Kazuhiro Torishima
Chief editor
Shonen Jump
(Weekly boy’s magazine)
Editor,
Mr. Kazuhiko Torishima
Mr.
Kazuhiko Torishima (47 yr. old) has 25 years’ experience as an editor at
Syueisya, which is one of three major publishing companies in Japan including
Kodansya and Shougakukan. He is a baby-boomer who grew up with the development
of manga. Although he was not a
boy who was crazy about Manga when he was a child, he learned about manga since
he became an editor. In 1968, Shonen Jump published after Shonen
Magazine and Sunday in 1959. In 1985, Shonen Jump recorded 4 millions, 5
millions in 1988, and 6 millions in 1996.
1.
He
was not a boy who loved reading and creating manga when he was a child.
(Rather, he was not interested in manga at all.) Since he started to work at
the publishing company, he learned about manga.
2.
The
role of Syounen Jump is to support
talented children to let them create manga to meet readers’ expectations.
3.It is important to draw readers’ attention to the story to let them overlap his own life onto the hero in the story. Readers enjoy stories in which the hero grows in the process of fighting obstacles and difficulty.
4. The most popular manga in the Jump is “One piece,”
which is a story of boys which they try to be pirates. The reason that this
story is popular is that readers can vicariously enjoy being pirates with the
hero/heroine through the process of confronting obstacles. This is a typical
success story of becoming something and the record of growth.
5. There are typically two ways to become a mangaka: 1) to apply
for the monthly and annualy contests and 2) to contact editors directly to show
his/her manga to be published as a shinjin (new-face)
6. There are about 20 young manga artists in training for one
editor (about 20 editors X 20 = 400?)
7. The relationship between mangaka and editors are very tight
(The role of editor is a kind of
manager, who organizes the story of manga and others.)
8. The content of manga might be changed according to
children’s requests based on the data of weekly questionnaires. (Weekly
questionnaires are collected collected to reflect audience impressions.)
9. Mr. Torishima does not care about the Comic Market since those
children do not have originality
and creativity, but they just copy other famous manga. *Also if those people
are not young enough (younger than 18?), it is difficult for editors to nurture
their talent to be successful as mangaka to depict in the Shonen Jump.