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 and continued through issues 33 with various different creators being highlighted.
The fourth part of this spotlight series continued with the 32nd Weekly Shonen Jump issue in 1998 with the following creators:
- Hirohiko Araki (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure)
- Yuko Asami (Wild Half)
- Hajime Kazu (Meiryōtei Gotō Seijūrō)
- Shou Makura & Takeshi Okano (Hell Teacher Nube)
- Takehiko Inoue (Slam Dunk)
- Makoto Niwano (Base Boys)
This issue also featured 9 page timeline of the major milestones of the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine since 1968. It also featured a “Special Guest” interview with Hiroshi Motomiya as well as with Go Nagai.
Hajime Kazu (かずはじめ) was currently serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump with her school drama manga Meiryōtei Gotō Seijūrō (明稜帝梧桐勢十郎). The issue which this article was printed contained the 30th chapter of the series. The series would conclude at the end of the following year with a total of 95 chapters in the 52-53rd issue in 1999. Prior to this serialization, she had the Mind Assassin series run in the magazine for 28 chapters between the 1994 52nd issue and the 1995 29th issue. She would later return to the magazine for two more short series with Karasuman (鴉MAN) in 2001 for 16 chapters and Kanagawa Isonan Futen-gumi (神奈川磯南風天組) in 2003 for 18 chapters.
The article begins with asking Hajime Kazu about her memories of Weekly Shonen Jump, which have been roughly translated below:
中学生のころ『北斗の拳』が大ブームで、アニメも見てました。アニメと言えば『キン肉マン』も見てましたね。弟が”キン肉マン消しゴム”集めてたという記憶があります。とにかくジャンプは、いつも大ブームを巻き起こしてる、というイメージがありますね！
When I was in middle school “Fist of the North Star” was a big hit, so I watched the anime. Speaking of anime, I also watched “Kinnikuman.” I also remember that my younger brother was collecting “Kinnikuman Erasers” too. In any case, I have the impression that Jump is always creating big hits!
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.
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.
Kinnikuman Erasers, or also known as 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.
Hajime Kazu provided an illustration with her love of the Fist of the North Star series. In the drawing, Kenshiro is saying his famous line from the anime of “You are already dead.” The article also lists a short synopsis of the manga series.
The article then concludes with a listing of Hajime Kazu’s works at the time and her own short comment about each, which have been rough translated into English below.
Mind Assassin
着のみ着のままの作品です。自分のわがままにつきあってもらった、という感じです
This is a work that it went with the flow of things. I feel like I was given the opportunity to be selfish.
Meiryōtei Gotō Seijūrō
ジャンプと自分のために作りました。それに、ちょっとだけ遊び心も加えてみました
I made this for Jump and myself. Also, I added a little bit more fun into it.
