Proper Japanese Title: 週刊プレイボーイ, also shortened to 週プレ or WPB
Note: This site is only interested in the manga portion of the magazine and apart from the cover, no non-manga related information is allowed. If an issue didn't publish any full-length manga, it does not belong on the site and if an issue is added, at least one of the qualifying manga published in it should be credited in the process.
Weekly Playboy is a men's magazine that has been releasing at a weekly rate since 1966, despite its name, it is not the regional version of the better-known American Playboy (though that was also published by Shueisha, as Monthly Playboy, from 1975-2009). Though it is a very general magazine in that it has a little bit of everything (such as columns, interviews, articles and manga), much like the American Playboy, it is regarded as an adults only magazine due to the small gallery of nude models.
Unlike the American Playboy which is known for running comics like Little Annie Fanny (which could be as short as two pages in an issue), Weekly Playboy serialized many full-length long-running manga titles over the decades, often by well-established creators (and in many cases, sequels or prequels to some of their most famous series). Though as of 2011 and the launch of the 週プレNEWS online portion of the magazine, many series that would have otherwise been published in the magazine are now released digitally on their own (such as Kinnikuman or Taiyou no Makibaō W).
Some of the best-known serializations include:
- Shurayuki-hime (translated as Lady Snowblood in English, most often referenced today for its inspiring Kill Bill)
- Modena no Ken (sequel to Circuit no Ōkami, which was one of the first Shonen Jump series to last over twenty-five volumes)
- Taiyou no Makibaō (sequel to Midori no Makibaō from WSJ, both lasted sixteen volumes, but when it went web-first in its serialization, a W was added to the title and the numbering restarted, leading the overall series from Playboy to be more than double the length of the original)
- Kinnikuman Nisei/Kinnikuman Nisei: Kyūkyoku no Chōjin Tag Hen (follows the son of the original protagonist of Kinnikuman, one of the most successful manga franchises of all time; between the two main Nisei series, 59 volumes were published but since going web-first, it has returned to serializing new volumes of the main series over twenty years after it originally ended)
- Ore no Sora (one of Hiroshi Motomiya's first major successes in the seinen market, it was serialized in Playboy while he was still one of the big stars of Weekly Shonen Jump, but since its end he has done most of his work for seinen magazines including numerous sequels to the original Ore no Sora, see: the 1980-1981 series, 1992-1994 series, 2001 series, 2003-2004 series and 2012 series)
- Tough: Ryū o Tsugu Otoko (one of the many spin-offs of the Tough franchise which has published over eighty volumes in its two main titles alone, see: Koko Tekken-den Tough and Tough)
- Kanojo no Carrera (one of the longest-running series by Kia Asamiya, one of the few manga creators to have had their work published by Marvel, DC, Image and Dark Horse)
- Shutter Shower
- Wani Bunsho
- Sora Yori Takaku
- Ometto Suwan
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