Yutaka Takahashi Profile – Jump Multi World 1993

To celebrate Weekly Shonen Jump‘s 25^th 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 28^th through August 15^th, 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	Yutaka Takahashi (高橋ゆたか)
Date of Birth	June 30, 1964
Birthplace	Niigata Prefecture
Blood Type	O
Debut Work	“The Joke” in 1983 (Monthly Shonen Jump) ’83『ザ ジョーク』(月刊少年ジャンプ)
1st Jump Serialization	“Otoboke Nasu-sensei” 『おとぼけ茄子先生』
Additional Info	The high-energy, high-school drama club themed manga “Bonbonzaka Koukou Engekibu” is currently being serialized! 高校の演劇部が舞台のパワフルギャグ、『ボンボン坂高校演劇部』を連載中!

To celebrate Weekly Shonen Jump‘s 25^th anniversary, Yutaka Takahashi provided this shikishi and comment, which have been roughly translated below:

The middle of the article highlights his current on-going serialization, Bonbonzaka Koukou Engekibu which started with issue 42 in 1992 of Weekly Shonen Jump.

The article ends with a 4-panel manga titled “Friendship” (友情) which was enlarged and shown on display at the Jump Multi World event in 1993. A rough English translation of the manga is included below:

Panel 1:

Friendship
“So… I hear that friendship is popular thing these days, right boss?”
Sign: “Masa-chan and Hiro-chan”
“Friendship?”

Panel 2:

“Friendship?”
“That’s Victory!”

Panel 3:

“Friendship?”
“That’s a Spaceship!”

Panel 4:

“Friendship?”
“Not a Friend-Nip!”
Aside: “These old man jokes!!”

The 4-panel manga makes fun of the mispronunciation of “Yūjō” meaning friendship. The rough English translation above attempts to bridge that language-gap with similar mispronunciations in English.

The following is some additional context and information not included in the article:

The history behind his debut work The Joke is a bit unclear. The length and format does not appear to be reported, nor has it been republished, or potentially ever published. Listing as 1983 in Monthly Shonen Jump, none of the issues for the magazine actually listed it as a manga being published. It’s possible that it was only a 4-panel manga, included as part of a larger article or ad, in which case it may not be documented on the table of contents. It is also possible that the date was written in error and should be 1986. This is when he won the “Honorable Mention” for the 24^th Akatsuka Award. The name of the title is not known. This award was a joint venture with Weekly Shonen Jump and Monthly Shonen Jump. So this award may be for that title and his editor at the time reported to Monthly Shonen Jump, which gave that attribution.

His first serialization was the manga Otoboke Nasu-sensei (おとぼけ茄子先生) which ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from issue 44 in 1987 through issue 14 in 1988. These were a series of 4-panel manga instead of the traditional 19-page full page layouts. Each issue had multiple 4-panel manga strips, which had about 10 different stories. All of these stories from the 21 issues, plus additional fan submitted suggestions were then compiled into a single volume release.

His second serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump was Kenkaku Shibui Kakinosuke (剣客渋井柿之介). This series ran for 11 chapters between issue 37 through issue 47 in 1989. This followed a much more traditional manga page layout while still being focused on gag humor from his earlier series. Unlike most new serializations in Weekly Shonen Jump, the first chapter did not get a color page in the magazine. Due to the hiatus of BASTARD!!, this was a quick serialization and wasn’t accounted for getting a color page on short notice. The BASTARD!! serialization would then be moved to the seasonal Weekly Shonen Jump issues and wouldn’t return back to the magazine until 1997 with an infrequent release. Kenkaku Shibui Kakinosuke would only get it’s first color page with issue 42, or it’s 6^th chapter in 1989. The series had two earlier oneshots which were published in issue 15 & 16 in 1989 and were included in the single printed volume release.

The breakout success was Bonbonzaka Koukou Engekibu, which started his serialization with issue 34 in 1992. This series would run in Weekly Shonen Jump through issue 30 in 1995, totaling 142 chapters. Later in 1996, after this article was published, he would have one more serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump with Majokko Vivian (魔女娘Vivian) that would run for 43 chapters.

Within his author comment for Jump Multi World, he included several references to famous quotes/scenes from various Weekly Shonen Jump manga. Below is the attribution for all of those that we could find

H!! (Ecchi) – Unknown. This could possibly be from Magical Taruruto, which early on has “see-through” glasses which use the letter H as a pun in the name. This series has quite a few similarities in tone and humor to Bonbonzaka Koukou Engekibu, which could draw a comparison. It’s also possible that this was a reference to Harenchi Gakuen, which was pushing the boundaries for ecchi content in the magazine. Harenchi Gakuen would also better closely align with the rough debut chronological order the quotes were listed off in.

7 Years of Pain – Professor Toilet

You rotten heretic!! – Black Angels

N’cha!! – Dr. Slump

The ball is my friend!! – Captain Tsubasa

You are already dead!! – Fist of the North Star