Editorial Note:
The Weekly Shonen Jump author featured in this article, Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro, was arrested and convicted of violating Japan’s child prostitution laws in 2002. We do not condone these actions of this author and are obligated to specifically highlight these crimes which he was convicted of while being serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. Any historical sources should still be preserved as they provide an insight into the history of manga, and this notice helps to contextualize the author with his history in Weekly Shonen Jump.
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Weekly Shonen Jump, Shueisha ran a creator spotlight called “Great Jump!!” (すごい ジャン!!) to get some thoughts of their current artists about Jump. The creator spotlight started in the 1998 Weekly Shonen Jump issue 29 with both Nobuhiro Watsuki (Rurouni Kenshin) and Eiichiro Oda (One Piece) being interviewed. This spotlight continued in 30th issue with Masanori Morita (Rokudenashi Blues, Rookies), Ryu Fujisaki (PSYCHO+, Hoshin Engi), Kazuki Takahashi (Yu-Gi-Oh!), and Hiroyuki Takei (Itako no Anna, Death Zero, Butsu Zone).
The third part of this spotlight series continued with the 31st Weekly Shonen Jump issue in 1998 with the following creators:
- Akira Toriyama (Dr. Slump, Dragonball)
- Kazumata Oguri (Hanasaka Tenshi Tenten-kun)
- Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro (Seikimatsu Leader Den Takeshi!)
- Masakazu Katsura (Video Girl Ai, DNA², I”s)
Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro (島袋 光年) was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump with his comedy manga Seikimatsu Leader Den Takeshi! (世紀末リーダー伝たけし!). The issue which this article was printed contained the 47th chapter of the series. The series started in 1997 issue 33 and would later be cancelled after the 237th chapter in 2002 issue 37-38 of Weekly Shonen Jump. He was arrested and convicted of violating Japan’s child prostitution laws by offering 80,000 yen to a 16-year old girl for sex. Sheuisha would later allow him to continue this manga series in other magazines and return to Weekly Shonen Jump with the Toriko and Build King manga series.
The article begins with asking Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro about his memories of Weekly Shonen Jump, which have been roughly translated below:
I will never forget the first Jump manga I read, “Kinnikuman!” I think it was the first comic I bought after watching the anime. I can still remember how thrilled and excited I was reading it. Among all the characters, “Buffaloman” was my favorite. I collected “Kinkeshi” until I have a garbage bag full of them. If I ever had a spare 100yen, I would spend it right away. My other favorite series is “Dragonball” It’s just too much fun. I want to see what happens after “Slam Dunk!” And “Fist of the North Star” had great art. For all of those characters, Raoh was the best. I started playing soccer because of “Captain Tsubasa” too. The ending was great. All of my favorites are the series no one in Japan has ever heard of (laughs).
Kinnikuman (キン肉マン) was created by the writer/artist combination of Yudetamago (ゆでたまご) and ran in Weekly Shonen Jump between 1979 through 1987 for 393 chapters. The series would later go on to have several spin-offs and sequels.
Kinkeshi (キン消し) are small rubber action figures that were sold at random in Gashapon starting in 1983. These toys were also sold outside of Japan under the title “M.U.S.C.L.E”. These toys were primarily based around the characters from the Kinnikuman franchise.
Dragonball (ドラゴンボール) was drawn by Akira Toriyama and ran from 1984 through 1995 in Weekly Shonen Jump.
Slam Dunk, by Takehiko Inoue, ran from 1990 (issue 42) through 1996 (issue 27) for a total of 276 chapters in Weekly Shonen Jump.
Fist of the North Star (北斗の拳), by Tetsuo Hara (Art) and Buronson (Story) ran from 1983 (issue 41) through 1988 (issue 35) for a total of 245 chapters in Weekly Shonen Jump.
Captain Tsubasa (キャプテン翼) by Yoichi Takahashi ran from 1981 through 1988 in Weekly Shonen Jump for a total of 357 chapters as well as having various spin-offs and sequels, some of which later ran in the magazine.
For the author illustration, Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro drew himself with his garbage bag of Kinkeshi.
The author spotlight article then continues with the author’s comments on their current series:
Seikimatsu Leader Den Takeshi! (世紀末リーダー伝たけし!)
Humans are creatures that can change and forget. The “Seikimatsu Leader Den Takeshi!” series is story that lives within the moment.
The remaining pieces of the article comment about this history of Kinkeshi and Kinnikuman and do not contain any additional author quotes.
