Shueisha VS Kodansha: A comparison of the two manga giants
by Moeka Asanuma
Japan is a manga power. In the manga industry, Shueisha and Kodansha are two major companies. In 1925, Shueisha published the first magazine (Shueisha, 2024). Next year, they were separated from Shogakukan as an amusement magazines department (Kobayashi, 2018). In 1968, the most famous Shueisha manga magazine “ Jump “ was released (Shueisha, 2024). Kodansha was established in 1911 (Kodansha, 2024). In 1924, “ King “ , which was the most popular magazine in Japan in the Taisho era, was published (Kodansha, 2024). After 2 years, “ King “ was published more than a million (Printing Museum, ). In 1959, the most famous Kodansha manga magazine “ Magazine “ was released (Kodansha, 2024). Therefore, Shueisha is better than Kodansha because it has a wider readership including boys who are in elementary schools , they have a larger financial base, and they have more online apps.
First, the readership of the Shueisha is wider than Kodansha. Kodansha publishes some comic magazines for boys, girls, men and women. For example, “Young Magazine” and “Morning” are for men and the main readership of “Young Magazine”is men in his 30s and that of “Morning” is men in his more than 40s (Kodansha Ad Station, 2024). Also, Kodansha publishes a girls comic magazine called “Nakayoshi” whose main readership is girls who are in elementary schools (Kodansha Ad Station, 2024). Furthermore, “Dessert” and “BE LOVE” are for women in her from 20s to 50s (Kodansha Ad Station, 2024). Of course, Kodansha publishes the boys comic magazine called “Magazine” but mainly it is read by boys who are in junior high schools, so Kodansha don’t get enough readers who are in elementary schools (Kodansha Ad Station, 2024). However, Shueisha gets readers who are elementary school students by publishing “V Jump” or “Saikyo Jump” (Shueisha media guide, 2022). Also, Shueisha published comic magazines for people of all ages. For example, “Jump” , which is the most popular comic magazine of Shueisha, is for boys or men in his from 10s to 20s and “Grand Jump” is for men in his more than 30s(Shueisha media guide, 2022). For girls who are in elementary schools, Shueisha published “Ribbon” and “Cookie” or “CoCohana” are for women in her from 20s to 50s(Shueisha media guide, 2022).
Second, Shueisha earns more money. In 2021, sales of Kodansha was 170.8 million yen but Shueisha was 195.2 million yen (ONE CAREER, 2023). Also, the number of copies published of Shueisha magazines is more than Kodansha. For example, in 2019 between January and March Kodansha published “Magazine” 715,417 copies and “Young Magazine” 325,733 copies (JMPA, 2019). For girls and women, Kodansha published “Nakayoshi” 77,700 copies and “BE LOVE” 73,000 copies (JMPA, 2019). However, Shueisha published “Jump” 1,682,000 copies and “Young Jump” 467,209 copies(JMPA, 2019). For girls and women, Shueisha published “Ribbon” 140,000 copies and “Cookie” 30,000 copies(JMPA, 2019).
Third, Shueisha have more free online apps than Kodansha. Kodansha have 3 online apps Magapoke, Comic DAYS and Palcy. People can read “Magazine” comic books on Mgapoke, can read “Young Magazine” and ”Afternoon” comic books on Comic DAYS and can read girls or women comic books on Palcy (Kodansha, 2024). Magapoke have some serialized comic books and people can read most of comic books on Magapoke for free. However, Palcy have few free comic books. Shueisha have 4 online apps Jump+, Zebrack, Yanzhan! and Manga Mee (Shueisha, 2024). people can read “Jump” comic books on Jump+, can read “Young Jump” comic books on Yanzhan!, can read girls or women comic books on Manga Mee and almost all Shueisha comic books on Zebrack. Also people can read for free on all apps. Furthermore, Jump+ have many serialized comic books and some comic books was animated for example “SPY × FAMILY” and “Kaiju No.8”.
Shueisha comic books are read by everyone of all ages and both male and female. Also, Shueisha sells more comic magazines and the number of sales is larger than Kodansha. Furthermore, Shueisha made more online apps than Kodansha. That is why Shueisha is better than Kodansha.
Refarences
Shueisha. 2024. https://www.shueisha.co.jp/company/
Kodansha. 2024. https://www.kodansha.co.jp/
Printing Museum. . www.printing-museum.org
Kobayashi Hiroshi. (2018). “Zinbunshoshuppan to gyokaisaihen: shuppansha
to shoten ha ikinokoreruka”. (english transdlation) Zinbungakuhou.
volume 514 No.15 Tokyo Toritsu University
Kodansha Ad Station. 2024. https://ad.kodansha.net/
Shueisha media guide. 2022. https://adnavi.shueisha.co.jp/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/mediaguide2022.pdf
ONE CAREER. 2023. https://www.onecareer.jp/articles/1150
JMPA. 2019. https://www.j-magazine.or.jp/