Weekly Jump

2000 Issue 25
Published by Shueisha
Update by Rika Takahashi

What is JUMP?
WEEKLY JUMP, rival publication of WEEKLY SHONEN SUNDAY, is a "phone book" anthology published every week, with a circulation over 4 million. It is filled with some of today's hottest titles targeted for school age boys, many of them familiar to anime fans. JUMP has among its esteemed alumni: DRAGON BALL, VIDEO GIRL AI, CITY HUNTER, FIST OF THE NORTH STAR, KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD, SAINT SEIYA, SLAM DUNK, and YUU YUU HAKUSHO / POLTERGEIST REPORT.
Selected News:
I"S, by Katsura Masakazu, has ended its run of over two years in issue #24 with a happy ending. It has been a long road for Ichitaka and his relationships, especially after he and Iori realized their love for each other. However, with Iori's talent agency wanting Ichitaka out of the picture, and with the stalker Marionette King making a move for Iori, Ichitaka faced losing Iori again forever.
In recent issues, Ichitaka lied to Iori that he wanted to break up with her because he was fed up with all her showbiz stuff, and he further lied that he had already slept with Iko. Iori took it hard, but was able to recover, just as Isai said. On Christmas Eve, the Marionette King (who turned out to be the guy who was taking those lingerie shots of the girls in school early in the series) struck in hopes of raping Iori, but Ichitaka managed to fend him off. However, Ichitaka suffered head injuries, and fell unconscious, where he had a dream that he was back in school (i.e. the beginning of the series). In the dream, Ichitaka realized that he still loved Iori, and all he wanted to do was protect her from anything trying to harm her.
The final chapter, titled "Grasp the Dream", starts at the hospital where Ichitaka still lies in a coma. Yasumasa heads over with Izumi and Koshinae to drag Iori along, but Iori says she can't because has to get ready for the play. Yasumasa tells Iori that Ichitaka is in serious condition; Izumi tells her he got injured protecting her from a stalker. Still, Iori is forced away by her agent. Yasumasa screams at Iori that Ichitaka still loves her, but was forced to break up with her because of her agents. As Iori is being forced away, Koshinae tells her that Ichitaka is staying in his dream world because she no longer exists in his life, and that only she can help him now. Arriving back at the hospital, they see Ichitaka being wheeled off next to a telephone. The phone call was from Iori, who apologizes that she can't get out of work—but she wants to quit after her play to be at his side, and that she wants him to wake up because she loves him. In the final moments of the series, a recovering Ichitaka is able to watch a DVD video letter from Itsuki, with Iori at his side. And in the letter, Itsuki says to Ichitaka, "You finally grasped your dream, Itchan!"

Selected Overviews:
Toriyama Akira has made yet another comeback in issue #23 with his new series, SAND LAND. This time, the main character is Beelzebub, prince of devils. In the world as it stands, water is scarce—most of the lakes and rivers dried up with a series of war and natural disasters, and the one remaining water source is being controlled by a greedy king who charges an absurd amount of money for his water. One day, a sheriff by the name of Lao comes by the town inhabited by devils and monsters, and asks the non-human inhabitants to help him find a mystic well in the desert to the south. Beelzebub chooses Thief (a cunning old sage) to come with him on their trip south, but soon after leaving, they lose all their water and food. During the second episode, the strange trio manages to defeat a group of thugs but, after the tires on their car are deflated; and in search of a car on top of water and food, Thief finds a tank.
In this issue (#25), Lao manages to trick the army men inside the tank to leave, and he gets in and takes off with the tank. The trio heads down what used to be a river, but Lao wonders what the king's army is doing patrolling the dry riverbed. As they run along the dusty land, they see an airplane. Lao says that airplanes have been banned by the king; but the trio realizes that the plane belongs to the king's army...and that the plane has spotted the tank.

Some alert readers may recognize the name of the author for the other new series for this season, NORMANDY HIMITSU CLUB, which started in issue #24. Itoh Mikio was apprentice to Watsuki Nobuhiro during the RUROUNI KENSHIN days, right around the time that Oda Eiichiro and Takei Hiroyuki worked there. His name has been cleverly hidden in many places throughout KENSHIN, ONE PIECE and SHAMAN KING, and now, he has his own series in JUMP.
The main character, Kurubushi Rodin, has a fondness of drawing manga because manga was what kept him going when he was a sickly little boy. His dream is to draw manga that can touch the hearts of every person in Japan—but his friends give him cold stares. One day, Rodin gets a summons from Kaburagi Seishun to join Club Mongoose (a manga-drawing club in school). Rodin isn't so sure, after all the cold stares and being labeled "otaku" by his friends—and seeing two other members (Otaku Futoshi and Tezuka Osami), but he decides to join after one look at the token female, Hanasaki Otome. The next day, Rodin (as instructed) by Seishun, brings his work to school, where it is thrown away by his manga-hating girlfriend Sakurako. The club members search all day at the landfill for the missing manuscript, but it is nowhere to be found. At the end of the day, Sakurako gives the papers back to Rodin, where he promises that the first person whose heart he will touch with his manga will be her. But, he still has some doubts of getting along with the other strange members of Club Mongoose...
In the second episode, Rodin chases after Seishun who is missing from the club room. In his search, Rodin sees Seishun's way of getting ideas (or rather, vivid images): Seishun places himself in situations where he can see (or take part in), and quickly sketches how people react: the shock when a no-namer hits a home-run from the ace pitcher of the baseball team, the hatred of a punch thrown by a delinquent...and even how someone looks when their dreams are about to be dashed.