Editing Shōnen manga (section)

==History==
{{See also|History of manga}}

===Pre-war and wartime era===
[[File:Shōnen Club April 1929.jpg|thumb|Cover of the April 1929 issue of ''[[Shōnen Club]]'']]

Children's magazines with sex-segregated readerships have existed in Japan since the early 1900s. While early youth magazines were ostensibly unisex – ''[[Shōnen Sekai]]'' was the first youth magazine in Japan in 1895, targeting a readership of both boys and girls{{sfn|Theisen|2013}} – in practice, the editorial content of these publications largely concerned topics that were thought to be of interest to boys.{{sfn|Shamoon|2012|p=19}} This provoked the emergence of first exclusively {{Transliteration|ja|shōjo}} (girls) magazines in 1902, and {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} magazines subsequently began to exclusively target a male audience.{{sfn|Theisen|2013}} Initially, these magazines did not publish manga;{{sfn|McCarthy|2014|p=12}} the first {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} magazine to do so was ''[[Shōnen Pakku]]'', first published in 1907. This was followed by ''[[Shōnen Club]]'' in 1914 and later ''[[Yōnen Club]]''. Among the most successful and influential manga series in these early {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} magazines were ''[[Norakuro]]'' by [[Suihō Tagawa]], which follows the life of an [[anthropomorphic]] dog soldier, and ''[[Tank Tankuro]]'' by [[Gajo Sakamoto]], about a robot-like character who can change his appearance.{{sfn|McCarthy|2014|pp=16-21}}

{{Transliteration|ja|Shōnen}} magazines enjoyed significant popularity during the 1920s and 1930s, with ''Yōnen Club'' selling over 950,000 copies. During the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] and [[Second World War]], magazine sales declined and publications were used increasingly for [[Propaganda in Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II|wartime propaganda purposes]]. The manga content in these publications was reduced,{{sfn|Schodt|1983|p=51}} and the series that remained typically focused on patriotic and militaristic themes, such as stories about [[samurai]]. In other stories, robots were depicted as fighting in the war against the Allied forces, as analogous to western [[superhero comics]] that depicted superheroes fighting the Axis powers during this same period.{{sfn|Schodt|1983|p=51}}

===Post-war era===
During the post-war [[occupation of Japan]], the Japanese publishing industry was rebuilt under initially strict guidelines. Stories focused on war, combat, and most competitive sports were banned with the aim of discouraging belligerence and hindering the use of manga for pro-Imperial propaganda.{{sfn|Gravett|2006|pp=52–59}} Manga developed during this period under the influence of artist [[Osamu Tezuka]], with series such as ''[[Astro Boy]]'' and ''[[Kimba the White Lion]]''.{{Sfn|Thorn|1996}}{{sfn|Schodt|2007}} Tezuka was inspired by American [[cartoon]]s, and pioneered the so-called "story manga": long-running manga series with a cinematic style and [[Continuity (fiction)|continuity]] across multiple chapters, contrasting what had previously been a medium defined by one-off comic strips.{{sfn|Drummond-Mathews|2010|pp=62–64}} [[Science fiction]] stories about robots, space travel, and heroic space-faring adventures enjoyed popularity during this period;{{sfn|Schodt|1983|pp=64–66}}{{sfn|Gravett|2006|pp=52–59}} many sci-fi stories took themes and concepts from war comics and re-imagined them with pacifist ideals, such as ''[[Tetsujin 28-go]]'' by [[Mitsuteru Yokoyama]].{{sfn|Gravett|2006|pp=52–59}}

One of the first new {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} manga magazines of the post-war period was ''[[Manga Shōnen]]'', which launched in 1947 and published works by Tezuka, [[Leiji Matsumoto]], and [[Shōtarō Ishinomori]].{{sfn|McCarthy|2014|p=24}}{{sfn|Thompson|2007|pp=338-340}} As post-war censorship codes were repealed and Japan entered a period of significant economic development in the 1950s, sales of manga and the number of manga magazines increased significantly, and {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} and {{Transliteration|ja|shōjo}} manga came to further establish themselves as distinct categories.{{sfn|Drummond-Mathews|2010|pp=62–64}} The first works of [[sports manga]] also emerged from {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} manga during this time; notable early works include ''{{ill|Igaguri-kun|jp|イガグリくん}}'' by [[Eiichi Fukui]] as the first manga series in the genre,{{sfn|Drummond-Mathews|2010|pp=62–64}} and ''[[Ashita no Joe]]'' by [[Asao Takamori]] and [[Tetsuya Chiba]], which became one of the most commercially successful works in the genre.{{sfn|Gravett|2006|pp=52–59}} 1959 saw the launch of ''[[Shōnen Sunday]]'' and ''[[Weekly Shōnen Magazine]]'', the first weekly {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} manga magazines.{{sfn|McCarthy|2014|pp=28–34}}{{sfn|Thompson|2007|pp=338-340}} Other weeklies, such as ''[[Shōnen Champion]]'', ''[[Shōnen King]]'', and ''[[Shōnen Ace]]'', emerged in the 1960s.{{sfn|Drummond-Mathews|2010|pp=62–64}}{{sfn|Gravett|2006|pp=52–59}} ''[[Weekly Shōnen Jump]]'' was first published in 1968, and would establish itself as the best-selling manga magazine across demographic categories, a position it holds to this day. Many of the most popular and commercially successful {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} series originated in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'', including ''[[Dragon Ball (manga)|Dragon Ball]]'' by [[Akira Toriyama]], ''[[Naruto]]'' by [[Masashi Kishimoto]], ''[[Bleach (manga)|Bleach]]'' by [[Tite Kubo]], ''[[One Piece]]'' by [[Eiichiro Oda]], and ''[[Slam Dunk (manga)|Slam Dunk]]'' by [[Takehiko Inoue]].{{sfn|Thompson|2007|pp=338-340}}

===Modern era===
[[seinen manga|{{Transliteration|ja|Seinen}} manga]] became formalized as a category of manga aimed at an older male audience in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and many {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} artists associated with the realist {{Transliteration|ja|[[gekiga]]}} movement migrated to {{Transliteration|ja|seinen}} manga. The demise of the {{Transliteration|ja|[[kashi-hon]]}} (rental manga) market led many {{Transliteration|ja|kashi-hon}} artists to move into magazine publishing, including {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} manga, bringing their distinct themes and style with them. As a result, {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} manga came to deal with more serious and political themes, and saw an increase in depictions of violent and explicit subjects, as well as an increase in profanity. Significant artists of this era include [[Shigeru Mizuki]],{{sfn|McCarthy|2014|pp=28–34}} creator of the horror series ''[[GeGeGe no Kitarō]]''; and [[George Akiyama]], whose {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} manga series ''Ashura'' depicts cannibalism, child abuse, and mass murder.<ref name="ComiPress"/> Although this provoked a public backlash, it did not lead to the decline for the industry: series with anarchic, offensive humor became popular in {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} and {{Transliteration|ja|seinen}} manga alike, with ''[[Crayon Shin-Chan]]'' by [[Yoshito Usui]] becoming an internationally famous example of this phenomenon.{{sfn|Drummond-Mathews|2010|pp=62–64}} Manga artist [[Go Nagai]] originated the sexually-charged {{Transliteration|ja|[[ecchi]]}} genre with ''[[Harenchi Gakuen]]'', which was serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump''.<ref name="Mainichi"/>
 
The stylistic and thematic differences between {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} and {{Transliteration|ja|shōjo}} began to narrow considerably beginning in the 1980s, with widespread exchange of stylistic devices and themes. For example, the characteristic [[Shōjo manga#Large eyes|large eyes]] of {{Transliteration|ja|shōjo}} manga became common in {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} manga to convey the emotions of characters, and female characters have enjoyed greater prominence as both supporting and primary characters in {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} manga. Other graphic storytelling techniques that originated in {{Transliteration|ja|shōjo}} manga, such as montages of multiple [[Panel (comics)|panels]], were imported into {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} manga and have become common stylistic devices.{{sfn|Prough|2010|pp=94, 97}} In the 1980s, combat-focused "battle manga" stories became popular, with ''Dragon Ball'' and ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'' emerging as representative works of this development. Manga critic [[Jason Thompson (writer)|Jason Thompson]] credits the success of ''Dragon Ball'', first published in 1984, as originating a trend that has persisted to contemporary {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} manga of favoring cartoonish art styles over the more mature art styles of {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} titles such as ''[[City Hunter]]'' and ''Fist of the North Star''.<ref name="ANNDragonBall"/>

Female manga artists also began to enjoy increasing critical and commercial success as {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} manga creators.{{Sfn|Levi|1996|p=14}} As a result of the combined influence of {{Transliteration|ja|ecchi}} and the rise of female artists, [[List of romance manga|romance]] emerged as a subgenre of {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} manga, especially [[romantic comedy]].{{sfn|Drummond-Mathews|2010|pp=70–75}}{{sfn|Thompson|2007|p=301}} When manga began to emerge in the Western world in the early 1990s, the {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} category was so dominant in these new markets that it came to shape the image of manga as a whole.{{sfn|Prough|2010|pp=94, 97}} While {{Transliteration|ja|shōjo}} made gains in popularity by the 2000s, {{Transliteration|ja|shōnen}} remains the most popular category of manga, both in Japan and internationally.{{sfn|Drummond-Mathews|2010|pp=70–75}}