V Jump
V Jump is a monthly children's magazine published by Shueisha inc., focusing on comedic manga based on popular video games. The first editor-in-chief of the magazine was Kazuhiko Torishima, and as such V Jump shares a closer relationship with the Dragon Quest series than any other magazine in the world.
| Magazine | |
|---|---|
| V Jump | |
| |
| Publisher(s) | Shueisha |
| Release date(s) | July 1990 (prototype) July 1993 (regular publishing) |
Publishing History
V Jump was first published as an experimental one-shot in 1990 as a way for Shueisha to market towards the growing population of younger readers and video game enthusiasts, released as a collection of manga themed around the electric medium. According to Torishima, the copyright situation for this first effort was difficult to control and as such Shueisha released a lower publication run than first advertised.
The brand was revived as a column focusing on video game tips and tricks in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump, and would be published as a separate magazine once more in July of 1993. The magazine has continued in this incarnation ever since, maintaining a readership of approximately 140,000 each month.
Relationship with Dragon Quest
V Jump has featured columns dedicated to the Dragon Quest series since the beginning of its publication, the first of which being titled "DQ MUSEUM". This was a light-hearted section in which the characters of Dragon Quest V spoke directly to the readers and offered quirky insight into the game's world. This would be replaced with a column that focused on the series as a whole know as "DQ KIDS!! Children of Dragora Village"(DQ KIDS!! ドラゴラ村の子供たち), which would inform the readers on details of the characters, monsters, and worlds of the various games under the supervision of Yuji Horii. The column was also a way for the development staff to respond to fan mail in the decades prior to the widespread adoption of the internet.
The magazine's mascot, V Ron, was designed by Akira Toriyama and appears in Dragon Quest X, Dragon Quest Monsters 2: Iru and Luca's Marvelous Mysterious Key, and Dragon Quest Monsters: Super Light.
In addition, no less than eleven manga based on Dragon Quest have been published in V Jump since the magazine's inception:
| Manga | 1st chapter | Final chapter |
|---|---|---|
| DQ1秘伝 竜王バリバリ隊 (DQ1 secret Dragonlord baribari corps) |
December 12, 1990 | June 26, 1991 issue |
| The Adventure of Dai 番外編 勇者アバン AoD Extra Hero Avan |
November 27, 1991 | One-shot |
| スライム冒険記 (Slime Adventure) |
July 1993 | February 2000 |
| スライム大作戦 (Slime battle) |
May 2000 | Intermittent publishing |
| Rocket Slime | December 2003 | November 2015 |
| スライムドーン！ <small(Slime dawn!) |
February 2016 | October 2021 |
| Monster Battle Road Victory | June 2010 | November 2010 |
| ドラゴンクエスト 蒼天のソウラ (Dragon Quest: Blue Sky) |
February 2013 | December 2022 |
| DQ11S 盗賊たちの挽歌 (DQ11S: Elegy of Thieves) |
October 2019 | One-shot |
| The Adventure of Dai:勇者アバンと獄炎の魔王 (Hero Avan and the Hellfire Demon King) |
December 2020 | Currently serialized |
| DQ Treasures アナザーアドベンチャー: ファドラの宝島 (Another Adventure: Fadora's Treasure Island) |
January 2023 | Currently serialized |
The Brief Return of Dr. Slump
The first issue of the revived V Jump featured a mini-series sequel to Akira Toriyama's Dr Slump manga, written and illustrated by Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru (中鶴勝祥). The third chapter of this manga was a full-blown parody of Dragon Quest V, with Dr. Senebi's play session being interrupted by Arale and the Gatchans as the mechanical trio invade the game.
Gallery
V Ron
