Weekly Shōnen Magazine

Weekly Shōnen Magazine (Japanese: 週刊少年マガジン, Hepburn: Shūkan Shōnen Magajin), also known as Shōnen Magazine, is a shōnen manga magazine published by Kodansha, first published on 17 March 1959. Despite some unusual censorship policies (until just recently, it was one of the only shōnen magazines to forbid the depiction of female nipples), it's mainly read by an older audience, with a large portion of its readership falling under the male high school or college student demographic.

Reception

The Weekly Shōnen Magazine achieved success in the 1970s and subsequently had increased sales. As a result, it became the top selling manga magazine in Japan of its period, appearing popular amongst many otaku. But the position was later occupied by Weekly Shōnen Jump, when this competitor was born in 1968, knocking Shonen Magazine off the top spot. Shōnen Jump had now begun to circulate and dominate the manga magazine market. This began from the 1970s and continued throughout the 1990s, largely owed to Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball. In the middle of the 1990s, Shōnen Jump suffered the loss of Dragon Ball, as the franchise had come to an end in 1996, and thus lost much of its readership. Shōnen Magazine had now made a comeback in October 1997, regaining its original position as the top selling manga magazine of its day until this was brokered in 2002. Currently, the two magazines have competed closely in terms of market circulation. Sales of the two magazines now remain very close. Circulation has dropped below two million. In a rare event due to the closeness of the two magazine's founding dates, Weekly Shōnen Magazine and Weekly Shōnen Sunday released a special combined issue on March 19, 2008. In addition, other commemorative events, merchandise, and manga crossovers were planned for the following year as part of the celebrations.

Fairy Tail

Fairy Tail (Japanese: フェアリーテイル, Hepburn: Fearī Teiru) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiro Mashima. It has been published in Weekly Shōnen Magazine since August 2, 2006, and has been published by Kodansha in 53 tankōbon volumes; the individual chapters are being published in tankōbon volumes by Kodansha, with the first released on December 15, 2006, and the 53rd volume released on January 15, 2016. Fairy Tail follows the adventures of Lucy Heartfilia, a teenage wizard (魔導士, madōshi), who joins the popular wizards' guild and teams up with fellow guild member Natsu Dragneel as he searches for the dragon Igneel.

The chapters have been adapted into an anime series produced by A-1 Pictures and Satelight, which began broadcasting in Japan in 2009. Additionally, A-1 Pictures and Satelight have developed seven original video animations and an animated feature film, Fairy Tail the Movie: Phoenix Priestess. The series ended its initial run on March 30, 2013. However, on March 4, Mashima announced on his Twitter account that the anime would not end yet, and confirmed on July 11 that a sequel series was greenlit. The new series premiered on TV Tokyo on April 5, 2014. An anime adaptation for Fairy Tail Zero has been announced for January 2016.