So let's not dawdle about any further & see what messages we have in store for this second chunk of volumes! Which mangaka will poke fun at Kurumada? Which boxers will get to tell their personal stories? Will Masami Kurumada himself retroactively put his foot in his mouth due to now-old-fashioned ideals?!
Volume 10 of Ring ni Kakero came out on February 15, 1980, right as the World Tournament had ended in Weekly Shonen Jump, which saw Kurumada essentially "kill off" all five members of Golden Japan Jr., despite the final page of that arc literally telling readers to look forward to a new chapter the following issue; weekly serialization can be a hoot. As for the author's note for the first double-digit volume of the manga, Kurumada thinks back to when Guts Ishimatsu (who wrote Volume 3's afterword) won the WBC Lightweight Championship in 1974 & something he had heard Ishimatsu did the moment he became champion: Telling off everyone who didn't believe in him:
"It's an old story, but I heard that when Guts Ishimatsu won the World Title, he turned to the audience and yelled, 'You idiots!'. It was his way of paying back the world for not recognizing him. For a young man with no money, no education, and no parental support, such a moment where one can say that to the whole world must come rarely, if at all. Incidentally, I think a manga artist is one of the few professions where you get to say 'You Idiots!'"
As for Volume 10's afterword we have mangaka Mitsuyuki Takashina, better known in Japan by his pen name, Kontaro. While not really known at all abroad, Kontaro is known in Japan most for his gag manga, particularly his first big hit from Shonen Jump, 1975's 1・2 no Ahho!!, which was a nonsensical comedic baseball series. By early 1980 Kontaro was actually more or less done with Shonen Jump, as neither of his later works (1978's Ruse! Ruse! & 1979's Kuroki Taka) made it beyond short runs, and in 1981 he'd debut his other well known work, the salaryman manga Isshokenmei Hajime-kun, in Young Jump. Kontaro is also known in Japan for being the man that Tadashi Sato (Moeru! Onii-san) & Tomokazu Sato (Ghost Mama Sousasen), no seeming relation, were assistants for, & Kontaro is also the uncle to modern-day J-pop/rock singer Saasa. Kontaro is still making manga to this day, most recently reviving his first hit in 2020 with Kaettekita 1・2 no Ahho!! as an online serialization for Comic Gakuen. For Volume 10 of RnK Kontaro, as a member of the "Daimanzoku" baseball team he, Kurumada, Osamu Akimoto, & Satoshi Ikezawa formed (see Part 1 for more details), recalls when he first met Kurumada back in 1975, how Kurumada's physical demeanor shattered his preconceptions of what a mangaka looked like, and how Kurumada himself slowly achieved the "major" success he was experiencing come 1980... as well as making a playful jab at Kurumada's own physical stature, or slight lack thereof; this actually isn't the only time we'll see that last one, too:
"Masami Kurumada, Remember: Rome was Not Built in a Day!
Kontaro
Mangaka
[George's Note: Literally, Kontaro says "Ichiya ni shite narazu!/It didn't happen overnight!", but shmuplations' usage of the old French-to-English adage fits perfectly.]
I first met Masami Kurumada in our publisher's writer's room. His manga Sukeban Arashi was just wrapping up, and I was brought on to replace him with my own serialized work, which was just getting started then. That was five years ago.
Seeing Kurumada for the first time shattered my image of what a typical mangaka looks like. I had always thought mangaka were mostly somewhat delicate and sensitive souls like myself...
But the man in front of me had the body of a gorilla. He talked a big game with this working-class Tsukishima dialect, and looked like the shady, slippery kind of guy who you couldn't be sure was dead even after you killed him. This first impression of mine was, as it turned out, dead on. And his continuing presence as a major pillar of Shonen Jump is a testament to the toughness I saw in him. Then there is the amazing sense of rhythm in the exchange of punches in his fight scenes... there's no doubt in my mind that his formidable stature and the snappy tempo of his Shitamachi dialect are the ultimate source of these strengths.
However, this success didn't happen overnight! Before bursting onto the scene with the Boomerang Hook, Galactica Magnum, and Rolling Thunder, Ryuji spent a year in training with the Power Wrist before transforming into the formidable fighter we know today. And Masami Kurumada, likewise, spent a long period laying the groundwork before enjoying his present major league success. In those days Kurumada had a determined, diligent side that seems at odds with his image today.
By the way, if I ask you to think a character from Ring ni Kakero--a tough, smooth operator who can also get surprisingly serious sometimes... who do you imagine? Who could it be other than Ishimatsu! And that character is a complete stand-in for Kurumada himself. When I read the scene where Ishimatsu cries out, 'I want longer legs!!!', I felt like I was hearing the cry of the author's soul, and without realizing it my eyes had welled up with tears."
Volume 11 would come out on April 15, 1980, right as the matches with the Twelve Gods of Greece in front of Mt. Fuji were starting up in the pages of Weekly Jump. For this volume's author's note we see Kurumada bring up the term "okama", which is a slang term that plays a lot into Japan's history with homosexuality, to put it lightly; shmuplations has chosen to use the term "queer" for the translation, which I feel is fair. Therefore, do take into account that this was written in 1980, and Kurumada himself has made characters in his later works that tend to be more friendly to the LGBTQ+ community than the term "okama" has generally connotated. Ring ni Kakero 2 even ended with Prince Shaft marrying Penny Lane, which can either be interpreted as gay marriage or Prince marrying a transgender woman, since Kurumada never defined what part of "LGBTQ+" Penny identified with; this was the late 00s, so their marriage was notable, in & of itself. Anyway, the author's note this time around is about Kurumada dealing with his own preconceptions regarding how "manly" being a mangaka is, due to how he used to view the more "traditionally manly" job his father had as a tobishoku, a variant of a steeplejack, and how he keeps having to fight back against those thoughts. Obviously, Kurumada has since won that war in his mind, since he's been a mangaka for 50 years now, but let's see how felt felt just shy of six years in:
"'A mangaka is a job for a queer...!!'
Even now that I've managed to make a living from manga I still have this thought somewhere in my mind. I always thought that a man's job was to work hard under the sun.... and maybe it's because I grew up with a father who had a manly job as a tobishoku, but I still hear that voice in my head sometimes: 'What are you, a little girl? Just sitting in your little room all day drawing pictures?!' Argh, there it is again...!"
When it comes to the afterword we have our penultimate professional boxer, Tadashi Tomori. After debuting in 1978, Tomori would go on to win the All-Japan Rookie King Tournament in 1979, before eventually becoming Japan Junior Flyweight Champion in February 1980, after defeating Kazunori Tenryu in a rematch. He'd lose the title later that August before regaining it the following year in October 1981, notably after his manager literally had Tomori practice sitting meditation at a local temple to train his mind; Tomori was seemingly a real life sports manga character. This eventually led to a WBC Junior Flyweight Championship match on April 13, 1982 against Armando Ursua at Korakuen Hall, one that Tomori would shock the world with & win via split decision. Tomori would lose the title in his first defense, and after losing a rematch (both also in 1982) would retire from boxing with a record of 19-7 (with 5 KOs). However, Tomori was still in his initial national championship reign when he wrote the afterword to Volume 11 of Ring ni Kakero, where here he thinks back on when he beat Tenryu to become champion, and how Ryuji's unbreakable determination & constant kindness resonates with him:
"A Fighting Spirit Enveloped in the Shining Light of Kindness......!
Tadashi Tomori
Japanese Junior Flyweight Champion
I love boxing. It's been just over two years since my debut, and those feelings have not changed.
My debut was on May 25th, 1978. I went into the fight feeling confident, and promised myself I would get a KO. But the fight was much harder than I'd expected, and I received a (to me) ignominious win-by-decision. I realized once again that while the drive to win is important, one must not fight simply to win. An incident that stands out in my memory from these last two years is the Japanese Junior Fly League title match, which took place this year on February 28th. The champion, Tenryu-san, was the first person since I became a pro to knock me out, so I felt a sense of destiny with this fight. I watched videos of his fights over and over, taking a very research-oriented approach. When the roadwork would get grueling, I'd grit my teeth and conjured his face in my head--'You bastard!!!!'--which gave me strength. When I got that KO victory, I felt like all my efforts had been rewarded.
The protagonist of this manga, Ryuji, has a kind heart and is a very considerate person. And it's within that aura that we can see his sparkling fighting spirit. I like how the manga itself seems to have a similar spirit of determination. The Boomerang Hook that Ryuji uses is the same as a real punch called the Corkscrew, and I think it's amazing that he can pull this punch out so naturally. Ryuji's rival Kenzaki is a genius too, but I think Ryuji has a hidden genius within him... in the last volume, there's a scene where Ryuji lodges together [shmuplations' Note: "Gasshuku" in Japanese] with his fellow fighters, and I remember doing those gasshuku trips with everyone in my amateur days, too. It was very nostalgic, and resonated with me.
[George's Note: Volume 10, the "last volume" mentioned, covers most of the Nichibei Kessen Chapter & shows Golden Japan Jr. doing some training together for the fight with Black Shaft's makeshift Team America, similar to the gasshuku Tomori mentions. Fans of Hajime no Ippo will also be familiar with the concept, as the Kamogawa Gym boxers take such an excursion every summer.]
Up to now, Ryuji has had his sister helping him along, but from here on out I'd like to see him ascend on his own. As for me, I've got my own title to defend here, and I'm not stopping either: I'm going for the Touyou title next!"
[George's Note: "Touyou" likely refers to the OPBF, which sanctions matches for the Asian & Pacific region. From what I can tell, though, Tomori never actually wound up challenging for the OPBF Junior Flyweight Championship, instead going straight to the WBC Championship.]
Volume 12 released on June 15, 1980, with the manga still in the midst of the fights with the 12 Gods, specifically around the time Golden Japan Jr.'s members were getting in the ring. For this volume's author's note Masami Kurumada talks about having a brother who died very young, leaving him yearning for the feeling of having a brother around throughout his life:
"I had a younger brother. He died soon after I was born, so I don't remember much about him. Maybe because of this, I was always envious of those who had siblings.
I would often get into fights with my classmates. After I'd hit them, I'd turn around and see their older brother... right before getting beat to a pulp. At times like that, how I longed for the strength of having a brother in my life...."
Meanwhile, the final boxer to write an afterword for Ring ni Kakero is an interesting one mainly because his inclusion here was due to a white-hot moment of notoriety that, even by the time this volume was published, had quickly extinguished. If you were to look up the name "Akira Isobe" online today you'd find pretty much nothing in regards to boxing... except for a listing over on BoxRec about a welterweight boxer with that name who only had two recorded matches between late 1979 & early 1980, with a final record of 2-0 (with 0 KOs). However, as we see in the afterword below, the date given matches up perfectly with the BoxRec listing, as on February 21, 1980 Akira Isobe would defeat Yasushi Myojin to win the All-Japan Rookie King Tournament in his weight class (a year after Tadashi Tomori did the same in his), & it was only his second match! However, Isobe's two matches happened at the "ripe" age of 38 (one year over the often cited average age most boxers retire at), and after becoming Welterweight Rookie King he seemingly never had another match again. Maybe he got injured following the match & decided to call it quits, or maybe he simply wanted to prove to himself that he could "make it" in boxing at that age, even if only for a moment. Regardless, becoming Welterweight Rookie King in 1980 got Akira Isobe the chance to tell his story in Volume 12 of Ring ni Kakero:
"'Patience and Perseverance' are Everything!!
Akira Isobe
All-Japan Welterweight Rookie of the Year
(February 21st, 1980, Osaka City Gymnasium, All-Japan Rookie King Final Match)
I sat there in the cold waiting room of the gymnasium, silently awaiting my fight. How did I find myself, at 38, in this strange situation? Casting my thoughts back in time, I realized the trigger was three years ago. I was looking at a picture of a swimming trip I'd taken with my sons, and I remember how dissatisfied I was with my physique. 'Once more, I'd like to have the body I had when I was young...' That moment was the very beginning of my boxing journey.
I began each day by practicing my footwork and left jab. This went on for a year, and in the span of that short time, I did manage to reclaim my former youthful physique. My good fortune continued when I won my debut fight, and at that point I seriously questioned whether I should just stop there and quit while I was ahead. But I remembered what I always tell my kids, about finishing what you start. So I decided to once more test my limits, and I set my sights on winning the upcoming Rookie-of-the-Year match. Every day was a grueling fight, and many times I felt frustrated. 'Damnit!! If only I were younger...' But I never gave up. It was a long struggle. I persevered in the belief that in those final three minutes of the fight, that would be the moment when all three years of my training would come to fruition. When the fight was over, and the referee raised my hand into the dazzling spotlight, tears flowed down my face. I'm extremely grateful to all those who supported me during this time. Patience and perseverance are everything.
Ryuji-kun, I envy your youth! You're still so full of dreams. So never forget: It's your patience and perseverance that will make those dreams come true!! I think when you find someone who loves you, and you can become their rock, then you will be a true champion. Live your life to the fullest!!"
Volume 13 saw release on July 15, 1980, which would be right around the time the origin of the powerful Kaiser Kuckle (a brass knuckles-like item Ryuji used to help him rescue Kiku back in the Shadow Chapter) was being revealed in the manga's serialization. Accidentally fitting that point would Kurumada's author's note for this volume, which sees him talk about the "tremendous power" of violence, and that the only way to protect oneself & others from sudden displays of violence is the ability to act against it, though he doesn't necessarily seem to outright say that violence should be fought back against with even more violence:
"In the past, men built their status through violence. Even today, violence has tremendous power. The law seems to protect people, but this may just be an illusion. The reality is that we are powerless against sudden violence... If a man wants to protect himself and his loved ones from other forms of violence in this world, what he really needs is a strong will and the ability to act."
Now that we're all done with professional boxers, we return to what all but one of the remaining volumes of Ring ni Kakero feature as the authors of their respective afterwords: Other Shonen Jump Mangaka. For this volume we have Hisashi Eguchi, who today is a legend in his own right, having been the creator of manga like 1977's Susume!! Pirates (a comedic baseball series that was nearing its end by this volume's release), 1981's Stop!! Hibari-kun! (which today is looked at as an early pioneer of modern LGBTQ+ manga), & 1984's [Eiji] (his take on boxing manga), while also providing character designs for classic anime like Roujin Z, Perfect Blue, & Uninhabited Planet Survive; Eguchi was also founder of the now-defunct underground manga magazine Comic Cue. Eguchi has remained a close friend of Kurumada's throughout the decades, even providing a Ring ni Kakero illustration (in his own pop art-influenced style) for Weekly Shonen Champion's own celebration of Kurumada's 50th Anniversary earlier this year; Eguchi even explained that he went with RnK because he's never read Saint Seiya. For his afterword Eguchi goes over his first encounter with Kurumada, plus how RnK changed the entire game for action manga... and throughout it all Eguchi repeatedly pokes fun at Kurumada's literal stature:
"Masami Kurumada is a Maverick......!!
Hisashi Eguchi
Mangka
Masami Kurumada is a man.
If you overlook the fact that his legs are just a wee bit shorter than his torso (about 18 cm), then he is, unquestionably, a manly man.
Generally speaking, there aren't a lot of 'manly' manga artists, but Masami Kurumada is one of those rare breeds, an old-school Edokko with the matching generous personality to boot.
I first met the slightly stubby-legged (22 cm shorter, maybe?) Kurumada-san at the Shueisha writer's room. I had just started serializing my first manga, so I was completely wet behind the ears and spent most of my time holed up in the writer's room drawing nonstop. Then, one day, Kurumada-san showed up.
'Hello, nice to meet you. I'm Kurumada.' Saying this, he reached out to shake my hand. And I immediately liked his open, friendly demeanor. You couldn't help but like him. I noticed his legs were a little short, yes, but it was refreshing to see a manga artist with a personality like his.
But seriously! Can somebody tell me how is it that this guy, of all people, can come up with all these bishonen rivals for Ryuji!? Teach me!!
Masami Kurumada; they broke the mold when they made him. And while that is true for his unusual personality as a mangaka, it is also holds true for the manga he creates. Ring ni Kakero shattered our expectations about what a fighting manga was supposed to be like. It's a boxing manga completely bereft of limiting tropes like referees or counts. The two-page spreads of the Superblows explode across the page like stars to lend his work a surreal, dreamlike beauty.
Masami Kurumada. What can I say, your legs are definitely a bit short... 32 cm perhaps? But maybe the long shadow cast by the stature of your Ring ni Kakero is compensation for that! Yes, definitely so!!"
Volume 14 of Ring ni Kakero came out on September 15, 1980, right as the final fight against the 12 Gods (Ryuji vs. Zeus) was hitting its climax in the pages of Jump. It seems as though Kurumada was deciding to try to be a bit more "philosophical" with the author's notes around this point in the tankouban release, as this time around he talks about the idea of "illusory kindness" & that "real kindness" can't be found by being more "effeminate" or "naïve" around women. Yeah, I think Kurumada was just being jealous here, as he'd poke fun at he & his assistants all being single earlier that same year in the one-shot Ring ni Kokero (as seen in Jitsuroku! Shinwakai), so take this author's note with some salt:
"This is an age of illusory kindness.
A time when men like to dress like women, and even their mannerisms have become more effeminate. And for some reason, such men are popular among women and are regarded as kind. But the true kindness of a man is not found in acting naïve towards women or being influenced by women's interests. Only a man who has overcome the sorrows and hardships of life can know what real kindness is... but you won't be popular with women if you talk like this!!"
Whereas all prior mangaka featured for the afterwords so far are today considered Jump legends, to varying extents, Volume 14 features Tsukasa Tanaka, who never really made it big in the pages of Shonen Jump. His debut work, 1979's Futari no Derby, didn't last long & by the time this volume of RnK came out his second series, 1980's Super Kyojin, was on death's door & would end roughly two weeks later; he'd do one more failed manga for Jump, 1981's Guts Try, before leaving the magazine. Luckily, Tanaka would find later success as the artist for 1998's Kasai Chousakan manga series, written by Masaharu Nabeshima (which would be the basis for a very successful J-Drama series that ran from 2003 to 2015), and would later draw manga adaptations of various novels, including Prison Hotel, Tenchijin, & Ningyo Sashichi Torimonochou. Still, Tanaka was an active Jump mangaka during this specific time, & was friends with Kurumada, so he was chosen to provide an afterword & he talks about how close they are, due to their similar ages & shared time as assistants early on, as well as a story about a rib Kurumada pulled on him once regarding a haircut:
"Like a Man!!
Tsukasa Tanaka
Mangaka
'Like a man!!'
[George's Note: The literal line is "Otokorashiku bishitto", with "bishitto" being an onomatopoeic or mimetic word that just emphasizes what's being stated, so Tanaka's being super resolute in his quote.]
These are at once the favorite words of Kurumada-san, and at the same time an accurate summation of the way he lives his life. He is not, however, a stiff, kouha type of toughness. Lend him your ear and he'll grab his guitar and compose a song and lyrics for you on the spot--he's a very 'of our time' modern young man.
[George's Note: Tanaka would be completely right in that last regard, as Kurumada would go on to write the lyrics for many, many songs relating to Saint Seiya, Fuma no Kojirou, B't X, Ring ni Kakero 1, & even Otoko Zaka, some of which were used as OP & ED themes for their respective anime, if applicable.]
I met Kurumada-san when I was 18. Back then we were both working as assistants, fetching food for the editors. Separated in age by just one year, in high school we had both been in Judo club. We soon became friends. At work we amused each other by telling jokes, and often cracked each other up.
One day, Kurumada-san turned to me and said, 'Tottsan (my nickname), I've been thinking. If you're a man you should have a crewcut! It'll look better on you, and the ladies will love it, I'm telling you!'
I received these words silently, but at the first opportunity I rushed over to the barber and got a crew cut. When it was done, I looked in the mirror, but what I saw can only be described as the haircut of a devout monk. What the hell! It may be manly but there's no way the women will go for this! And wait a minute... the guy who recommended this to me has a goddamn perm!! I huffed and puffed with indignation!!!!
Nevertheless, while Kurumada-san may not have a crew cut himself there certainly is something manly about him. No matter how close the deadline approaches, or how tired he gets, he never gets ill-spirited or whines about it. That is why our office was always echoing with laughter and overflowing with positive energy. That's the bright environment in which Ring ni Kakero is composed every week!"
Despite being a megahit for Shonen Jump at the time, the actual serialization of Ring ni Kakero itself was actually a bit fluctuating, at least when it came to where Jump decided to place it in each issue's Table of Contents; sometimes it was pretty high up, sometimes it was more in the middle, & sometimes it'd even be near the end. I bring this up because when Volume 15 came out on November 15, 1980, the manga itself was early on in the Ashura Chapter, and the issue of Jump that had come out just a few days prior to this volume actually saw RnK's weekly Chapter 193 hit the manga's lowest point in the ToC since Chapter 84 back in 1978 (the middle of the Champion Carnival), which was right before the manga hit its longest stretch of popularity; RnK would recover immediately after Chapter 193, though, & never hit that low again. This has no absolutely no bearing on Kurumada's author's note for this volume, but I just thought it was an interesting factoid. Anyway, said author's note sees Kurumada encourage readers to not simply be content with cheering on "stronger men", like sports stars, and to become "heroes" of their own:
"Baseball. Professional wrestling. Boxing. In all these sports, there's always a star to cheer for. And it's natural for a man to be attracted to the charm of a stronger man.
However, it would be a bit boring to spend one's whole life just cheering for a star. Youth is a flash of light that fades in an instant. If you are a man--and especially if you are a young man--don't look for other heroes! Think about becoming a hero yourself! While you still have that spark of youth......!"
For Volume 15's afterword we have Kenichi Kotani, who at the time was drawing the art for Tennis Boy, a tennis manga written by Yu Terashima (who uses his real name, Osamu Nakamura, when he writes anime scripts) that was very obviously inspired by RnK due to it also featuring all variety of wild & crazy named special techniques when it came to serving or returning a tennis ball. Tennis Boy itself was a minor hit for Jump at the time, & would coincidentally end in early 1982 after 14 volumes, a few months after RnK. However, today Kotani is arguably more well known in Japan for his long-running manga franchise Desire, a semi-episodic series revolving around sexual desires (often experienced via technology, like VR), which originally ran from 1996 to 2010 across two "seasons" in Super Jump (alongside Kurumada's RnK2), and in 2016 Kotani brought it back as an eBook series via Hiroshi Motomiya's company Thirdline; as of this piece there are 32 physical volumes for the first two seasons & 90 eBooks for the current "web season". For Volume 15's afterword Kotani recalls the time he joined Kurumada & his assistants on the trip to Europe they won for Ring ni Kokero (again, see the Jitsuroku! Shinwakai review) & saw the "real" Masami Kurumada, a guy who's good with kids, stays sober, is well-mannered... and is immensely "Japanese":
"Ishimatsu & Masami Kurumada's Personalities Overlap!
Kenichi Kotani
Mangaka
Masami Kurumada...... "Ring ni Kakero", kisses, kouha, fighting, fish markets, octopus sashimi. This was my image of Kurumada-san. Note the past tense.
I bet 8 out of 10 people have the same image of Kurumada as I did. But when I went on a trip to Europe, for winning the Reader's Award, with Kurumada I saw a whole other side of him.
He loves kids, doesn't drink much, and acted like an upstanding(???), well-mannered young man. Above all is what I felt could be described as his Japanese-ness... I got major naniwabushi vibes from him. Personally I've got more of an American sensibility and mindset--I don't really feel an iota of pride about being Japanese. A person like Kurumada-san is exactly the opposite of me, and I felt he valued the spirit of being Japanese more than things foreign.
That humanity of Kurumada's makes itself felt here and there in his work, as well.
For example, take the character of Ishimatsu Katori in Ring ni Kakero. Is he not a stand-in for Kurumada himself? Each of Ishimatu's lines show a personality that is at once argumentative and shy at the same time, which reminds me of Kurumada... though I never thought he had a problem with liquor. (Right, everyone?)
But above all, Kurumada-san has a proud bearing. Even on our Europe trip, when walking around he had this swagger, as if to say 'I am JAPANESE! You think I'm gonna let some hairy, foreign Westerners get the better of me?!' With so many Japanese people having a gaijin complex, seeing Kurumada-san act like this gave me strength and confidence. Masami Kurumada, the Japanese par excellence! Banzai!"
Volume 16 released on February 15, 1981, right as Ring ni Kakero's serialization was nearing the end of the Ashura Chapter. The author's note here sees Kurumada become even more inspirational than last time, encouraging readers to find at least one "burning" or "precious" purpose in their life, so that they can make their life shine brighter than ever before. Interestingly enough, Kurumada would make the idea of "shining bright" a core theme of B't X in the 90s, so it's neat to see him talk about something similar over a decade prior to that series' debut in 1994:
"I think it's a very happy thing for a human being to have even one burning purpose. No one shines brighter than a person who is working toward that pinnacle. And what a wonderful thing it would be if we could reach that goal! To do so is truly the sublimation of a meaningful life. One precious life, one precious purpose, so let's make it a brilliant one. Trust me, it's more interesting than any game!"
Volume 16 marks the final afterword to be written by someone who isn't a mangaka, but at the same time it's also a wholly unique entry because it's also not written by a pro boxer. Instead, we have Katsuhiro Fukuda, an actor/writer who also is known by his pen name Hikaru Murozumi, which is a reference to his hometown of Hikari, Yamaguchi & the Murozumi Coast; he uses his real name for acting & his pen name for writing. As an actor (which is how he's listed in the afterword) Fukuda seems to be most well known for playing Health & Phys-Ed Teacher Mr. Ito in the long-running 3-nen B-gumi Kinpachi-sensei TV series, having played the role for the first two seasons & first three TV specials from 1979 to 1984 (so he was actively playing the role when this volume came out), before returning in 1998 for the ninth TV special. The series starred the titular homeroom teacher who would help deal with problems his students were going through, inspiring the creation of later works like Great Teacher Onizuka & The Gokusen, both of which included references to Kinpachi-sensei, & fans of Gintama will be familiar with Hideaki Sorachi's parody sub-series, 3-nen Z-gumi Ginpachi-sensei. In total, Kinpachi-sensei lasted intermittently across eight seasons & 11 TV specials, before ending in 2011, so while Fukuda wasn't around for most of it he obviously had a notable recurring role early on. Meanwhile, "Murozumi" is possibly best known for writing the manga The School of Water Business, which was drawn by Shinobu Inokuma & ran in Young Sunday from 2003 to 2009 for 22 volumes. If I had to guess, Fukuda was asked to provide an afterword due to his connection to Yamaguchi prefecture, since it's both where Kurumada's own parents came from & is also where Ryuji & Kiku Takane originally grew up in, before they left for Tokyo via Niho Station at the end of the first chapter of RnK. Regardless, Fukuda yearns to encourage readers to be just like Ryuji, i.e. willing to "put it all" into the one thing that they can each excel at, whether it's sports, studies, love, or anything else:
"When You're Ready to Put It All on One Thing, You Too Will Be Ryuji!
Katsuhiro Fukuda
Actor
'Ring ni Kakero/Put It All in the Ring'...... it's a good a title, isn't it? But for those of you reading this manga now, let me ask you: What are you putting it all on?
I've never liked people who call themselves 'all-rounders'. Instead I respect people who, while they may be bad at everything else...... have one golden thing that they pour all their passion into. Perhaps it's simply because I'm a clumsy, unskilled person myself, but I suspect that people who try their hand at everything will gain very little in the end.
In either event, the person who devotes himself wholeheartedly to one cause can use that experience as the foundation to try other things, and may actually become the mythical 'all-rounder' after all.
Like Ryuji Takane, you could also try putting it all in the ring. Or a mat, or a court, or a field, or a pool... I think any of those would be a wonderful venue in which to challenge oneself.
But victory is also a matter of fortune, and even if you risk everything, there is no guarantee you will become Number One. If you truly give everything to your struggle, though, then I don't think you will have any regrets. And I expect you will be able to applaud the winner with an honest heart, unafflicted by resentment, even though you did not win.
This applies outside of sports, too. There are inevitably those of you who are simply bad at sports. We need not look down on them, nor should you feel ashamed if you are such a person yourself. Train and hone yourself in the thing that you are good at. That may be music or literature. One person may yearn and dream of the stars, while another devotes himself body and soul to a single woman. These are all good. You will reap the results along the path you choose for yourself.
And when you do, you too will have become Ryuji Takane!"
Out penultimate entry for this part, Volume 17, would release on May 15, 1981, right as the serialization was on Kenzaki & Ishimatsu having their fight before Kenzaki's World Title match against Jesus Christ, all because both men love Kiku. Considering the sheer emotion happening in the manga as this volume came out in Japan, it's amusing that all Kurumada could think about in the author's note is how much he wanted to eat a "luxury dish" like katsudon as a child, but always felt ashamed to do so, & now that he's an adult mangaka he can eat all the katsudon he wants; I bet Yudetamago "hit him up" constantly:
"When I was a kid, I wanted to eat katsudon. However, I felt very uncomfortable ordering it in front of my parents. In my childish mind, you see, I thought that katsudon was this expensive luxury dish. I wondered why my parents couldn't just casually order a katsudon when they worked so hard every day.
Now that I am a manga artist, I can order katsudon anytime I want. If there is anyone out there who wants to gorge their hearts out on some katsudon, hit me up anytime!"
As for Volume 17's afterword we have someone who I honestly thought would appear a little later on, Hiroshi Motomiya. For those unfamiliar, Motomiya is the man who inspired Kurumada to become a mangaka, both due to his debut work Otoko Ippiki Gaki Daisho (generally considered to be Jump's first hit manga) heavily inspiring Kurumada, as well as the simple fact that Motomiya himself was pretty much your "average joe" who admitted to often getting into fights on the street growing up... just like Kurumada did; even the tribute Motomiya made for Kurumada this year portrays the two as simple delinquents. In Japan Motomiya is best known for his old-school style & manga like Tenchi wo Kurau, Salaryman Kintaro, & Ore no Sora, while abroad he's arguably most known for being the head of Moto Kikaku (now Thirdline), the studio Capcom worked with to co-create the multimedia Strider franchise. At this point in his career Motomiya had finished up Yamazaki Ginjiro a couple of months prior, the final chapter of which was actually the first time Shonen Jump ever gave the cover to a manga that was ending; this was also essentially the last time Motomiya was anything close to a "major" name for Jump. Considering how important Motomiya was to Kurumada it is a little surprising that his afterword wasn't saved for closer to the final volumes, but here we are, nonetheless. For this afterword, one of the most concise ones we've seen, Motomiya praises Kurumada for his ability to never settle & instead constantly look for something new, and why that'll keep him making manga well into his 40s & 50s; yeah, Motomiya underestimated a bit on that last one:
"Masami Kurumada Will Outlive Us All!
Hiroshi Motomiya
Mangaka
I think Masami Kurumada is going to be a mangaka whose legacy endures. There are those who believe 'A mangaka is like a peddler of cheap goods--you put your one hit out and then become a politician or something'. But the ones who avoid thinking that way are the greats who will still be actively creating in their 40s and 50s.
[George's Note: Motomiya literally mentions "Onna miteena dasee shopai", which would match with Kurumada mentioning the old derogatory concept of a mangaka being like "a little girl", i.e. "peddler", who "draws pictures", i.e. "cheap goods", in Volume 11's author's note. Remember that Motomiya was born in 1947, & Kurumada in 1953, so the manga they grew up with was part of the evolution from simple stories meant only for kids in the 40s & 50s to the more involved & complex ones that started becoming common in the 60s, so they're bringing up old ideas that adults back in their childhoods likely often said of the industry.]
Kurumada is, above all, a man who doesn't give a damn about petty things, with a mind like a steel trap. And, secondly, he is a man capable of seeing himself objectively, and of self-criticism. Finally, he possess a stubborn determination.
The ultimate way to avoid imitation and mannerism is to look at your era, at yourself, and discover what is new within. When you find a new self within yourself--that freshness will find its way to your manga.
Just as yesterday, today, and tomorrow are completely different moments in time, the self is ever-changing. If you can discover a new self today that was not there yesterday, your work will never be imitative and cliché. Masami Kurumada is a mangaka with that ability. That's because he writes his own manga from his own honest experience...... and it's why his manga is one-of-a-kind!"
Finally, we end Part 2 with the not-quite-3/4 mark of Ring ni Kakero's tankouban release, Volume 18, which came out on July 15, 1981. At this point in the serialization Kenzaki has become WBA Bantamweight Champion & the manga is right on the verge of the final fight between Ryuji & Kenzaki; in fact, this is the last volume of RnK to come out before the manga's serialization ended. When it comes to Masami Kurumada's author's note for this volume... it's easily the one that has aged the worst, over the decades. In short, Kurumada felt at the time that a "man" is one that is willing to fight back when faced with opposition, and if someone instead prefers to avoid trouble then they should "become a okama/queer right now". Without a doubt, this is a pretty terrible thing to say in an author's note of a manga, especially when he specifically made action manga that could appeal to both men & women, and there's no excusing the kind of attitude shown here.
Thankfully, with the benefit of hindsight, it's easy to see that Kurumada later changed his way of thinking, as future manga from him would go on to feature numerous characters who preferred to avoid fighting & conflict, unless there's literally no other option. The likes of Andromeda Shun in Saint Seiya, Hokuto in B't X, & Kyou Kawai in Ring ni Kakero 2 exemplify this antithesis to Kurumada's author's note in this volume, and they were all showcased as "strong" men in their respective manga. In fact, B't X, RnK2, & even Otoko Zaka's revival all have stories & themes that effectively act as direct counterpoints to the kind of chauvinist attitude shown in this author's note, to one extent or another. Masami Kurumada was barely 28 when he wrote this message, and while as a fan it's sad to see that he once thought this way (though, considering the era, it's admittedly not really shocking) I am at least happy to know that he (seemingly) doesn't feel this way anymore. I mean, the 40+ years of manga he made since this author's note at least indicates that:
"'There are three times in a man's life when he will get into a real fight. When someone insults his parents, when he's defending the woman he loves, and when someone spits on the path he believes to be true.'
That's what I was taught when I was a kid. Nowadays, many people have forgotten their anger. But in one of those three instances, if you hear someone meekly say, 'Let's avoid trouble,' instead of fighting, well, he has no right to call himself a man--he better just quit and become a queer right now!"
Almost fittingly, the final afterword for this part comes by way of Yoshinori Kobayashi, who is definitely someone who isn't without his own controversy, to the point where his life was literally put at stake once! He made his debut in manga back in 1976 with Todai Icchokusen, which jokingly criticized the competitive school exam social climate at the time & was especially notable because Kobayashi was only 23 & still attending college when the series debuted, so he was essentially telling his own real life contemporary experiences. However, Kobayashi would later become most known in Japan for his long-running Gomanisn Sengen series of manga, which debuted in 1992 & essentially acts as Kobayashi's way of criticizing & satirizing any part of society and/or politics he disagrees with in his notably right-wing fashion, under the idea of what he calls "Gomanism/Arroganism"; think Stephen Colbert's legendary The Colbert Report persona, except if it wasn't a complete parody. Infamously, Kobayashi deciding to satire the Aum Shinrikyo cult in Gomanism Sengen early on actually resulted in a literal assassination attempt made on him in 1993 by the cult itself. However, the afterword of Volume 18 of RnK comes from a comparatively simpler time for the man, when he was making Todai Icchokusen's sequel, Todai Kaishingeki, in Young Jump, & here Kobayashi extolls the change of RnK from traditional character drama to hot-blooded action epic, and how it felt like a revelation to his senses; also, Kobayashi likes to call Kurumada "Pops", despite Kobayashi being older by about three months:
"I Caught a Glimpse of the New Horizon of Hot-Blooded Manga!
Yoshinori Kobayashi
Mangaka
When Masami Kurumada was writing Ring ni Kakero as slice-of-life stories about daddy, mommy, and big sis, I admit, it was kind of slow. I don't know when it happened, but one day it's like he suddenly figured it all out. Boom, enlightenment. Since then Ring ni Kakero has been on a whole other level, and suddenly we get Galactica, we get Rolling Thunder, we get a guy taking a punch and going flying through the gym window; I mean, damn, this is potent stuff......
And what makes Kurumada so deserving of the epithet 'awesome', you ask? It's his simple and direct way of expressing his humanity. He has, simply put, created what I call 'the ultimate in pure entertainment, with no room for ideology'. He's got a certain stance... he completely rejects the sophistication of the modern youth and their self-conscious posturing. This stance is very unusual in today's world. I would call him a genius for that reason.
But anyway, I think I've caught a glimpse of the new horizon of hot-blooded manga. After coming this far, part of me doubts if there is anywhere to go from here. But let's both promise each other not to slow down, okay? I've seen your way of life, Masami Kurumada, and I'm gonna live the same way! I'm gonna run as fast as I can, and when I run out of power, I'm gonna fall flat on my face, vomit blood, and die like a madman, sobbing like a rock-n-roller. And just remember Pops, don't forget...
Go crazy! Go crazy, Pops!!"
-----
With that we come to the end of the second part of this look at the various author's notes & afterwords that were published in Ring ni Kakero's original tankouban release. Sure, some of them have aged more poorly than others this time around, but them's the breaks with history. Again, a massive "Thank you!" to shmuplations for continuing to help out with this & providing the translation; it took a little bit longer this time (for perfectly understandable reasons), but it was well worth the wait. When we return once again later this year we'll see what Masami Kurumada, Yudetamago, Yoshihiro Takahashi, Tetsuya & Akio Chiba, & other Jump mangaka had to say in the final seven volumes of RnK (Vols 19 to 25), which all came out after the series had ended, as well as a bonus message from Kurumada that I found from later on in life, which I hope will act as a nice little coda to all of this.
Ring ni Kakero © Masami Kurumada/Shueisha
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