Jump Square

The debut issue of Jump Square, dated December 2007, hit Japanese newsstands on November 2, 2007, and sold over 70 percent of its initial 500,000 print run within three days. In Tokyo, the sell-through rate hit 90 percent. The magazine was Shueisha's direct replacement for Monthly Shonen Jump, which had folded five months earlier after decades of publication. Shueisha designed the title with three meanings in mind: a public square where creators and readers gather, a mathematical square representing Weekly Shonen Jump squared, and an abbreviation for supreme quality.

Kosuke Yahagi took over as editor-in-chief in 2015. Under his watch, the magazine carved out a niche for shonen stories with more mature edges, darker themes, more explicit scenes, and complex emotional arcs, while still running action-heavy fantasy and comedy. The target demographic, per Shueisha's own data, is males aged 15 to 34. Circulation has declined from roughly 140,000 copies in 2021 to 90,667 copies in the October–December 2025 period, reflecting broader print magazine trends in Japan.

Jump Square launched with one-shots and new series from heavy hitters like Nobuhiro Watsuki, Fujiko Fujio, Kentaro Katayama, and Masanori Morita. Its longest-running hit, Kazue Kato's Blue Exorcist, began in April 2009 and has spawned multiple anime seasons, films, and a stage adaptation. Other notable serials include Kono Oto Tomare! Sounds of Life (since 2012), Kemono Jihen (since 2016), Dark Gathering (since 2019), and Watsuki's Rurouni Kenshin: The Hokkaido Arc (since 2017). A spin-off magazine, Jump SQ.19, launched quarterly on May 19, 2010, featuring one-shots and side stories. [edit]