Shōnen Jump+


Shōnen Jump+ is a Japanese online magazine for manga created by Shueisha, spun off from its Jump line of magazines. Launched on September 22, 2014, the magazine operates as a free mobile app and website. Despite its title, Shōnen Jump+ also features series targeted towards female readers and adults in addition to its namesake shōnen manga, which is targeted towards teen males. The magazine serializes original titles and titles from other Shueisha manga magazines, and also carries digital editions of Weekly Shōnen Jump. Notable titles serialized in Shōnen Jump+ include Spy × Family, , and World's End Harem.
Outside of Japan, Shueisha operates the platform as Manga Plus.

History

Pre-launch

's Weekly Shōnen Jump reached a peak weekly circulation of 6.53 million copies in the 1990s, though its readership has since steadily declined as a result of the broader decline of the print media industry. In response, Shueisha turned towards digital distribution in an attempt to reach out to a wider audience.
A free digital edition of Weekly Shōnen Jump was issued as a result of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, after shipping and distribution lines were affected by the disaster. Issuing the digital magazine was difficult at that time because of different work flows from issuing printed version. In 2012, Shueisha launched the online bookstore app Jump Book Store, which enjoyed mild commercial success and became an inspiration for Shōnen Jump+.
In 2013, Shueisha launched the online manga platform Jump LIVE. Although the app was downloaded over 1 million times in three weeks, the editorial department found it contained too much content and it was difficult to distinguish between free and paid content. Shueisha would ultimately discontinue the platform. Nevertheless, the experience of launching an online platform helped the company for the coming Shōnen Jump+.

Post-launch

Shōnen Jump+ was launched on September 22, 2014 with more than 30 manga series, some of which were transferred from Jump LIVE, including ēlDLIVE and Nekoda-biyori. The digital version of Weekly Shōnen Jump can be purchased in Shōnen Jump+ at 300 yen per issue or 900 yen per month.
Compared to Weekly Shōnen Jump, titles published in Shōnen Jump+ are subject to laxer editorial restrictions around explicit content. According to Shuhei Hosono, the chief editor of Shōnen Jump+, the number of weekly active users increased from 1.1 million to 1.3 million between April and May 2016; Hosono noted that the increase was catalyzed by the release of Fire Punch and World's End Harem, which both contain depictions of sex and violence not permitted in Weekly Shōnen Jump. Starting from 2017, Weekly Shōnen Jump began serializing works made by manga artists who previously published their series on Shōnen Jump+, such as Taishi Tsutsui's We Never Learn, Tatsuki Fujimoto's Chainsaw Man, and Tsurun Hatomune's .
2019 was a year of breakthrough for the platform. Spy × Family, which was a new series in 2019, attracted many users to the app, especially female users. After it began serialization, the proportion of female users increased by 5% while 60%-65% were male. Astra Lost in Space received an anime adaptation and Eren the Southpaw received a TV drama adaptation in 2019; both are original titles of Shōnen Jump+. Moreover, its original titles started to win big awards. Astra Lost in Space won the 12th Manga Taishō Award, becoming the first web comic to do so.
Manga Plus, a global version of Shōnen Jump+, was launched on January 28, 2019. An international edition of Shōnen Jump+ was first proposed in 2017 as a means to appeal to non-Japanese audiences; the app is offered in English and Spanish. Also in 2019, Shueisha produced Marvel × Shōnen Jump+ Super Collaboration, a collaboration series with Marvel Comics composed of seven one-shots written by various Weekly Shōnen Jump artists including Yu-Gi-Oh!s Kazuki Takahashi.
In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some titles in Shōnen Jump+ have been published on a modified schedule. A website namely "Jump Digital Labo" was launched by the editorial department of Shōnen Jump+ in July 2020, for recruiting proposals of digital development.

Impact

As of May 2019, over 60 titles are serialized in Shōnen Jump+. The app has been downloaded 10 million times; combined, the app and website have 2.5 million weekly active users. Shōnen Jump+ has accumulated over 12 billion yen in sales revenue.
was the most popular series on the platform in 2018, while Spy × Family has been the most popular Shōnen Jump+ title since 2019. Spy × Family is noted for attracting readers, especially female, to the app, and has sold over 3 million copies as at May 2020; according to Hosono, the trend of its sales are comparable to Assassination Classroom, a high-profile title published in Weekly Shōnen Jump.

Current series

Daily

Due to explicit content, World's End Harem and Saotome Shimai wa Manga no Tame nara!? cannot be accessed via its iOS app, but is available on its website and Android app.