Kazuhiko Torishima
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is a Japanese
publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
executive and former
manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
magazine
editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...
, who is currently serving as an
outside director An independent director (also sometimes known as an outside director) is a member of a board of directors who does not have a material or pecuniary relationship with company or related persons, except sitting fees. In the United States, indepe ...
at
Bushiroad is a Japanese entertainment company, producer of collectible card games and trading cards, and publisher of mobile apps and games, which was founded in 2007 by Takaaki Kidani and is headquartered in Tokyo. Bushiroad created and owns various med ...
. He formerly worked at
Shueisha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Shueisha is the largest publishing company in Japan. It was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The ...
, where he began as an editor in 1976, before becoming a senior
managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...
(CEO), and later a
Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions is a Japanese production company, a subsidiary of the Japanese publishing group Hitotsubashi Group. Prior to 2008, it was known as . Notable filmography * '' A Penguin's Troubles'' * '' Departures'' * ''Doraemon'' * ''Pokémon'' * '' Pok ...
director. When he moved to
Hakusensha is a Japanese publishing company. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company mainly publishes manga magazines and is involved in series' productions in their games, original video animation, music, and their animated TV series. The com ...
in 2015, he first served as
president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
, then representative director, before taking on the role of
advisor An adviser or advisor is normally a person with more and deeper knowledge in a specific area and usually also includes persons with cross-functional and multidisciplinary expertise. An adviser's role is that of a mentor or guide and differs catego ...
. He began working for Bushiroad at the end of 2022. Torishima has been called one of the most important figures in the
history of manga Manga, in the sense of narrative multi-panel cartoons made in Japan, originated from Western style cartoons featured in late 19th-century Japanese publications. The form of manga as speech-balloon-based comics more specifically originated from ...
, and has been credited with pioneering the
media mix A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program, o ...
business strategy. He is often associated with works from the manga magazine ''
Weekly Shōnen Jump is a weekly Shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the ''Jump (magazine line), Jump'' line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many Action (fiction), action scenes and a fair ...
'', for which he was
editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...
from 1996 to 2001. Torishima discovered
Akira Toriyama was a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He came to be regarded as one of the most influential and important authors in the history of manga, authoring highly influential and popular series, particularly Dragon Ball (manga), ''Dra ...
and was his editor throughout the run of '' Dr. Slump'' (1980–1984) and during the first half of ''
Dragon Ball is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The Dragon Ball (manga), initial manga, written and illustrated by Toriyama, was Serial (literature), serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 indi ...
'' (1984–1995). He received a Special Achievement Award at the 2022
Japan Media Arts Festival The Japan Media Arts Festival was an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition. Based on judging by ...
for his work in manga.


Early life

Kazuhiko Torishima was born in the small community of Ojiya, Niigata on October 19, 1952. He described his mother as very positive, but said he did not have a good relationship with his father. Torishima has repeatedly spoken of his dislike for his hometown, which he described as a "stifling" place where nothing changes, and its residents, who he feels are "incredibly complicated" to deal with. Because they had nothing in common to talk about, he had no friends and spent his youth alone reading books; "when you don't have the financial background to escape that kind of community, your only option is read a lot of books. As they allow you to escape into a different world. So reading a lot helped me to survive". While still in elementary school, he would read a lot of
Confucius Confucius (; pinyin: ; ; ), born Kong Qiu (), was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the Sinosphere originates in the phil ...
,
Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philology, classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche bec ...
and
Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal (19June 162319August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic Church, Catholic writer. Pascal was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. His earliest ...
. In middle school, he tried to read one book a day by going to multiple libraries every day, reading anything that caught his interest. When he had enough of philosophers writing different and contradictory things, Torishima switched to erotic novels such as '' Story of the Eye'' and '' Story of O''. Torishima said that because he could not get into a university, he moved to
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
to enter a
college-preparatory school A college-preparatory school (often shortened to prep school, preparatory school, college prep school or college prep academy) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to state school, public, Independent school, private independent or p ...
, where he was liberated having found people that were smarter than himself and who shared his interests. He went on to attend
Keio University , abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university located in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally established as a school for Rangaku, Western studies in 1858 in Edo. It was granted university status in 1920, becomi ...
, which he chose because its tuition was cheap, against his father's wishes because he thought it would be the best way to achieve financial independence. Although he wanted to major in
French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...
in their Faculty of Letters, he chose the Faculty of Law because of its employability and because his parents refused to pay tuition for anything else. He later stated that the people he met at Keio became lifelong friends.


Career


Manga editing career (1976–1992)

As a bibliophile, Torishima believed the only career prospects he had were either as a writer or an editor. He chose the latter because he said he lacked almost all the skills needed for the former. Torishima wanted to work at
Bungeishunjū is a Japanese publishing company known for its leading monthly magazine '' Bungeishunjū''. The company was founded by Kan Kikuchi in 1923. It grants the annual Akutagawa Prize, one of the most prestigious literary awards in Japan, as well a ...
, but they were one of many publishing companies not hiring due to the recession from the
1973 oil crisis In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) announced that it was implementing a total oil embargo against countries that had supported Israel at any point during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which began after Eg ...
. He claims to have applied to 48 companies across various industries and to have only heard back from two, a mid-level life insurance company and
Shueisha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Shueisha is the largest publishing company in Japan. It was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The ...
. Torishima joined Shueisha in 1976, the year he graduated. He wanted to work on '' Monthly Playboy'' because of their high-quality short stories and novellas by famous authors, both domestic and foreign. However, he was assigned as an editor at ''
Weekly Shōnen Jump is a weekly Shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the ''Jump (magazine line), Jump'' line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many Action (fiction), action scenes and a fair ...
'', despite having never really had any contact with manga until Shueisha sent him their products for reference. He said he considered quitting after only a week. Torishima was put in charge of
Buronson , known by the pen names and , is a Japanese manga writer. Making his debut in 1972, he first found success with the hardboiled detective manga series '' Doberman Deka'' (1975–1979) alongside illustrator Shinji Hiramatsu. He is best-known fo ...
and Shinji Hiramatsu's '' Doberman Deka''. After this series jumped from around seventeenth in the reader rankings to third and going to the
Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...
archives to study classic manga, he finally became interested in his job. Preferring
shōjo manga is an editorial category of Manga, Japanese comics targeting an audience of adolescent girls and young adult women. It is, along with Shōnen manga, manga (targeting adolescent boys), Seinen manga, manga (targeting young adult and adult men ...
such as '' Kaze to Ki no Uta'' and '' Poe no Ichizoku'', Torishima felt that ''Jump'' manga at the time "had no intelligence or depth" and decided to help foster manga he found interesting to rank high with readers. He also studied the first chapter of '' Ore wa Teppei'' panel by panel and the layout and angles in each one, because he felt it was the easiest manga to read and tried to impart this basic structure to his artists. Torishima was most notably editor to
Akira Toriyama was a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He came to be regarded as one of the most influential and important authors in the history of manga, authoring highly influential and popular series, particularly Dragon Ball (manga), ''Dra ...
throughout '' Dr. Slump'' (1980–1984) and for the first half of ''
Dragon Ball is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The Dragon Ball (manga), initial manga, written and illustrated by Toriyama, was Serial (literature), serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 indi ...
'' (1984–1995). The two began working together after Torishima read a work Toriyama submitted for ''Weekly Shōnen Jump''s Newcomer Award. He thought it was beautiful and funny, but it was ineligible to compete because it was a parody, so Torishima sent the artist a
telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...
and encouraged him to keep drawing and sending him manga. This resulted in '' Wonder Island'', which became Toriyama's first published work when it appeared in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' in 1978. However, it took 18 months, with Torishima rejecting 500 pages of work, until Toriyama began his first serialized work in ''Dr. Slump''. It was an immediate success, ranking second in the reader rankings. Despite its success of regularly selling one million copies and having an
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
adaptation that was about to debut, Toriyama wanted to end the manga after only six months. The magazine's chief editor told them that if they could come up with something more interesting and successful then they could end ''Dr. Slump''. The two worked on numerous one-shots until Torishima suggested Toriyama make a manga based on the kung fu films he enjoyed so much. This became '' Dragon Boy'', which was very well-received and developed into the serial ''Dragon Ball''. ''Dragon Ball'' began as an adventure/gag manga but later turned into a martial arts fighting series, considered by many to be the "most influential ''shōnen'' manga". It was one of the main reasons for ''Weekly Shōnen Jump''s circulation hitting a record high of 6.53 million copies (1995), and became Shueisha's second best-selling manga series of all time. Ryuji Kayama of Bunshun Online and Taro Kawashima of ''AERA dot.'' both wrote that the now-commonplace media mix production method was triggered by the success of the ''Dr. Slump'' anime adaptation. However, Torishima felt the anime was unsuccessful because it greatly deviated from the original manga. He believed the reason for its deficiency was due to no one at ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' knowing how to manage an anime adaptation based on one of their manga as this was "the first real time" it had been done. He has also said that a lot of "terrible" merchandise was released under the ''Dr. Slump'' name without prior consultation. Therefore, he decided to study both the creative and business sides to anime creation. This included talking to the team for ''
Doraemon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Fujiko F. Fujio. First serialized in 1969, the manga's chapters were collected in 45 volumes published by Shogakukan from 1974 to 1996. The story revolves around an earless robotic ...
'' at Shogakukan. When it came time to adapt ''Dragon Ball'', he and the ''Jump'' team had a huge "bible" created for the series before production even started on the anime, and were much more hands on. Merchandise could not be released without his approval, a system was created to control the products being released each season so as not to flood the market, and these products were introduced in ''Jump''. When he felt the ''Dragon Ball'' anime's ratings were gradually declining, Torishima went so far as to ask the studio to change the producer because he had a "cute and funny" image connected to Toriyama's work due to previously working on ''Dr. Slump'', and was missing the more serious tone of the new work. Impressed with their work on the ''
Saint Seiya , also known as ''Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac'' or simply ''Knights of the Zodiac'' (translated from the French title ''Les Chevaliers du Zodiaque''), is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masami Kurumada. It ...
'' anime, he asked its director Kōzō Morishita and writer
Takao Koyama is a Japanese screenwriter and novelist focusing on anime productions. His name was written as until 1987. Career He graduated from Waseda University in 1972 and joined to Tatsunoko Production as a story creator and a screenwriter. He left fro ...
to help "reboot" ''Dragon Ball''; which coincided with the beginning of its second anime adaptation, ''
Dragon Ball Z ''Dragon Ball Z'' (''DBZ'') is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. Part of the ''Dragon Ball'' media franchise, it is the sequel to the 1986 ''Dragon Ball'' television series and adapts the latter 325 chapters ...
''. Torishima also discovered
Masakazu Katsura is a Japanese manga artist, known for several works of manga, including '' Wing-Man'', '' Shadow Lady'', '' DNA²'', '' Video Girl Ai'', '' I"s'', and '' Zetman''. He has also worked as character designer for '' Iria: Zeiram the Animation'', '' ...
, and worked as his editor on '' Wing-Man'' (1983–1985) and ''
Video Girl Ai ''Video Girl Ai'', known in Japan as simply , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masakazu Katsura. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from December 1989 to April 1992. ...
'' (1989–1992). He cited Makoto Isshiki as the most difficult manga artist he has worked worth, explaining that she wanted to end ''Hanattare Boogie'' (1986) as soon as he told her it had been approved for serialization.


Video games and ''V Jump'' (1982–1996)

Torishima became a fan of
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
s around 1977, and prefers them over manga. "Manga is something you read once and then it's over, but games have a learning effect. If you hit a wall once, you can learn and analyze 'why you failed', and try again, and you can move forward." He would often visit a store in Shinjuku that had
playtest A playtest is the process by which a game designer tests a new game for bugs and design flaws before releasing it to market. Playtests can be run "open", "closed", "beta", or otherwise, and are very common with board games, collectible card games, ...
s for new games with his friend Akira Sakuma, a writer who worked for '' Seventeen'' and whom Torishima met after he asked to interview Toriyama for ''
Weekly Playboy , also known as or ''WPB'', is a Japanese weekly magazine published by Shueisha since 1966. Although the magazine publishes a variety of news and special interest articles, columns, celebrity interviews, and manga, it is considered an adult maga ...
''. Sakuma eventually introduced him to fellow writer Yuji Horii, who joined their gaming group. Because they were short on staff, Torishima was made editor of ''Weekly Shōnen Jump''s reader submissions page in 1982. He agreed on the condition that Sakuma, who later created the '' Momotaro Dentetsu'' video game series, be put in charge of it. They increased the page count from four to eight, and hired illustrator Doi Takayuki (who also worked on ''Momotaro Dentetsu''). This was the creation of the magazine's , which ran until 1995. The column reached tenth in the readers survey, surpassing half of the manga series. Torishima also brought Horii into the ''Jump'' fold to write articles about video games. Torishima's colleagues were against his bringing of outsiders into the company, for reasons such as worrying about the survey results being leaked. Thus, they had to work in a conference room and were not allowed inside the editorial department. Also in 1982, ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' was approached by Yukinobu Chida of
Enix was a Japanese multimedia publisher who handled and oversaw video games, manga, guidebooks, and merchandise. It was founded in 1975 by Yasuhiro Fukushima as Eidansha Boshu Service Center, initially as a tabloid publisher and later attempting t ...
to sponsor their "Game Hobby Program Contest", which offered a cash prize for video game prototypes. Torishima agreed as long as ''Jump'' was the exclusive magazine sponsor, and assigned Horii to cover the event. Horii secretly also entered the contest and took home an honorable mention. When his manager told him to figure out why Shogakukan's ''
CoroCoro Comic is a Japanese children's manga magazine published by Shogakukan. It was established in 1977 and several of its properties, like ''Doraemon'' and the ''Pokémon'' series of games, have gone on to be cultural phenomena in Japan. The name comes fr ...
'' was doing so well, Torishima determined it was because of the sealed pages that had to be cut open to reveal cheats and tips for video games. So ''Jump'' began doing the same with Horii and also began to rate games, something new at the time. This was the birth of , the irregularly published video game section of ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1985 to 1988. Its title was derived from the
Family Computer The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the U ...
gaming system, which is abbreviated to "Famicom", and ''Hokuto Shinken'', a martial art from ''Jump''s own ''
Fist of the North Star is a Japanese manga series written by Buronson and illustrated by Tetsuo Hara. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' for 245 issues published from 1983 to 1988 and initially collected in 27 volumes ...
''. Horii had the idea to use a rating system based on a famous onomatopoeia from the same manga. The column was a hit that reached third in the magazine's readers poll and led to non-stop phone calls about the games, forcing Torishima to pay Horii and Hiroshi Miyaoka just to answer the phones. When Horii decided to team up with his fellow Enix Game Hobby Program Contest competitor Koichi Nakamura to create a video game, Torishima was involved in the early discussions where it was determined it would be a
role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...
that combined the best parts of ''
Wizardry Wizardry may refer to: * ''Wizardry'' (video game series), role-playing video game series, originally published by Sir-Tech ** '' Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord'', the first game of the series, released in 1981 * ''Wizardry'' (The ...
'' and '' Ultima'', which their gaming group was fans of. With ''Jump''s game coverage struggling against ''Family Computer Magazine'' and ''
Famitsu , formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...
'', he came up with the idea of showing their readers how a video game is developed. In order to justify coverage in the magazine and draw more attention to it, he decided to have Toriyama design the characters for this new game. Because they were still creating the game while ''Jump'' was covering it, the developers were able to incorporate feedback from readers. Torishima claimed that he purposefully had Enix fully fund the game, intentionally keeping Shueisha out of the decision making process not only for the good of the product, but also because it would have cut into Toriyama's share of the profits. Instead, Shueisha published guidebooks and strategy guides to the game, and reserved the option to create a manga based on it without having to pay any royalties. The resulting video game was ''
Dragon Quest previously published as ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until 2005, is a series of role-playing video games created by Japanese game designer Yuji Horii (Armor Project), character designer Akira Toriyama (Bird Studio), and composer Koi ...
'' (1986). Around 1989, Torishima was promoted to deputy editor of ''Weekly Shōnen Jump''. While waiting for the release of ''
Dragon Quest IV ''Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen'', titled ''Dragon Warrior IV'' when initially localized to North America, is a 1990 role-playing video game, the fourth installment of the ''Dragon Quest'' video game series developed by Chunsoft and pub ...
'', he began working on '' Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai'' with Riku Sanjo and Koji Inada. Torishima had Horii supervise the manga to make sure it did not feel out of place in the ''Dragon Quest'' world. In the early 1990s, Shueisha directed Torishima to create '' V Jump'' as a children's magazine to compete with ''CoroCoro Comic''. Believing Shueisha was incapable of this because they lacked the experience and personal connections Shogakukan had, Torishima claims to have purposefully chosen a theme he knew would be unpopular for its third issue. He then received permission to re-launch the magazine with the new goal of containing manga, anime, and video game content all in one medium. Torishima later claimed to have predicted people being able to access all of these in one place like smartphones, and wanted to "get off the sinking ship" that was print manga magazines as soon as possible. He also wanted to begin promoting games while they were still in development, and personally went around to major game studios and asked them to publicize the names and faces of the individual creators. Torishima left ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' to re-launch ''V Jump'' in 1992, and serve as its editor-in-chief. He also changed the meaning of the "V" in its title from "Victory", derived from the
V sign The ''V'' sign is a hand gesture in which the index and middle fingers are raised and parted to make a ''V'' shape while the other fingers are clenched. It has various meanings, depending on the circumstances and how it is presented. When dis ...
, to "Virtual". Torishima was approached by
Hironobu Sakaguchi is a Japanese game designer, director, producer, and writer. Originally working for Square (later Square Enix) from 1983 to 2003, he departed the company and founded independent studio Mistwalker in 2004. He is known as the creator of the ''Fi ...
to include coverage of ''
Final Fantasy IV titled ''Final Fantasy II'' in its initial North American release, is a 1991 role-playing video game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The fourth main installment of the ''Final ...
'' (1991) in ''Jump''. Although he had to decline and even criticized Sakaguchi's video game franchise, the two became drinking buddies. Sakaguchi had the idea to combine the best aspects of ''Final Fantasy'' and ''Dragon Quest''.
Mecha In science fiction, or mechs are giant robots or machines, typically depicted as piloted, humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese (language), Japanese after shortening the English loanword or , but the meaning in Japan ...
were added to a world of swords and magic, and
Square In geometry, a square is a regular polygon, regular quadrilateral. It has four straight sides of equal length and four equal angles. Squares are special cases of rectangles, which have four equal angles, and of rhombuses, which have four equal si ...
proposed a
time slip A time slip is a plot device in fantasy and science fiction in which a person, or group of people, seem to accidentally travel through time by unknown means, or by a means unknown to the character(s). Time slip is one of the main plot devices ...
element. Feeling that Enix was indulging Horii too much by allowing him to only work on ''Dragon Quest'' entries instead of new works that could revitalize the game industry, Torishima proposed Sakaguchi, Horii and Toriyama team up for ''
Chrono Trigger is a 1995 role-playing video game by Square. It was originally released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as the first entry in the ''Chrono'' series. The game's development team included three designers that Square dubbed the "Dr ...
'' (1995). Unusually, Toriyama drew illustrations of key scenes first so they could be used for promotion, and Square created the game to match them. Torishima stated that he tricked the ''Jump'' editorial department in regards to ''Chrono Trigger''; after the first publication in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'', coverage of the game was mainly done in ''V Jump'' in order to give the newly-launching magazine attention.


Editor-in-chief and executive career (1996–present)

After three months of refusing the position, Torishima finally agreed to leave ''V Jump'' and become the sixth editor-in-chief of ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' in February 1996 during declining sales. He cited the 1995 end of ''Dragon Ball'' as the biggest reason for the rapid fall, explaining that, when a long-running hit series ends, the regular readers tend to leave. "The readers knew that no new manga had been coming out for several years, but only the editorial department and Shueisha did not." He later said they were only concerned with securing immediate profits, and "foolishly" thought circulation would go back up if they brought him back, without any regard for the future. Torishima's plan was to return to the magazine's roots which its first editor-in-chief had set; new serializations by new authors, working together with editors to create, and reader surveys. The first thing he did was cancel any plans his predecessor had made, this included scuttling a manga based on a work by Miyuki Miyabe. He also cut all of the veteran artists and increased the competitive principle amongst the editors by giving them more freedom, but firing any who failed to produce hit series. In regard to the reader surveys, he explained that it is not simply which manga ranked highest, because they only apply to a specific point in time. Instead, the editors prepare a hypothesis, ask questions, and use it to gather data on readers a "half step into the future." He also explained to the company that increasing royalties by having its manga made into anime, video games, and other merchandise made more sense than increasing circulation, and was also easier. Under Torishima's leadership, blockbuster series such as ''
Yu-Gi-Oh! is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazuki Takahashi. It was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' between September 1996 and March 2004, with its chapters collected in 38 volumes. The ...
'', ''
One Piece ''One Piece'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, as he explores the Grand Line in search of the myt ...
'', ''
Hunter × Hunter ''Hunter × Hunter'' (pronounced "hunter hunter") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi. It has been serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' since March 1998, although the man ...
'' and ''
Naruto ''Naruto'' is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. T ...
'' were launched, as was the annual Jump Festa event. Additionally, ''
The Prince of Tennis is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takeshi Konomi. The manga was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from July 1999 to March 2008, with its chapters collected in 42 volumes. Viz Media licensed t ...
'' and ''
Hikaru no Go is a Japanese manga series based on the board game Go (game), Go, written by Yumi Hotta and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. The production of the series' Go games was supervised by Go professional Yukari Umezawa. It was serialized in Shueis ...
'' created social phenomena by popularizing tennis and Go amongst children. According to sociologist Atsuo Nakayama, a change to the ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' readership also occurred due to new works such as ''
Hoshin Engi is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ryu Fujisaki, inspired by the Chinese literary classic ''Investiture of the Gods'', a novel. The manga was serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from Ju ...
'' and ''The Prince of Tennis'' targeting women. Torishima was the magazine's editor-in-chief until June 2001. In August 2004, he became a member of the
board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...
at Shueisha and was appointed full-time Director of Business. He served during the establishment of
Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions is a Japanese production company, a subsidiary of the Japanese publishing group Hitotsubashi Group. Prior to 2008, it was known as . Notable filmography * '' A Penguin's Troubles'' * '' Departures'' * ''Doraemon'' * ''Pokémon'' * '' Pok ...
in 2008. Torishima became a managing director (
CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...
) at Shueisha in August 2009 and promoted to Senior Managing Director in August 2010. In December 2010, he spoke at the New Manga Creators Awards in response to the
Tokyo Metropolitan Ordinance Regarding the Healthy Development of Youths The is a prefectural law passed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly on 1 August 1964. Its purpose is to promote the healthy development of people under the age of 18 by restricting their access to published material that is considered inappr ...
's controversial passing of the industry opposed Bill 156. There he challenged new manga artists to "produce manga that would blow away okyo Governor
Shintaro Ishihara was a Japanese politician and writer, who served as the Governor of Tokyo Metropolis, Governor of Tokyo from 1999 to 2012. Being the former leader of the Far-right politics, radical right Sunrise Party, later merged with Toru Hashimoto's Japan ...
." In an interview with Ollie Barder of ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
'', Torishima explained his opposition. Firstly, he did not like that a political body was trying to decide creative expression. Secondly, because the restrictions would only apply to manga and anime, he viewed the bill as discriminating against those specific mediums while ignoring content from films or novels; noting how Ishihara was formerly a novelist himself. Torishima retired from Shueisha in August 2015 and became
president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
of
Hakusensha is a Japanese publishing company. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company mainly publishes manga magazines and is involved in series' productions in their games, original video animation, music, and their animated TV series. The com ...
in November 2015. The first thing he did was personally meet with every single employee for at least half an hour. His term as president was set for two and a half years. He was a member of the
Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games The (TOCOG) was the organisation responsible for overseeing the planning and development of the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. History The Organising Committee was launched on 24 January 2014, and is composed of members of the Japa ...
' Mascot Selection Panel, who determined the process for choosing the mascots of the
2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...
. The panel decided to allow children a hand in the selection of the mascot for the first time at an Olympic Games. Torishima said, "Kids' minds work differently from adults'. As a member of the panel, I like to think my job is to help bridge that gap." In November 2018, Torishima was promoted to Representative Director at Hakusensha. In 2021, Torishima began in ''
Saikyō Jump is a Japanese monthly Shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga magazine published by Shueisha. The magazine was started on December 3, 2010 with three completely original titles and seven spin-off (media), spin-off manga from series in ''Weekly Shōnen J ...
''. It teaches how to become a manga artist, including practical techniques, how to submit manuscripts to publishers, and how to work with editors. It was collected into a book published by Shueisha on July 21, 2023, that includes interviews with Toriyama, Katsura and Inada. It was published in English by
Viz Media Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...
on May 13, 2025. From 2021 to 2022, Torishima was an
advisor An adviser or advisor is normally a person with more and deeper knowledge in a specific area and usually also includes persons with cross-functional and multidisciplinary expertise. An adviser's role is that of a mentor or guide and differs catego ...
to Hakusensha. Also in 2022, he was a special judge of Comico's Tate Color Manga Awards. On December 31, 2022, Torishima was approved as an
outside director An independent director (also sometimes known as an outside director) is a member of a board of directors who does not have a material or pecuniary relationship with company or related persons, except sitting fees. In the United States, indepe ...
at
Bushiroad is a Japanese entertainment company, producer of collectible card games and trading cards, and publisher of mobile apps and games, which was founded in 2007 by Takaaki Kidani and is headquartered in Tokyo. Bushiroad created and owns various med ...
. Torishima has co-hosted the segment of the ''Tokyo M.A.A.D Spin'' radio program on
J-Wave J-Wave is an commercial radio station based in Tokyo, Japan, broadcasting on 81.3 FM from the Tokyo Skytree to the Tokyo area. J-Wave airs mostly music, including J-pop, C-pop, and Western music, covering a wide range of formats. The station i ...
with Horii since July 31, 2023. , Torishima's book recounting stories about notable titles he worked on in his career, was published on May 22, 2025.


Philosophy

Torishima described an editor as having three main roles. The first is that of a "director" and refers to their judging of a manga ''
name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A person ...
'' or storyboard created by an artist. The second is to act as a "manager" and manage the artist's health, handle tax procedures, arrange assistants and housing, etc. The third and most important role, as well as the most difficult, is that of a "producer". Because the artist will exhaust themselves by concentrating only on their current work, an editor must make sure they do not wither away by providing input on a daily basis and keeping an eye on their next work, developing the creator over the span of three to five years. Torishima stated that editors in charge of hit manga are the most important people at a manga magazine. He called an editor-in-chief's opinion on manga "basically irrelevant" because they are motivated by the response from readers. So if there is a good response, the editor-in-chief can not say no. "The people who produce results on the front lines are the most important." He further opined, if you hire 10 editors, only two need to be any good because just one of them can then develop 10 authors. Torishima stated that editors do not need to be liked and are not friends with the manga artists. They must give their honest opinion, even if it is difficult to say. However, he also told his staff to always side with their artists if the editorial department's opinion conflicts with the author's. Torishima said he could only deal with up to five manga artists at one time. He said his meetings about manga were only around 30 minutes long and he would only read a storyboard twice; the first time to get everything in his head, and the second time to explain what needed to be changed. He aimed to get new authors serialized within three years, preferably between two and three. After about six months of meetings, he could see if they were getting better and how well he would be able to work with them. If he felt it would be too difficult, he would tell them to go elsewhere. He stated an important part of being an editor is to have a lot of different conversations with the authors to discover their potential points of interest; "Artists really open up and talk when it's not their own work they're dissecting." So he would take manga creators to see movies, ask their opinions on other people's manga and anime, and take notes for future reference. Torishima believes it is best for editors to not read too much manga, as an editor who loves manga will force their own preferences on the artists. Through the trials and errors he went through with Toriyama leading up to the creation of ''Dr. Slump'', Torishima said he inadvertently developed something akin to a training method for new artists. He believes manga can be either easy or hard to read, and that this readability is determined by panel layouts and their perspectives. He would read a manga 50 times, researching and analyzing where each and every panel should go, so that he could then explain this to the artists. Torishima explained, "The
speech balloon Speech balloons (also speech bubbles, dialogue balloons, or word balloons) are a graphic convention used most commonly in comic books, comics, and cartoons to allow words (and much less often, pictures) to be understood as representing a charac ...
s in manga can fit about three, seven- character-long lines of colloquial Japanese, and these are exchanged back and forth via dialogue between characters. The reader 'sees' rather than 'reads' because that conversation is unfolding along with the pictures. So it should be something that can be read at a considerable speed." He said every artist improved significantly after they understood page structure. Between panels, dialogue, and pictures, Torishima believes pictures are the least important in manga. In 2022, Torishima said some modern manga, where the story progresses through dialogue between characters, felt a bit unnatural because they had too much talking. Torishima said every new artist has something they desperately want to depict, but these often end up as copies of series that they like and you can not make a hit out of an imitation. He explained, the only way to realize their originality is through trial and error, writing and drawing like Toriyama and his 500 failed manuscripts. "A little soul-searching can lead to a big hit." He believes that the manga that become big hits are those that resonate with children. "In the West, manga is something that adults give to children, but in Japan it is something that children choose for themselves. And the manga that you read when you are young stays in your mind even when you grow up." Because manga artists are adults, Torishima said it is up to the editor to act as a bridge between them and children. He said it is easier for new writers to create a hit because their sensibilities are closer to the readers. He also explained that while they have less ability to compose, their manuscript fees are cheaper when compared to veteran artists. Torishima would stress creating attractive characters to new artists and his junior editors, because he believes what is important is not the story or setting, but 'who' the chapter is about. A person's level of interest will be completely different depending on who the story is about. "If it's about someone you like, even the most trivial thing will be an important story." In 2024, Torishima criticized the current editors of ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' as "no good" and their manga as "excessive". He explained the settings are too elaborate, and it is the editors' jobs to cut this down, but they are unable to do so. With the advent of
digital manga Digital Manga is a California-based publishing company that licenses and releases Japanese manga, anime, and related merchandise in the English language. Digital Manga also owns and operates eManga, a digital publishing site for manga and l ...
distribution, Torishima has said that magazines and major publishers are "finished", but manga itself has the ability to transform. The traditional business model has been to use magazines to promote manga, then sell the manga in ''
tankōbon A is a standard publishing format for books in Japan, alongside other formats such as ''shinsho'' (17x11 cm paperback books) and ''bunkobon''. Used as a loanword in English, the term specifically refers to a printed collection of a manga that w ...
'', which makes up for the financial losses of the magazine. He explained that major publishers are reluctant to shift to digital distribution because it cuts out the printing companies, distribution companies, and bookstores, and they are using manga sales to cover other loss-making divisions instead of putting it back into the manga industry. However, he stated the print industry still has higher-quality works because most digital manga has the same problem as ''
doujinshi , also romanized as ', is the Japanese term for self-published print works, such as magazines, manga, and novels. Part of a wider category of ''doujin'' (self-published) works, ''doujinshi'' are often derivative of existing works and created b ...
''; it is whatever the author ''wants'' to draw and lacks the quality-check provided by an editor. Torishima believes the only way forward is for editors to take on more responsibilities and be hired as free agents by publishing houses, who will pay more to those who produce hits and release those who do not. Another issue Torishima sees with digital distribution is that while famous titles and those created by well-known authors are easy to find and sell well, new works by new artists do not get noticed. One of the features of print magazines is that you can discover things you did not know about. He also pointed out that the shift to digital sees manga having to now compete against anime and video games for
screen time Screen time is the amount of time electronic devices are used. Screen time, Screentime or Screen Time may also refer to: * Screen Time, an iOS and macOS feature that tracks how long devices are used * Screentime, an Australian-based television pr ...
.


Influence on fiction

Hotate Inaba of ''Denfaminico Gamer'' called Torishima one of the most important figures in the
history of manga Manga, in the sense of narrative multi-panel cartoons made in Japan, originated from Western style cartoons featured in late 19th-century Japanese publications. The form of manga as speech-balloon-based comics more specifically originated from ...
. His colleague Seinosuke Ito credited Torishima with pioneering the media mix business strategy. Torishima received a Special Achievement Award at the 2022
Japan Media Arts Festival The Japan Media Arts Festival was an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition. Based on judging by ...
for his work in manga, including the discovering of Toriyama and establishing the now "indispensable cross-media production method". Torishima claimed that when he became a deputy editor at ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' he created teaching materials for how editors should help their manga artists that are still used as of 2016. Although he is sometimes viewed as an editor who forced authors to make romantic comedies, he said this is because there was a certain trend at the time and it is what the readers wanted. As a rookie editor, Torishima was put in charge of ''Doberman Deka'', which had already been chosen to end in a few months due to low rankings in the reader surveys. Believing that its artist Shinji Hiramatsu was good at action but bad at drawing women, Torishima gave him an issue of the actor and idol magazine ''Myojo'' and told him to model the face of a new policewoman character after that of the most popular idol at the time, Ikue Sakakibara. After which, ''Doberman Deka'' jumped from around seventeenth in the reader rankings to third, and made Torishima finally interested in his job. Torishima convinced Toriyama to make Arale the main character of ''Dr. Slump'' instead of Senbei Norimaki, which the author agrees turned out better. Toriyama stated that Torishima enjoys romance and that the relationships of Arale and
Obotchaman The ''Dr. Slump'' manga series features an extensive cast of characters created by Akira Toriyama. It follows the humorous adventures of the little girl robot Arale Norimaki, her creator #Senbei Norimaki, Senbei Norimaki and the other residents o ...
, Akane and Tsukutsun, and
Taro Taro (; ''Colocasia esculenta'') is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, stems and Petiole (botany), petioles. Taro corms are a ...
and Tsururin in ''Dr. Slump'' were all his ideas. He also stated that when starting ''Dragon Ball'', Torishima had wanted
Goku Son Goku is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the ''Dragon Ball'' manga series created by Akira Toriyama. He is based on Sun Wukong (known as ''Son Gokū'' in Japan and the Monkey King in the West), a main character of the cl ...
and Bulma to form a relationship. Loosely basing ''Dragon Ball'' on ''
Journey to the West ''Journey to the West'' () is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. It is regarded as one of the Classic Chinese Novels, great Chinese novels, and has been described as arguably the ...
'' was the idea of Torishima, who chose the novel largely because it was a free intellectual property, but also because its Chinese setting was not common in manga at the time and would make it both unique and differentiate it from ''Dr. Slump''s US West Coast feel. Toriyama created the ''Dragon Ball'' character Cell after Torishima, no longer his editor, was disappointed with Androids 19 and 20, and later Androids 17 and 18, as villains. Torishima said he was disappointed when Masakazu Katsura told him he wanted to draw a transforming superhero manga. He explained that science fiction works in television with its
special effect Special effects (often abbreviated as F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the fictional events in a story or virtual world. ...
s, but it does not come across visually in manga. So Torishima proposed making it a school story involving girls and asked the artist to make the main character more realistic and familiar to readers, resulting in '' Wing-Man''. Katsura credited Torishima with coming up with ideas for ''
Video Girl Ai ''Video Girl Ai'', known in Japan as simply , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masakazu Katsura. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from December 1989 to April 1992. ...
''. It was Torishima who brought Tetsuo Hara the offer from
Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...
to create the character designs for the video game '' Saturday Night Slam Masters''. Torishima has been parodied often in many manga series serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump''. The most notable being the character Dr. Mashirito in Toriyama's ''Dr. Slump'', who serves as the series' most prominent antagonist and has the same name as the editor but with the syllables reversed. He also inspired other manga characters such as Dokuō Mashirito in Hiroshi Motomiya's ''Yabure Kabure'', Matoriv in '' Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai'', Torishiman in '' Tottemo! Luckyman'', and Doctor Mashirito in ''I Become a Gedoh-Man.'' by Shinji Hiramatsu. A direct parody of Torishima appears in ''
Bakuman is a Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, the same creative team responsible for ''Death Note''. It was serialized in Shueisha's Shōnen manga, manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from Augus ...
'' by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata.


Notes


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Torishima, Kazuhiko 1952 births Japanese chief executives Japanese magazine editors Keio University alumni Living people People from Niigata Prefecture Manga industry Comic book editors