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 | Yoshinori Nakai (中井義則) |
| Date of Birth | January 11, 1961 |
| Birthplace | Osaka Prefecture |
| Blood Type | B |
| Role | Artist |
| Name | Takashi Shimada (嶋田隆司) |
| Date of Birth | October 28, 1960 |
| Birthplace | Osaka Prefecture |
| Blood Type | O |
| Role | Author |
| Debut Work | “Kinnikuman” in 1979 ’79『キン肉マン』 |
| 1st Jump Serialization | “Kinnikuman” 『キン肉マン』 |
| Additional Info | “Tatakae!! Ramenman“, “Yūrei Kozō ga Yattekita!“, “Scrap Sandayū“, and “Kickboxer Mamoru“. 『闘将!拉麵男』『ゆうれい小僧がやってきた!!『スクラップ三太夫」』『蹴撃手マモル』等。 |
To celebrate Weekly Shonen Jump‘s 25th anniversary, the duo provided this illustration and comment, which have been roughly translated below:
王子のかわりに来ましたおめでとうございます
I’m sending you the congratulations on behalf of the prince.
週刊少年ジャンプが漫画雑誌No.1を誇る原動力は、作家たちの他のあると思う。僕たちが『キン肉マン』で活躍していたころのジャンプは、『Dr.スランプ』『キャプテン翼』『北斗の拳』と、後の大名作が目白押しで、毎週、そのライバルたちに負けじと寸暇を惜しんで、アイデアを捻り出していたことを思い出します。
自分たちが今日あるのは、間違いなくジャンプで鍛えた作品創りのパワーのおかげです!
What makes Weekly Shonen Jump the number one manga magazine lies with the talented creators. While working on “Kinnikuman”, there were other future masterpieces running in Jump like “Dr. Slump,” “Captain Tsubasa”, and “Fist of the North Star.” Looking back, we would tirelessly brainstorm new ideas every week, as to not fall behind our rivals.
Without question, our success to this day is thanks to that creativity forged within Jump!
They also provided this shikishi for the event which was on display at the Jump Multi World event:
The article ends with an overview of the Kinnikuman manga that concluded in 1987.
The following is some additional context and information not included in the article:
Before serialization, there were two oneshots that were published in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1979. Below is the rough translation of the first author’s comment which featured an illustration of Yoshinori Nakai, with his signature glasses for the portrait from issue 2:
あこがれのジャンプにのって感激! よろしくお願いします
Being published in Jump is so thrilling! We look forward to working with you.
In the 14th issue the second oneshot was published in 1979. Below is the rough translation of the second author’s comment which this time featured an illustration of Takashi Shimada:
前回のキン肉マンにたくさん手紙くだすって、おおきに!
Thanks for the ton of letter you sent to us fro Kinnkuman!
The manga series Tatakae!! Ramenman ran concurrently with Kinnikuman starting in 1982. It was published in Shueisha’s Fresh Jump magazine and would run until 1989.
The series following Kinnkuman that ran in Weekly Shonen Jump were not able to replicate that success. Yūrei Kozō ga Yattekita! ran for 41 chapters between issue 34 in 1987 through issue 24 in 1988. This was only 13 issues after Kinnikuman ended in 1987 and was based on the oneshot that ran in Weekly Shonen Jump while I was still serialized. Yūrei Kozō ga Yattekita! also had a highly promoted start which the first three issues (#34, #35, #36) all had color pages and was the first series in the magazine.
Scrap Sandayū started off as two oneshots; one in issue 43 in 1988 and the other in issue5-6 in 1989. It was then published in Weekly Shonen Jump issue 24 in 1989 and continue for 17 chapters until issue 40. The last serialization for Yudetamago in Weekly Shonen Jump was Kickboxer Mamoru which ran for 32 chapters between issue 33 in 1990 through issue 13 in 1991.
Following these lack of hits, the duo started creating series for other publishers than Shueisha beginning in 1993. This included Total Fighter Kao (トータルファイターK) for Kodansha and Lion Heart (ライオンハート) for Enix. Neither of these would be highlighted at Shueisha’s Weekly Jump Multi World even in 1993, but they remained on good terms due to the success of Kinnkuman. The duo would later create the sequel Kinnikuman Nisei (キン肉マンII世) for Shueisha’s Weekly Playboy magazine in 1998 and continue various sequels and continuations of the Kinnkuman therafter.
