Shinichiro Tsuzuki
Chief editor
Shonen Sunday (Weekly boy’s magazine)
Thursday, August 10, 2000
Syonen Sunday Editor, Mr. Shinichiro Tsuzuki (46 or 47 yr.) He has worked about 25 years at the publication of Syojo (Girls) weekly, bi-monthly, and monthly magazines.
April, 2000, started to work at Weekly Comic & Hobby Magazine, Shonen Sunday as a chief editor.
Shonen Sunday: weekly circulation 1.5 millions.
Shojo (Girls) comic: monthly circulation 200,000.
Background
- He was a child who was reading manga and did not stop reading them after finishing school. He was interested in creating publications.
About manga (Girls vs. Boys)
- There are big differences between Shojo (girls) and Shonen (Boys) manga: 1) the focus of the content, 2) the relationship between editors and mangaka, and 3) the volume of the manga. 1) Boys’ manga focuses on the theme of victory or defeat, which is the process of how the hero grows in the process of success. Girls’manga’s theme is always how the heroin’s love is accomplished. 2) Boys’ manga is created by a group of mangaka, editors, and readers. Girls’ manga is created based on the female mangaka as the center…since the theme of girls’ manga is mainly love based on their experiences and/or expectations as a private life novel. 3) Generally, there are 20(-28) major stories in boys’ weekly magazine and each has about 18 pages. There are about 10 main stories and each has 40 pages in Monthly girls’ manga magazine.
- The numbers of girls’ magazine’s readers are rapidly decreasing more than boys’ magazine. There are a couple of reasons. One is that girls tend to read fashion magazines rather than manga magazines. Another reason is that the theme of love in girls’ magazine does not attract girls’ diverse interests anymore unlike 20 years ago. (However, Mr. Tsuzuki cannot say if girls’ manga should change to create diverse themes like boys’ manga. It might be still okay to continue to depict the universal theme of love.)
- Although The company of Shogakukan is a kind of educational publications company, there are many manga magazines depending on the age group in gender. Each magazine is independent and does not share ideas to catch each age group of reader.
- The age group of Shonen Sunday is from 4/5 graders (10 yr olds?) to 30s. However, the majority are college/university students (18-22?).
- There are about 22 editors and each editor has about 2 pro mangaka and 5 new mangaka who are trained as future pro mangaka.
- New mangaka are developed round through monthly competitions and bi-annual Shogakukan competitions (the first prize is about 20,000 dollars). Also, mangaka themselves contact editors.
- Whether the content is enjoyable or not is more important for readers than whether it is easy to read. In other words, if the story is interesting, children will read it even if the picture is busy and it is not easy to read visually.
- He cannot judge if the existence of Comike is good or bad. But, it is true that Comike is a closed world where people share their own taste and preferences.
