AN WHILE WE'RE AT IT-- SHAMAN KING!!!

While lamenting the

soon to be

passing of

Naruto,

I glimpsed you a bit of this old thing:

When I first started reading 

Shonen Jump

I would tear out

pages

poses

and 

backgrounds

that

inspired me.

The manga I

most often 

ripped from was

SHAMAN KING

by

Hiroyuki Takei

It's the story of 

Yoh Asakura,

a young, laid back spirit medium who 

finds himself thrust into a worldwide battle to become the

Shaman King.

I love

Takei-san's

broad posing:

His draftsmanship:

 

His characters

and the way he dresses them:

And his insane 

splash panels:

I wish I had his 

caffeinated blend of technical skill

and cartooniness.

It's a refreshing change 

from most manga:

Looking through these,

I don't think I've captured

even half of what I love about

Shaman King.

I stopped ripping the magazine up 

once I really got into it.

And now,

while researching this post I found that 

there's a short series

called

Shaman King: Flowers

that came out a couple years ago.

I think I need to check that out!

THE END OF NARUTO!

Word got 'round a couple weeks ago

that one 

of my favorite ninjas

will be finishing

his adventures soon:

From IGN:

Naruto

 is one of the most popular manga of all time,

 and after 15 years of continuous publication, 

American publisher Viz Media has announced 

the series will come to an end this November.

The final installment of Naruto will make its appearance in the 

November 10 issue of Weekly Shonen Jump. 

Masashi Kishimoto’s long-running manga first appeared in 

Weekly Shonen Jump in 1999, 

so it makes sense that Naruto will come full circle 

and end its serialization in the same publication.

GAH!

I'm not sure I want to know what life is like without

Uzomaki Naruto

every week!

I read a bit of Naruto

in Japanese way back when,

but I didn't really get into the

ramen loving rascal 

until the American

Shonen Jump came out.

They were woefully behind the 

weekly output of Japan.

I never watched the anime

because it was ahead of the manga.

and I didn't want to spoil anything.

But I spent a lot of time cajoling 

Cartoon Network

into getting the show,

which they eventually did.

But eventually SJ decided to

play catch-up by releasing

something like

3 volumes a month

for 7 months.

WHICH WAS LIKE HAVING

ALL THE 

PEANUT BUTTER ICE CREAM

YOU COULD EAT!

American

Shonen Jump

then went to a

weekly 

all digital format,

which is probably one of the

TOP 17

things that has ever 

happened to me.

What I love about Naruto

is kinda the same thing I love about

One Piece.

It's about friends.

And never giving up on them.

There were plenty of times

I actually cried reading Naruto

because the story was so emotional.

And now it's coming to an end.

To be honest,

like most things that go on for a long time

Naruto has gotten a bit bloated, overwrought and confusing.

(yeeesh, i can't keep track of all those characters 

and the difference between sharingan, rinnegan, blah blah etc!)

But I still love it and 

I'm gonna miss it.

Arigatou gozaimasu, Kishimoto-san!

Naruto no ato de, dou suru ka?!

BONUS FACT:

I used to have a notebook where I would keep

cool poses or character designs

I tore from old comics and magazines.

Naruto had it's fair share

of stuff I ripped out:

COMIC CON 2013 RECAP #4

If you have informants on the street,

they'll undoubtedly tell you

that I love

Shonen Jump

magazine.

I love it even more 

now that it's gone

weekly

and

all digital

so I can read it on my iPad!

One Piece!

Naruto!

Bleach!

and my new 

favorite

ONE PUNCH MAN!

It's all in there 

plus

MORE!

So of course I had to stop by the

Viz Media

Shonen Jump 

booth

at 

Comic Con.

And whaddaya know?

They had a fun little scavenger hunt:

Shoot,

I was going to visit

all these booths anyway!

I even went for the bonus

and paid a visit to the

Shonen Jump 

truck out on the pier!

Mainly because I

wanted a free 

One Piece

energy drink:

note:  

i didn't actually DRINK the energy drink.

i have plenty of energy and fear i would burst into flames

if I had anything like a red bull.

 They were also screen printing 

Shonen Jump t-shirts on the spot

but the line was

soooooooooooooooooo

long I didn't get one.

<Sigh>

Anyway,

for completing the scavenger hunt

I was entered to win an iPad mini

and

I got this poster:

This coin:

And this pin:

Just a bunch more reasons to love

Shonen Jump!