What's It About?

Kazuhiko Torishima is the sixth editor-in-chief of Japan's biggest manga magazine, Weekly Shonen Jump! He is one of Japan's leading editors, having discovered and nurtured great manga artists such as Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball, Masakazu Katsura of Video Girl Ai, and Kōji Inada of Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai, and further transforming the manga business by expanding the crossover of manga, anime, and video games.

“Dr. Mashirito” is a scientist who was modeled after Kazuhiko Torishima by Akira Toriyama in Dr. Slump, and the character later became Kazuhiko Torishima's nickname in real life, too. This book is the only place to discover Kazuhiko Torishima's “Torishima Method,” an approach to making comics that will give you the mindset needed to become a manga artist!

Dr. Mashirito's Ultimate Manga Techniques is written by Kazuhiko Torishima and Takanaka Shimotsuki, with English translation by David Evelyn. Published by Viz Media (Maay 13, 2025).

---

Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

It doesn't get much more detailed than this! Kazuhiko Torishima, a storied manga editor who worked to help get the likes of Akira Toriyama and Masakazu Katsura off the ground, details what he feels are the keys to developing your own manga in exhaustive detail. There's truly no stone left unturned here – each page is simply packed with information about a number of what he believes are the essential steps to creating a successful series. This includes page layouts, story flow, visual flow, and long-form series expansion, to name just a few. Seriously, if you were to create manga in Japan, this book lays things out so that you could do it.

I don't think it necessarily functions beyond that niche, however. One of the things I like about Hirohiko Araki's Manga in Theory and Practice is that it's a good overall craft book for any artistic storytelling endeavor. His tips extend beyond manga and are useful if you're writing a novel, screenplay, or picture book anywhere in the world. Torishima's craft manual, on the other hand, is tailored specifically to manga in a Japanese setting. There are certainly some bits and pieces that work for any creative project, such as his advice on dialogue, but otherwise this is for those wishing to break into the industry in Japan or who want to know more about how the process works. Both are valuable uses, and the work is very interesting on both fronts, but there's not a lot of transferrable information.

If you're looking to explore the philosophy behind bestselling shounen manga, however, this is your reading material. Dense and brimming with information, this really feels like a peek behind the curtain in a way that manga or anime about creating manga or anime can't provide. Torishima breaks down each role involved in bringing manga to a reader, the ways manga creators are paid, and how to specifically try to catch an editor's attention. The book is illustrated with examples from creators he's worked with, including a few pieces written and drawn by the late Toriyama specifically for the book. (So Toriyama completists, you may want to pick this up.) There's even a chart discussing the weight given to readers' opinions based on age brackets, as well as an interesting section looking at webtoons and how those can and might impact manga's more traditional medium. It's fascinating, and while it may not hold up as a how-to manual outside of Japan, it absolutely does if you're just looking to understand the way the industry works a little better.

---

MrAJCosplay
Rating:

Last year, the world suffered a great loss with the passing of acclaimed manga creator Akira Toriyama. This man created many beloved classics that still have an influence on people to this day. While Dragon Ball is the most well-known and most popular of his works, other works and experiences built up to that magnum opus. Even during the creative process of Dragon Ball, things were not smooth sailing as the series went through constant shifts in tone and direction at the request of his editors. As someone who gets excited for the stories behind the stories, Dr. Mashirito's Ultimate Manga Techniques is a book that scratches that itch.

Most of the book is written and presented from the perspective of Kazuhiko Torishima, Toriyama's first editor, and the sixth ever editor-in-chief of Shonen Jump. The man has had his hands in the creation of many series, and it's interesting getting his perspective on what it was like during the developmental process. Granted, some sections are also told from the perspective of other creators, like Toriyama himself. He has one of my favorite excerpts from early on in the book explaining the passive approach that Mashirito had during Toriyama's early career.

However, this man was just as eccentric and knowledgeable about things as the works that he helped with. There are a lot of books and breakdowns that go into what it's like to be a Manga creator or what it's like working at Shonen Jump. In some ways, this book is no different than those. It offers a unique perspective from an established veteran with many excerpts and layouts that feel like they are also referring to specific works. Dragon Ball might've been the main one that seems to be selling this book, but I'm here to tell you that there is more than just that on display. If you love behind-the-scenes stuff and learning as much about these artistic industries as possible, then this is a must-buy.