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: 2/10/2001
Cover Date: 2/26/2001
Cover Design: Mascot (Pineapple)
- Boku had the opening color pages
- Saikano returned from a 2-issue hiatus
Question
What are your beautiful Valentine’s Day memories……?
バレンタインデーの、美しい想い出は……?
| Series | Author | Answer (English) | Answer (Japanese) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boku 僕 BOKU | Yasuhito Yamamoto 山本康人 | Back when I was a tough guy (meaning I wasn’t popular with the ladies and such). | オレ、硬派だったんだよ(モテなかったってことね、チャン、チャン)。 |
| Saikano 最終兵器彼女 | Shin Takahashi 高橋しん | Back when I was very popular. | モテモテになったことかのものです。 |
| Subaru 昴スバル | Masahito Soda 曽田正人 | There are fewer every year…. | 年々減っているので･･･。 |
| 365ho no RYUTA 365歩の竜太 | Story: Masao Yajima Art: Chihiro Tamaki 作:矢島正雄 画:環ちひろ | What’s Valentine’s Day? Is it edible? | バレンタインデーってなんですか? 食べ物ですか? |
| Gekka no Kishi 月下の棋士 | Junichi Noujou 能條純一 | I’m really lookin forward to this year. | 今年に心底期待してます。 |
| Chocolat ショコラ | Eisaku Kubonouchi 窪之内英策 | “I won’t give it to anyone. Except Sana (Hiroyuki Sanada).” by that guy. | 「あげないわよ。サナ(真田広之)以外は･･･」byアイツ。 |
| Otana-Bukuro 大人袋 | Isami Nakagawa 中川いさみ | None. | ない。 |
| Fighting Sun Legend Gutch!! 格闘太陽伝 GUTCH!! | Hiromi Aoyama Supervision: Lou Thesz 青山広美 監修: ルー・テーズ | Can’t remember. | 忘れました。 |
| Millennium Stock Exchange Legend: Monkey Money ミレニアム相場師伝説 猿MONEY | Seiki Kimura & Kōshi Kabuto 木村清輝+兜公司 | The Odajima-kun’s clay ball incident. | 小田嶋君の土団子事件。 |
| Yoiko よいこ | Yugo Ishikawa 石川優吾 | There are no beautiful memories. | 美しい想い出は何もないです。 |
| The Two Oigawas Employment Diary ふたりの大井川 就職日誌 | Inosuke Rodriguez ロドリゲス井之介 | When my family and I enjoy eating my father’s obligatory chocolate from his work. | オヤジが会社でもらった義理チョコを家族で楽しく食べた。 |
| The 3 Young Men THE3名様 | Makochin Ishihara 石原まこちん | When I skipped school and biked around Kanpachi. I lost 2kg. | 学校休んで自転車で環八一周。2キロやせた。 |
| 8 8エイト | Atsushi Kamijo 上條淳士 | Regardless of the memories, eat a chocolate egg if you can. I love them. | 想い出はともかく、頂けるのならチョコエッグを。是非。 |
| Aozora 青空 | Hidenori Hara 原秀則 | Uhhhhhh………None! (tears) | ん~~~~~~~………ない! (涙)。 |
| Kaijuu Jinsei 怪獣人生 | Nobuyuki Hori ほりのぶゆき | The martyrdom of Saint Valentine. | バレンタイン氏の殉教。 |
| Jimihen じみへん | Tatsuya Nakazaki 中崎タツヤ | Shut up!!!! | シャラーップ!!!! |
| Sentiment no Kisetsu センチメントの季節 | Nariko Enomoto 榎本ナリコ | In high school, I went to a guy’s house with some homemade chocolates, but someone got there first. | 高校時代、手作りチョコを持って男の家を訪問したら、先客がいたこと。 |
| Senkousekka 電光石火 | Kenji Morita 盛田賢司 | I’ll kill you. | 殺すぞ。 |
| Nijikoshi Iinchou にじこしいいんちょう | Nobumi のぶみ | The time when I met my mother after being separated during the war for 42 years. | 戦争で生き別れた母に42年ぶりに出会えた時のこと。 |
| A Capricious Concept 気まぐれコンセプト | Hoichoi Productions ホイチョイ・プロ | The girls knew I didn’t like sweets, so they have me alcohol every year. | 甘いものが嫌いと知っている女のコ達が毎年酒をくれた。 |
| Naoko 奈緒子 | Story: Nobuhiro Sakata Art: Yuu Nakahara 坂田信弘+中原裕 | In junior high school, I came back from club activities and found it in my desk…!! | 中学生の時、クラブ活動から帰ると机の中に･･･!! |
| Animal Mania アニマルマニア | Kiriko Kubo 玖保キリコ | The chocolate made for Tsugumu by a French pastry chef who is a friend of a friend. | 友人の友人のフランス菓子職人に作ってもらったツグム君のチョコ。 |
