Weekly Jump targets young males ("Shōnen" is made of the kanji that mean 'few' and 'years', and is japanese meaning 'boy' but can also mean 'pure of heart'). It features manga with lots of action and adventure, often featuring young, male protagonists with special powers and/or abilities.

Weekly Jump was launched by Shueisha in 1968, to compete with the already-successful Shonen Magazine and Shonen Sunday. At its highest point in the mid 1990s, Weekly Jump had a regular circulation of over 6 million. Weekly Jump manga titles have also been translated and redistributed in countries where the magazine itself isn't published, such as South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Thailand.

There were a few games made based on the magazine and the series in it. There were two Famicom Jump games for its anniversary, on the Famicom, and lately Jump Superstars and Jump Ultimate Stars on the Nintendo DS.

Shonen Jump worldwide

These magazines are published monthly, unlike their Japanese counterpart which is published weekly.

United States Shonen Jump



In 2002, Shueisha announced a partnership with Viz Communications (now Viz Media), a purveyor of anime and manga in the United States, to distribute a monthly version of Shonen Jump in that country. The Shonen Jump issues, like the Japanese issues, are read from right to left, because if printed the other way, pictures and words would be mirror-imaged. In its first issue (January 2003), it sold almost 300,000 copies, making it the top-selling comic book of any kind in the U.S. for that time period. The titles featured in the American version initially included Yu-Gi-Oh!, YuYu Hakusho, One Piece, Naruto, Shaman King, Dragon Ball Z, and Sand Land. In January 2004, Sand Land ended and was replaced with Hikaru no Go in their lineup. Dragon Ball Z (the second part of Dragon Ball) was discontinued in the April 2005 Shonen Jump and the last part of the story was serialized in graphic novel form. Starting in the January 2007 issue, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX appears in the American Shonen Jump along with Gintama. "Shonen Jump" also has articles in the beginning and end of the magazine about new anime, manga, and video games. "Shonen Jump" is written in the traditional Japanese style right to left.

Shonen Jump also runs a line of graphic novels, including those that have run in the American Shonen Jump, but also other titles that ran in the Japanese Shonen Jump but not the American version, like Rurouni Kenshin, Knights of the Zodiac (Saint Seiya), Whistle!, The Prince of Tennis, Dr. Slump, Legendz, Beet the Vandel Buster, Zombie Powder, and Bleach. In addition, Kinnikuman: Nisei (better known as Ultimate Muscle in North America, Northern Europe, Oceania, and some regions), a sequel of the Jump title Kinnikuman, is sold in the graphic novel format as a "Shonen Jump Advanced" title in North America. Other titles on the "Shonen Jump Advanced" lineup include I"s, Eyeshield 21, Death Note, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, Hunter X Hunter, D. Gray-Man, Buso Renkin, and Reborn!. Most of these comics have been run once or twice in the same chapter amounts as the regular comics.

In the magazine's text, the U.S. Shonen Jump uses circumflexes instead of macrons to mark long vowels. The manga in the magazine doesn't always reflect this (e.g., the preview for Whistle! used macrons). Shonen Jump recently adopted a policy of editing dialogue and art of serialized manga to make it more suitable for younger audiences and still appeal to older audiences as well. This policy has still received criticism from old-time readers. Mangas translated by Shonen Jump that are not present in the magazine have fewer edits and are released sooner.

Not all of the titles incorporated in the Shonen Jump brand in North America are Weekly Shonen Jump titles. Beet the Vandel Buster, Claymore, and Legendz are published in the sister magazine Monthly Shonen Jump, while Yu-Gi-Oh GX is from the video game magazine V-Jump. Stranger still is Ultimate Muscle, which while a sequel to a Weekly Shonen Jump title, is actually published in Weekly Playboy. On the other hand, titles connected to Weekly Shonen Jump started prior to the start of the Shonen Jump line are not included in this packaging, such as Video Girl Ai and Bastard.