An Interview with Hidemi Shiraki Editor in Chief of Young Magazine

Date: 2025 September 10 19:45

Posted by Joe

Following on from the announcement that Kodansha were going to release a special US edition of Young Magazine, we were keen to know more We got in touch with Hidemi Shiraki Editor in Chief of Young Magazine and interviewed him via e-mail. We talk about what seinen means to him and why Young Magazine is getting a US release now.

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Many readers will be familiar with shonen, fewer readers will be familiar with seinen, for the uninitiated do you care to explain more about what you think it means?

Seinen is a term that goes beyond simply categorizing by age group-it signifies the depth of a story. It's about confronting questions without clear answers, leaving ambiguity unresolved, and entrusting something to the reader. If Shōnen manga depicts dreams, then seinen manga portrays the ways to face reality.

I believe that "Seinen" refers to manga that confronts reality. Love, sex, violence, friendship, despair, and hope are all depicted "without being neatly summarized." Part of our definition of seinen manga is to value the blank spaces and gray areas. The greatest appeal of our manga is that it does not force answers on the reader, but rather makes the reader think after reading it. Even when set in grand worlds like sci-fi or dark fantasy, the protagonists aren't superheroes. They're ordinary people, struggling and living just like the readers themselves.

The interesting thing about seinen manga is that we can empathize with their way of life and walk through life together with them.


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Will this be a one off promotion to celebrate 45 years of Young Magazine? Or will it become a regular publication people can buy?

This issue will be treated as a one-time commemorative issue, but in the future we would like to make it a regular publication with a view to selling it in bookstores. In addition to publication as a magazine, we are also considering a wide range of other developments via the Web and apps.

What were the deciding factors to release Young Magazine in the US? Why now?

As the North American manga market matured, we felt strongly that there was a need for a "next stage" following the Shōnen manga market. With the growing popularity of MANGA around the world, we were convinced that now was the right time to deliver Seinen Manga, and highlight the core of manga's diversity.

You've got a lot of different titles, with the rebellious BOYS RUN THE RIOT - IN TRANSITION -, to the truly horrific Pregnant and everything in between. Was it tricky picking the line up for titles? What was the criteria you used to get the 100 candidate titles down to the final list of 19.

It wasn't an easy process, but in the end, we focused on three key criteria: Is the work being told honestly? Is it confronting something head-on? Is it a story the world needs right now?

While we primarily selected works within four genres-sci-fi, dark fantasy, horror, and identity-focused stories-based on their potential resonance with the North American market, what ultimately mattered most was whether each piece had a strong core.

While voting for titles is a common feature of manga magazine in Japan, what kind of response do you think you'll get from US readers?

In the U.S., voting-such as in presidential elections-is considered a major form of entertainment. For a Japanese publisher, holding a reader voting event for North American audiences through a print magazine is a first, so honestly, we're still unsure how it will be received. However, we've created an easy-to-use voting system leveraging platforms like YouTube and X (formerly Twitter).

Are there any titles you'd think that the readers should look out for?

While all the works deserve attention, for example, GOUMA The Blade that Slaughters Gods and Protocol Ryugu feature breathtakingly detailed world-building and are sure to leave a strong impression as "North American-born seinen" titles.

Do you have a particular favourite manga in this special edition of Young Magazine?

It's hard to choose just one, but The Knight of Blasphemy masterfully blends the passionate energy typical of Shōnen manga with the introspective depth of Seinen, perfectly resonating with today's sensibilities.

If I were to highlight another, I'd recommend The Journey of a Dark Elf with Fading Powers, a fantasy that follows the later life of a great magician who has lost their magical powers-an excellent example of seinen-style storytelling.

Were the any particular challenges with releasing this in the US?

Translating a manga series that exceeds 1,000 pages accurately, printing and shipping over 20,000 magazine copies, exploring effective ways to promote manga to North American readers, and preparing English press releases and distribution events-each of these tasks was filled with challenges.

Translation was especially demanding, with an enormous amount of time spent on the final proofreading stages as well. Designing covers that would appeal to American readers was also difficult; we gathered plenty of feedback from native speakers on elements like catchphrases. We even had some doubts about whether to keep the magazine's name, Young Magazine, as is, but after hearing the opinions of locals, we were encouraged to keep the original title and move forward with it.

It was an intense, year-long preparation, but the knowledge we gained will undoubtedly be invaluable going forward.

What do you think the future of manga is internationally?

The era of insisting on being "Japanese-made" is coming to an end. Great stories transcend borders, and the act of reading itself-whether it inspires empathy or provokes resistance-has become a global experience. In this evolving landscape, we're excited to see how the manga format itself will continue to grow and transform.

For Kodansha is digital or print manga more popular? Do any titles buck this trend and perform with sales the other way around?

There aren't many works that sell exclusively in print or exclusively digitally, but so-called "legendary" titles tend to sell well in print, while more provocative content often performs better digitally. In Japan, where single-episode digital sales have become common, the digital market's share continues to grow year by year.

However, there are many titles for which paper subscriptions are still strongly supported, especially those that give readers the joy of ownership or the desire to display them on their bookshelves-these tend to sell well as physical copies. It's also interesting to see how these trends vary depending on genre and generation.

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This interview as conducted over e-mail. Otaku News would like to thank Hidemi Shiraki for giving such awesome answers to our questions and Kodansha for giving us an opportunity for this interview.

Source: Otaku News