What is shōnen manga?
Shōnen manga is the manga published in magazines aimed at a young male audience. It is not a narrative genre, but a classification according to the magazine in which the work appears. Japan's first weekly shōnen manga magazines were Weekly Shōnen Sunday and Weekly Shōnen Magazine, both from 1959, joined by Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1968. Although originally aimed at a reader between primary and secondary school, its audience soon broadened beyond the generations, and today it is read also by adults and women. At its center are the stories of adventure, combat and sport that narrate the growth of their protagonist.
The great works of shōnen manga
Shōnen manga has gone on accumulating the great works of each era alongside these magazines. From Weekly Shōnen Jump, which adopted as its motto "friendship, effort, victory," have been born Dragon Ball, SLAM DUNK, NARUTO, ONE PIECE and, later, Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer) and Jujutsu Kaisen. Weekly Shōnen Magazine has brought to light Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan), and Weekly Shōnen Sunday, Ranma ½ and Sōsō no Frieren (Frieren: Beyond Journey's End).
The art books of shōnen manga
This category brings together the art books devoted to shōnen manga and its anime adaptations, in original Japanese editions. Published mainly by Shueisha, Kodansha and Shogakukan, they include official art books by the artists themselves — Takehiko Inoue, Hiromu Arakawa, Akira Toriyama —, production books that gather the original drawings and the design material of the anime, and fanbooks that explain the characters and the universe of each work. Here one can follow the author's work present in every drawing and every detail, that which simply reading the manga does not quite reveal.