Nakayoshi

Nakayoshi (なかよし?, "good friend," also romanized Nakayosi in Kunrei-shiki) is a monthly (月刊, gekkan?) shōjo manga magazine published by Kodansha in Japan. First published in December 1954, it is a long-running magazine with over 50 years worth of manga publication history. The target demographic for Nakayoshi (like Ribon and Ciao) is aimed at young girls between (ages 9–15). Roughly the size of a phone book (hence the term "phone book manga"), it generally comes with furoku, or small gifts, such as popout figures, games, small bags, posters, stickers, and so on. The furoku is an attempt to encourage girls to buy their own copies of the magazine rather than just share with a friend. In the mid-1990s, Nakayoshi retailed for 400 yen and had an average of 448 pages. The estimated circulation of Nakayoshi at this time was 1,800,000. In 2007, its circulation was 400,000.

During the 1990s, then editor-in-chief, Yoshio Irie attempted to move the magazine away from "first love" stories and introduced several fantasy manga such as Sailor Moon. During that period, Nakayoshi pursued a "media-mix" campaign, which involved close coordination of the magazine, anime productions based on the manga, and character merchandising.