Afternoon

History

Monthly Afternoon was launched as a sister magazine to Morning by its then-editor-in-chief, Yoshiyuki Kurihara, who would become the first editor-in-chief of Afternoon as well. It effectively replaced a former special issue to Morning, Morning Magnum Zōkan, of which its final issue was published on November 25, 1986. With the cover date of February 1987, Afternoon's inaugural issue was published the following month on December 25, with most of its manga titles supplanted from Morning Magnum Zōkan. Kurihara noted that the former special issue was published too frequently to the point it had to switch to a regular publication schedule as a new magazine, along with Morning's editorial department growing increasingly too large. Initially, both Afternoon and Morning shared the same editorial department. According to Frederik L. Schodt, stories that Morning editors liked but felt did not fit the magazine would often land in Afternoon. Afternoon has since maintained its own separate editorial department.

Afternoon's original purpose was as a complementary magazine to Morning, acting as an "experimental zone" for newcomer manga artists to develop unique art styles in manga. Vice editor of Morning, Yasumitsu Tsutsumi, described the differences between the two magazines in 1994: "Morning uses manga to express ideas and write stories. Afternoon, of course, is similar, but it is also about manga itself, and experimenting and developing forms of expression in manga." According to Akira Kanai, the editor-in-chief of Afternoon as of 2015, Kurihara offered a similar distinction between the two magazines: while Morning was focused on expressing Japanese culture through manga, Afternoon would focus on expressing new styles within manga. Kanai summarized this philosophy thus "if Japan is interesting, Morning is interesting", and "if manga is interesting, Afternoon is interesting."

Under the magazine's approach of eschewing an editorial policy in favor of publishing what is experimental and "interesting", Afternoon gained a reputation for its sheer quantity of both its titles and pages, alongside its diverse selection of manga. In late 1991, when the magazine reached 500 pages, Kurihara declared a goal of reaching over 1,000 pages, which was achieved the following year in its February 1993 issue. For the next four-and-a-half years until the October 1997 issue, every issue would consistently reach or surpass 1,000 pages, a trait the magazine would boast in its front cover slogans at the time. Reportedly, the size was so great the editor-in-chief could not finish reading through every manga in each issue. The number of pages per issue has since settled to around 700–800 pages, with around thirty to thirty-five stories. Adding to its diversity was the novel approach of inviting foreign artists and writers to create manga in Afternoon, much like in Morning with its editorial's international project. According to Kanai, logistical issues such as scheduling conflicts and language barriers caused the number of overseas contributors to diminish by the end of the 1990s. Since the 2020s, Afternoon has resumed efforts in featuring overseas artists and writers in the magazine.

Also increasingly featured in Afternoon were so-called "otaku manga", which Sharon Kinsella defines as "unusual or non-commercial manga in general." Many of the manga artists working for the magazine used to publish amateur doujinshi, with some of them being part of the otaku subculture. Outside of otaku manga, Kinsella claims a number of manga serialized by the mid-1990s were also inspired by lolicon amateur manga and aesthetics, referring to six series that took up around half of the pages in Afternoon between 1994 and 1997: Discommunication, Gunsmith Cats, Assembler 0X, Seraphic Feather, Aqua and Oh My Goddess!. Of the six, four of them were openly admitted by Afternoon editors to be considered otaku manga as well. However, Kinsella noted the stronger narrative structures and absence of sex scenes in the aforementioned series allowed them to be more widely accepted and popular.

Between 2006 and 2009, Afternoon was part of Kodansha's "e-1day" series, a comprehensive website which also included Morning and its other sister magazine, Evening. A similar website, "Moae", was established in May 2013, featuring the aforementioned magazines and their spin-offs, Morning Two and good! Afternoon. It has since been discontinued. An online platform, titled Comic Days, was launched in March 2018, featuring manga titles from various Kodansha magazines, including Afternoon. As of November 2013, new issues of Afternoon are distributed simultaneously in print and digitally.

In February 2024, the Afternoon editorial department, Skip and Loafer author Misaki Takamatsu, and the Skip and Loafer anime team donated 10 million yen to the Ishikawa Prefecture Relief Fund after the 2024 Noto earthquake.

Newcomer award

Since 1987, Monthly Afternoon has held the seasonal Afternoon Shiki Shō contest for potential newcomer manga artists. Contenders submit one-shot stories for the chance to win prize money and have their work published in Monthly Afternoon, good! Afternoon, or Comic Days, out of five prize categories. A number of winning works have become serialized hits in Monthly Afternoon, such as Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, Blame!, and Love Roma. In 2013, Kodansha published a selection of past winners in several volumes.

Circulation and demographic

Like with most major manga magazines, Monthly Afternoon's circulation has been steadily declining, from an estimated 200,000 in the 1990s, to 22,800 in 2025. Despite higher circulation figures in the past, they were still considered low by large publishers' standards; according to Sharon Kinsella, the magazine did not generate any revenue for Morning's editorial department between its launch in 1986 and 1994.

About two-thirds of Monthly Afternoon readers consist of corporate workers or civil servants. In 1994, the average age of Monthly Afternoon readers was 28 years and four months, younger than the average age of 30 years and two months for adult manga readers. That same year, magazine editor Haruo Ogawa guessed that up to a third of readers of the magazine could be called otaku. In 2014, former editor-in-chief Tatsuya Shishikura estimated that most readers of Monthly Afternoon were in their mid-30s, further stating that while good! Afternoon is aimed at casual manga readers, Monthly Afternoon is aimed at "hardcore manga readers".

Features

Series

There are currently 39 manga titles being serialized in Monthly Afternoon. Out of them, Big Windup!, Historié, Wandering Island and Yakuza Fiancé are on hiatus. Nella of the Horizon is serialized on an irregular schedule.

Special issues

Afternoon Season Zōkan

Afternoon Season Zōkan was Monthly Afternoon's first special issue spin-off magazine. It was originally published in eight issues between September 1987 and June 1988, shortly after the main magazine's launch. After over a decade, it was revived and began publishing on a quarterly basis from October 10, 1999, to October 10, 2002. It featured one-shots and bonus stories from established manga artists in Monthly Afternoon and newcomer artists, along with several new manga serializations such as Mushishi, Mokke, and Love-yan. Following the magazine's discontinuation after 14 issues were published, many of its series were transferred to Monthly Afternoon.

good! Afternoon

good! Afternoon is Monthly Afternoon's current main spin-off magazine, launched on November 7, 2008. Its existence came around the same time other spin-off magazines under Kodansha, like Morning Two for Morning and Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine for Weekly Shōnen Magazine, were launched and had successful titles of their own. With good! Afternoon, its approach was toward a more younger audience compared to its parent magazine. Initially published bimonthly, good! Afternoon switched to a monthly publication schedule on November 7, 2012. New issues are published on the seventh of each month.

&Sofa

&Sofa (pronounced "and sofa") is a digital special issue manga and weekly column website run by several members of Monthly Afternoon's editorial department. It was launched on November 22, 2021, with new updates every Monday. It was designed for a broader, more female-oriented target audience than Monthly Afternoon's seinen readership, with themes of empathy and comfort. Alongside featuring several existing manga titles from Monthly Afternoon and other Kodansha magazines, all original manga titles in the website are serialized on the Comic Days online platform.