For all of this year, we’re taking a look at Shogakukan’s Weekly Big Comic Spirits (週刊ビッグコミックスピリッツ) magazine back in 2001. From these issues exactly 25 years ago from their releases helps give a bit of a insight into the creators and the magazine at the time. If you want to see more of these author comments and other articles about the magazine, check out our archive for 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: 3/5/2001
Cover Date: 3/19/2001
Cover Design: Orange (Mascot)
- Gallery Fake had it’s 200th chapter in this issue along with the opening color pages in the magazine
- Nijikoshi Iinchou continued serialization due to popularity

Question
What do you own that you think would sell for a high price?
あなたの持ち物で、これは高く売れそうだ・・・というものは?
| Series | Author | Answer (English) | Answer (Japanese) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gallery Fake ギャラリーフェイク | Fujihiko Hosono 細野不二彦 | A T-shirt (of Lum-chan) hand drawn on by Rumiko Takahashi-sensei. | 三高橋留美子先生直筆Tシャツ(ラムちゃん)。 |
| 20th Century Boys 20世紀少年 | Naoki Urasawa 浦沢直樹 | A passport to the moon won in a Shonen Magazine contest. | 少年マガジンの懸賞で当たった月へのパスポート。 |
| 365ho no RYUTA 365歩の竜太 | Story: Masao Yajima Art: Chihiro Tamaki 作:矢島正雄 画:環ちひろ | Autograph by Leiji Matsumoto (with Maetel). (Tamaki) | 松本零士氏のサイン(メーテル入り)。(環) |
| 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 | Pottery from around the Muromoachi period. (Aoyama) | 室町時代くらいの焼き物。(青山) |
| 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 | Epoch’s Cassette Vision Jr. (Cassette: Yosaku) | エポック社のカセットビジョンJr.(カセット:与作付) |
| Chocolat ショコラ | Eisaku Kubonouchi 窪之内英策 | “My autograph shikishi” by some guy. | 「あたしのサイン色紙」byアイツ。 |
| Gekka no Kishi 月下の棋士 | Junichi Noujou 能條純一 | I would say my car… Probably. | しいて言えば車・・・かな。 |
| Saikano 最終兵器彼女 | Shin Takahashi 高橋しん | Would anyone buy my Genesis (Mac) for cheap? | 誰かウチのGenesis (Mac)安く買いません? |
| Saotome Typhoon 早乙女タイフーン | Ihuho Hujirai くじらいいく子 | Maybe the autograph from director Luc Besson. If anyone is interested. | リュック・ベッソン監督のサインくらいかなー。買う人がいればだけど。 |
| Yoiko よいこ | Yugo Ishikawa 石川優吾 | Tamagotchi (white). | たまごっち(白色)。 |
| Aozora 青空 | Hidenori Hara 原秀則 | Giants Yoshinobu’s autographed ball. | ジャイアンツ由伸のサインボール。 |
| Jimihen じみへん | Tatsuya Nakazaki 中崎タツヤ | Keirin results data for 1000 races. | 1000レース分の競輪のデータ。 |
| Otana-Bukuro 大人袋 | Isami Nakagawa 中川いさみ | An old movie flyer. | 昔の映画のチラシ。 |
| Sentiment no Kisetsu センチメントの季節 | Nariko Enomoto 榎本ナリコ | Sadly, I don’t have anything interesting here. | 驚くほど何もないことに気づき悲しくなった。 |
| Nijikoshi Iinchou にじこしいいんちょう | Nobumi のぶみ | I don’t have anything that would sell for much. | 売れそうなものは、何もありません。 |
| Senkousekka 電光石火 | Kenji Morita 盛田賢司 | A book featuring Kyōka Suzuki in a leotard. | 鈴木京香のレオタード姿の載ってる本。 |
| Kaijuu Jinsei 怪獣人生 | Nobuyuki Hori ほりのぶゆき | I was on Yahoo the other day…… | こないだヤフーで・・・・・・。 |
| A Capricious Concept 気まぐれコンセプト | Hoichoi Productions ホイチョイ・プロ | The legendary sword Murasaki Karidaka (But could anyone actually buy and master it is another issue?) | 銘刀ムラサキカリダカ(ただし買って使いこなせる方がおられるかどうか?) |
| Boku 僕 BOKU | Yasuhito Yamamoto 山本康人 | A secret videotape. | 秘密ビデオテープ。 |
| The 3 Young Men THE3名様 | Makochin Ishihara 石原まこちん | The A Team’s Kong (Mr. T) on a poster. | Aチームのコング(Mr.T)の特大ポスター。 |
| Naoko 奈緒子 | Story: Nobuhiro Sakata Art: Yuu Nakahara 坂田信弘+中原裕 | An autograph from Arale-chan. | アラレちゃんのイラスト入りサイン。 |
| Animal Mania アニマルマニア | Kiriko Kubo 玖保キリコ | Passport. | パスポート。 |
