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 | Makoto Niwano (にわのまこと) |
| Date of Birth | May 1, 1964 |
| Birthplace | Kagoshima Prefecture |
| Blood Type | B |
| Debut Work | “The Momotaroh ~ The Case of Murakami Shinichi-kun” in 1986 ’86年 『THE MOMOTAROH ~村上伸一君の場合~』 |
| 1st Jump Serialization | “The Momotaroh” 『THE MOMOTAROH』 |
| Additional Info | He recently serialized the hilarious sports manga “Cho Kido Bohatsu Soccer Yaro: Libero no Takeda” 『超機動暴発蹴球野郎 リベロの武田』などの爆笑スポーツマンガで活躍中。 |
To celebrate Weekly Shonen Jump‘s 25th anniversary, Makoto Niwano provided this illustration and comment, which have been roughly translated below:
祝!25周年♡
Congrats! 25th anniversary ♡
僕が「ジャンプ」と出会ったのは、 ちょうど中学生の頃でした。当時、『すすめ!! パイレーツ』や『コブラ』といったマンガを楽しく読んでいました。僕が4、5才の時に創刊された雑誌が今も昔も子供たちをよろこばせているというのはとてもすばらしいことだと思います。また、 そんな雑誌で僕もこれからもいっしょうけんめいマンガを描きたいと思います。
いつまでも子供に夢を与えつづける雑誌であって下さい。
My first encounter with “Jump” was back in Junior High School. At that time I was reading “Susume!! Pirates” and “Cobra.” I think it’s wonderful that a magazine that was first published when I was 4 or 5 years old is still great for children today. I would like to continue to do my best to continue to draw for this magazine.
I hope that this magazine will continue to give children dreams forever.
He also provided this shikishi for the event, in addition to the other illustration based on his oneshot Bomber Girl:
The remainder of the article is a short summaries of the Cho Kido Bohatsu Soccer Yaro: Libero no Takeda and The Momotaroh manga series.
The following is some additional context and information not included in the original article:
Makoto Niwano, at the age 17, while still in high school, had submitted the baseball oneshot titled Mayo Shobu!? (迷勝負!?) and won the honorable mention in the 14th Akatsuka Prize Award in 1981.
The Momotaroh ~ The Case of Murakami Shinichi-kun (THE MOMOTAROH ~村上伸一君の場合~) was originally published in the Weekly Shonen Jump Winter Special in 1987. The oneshot had received an honorable mention in the 25th Akatsuka Prize Award. In that special issue which focused on oneshots, this was Makoto Niwano’s comment on the table of contents page, which is a bit tongue-in-cheek since the oneshot features a wrestler as the main character:
やった~っ! デビュー升は何がなんでもプロレス物と思っていただけに失態っ!!ぜひ感想をきかせてください
Hurray~! I always thought my debut work would have to be related to wrestling, so I’m disappointed!! Please let me know what you think
The Momotaroh also had a second oneshot which was published in the Weekly Shonen Jump Spring Special in 1987. This was a two-part oneshot that released in the the issue. The following was his author comment from that issue:
毎週NHKの独眼竜政宗を見るのが楽しみ。次はモモタロウと政宗を戦わせようかなっ!
I look forward to watching Dokuganryū Masamune on NHK every week. Maybe next time we’ll see Momotaro and Masamune fight!
Dokuganryū Masamune (独眼竜政宗) was a weekly TV drama that originally aired in 1987 for 50 episodes based of the novel written by Sōhachi Yamaoka for the historical character Date Masamune from the late Sengoku to early Edo periods in Japan.
The Momotaroh started its full serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump with issue 42 in 1987. The series would last for 109 chapters and conclude with issue 50 in 1989. Makoto Niwano’s second serialization was Cho Kido Bohatsu Soccer Yaro: Libero no Takeda, or more commonly known just as Libero no Takeda, started in issue 13 of Weekly Shonen Jump in 1991. The series would end in issue 50 in 1992 for a total of 84 chapters.
While Bomber Girl was featured with his new illustrations, it would not become a serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump until the following year with issue 7 in 1994. The series would only last 11 chapters before being cancelled and the shortest running series he had in the magazine. Prior to this Jump Multi World event, the series did have a oneshot that was published in the Weekly Shonen Jump Spring Special for 1993, which featured the character being highlighted. The full serialization would have some changes in the character design and overall plot. Below is the comment Makoto Niwano wrote in that Spring Special (with a rough English translation):
今回、初めて女の子の主人公に挑戦!ちょっとエッチになって、申し訳ないっス!! JC「リベ武」の最新刊もよろしくおねがいっス!!
This time, I’m going to try having the main character as a girl! It might be a bit naughty, sorry about that!! Please look out for the latest issue of Jump Comic’s “LiberoTake”!!
“LiberoTake” is a short hand for Libero no Takeda. The final volume of the manga series (volume 9) was published in Japan on April 2, 1993.
The Bomber Girl manga was later licensed and released in English by Gutsoon Entertainment via the Raijin Comics English manga magazine. The series would also get a compiled volume release in November 2003.
From his author’s comment in the article, the Susume!! Pirates (すすめ!!パイレーツ) manga was created by Hisashi Eguchi (江口寿史) and ran for 151 chapters between 1977 and 1980 in Weekly Shonen Jump. Hisashi Eguchi would later go on to create Stop!! Hibari-kun! (ストップ!!ひばりくん!) in 1981. Cobra (コブラ), by Buichi Terasawa (寺沢武一) had 156 chapters in its original run in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1978 to 1984.
