So let's see what Kurumada had to say one last time, as well as how a veritable hall of fame of manga legends (for the most part, at least) felt about the man himself back in the early 1980s!
Volume 19 of Ring ni Kakero came out on November 15, 1981, roughly a month after the final chapter, the first one in Jump history to be published entirely in color (in this case, full color opening pages & red-toned pages for the rest), and it's the only tankouban to see release during the interim between RnK's finale & the debut of Fuma no Kojirou a few months later. Also, as you can see to the left, around this point Shueisha started including what looked like a proof of purchase of some sort in the bottom left of a tankouban's dust cover's inner front flap, next to the author's note, featuring the blue outline of an apple with "LOVE" written on the inside (*cue Haddaway*). For this volume's author's note we see Kurumada describe life itself as being like that of a poem, and that one should aspire to live their life as though it was poetry:
"For men, their life itself is a poem.
Poetry is an aspiration. When the anger, joy, sadness, and passion of the heart are embodied in our actions, without embellishment or pretense, it will surpass any great poem in the world.
I hope to write good poems that will touch your hearts and convince you."
Volume 19's afterword comes from Yoshihiro Takahashi, best known today as the creator of various dog-related action/drama manga, most notably the Ginga Series (Ginga - Nagareboshi Gin, Ginga Legend Weed, etc.). However, back in late 1981 Takahashi was still two years away from debuting Gin, though his OG dog manga, Shiroi Senshi Yamato, was still running in Monthly Shonen Jump. Instead, by this point he had completed his first hit manga, baseball series Akutare Giants, the year prior & was about 16 or so chapters into his next Weekly Jump series, the fishing manga Aozora Fishing, which he drew for writer Hiroichi Fuse; sadly, this series would end in mid-1982 after only 42 weekly chapters across five volumes. For this afterword Takahashi looks back on when he risked missing the deadline for the very first chapter of either Akutare Giants or Yamato, as they both debuted in the same year & Takahashi just says his "first serialized manga", so his editor sent over some scrappy little artist to assist him so that he wouldn't be late: Masami Kurumada. This would likely be in early 1976, after Sukeban Arashi's cancellation in late 1975, but before Ring ni Kakero's debut in early 1977 (& also before Kurumada's one-shot Mikeneko Rock, which appeared in Monthly Jump at the end of 1976), and is the only proof I've ever seen of Kurumada being an "assistant" to Takahashi, though it seems to have only been for a single chapter:
"Masami Kurumada... He's the Real Deal!
Yoshihiro Takahashi
Mangaka
I first met Kurumada six years ago. I was working on the first chapter of my first published serialized manga, and it was looking like I wasn't going to make the deadline. In a panic, I called up the editor of Shonen Jump, pleading with them: 'Send someone to help me!!' The managing editor told me, 'I've got this guy, Kurumada-chan, who's not doing anything right now, and he causes a lot of problems if he's left idle, so I can send him over to you right away.' As this was the heaven-sent assistance I had been praying for, I assented, but not without a note of unease in my chest. You see, I had been warned about Kurumada: 'That guy, when he was in school, used to strut around Yokohama with a sarashi, so you'd better watch what you say to him.'
[shmupulations' Note: Sarashi was clothing associated with yankii, bosouzoku, and other delinquent types.]
Uh oh! What have I done?! I had barely any time to regret it, though, before he showed up. 'Nice to meetcha, I'm Kurumada.'... I have to admit, my first impression wasn't as intimidating as the editor had suggested. He was surprisingly calm, actually. But then I thought, wait, wait... this must mean he's THE REAL THING! His veneer of modesty was simply proof that he was a big deal.
The remainder of the day crept by anxiously, like a bad dream. And before I knew it, Kurumada had plopped down his work on my desk with a nonchalant 'I'm done with my part.' (Huh, how was this possible!?) When I looked through his manuscripts I was shocked into silence! In only 20 hours, he had finished what would have taken me three days! That included 30 pages, with all the characters fully inked too. When I look back on it now, I realize that he had all the makings of superstar mangaka even then.
Several years have since passed. In this short span of time, Kurumada had become the shining hope of the manga world. He had ascended to the top tier of artists at Shonen Jump. His manga depicts the passion of men, their explosive power, and their friendship. And the real kindness of men that all his characters portray--those are actually depictions of his own self. He is indeed, from his very core, a true mangaya....."
[George's Note: "Takahashi would admit decades later that Kurumada actually helped him a second time, as when Akutare Giants was on the verge of cancellation in mid-1978 Kurumada offered a single piece of advice: "You can turn your enemy into your ally." Takahashi would then have the rival character of Akurate Giants team up with the main character to create a new superstar baseball team, & it revitalized the manga before eventually ending for good in early 1980. This was before Kurumada himself even implemented this very idea in Ring ni Kakero, amusingly enough!]
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Volume 20 of Ring ni Kakero would see release on January 15, 1982, mere days after Fuma no Kojirou made its debut in Jump, so by this point Kurumada was riding a massive high of popularity, as the first three (weekly) chapters of FnK would all be given "lead color" treatment, i.e. color opening pages that started their respective issues of Jump; Otoko Zaka would be given the same exact treatment for its debut in 1984. For this volume's author's note, Kurumada (wearing a Shinwakai shirt) recalls the time his one-shot Ring ni Kokero, a parody where he & his assistants at the time get destroyed in a fight with Golden Japan Jr., won the Reader's Award (it'd later get collected as part of the book Jitsuroku! Shinwakai in 1983), winning him a trip across Europe (alongside mangaka Kenichi Kotani, as revealed in Volume 15's afterword)... only to be greeted upon his return with the start of the Ashura Chapter, easily the weakest part of Ring ni Kakero. Turns out that even Kurumada himself wasn't a fan of this arc:
"In the summer of 1980, when I was working on the final stage of the Battle of the Twelve Gods in this volume, I was awarded the first prize in the Shonen Jump Reader's Awards, and I was allowed to go on a trip to see magnificent Europe. After returning to Japan, what awaited me was this Ashura Chapter, which became my biggest slump in the history of writing Ring ni Kakero. I don't think any chapter has ever caused me to suffer as much. This was truly a year of highs and lows for me, of both glory and defeat."
For the afterword this time around we have the late Akio Chiba, who outside of Japan isn't really all that well known, outside of being the younger brother of manga icon Tetsuya Chiba; their younger brother Shigeyuki Chiba, a.k.a. Taro Nami, was also a mangaka who passed away early this year. In Japan, though, Akio Chiba is a legend in his own right for being the creator of both Captain & Play Ball, two popular baseball manga that ran in parallel throughout the 70s (the former in Monthly Jump from 1972 to 1979, & the latter in Weekly Jump from 1973 to 1978), with the appeal being that when the main character of Captain, Takao Taniguchi, graduated from middle school his story continued on in Play Ball, which detailed his high school years, while one of his teammates then took the position of "Captain" for the middle school team & became the new main character of Captain. Then, when the new main character of Captain graduated he then joined Play Ball's cast. This resulted in Captain having four main characters, Takao Taniguchi, Marui, Igarashi, & Shigekazu Kondo, though Kondo apparently never appeared in Play Ball (except for in the 2005 anime adaptation).
Chiba's studio was also located in the same building a young Buronson rented an apartment in, & Chiba would include Buroson when making meals for his staff. Chiba even apparently kept Buronson's ego in check after Doberman Cop became a hit, saying "You ain't so cool, these days," which Buronson felt kept him from being a one-hit wonder, i.e. letting his ego get the best of him. Sadly, Akio Chiba also had a history of bipolar disorder, and complications from that eventually resulted in him taking his own life on September 13, 1984; he was only 41. When this afterword was written, a little more than 2.5 years before his suicide, Chiba was likely in between manga, as he'd debut Fushigi Tobo-kun, which he co-created with Taro Nami, in Monthly Jump that same year. In the afterword Chiba talks about how Kurumada's very existence, a seemingly simultaneous mix of politeness & brazenness, leaves Chiba continually confounded... and now even his own son has sided with Kurumada:
"The Continuing Enigma of Kurumada-kun!
Akio Chiba
Mangaka
Ever since the serialization of Ring ni Kakero began, I have often found myself confused by Kurumada-kun.
Initially, I could not tell from his name whether he was a man or a woman, and although his drawings seemed somewhat aimed at women, they also had a masculine touch. Later, I would run into him at places like the Tezuka and Akatsuka Award parties and at baseball tournaments, but our acquaintanceship was limited to the exchange of greetings. Truth be told, I didn't want to have a relationship with him beyond that. Rumors of him had reached as far as Nerima, where I lived, but I had never heard anything good about him (the only exception was Ring ni Kakero, which had a very good reputation).
I heard that he had formed an organization called the "Shinwakai", that he would take his assistants with him and walk around Tsukishima with nunchaku in his breast pocket, and when he heard there was a fight somewhere he would drop his manga pen and rush to join it... The world he inhabited seemed wholly foreign to me.
But then things changed. One day, Kurumada-kun came to my house with one of the staff members of my production company. Standing there before me, I found him to be a nice young man with a straight and honest heart, although he spoke in a rough Tokyo dialect. When he took his sunglasses off I saw that his eyes were very kind, and even cute. Since that day I have completely changed my mind about Kurumada-kun. And I have high expectations for his future works.
Lastly, my beloved six-year old son has joined the Shinwakai (without his parents' consent!) and he is very excited; I'm just at a loss. Now I've fallen into Kurumada's snares once again--and this time for life! I am so at a loss....."
[George's Note: The son Akio Chiba is referring to may possibly be his oldest son Ichiro Chiba, who was born in 1975. In 2016 Ichiro became the public representative for Chiba Akio Productions, acting as the manager & promoter for his father's catalog of manga.]
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Volume 21 would come out on March 15, 1982, right around the time the battles between the Fuma & Yasha in Fuma no Kojirou were truly starting up. What, just because he wasn't making Ring ni Kakero anymore that doesn't mean that I'll ignore what he was making during each new volume's release. For the author's note here Kurumada remarks on how he's often mistaken as looking younger than his actual age... which is amusing, as he was only 28 when this volume was published:
"This may sound like it's coming out of nowhere, but people often mistake me as being younger than I am. Indeed, whenever I happen to meet with friends of the same age, they all look like proper old middle-aged men. But in the comic book business, youth is king! And not just externally, for you must always keep your mind young and fresh if you want to create a work that will entice readers. So today I proclaim that I want to continue to be young, both inside and out."
For this volume's afterword we have Yudetamago, i.e. the duo of writer Takashi Shimada & artist Yoshinori Nakai, which also means that it's literally impossible to tell whose "voice" this is coming from, as I highly doubt Shimada wrote it all by himself. Anyway, Yudetamago are best known for Kinnikuman, which at this point was in the middle of the Seven Devil Chojin story arc, best known for introducing fan-favorite villain-turned-hero Buffaloman. Yudetamago are also two of Masami Kurumada's closest friends, with the duo even apparently admitting that they saw what Kurumada was doing with Ring ni Kakero, i.e. making it more action spectacle than straight sports manga, & in turn decided to turn Kinnikuman into a slapstick superhuman wrestling epic, instead of the gag-focused Ultraman parody it started off as; much as with RnK, the switch paid off greatly for Kinnikuman, turning it into a Jump institution. For this afterword the duo imagine a hypothetical fight against Kinnikuman & "Mr. X" as the final match of the next Chojin Olympics... and it's easy to guess who "Mr. X" is revealed to be:
"Who Do You Think Would Win in a Fight: Ryuji or Kinnikuman...?!
Yudetamago
Mangaka
[George's Note: I recommend hearing the slow, syllabic voice of Howard Cosell in your head as you read this portion, for maximum effect.]
'Klanggg!! The bell has now rung for the final match of the Chojin Olympics, a major event that will mark this New Year's Day of January 1, 1985! The opponents tonight are Kinnikuman, the five-year reigning champion, and his greatest rival, Mr. X, in a bloody battle to the death as they exchange devastating punches and signature moves.
Here we go! The two rivals are at each other's throats! Ah! There it is!! Kinnikuman's secret weapon, the Kinniku Buster!! No Chojin has ever stood up from this blow. It connects! The count is on. Can Mr. X muster the strength to stand!? Yes, yes, yes! He did it!! What power!! And the fight is about to reach 60 minutes.
Suddenly Mr. X's eyes light up! What is he about to unleash...!?
Oh, it's the Boomerang Teleios!! With a flash of lightning, the ring is cut in half!! In that moment, the light reveals a glimpse of the face behind the mask: It's none other than Ryuji Takane!! The light grows to a blinding intensity and the two warriors disappear from view. Wait, I can see them now. No, there's only one person standing!! Who is it...!? Yes, it's Ryuji, who in his first year of serialization was a passionate boxer, but before you know it has now become Chojin Champion!'
[George's Note: You may now remove the slow, syllabic voice of Howard Cosell from your mind for the rest of this afterword.]
Such are our fantasies of the day when Kinnikuman & Ryuji will meet in the same ring. Ryuji & Kenzaki have risen to the top & become stars in the Chojin Galaxy, and now Kinnikuman wants to join them as soon as possible.
By the way, did you know there is one person that Ryuji, not to mention Kinnikuman, can never beat? Huh, you wonder who that is? It's... Kiku Takane, Ryuji's sister, of course!! We seem to recall he couldn't beat her...?! Isn't that right... Kurumada-sensei!!"
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Volume 22 of Ring ni Kakero came out on May 15, 1982, which in Fuma no Kojirou's serialization was about the point when Ryoma & Musashi were starting their Psychic Soldier-powered fight. For the author's note Kurumada (showing off that he's apparently too sexy for his shirt, nine years before Right Said Fred) goes over his dislike of "lineages" & how it's up to each and every individual person to achieve what they're capable of. In other words, Kurumada had the main theme of Ring ni Kakero 2 ready nearly 20 years before it even debuted:
"I do not like the idea of a lineage. Just because one's parents or ancestors were good people does not mean that their children are also good people. The value of a person is determined by what he or she has done themselves.
Humans are not like racehorses. We are not simple creatures whose superiority or inferiority can be calculated based on our pedigree. Each and every one of us has unlimited potential to win."
Meanwhile, the afterword here comes from easily the least notable mangaka of this final batch, though not exactly a nobody: Takeshi Miya. Born in 1959, Miya first made his mark in manga when his one-shot Marathon Hacchan became a semi-finalist in the 15th Tezuka Awards in 1978, which he followed up with two sports manga in Weekly Jump, 1979 soccer series Go Shoot & 1980 baseball series Bun no Seishun!, with both running for a little over a year & each one lasting six volumes. Miya's inclusion here as a mangaka is actually interesting, because by this point he was in the middle of one of his most successful manga, soccer series Hashirekakeru, which ran from 1981 to 1984 for 11 volumes (& even a three-volume sequel, Striker Retsuden)... in Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday. Meanwhile, Miya's biggest work was 1986's Kaze no Field for Akita Shoten's Weekly Shonen Champion, at 17 volumes. Yeah, Miya was technically writing for the competition at this point, though he would also make a couple of manga for Monthly Jump from 1983 to sometime in 1986. Anyway, for the afterword Miya talks about how engaging Ring ni Kakero is for him to read, likening it to a movie that keeps you in your seat all the way through the end credits, because it fully has your attention:
"This Manga is on Fire!!
Takeshi Miya
Mangaka
Let us dispense with the preliminaries.
Kurumada-san and Dear Readers, how are you all doing today?
Seen any good movies lately? I love movies as much as you do, but it feels like there aren't many great movies these days--you know, the kind that compel you to sit in awe until the very end of the credits? These days I always get up from my seat and walk out as soon as the movie is over. Sometimes I even get up before the movie is over. Especially these Japanese movies, they're so sluggish in the middle... and the conclusions are never satisfying.
But this Ring ni Kakero is different. It's great! It picks up steam in the middle and keeps going strong until the end. Yes! I'm telling you, it's a revelation!!
Kurumada-san's dynamic artwork is also a pleasant surprise, but what's most impressive to me is his conviction, if I can call it that... I don't want to go too deep here, but you can really feel something tremendous in his work. I think there are very few mangaka who have fully expressed their vision in the way he has. Don't you think so, too?
I, myself, was greatly influenced by Kurumada-san! To be frank, I'm something of a nuisance to others (sorry!). But I, too, aim to be a mangaka of that caliber.
To speak in the language of movies... after reading Ring ni Kakero, I find myself awestruck, riveted to my seat even after the credits have finished rolling. It's scary how talented you are, Kurumada-san!
Please keep up the good work and continue to write manga that so convincingly pulls us in.
Sincerely yours.
P.S. Please invite me to a baseball game again. Thanks!"
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Volume 23 of Ring ni Kakero saw release on August 15, 1982, which would be right around the point in Fuma no Kojirou where the Sacred Sword War Chapter was starting up... specifically the point where the main base of the Fuma Clan would be destroyed. For the author's note Kurumada, who looks ready to fight (which is very amusing, considering who wrote the afterword for this volume), remarks at how the final story arc finally sees Ryuji on the verge of becoming a pro boxer, and how the struggle of everyone in RnK is also his own struggle in telling their story:
"In Ring ni Kakero's fifth year of serialization, Kiku & Ryuji have finally embarked on their long-held dream of going pro.
The struggles of Kiku & Ryuji over these long years--or rather, the struggle of all the characters in Ring ni Kakero--has also been my own struggle.
It is the invisible enemy--in this ring called the comic book world, you can only survive if you keep achieving KOs in your readers' hearts and minds!"
As for the afterword... there's no beating around the bush here: It's Akira Toriyama. Yeah, out of all of the various afterwords included across all 25 volumes of Ring ni Kakero's original tankouban release, this is the only one that had previously been translated by fans... because of course it was. It's not even like this was previously translated specifically because of Toriyama's passing earlier this year, either (though said passing did get people sharing it again), but rather this looks to be the only real time Toriyama has ever spoken of Masami Kurumada, and it's something that I've referenced before on this blog, too, like in the Saint Seiya manga review earlier this year. Anyway, by mid-1982 Toriyama was obviously in the middle of serializing Dr. Slump, about just past the halfway point, and in fact it was around this point where Dr. Slump would actually stop being a guaranteed presence early in each issue of Jump, instead becoming more of a common sight in the middle or even end of each issue. However, this was likely more because of the simple fact that Dr. Slump was a gag manga, and Jump started to place gag manga more consistently later in each issue, so as to help encourage readers to read the entire phonebook-sized magazine every week; eventually Jump would start putting certain gag manga at the very end of (almost) every issue, for that very reason. Regardless, Toriyama's afterword is an absolute legend now as it's one of the very few times people got to see Toriyama essentially turn into a 27-year old fanboy, gushing over how awesome Kurumada is (with Toriyama trying to be cool, by association), and how his manga made Toriyama wish he could make action manga just as manly & exciting as Kurumada could... in other words, Toriyama knew exactly where to look for inspiration a few years later down the line:
"Kurumada-san & His Friends Are Amazing!
Akira Toriyama
Mangaka
[George's Note: Toriyama used the word "ちゅー人/chuuhito", which looks to be from the Kunigami language of Northern Okinawa & seems to be similar to "人々/hitobito" or the "達/tachi" suffix in standard Japanese, since "chuu" itself is the Kunigami word for "person". In other words, I think Toriyama was referring to Kurumada & his Shinwakai buddies, & not just Kurumada by himself.]
Hello, Kurumada-san. Thank you very much for sending me that photo the other day. I'm talking about the picture taken of us together, along with the other members of Shinwakai. When I showed this photo to my local neighborhood tough guys, they got super excited: 'Wow, that's amazing!!' Sadly, they weren't impressed at all when I offered my own signature... Next I showed the photo of us to the girls. 'Yeah, that's right,' I bragged, 'Kurumada-san and me hang out all the time!!' I tried my best to impress them, thinking maybe some of your star power would rub off on me by association.
I had never read a single manga until about a year before I started serializing Dr. Slump. So, when I asked my editor, who sent me Shonen Jump every week, what was the most popular at the moment, he said, 'Ring ni Kakero, no contest.' And now I see Fuma no Kojirou is at the top! Kurumada-san & his friends are amazing.
Anyway, with manly content truly befitting a shonen magazine, Kurumada-san wipes the table with the recent crop of 'weak' manga (an epithet my work, too, is sometimes given) with the overwhelming power of his Galactica Magnum!!!
I've tried to imitate Kurumada-san's style, but it's very difficult: I can't muster even one-tenth of his power! OK, I thought, maybe I could at least try to draw a really cool guy like Kenzaki... but that was even harder for me, & I simply couldn't pull off anything convincing.
Kurumada-san, please continue to draw your manly manga as only you can."
[George's Note: The irony here is that Kurumada would be asked if he had any rivalry with Toriyama roughly 20 years after this, and he responded that he felt that Toriyama was a "genius", the "golden egg" to his "iron egg", and that he could only "shine" as much as Toriyama naturally does with effort, dedication, & "polish", lest he rust & lose his luster. Truly, Kurumada & Toriyama were the perfect counterparts to each other.]
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Volume 24 of Ring ni Kakero came out on November 15, 1982, right as some of the lore of the Sacred Sword War itself was getting revealed to Kojirou, Musashi, & Soushi in Fuma no Kojirou. In this author's note we see Kurumada looking rather self-reflective as he thinks about how each & every person in the world will, one day, realize what they were always meant to do, and that once they realize what that is they must act upon it as soon as possible in order for their lives to truly shine:
"It may only happen once in a lifetime, but I believe that for all people, there will come a day when they realize: 'This is what I was born to do.' There will come a time when something, no matter how small, will appear that only that one person can do. And in that moment you must not hesitate: Tomorrow is too late. It is something that can only be done on that day. If you can give it your all on this one and only day, your life will be a wonderful, shining one."
For the penultimate Ring ni Kakero tankouban afterword we have a very fitting artist: Tetsuya Chiba. Kurumada has admitted that RnK itself was directly inspired by Chiba's (& writer Ikki Kajiwara's) legendary Ashita no Joe, and various scenes in RnK itself are literal & direct homages to specific scenes & images from AnJ, so it only made sense that Shueisha would ask the eldest of the Chiba mangaka brothers to write something about Kurumada & RnK. As for Chiba himself, he did once draw a manga for Jump, 1969's Mosa, as well as the two-part manga Shonen Giants for Jump's precursor, Shonen Book. With a mangaka who, even by late 1982, already had around 26 years of experience under his belt, it's understandable that it'd be tough to surprise the eldest of the Chiba brothers. However, this afterword is one of those rare exceptions, as Chiba talks about how astonishing it is that Kurumada was able to make all of Ring ni Kakero on a weekly basis without ever taking a single break. In fact, the only manga Kurumada ever missed issues of Jump for during serialization were Sukeban Arashi in mid-1975 & Otoko Zaka at the start of 1985, both times happening for a single issue & both just 8-9 weeks before their respective cancellations. Meanwhile, RnK, FnK, Seiya, & Silent Knight Sho all ran without a single break in Jump, as did B't X in Shonen Ace; Kurumada didn't start taking breaks consistently until Ring ni Kakero 2 in the 00s:
"It's Amazing That Such a Long Story Never Took a Break
Tetsuya Chiba
Mangaka
Some people compare long-form manga to a marathon. It is true, but I think they are missing the point. I have been jogging (not the same as a marathon) for the past few years for my health. Sometimes the road is flat. Sometimes it's downhill and easy. And sometimes you have to overcome a heart pounding hill. In that sense manga is the same. However, in the case of a marathon, once you know the course, you know where the tough hills are and you can control your running pace. But in manga we have no idea when, where, or in what form the hill will appear. I have been drawing manga for 26 years now, but despite all my experience I still can't predict those things--and believe me, it's annoying.
I jog for my health, so when I get tired, even if it's an easy downhill, I'll just take a rest. However, this is not the case when it comes to my work. You have to go on even if you've pushed yourself to the limit. There have been many times when I've pushed myself so hard that my health collapsed and I was forced to put my work on hiatus.
I understand that Kurumada-kun's Ring ni Kakero, in all five years of its long serialization, has never once had a break in publication. This is a remarkable feat, and is a testament to his apparently boundless energy. Shonen Jump, the weekly manga magazine in which Ring ni Kakero was originally published, is full of manga with that youthful energy... and yet Kurumada-kun's work stood out above the rest. The rousing dialogue! The vigorous touch of his art!! It's no surprise that the energy emanating from each page has found an eager and receptive audience. As a fellow boxing writer, I appreciate what he's accomplished here, and I have high expectations for his future works."
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The final tankouban of Ring ni Kakero, Volume 25, would come out on January 1, 1983, around the time Kojirou & his fellow "Cosmo Warriors" would engage in their first fights with the "Chaos Warriors" in Fuma no Kojirou, though this wasn't quite the "main" battle that would truly define the story arc itself. For the final author's note of the entire manga, Kurumada (with a photo that's 100% a direct continuation of Volume 24's) compares him finishing Ring ni Kakero to the concept of "Garyou Tensei", i.e. adding the finishing touch to something that you've been working on for a long time:
"Long ago, a certain Chinese artist was painting a mural of a dragon, and as he went to add the final detail--the eye of the dragon--it suddenly came to life, and broke free from the wall, flying away high up into the sky.
Garyou Tensei--Now that I have finished this last volume, I feel exactly like I've completed the finishing touch to my own dragon. It is certainly not a masterpiece like the Chinese painters, but I have indeed set a dragon to flight by my own hand."
As for the final afterword, it makes perfect sense that it'd come from Masami Kurumada himself. Kurumada actually postdates his afterword somewhat by stating that he wrote it the prior November, just a little over an entire year after the final chapter of Ring ni Kakero appeared in Jump. In this final afterword Kurumada recalls a story he was told about a picture book that he wanted so badly as a toddler in the mid-1950s that he cried when his parents couldn't afford even that for him, and how he's effectively come full circle by creating his own "picture book" via what would become his first hit manga:
"A Picture Book From a Distant Day
Masami Kurumada
Mangaka
When I was just two or three years old, my parents took me for a walk to a nearby fair. Among the many stalls, there was a store selling picture books. There was an old picture book on display there that I wanted and, crying, I begged my parents to buy it for me. Though it only cost a measly 10 yen, there was no money in the house to buy even that little book.
Hearing me crying, how bitterly my parents must have felt our poverty then.
I have no memory of that time. But strangely enough, more than 20 years later, I am now making a living by drawing picture books, or manga, as it were. I don't know what that picture book was that they couldn't buy for me. But now that I'm an adult, I have created my own picture book, Ring ni Kakero, with my own hands.
I started drawing Ring ni Kakero when I was 23 years old, and I have devoted my entire 20s to this work. During the five years of writing, many things happened. Anger, joy, tears... encounters and partings... all of it is buried here, panel by panel, in this work. Thank you so much to all of you who have supported me through the years.
I wonder, on the cover of that unobtainable picture book that I cried such tears over as a child-- was it not a picture of a lone dragon soaring high into the sky amidst a thunderstorm? Now that I have finished writing Ring ni Kakero, for some reason these thoughts have come rushing back to me...
--November, 1982
A Rainy Wednesday"
[George's Note: Looking up historical weather records, that "rainy Wednesday" might have been November 10, 1982, as that specific Wednesday did see heavy rain in Tokyo.]
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As mentioned at the start, since we only had seven tankouban to go over this time around I wanted to include some sort of a bonus entry, and for that we're going to jump ahead close to 19 years later. On May 6, 2002, Volumes 17 & 18 of Ring ni Kakero 1 came out in Japan, marking the end of the "Deluxe Edition" re-release of the manga. As for where Kurumada was in Ring ni Kakero 2's serialization by this point... I have no idea, due to its serialization being more irregular, and monthly magazines usually being dated two months prior to their actual release dates. While each volume of RnK1 did feature something akin to an author's note on the dust covers, we already have had more than enough of this ilk across these three parts, and part of the point of even including the tankouban author's notes was to show Kurumada's thoughts & feelings from back when he was making RnK. As for afterwords across this re-release there were only two, with Volume 1's simply being Kurumada explaining the types of alterations that he had made for this specific "RnK1" re-release of the manga, something which I have already gone over in length back in 2021. The other afterword, though, appeared in Volume 18 of Ring ni Kakero 1, and this one is the perfect way to finish this series out, as Kurumada thinks about how much time had passed between when he had finished Ring ni Kakero & when this new edition started coming out 20 years later, how fans of the manga have gotten older alongside him yet they both still have their entire lives ahead of them... and how some people still can't get a girlfriend. Yeah, I think the author's note from Volume 14 of RnK (& Ring ni Kokero, which portrayed Kurumada & his assistants as all without girlfriends) in 1980 still lingered on in Kurumada's memories in the Spring of 2002:
"November 14, 1981
I was 27 years old when I finished Ring ni Kakero.
It was early winter, and the sea of Kujukuri was spraying up cold mist at dawn. When I began drawing this manga I was a kid with nothing to my name, only to wind up writing it for five full years. 'Am I really cut out to be a mangaya?' I wondered then. 'Will I ever be able to write anything that surpasses Ring ni Kakero...' It seems like only yesterday that I was running along the seaside, while those thoughts ran through my head.
Twenty years have passed since then. And now, in my 40s, I am once again writing 'RinKake'.
It is the 21st Century. The readers who were in elementary or junior high school back then must now have grown into respectable adults in their 30s.
During that time, I am sure good things have happened. There must have been bad things, too. Some dreams came true. Some succeeded in life. Some experienced multiple setbacks. Some still can't get a girlfriend. There are probably all kinds of people out there.
But thirtysomethings are still just kids. It's too early to stop striving. There must still be many interesting things in this world.
Life is about finding them on your own.
2002, In the Season of Fresh Leaves
Masami Kurumada"
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And with that we have finally reached the end of this little mini-series. As always, a massive & hearty "Thank you!" to shmuplations for taking the time in their busy (& I mean BUSY) schedule throughout the year to provide the translation for every single author's note & afterword seen across all three parts; I was but a basic editor who tried his best to tie it all together & provide context. I obviously didn't plan on this taking all of 2024 to get through, but believe me when I say that the wait was all worth it. While the initial focus on boxers writing the afterwords made perfect sense for the early part of the manga I think the afterwords truly hit their stride once other mangaka became the primary focus, & I honestly can't think of another example of a manga where each & every volume included a guest afterword like this, & especially another one where it's just fellow mangaka outright praising (& poking fun at, at points) the creator like this.
Seriously, just imagine if this kind of treatment was given to titles like Fist of the North Star, Dragon Ball, One Piece, Naruto, Slam Dunk, Demon Slayer, Gintama, Kochikame, & so on! Each volume of those legendary manga ending with an afterword written by a fellow mangaka where they talked about how much they admire, respect, & like the creator, as well as the occasional playful jab at their personality or pre-conceived notions. The closest I can think of has been the recent re-release of Dragon Ball where a different mangaka redraws one of the covers in their own style (& writes a short message), but even that isn't quite the same thing as this. Imagine Shueisha having over 100 different mangaka giving their feelings about One Piece & Eiichiro Oda across each & every volume over the nearly 30 years it's been running, or nearly doubly so for something like Kochikame & Osamu Akimoto for the 200 volumes & 40 years it ran! Really, there's no other way to end this other than by aping how Masami Kurumada himself ended both Ring ni Kakero manga, at least when it came to the respective final volumes of the original Ring ni Kakero tankouban, Ring ni Kakero 1, & Ring ni Kakero 2...
REMEMBER
THESE
GUYS
Ring ni Kakero © Masami Kurumada/Shueisha
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