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Kodansha Plans 300,000 Copies for New Shōnen Rival Mag
posted on by Egan Loo
The publisher Kodansha has announced that its new Monthly Shōnen Rival manga magazine will launch in Japan on April 4. It also announced the results of the 1st Shōnen Rival Comic Grand Prix contest, in which the aspiring artist Amadori won the top prize of 3 million yen (about US$28,000). Amadori also received an offer to have the winning Mukō ga Wa no Masaka entry published in the new magazine. Professional artists George Morikawa (Hajime no Ippo/Fighting Spirit) and Hiro Mashima (Rave Master, Fairy Tail) joined Shōnen Rival's editorial department in selecting Amadori and the second place winners, Teruyuki Kojima (Eiyū Tengu) and Shin Mikuni (Spray King). The second place winners each won 1 million yen (US$9,400) and a chance to have the winning entry or new manga work serialized. A second contest is accepting entries until the end of May.
Kodansha had announced in July that it was ending its Comic BonBon magazine in December, and publishing Monthly Shōnen Rival as a replacement this year. Unlike Comic BonBon with its target audience of elementary schoolchildren, the publisher will aim Monthly Shōnen Rival at junior high schoolers. The Japanese publishing industry resource Shinbunka reports that Kodansha is planning to print 300,000 copies of the magazine. The company has also budgeted over 250 million yen (US$2.3 million) for advertising the magazine's debut.
Source: Ultimatum
