CATDOLL: "Weekly Shonen Magazine" circulation falls below one million, will physical books eventually disappear?

With the popularity of various electronic reading products, many people no longer buy physical books or newspapers. This has also led to a sharp drop in the sales of many physical books and magazines. Japanese anime magazines have also been affected. Yesterday (November 2), according to the magazine printing numbers released by the Japan Magazine Association, the average printing number of Kodansha's "Weekly Shonen MAGAZINE" from July to September fell below the one million mark.

According to the average print run from July to September released by the Japan Magazine Association, the average print run of Weekly Shonen Magazine in these three months was 995,017 copies, which has fallen below the 1 million mark. The average sales of Weekly Shonen Magazine has dropped by about 20,000 copies from April to June this year, and has dropped to less than a quarter of the sales volume that exceeded 4 million copies in 1997-1998.

In fact, the sales of all comic magazines have declined. The sales of Weekly Shonen Jump (Shueisha) decreased by about 17,000 copies from April to June, and Weekly Shonen Sunday (Shogakukan) decreased by about 40,000 copies. However, these publishers have opened up various electronic reading channels. It seems that in addition to the problem of the magazine's own attractiveness, the impact on traditional reading methods is also the reason for the decline in sales.