Japan's Manga Industry Uncovered | One Piece, Naruto, Dragon Ball, Tsubasa (The SHONEN JUMP Story)

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Inside SHONEN WEEKLY JUMP Manga
Created and produced by John Daub
ONLY in JAPAN
Manga: it's a Japanese style comic
that is definitely ONLY in JAPAN
and no manga has been more influential in
Japanese culture than the one I'm highlighting today
Shueisha has invited me to get an inside look
at how SHONEN JUMP weekly has
really evolved over the last 50 years
yes that's right, this manga has been around for over 50 years!
It has inspired all-stars like
ONE PIECE
DRAGON BALL, NARUTO
It has inspired a generation of boys
none of whom is more inspired than
the man behind me
He's KK, he's my co-reporter for this episode
and he has in his hands a copy of ー
Hi John, how are you doing?
SHONEN JUMP
How are you?
The exhibition is so cool man!
Right!
What is it about Shonen Jump that inspired you as a kid?
Back when I was a kid,
Monday was the day to begin everything!
To me ー to kids, Monday was the Shonen Jump day.
So go to school, go back to the store
get JUMP and read from beginning to the end.
From cover to cover, you'd read it
all that information
So Shonen Jump gives me a lot of energy
The Shonen Jump series, it's made for just boys
Yeah, mainly for boys
But in it, it was very important because
it also has a lot of life lessons in it
Sure ー effort, friendship, victory
self worth, maybe
Basically if you're reading Shonen Jump, you could probably
get into the mind of what a Japanese guy
is thinking.
Yeah. Yeah.
Which is how important culturally this manga has been.
KK can't wait to see the Shonen Jump exhibit
and neither can I.
Publisher Shueisha is celebrating the series's 50th anniversary.
The exhibit spans 3 eras,
this one focusing on the 1970s to 1980s
when both KK and I were kids.
You can see he has a lot of passion for those childhood memories,
reading every copy of Shonen Jump as a kid.
The walls are lined with scenes from the weekly manga,
Each issue has 20 serial series,
each with 20 pages per week.
Popular serial series can go on for decades
like KK's favorite “Kochikame” which continued for 40 years!
Action and humor is the name of the game
on the pages of JUMP.
Captain Tsubasa, started in 1981
and still running today
has published over 70 million copies to date.
The story revolves around an 11 year old school kid who
wants to win the FIFA World Cup for Japan
This scene was recreated on playgrounds everywhere!
As guys, we like the action, right?
This is my golden era
These manga? Yeah, right!
These manga!
Tsubasa …
For many Japanese, JUMP connects generations,
just looking at old covers brings back memories,
school buddies chatting about what just happened
on those sacred pages!
I want to bring them back home!
So basically when you were a kid
you had friends that had favorite
characters from different series, right?
Yeah, one copy has 15 different stories
My favourite one was Ryo-san, Captain Tsubasa
Back then.
But some of my friends loved another story
So you would read all of them anyway
Yeah Yeah
Even though there are so many in there
There's no way to skip, no reason to skip
So then in the end, you would just have battles like
He's the best! He's the best! This is the best!
Yeah! Or ー
whoever doesn't follow my favourite story
I can tell him, hey!
THIS WEEK RYO-SAN is the BEST!
Now you read it!
Right!
I like that! It's sort of putting the collection all into one book
gives a little camaraderie
Yeah!
I can learn a lot of things from
manga and also manga ー Shonen Jump
helped me to connect with me with my friends
I mean, it's better than talking about homework, right?
I wanted to learn more about how this weekly manga was made –
so I made a trip to publisher Shueisha's headquarters
in Tokyo for an official behind the scenes look at
WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP
WOAH!!
No foreign journalist has ever reported on SHONEN JUMP'S
EDITORIAL ROOM
This is going to be awesome!
”This is the Editorial Department“
This is where all the magic is put together each week
The editors department is just full of ー stuff!
All of it related to manga
There are a lot of secrets in those boxes and manilla envelopes
The department is also filled with toys
Inspiration comes in many forms.
But it's also a place where they, you know,
work to edit each issue.
It's been coming out weekly for almost half a century
Here are some pages for an upcoming issue.
The editor is measuring the size of the words and font here
and adding instructions for the printers.
Inside this manila folder is a rare look at an up coming Shonen Jump cover!
Picking the cover is one of
the most important parts of each issue.
Since One Piece is celebrating its 20th anniversary,
it's an easy decision this week.
Inside this folder is another treasure.
This is very rare!
It's an original ONE PIECE drawing
coming straight from the artist.
This is authentic.
You can tell it's original because
the ink has bled through the paper on the back.
I wonder how many millions of fans will be looking at
this in a few weeks.
Here's another original ONE PIECE work.
These are all the top characters which were
voted on a while ago
Shonen Jump turns 50 and One Piece turns 20.
There's a lot to celebrate at Shueisha!
Let's talk to the editors about how
they put together this weekly manga series.
JUMP has 20 manga series per week and
the process starts with the editor and artist
Each series has their own editor
The process working together doesn't change
We start from scratch, the editor and artist
meeting and discussing
What should this week's episode be?
How was last weeks episode?
The direction of episodes in 10 to 20 weeks
or one year later
and that is how next week's episode will be decided.
It will be held at the artist's work place or
a family restaurant
ranging from one hour to 5 to 6 hours
Once the editor and artist agree on
how next week's episode should be,
the artist will draw something called “the name“
which is a rough draft, plot or plan of the manga
on a notebook or pieces of paper
with a rough sketch
about the scenes, the words
the story of those weekly 19 pages
The editor will chack that again.
The check will be fax, email or
meeting directly to know the content
If it is really good, it will pass,
but that is very rare
The worst case is doing it all over again
Maybe this scene is hard to understand
needs more emotion
and we do the discussion on this again.
After a few discussion and
when the adjustments are agreed,
the artist starts the work
Once the work is done,
the editor goes and retrieves it
then the editor has to do work on the publishing
so material is sent to pressing and proofreading
transferring the words into print
or checking it for errors
we check all that and when it's okay
we take it to print and then the book is made.
That's pretty much a week's worth of work
SHONEN JUMP PLUS
The Weekly Shonen Jump goes digital
You can see Weekly Jump Series online.
Around 2000 pages monthly, same as the magazine!
The content may be more a little more aggressive or violent,
and as this service matures,
it's sure to be a great addition for fans worldwide.
Manga otaku don't even have to leave their house anymore!
About the JUMP PLUS content
compared to the paper SHONEN JUMP
there is a difference from paper
JUMP PLUS readers are not just young boys
the age group is a bit wider
reader demographics a bit broader
the graphics may be more aggressive or violent
LIFE OR DEATH OF A SERIES IN JUMP
The first is whether the viewers want it
the other is the vitality
or the power and endurance of the artist
It's a balance of these two things.
If it goes well, it will last up to 40 years.[
If not, even if the artist wants to continue,
it will end early
or even if the readers like it,
when the artist says it's done - it's done.
So - you want to be a manga artist, huh?
How does one become a manga artist here?
Definitely contact Shonen Jump!
This is from the 50 year history of JUMP.
Our biggest job is go find new artists
and that is the motto of our editing department.
That has never changed here.
It may have been only Japan until now,
but now we are accepting artists globally.
There are many global contests
so the gate to join JUMP is open around the world!
Although the language barrier may be a problem,
we will know a great talent when we see the work
so you can start off by giving us a call.
Wait! Do you have any foreign artists here?
We already have people bringing in their work.
On JUMP PLUS we already have foreign artists
We have Korean and Chinese artists now
New artists may turn out to be really boring
or really amazing!
Our motto at SHONEN JUMP
is betting on those chances
MAGAZINES and COMICS
In JUMP we have green pages, yellow pages
and red pages
It's recycled paper so
we add color to hide the dirtiness
Since we want to deliver to our readers
the cheapest price possible, we use cheap paper
The quality of the paper really doesn't matter
it's about the art!
So people don't collect these issues
If you like the manga in the magazine,
you can buy the comics version and collect them
The quality of the paper is beautiful
so people collect these instead.
Tankobon also called “komikusu” in Japanese –
is a stand alone edition of many weeks of stories
from the weekly issue
These are what people collect,
not the big weekly Shonen Jump
Those are considered zasshi, or a magazine
Sold at news stands
Fans read it for the story and art and get rid of them
Recycle
Very different from the system in the United States
Paper and ink quality is low so
even kids can afford it
The KOMIKUSU are the collectable versions because
the paper is higher quality
and all of the stories in JUMP are in one edition
Yeah, the most hard-core fans read the manga twice!
Once in the zasshi and again in the komikusu.
Artists have boxes for mail in the editor's department. Your fan mail may be inside this box right now!
Speaking of artists, let's talk go meet some of the legends
at a press Q&A to celebrate JUMP's 50th anniversary.
SHONEN JUMP LEGENDS
Let's Talk Manga
These artists are 4 of the most well respected in their time.
Life as a JUMP artist ー it's a rivalry behind the scenes
We were working as artists on the same Jump,
and we had reader's poll back then,
so we were all rivals
There was a feeling of wanting to win
against the other artists,
and we competed with each other, which was good
It's not like fan's art
where people draw what they like,
but the rivalry made us to thrive
Since I was older than them,
I always had to be sure to make
better manga than my peers
The poll was equal for all - veterans or rookies,
so we were judged equally
Since there was competition,
we thrived to become better
Back then the relationship was horrible.
Now we can talk to Takahashi-kun,
but back then I didn't want to talk to him
Not even in the same room.
Impossible to be together.
We really took it that far.
Not with Captain Tsubasa,
not with Fist of North Star.
All enemies to us!
Same with Cat's Eye and Dragon Ball
It was an information war
We had to find out how our rival will bring
the climax to their series.
At that same time, we would try to crush them!
We'd bring an real good episode we saved for later
and bring it right on their climax to crush them
Our editors didn't get along either
You mean the editors?
Now we can stay together, but compared to back then,
the relationship is much better
Now we are war buddies
More horrible than I though.
That's really incredible.
So it's better now?
Now we're okay.
For me, we were all good friends
You're acting as a good fellow all of a sudden!
Since we were a team,
I think my biggest rival was Shimada
If he writes a good script, I had to draw really good
We were competing against each other
to create good work.
My biggest rivals were these two -
the Yudetamago
He said he didn't want to look at you or talk to you.
They are the same age, but debuted before me,
so more like my goal than a rival.
Let's take a break at the event cafe
for
MANGA BURGERS UNBOXED!
The TSUBASA BURGER
Soccer ball style
Double Fried Chicken patties
the bun a ball patterned with seaweed and squid ink mayonnaise
Kinnikuman Burger!
He loves Gyudon so –
it's gyudon with red ginger
Edible cracker for the helmet wing
The Dragon Ball Burger!
Dragon ball,
double fried fish patties,
Goku's KAME logo in cheese!
Senzu beans in the dragon ball.
Cool.
Chow down to power up!
Highly approved!
The biggest and most important was
the “POLL SPEAKS FOR ALL in JUMP
For us artists in the 80s,
if we didn't get 1st place,
we were not considered manga artists
if we fell to no.2,
we were taunted by our editors.
His case is extreme.
Such strictness -
He was trained badly in Osaka.
Anyway - everyone was an enemy!
Tatsuo Hara (Fist of North Star) was
having coffee at a cafe
with our editors there -
our homes were so close so we used the same cafe,
but they left the instant we came in.
It was that harsh and competitive of a world.
Maybe not so much now,
but we all needed to take no.1
It was Kinnikuman one week,
then Fist of Northern Star
or Captain Tsubasa the next.
First place was evolving.
That is why of the 15 manga (in JUMP)
there was none that could be skipped.
How the editors took care of us
and the care after joining was super
compared to other places.
The way they treated artists and authors
was really great.
Free boxed lunches too!
Right! Those were really good!
If you didn't have a place to live
you couldn't borrow apartment by yourself.
If you didn't have a stable job, you couldn't rent
a house back then, and had to have collateral.
So they took care of us.
That was the case for me as well.
Isn't that so?
JUMP was a great place for
new artists to come out.
It was fierce competition for all.
Whether you were new or a veteran,
there was competition which was good.
Since the beginning of JUMP,
the motto was “Challenge"
and do what others cannot do
That spirit of doing what no other can do
and finding new artists will continue,
and hopefully continue as well.
For our time, every week was our biggest war,
so we didn't think of legitimacy
or chaos of the storyline
That was what made it fun!
I see less and less of that.
There are so many side stories,
and the side stories match
with the main story later on
That is important, but with SNS spreading out,
I think people are too cautious
of what others think of you
I personally hope something
totally crazy would come out in manga.
To be honest with you,
I hope more masculine / macho
type of Manga comes out
and hope the JUMP theme of
Friendship, Strive and Victory will be passed on.
Popularity is important,
but maybe a lot of the manga work is
concentrated and affected too much by it,
so as Akimoto-sensei has said,
I hope people try to challenge
what no one has ever done.
Manga is an important part of Japanese culture
and Shonen Jump has been at the front of it for 50 years.
It breeds a culture for kids ー and adults
to be the best, both as a person and as a competitor,
seen not just on the pages of each weekly issue
but in the way the artist's work.
It's easy to see why fans cherish JUMP.
They have a say the process – readers, editors and artists
are connected – and as a fan,
I'm already looking forward to next Monday
when the newest issue of WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP
hits the news stand.
NEXT TIME: Let's head to Asahikawa for some bowls of ramen.
It's Hokkaido's northern most city
and if you like ramen,
you're not going to want to miss this ramen eating binge!
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mata neー