Great year for Weekly Shōnen Jump as the pre-publication magazine celebrates its 50th anniversary. For the occasion, we tell you a little more about this legendary magazine!
The Weekly Shōnen Jump over time!
For those unfamiliar, Weekly Shonen Jump is a shōnen-style weekly manga pre-publication magazine , created on July 2, 1968 by Shūeisha. Originally, the Jump was a fortnightly for young male teenagers (hence the term shōnen, meaning young boy). Until April 1969, it was published alternately with the bimonthly Shōnen Book. At that time, the shōnen manga magazine, which began in 1958, was a competitor to Weekly Shōnen Magazine and Weekly Shōnen Sunday, respectively from publishers Kōdansha and Shōgakukan.
It was during its twentieth issue that Shōnen Jump merged with Shōnen Book and became the magazine currently known as Weekly Shōnen Jump. Nowadays, the Jump is published every Monday in the land of the rising sun.
But the Jump is not just a magazine. Indeed, the weekly also has a shop in Tokyo, the Jump Shop ! Enough to make us dream, don't you think?
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the One Piece series, the store had put on the colors of the saga, enough to allow visitors to dive into the world of the most famous pirate!
Note that a summer camp is also held every year at the Jump Shop in Odaiba, the Shonen Jump Camp. This is a summer camp with entertainment, games, etc. in which everyone can participate!
The world of pre-publication
Weekly Shōnen Jump is a weekly magazine. As said before, a new issue goes on sale every Monday. Initially, the magazine consisted of a dozen manga per issue. Nowadays, an issue includes about twenty series on average. Each consists of a 19-page chapter. Some series also have their first page in color, a bonus considered a reward. Indeed, during birthdays, the announcement of an adaptation of the series in anime or response to a poll, the first page of the chapter can be colored to reward the series. Some issues also include one shots of about sixty pages.
Before being published, most of the series were the subject of a one-shot. The latter are either published in the magazine in question or in a spin-off magazine. In addition, since August 2004, the magazine organizes every year a competition for beginner mangaka called "The Golden Cup of the Future". Mangaka participating in the contest publish one shot each. The winner had his one-shot pre-published in the magazine the following year. In 2007, the winner of the contest was SHIIBASHI Hiroshi with Nura: Lord of the Yokai and in 2008, TAMURA Ryūhei with Beelzebub.
For a series to continue to be published in Weekly Shonen Jump, it must be popular. Indeed, each issue contains a newsletter for a popularity survey. Readers are invited to give their opinion on their favorite chapters. The most popular series are placed at the beginning of the magazine and are highlighted with color pages or posters. Conversely, the series at the end of the magazine are the least popular series. As a result, they are more likely to be suspended, or even arrested, if readers do not vote enough for them.
You all know many Weekly Shonen Jump series! Because it is this magazine that prepublishes world-famous series such as One Piece, Dragon Ball or more recently My Hero Academia ! But series less known to the general public are also published, such as Yûna of the pension Yuragi or Hinomaru Sumo.There are currently 21 manga published regularly in the Jump.
The 50th anniversary!
As we told you, the Jump is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. For the occasion, the cover of issue 33, which will be released on July 14, 2018 in Japan, commemorates this anniversary in its own way. Indeed, the mangaka published by the magazine have drawn their favorite characters – other mangaka of course. We find for example, under the pencil stroke of Eiichiro ODA (One Piece), the character of Goku, from Dragon Ball.HORIKOSHI Kôhei (My Hero Academia) drew the famous ninja turned Hokage, Naruto! This colorful and lively cover allows us to discover our favorite characters in a different light.
Exhibitions were also organized as early as last year to prepare for the magazine's anniversary. The first exhibition entitled "Weekly Shonen Jump Exhibition VOL. 1: From the first issue to the 1980s – The Beginning of the Legend" was located on the 52nd floor of the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower. This exhibition dealt with the headlines of this period such as Harenchi Gakuen by Gô NAGAI, but also presented plates by Osamu TEZUKA for example.
The second exhibition took place between March and June 2018, taking stock of the impact of the 6.53 million copies published in 1994. The third exhibition will focus this time on the 2000s and should take place from July to September 2018!
In addition to these exhibitions, you can also find many articles celebrating the magazine's anniversary on the official website. Posters, mugs, t-shirts, etc., so many goodies representing your favorite heroes. Are you ready to fall for one of them?
And it's not over yet! The Weekly Shonen Jump has thought big for its fiftieth anniversary. To celebrate this, a collaboration with Nintendo was born some time ago to release the Nintendo Classic Mini: Family Computer Weekly Shonen Jump 50th Anniversary Commemoration Version ! The Jump therefore participates in the release of a NES a little special, containing different games compared to the classic version. This console was released on July 7 in Japan.
The Weekly Shonen Jump celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and yet has not aged a bit. On the contrary, the magazine counts among its latest series very promising manga! And you, what are the series published by the Jump that you prefer?
