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Shogakukan Confirms End of Young Sunday, Judy Mags
posted on by Egan Loo
The Japanese publisher Shogakukan has confirmed on Friday that it will cease publication of both Weekly Young Sunday and Judy manga magazines. The last issue of the Weekly Young Sunday seinen magazine will ship on July 31. The magazine premiered in April of 1987 as a biweekly publication, but moved to a weekly schedule in November of 1995. In the past, it published Rumiko Takahashi's One-Pound Gospel, Hideo Yamamoto's Ichi the Killer, and Shuho Sato's Umizaru. It currently publishes Masami Yuuki's Birdy the Mighty, Takatoshi Yamada's Dr. Koto's Clinic, Kuromaru's Kurosagi, and other popular titles that have been adapted into live-action or animation. Young Sunday once had a circulation of 800,000 copies in 1990, but the Japan Magazine Publishing Association reported that it had a verified circulation of 202,541 copies in 2007. Two of its rivals, Kodansha's Young Magazine and Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump, had verified circulations of 981,229 and 967,250 during the same time. Mainichi Shimbun first reported on Shogakukan's tentative plans on May 19.
Shogakukan launched Judy magazine in 1983 for the target audience of housewives. This monthly magazine will end with the October issue, which ships on August 23. Among the titles it has carried are Michiyo Akaishi's Shichō Tōyama Kyōka (Mayor Kyōka Tōyama), Setona Mizushiro's Kyūso wa Cheese no Yume o Miru, and Atsuko Sakō's Yoiko no Mikata. According to Mainichi, Shogakukan is planning to reorganize its women's comic magazines.
Source: Mainichi Shimbun
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