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 | Yoshihiro Togashi (冨樫 義博) |
| Date of Birth | April 27, 1966 |
| Birthplace | Yamagata Prefecture |
| Blood Type | A |
| Debut Work | “What a Birthday Present” (Jump Winter Special) in 1986 ’86年『とんだバースディープレゼント』(ジャンプ・ウィンタースペシャル) |
| 1st Jump Serialization | “Tende Showaru Cupid” 『てんで性悪キューピッド』 |
| Additional Info | His second serialized work, “YuYu Hakusho” was turned into an animated TV series and movie. Its gaining immense popularity! 連載第2作目『 幽☆遊☆白書』はTV・劇場アニメ化。絶大な人気を得る! |
To celebrate Weekly Shonen Jump‘s 25th anniversary, Yoshihiro Togashi provided this illustration and comment, which have been roughly translated below:
やったぜ25周年!!!
Congrats on 25 years!!!
何はともあれ『トイレット博士』である。マタンキなのである。いつからジャンプの愛読者になったかは定かでないが、この雑誌が私の人格形成に多大な影響を与えたことは紛れもない事実だ。そのジャンプが25周年を迎える。アウトロー的な荒っぽさで常に限界に挑む姿勢はそのまま部数に反映されたが、その影響力ゆえのジレンマもまた多い。あくまで通過点ではあるが、やはりめでたい。 先輩方に敬意をこめて25周年おめでとうございます。
It always is “Dr. Toilet.” Just say Matanki. I’m not sure when I became a regular reader of Jump, but there is no hiding that this magazine had a huge impact on my personality. Now Jump is celebrating its 25th anniversary. That outlaw-like roughness and attitude for always challenging the limits is shown in its current circulation, but that popularity has also brought controversy. It may just be a number, but it’s still a reason to celebrate. With respect to all my predecessors, I would like to extend this congratulations on this 25th anniversary.
He also provided this shikishi for the event based on his current series at the time YuYu Hakusho:
In the middle of the article there is a short summary of the YuYu Hakusho manga series which started in Weekly Shonen Jump’s issue 51 in 1990.
The article ends with a 4-panel manga titled “Friendship, Effort, Victory” (友情・努力・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:
Friendship
“Let me borrow 1000 yen. We’re friends, right? Yamada-kun?”
“I can double that.”
“My name’s Sasaki…”
Panel 2:
Effort
(“Jingle” sound effects)
“Hey, Hey, Let’s go, Let’s go”
“Everything’s on the line with this machine.”
Panel 3:
Victory
“Hey, threes 7s is a payout, damn it!”
Panel 4:
“That’s him.”
“I got him.”
Reflection
The following is some additional context and information not included in the article:
The What a Birthday Present (とんだバースディープレゼント) was later reprinted in the Ōkami Nante Kowakunai!! (狼なんて怖くない!!) single volume release of short stories which released on October 9, 1989.
Tende Showaru Cupid (てんで性悪キューピッド) started it’s serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump’s issue 32 in 1989. The series would last only 32 chapters and conclude in issue 13 in 1990.
YuYu Hakusho (幽☆遊☆白書) started it’s serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump’s issue 51 in 1990. The series was still on-going during the Jump Multi World event. By the end of 1993, there were 148 chapters of the manga published. It would later conclude in issue 32 in 1994 with 176 chapters. The TV anime adaptation of the series started in October 1992 and had its first movie released in July 1993.
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. Starting with the volume 12 of the series the series begins to shift its focus away from the title character Professor Toilet and towards the middle school group known as the “Metakuso Gang.” The password to enter their secret club room was “Mantanki”, but would later change to “Homobian” and then “Chinkoro Kankoro”, but later reverting to the fan favorite of “Matanki.” In addition to having badges to show their alliance with the group, their gang had the motto of “Friendship, Effort, Victory”, which would later become the unofficial motto for the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine and countless references in various series.
