In Japan, the newest and hottest manga come out in periodicals -- magazines that are published weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. Such magazines carry a large number of continuing stories by different authors, in addition to short stories, updates about Japanese media stars, peeks at new video games and new movies, and other such features. Different magazines target different audiences: young children, adolescent girls, adolescent boys, adult men, and so on. Naturally, the competition is intense, especially in the adolescent boys' market. Among the biggest competitors in that market are Shonen Sunday, published by Shogakukan, and fellow giant Shonen Jump, published by Shueisha.
Magazines targeting adoloscent boys tend to feature a wide variety of genres and authors. Shonen Sunday currently carries over twenty different stories and series each week; rival Shonen Jump carried just under twenty in a recent issue. Among Shonen Sunday's current popular series are MEITANTEI CONAN (a detective series), JAJA UMA GROOMING UP! (about a boy living at a horse farm), H2 (a baseball series), "REKKA NO HONOO (magic and martial arts combat), LOVE (about a girl competing in boys' tennis), USHIO TO TORA (magic and demons), and DAN DOH!! (children's golf). Rival weekly Shonen Jump currently carries such stories as: RUROUNI KENSHIN (about a group of Meiji-era swordsmen), "JIGOKU SENSEI NUUBE" (about an exorcist school teacher and his class's encounters with ghosts and monsters), BOY (about a tough guy and street fights), HOUSHINENGI (pseudo-ancient Chinese fantasy), MIDORI NO MAKIBAOU (horse racing, with talking animals), and "Dragon Quest" (swords and sorcery fantasy).
The magazines take the various series that run within their covers and re-publish them into compiled book form. Very popular series (such as recent Shonen Sunday hits like RANMA 1/2 and MEITANTEI CONAN or Shonen Jump's old favorites like YUU YUU HAKUSHO, CITY HUNTER, and DRAGON BALL) may also be turned into TV shows or movies, which are often more familiar to American audiences. However, this conversion process often takes months, and frequently the TV plot lags far behind the most recent material. For example, people who were reading Shonen Sunday earlier this year will have seen the RANMA 1/2 finale long before anyone who is only waiting for the videos.
Those who want to be on top of the newest plot developments, as well as those in search of the latest and hottest new manga, find themselves relying on the popular weeklies such as Shonen Sunday. While not every story may suit one's tastes, the variety helps ensure that at least one series in every magazine will prove addicting. And that's exactly what the publishers of these weeklies intend.