TORISHIMA Kazuhiko

Born in Niigata Prefecture, 1952. After grad­uating from Keio University, TORISHIMA joined Shueisha Inc. in 1976. As an editor of the manga magazine Shukan Shonen Jump, he contributed to the success of many titles, including Dr. SLUMP (1980-84) and DRAGON BALL (1984-95). He is known to be the model of Dr. MASHIRITO, a character in Dr. SLUMP. Through the columns in the magazine, Jump Hosokyoku and Famicom Shinken, he be­-friended SAKUMA Akira and HORII Yuji, with whom he teamed up to create Dragon Quest (1986), closely involved in the game industry since its early days. In 1993, he became the first editor-in-chief of the V Jump, a game and media magazine he proposed to Shueisha Inc. In 1996, he returned to the Shukan Shonen Jump office as editor-in-chief to further reinforce its media franchising and talent training projects. He contributed to the success of more comics such as Yu-Gi-Oh! (1996-2004), ONE PIECE (1997-) and NARUTO (1999-2014). In recognition of his achievement in media franchising, he was appointed the general manager of the publication rights office and the editorial director in charge of three Jump publications (weekly, monthly and V). He held several senior positions in Shueisha Inc., including the executive managing director, before taking on his current role as an advisor to Hakusensha, Inc.

When working as an editor of Shukan Shonen Jump, TORISHIMA Kazuhiko discovered TORIYAMA Akira and assisted him in becoming a successful manga artist. Known as the model of Dr. MASHIRITO, he is probably the most famous manga editor in Japan. He pioneered the development of a new marketing strategy called transmedia, which has become an essential part of today’s entertainment production. Dragon Quest (1986) and Chrono Trigger (1995) are examples of his transmedia projects in which manga artists took part in game productions as character designers. Through the development of videogame magazines and the production of films adapted from manga works, he contributed to transforming the subcultural media represented by manga, anime, and videogames into mainstream commodities. They have now gained international recognition as a significant part of Japanese culture. (TOKITA Takashi)