Ashita no Joe: Joe & Rikishi (Manga Genko Saisei Sosho)

The fifth release in the "Manga Genko Saisei Sosho" series! A landmark of sports manga and a legendary work that came to symbolize postwar Japan is presented as "readable reproductions of original manga artwork"!!

▼ Manga History in Your Hands - Manga Genko Saisei Sosho

Billed as "readable reproductions of original manga artwork," this series reproduces surviving manga manuscript pages at their original size. To recreate the texture and feel of the original manuscripts, every page is printed in color on Kent paper similar to actual manga manuscript paper. The books are also produced with Codex binding that allows them to open 180 degrees at the gutter without bending the pages, and are housed in a box. This is "Manga Genko Saisei Sosho," a label proudly presented by Fukkan.com. Both a collector's item for manga fans and an important resource in the history of Japanese manga, the series now reaches its fifth release.

The first release featured Shotaro Ishinomori's "Kamen Rider Rensai Dai 1-kai," followed by Shigeru Mizuki's timeless masterpiece "GeGeGe no Kitaro" (three episodes) as the second release, and Osamu Tezuka's "Dororo" (episodes 1 and 2) as the third. The fourth release moved forward in time to Kenji Tsuruta's "China-san no Yuutsu," originally published in 1990. Now, for the long-awaited fifth release, the landmark sports manga "Ashita no Joe" finally makes its appearance!

▼ An Unparalleled Relationship - Joe & Rikiishi

"Ashita no Joe" began serialization in Weekly Shonen Magazine with the January 1, 1968 issue, released in December 1967. The story's original author, Asao Takamori, was of course another pen name of Ikki Kajiwara. Since Kajiwara was already serializing "Kyojin no Hoshi" in the same magazine, he used the Asao Takamori pen name for this work.

By that time, manga artist Tetsuya Chiba had already produced such hit works as "Chikai no Makyu" (original story by Kazuya Fukumoto), "Shidenkai no Taka," and "Harris no Kaze," establishing himself as one of Weekly Shonen Magazine's leading artists. "Ashita no Joe" was born from a collaboration that brought out the best in the talents of these two creators, both still young at the time.

Beginning in the late 1960s, when Japan was experiencing rapid economic growth and student movements, the story of one boy's growth was embraced with tremendous enthusiasm by readers ranging from children to adults, particularly university students of the era. Its popularity grew to the point that the phrase "Asahi Journal in the right hand, Shonen Magazine in the left" became widely known.

Over the course of its serialization, which lasted more than five years, numerous compelling characters were created and the story reached many dramatic peaks. Among them, however, the relationship between protagonist Joe Yabuki and Toru Rikiishi, whom Joe meets at a juvenile detention facility, was unlike any other and became deeply engraved in the memories of many Japanese people across generations.

Coincidentally, 2020 marked the 50th anniversary of Toru Rikiishi's death. His final heroic appearance is brought back to life here.

▼ Contents

Due to the page limitations imposed by the special specifications of "Manga Genko Saisei Sosho," it is not possible to include an entire long-form work.

For this release, the selected pages were chosen to convey the details of the relationship between Joe Yabuki and Toru Rikiishi, as well as the feelings of the people surrounding them. The collection covers the latter part of their final match, Rikiishi's death and funeral, Joe Yabuki's recollections, sketches of Yoko Shiraki, Danpei Tange, and the children from the day-laborers' district, and episodes leading up to the conclusion of "Part One," in which Joe Yabuki's state of mind is portrayed.

This release presents a point of closure, for the time being, in the remarkable story of these two men, in a form extremely close to the original manga manuscript pages.

＜漫画原稿再生叢書＞シリーズ第5弾! スポーツ漫画の金字塔にして、戦後日本を象徴する伝説の作品が《読む複製原画》に!! ▼漫画の歴史があなたの手元に=漫画原稿再生叢書 “読める複製原画"と謳い、現存する原稿を原寸サイズで仕上げた逸品です。 実際の原稿用紙に近いケント紙に、原稿の風合いを再生すべく、全ページをカラーで印刷。さらには、紙が曲がらずにすむようにノド側を180度開けるコデックス装幀で製本し、函へと封入した、復刊ドットコムが誇るレーベル<漫画原稿再生叢書>。漫画ファンのためのコレクターズアイテムでありながら、日本漫画史の重要な資料ともいえるシリーズが第5弾を迎えました。 第1弾を石ノ森章太郎『仮面ライダー 連載第1回』、第2弾を水木しげるの永遠の名作『ゲゲゲの鬼太郎』(3エピソード)、第3弾に、手塚治虫『どろろ』(第1話&2話)。そして第4弾では、時代をくだって、1990年発表の鶴田謙二『チャイナさんの憂鬱』を制作してきたのですが、次なる第5弾は、スポーツ漫画の金字塔『あしたのジョー』が、満を持しての登場となります! ▼唯一無二の関係=ジョー&力石 『あしたのジョー』は1968年1月1日号(1967年12月発売)から、「週刊少年マガジン」にて連載がはじまりました。原作者の高森朝雄の別名は言わずと知れた梶原一騎、すでに同じ雑誌で『巨人の星』を連載中であったため、この筆名となりました。漫画のちばてつやは、この頃には『ちかいの魔球』(原作:福本和也)や『紫電改のタカ』『ハリスの旋風』などのヒット作を生み出した「少年マガジン」の看板作家となっており、まだ若かりし頃のふたりの才能の最良のコラボレーションとして誕生したのが『あしたのジョー』でした。 日本が高度成長と学生運動で揺れていた60年代末からはじまった、一人の少年の成長譚は、子どもから成人、特に当時の大学生たちに熱狂をもって迎えられ、「右手に(朝日)ジャーナル、左手に(少年)マガジン」というフレーズが人口に膾炙するまでに至りました。 5年以上にわたる連載のなかで、多数の魅力的なキャラクターが生まれ、物語も幾度ものピークに到達しましたが、なかでも、主人公・矢吹丈が少年院で出会った力石徹との関係は、他に類がないものとして、世代も超越し、多くの日本人の記憶に刻まれました。 奇しくも、今年・2020年は、力石徹の死から50年。その最後の雄姿がここに甦ります。 ▼収録内容 「漫画原稿再生叢書」は、その特殊仕様でのページの限界があるため、長編作品全体を収録するわけにはいきません。 今回は、矢吹丈と力石徹、ふたりの関係の細部が読み取れ、さらには彼らを取り巻く人々の想いを届けられるようにと、収録ページを二人の最後の試合の終盤から、力石の死、葬儀、矢吹丈による回想、白木葉子や丹下段平にドヤ街の子どもたちのスケッチ、矢吹丈の心情が語られる「第一部」終了前のエピソードを収録いたしました。 二人の男の特筆すべき物語の、一応のピリオドを、生原稿に極めて近いかたちでお届けいたします。