@DarthAsthma:
Yes because of the magic of furigana.
Edit: Or rather when they've learned hirigana and katakana dunno when that happens in the japanese school system, but basically the barrier to reading for a native speaker of japanese is way lower than to a learner of the language.
Did you miss the part where I specifically mentioned mentioned kanji? Pay attention, dude.
I bet it's pretty hard to find something published in Japan that lacks the basic alphabets but what sets them apart is how much kanji they have.
@RobbyBevard:
Most jump series have the simple characters in there along with the more complex ones. Plus, there's always having older siblings read to you.
They're certainly watching the anime versions of titles by then.
I was forgetting those "little translations" they usually have on top or on the side of the kanji. That does indeed break more barriers.
But like I said, betwen watching the anime and reading the magazine there are still a couple of steps.
@Aohige_AP:
No, there's no rating system for books.
The only rating system is "Adults Only" which is only applied to porn. (seinen manga with sex is unrated)
Also, when I was 8, I didn't read Jump - we had a lot more options for younger kids back then. Korokoro was the champion of pre-schoolers. Pretty sure I started reading Dr Slump and Kinnikuman around the age of 10. However, I was watching Jump-based cartoons on TV from much earlier age.
Nowadays, I figure majority of 8 year olds still read Korokoro comic or some such, although I'm sure there are fair amount of WSJ readership.
I think kids start getting into WSJ around the time they hit teens, and by the time they're into Jr. High, it's all WSJ.
WSM is a bit more mature. I can't see any 8 year olds reading Shounen Magazine lol.
Yeah, this was the idea I had. Kids start to read Jump after primary school, after having the reading/writting bases pretty cemented down.