To celebrate Weekly Shonen Jump‘s 25th anniversary, Shueisha decided to create a new style event to promote it’s history for the fans. The name of the event was called “Weekly Jump Multi World” and was a exhibition that was held in the Tokyo Dome Prism Hall between July 28th through August 15th, 1993. The event cost 700 yen for admission and guests were able to receive as special booklet which highlighted some of the items on display. The booklet was never available for sale directly. Over 48 authors provided new illustrations and congratulatory messages for this anniversary and are documented in this booklet and this is one of them. To help provide context to this profile that was captured in 1993, we have included some additional information to supplement the transcription and rough English translation.
| Name | Hirohiko Araki (荒木飛呂彦) |
| Date of Birth | June 7, 1960 |
| Birthplace | Miyagi Prefecture |
| Blood Type | B |
| Debut Work | “Poker Under Arms” in 1981 ’81『武装ポーカー』 |
| 1st Jump Serialization | “Cool Shock B.T.” 『魔少年ビーティー』 |
| Additional Info | In “Baoh The Visitor”, a biotechnology transforms the young protagonist into the Bio-weapon Baoh, and he has published other unique works with a cult following such as “Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure.” バイオ技術で青年が生体兵器バオーに変身する、『バオー来訪者』や『ジョジョの奇妙な冒険』などの異色作を発表、カルト的人気を得る。 |
To celebrate Weekly Shonen Jump‘s 25th anniversary, Hirohiko Araki provided this illustration and comment, which have been roughly translated below:
『週刊少年ジャンプ様』ご誕生25歳、おめでとうございます。私はあなたがご誕生なされた時から知っています。池沢さとし先生からファンレターの返事を頂いたこともありますし、懸賞で『自転車』とか『野球のバット』を当てたこともございます。授業中読んでいて教師に見つかり、あなたが焼却炉で無残にも焼かれた時など思わず泣いてしまいました。あなたは私の「人生」そのものです。これからもよろしくお願いいたします。
Congratulations on your 25th birthday, “Weekly Shonen Jump-sama.” I’ve been with you since you were born. I even received a reply to my fan letter to Satoshi Ikezawa-sensei, and won a bicycle and baseball bat in the lottery contest. When I was reading you in class, my teacher found us and I couldn’t help but cry when you were cruelly burned in the incinerator. You are my “life.” I hope to continue to support you into the future.
He also provided this shikishi for the event from his on-going series at the time, Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure:
At the bottom of the profile, the editors include a very brief summary of the 4 parts of the Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure series that had been released to this point.
The article ends with a 4-panel manga titled “Friendship” (友情) which was enlarged and shown on display at the Jump Multi World event in 1993. A rough English translation of the manga is included below:
Panel 1:
“I am so done with you!”
“Hmph! I don’t want to see you either….”
“Hm!”
“That’s the sound of their friendship cracking……”
Panel 2:
“Your cracked friendship can be fixed by Crazy Diamond! Doraaaa!!
Panel 3:
“No, wait…….”
“Crazy Diamond can only fix a person’s “heart”…. I forgot about that detail…….
Panel 4:
“And I forgot that dead people can’t come back life……”
“Even kindness has it’s fault.”
“Later.”
The bottom text reads roughly the following; “This Josuke Higashikata is a different person from the character in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. Additionally this person will never be shown in any future works.”
By the end of 1993, in issue #52 the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure series had a total of 344 chapters published and would have been in the 79th chapter of the current arc. The story arc would conclude in issue 51 in 1995.
From his comment about the 25th anniversary of Shonen Jump he mentioned Satoshi Ikezawa, who had the following series in the magazine, with the years serialized noted:
- Hello! Julie (1969-1970)
- Arashi! Sanpiki (1970-1973)
- Onikko (1973)
- Kaze! Hana! Ryu! (1974)
- The Circuit Wolf (1975 – 1979)
- Diamond Star (1980)
- Kaido Racer GO (1981)
