Back in 1998 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Weekly Shonen Jump, Shueisha ran an artist spotlight feature in the magazine. Within this spotlight, they asked some of their artists to provide their memories of Weekly Shonen Jump, their thoughts on their current series, their interpretation of another manga series, and the recommendations of other manga series.
In issue #30 of Weekly Shonen Jump in 1998, Hiroyuki Takei was one of the artists featured. This issue happens to be the issue directly before he started the Shaman King manga. His Butsu Zone manga was cancelled the year prior. The creators featured in the spotlight were:
- Masanori Morita (Rokudenashi Blues, Rookies)
- Ryu Fujisaki (PSYCHO+, Hoshin Engi)
- Kazuki Takahashi (Yu-Gi-Oh!)
- Hiroyuki Takei (Itako no Anna, Death Zero, Butsu Zone)
The following is the full page article from that issue.
The following is a rough English translation of Hiroyuki Takei’s thoughts about Weekly Shonen Jump:
When I think about Jump... The first ones that come to mind are the issues from my childhood. While I waited for Jump to arrive late on Tuesday nights at the only bookstore in the countryside, I would excitedly eat meat buns in the snow. I would wait as long as I needed, to see those lovable heroes. Then I would already be looking forward to the next week! I never thought that I would be able to be serialized in the Shonen Jump I waited so long for. This is a huge responsibility. Can I give you that same excitement!? Can they make a lasting memory!? Will I be able to overcome the formidable enemy that is Jump!? I will do my best drawing "Shaman King", and I hope you will enjoy it!
Next in the article, Hiroyuki Takei provided some thoughts on his past works (roughly translated)
Itako No Anna
The fighting Itako manga. It's the best! It's everything about me! But, my scale was so small (haha)
Death Zero
The Zero fighter that sank in the ocean is revived as a Shinigami (God of Death) as a skeletonized pilot! It's really cool!
Butsu Zone
The legendary Buddha statue hero action comic! I’m sure it will be revived someday, so to all my fans, please support me until then.
Shueisha also asked Hiroyuki Takei for some manga recommendation. He provided 3 series that all came from the manga creator Hirohiko Araki. With his recommendations he also gave a short comment about each (again roughly translated).
Baoh
“I fell in love with the transformations that have cracks on their face, so I tried painting it on my own.”
Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
“Dio is too cool. And I want Iggy.”
Cool Shock B.T.
“In the first story, BT’s friend Koichi-kun got a nosebleed while swimming in the lake! I felt that cool shock from a series that can so casually make people’s nose bleed.”
Hiroyuki Takei also added his own drawing for the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure manga as well.
