On the morning of January 20th a new train station ad in Tokyo was posted for the upcoming “Rurouni Kenshin 25th Anniversary Exhibition.” This ad features a collection of drawings by the manga artist Nobuhiro Watsuki along with several comments about the manga series from notable Japanese manga artists. The list of artists providing the comments are the following:

  • Anzai Noboyuki
  • Mikio Itou
  • Riichiro Inagaki
  • Eiichiro Oda
  • Takeshi Obata
  • Masashi Kishimoto
  • Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro
  • Shinya Suzuki
  • Hideaki Sorachi
  • Hiroyuki Takei
  • Yasuhiro Nightow
  • Kazuhiro Fujita
  • Yusei Matsui
  • Katsunori Matsui
  • Kentaro Yabuki

The upcoming Art Exhibition is designed in the same manner the Shaman King Exhibitions that were held in 2019 and 2020 in Japan. They feature various original art from the Rurouni Kenshin manga series along with various goods that can be purchased at the giftshop. The exhibition planning and the ad campaign are organized by Shueisha’s Jump SQ and Weekly Shonen Jump Editorial departments. There is additional sponsorship by Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. and LAWSON TICKET.

The following is an English translation of Hiroyuki Takei’s comment that was printed on the ad campaign (shown above in the original Japanese):

Work, but at the same time sleepovers.
Rivals, but at the same time friends.
Trips, every now and then.
For me, someone who couldn’t fully enjoy his youth, those days were the best substitute.
Congratulations on this exhibition, a piece of my youth.

Hiroyuki Takei

Thank you to Dit for providing this English translation.

Typically these types of ads are created by the Editorial departments hosting the Exhibition. They are rarely worked on directly by the manga artist (except for a final approval). The artists selected for comment were likely reached out by the Editorial team and was selected by artists who were popular or had a connection with Nobuhiro Watsuki during his time in Weekly Shonen Jump and Jump SQ. These are typically voluntary requests and the content of the comment is left up to the artist.

As this event is sponsored by Shueisha, there is no further response or other expected promotion that will come from Hiroyuki Takei who now works for their rival, Kodansha. Hiroyuki Takei has not publicly posted on Twitter since 2017 and all other Shaman King-related official accounts are managed by his editor for Kodansha. In the past Hiroyuki Takei has provided comments and drawings for various other manga series and movie properties. His contributions to this event are not expected to be anymore than this comment given.

Controversary Surrounding Nobuhiro Watsuki

In November 2017, Nobuhiro Watsuki, the creator of Rurouni Kenshin was formally charged by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police for possession of child pornography. This then lead his ongoing manga series Rurouni Kenshin: Hokkaido Arc to also go on hiatus in Jump SQ magazine. The following year, after the court case was settled, he only had to pay a fine and did not serve any jail time. He later resumed the manga series in Jump SQ in Japan but Viz Media no longer releases the Rurouni Kenshin: Hokkaido Arc manga in English beyond what was published at the time of the hiatus. Compared to other countries, Japan’s child pornography laws and penalties is much more lax.

The Weekly Shonen Jump magazine has a history of manga artists who have broken Japanese laws in relation with child pornography and prostitution. Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro, who wrote a comment for this ad campaign, has previously drawn for Weekly Shonen Jump for multiple series was arrested and convicted in 2002 for breaking child prostitution laws. He was able to have his sentence suspended for 2 years and later went to draw the manga series Toriko and is currently drawing Build King for Weekly Shonen Jump (both of which are published by Viz Media in English). Last year the writer for the Weekly Shonen Jump manga series Act-Age, Matsuki Tatsuya, was arrested and later convicted on committing an indecent act with a female middle school student. This sentence is currently suspended for the next 3 years pending his good behavior.

You can read more about these cases from Anime News Network:

Hiroyuki Takei’s History With Nobuhiro Watsuki

After Hiroyuki Takei’s successes with his Anna the Itako and Death Zero oneshot mangas he became an assistant to Nobuhiro Watsuki in 1996/1997 who was currently working on his Rurouni Kenshin manga for Weekly Shonen Jump. During this time two other notable assistants were Eiichiro Oda and Mikio Itou. All three of them in the years 1997 and 1998 go on to create oneshot mangas. Eiichiro Oda would go on to publish the mega-hit series One Piece. Hiroyuki Takei also left to run his Butsu Zone follow by Shaman King manga series in the same magazine of Weekly Shonen Jump. Both of them also contributed drawings for an official Rurouni Kenshin fanbook during their time as assistants. Mikio Itou would also later be an assistant to both Takei and Oda for their manga series and would sometimes insert himself into these mangas as a gag.

In 2018 Mikio Itou published the manga Monday’s Rival: Mega Hit Manga Fierce Battle Chronicles (月曜日のライバル -メガヒットマンガ激闘記) which was a story about drawing manga that was heavily inspired by the time he was an assistant for Nobuhiro Watsuki. In addition to Nobuhiro Watsuki, Eiichiro Oda, Hiroyuki Takei, and Shinga Gin (who died in 2002 of heart failure) were heavily inspired as characters in this manga. The only volume was published in June 2018. Mikio Itou did also contribute a comment for this ad campaign for Rurouni Kenshin as well.

From an alternate point of view, Nobuhiro Watsuki’s wife, Kurosaki Kaoru assisted on various Rurouni Kenshin side projects, including one where some stories featuring Nobuhiro Watsuki. One of these side stories was adapted into a manga and also featured Hiroyuki Takei as shown below.

Through various public comments over the years, from Nobuhiro Watsuki, Kurosaki Kaoru, Eiichiro Oda, and Hiroyuki Takei that after they have been established artists that they would occasionally still meet up for parties and events. They were typically around the New Years holidays and would be within private.

Prior to this comment by Hiroyuki Takei for the Art Exhibition ad, the last contribution for Nobuhiro Watsuki he provided was part of a campaign in 2007 for Jump SQ where various manga artists would draw another series’ character in their style. For this, he drew a character (shown right) for Nobuhiro Watsuki’s Embalming -The Another Tale of Frankenstein- manga. After Hiroyuki Takei left working under Shueisha there has been no public comment from him. In later interviews when talking about Hiroyuki Takei’s past, Nobuhiro Watsuki and Rurouni Kenshin are rarely mentioned, or are only inferred in passing.

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