Shonen Jump Why They Are Successful

Based in the heart of Japan, Tokyo. Shonen Jump is a Japanese magazine company that publishes Japanese manga.

Operating for over 5 decades now, they’ve published successful, global phenomenons. Manga series that have revolutionised western pop culture, and are regarded as some of the best fictional stories ever told.

This article explores Shonen Jump’s brilliant storytelling genre, unravelling the recipe for their success.

Shonen Jump’s Origins

If you’ve ever read Shonen Jump manga, you’ll notice that the stories have congruent themes. One of the primary similarities, is that all stories star young male protagonists, embarking on journeys to fufill their dream.

This theme originated in the early beginnings of Shonen Jump, in the early 70’s Weekly Shounen Jump was intended to be a manga magazine, that targeted young male Japanese children.

Willpower, combat and adventure, are things that appeal to teenage boys. Shonen Jump began publishing manga series, centred around these themes.

Manga’s that would engage this younger demographic, inspiring them to become better people.

Early mangas include: Mazinger Z, Barefoot Gen and Doberman deka. These stories were simplistic and comedic. While also featuring dark undertones for mature viewers. They had a nice blend to them, but most importantly they encompassed Shounen Jumps central themes: “ Friendship, Effort and Victory”.

One decade later Shonen Jump would reach their “Golden Age”. An era that saw Shonen Jump experience, extreme rises in popularity and sales. International acclaimed hits like: Dragon Ball Z, Yu Yu Hakusho and Jojo’s Bizzare adventure, were released. These Manga’s bolstered Shonen Jump’s popularity, which lead to them becoming an established magazine.

Shonen Jump’s Endless Supply Of Manga

I think what’s massively attributed to Shonen Jumps success is their endless supply of great manga. Since Shonen Jump’s golden age, they’ve never struggled for content. Continuously publishing long-running manga series, that have amassed international popularity and have anime adaptations.

People have come to love their series’s, which results in flocks of fans who consistently engage with the story, following each chapter that’s released on a weekly basis.

Series’s like: HunterxHunter, Death Note and Yu-Gi-Oh are all manga series that came out during the late 1990’s/early 2000’s and all lasted for nearly entire decade. That’s an awful lot of great stories for fans to engage with for a very long duration of time.

This how Shounen Jump has kept their portfolio fresh and entertaining. New mangas are consistently released, while long standing mangas continue to reign.

New Generation Manga:

One Piece is weekly Shonen Jumps biggest success. A series released in 1997 based around pirates, that’s sold over 500million copies across 61 different countries.

While One-Piece has reigned dominant for over 2 decades, during this duration of time, multiple new and exciting manga's have emerged. The likes of Black Clover, Jujustu Kaisen, Demon Slayer and My Hero Academia have gained international recognition, and continue to rack up millions of sales on a annual basis.

Shonen Jump keeps their portfolio of manga’s fresh and flavoursome, with a wide variety of manga.

Shonen Jumps Digital Strategy

Weekly Shonen Jump magazine originally began selling physical copies of weekly manga in physical print.

Copies of Weekly Shonen Jump are still sold, however since the early 2010s Shonen Jump has transitioned towards selling digital copies of manga. Through selling virtually Shonen Jump has massively increased the accessibility for consumers to purchase manga, as all it takes is a quick subscription online, and customers get to access to a plethora of new and old manga.

Shonen Jump has accumulated over 700,000 subscribers, and is predicted to keep on rising.

Shonen Jump’s future, is promising.