Product Code Database
4= is an editorial category of Manga marketed toward young adult men. Together with (manga aimed at adolescent boys), (adolescent girls and young women), and (adult women), it is one of the primary demographic categories of manga.
emerged as a category in the late 1960s, when a generational shift motivated the manga industry to cater more to adult readers, and quickly came to combine mass-market appeal with more serious literary ambitions than those typically found in the manga of that era. The manga industry saw a boom in the 1980s, but since then, few new magazines have gained a foothold in the market; instead, readership of existing magazines has expanded. While magazines feature many of the same genres as manga, manga tends to feature more mature story lines and themes, and it has its own characteristic visual and narrative styles.
The target demographic of manga is men aged 18 to 30 or up to 40 years old. However, many works also appeal to older men, although the term is used less frequently the older the intended audience becomes.
However, by the late 1960s, Japan’s first postwar baby boomers were entering adulthood and at the same time artists began pushing the medium beyond mere entertainment. This shift gave rise to gekiga, a style marked by dramatic, realistic storytelling often aimed at mature audiences, which gained popularity in the Kashi-hon. Gekiga began to appear in commercially sold adult magazines. In March 1966, a 15-page gekiga by Takao Saito appeared in Bessatsu Weekly Manga Times, reprinted from his earlier 1964 work. This marked the first long-form gekiga published in an adult-oriented commercial manga magazine.
In May 1966, Comic Magazine was launched by Houbunsha, and some scholars such as Yoshihiro Yonezawa call this the beginning of seinen manga. Publisher Futabasha launched Manga Action in 1967. Lupin III by Monkey Punch, serialized from its first issue, became a massive hit.
Influential figures from the alternative manga scene, such as Sanpei Shirato, Shigeru Mizuki, and Kazuo Umezu, found a home alongside artists associated with the story manga tradition like Osamu Tezuka and Shōtarō Ishinomori in new seinen magazines like Big Comic, founded in 1968. Under the editorial vision of Konishi Yōnosuke, Big Comic helped define seinen manga as a “quasi-literary” form, blending mass-market appeal with the ambitions of serious literature. This editorial direction sought to bridge the gap between popular and pure literature ( taishū bungaku and junbungaku) and ultimately elevated the status of manga in Japanese cultural life. According to cultural historian Tomofusa Kure, seinen manga also gained popularity because Japanese literature, during the same period, became increasingly focused on internal psychological states, moved away from plot-driven narratives, and thereby lost mainstream appeal.Paul Gravett: Manga – Sechzig Jahre Japanische Comics. Egmont Manga und Anime, 2004. . S. 96–101.
Apart from Big Comic, important seinen magazines that emerged in the late 1960s were 's Young Comic , 's Color Comics, 's Manga Comic and 's Play Comic. These magazines offered more realistic, often erotic, and thematically complex stories that reflected the interests and experiences of a young adult readership shaped by Japan’s rapid postwar economic growth, rising university enrollment, and political activism. These magazines success These magazines' success influenced older shōnen magazines, which began including series for older readers.
The New Wave movement of the late 1970s and early 1980s significantly influenced the development of seinen manga by introducing experimental storytelling, mature themes, and a break from rigid genre and gender divisions. Artists like Katsuhiro Otomo started to work for major seinen magazines such as Young Magazine and Big Comic Spirits and brought a realistic, cinematic visual style and philosophical approaches to science fiction that reshaped the aesthetics of manga aimed at adult readers. The movement also encouraged cross-pollination between shōjo and seinen, with more female artists such as Fumi Saimon and Rumiko Takahashi stating to work for seinen magazines in the 1980s and contributing emotionally complex narratives that expanded the thematic and stylistic range of seinen manga.
Attempts were made in the 1990s to launch magazines aimed at older men, such as Big Gold, targeting the aging postwar generation. However, these efforts met with limited success and were eventually discontinued. Instead, readership of existing seinen magazines expanded. These publications began incorporating sequels to long-canceled shōnen series to appeal to aging fans.Angela Drummond-Mathews: What Boys Will Be: A Study of Shonen Manga. In: Toni Johnson-Woods (Hrsg.): Manga – An Anthology of Global and Cultural Perspectives. Continuum Publishing, New York 2010, , S. 68–70.
manga often explore similar themes to manga, but tend to feature darker or otherwise more mature story lines which may include graphic depictions of sex or violence. Genres of manga, too, are similar to those frequently found in manga - including [[action|Action fiction]], adventure, [[war|War fiction]], [[romance|Romance fiction]], slice of life, [[comedy]], and [[crime|Crime fiction]] - but some genres are more popular in than manga. For example, [[harem manga]] is perennially popular in publications.
The visual and narrative style of seinen manga often emphasizes action and makes heavy use of fast-changing perspectives, varied panel compositions, speed lines, subjective motion, and onomatopoeia^8. According to Thomas Lamarre, the mode of address in seinen manga is oriented around the role of the observer. In erotic series, in particular, the reader is positioned as a third-party viewer of events, typically as a young man observing the female characters. This framing shapes both the structure of seinen manga and its anime adaptations^13.
Sexism is pervasive in Japanese media made for young men, and manga is no exception. For example, manga often features highly sexualized images of schoolgirls meant to titillate heterosexual adult male readers, and when male nudity is present, it is typically depicted "as a form of sexual aggression and an assertion of social status".
| Weekly Young Jump | |
| Weekly Young Magazine | |
| Big Comic Original | |
| Big Comic | |
| Comic Ran | |
| Grand Jump | |
| Weekly Morning | |
| Comic Ran Twins | |
| Big Comic Spirits | |
| Young Animal | |
| Big Comic Superior | |
| Monthly Afternoon | |
| Ultra Jump | |
| Monthly Sunday Gene-X | |
| Monthly Big Comic Spirits | |
|
|
