(Original Post: December 8, 2016)
In an exciting move meant to reinvigorate their fan base after the incredibly disappointing final chapters of “Bleach” earlier this year, “Weekly Shonen Jump” magazine spokesman Akira Natsuhara announced today the return of one of its most beloved franchises in form of “Rurouni Kenshin – Super!”, a continuation of the original “Rurouni Kenshin” storyline concluded by Nobuhiro Watsuki well over a decade ago in which main character, Kenshin Himora, awakens the power of the “Super Battosai God” inside him to battle against a litany of new, supernatural villains that take the form of deities in the Rurouni Kenshin universe far above the abilities and skills of the humans Kenshin had battled up to this point as the legendary “Battosai the Manslayer”.
Written by Nobuhiro Watsuki himself, the annoucement of “Rurouni Kenshin – Super!” has quickly become one of the biggest trending topics on popular anime news sites. Even so, not all reaction to it has been positive. Akira Toriyama, artist and writer of the classic Shonen Jump manga “Dragon Ball Z” tweeted yesterday that he believes “Rurouni Kenshin – Super!” to be a direct plagiarism of his new Dragon Ball series, “Dragon Ball Super”, and will henceforth be changing the name of the series to “Dragon Ball Super Duper” in order to avoid any confusion with Watsuki’s “imitation”. Watsuki shot back in protest several hours later, tweeting that he doesn’t see how his idea for “Rurouni Kenshin – Super!” can be considered a ripoff of Toriyama’s “Dragon Ball Super” when “Rurouni Kenshin – Super!” has the word “Super” offset by a hyphen on one side and exclamation point on the other, while Toriyama’s “Dragon Ball Super” just has the word Super “sitting out there in the open without any real emphasis on it at all”.
Since then, rumors have begun to circulate about a supposed new manga by Yoshihiro Togashi entitled “Yu Yu Hakusho – Ultra!!!” and a possible new series by Hideaki Anno named “Super Neon Genesis Evangelion Mega :)!!!!!!!” Yoshihiro Togashi could not be reached for comment about his new work as he was busy taking his sweet time with a new chapter of “Hunter x Hunter”, but Hideaki Anno did respond to inquiries about “Super Neon Genesis Evangelion Mega :)!!!!!!”, but only by quoting random passages from a Jewish Torah, mumbling something nonsensical about Sigmund Freud, and alluding to his past childhood traumas and fears. None of the bloggers polled about his response could give a clear answer as to what it meant. New logos for “Dragon Ball Super” have surfaced, as well, now calling the series “Super Dragon Ball Super Duper Ultra – Mega – Deluxe Ultimate Premium Alpha Edition!!! XoXoXoXoXoX!!!!!!!!!!”, the new graphics supposedly from an ever increasingly irritated Akira Toriyama, who will now only refer to Nobuhiro Watsuki by the nickname of “Captain Ginyu”, saying Watsuki has “stolen the body of [my] work for his gain, and left me helpless and injured”.
Multiple eyewitnesses close to Toriyama have reported significant signs of stress physically visible on his body, including a sickly reddish hue present in his hair and eyes, and a possible lapse into alcoholism as he walks around asking people for “Beers” while slurring the word as “Beerus”. Alcoholism may also be a cause of diuresis in Toriyama according to reports of him talking about needing to “Whis”. After hearing these disturbing accounts, many fellow manga artists have jumped in to show their love and support for Akira Toriyama, and his impressive body of work. Natsuki Takaya sent a Fruits Basket to Toriyama to boost his general health through better nutrition, while Tite Kubo sent him Bleach specifically to counteract the reported change in hair color. Eiichiro Oda apparently put together an entire care package of food and sweets to cheer up the frustrated Toriyama, but left it in some forgotten, undisclosed location, only able to remember that the care package is somewhere in his home, unopened and in One Piece. Hiro Mashima has openly dismissed all reports of Akira Toriyama’s hair changing color as a Fairy Tail, but says he wishes his fellow manga artist well.
Despite pushback from Akira Toriyama, “Weekly Shonen Jump” magazine plans to continue pushing forward with a January 2017 time table for the beginning of “Rurouni Kenshin – Super!”‘s serialization. Talks of an anime version of the manga are already in the works, and Nobuhiro Watsuki says he cannot be more pleased with the overwhelming fan support of his new chapter in the “Rurouni Kenshin” franchise. “I thought I was going to get some backlash, I really did, when I announced that not only would Kenshin and his friends be returning, but they’d be fighting alien deities from other planets with supernatural powers that made them glow like different colors of the rainbow. Then, I watched a couple episodes of Gin Tama, and, suddenly, my unusual premise felt normal again.”
Hideaki Sorachi, the creator of “Gin Tama”, responded to this comment by announcing Gintoki Sakata (the name of his manga’s main character) would permanently die in the next chapter of “Gin Tama”, only for the next chapter to be a short story about the actual Gintoki Sakata adopting a goldfish, naming it after himself, and that goldfish dying of neglect at the end of the chapter, resulting in a “Gintoki Sakata” dying, as promised. Gin Tama fans polled by the “Eye of Zatara” simply shook their head and mumbled something about being trolled.