Full-time comic artist

For a comic magazine to gain readers' approval, a mainstay is essential.

Jump's previous works, such as Fist of the North Star and Dragon Ball, and its current works, such as Slam Dunk and One Piece, are all considered mainstays of the platform.

The future of print magazines will face even greater challenges, with an aging population and an increasing variety of entertainment options. Jump's decline is looming before Kazuhiko Torishima's eyes.

Therefore, it is essential to discover top-tier works. Jump's Newcomer Manga Awards are increasing, and there is a grand prize every month, all for this purpose.

In 1997, One Piece began serialization.

If it weren't for Slam Dunk, One Piece would undoubtedly be Jump's top manga, and Eiichiro Oda would be Jump's savior.

The person in front of me is the same age as Oda and started serialization around the same time. He is also considered a genius and possesses the same talent as Oda.

Torishima Kazuhiko had high hopes for him.

He is Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro, the author of "The Leaders of the End of the Century".

Last year, Jump specially arranged for the spin-offs of "One Piece", "Hunter x Hunter" and "Seishun Om Leader" to be shown on "Jump Festa", which shows its recognition of Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro.

He is a manga artist who is highly regarded by Jump, just like Eiichiro Oda and Yoshihiro Togashi.

"Chief Editor-in-Chief Torishima, I'm sorry I'm late." Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro lowered his head and then sat down. "I was so engrossed in drawing manga that I lost track of time."

He grinned and continued talking.

“It’s alright, I didn’t wait too long,” Torishima Kazuhiko said.

He was always tolerant of geniuses.

Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro's "The End of the Century: Leaders" is a comedy manga with a bold and powerful art style, and is known as "Tarzan Manga".

In short, his drawing skills are much better than Oda's.

He is only 24 years old.

It would be difficult to do this without a love for comics.

Today, Kazuhiko Torishima and Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro met to discuss gag manga.

On Jump, gag manga has its limitations. It can be serialized for a long time, like "Kochikame," but it can never reach number one.

The kind of comics that can truly move readers' emotions are the classic, mainstream comics.

The difference between Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro and Oda lies in their choice of subject matter.

Seeing Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro's overflowing talent in "The Leaders of the End of the Century," Kazuhiko Torishima decided to have a good discussion with him about it.

Hopefully, his next manga series will be a work on par with "One Piece".

"Wow, when I came here today, I heard a lot of people talking about 'Slam Dunk'. It's really a national manga. You're amazing, Mr. Toriakino."

Having just recovered from the sweltering summer, Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro was filled with emotion.

Although he has excellent grades, he is still far from being as good as Tori Akino Mirai.

"The National Tournament episode is really good."

Torishima Kazuhiko nodded smugly upon hearing this; this was someone he had personally discovered.

The fact that Jump's circulation has remained at 510 million copies is largely thanks to Slam Dunk.

"Their performance was already very strong, but the national tournament arc has generated even more buzz, which is something I didn't expect," said Kazuhiko Torishima.

He originally thought this was the limit, but when Tori Akino Mirai made her move, he saw an even greater sky.

"Because it's so interesting! Tori Akino-sensei's character creation is truly amazing. I used to really dislike Nan Lie, but after watching the latest episodes, I've come to like Nan Lie's story instead."

The match between Shohoku and Toyotama was different from previous ones; it didn't delve into Shohoku's story, but mainly focused on the Toyotama basketball team.

Seeing Rukawa Kaede's unwavering determination, Nan Lie finally remembered his original passion: he started playing basketball because he loved the sport.

But in his pursuit of victory, he has become increasingly extreme, going from initially intending to intimidate his opponent to resorting to underhanded tactics.

Victory is more important than anything else.

That's what Nan Lie was thinking.

Just as Mitsui met Coach Anzai, Minami Ryō, who began to reflect on himself, met Coach Kitano again.

He was still the same as before, with a gentle smile on his lips.

Kitano did not reprimand Minami.

Instead, he mentioned that he is currently training youth basketball and brought the children to watch basketball games.

only……

"The children were frowning as they watched the game..."

I heard that Toyotama was Kitano's former team, so the kids came to watch, only to witness Toyotama's ruthless tactics.

He finally showed a reproachful expression and turned to leave.

"Teacher Kitano! Do you use this run-and-gun tactic in elementary school too?" Nan Lie couldn't help but ask.

"It's still 80% offense and 20% defense, but it can no longer be considered a run-and-gun game."

"In short, as long as they have fun, that's enough."

These words deeply shocked Nan Lie, and he was awakened.

"Have fun..."

When he was a teenager, he simply loved basketball. He watched games and trained, all because he loved basketball.

His eyes became increasingly clear.

Because of Nan Lie, Feng Yu's players finally rediscovered their original dreams. In the final two minutes, they shed their shackles and focused 100% on the game.

They managed to close the gap to 6 points, but still lost to Shohoku by 4 points.

"When it comes to character analysis, Akino Tori is the strongest manga artist," Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro remarked. His flashes of inspiration seemed rather weak in the face of such a plot.

Torishima Kazuhiko nodded, "The original intention of basketball is the joy of playing basketball because of love. The team that started out was full of bad qualities, but eventually it was transformed and the work was sublimated. Torishima Akino drew it very well.

Another Mitsui Hisashi story; the tale of a prodigal son returning home is always delightful.

“Back then, Slam Dunk had gradually reached its peak because of Hisashi Mitsui, and now it has reached a new level because of Toyotama,” said Kazuhiko Torishima. “That’s the charm of shonen manga.”

Humorous comics can never compare.

The plot that people love to talk about is always like this.

This is also the lesson he wanted to teach Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro.

"I understand." Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro humbly accepted the instruction.

“I admire Oda very much; his talent is extraordinary. He always believes that Tori Akino is ten times more talented than him. I still have a lot to learn from Tori Akino-sensei.”

"I should have worked as an assistant to Mr. Tori Akino before I started serializing my manga, and learned more from him."

Eiichiro Oda once told him that when he was an assistant at Toriakino Studio, he learned a mountain of things and enriched himself every day.

His lack of experience as an assistant has become a disadvantage for him.

Sometimes being too talented isn't a good thing.

Torishima Kazuhiko was very satisfied, which was one of the reasons he came to see Shimabukuro Mitsutoshi.

They secretly gave him extra help, hoping that Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro could make up for his shortcomings.

……

Hibiki Higashino sneezed several times in a row; he was already used to it.

I've been working too hard lately, and my immune system has weakened. I'm very likely to catch a cold.

Fortunately, Omori came, and his workload decreased significantly, finally allowing him to sleep for four hours a day.

"The 16th volume of Slam Dunk has been released."

Before we knew it, three and a half years had passed, and Slam Dunk had reached chapter 178. Time flies.

Akemi Akemi said to him, "The first edition of the first volume was 50 copies, right?"

“That’s right,” Higashino Hibiki was impressed by this point, an honor that Hikaru no Go could not achieve.

While "Hikaru no Go" has achieved considerable success, nearly reaching a million copies sold per volume, selling 50 copies in the initial print run is still a long shot.

"What was the first edition number for volume 16?" Akemi Akemi asked curiously.

Omori also looked over; this number must be legendary.

"230 million copies," Higashino Hibiki said, his mouth agape as he held his phone.

The initial print run of 200 million copies was already a record, but I never expected Jump to have the audacity to push the initial print run to 230 million copies.

We are confident that the 16th volume of Slam Dunk will sell more than 200 million copies in a short period of time.

"That's amazing..."

Omori exclaimed.

This number was beyond his comprehension; it was practically a miracle. Only the current version of "Slam Dunk" could achieve such a feat.

Even Dragon Ball wouldn't be possible.

"Why is it so tall?" Akemi Akemi asked.

“Mr. Sasaki said,” Hibiki Higashino said, “that Jump wants to achieve an average sales volume of over 400 million copies for each volume of Slam Dunk…”

Currently, the average sales of each volume of One Piece are only a little over one million.

The once number one "Dragon Ball" series has sold around 350 million copies per volume.

400 million copies is a figure that has never been seen before.

Due to the National Tournament arc, Slam Dunk's popularity increased, with the average sales of the collected volumes rising from 380 million copies to 388 million copies. However, there is still a long way to go to reach 400 million copies.

Hibiki Higashino recalls that Takehiko Inoue's "Slam Dunk" manga ultimately did not reach four million copies sold.

"That's really a bold idea," Higashino exclaimed in astonishment.

“It’s really possible,” Akemi Akemi nodded seriously. “Things are different now than before.”

Chapter 225 Participating in "Jump Festa"