Young Magazine, one of the top Seinen magazines in Japan, is celebrating a 45th anniversary. And to help celebrate that incredible milestone, Kodansha published a print volume of Young Magazine USA. This volume was available for free at conventions and while supplies last at Kinokuniya bookstores across the US.
It’s been a long time since I picked up a copy of Young Magazine and it was an incredible experience to read the whole thing in English. By “whole thing” I mean more than 1000 pages of original Seinen manga by names that are well-known in the manga world.
The magazine starts off with a Ghost In The Shell Poster by Shirow, which is a nice opener. The stories are a fairly typical mix of action, horror and wtf, as one usually finds in Seinen magazines like Young, or Ultra Jump. Maybe a little less sex than usual. There were bunch of stories I liked, especially Yokai fighting manga “Kikikaikai” by Kyuri Yamada and Daisuke Itabashi’s “The Journey of a Dark Elf With Fading Powers,” both of which did some interesting things with the essential questions of what is a “normal” life.
But the reason I really wanted to talk about this magazine is that Gaku Keito has a sequel in this magazine to his hit manga series about a trans boy. “Boys Run The Riot – IN TRANSITION” presents us a Ryo who is still dealing with pressure from family and himself about his transition, and also making his way through college. There were two notable things about this manga – one, that Ryo’s classmates were not just accepting but banded together as Ryo’s allies. That was awesome. The second notable thing was Keito’s author’s note, in which he explicitly credits the enthusiasm of western fans for making this manga possible. For decades, western fans believed they had impact on anime and manga due to their overwhelming numbers, but in fact, sales outside Japan paled in comparison to sales within. But, recently, LGBTQ+ titles have shifted this trend (something I plan on writing about as soon as I can scrape some moments together!) And here is yet another data point. ^_^
Also of interest to queer readers is “Still You” by Kami Nishio, a story of two young men whose friendship undergoes stress and change. It was a very chill story about recognizing who one is that I kind of hope gets enough votes to be continued.
Which brings me to the other fun and interesting aspect of Young Magazine. Kodansha is using this and the complete online version you can read for free to discover stories that they will continue in English…the top 5 titles will be serialized on Kodansha’s online platform, K-Manga. You can vote once a day until November 10th. Voting gives you some points which you can “spend” on a gatcha game for rewards, so you get dopamine hits in all directions.
I hope you’ll grab a copy if you can or drop by the website and throw your votes in on the manga you would like to see continue. Young Magazine USA is an ambitious and impressive celebration of manga.
Ratings:
Overall – 8
