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 | Koji Inada (稲田浩司) |
| Date of Birth | March 14, 1964 |
| Birthplace | Tokyo |
| Blood Type | O |
| Debut Work | “Rouge Magic” in 1985 ’85年『ルージュ・マジック』 |
| 1st Jump Serialization | “Dragon Quest – The Adventure of Dai -“ 『DRAGON QUEST -ダイの大冒険-』 |
| Additional Info | Following his stories of “Kusottare dazee!!” and “Gush! Gulp!”, his first weekly serialized work of “The Adventures of Dai” became an explosive hit! 『クソッタレだぜェ!!』、『デルパ!イルイル!!』などを発表後、週刊初連載作『ダイの大冒険』が爆発的人気に。 |
To celebrate Weekly Shonen Jump‘s 25th anniversary, Koji Inada provided this illustration and comment, which have been roughly translated below:
週刊少年ジャンプ創刊25周年おめでとうございます。25年と簡単には言うけれど、それは紆余曲折、いろんなことがあったろうと思うのです。25周年エライ!! ジャンプバンザイ!!
でも、よく考えてみると、僕の方がジャンプよりも長く生きているので、なぁーんだジャンプもまだまだヒヨッコじゃないかと、大それたことを思ったりもしながら、僕の人生なんかよりずっと密度の濃い25年に、 やっぱりエラすぎて、びっくりしてしまいます。25年間でジャンプに掲載されたマンガは、いったい何作品ぐらいあるのでしょう? 全部読んでみたい気もしますが、考えただけで気が遠くなる感じです。
そんなジャンプの中で、とにかくも連載をしているってんですから、ガンバんなくっちゃ!!です。
Congratulations on the 25th anniversary since the launch of Weekly Shonen Jump. It’s easy to just say 25 years, but I’m sure there has been many twists and turns along the way. 25th anniversary is amazing!! Jump Banzai!!
But when I think about it more, I’ve been alive longer than Jump, so I think Jump is still growing up. But even still, I’m amazed what has happened in those 25 years and having such more complex life than my own. How many manga have been published in Jump over these last 25 years? I would want to read them all, but just thinking about it makes my head spin.
There are still many serialization currently in Jump, so I’ll have to continue to do my best!!
He also provided this shikishi for the event from his on-going series at the time, Dragon Quest – The Adventure of Dai:
At the middle of the profile, the editors include a brief summary of the plot and that it was based on the popular video game “Dragon Quest” and that the anime series was also a success.
The article ends with a 4-panel manga titled “Victory” (勝利) 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:
“We won’t be defeated by the Demon King’s Army!”
“Conquer!!!”
Panel 2:
“Conquer!!!”
Panel 3:
“Katsu!!”
Panel 4:
“Leave–!!!”
The following is some additional information about the artist and the series referenced in the article.
Kusottare dazee!! (クソッタレだぜェ!!) is a series of oneshots that were collected into a printed volume release on February 15, 1988 under the “Jump Super Comics” label. The stories primarily focus around rom-com scenarios in a school setting. In the book, he provided the following author comment on the inside flap of the front cover, which has roughly been translated below:
短編集がでるよっていわれました。 ボクはとっても喜びました。 そして、前に描いたマンガを、まとめて読み返してみました。 なんか、みんなおんなじようなマンガだなあって思い、ヘタッピーとも思ったのでした。 ボクはとーってもはずかしくなりました。 まあ、いっかと思いました。
I was very happy when I received the notice that I would have a short story collection be published. So I went back and read all of the manga I had previously wrote. I thought that they all were very similar, and that they weren’t as good as I remembered. It was very humbling. But, that’s okay too.
The following short stories were included in the book:
- Kusottare dazee!! (クソッタレだぜェ!!)
- My Bodyguard (マイ ボディガード)
- Honey Cherry Craziness (ハニーチェリーに首ったけ)
- Scramble♡Trouble (スクランブル♡トラブル)
- To Be Honest With You (素直になりたい)
- Rouge Magic (ルージュ マジック)
The Rouge Magic oneshot was originally written in 1985 and the title Kusottare dazee!! was his first published debut in the Weekly Shonen Jump issue 52 in 1989.
At the end of the following year after this book was published, Koji Inada joined with the story writer Riku Sanjo and supervisor Yuji Horii to create the Dragon Quest – The Adventure of Dai manga in Weekly Shonen Jump’s 1989 issue 45. The first two chapters were based on the Gush! Gulp! (デルパ!イルイル!!) story and then later adapted into the full story. As of the last issue of 1993, the series had reached chapter 202. The series would later conclude with 344 chapters in issue 52 in 1996.
The manga series has been licensed by Viz Media for an English release. As of 2024, the series has been released in 2-in-1 volume releases covering the first 75 chapters of the series. They are also available on the Shonen Jump app for digital reading.
A TV anime adaptation of the manga series ran from October 1991 through September 1992 for a total of 46 episodes. As the manga series was on-going, the complete story of the manga wasn’t fully adapted until 2020 anime remake with 100 episodes.
