Judy (Shogakukan), 156,833 (181,000)
Juliet (Koudansha), 153,333 (170,000)
Chorus (Shuueisha), 151,250 (180,000)
Office You (Shuueisha), 129,333 (140,000)
One More Kiss (Koudansha), 99,166 (130,000)
Silky (Hakusensha), 86,833 (100,000)
Feel Young (Shuueisha), 72,458 (80,000)
Flowers (Shogakukan), 58,000 (75,000)
Comic Aqua (Oukura Shuppan), 36,000

MRS. COMICS
For Mrs. (Akita Shoten), 160,000 (210,000)

*The 2003 figure is actually for a magazine called "Zoukan [Special edition] Shounen Sunday (Super)." I don't know whether these are the same magazine or not.

As you can see, 2004 was not a good year for manga anthologies. Of the 88 titles appearing both on the 2003 and 2004 lists, 74 declined in circulation, including all but one of the top ten titles in 2003 (Weekly Shounen Magazine dropped over 450,000), while only 8 gained circulation and 6 stayed the same. And none of the titles new to the 2004 list exactly tore up the charts: the circulation of the most successful one was only 180,000. Kadokawa Shoten, in particular, appears to have had a catastrophic year: four of the five titles of theirs which appear on both lists lost over 70% of their circulation. And now that I notice it, the titles which suffered the largest percentage declines seem to be disproportionately from smaller publishers (i.e. those other than Koudansha, Shuueisha or Shogakukan). Apart from this, my comments on the 2003 list still mainly apply, though there are now several titles on the list with circulations below 50,000, which there weren't on the 2003 list (though such titles were undoubtedly being published).

Those who like to keep track of whether manga are shounen, seinen, shoujo, or josei should note that a few titles have different classifications on the 2003 and 2004 lists, though none crosses the gender divide. Monthly Magazine Z is shounen on the 2003 list but seinen on the 2004 list; Dessert, The Dessert, Bessatsu Friend, Juliet and Flowers are shoujo, and Silky is "for Mrs." on the 2003 list, but all of these are josei on the 2004 list.

(Edited 6/25/06 to fix an error: "Deluxe Margaret" was mistakenly transcribed as "Deluxe Magazine")

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