Hakusensha

Hakusensha, Inc. (株式会社白泉社, Kabushiki-gaisha Hakusensha) is a Japanese publishing company. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo.

The company mainly publishes manga magazines of various genres and is involved in certain series' productions in their games, original video animation, musical and their animated TV series.

About

History

Hakusensha was founded on December 1, 1973 by Shueisha, but is now a separate company although still a part of the Hitotsubashi Group together with Shueisha and Shogakukan as one of the major members of the keiretsu.

After setting up the company for 5 months, the firm published their first magazine, a shōjo manga magazine titled as Hana to Yume (花とゆめ) and in November that year, they moved from Tōkyō-to, Chiyoda-ku, Kanda-Jinbōchō Ichi-chōme (東京都千代ç"°åŒºç¥žç"°ç¥žä¿ç"º1丁目) to Kanda-Jinbōchō San-chōme (神ç"°ç¥žä¿ç"º3丁目).

Then in year 1975, the firm changed the frequency of their magazine from monthly to semi-monthly and in March, they created their first imprint, Hana to Yume Comics (花とゆめコミックス). In July 1976, they published their second manga magazine, a shōjo manga magazine named Hana to Yume LaLa (花とゆめ LaLa) as a sister magazine to Hana to Yume that is published bi-monthly. In April 1977, they set up a publication editing department and in July, they began publishing a seasonal magazine titled Bessatsu Hana to Yume (別冊花とゆめ).

In March 1981, they moved again from Kanda-Jinbōchō San-chōme (神ç"°ç¥žä¿ç"º3丁目) to Nishi-Kanda San-chōme (西神ç"°3丁目) and in September, they branch out from their usual shōjo manga magazines to a shōnen genre by publishing Shōnen Jets (å°'年ジェッツ). Along with that, the company released their series in Shōnen Jets under a new imprint, Jets Comics (ジェッツコミックス) in July 1982. But as of January 2009, the magazine is now defunct but the imprint is still used to publish their seinen manga series serializing in Young Animal and Young Animal Arashi as well as certain series serializing in Melody.

3 years later on August, they published a new magazine, specialising under the josei genre, Silky that is published bi-monthly on even-numbered months. With that, they created an imprint for Silky '​s series to be published under Ladies' Comics (レディースコミックス). In March 1989, they started publishing a seinen manga magazine called Animal House. 3 years after Animal House, they published Moe, a monthly magazine for picture books targeted towards shōjo readers. In May that year when Moe was published, Animal House was renamed to Young Animal and was then published semi-monthly since.

In March 1994, they created another imprint, Hakusensha Bunko (白泉社文庫). This imprint are for publishing manga in the bunkoban format. Moreover, in December 1995, they started publishing another magazine that was published seasonally, Shōsetsu HanaMaru (小説花丸) which is targeted towards the josei readers.

In January 1996, they created another imprint for Shōsetsu HanaMaru (小説花丸),HanaMaru Comics (花丸コミックス). In July that year, they created another imprint, HanaMaru Bunko (花丸文庫). In September, they published Melody which publishes on odd-numbered months. On the same month, they moved from Nishi-Kanda San-chōme (西神ç"°3丁目) to Kanda-Awajichō Ni-chōme・Hakusensha Biru (神ç"°æ·¡è·¯ç"º2丁目・白泉社ãƒ"ル), their present location.

2 years later on April, they published LaLa DX with a frequency of bi-monthly on odd-numbered months. The company also began selling their drama CDs under Hakusensha CD Collection (白泉社CDコレクション) or abbreviated as HCD.

In June 2001, they published Candy but as of January 2009, the magazine has been discontinued. In May 2005, they changed their special publication of Young Animal Arashi into a monthly publication. In July 2006, Bessatsu Hana to Yume was changed to a monthly publication. HanaMaru Black (花丸BLACK), a magazine targeted at readers of yaoi genre started its publication on May 2008.

Their latest publication, Le Paradis, a manga anthology published triannually will publish its first issue on October 29, 2008.

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Media mix

Besides publishing, the company also release drama CDs of series under their magazines which are, Hana to Yume Series (花とゆめシリーズ), Bessatsu Hana to Yume Series (別冊花とゆめシリーズ), LaLa Series (LaLaシリーズ), Young Animal Series (ヤングアニマルシリーズ) and HanaMaru Series (花丸シリーズ).

Moreover, they are also involved in the productions of games, TV drama, theatrical movies, musicals, radio shows, TV animation and original video animation.

Series under the company can be read through mobile phones in Japan using the following service portals, Hakusensha e-Comics (白泉社e-コミックス) and Hakusensha HanaMaru Bunko (白泉社花丸文庫). Hakusensha e-Comics was started in September 2005 and is operated by both Hakusensha and CharaWeb. This service is available in two variations and customers will have to pay 315 yen and 512 yen respectively to access this service every month.

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Sony PlayStation Portable manga distribution service

It was announced at the 2009 Tokyo Game Show press conference that Hakusensha, together with 11 other publishing companies in Japan, such as Kodansha, Shueisha, Shogakukan, Square Enix, publishers associated with Kadokawa Shoten, Bandai Visual and Futabasha will provide nearly 100 titles of manga to supply the service in PlayStation Store. Hakusensha has yet to be provide details of the supplied titles for the service.

This service is only available for Japanese PlayStation Portable consoles and will start in December 2009.

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Publications

Manga magazines

• Hana to Yume
• Bessatsu Hana to Yume
• The Hana to Yume
• LaLa
• LaLa DX
• Shōnen Jets (defunct)
• Melody
• Silky
• Young Animal
• Young Animal Arashi
• HanaMaru Black
• Le Paradis

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Other publications

• Shōsetsu HanaMaru
• Moe
• Kodomo Moe

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Imprints

Hakusensha publishes their books and manga under these imprints.

• Hana to Yume Comics
• Jets Comics
• Hakusensha Ladies Comics
• HanaMaru Comics
• Hakusensha Bunko
• HanaMaru Bunko
• HanaMaru Novels
• HanaMaru Black

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Awards

Hakusensha organizes contests to offer aspiring manga artist a professional debut as well to be affiliated with their magazines.

These contests or awards are Hakusensha Athena Shinjin Taishō (白泉社アテナ新人大賞, Hakusensha Athena Newcomers' Awards), Hana to Yume Mangaka Course or else abbreviated as HMC, LaLa Mangaka Scout Course otherwise known as LMS, LaLa Manga Grand Prix, abbreviated as LMG and Big Challenge Awards, abbreviated as BC.

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Radio show

There was previously a radio show hosted by voice actor, Takehito Koyasu and Atsushi Kisaichi called Koyasu☆Kisaichi no HanaYume Check ni LaLa Shimasho (子安☆私市の花ゆめチックにLaLaしましょ) that was broadcast by Nippon Cultural Broadcasting. The radio show has ended in March 2002. The radio show was compiled into 2 CDs and is sold under Hakusensha's drama CD imprint, Hakusensha CD Collection, otherwise known as HCD.

References

External links

• Official Website (Japanese)
• Corporate Website (Japanese)
• Official Twitter of Hakusensha (Japanese)