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 | Takashi Kisaki (樹崎聖) |
| Date of Birth | February 1, 1965 |
| Birthplace | Hyogo Prefecture |
| Blood Type | A |
| Debut Work | “ff” (Fortissimo) in 1988 ’88年『ff』 |
| 1st Jump Serialization | “Hard Luck” 『ハードラック』 |
| Additional Info | Also has published “Tobikkiri!” and “Ganbarō!”. His series focus on boys’ passion for sports like boxing and soccer. 『とびっきり!』『ガンバロオ!』などを発表。ボクシンク、サッカーなどスポーツにうちこむ少年を一途に描き続けている。 |
To celebrate Weekly Shonen Jump‘s 25th anniversary, Takashi Kisaki provided this illustration, shikishi, and comment, which have been roughly translated below:
祝! 創刊25周年!!
Congrats! 25th anniversary!!
この度25周年だそうで･･･なんともおめでとうござりまする。ひたすら足を引っ張り続けた拙者といたしましてはひたすら申し訳ない限りでございます。えっ!? ンなことない!?少しは役にも立ったって!?･･･まいったなァ、そんなことは拙者のいない所で、みんなに聞こえるよのいない所で、みんなに聞こえるよ･･･。
ともあれ拙者、貴誌の益々の発展をお祈りすると共に微力を尽くす所存でござる。忍々。
I hear it’s your 25th anniversary… so congratulations on this milestone. I’m very sorry that I was slowing you down towards your success. Eh!? Be more positive!? I did help a little bit!? Oh man, you’re saying that to my face, and then right here where everyone can see it…
Anyways, I wish for your magazine’s continued growth and I’ll do my best to help whatever way I can. Really!
The remaining portion of the article gives a summary of the Tobikkiri! manga series which ran in Weekly Shonen Jump between issues 41 through 23 in 1990 and lasting 32 chapters.
The following is some additional context and information not included in the article:
Takashi Kisaki’s manga ff (Fortissimo) won the Hop Step Newcomer Award in Weekly Shonen Jump and was published in issue 31 in 1987. The manga focused on a pianist, a piano player. For the author comment at the back of the magazine, he left this comment (with a rough English translation):
上京後,玉か3か月で、しかも本誌で皆さんに会えるなんて光来です。これからもヨロシク
I’m so happy to be able to meet everyone via this magazine after just moving to Tokyo 3 months ago. Thank you for your support.
This first oneshot was then republished in the Hop Step Award Selection first volume for 1987. Within that volume there were also some editor comments about this work and his previous unreleased oneshot titled Magic Boy Kio (MAGIC BOYキオ). The following are some of those comments, with a rough English translation:
「MAGIC BOYキオ」という迷作をもって上京してきた彼の、これが2作目。「キオ」は、H ★S賞の最終候補には残ったものの、こじんまりと、まとめすぎた、彼らしくない作品で、そうした反省の上に、自分の持ち味を大切にして、かいてきたものだ。技術的、には荒けずりで、未完成だったものの、そんな欠点を吹きとばすだ
This is the second work from the artist after they arrived in Tokyo with the unpublished “Magic Boy Kio.” While “Kio” was a finalist for the Hop Step Award, it was too dense, and not dynamic enough, which is unlike the author themself. After reflecting on that, he has drawn this work using his unique style. While technically done, it still has some rough edges, but has already blew past those previous shortcomings.
His second oneshot manga published in Weekly Shonen Jump ran in issue 48 in 1987 titled Kazz! (カズ!). This was part of new author series of oneshots being published in the magazine. The author comment he left in magazine is the following (with a rough English translation):
どもっ! 2度目のお目見得です僕の1番好きなボクシングでやってみました感想お願いします
Hey! For my 2nd appearance here I wanted to show my favorite sport, boxing, so please let me know what you think.
Starting shortly after was Takashi Kisaki’s first full serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump, titled Hard Luck. It continued the theme of boxing from the previous oneshot. This series started in issue 52 of 1987 in Weekly Shonen Jump and ran for 11 chapters, ending in issue 12 in 1988. His editor for the series was Hisashi Sasaki and he had the following assistants:
- Toshiro Shimada
- Daiji Matsumoto
- Shinichi Ishizawa
- Tsuyoshi Nomura
- Yamaha Suzuki
The Hard Luck boxing manga series is split into 2 parts. The second half of the story starts with chapter 8. In the single combined volume release, the author left this note to the readers between the split in the story (with a rough English translation):
一人の非凡な子供がいました。彼は、おとな達から「こいつは、他とはちがう何かがある」などと言われましたが、実はどちらかと言えば、平凡か、それ以下の能力しか持っていないような子でした。
でも、彼は、いつのまにか、すっかりまわりのおだてにのり、「自分には人とはちがう何かができるにちがいない」と思いこむようになったのです。
暗示というのはこわいもので、自分は他とはちがうと思うエネルギーが才能のないはずの彼の執念となり、彼は10年以上もかかってマンガ家になり、単行本まで出すようになったのです。
……それがこの本です。
そんな平凡な才能のオレですから、技術も未熟ですし、完成度も高くはないかもしれません。
……でも、一人でもオレの平凡な非凡に何かを感じてくれる人がいるなら……オレはまた、非凡に思いこもうと思うのです。
これからもよろしくお願いします!
まいどありがと一ごぜーます☆
There once was an extraordinary child. Adults would say “there is something special about him,” but in reality, the child was just average in every sort of way.
But before he could understand that, he believed that flattery that was spoke of him and said “I must be able to do things that other people can’t.”
That suggestion then became a scary obsession for the child, and used his energy towards things he didn’t have talent in. It took him over 10 years to become an mangaka and eventually publish a book.
…… And this is that book.
Since I just have ordinary amount of talent, but skill level and amount of detail may not be very high.
…… But even if there is one person who can gain something from this ordinary extraordinary life… Then maybe I can believe that I am an extraordinary person too.
I look forward to your continued support.
Thank you for everything☆
In the Weekly Shonen Jump Summer Special for 1988, Takashi Kisaki’s new oneshot Teenage Bomb was published. It was also featured on the cover of the magazine issue and had the lead color pages. For this series he had the assistants Toshiro Shimada, Shinichi Ishizawa, and Daiji Matsumoto.
The Tobikkiri! manga was published in 4 volumes, and contained a bonus chapter 33 which was not published in the original Weekly Shonen Jump serialization. Additionally, Takashi Kisaki listed out the Staff, Special Thanks, and Editor for which volumes of the story he had assistances with. Notably, the number of assistants continued to decrease as the series went on. Typically the “Special Thanks” would be assistants that would help with a chapter for a day or two or provided other technical resources.
Staff
- Shin Mitsuhara (volumes 1, 2, 3)
- Kenichi Hirano (volumes 1, 2, 3, 4)
- Shinichi Ishizawa (volume 1)
- Takashi Jimba (volumes 1, 2, 3)
- Omura Hiroki (volume 1)
- Kaneyoshi Awato (volumes 1, 2)
- Kenji Etoh (volumes 1, 2)
- Motoshi Saga (volumes 2, 3, 4)
Special Thanks (across all 4 volumes)
- Toshiro Shimada
- Hiroyuki Kimura
- Nobuya Kaneko
- Tomohiro Koizumi
- Masakatsu Suzuki
- Hirotomo Naoe
- Shinichi Ishizawa
- Toshiya Iwamoto
- Kensuke Sato
- Daiji Matsumoto
Editor
- Hisashi Sasaki
In the Weekly Shonen Jump Winter Special for 1991 (published in late 1990), contained the oneshot titled Hayate (疾風). For the author comment of this oneshot he gave the following response (with a rough English translation):
構想から始まって約1か月半、ほとんど家からでないで頑張りました。まったくの新分野への挑戦なので、みんなの感想まってます。
It has been about a month and a half since I had this idea and I’ve been working on constantly and barely left my home. This was a challenging new concept, so I look forward to your feedback.
For Hayate he had the editor Hisashi Sasaki and assistants Motoshi Saga, Tomoyuki Aoki, and Takuya Tanaka.
On March 15th, 1991, Shueisha published a single manga volume combining several of Takashi Kisaki’s manga series, under the title ff (Fortissimo) (ｆｆ（フォルテシモ）). This volume also contains some updated versions of the oneshots previous published. The oneshots included were:
- Teenage Bomb
- Hayate – Complete Edition – (疾風-完全版-)
- Kazz
- ff (Fortissimo) – Extended Edition (ff(フォルテシモ)-Extended Version-)
At the end of the volume, Takashi Kisaki also left this note to the fans of his work (which has a rough English translation):
クラゲは嫌いだ!
クラゲにはなりたくない!
波にまかせてフワフワプカプカ･･･
自分で動くことなくただ気楽に漂うばかり。
波で岩の上にでも打ち上げられたなら
あとは、もう乾びるのをまつばかりなのに･･･。
そんな、なすがままの人生なんてごめんだ!
せいいっぱい意地張って無理したい!
他人まかせは、まっぴらだ!
生まれ持った才能なんかにまかせたくない!
限界を超えた何かをひき出したい!
そんな思いを込めて〈ffフォルテシモ〉……
最初の短編集のタイトルをそう決めました。
だけど、どっちにしても生きるもの全ては最後には
乾びる運命なのかもしれない。
だけど、めいっぱい、じたばたもがきたいんだ!
決して流れに身をまかせるもんか!
……そんな気概を持った男達や女達は魅力的だと思う。
そんなやつらをこれからも描いて行きたい!
I hate jellyfish!
I don’t want to be a jellyfish!
Just lightly floating in the waves…
Drifting carefree without having to move myself.
If the waves do wash me up on a rock,
All I do is wait for me to dry out…
I don’t want to live a life controlled by others!
I want to push myself as hard as I can!
I can’t leave everything to others!
I must rely on my own skills!
I need to create something above my own limits!
With those desires, I created “ff Fortissimo”)……
It is the title of my first collection of short stories.
In the end, all lives will eventually be destined to dry up.
Until then, I will push forward!
I will never let myself go with the flow!
…I find people with that kind of spirit very inspirational.
I want to tell stories with characters like them!
In the Weekly Shonen Jump Summer Special for 1992, he returned with another oneshot title Ganbarō! (ガンバロオ!). This 49 page manga one focused on soccer and had a color pages for the opening of the magazine. In the author comments for this issue he left this response (with a rough English translation):
初めて挑んだサッカー漫画。研究すればするほどサッカーのおもしろさがわかってきて、あれもこれもかきたいと苦労した。
This is my first attempt at a soccer manga. The more research I did, the more fascinated with soccer I became, and I struggled on what I could to include in the short story.
In 1993, then this article was printed for the Jump Multi World, Takashi Kisaki was working on a new series of oneshots titled Tachyon Fink (タキオン＝フィンク). This sci-fi manga was broken up across 3 stories published in Weekly Shonen Jump Summer Special 1993, Weekly Shonen Jump Autumn Special 1993, and Weekly Shonen Jump Spring Special 1994. Similar to his other works, he also listed out the assistants for each:
Chapter 1
- Nobuhiro Watsuki
- Shinichi Ishizawa
- Tomohiro Koizumi
- Takahiro Kimura
Chapter 2
- Takeshi Obata
- Shinichi Sakamoto
- Yoichiro Tomita
- Shinichi Ishizawa
- Takahiro Kimura
Chapter 3
- Takahiro Kimura
- Takeshi Okuda
- Shinichi Ishizawa
- Yoichiro Tomita
- Tomoaki Naito
