Monthly Afternoon
October 2011 issue.
EditorTatsuya Shishikura
CategoriesSeinen manga[1][2]
FrequencyMonthly
Circulation69,310[1]
(July-September, 2016)
PublisherKodansha
First issueJanuary 25, 1986
CountryJapan
Based inTokyo
LanguageJapanese
Websiteafternoon.kodansha.co.jp

Monthly Afternoon (月刊アフタヌーン, Gekkan Afutanūn) is a Japanese monthly seinen manga anthology published by Kodansha under the Afternoon line of magazines. The first issue was released with a cover date of January 25, 1986. Afternoon has spawned many successful manga series such as Oh My Goddess!, Genshiken, Blade of the Immortal and Big Windup!. It is part of Kodansha's "1day" series, which also includes the magazines Morning and Evening. A spin-off magazine, named good! Afternoon, started publishing on November 7, 2008.[3]

History

The magazine was founded as a sister magazine to Morning by the same publisher. According to Frederik L. Schodt, stories that did not convince the editors of Morning would often land in Afternoon.[4]

Many of the artists working for the magazine used to publish amateur dojinshi and were influenced by lolicon amateur manga. Sharon Kinsella claims that around half of all series featured in Afternoon between 1994 and 1997 were inspired by lolicon aesthetics. She lists Discommunication, Gunsmith Cats, Assembler 0X, Seraphic Feather, Aqua ańd Oh! My Goddess as examples.[5]

From 1999 until 2002, Afternoon Season Zōkan was published as a quarterly spin-off magazine to Afternoon. After the magazine was suspended, some of its series, like Mushishi and Mokke, were transferred to Afternoon.

Newcomer award

Since 1987, the magazine hands out the newcomer award Afternoon Shiki Shō. In 2000, Kodansha published a selection of winners of the award in a book.[6]

Circulation and demographic

Like with most major manga magazines, the magazine's circulation has been declining since the 1990s:

In the late 1990s, the magazine's editors guessed that about a third of the readers of the magazine could be called otaku.[5]

Features

Ongoing

There are currently 27 manga titles being serialized in Monthly Afternoon. Out of them, Wandering Island is on hiatus.

Series title Author Premiered
Bitter End Roll (ビターエンドロール, Bitā Endo Rōru) Shu Sakura June 2021
Blade of the Immortal - Bakumatsu Arc (無限の住人～幕末ノ章～, Mugen no Jūnin ~ Nakumatsu no Fumi ~) Kenji Takigawa (story), Ryū Suenobu (art) and Hiroaki Samura (collaboration) May 2019
Blue Period (ブルーピリオド, Burū Piriodo) Tsubasa Yamaguchi June 2017
Chaos Game (カオスゲーム, Kaosu Gēmu) Daiki Yamazaki July 2022
The Darwin Incident (ダーウィン事変, Dāuin Jihen) Shun Umezawa June 2020
Fragile (フラジャイル, Furajairu) Bin Kusamizu (story) and Megumi Saburo June 2014
Heavenly Delusion (天国大魔境, Tengoku Daimakyō) Masakazu Ishiguro January 2018
Hellhound (ヘルハウンド, Heruhaundo) Ryōji Minagawa June 2022
Historie (ヒストリエ, Hisutorie) Hitoshi Iwaaki January 2003
I Want to Hold Aono-kun so Badly I Could Die (青野くんに触りたいから死にたい, Aono-kun ni Sawaritai kara Shinitai) Umi Shiina December 2016
Issak (イサック, Isakku) Shinji Makari (story) and Double-S (art) January 2017
Inui to Tatsumi -Siberia Shuppei Hishi- (乾と巽 ―ザバイカル戦記―) Yoshikazu Yasuhiko September 2018
Land of the Lustrous (宝石の国, Hōseki no Kuni) Haruko Ichikawa October 2012
Medalist (メダリスト, Medarisuto) Tsurumaikada May 2020
Minzoku Gakusha Akasaka Yaichirō no Jiken-bo (民俗学者 赤坂弥一郎の事件簿) Richard Woo (story) and Seimu Yoshizaki (art) August 2022
Mō, Shimasen Kara: Seiun Risshi-hen (もう、しませんから。 〜青雲立志編〜) Hideo Nishimoto January 2020
Ōkiku Furikabutte (おおきく振りかぶって) Asa Higuchi September 2003
Puu-Neko (プ～ねこ) Masayuki Kitamichi December 2003
Skip and Loafer (スキップとローファー, Sukippu to Rōfā) Misaki Takamatsu August 2018
Tengu no Daidokoro (天狗の台所) Ai Tanaka September 2021
Toppu GP (トップウGP) Kōsuke Fujishima May 2016
Under 3 (アンダー3, Andā 3) Shunji Enomoto April 2014
Vinland Saga (ヴィンランド・サガ, Vinrando Saga) Makoto Yukimura December 2005
Wandance (ワンダンス, Wandansu) Coffee January 2019
Wandering Island (冒険エレキテ島, Bōken Erekite-tō) Kenji Tsuruta September 2011
Wave, Listen to Me! (波よ聞いてくれ, Nami yo Kiitekure) Hiroaki Samura July 2014
Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga Ī (来世は他人がいい) Asuka Konishi August 2017

Past

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

References

  1. ^ a b "Men's Manga" (in Japanese). Japanese Magazine Publishers Association. September 2016. Archived from the original on November 4, 2016. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
  2. ^ Thompson, Jason (2007). Manga: The Complete Guide. Del Rey Books. p. 327-239. ISBN 978-0-345-48590-8.
  3. ^ a b 沙村新作の壁紙が届くメルマガ配信開始. Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. November 18, 2008. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  4. ^ Schodt, Frederik L. (1996). Dreamland Japan : writings on modern manga. Berkeley, California. p. 105. ISBN 1-880656-23-X. OCLC 34597965.((cite book)): CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. ^ a b Kinsella, Sharon (2000). Adult manga : culture and power in contemporary Japanese society. Honolulu. p. 138. ISBN 0-8248-2317-6. OCLC 42603226.((cite book)): CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. ^ "『アフタヌーン四季賞ＣＨＲＯＮＩＣＬＥ １９８７－２０００ 冬Ｓｅｌｅｃｔｉｏｎ』（漆原 友紀，熊倉 隆敏，木村 紺，篠房 六郎，真鍋 昌平） 製品詳細 講談社コミックプラス". 講談社コミックプラス (in Japanese). Retrieved 2022-11-09.
  7. ^ a b "Magazine circulations in 2004 and 2005". Archived from the original on 2008-05-01. Retrieved 2022-11-09.
  8. ^ "JMPAマガジンデータ". 2007-10-28. Archived from the original on 2007-10-28. Retrieved 2022-11-09.
  9. ^ "JMPAマガジンデータ". 2008-09-20. Archived from the original on 2008-09-20. Retrieved 2022-11-09.

External links

Monthly Afternoon series
Kodansha manga magazines
Categories