is a shōjo manga magazine published by Kodansha

Kodansha

, the largest Japanese publisher, produces the manga magazines Nakayoshi, Afternoon, Evening, and Weekly Shonen Magazine, as well as more literary magazines such as Gunzō, Shūkan Gendai, and the Japanese dictionary Nihongo Daijiten. The company has its headquarters in Bunkyō, Tokyo...

 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

Target market

A target market is a group of customers that the business has decided to aim its marketing efforts and ultimately its merchandise. A well-defined target market is the first element to a marketing strategy...

 for Nakayoshi (like Ribon and Ciao

Ciao (magazine)

is a Japanese shōjo manga magazine published by Shogakukan for young girls . The first issue was launched in 1977. As of 2009, the circulation was 815,455. Formerly, the magazine attached paper crafts, but now attaches various goods that are different every month...

) 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

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 productions based on the manga, and character merchandising.