+ back +    Nakayoshi means 'good friends' in Japanese. Nakayoshi is also the title of a monthly produced by Kodansha (which means 'story telling company'). Nakayoshi gekkan has previously carried such shoujo manga titles as, Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon and Cardcaptor Sakura. This year is the 46th anniversary of Nakayoshi. It is also the 46th anniversary of it's rival monthly, Ribon (produced by Shuesha).    The target audiance for Nakayoshi is young girls ages eight to thirteen (perhaps even a little older). Because Japanese manga are -in general- harder to find in other countries, avaliblity causes a larger range in fans' ages from around eight to well past thirty! Another reason for this large range is the fact that many shoujo manga fans either cannot read Japanese, or have just started to learn the language. Therefore they tend to read manga at a much simpler reading level.    "What is so enjoyable about shoujo manga?" one might ask. the appeal of shoujo manga comes from it's very cute and peppy drawing style, and it's fun and sometimes dramatic story line. Topics such as crushes, dates, fashion, school life, and dreams of the future, frequent the pages of many shoujo manga. The current favorite topic of shoujo manga in other countries (such as the US) is that of the main character being a magical girl. This explains the popularity of the Sailormoon and Cardcaptor series in the US.    Series currently running in Nakayoshi are: VAMP!, Tokyo Mew Mew, UruQ, B-Wanted, Daa! Daa! Daa!, Zenmaijikake no Tina, Mariappoi no!, Working Musume, Ojamajo Doremi #, and several others. Also, just recently Takeuchi Naoko's (the author of Sailormoon) newest work, 'Love Witch' is also being published in Nakayoshi! How to get Nakayoshi: You can order Nakayoshi from Nikaku Animart [how to order from nikaku], or you can visit eBay and do a search under 'nakayoshi'. There are usually at least two Nakayoshi auctions going on. + back +