To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Weekly Shonen Jump, Shueisha ran a creator spotlight called “Great Jump!!” (すごい ジャン!!) to get some thoughts of their current artists about Jump. The creator spotlight started in Weekly Shonen Jump issue 29 with both Nobuhiro Watsuki (Rurouni Kenshin) and Eiichiro Oda (One Piece) being interviewed. This spotlight continued in the following issue with 4 more creators in the 30th issue:
- Masanori Morita (Rokudenashi Blues, Rookies)
- Ryu Fujisaki (PSYCHO+, Hoshin Engi)
- Kazuki Takahashi (Yu-Gi-Oh!)
- Hiroyuki Takei (Itako no Anna, Death Zero, Butsu Zone)
The last author interviewed in this article was Hiroyuki Takei (武井宏之), who would starting his new Shaman King (シャーマンキング) manga in the next issue. Previously, he had his first full serialization of Butsu Zone (仏ゾーン) which ran for 19 chapters in the previous year in Weekly Shonen Jump. The Butsu Zone series ended on with issue #31 in 1997, and the Shaman King series began in issue #31 in 1998.
The article begins with asking Hiroyuki Takei about his memories of Weekly Shonen Jump, which have been roughly translated below:
ジャンプというと思い出すのが打ちきり･･･じゃなくてやっぱり一番楽しく読んでた少年時代だなあー。田舎で一軒しかない本屋さんに火曜の夜遅く届くジャンプを待って、雪の中ワクワクしながら肉まんかじってた頃。何を待ってたかって、そりゃああの愛すべきヒーローたちですよ。もう次の週が楽しみで楽しみで! それが今、あこがれの少年ジャンプで連載できるなんて、考えてもみなかった。この責任は重大ですよ。あのワクワクを、ぼくは与える事ができるのか!? いい思い出を作ってもらえるのか!? ジャンプという強敵に打ち勝つ事ができるのか!?『シャーマンキング』がんばって描くので、気持ちよく応エンよろしく!!
When I think about Jump… The first ones that come to mind are the issues from my childhood. While I waited for Jump to arrive late on Tuesday nights at the only bookstore in the countryside, I would excitedly eat meat buns in the snow. I would wait as long as I needed, to see those lovable heroes. Then I would already be looking forward to the next week! I never thought that I would be able to be serialized in the Shonen Jump I waited so long for. This is a huge responsibility. Can I give you that same excitement!? Can they make a lasting memory!? Will I be able to overcome the formidable enemy that is Jump!? I will do my best drawing “Shaman King”, and I hope you will enjoy it!
Next in the article, Hiroyuki Takei provided some thoughts on his past works, which have been roughly translated below:
Itako No Anna
「戦うイタコマンガ。最高! オレのすべてがここにある!って、オレスケール小っちぇー(笑)」
“The fighting Itako manga. It’s the best! It’s everything about me! But, my scale was so small (haha)”
Death Zero
「海に沈むゼロ戦が白骨化したパイロットと共に死神となってよみがえるっ!カッコいいー!」
“The Zero fighter that sank in the ocean is revived as a Shinigami (God of Death) as a skeletonized pilot! It’s really cool!”
Butsu Zone
「伝説の仏像ヒーローアクションコミック!いつか復活するはずなので、それまでファンのみんなおれを支えてください」
“The legendary Buddha statue hero action comic! I’m sure it will be revived someday, so to all my fans, please support me until then.”
Itako No Anna won the Honorable Mention for the 48th Tezuka Award for this oneshot manga in 1994. It was then published in Mezase Mangaka Tezuka & Akatsuka Award Winning Works Collection (めざせ漫画家手塚・赤塚賞受賞作品集). Since then it has been republished in the Butsu Zone and Shaman King manga volumes.
Death Zero was published as a oneshot in the Weekly Shonen Jump 1996 Winter Special. Since then it has been republished in the Butsu Zone and Shaman King manga volumes.
As part of the interview, Hiroyuki Takei was asked for some manga recommendation. He provided 3 series that all came from the manga creator Hirohiko Araki (荒木 飛呂彦). With his recommendations he also gave a short comment about each, which have been roughly translated below:
Baoh
「顔にヒビが入る変身に心うたれ、つい自分の顔にペイントしてしまいました」
“I fell in love with the transformations that have cracks on their face, so I tried painting it on my own face.”
Cool Shock B.T.
「第1話でBTの友達コーイチ君が湖を泳ぎながら鼻血をっ! なにげに鼻血を出すマンガに、クールショックを覚えた」
“In the first story, BT’s friend Koichi-kun got a nosebleed while swimming in the lake! I felt that cool shock from a series that can so casually make people’s nose bleed.”
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
「ディオはカッコよすぎ! あと、イギー飼いたい」
“Dio is too cool. And I want Iggy.”
Baoh (バオー来訪者) ran in Weekly Shonen Jump for 17 chapters between 1984 issue 45 and 1985 issue 11.
Cool Shock B.T. (魔少年ビーティー) ran for 10 chapters in Weekly Shonen Jump, starting in the 42nd issue in 1983.
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (ジョジョの奇妙な冒険) was still on-going in Weekly Shonen Jump and had it’s 557th total chapter in the magazine with this issue.
Hiroyuki Takei also added his own drawing for the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure manga as well, which featured Hiroyuki Takei as a middle school student wearing a own clay mask he made himself:
This article was originally released on Patch Café, and has been since updated and included here to help provide a more comprehensive overview of the “Great Jump!” series of interviews.
