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 Koseki (こせき こうじ) |
| Date of Birth | May 2, 1959 |
| Birthplace | Chiba Prefecture |
| Blood Type | B |
| Debut Work | “Aa Ichiro” (oneshot) in 1979 ’79『ああ一郎』(読み切り) |
| 1st Jump Serialization | “Aa Ichiro” 『ああ一郎』 |
| Additional Info | “Kenritsu Umisora Koko Yakyu Buin Yamashita Taro-kun” and “Pennant Race: Yamada Taichi no Kiseki” are two unique sports manga that made him a popular author! 『県立海空高校野球部員山下たろーくん』、『ペナントレースやまだたいちの奇蹟』といった、個性的なスポ根マンガが話題になり、人気作家に! |
To celebrate Weekly Shonen Jump‘s 25th anniversary, Koji Koseki provided this illustration and comment, which have been roughly translated below:
わーい
わーい
ばんざーーい
Yeah!
Yeah!
Banzai!
小学生のころ『ハレンチ学園』を全身あらゆる所を刺激されてまっさきに読みました。『男一匹ガキ大将』何度もくり返し読んで気持ちはすっかり硬派になりました。『父の魂』で大好きだったヨシコさんが『ど根性ガエル』で復活してうれしかったなぁ。 『トイレット博士』いつの時代も小学生はウンコが大好きです。『荒野の少年イサム』おーサンボーイ。少年ジャンプにはいろいろお世話になりました。その歴史にわずかでも参加できてうれしいです。
Back in elementary school is when I first read “Harenchi Gakuen” which excited my entire body. I kept reading “Otoko Ippiki Gaki Daishou” over and over again and I became hardened. I loved Yoshiko-san from “Chichi no Tamashii” so I was happy to see her return in “The Gutsy Frog.” “Professor Toilet” is always loved by elementary school students because of the poop. And “Koya no Shonen Isamu” is an awesome boy. Shonen Jump has given me so much. I’m so happy to have even a small part in its history.
He also provided this shikishi for the event from his current on-going series, Pennant Race: Yamada Taichi no Kiseki:
Additionally he provided a 4-panel manga titled “Effort” (努力) which was on display at the in-person event:
The remaining sections of article then provide a brief summary for the Kenritsu Umisora Koko Yakyu Buin Yamashita Taro-kun and Pennant Race: Yamada Taichi no Kiseki manga series.
The following is some additional context and information not included in the article. Some additional context came from this Japanese interview from Shinjukuloft in 2008.
The oneshot for Aa Ichiro was a semi-finalist for the 16th Tezuka Award in 1979 when he was only 19 and had just moved to Tokyo. Due to this early award, he did not study as an assistant under other mangakas prior to getting his full serialization of the Aa Ichiro manga in Weekly Shonen Jump starting with issue 32 in 1980. The series would last 39 chapters and end in issue 19 in 1981. His second serialization was Scrum (スクラム), which would start in the issue 1-2 in 1982 in Weekly Shonen Jump, but only last 11 chapters before ending in issue 13.
Kenritsu Umisora Koko Yakyu Buin Yamashita Taro-kun was his first major hit, which started its serialization in issue 44 for Weekly Shonen Jump in 1986. This series would last for 178 chapters and ending in issue 32 in 1990. The original concept for this to be a baseball manga came from his editor, since the Captain Tsubasa manga about soccer, was popular at the time. The series was originally cancelled with the 10th chapter in the issue 1-2 in 1987. However it would restart in the 14th issue of Weekly Shonen Jump in 1987 due to the popularity of the 4th chapter and the flow of the later chapters.
A year later, Pennant Race: Yamada Taichi no Kiseki started its serialization in issue 25 in 1991. At the time of the article’s publication in 1993, the series was on-going. It would later reach its conclusion in issue 3-4 in 1994 for a total of 126 chapters and be his last serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump.
Harenchi Gakuen, created by Go Nagai (永井豪), started in the very first issue of the Shonen Jump magazine, prior to it shifting to a weekly release. It then later became a weekly serialization which would last 119 chapters. Otoko Ippiki Gaki Daishou, created by Hiroshi Motomiya (本宮ひろ志), was the one of the first break-out hits of the magazine in its first year of publication and would run for 160 chapters.
Yoshiko-san, full name Yoshiko Yamanaka (山中 ヨシ子) was a teacher that was originally in Chichi no Tamashii (父の魂) manga by Hiroshi Kaizuka (貝塚ひろし). The author of The Gutsy Frog, Yasumi Yoshizawa (吉沢やすみ), originally trained as a mangaka under Hiroshi Kaizuka on that series. As a reference to his own teacher, the main character of The Gutsy Frog shares the same last name, Hiroshi Kaizuka. Additionally the same character Yoshiko, then appears in The Gutsy Frog as an English teacher. Chichi no Tamashii started its serialization in 1968 issue 1 and completed in issue 44 in 1971 for a total of 128 chapters. The Gutsy Frog would start in issue 31 of 1970 and continue until issue 24 in 1976 for a total of 297 chapters.
Professor Toilet (トイレット博士) was a gag manga drawn by Kazuyoshi Torii (とりいかずよし) which ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1970 through 1977 for a total of 319 chapters. Kōya no Shōnen Isamu (荒野の少年イサム), has a literal title translation of “Boy of the Wilderness Isamu” and ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1971 through 1974 for a total of 111 chapters. The series was written by Sōji Yamakawa (山川惣治) and illustrated by Noboru Kawasaki (川崎のぼる).
