Simon at Icarus Publishing boils down that article on the evolving editorial slant of Shonen Jump that ComiPress linked to last week, and boils it down into something a bit more comprehensible–and illuminating:

1. Shonen Jump is marketed to boys, but it has a silent, but significant, number of female readers. Significant enough, at least, for Jump to consider this editorial change.
2. The increasing â€?fan serviceâ€? for female readers risks alienating male readers, Jump’s core audience.
3. However, female fans may not necessarily embrace the new changes either, finding them contrived, and a needless alteration of the magazine’s overall feel.
4. A segment of the female readers of Jump do not identify themselves as Jump’s audience, and hide their existence as not to influence and change the magazine’s flavor. Let that sink in for a moment…
5. Here’s something that is peripheral to the article, but might be of interest to aspiring OEL creators: Japanese editors exercise a great deal of creative influence on the manga artists they oversee (a prerequisite for the kind of magazine-wide changes this article talks about.)


So to sum up, this would be like the editors of, of say, THE LEGION suddenly putting in homoerotic subtext to appeal to a growing female fanbase. Dear, dear, dear. What is the world coming to?

[LInk via Manga Blog]