The year 2001 was a pivotal year for Shogakukan’s Weekly Big Comic Spirits (週刊ビッグコミックスピリッツ) magazine. For the magazine that started in 1980, it was celebrating its 15th year anniversary from it’s change to a weekly release starting in 1986. The cover designs would change over to almost exclusively gravure photos, rather than a focus on the manga titles and the fruit/vegetable mascots which was the standard for the years past. Additionally, the year 2001 would include a changing of the Editor-in-Chief. To catalog these changes on a more issue-to-issue basis, we are starting a new article series looking back at each issue of Weekly Big Comic Spirits via the author comments found on the table of contents. A new article will be released each week, on the same release date as it was exactly 25 years ago. Please enjoy this journey on exploring another manga magazine for the entirety of 2026. You can find all of our articles related to Weekly Big Comic Spirits on this page.
The cover date on the issues are not the actual release dates for the magazine. As such, we will be posting the articles based on the calendar date when the magazine was actually available for readers to pick up in Japan. In the year 2001, this would typically be published on every Monday.
Every issue, the editorial staff would ask a single question to all of the published authors. While the magazine was released weekly, not every series in the magazine was published in each issue. Below is the listing of the manga series as they appear in the issue along with a rough English translation for the question and each response.
Issue Info
Release Date: 12/4/2000
Cover Date: 1/1/2001
Cover Design: Mascot (Pineapple)
Question
What made you think recently…
“Hey, maybe I’m pretty cool?”
最近、自分って結構イケてるかも･･･
と、思った瞬間は?
| Series | Author | Answer (English) | Answer (Japanese) |
|---|---|---|---|
| The 3 Young Men THE3名様 | Makochin Ishihara 石原まこちん | When I scolded the police car for idling. | アイドリングしていたパトカーを注意した時。 |
| 20th Century Boys 20世紀少年 | Naoki Urasawa 浦沢直樹 | When my wife complimented on my fried rice. | 作ったチャーハンを、妻にほめられた時。 |
| Gekka no Kishi 月下の棋士 | Junichi Noujou 能條純一 | When I bit down hard on my chapped lip. | ささくれたくちびるを、ぐっとかみしめた時。 |
| Subaru 昴スバル | Masahito Soda 曽田正人 | Never. | なし。 |
| 8 8エイト | Atsushi Kamijo 上條淳士 | If you think “that’s cool” then you already aren’t. | “イケてるなぁ”と思うことが、まずイケてないね。 |
| Junpu ジュンプウ | Atsuo Kuwasawa 桑沢アツオ | I’ve already played 60 rounds this year, that’s cool. | 今年はすでに60ラウンド、イケた。 |
| Saikano 最終兵器彼女 | Shin Takahashi 高橋しん | I’ve been thinking recently that it’d be cool to have more gray hair and look like an old man from Hokkaido. | 白髪が多くなって、北海道のおっちゃんっぽくなってイイなぁと、最近思う。 |
| Otana-Bukuro 大人袋 | Isami Nakagawa 中川いさみ | ZZZZZZ………. | ZZZZZZ………。 |
| Senkousekka 電光石火 | Kenji Morita 盛田賢司 | Doing the laundry. | 洗濯した時。 |
| Heaven? ~Gokuraku Restaurant~ Heaven? ~ご苦楽レストラン~ | Noriko Sasaki 佐々木倫子 | There’s been a lot of mistakes recently, so I don’t have anything good…. | このところ失敗続きで、景気のいい話はサッパリ･･･。 |
| Koutsuu Hikokunin Mae he!! 交通被告人 前へ!! | Story: Ryuichi Imai Art: Uhyosuke 今井亮一+ウヒョ助 | Climbing the stairs and pulled a muscle. My expression when I saw my teary-eyes in the mirror (Uhyosuke) | 階段上って肉離れ、鏡に映った涙目の自分にエモーション。(ウヒョ助) |
| Oishinbo 美味しんぼ | Story: Tetsu Kariya Art: Akira Hansaki 雁屋哲+花咲アキラ | I was complimented by a woman (grandmother) at the place I was researching. (Hansaki) | 取材先で女性に好かれた(おばあちゃん)。(花咲) |
| Boku 僕 BOKU | Yasuhito Yamamoto 山本康人 | I had a dream I was a boxer. | ボクサーになった夢を見た時。 |
| Kaijuu Jinsei 怪獣人生 | Nobuyuki Hori ほりのぶゆき | When kneading clay. | 粘土こねてる時。 |
| A Capricious Concept 気まぐれコンセプト | Hoichoi Productions ホイチョイ・プロ | No matter what it is, its whenever I create a satisfying work. | どんなものであれ、満足のいく作品ができた時。 |
| Jimihen じみへん | Tatsuya Nakazaki 中崎タツヤ | Never cool. | イケてない。 |
| Kijou no Kowloon 机上の九龍 | Author: Takashi Nagasaki Art: Tomo Aoki 画:青木朋 脚本:空論制作委員会 | When I perfectly time my pouring of a drink for someone at a banquet. (Aoki) | 宴席で相手へのお酌のタイミングがピタリと合った時。(青木) |
| Aozora 青空 | Hidenori Hara 原秀則 | I’m completely uncool in every way!! | すべての面で絶不調ですっ!! |
| Tokyo Daigaku Monogatari 東京大学物語 | Tatsuya Egawa 江川達也 | Back when I was popular with young, pretty girls. | 若いキレイな娘にもてた時。 |
| Naoko 奈緒子 | Story: Nobuhiro Sakata Art: Yuu Nakahara 坂田信弘+中原裕 | When I made Sato-kun give up with the Sakuraba Lock. | 桜庭ロックで佐藤君をギブアップさせた時。 (中原) |
| Animal Mania アニマルマニア | Kiriko Kubo 玖保キリコ | I’m uncool more often than not. Sniffle…. | イケてないと思う瞬間のほうが多いです。しくしく･･･。 |
