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Shonen Jump

Posted by Periodicals/Reference Librarian

Shonen Jump, “The World’s Most Popular Manga”, was a monthly Americanized version of the original weekly Japanese Shonen Jump. The first American Issue (no. 0) came out in November 2002. The magazine featured around 6 different comics, each by a different artist with ongoing stories that continued from one issue to the next. Featured manga titles include Naruto, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Bleach, One Piece, Dragon Ball Z, Slam Dunk, and Yu Yu Hakusho.

Shonen Jump

The library has a total of 98 Shonen Jump‘s (all but 2) from the first to the final issue.

Remember: manga reads from right to left!

Shonen Jump, Vol. 1, no. 0.
Cover

Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto.
Shonen Jump, Vol. 1, No. 2. February 2003.

Yu-Gi-Oh Activity
Shonen Jump, Vol. 1, No. 2. February 2003.

Shonen Jump, Vol. 1, No. 6. June 2003.
Cover

The images that follow are all from the comic YuYu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi, which centers around teenage rebel/gang member/punk Yusuke Urameshi.

The compositions, in fight scenes especially, are extremely dynamic, with onomatopoeia sprinkled all over the place (WHAM!):

YuYu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi.
Shonen Jump, Vol. 1, No. 6. June 2003.

YuYu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi.
Shonen Jump, Vol. 1, No. 5. May 2003.

YuYu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi.
Shonen Jump, Vol. 1, No. 4. April 2003.

YuYu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi.
Shonen Jump, Vol. 1, No. 5. May 2003.

YuYu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi.
Shonen Jump, Vol. 1, No. 3. March 2003.

The comic is graphically playful — many different textures (halftones, gradients, speckles, marble, probably achieved through Letratone) are juxtaposed side-by-side and flatten the image.

YuYu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi (close-up).
Shonen Jump, Vol. 1, No. 4. April 2003.

YuYu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi.
Shonen Jump, Vol. 1, No. 5. May 2003.

YuYu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi.
Shonen Jump, Vol. 1, No. 4. April 2003.

Togashi sometimes entirely changes his drawing style for a single panel and draws a character off-model for comedic or dramatic effect.

YuYu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi.
Shonen Jump, Vol. 1, No. 5. May 2003.

YuYu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi.
Shonen Jump, Vol. 1, No. 1. January 2003.

YuYu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi.
Shonen Jump, Vol. 1, No. 3. March 2003.

YuYu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi.
Shonen Jump, Vol. 1, No. 2. February 2003.

YuYu Hakusho by Yoshihiro Togashi.
Shonen Jump, Vol. 1, No. 5. May 2003.

Posted in Cartooning, Periodicals

Illustration (Japan)

Oct 9

Posted by Periodicals/Reference Librarian

Illustration is a Japanese publication featuring illustrators and cartoonists working in a wide range of mediums, from oil paint to digital collage. The magazine often includes step-by-step photographic demos for artists and humorous inserts such as a page featuring the editors in a muscle-flexing contest. We also have two other journals called Illustration, one of which is from England, and the other from the USA. For the Japanese Illustration our holdings start in 1991 and continue to the present day (with some gaps, most notably between 1997-2002).