Seishun Shounen Magazine 1978-1983 1

Seishun Shounen Magazine
Chapter 01



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{} - handwritten words in the bubble or outside of bubble/bubbles
# or [] - TL comments (for proofreader/typesetter)
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Words are the ones that need emphasi are in BOLD
Each line of text corresponds to a single Bubble or a BOX
A blank line between each panel, two lines to separate a page.
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[Page 002]
Chapter 1 - Three Martial Arts Bros
Chapter 2 - Awards Ceremony
Chapter 3 - “1, 2 no Sanshiro” begins serialization
Chapter 4 - Party
Chapter 5 - The trio is formed
Chapter 6 - First Tankobon
Chapter 7 - Incredible guy
Chapter 8 - Extreme Chaos
Chapter 9 - My good friend
Chapter 10 - Bitter days
Chapter 11 - Good news
Chapter 12 - Pain
Final Chapter - Forever Eternal
Volume Extra - Kon-bayashi Sensei’s Manga Graffiti

*This is a fictional work based on a true story. Published on Weekly Shounen Magazine 2008 Issues 36~49.


[Page 003]
What?
Weekly Shounen Magazine is celebrating its 50th anniversary?!

Yes!! Thank you so much! // And so Kobayashi Makoto-sensei, we were hoping if you could make a manga // about all the fun and hardships you had while making “1, 2 no Santaro” from 1978 to 1989…
………….


[Page 004]
……………...

All the fun I had?

NONE!!

In the first place,
I could have seriously ended up dead you bastards!
C-come on now…

But you bastards just called me lazy and slacking off! // And then complaining that I’m not selling as much as “Arare-chan”? Damn you guys!!
Now, now… // Please sir….


[Page 005]
The protagonist of this story

looks like this in real life,

but for the sake of a better story,

he will be looking like this.


[Page 006]
Seishun Shounen Magazine
Chapter 1 - Three Martial Arts Bros

{ Protagonist of “1, 2 no Sanshiro”, Azuma Sanshiro }

{ Kobayashi-sensei when he was in middle school. }

Hey! Hey! Isn’t this face going a bit too far? This is such a scam!!
What a fraud….


[Page 007]
May of 1978.

{ A 4 ½ mat, 8.5k yen apartment in Tsurumi, Yokohama. }
[TL NOTE] 4 ½ mat = 7.5 m^2 = 80 sq ft.
{ A young, 19 year old from Niigata who was dreaming of becoming a mangaka }

{ WAS DYING. }

Huff…. // huff…..
Huff…


[Page 008]
Urgh….

< Grrr…. >

BWEEEEEH
< Splash splash splash >

Ha.. Ha…

…….


[Page 009]
I-it’s over…
I’m gonna die…

Looking back,
it was a long year…

{ I forced my way to be an assistant of my favorite, Mochizuki Mikiya-sensei, but I gave up after two months…
What? You’re quitting already?
I’m sorry…
[NOTE] At the time, he was serializing the famous “Wild 7” at Shounen King.

{ I got a job as an exterminator, but I quit after one month… }
What? Quitting already?
I’m sorry.

{ I got hired at a movie theater, but I quit after one month… }
Quitting already?
I’m sorry.

{ Then I worked as a waiter and tried various other jobs, but none of them lasted more than a month… }
What? You quit?
I’m sorry.


[Page 010]
{ I tried submitting my completed manuscripts to various different publishers, but they all rejected them… }
Not good enough.
…….

{ That was two days ago… }

{ I got food poisoning from eating a bad shrimp fried rice. }
{ I’ve been leaking fluids from top and bottom... }
{ No money for a doctor… }
{ The only thing I ate these past few days is a banana. }

My 20th birthday is right around the corner...
Am I really gonna die here…

< Knock Knock >
Hmm?


[Page 011]
Kobayashi-san!
< Knock Knock >
I’m your neighbor, Harada.

Y-yes…
Come in….

< Creek… >
Hey Kobayashi-san. // You’ve got a call.

Eh….?

T-Thank you….
I’ll be right there.

Huff… huff…

< Thud >


[Page 012]
I-I’m so sorry… huff huff.
I’ll be using the phone.
HAH?

Huff… huff…
Hello? This is Kobayashi….
< Cluck >

Ah! Kobayashi-san? // This is Kutomi from Shounen Magazine.

What….?

Shounen Magazine’s Kutomi-san?!

{ This is from six months ago… }


[Page 013]
When I was feeling lost from getting rejected to every publisher….
[sign] #it’s already translated ?!?

< Step >

I figured I might as well test my luck at the one magazine I loved the most ever since I was a kid, the great Weekly Shounen Magazine.


[Page 014]
And the one that read my manuscript was the young, 29 year old editor, Mr. Tamotsu Kutomi.

He would go onto become the editor in chief of BE LOVE, Morning, Evening, and Weekly Shounen Magazine.
Obviously, I didn’t know that back then.

…….

Mr.Kutomi looked at my work while smoking his cigarette.

The smoke from the cigarette would get in his eye and make him cringe.


[Page 015]
D-damn it...
It must be no good….

Kobayashi-san, right?
Y-yes…

Why don’t we go to a cafe?
I can’t concentrate properly in here…

O-Okay….


[Page 016]
…….

This manga…..
Y-YES!!

……….


[Page 017]
Ha…..
Ha…..

IT’S FUN!!


[Page 018]
Mr. Kutomi was the first editor that found value in my work.
This is a bit embarrassing, but I still have Mr. Kutomi’s business card from that day carefully stored as one of my greatest treasures.

{ The manga was titled “Three Martial Arts Bros” }
{ It was a wacky gag manga centered around the protagonist, Azuma Sanshiro, who loved wrestling. }
{ Back then, it was really just a wacky, nonsensical manga. }

The characters are awesome!
Really?!

Can you come up with a story
that will flesh out their daily lives?


[Page 019]
Eh….

Humph.

How about
it’s a bit cliche… but he gets into a Judo battle and “wins”?

Oh!! That’s nice!
Yeah, something like that!
Really?!

But how is he gonna win?
It doesn’t seem like Azuma Sanshiro ever practiced Judo.

Oh….

Err….
Hmm


[Page 020]
Training hard....
That’s too obvious…

Hm….

Ah….
That’s right!!

How about he keeps winning through pro-wrestling moves?!
I actually have experience getting scolded by my teacher for losing to a brain buster!

Oh! That sounds great!! // Now that’s interesting!
Really?!

As if I was under some sort of a spell, Mr. Kutomi made me spew out new ideas.


[Page 021]
{ And so, it took me half a year to complete “Three Martial Arts Bros”. }
{ I gave my manuscript to Mr. Kutomi. }

Got it.
I’ll submit it to this year’s Newcomers Award.

{ And now… }

About the “Three Martial Arts Bros” that you gave me…
Ah…. yes….

CONGRATULATIONS!!
Eh?


[Page 022]
W-what… congratulations?
What does that mean?

YOU WON!!
1 MILLION YEN!!

EHHHHHHH!!

And so, // there’ll be a ceremony at a place called Chinzansou in Mejiro….


[Page 023]
Ah… yes!
Yes! // Yes!
Okay, got it. // Thank you so much.

< CLUNK >

I WON THE NEWCOMERS AWARD!

Whoa?


[Page 024]
Argh, this is no time for lying around!
< thud >

< Shuffle >

I gotta call my parents first!!
< Grip >

It usually takes about 30 min. to get to the public phone booth at the train station that takes in 100-yen coins.
But I ran.
< DASHHHHHHH >

Wait.


[Page 025]
Whatever.
< DAAASH >

{ People get sick whenever they are exposed to negative stress, }
{ but when something makes them incredibly happy, even food poisoning goes away. }
{ Without exaggerating, I got to experience my body cure itself from a 40℃ fever just like that. }

Argh… what is this messy hair!
Make it nice and sharp please!
{ I got my hair tidied up for the first time in a year…. }


[Page 026]
<step >

< step >
I actually looked more like this,

but for the sake of a better story, I will be looking like this.
< Step >

Luckily for me, the newcomer’s award that I was on was a special one commemorating the 1000th issue of Weekly Shounen Magazine. The prize is typically around 300K yen, but for just this time, it was 1 million yen plus a 300K yen worth of stereo system.
My classmate’s monthly salary as a blue collar worker was in the 60K yen range, so no wonder my fever just blew away.


<< End of Chapter 1 >