CoroCoro Comic (コロコロコミック) is a Japanese Children's manga published by Shogakukan. It was established in 1977 and several of its properties, like Doraemon and the Pokémon series of games, have gone on to be cultural phenomena in Japan. The name comes from a phenomime korokoro (ころころ) which means "rolling" and also represents something spherical, fat, or small, because children supposedly like such things. The magazine is A5-sized, about 6 cm (2 1/4 in) thick, and each issue is 750 pages long. CoroCoro Comic is released monthly with new issues on the 15th of each month (or earlier if the 15th falls on a weekend). CoroCoro Comic sold 400million copies as of April 2017, making it one of the best-selling comic/manga magazines. The magazine has three sisters: Bessatsu CoroCoro Comic (別冊コロコロコミック), CoroCoro Ichiban! (コロコロイチバン) and CoroCoro Aniki (コロコロアニキ). Bessatsu and Ichiban! are published bi-monthly, while Aniki, which targeted an older audience, was released quarterly. On November 20, 2020, CoroCoro Comic cover designer Tariji Sasaki was recognized by Guinness World Records as the longest-running cover designer for a children's magazine. CoroCoro Aniki ended publication in March 2021.

History

The magazine was launched in 1977 as a magazine for Doraemon, which is one of the most popular manga in Japan. Before then Doraemon had been serialized in 6 Shogakukan magazines, targeted to students of 6 elementary school grades, that target audience has now increased. It collected stories of Doraemon from these magazines. It celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2007 with an exhibition at the Kyoto International Manga Museum.

Tie-ins

CoroCoro regularly promotes toys and video games related to their manga franchises, releasing stories and articles featuring them. Pocket Monsters/Pokémon's big success in Japan owes to this in a way; the Game Boy game Pocket Monsters Blue was sold exclusively through the magazine at first, which helped CoroCoro's sales as well. CoroCoro is also often a source of information about upcoming Pokémon games and movies. Other successful tie-ins include:

Manga series currently being serialized

Manga titles currently serialized in Monthly CoroCoro Comic

Manga titles currently serialized in Bessatsu CoroCoro Comic

Manga titles currently serialized in CoroCoro Ichiban

Formerly serialized manga

This is a list of all manga that had been serialized by CoroCoro Comic at one point, but currently no longer.

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Circulation

Rivals

Corocoro has had many rival magazines in the past, with one of them, Comic Bom Bom, closing down due to declining sales. The current competition includes V Jump and Saikyo Jump.

Past rivals

Current rivals

Foreign adaptations