Shonen Jump #30

(I was only really interested in the second page of Kishimoto’s latest interview segment preview. So I wrote down a rought translation here)

I understand Oda-san’s pain and joy
Since Oda is fellow who manages a super popular work, comparisons will be drawn to him one way or another.

“When I was receiving interview coverage, they would always ask ‘So you and Oda-san are rivals, eh?’. But then I would say, ‘That’s right’. On the other hand, I wasn’t really self-conscious of it, so I wasn’t embarrassed at all (laugh). If I was like Naruto, Oda-san would be similar to Sasuke. From my perspective, I thought of Oda-san like my rival.”

Of course, Kishimoto-sensei wasn’t the only one who thought so. In 2014, the Naruto series ended serialization. Oda-sensei wrote in the backpage of JUMP,

‘A rival as a friend and peer. Thank you for your encouragement during 15 years of serialization together!!’.

That comment that he left showed the strength of their bond.

“Of course I was happy. I’ve been wanting to catch-up to One Piece so I wanted to have the spirit to defeat it. I thought that ‘Naruto’ would get all the way up to there. If it wasn’t for One Piece, I absolutely wouldn’t have come this far. Of course…I understand both Oda-san’s joy and pain. I understand what it takes to be 1st place in JUMP. So when the serialization for ‘Naruto’ ended, I saw Oda-san still walking alone again…That was pretty heart-breaking. I know that it’s quite difficult.

Everyone was casually collecting their thoughts, saying ‘Enjoy the end of your serialization’. When I think about the weather being nice when I look outside in the morning, I suddenly even get to take a walk with my children. But when Oda –san hears something like that, he falls into a gloomy slump (laugh). But he’ll even say ‘Please tell me more!’ and ‘I’ll keep on running so I can enjoy things when the time comes’. When I heard him say that, of course I thought that was amazing, thinking over how we’d walk together like this. When Oda-san finishes serialization, I think it would be great if we can enjoy life and things like this together. Well, as for my dream, it’s for One Piece to keep going in JUMP (laugh).

Scattered works are gathered into one stream
Kishimoto-sensei talks about the image of JUMP being like one stream.

“I think that for the people of this era, JUMP is something of a reflection of this generation. In that respect, it keeps on continuing just like a stream. But things like scattered works are pulled in, and those are gathered and produce a huge stream. I’m personally happy to have been able to be in that stream. Well, I suppose you could call that stream more like rapids, or something like a river of acid (laugh). “

When asked if he would like to return to those rapids, his instant reply was, ‘I will’.

“I’ve already forgotten about the hell of deadlines for weekly serializations. Maybe I have a muddled-head (laugh). Just having such amazing memories, and to be able to send such things out into the world, I want to do it again once more and surpass what’s been done, from curiosity’s standpoint.”

(The interview continues elsewhere later).