Monthly Afternoon Explained

Editor:	Tatsuya Shishikura
Frequency:	Monthly
Circulation:	69,310 (July–September, 2016)
Category:	Seinen manga^[1] ^[2]
Publisher:	Kodansha
Firstdate:	January 25, 1986
Country:	Japan
Based:	Tokyo
Language:	Japanese

is a Japanese monthly 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 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 and were influenced by amateur manga. Sharon Kinsella claims that around half of all series featured in Afternoon between 1994 and 1997 were inspired by 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:

• 2004: 144.500^[7]
• 2005: 133.800
• 2006: 127.400^[8]
• 2007: 119.666^[9]
• 2016: 69.310

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

Features

Ongoing

There are currently 25 manga titles being serialized in Monthly Afternoon. Out of them, Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga Ī and Wandering Island is on hiatus.

Series title	Author	Premiered
	Bomhat
	Shu Sakura
	Tsubasa Yamaguchi
	Shun Umezawa
	Bin Kusamizu (story) and Megumi Saburo
	Masakazu Ishiguro
	Ryōji Minagawa
	Umi Shiina
	Shinji Makari (story) and Double-S (art)
	Tsurumaikada
	Richard Woo (story) and Seimu Yoshizaki (art)
	Hideo Nishimoto
	OMOCAT (story) and Nui Konoito (art)
	Masayuki Kitamichi
	Misaki Takamatsu
	Ai Tanaka
	Shunji Enomoto
	Makoto Yukimura
	Coffee
	Kenji Tsuruta
	Hiroaki Samura
	Asuka Konishi

Past

1980s

• by Kōsuke Fujishima (1988–2014)
• by Norifusa Mita (1989)
• by Hitoshi Iwaaki (1989–1994) (moved from Morning Open Zōkan)
• Spirit of Wonder by Kenji Tsuruta (1989–1994) (originally serialized in Weekly Morning)

1990s

• by Kia Asamiya (1990–1992)
• by Kenichi Sonoda (1991–1997)
• by Riichi Ueshiba (1991–1999)
• by Tsutomu Takahashi (1992–1999)
• by Kia Asamiya (1992–1995)
• by Kazuichi Hanawa (1992–1994)
• by Hiroaki Samura (1993–2012)
• by Yo Morimoto, Toshiya Takeda (story) and Hiroyuki Utatane (art) (1993–2008)
• by Daisuke Igarashi (1994–1996)
• by Shinji Makari (story) and Akana Shu (art) (1994–2004)
• by Hitoshi Ashinano (1994–2006)
• by Mohiro Kitoh (1995–1997)
• Blame! by Tsutomu Nihei (1997–2003)
• by Satoshi Shiki (1997–2003)
• by Kenichi Sonoda (1997–2004)
• by Hiroki Endo (1997–2008)
• by Mohiro Kitoh (1998–2003)
• by Kon Kimura (1998–2006)
• by Yoshito Asari (1999–2000)

2000s

• by Shohei Manabe (2000)
• by Iou Kuroda (2000–2002)
• by Riichi Ueshiba (2001–2003)
• by Kenji Tsuruta (2001–2002)
• by Yoshito Asari (2001–2009)
• by Shimoku Kio (2002–2016)
• by Daisuke Igarashi (2002–2005)
• by Yuki Urushibara (2002–2008) (moved from Afternoon Season Zōkan)
• by Takatoshi Kumakura (2003–2009) (moved from Afternoon Season Zōkan)
• Shadow Skill by Megumu Okada (2003–2006)
• by Minoru Toyoda (2003–2005)
• by Tooru Fujisawa (2003–2004)
• by Kia Asamiya (2003)
• by Akira Hiramoto (2003–2008) (transferred to Young Magazine the 3rd)
• by Makoto Shinkai (original work) and Sumomo Yumeka (2004–2005)
• by Masaru Katori (story) and Jiro Ando (art) (2004–2008)
• by Yuzo Takada (2004–2008)
• Gunsmith Cats BURST by Kenichi Sonoda (2004–2008)
• by Harutoshi Fukui (original novel), Takashi Nagasaki and Takayuki Kosai (2005–2007)
• by Mahiro Maeda (2005–2008)
• by Mami Kashiwabara (2005–2011)
• by Makoto Shinkai (original work) and Sumomo Yumeka (2005–2006)
• by Riichi Ueshiba (2006–2014)
• by Daisaku Tsuru (2006–2010)
• by Yutaka Tanaka (2006–2009)
• by Kazuki Nakashima (original story) and Una Hamana (2007–2009)
• by Hitoshi Ashinano (2007–2013)
• by Haru Akiyama (2008–2011)
• by Shimoku Kio (2008–2010)
• by Yoshiki Tanaka (story) and Narumi Kakinouchi (art) (2009)
• by Tsutomu Nihei (2009–2015)
• by Yuki Urushibara (2009–2010)

2010s

• by Yoshiki Tanaka (story) and Narumi Kakinouchi (art) (2010)
• by Makoto Shinkai (story) and Seike Yukiko (art) (2010–2011)
• by Kenichi Sonoda (2010–2012)
• by Tetsuya Imai (2011)
• by Kenshin Hidekawa (2011–2015)
• by Yoshiki Tanaka (story) and Narumi Kakinouchi (art) (2012)
• by Haruko Ichikawa (2012–2024)
• by Yoshiki Tanaka (story) and Narumi Kakinouchi (art) (2012–2013)
• by Ao Akato (2013)
• by Kaori Ozaki (2013)
• by Makoto Shinkai (story) and Midori Motohashi (art) (2013)
• by Yuri Shibamura (story) and Daisuke Kimura (art) (2013–2021)
• by Daisuke Igarashi (2015–2019)
• Black-Box by Tsutomu Takahashi (2015–2019)
• by Makoto Shinkai (story) and Tsubasa Yamaguchi (art) (2016)
• by Ao Akato (2016)
• by Yu Yoshidamaru (2016–2019)
• by Yuki Shirono (2016–2018)
• by Kaori Ozaki (2017–2019)
• by Shimoku Kio (2018–2022)
• by Yuki Urushibara (2018–2020)
• by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko (2018–2024)
• by Makoto Shinkai (original work) and Wataru Kubota (2019–2020)
• by Uhei Aoki (story) and Kumichi Yoshizuki (art) (2019–2021)
• by Yukito Ayatsuji (story) and Hiro Kiyohara (art) (2019–2022)
• by Kenji Takigawa (story), Ryū Suenobu (art) and Hiroaki Samura (collaboration) (2019–2024)

2020s

• by Mikumi Yuuchi (2020–2021)
• by Kaze Miura (2020–2021)
• by Michi Ichiho (story) and Nori Arashiyama (art) (2021)
• by Fiok Lee (2021–2022)
• by Yasuhiro Yoshiura (original story) and Megumu Maeda (art) (2021–2022)
• by Daiki Yamazaki (2022–2024)
• by Makoto Shinkai (story) and Denki Amashima (art) (2022–2023)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Men's Manga. Japanese Magazine Publishers Association. September 2016. Japanese. November 6, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161104142051/https://www.j-magazine.or.jp/magadata/index.php?module=list&action=list&cat1cd=1&cat3cd=15&period_cd=34. November 4, 2016.
2. Book: Thompson, Jason. Jason Thompson (writer)

   . Manga: The Complete Guide. Jason Thompson (writer). Del Rey Books. 978-0-345-48590-8. 2007. 327-239.

3. Web site: ja:沙村新作の壁紙が届くメルマガ配信開始. https://natalie.mu/comic/news/11432. Natalie. Natasha, Inc.. April 30, 2021. ja. November 18, 2008.
4. Book: Schodt, Frederik L. . Dreamland Japan : writings on modern manga . 1996 . 1-880656-23-X . Berkeley, California . 105 . 34597965.
5. Book: Kinsella, Sharon . Adult manga : culture and power in contemporary Japanese society . 2000 . 0-8248-2317-6 . Honolulu . 138 . 42603226.
6. Web site: 『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 . 2022-11-09 . 講談社コミックプラス . ja.
7. Web site: Magazine circulations in 2004 and 2005 . 2022-11-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080501184603/http://www.manganews.net/eclipse_images/News/06Spring/mag04-05.html . 2008-05-01 .
8. Web site: 2007-10-28 . JMPAマガジンデータ . 2022-11-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071028055221/http://www.j-magazine.or.jp/data_001/man_6.html#001 . 2007-10-28 .
9. Web site: 2008-09-20 . JMPAマガジンデータ . 2022-11-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080920072225/http://www.j-magazine.or.jp/data_001/man_6.html#002 . 2008-09-20 .