Megami Magazine
Megami Magazine is a Japanese monthly magazine which focuses on bishōjo characters from anime and Japanese computer and console games, edited by IID and published by Gakken Plus. It is known for having many posters, pinups and large pictures among the articles.
Overview
Megami Magazine was originally released as an extra edition of the anime magazine "Animedia" by Gakken Kenkyusha. As the anime magazine Anime V was discontinued, the publication began on July 28, 1999 for an independent Megami Magazine to fill the void with a focus on "gal games". Megami Magazine was originally released every odd month on the 28th before it was changed to every even month starting with the February 28, 2000 issue. This did not last long as the magazine was finally switched from a bi-monthly to a monthly basis release starting in November, 2000. During this time the focus of the magazine was shifted from "gal games" to "anime" due to a surge in popularity with "moe" type characters. An after effect from the monthly switch led to the split off of the “Megami Magazine Special” from the main issue of “Animedia” starting in March 2003.The Gakken Group was reorganized in October 2009 which caused Megami Magazine to briefly come under the umbrella of Gakken Publishing. This was further modified with the merging of Gakken Publishing with Gakken Marketing and others which led to Gakken Plus taking its place. Megami Magazine was converted into e-book format in April 2018 following the digital conversion of "Animedia" and "Voice Actor Animedia". On February 1, 2020 the editing and publishing business was transferred from Gakken Plus to IID along with "Animedia". The former of these two companies still officially releases the magazine under their name Gakken Plus.
Features
Adult content
Until the April 2005 issue, there was a section introducing adult anime, which included scenes of female characters with their nipples exposed. Some works had posters attached. However, the adult content section has been discontinued.Centerfolds and posters
Megami Magazine is unique because each issue is supplemented by more than 20 posters.Girls Avenue
"Girls Avenue" was a section in Megami Magazine where an artist was featured and one of their illustrations was included as a pinup poster. As of Megami Magazine volume 150, the "Girls Avenue" section has been discontinued and is now released as a series of art books.Mascot Character
Claire Froebel who is the navigator of the reader's corner "MegaTen!" had appeared in the magazine's TV commercials aired in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's and became a de facto mascot character of the magazine.Series
Sister magazines & special editions
Along with the main Megami Magazine line, Gakken also publishes several other titles using the same name or content.| Name | Founded | Defunct | Features | Short summary |
| Megami Bunko | 2004 | Light novels | Magami Bunko was established in December 2004, and is a light novel label that is aimed at a young adult male readership. | |
| Megami Magazine | 2007 | 2007 | Various | On October 31, 2007 an English version of the 5th volume of Megami Magazine Deluxe was released in the United States by Digital Manga Publishing. This was the first and only English language Megami Magazine to be published. |
| Megami Magazine Creators | 2004 | Artwork | Showcases the artwork of individual artists typically involved with manga, games, and anime. All of the illustrations featured are printed full-page, but there are no pinup posters. It consists of original works by illustrators and re-recorded interviews from the magazine “Girl's Avenue”. | |
| Megami Magazine DELUXE | 2002 | Prints | Megami Magazine Deluxe is published quarterly and features full-page prints of illustrations found in the regular Megami Magazine volumes. | |
| Megami Magazine RX | 2011 | Ecchi | An extra edition issue that is a collection of female characters only in underwear, bathing and semi-nude, images from the main story that are copyrighted. Due to the nature of the content, the magazine is more explicit than the main edition of Megami Magazine. | |
| Megami Magazine Special | 2000 | Anime | This was originally released between Volumes 8 and 9 of the main Megami Magazine issue. When publication of the main magazine was changed from bi-monthly to monthly, a lot of information on gal games was reduced. The structure of the magazine had adjusted its focus on anime articles. | |
| Comic Megami Magazine | 2004 | 2005 | Manga | Comic Megami Magazine was an original four-panel magazine. Gakken had published manga magazines such as "Monthly Comic NORA" and "Comic Pocke" in the past, however they were all discontinued. In August 2005, the comic’s title was changed to "Comic Chirality", after being completely remastered. |
| Comic Chirality | 2005 | 2006 | Manga | Inheriting some of the serialization from "Comic Megami Magazine", the amount of non-four panel articles was increased. The illustration essays commemorating the publication of the first volume mobilized the entire network of people from 'Animedia' and 'Monthly Comic NORA'. Notable people involved include Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, Takeshi Okazaki, and Satoshi Urushihara. |