Bubul of the Demon Village

Bubul of the Majin Village
Bubul of Demon Village title page from the 1997 No. 22-23 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump
魔人村のBUBUL Majin-muru no Buburu
Author	Akira Toriyama
Publisher	Shueisha (JP)
Publication	Weekly Shōnen Jump
Demographic	Shōnen
Manga Series
Original Run	Weekly Shōnen Jump 1997 No. 22-23 (28 April 1997)
Chapters	1

Bubul of Demon Village is a single-chapter ("one-shot") manga by Akira Toriyama spanning 46 pages (one color title page and 45 black-and-white content pages, with an advertisement on the back of the color title page) which ran in the 1997 No. 22-23 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump, released 28 April 1997 in Japan, as the first entry in the magazine's "Jump Readers' Cup '97" series.

The one-shot served as a prototype for the subsequent full manga series COWA!, which began its release later that same year.

Synopsis

不思議の国からやってきたとってもおちゃめな魔人くん愛と勇気とカエルの翼に乗って今日も正義パワーが炸裂だ!!

Title

The title for this particular one-shot is written with a combination of kanji (with accompanying furigana) along with Latin lettering for the character's name of "Bubul" (itself with furigana indicating a Japanese pronunciation of ブブル buburu).

The "Demon" (魔人 majin) in the title and used in dialog throughout the one-shot is the same "Majin" used in Dragon Ball, and generically refers to all of the demons in the story.

In the ninth entry in the Dragon Ball Official Site's special "Dragon Ball-ism Toriyama Showcase" column in 2022, "Bubul of the Majin Village" is used as an English translation for the one-shot's title in the site's (largely machine-translated) English-language version of the same respective article originally published in Japanese.

Summary

TBD

Characters

Major Characters

• Bubul (ブブル Buburu): TBD
• TBD

Supporting Characters

• TBD

Miscellaneous

• TBD

Production

Cover of the 2010 No. 50 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump featuring Kintoki

Shueisha hosted a number of "Jump Readers' Award" competitions for its authors and illustrators across the 1970s and 1980s. Notable Toriyama contributions to these contests included Pola & Roid in 1981 (that year's winner) and Chobit in 1983 (which took third place). 1983 was the final year until the competition was (briefly) revived in 1997 as the "Jump Readers' Cup '97" (ジャンプ愛読者杯'97 Janpu ai Dokusha-hai '97).

Bubul of Demon Village was one of 10 one-shots produced for "Jump Readers' Cup '97" which was published across the 1997 No. 22-23 to No. 32 issues of Weekly Shōnen Jump in Japan, with notable Jump authors contributing each individual (and unrelated) short story:

Release Order	Chapter Title	Author	Issue Date	Sale Date
1	Majin-muru no Buburu	Akira Toriyama	1997 No. 22-23	28 April 1997
2	TBD	TBD	1997 No. 24	13 May 1997
3	TBD	TBD	1997 No. 25	TBD
4	TBD	TBD	1997 No. 26	TBD
5	TBD	TBD	1997 No. 27	TBD
6	TBD	TBD	1997 No. 28	TBD
7	TBD	TBD	1997 No. 29	TBD
8	TBD	TBD	1997 No. 30	TBD
9	TBD	TBD	1997 No. 31	TBD
10	TBD	TBD	1997 No. 32	TBD

Bubul took 1st place in the subsequent poll with 174,835 votes.

Releases

Shueisha Jump Remix: Legendary Jump Readers' Cup compilation volume from 2011

Bubul of Demon Village has been reprinted a few times outside of its original Weekly Shōnen Jump 1997 No. 22-23 printing, though not as a part of an Akira Toriyama-specific collection.

• A reprint was included as part of the special compilation issue Jump Readers' Choice Cup ’97 Selections released 16 October 1997 in Japan.
• A reprint was included within the 2004 #10 issue of Monthly Shōnen Jump released 06 September 2004 in Japan.
• A reprint was included within the Shueisha Jump Remix: Legendary Jump Readers' Cup book released 28 April 2011 in Japan.

An English "scanlation" of Bubul was released by "ASPIRINGMANGAREADER" in 2024 with the use of machine translation.

Legacy

Spiritual successor in Cowa! with article in the 1997 #47 issue of WJ

Notes

Each issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump includes a comment from that issue's respective authors. Toriyama's comment in the 2010 No. 50 issue is as follows:

愛読者杯（リーダーズカップ）第一回に執筆できて、とても光栄です…と言いたいところですが、メチャキツのスケジュールでした。休んでるはずなのに…なぜ!?感想きかせてね〈明〉

---

It's a great honor to be able to draw something for the first Jump Readers' Choice Cup… is what I'd like to say, but I had a really tight schedule. I should have been resting... why?! Let me know what you think <Akira>

In the special issue Jump Readers' Choice Cup ’97 Selections released that October (which compiled all of that year's entries), Toriyama commented:

前から進めていたテーマだったので、それで賞がとれて幸せです。このブブルをもとに新連載を始めるので期待していてください!!

---

This had a theme I'd been pursuing for a while, so I'm happy I was able to win an award with it. I'm starting a new serial based on this BUBUL, so look forward to it!!

In the 2004 #10 issue of Monthly Shōnen Jump which included a Bubul reprint, Toriyama commented:

たしか仕上げにコンピュータを使い始めた２作目の漫画です。今見るとお恥ずかしい。〈明〉

---

If I remember correctly, this was my second comic where I did the finishing touches using a computer. Looking at it now, I'm embarrassed. <Akira>

In the Shueisha Jump Remix: Legendary Jump Readers' Cup compilation book from 2011, Toriyama commented:

ボクにはアシスタントがいません。この作品はベタやトーンなどの仕上げをパソコンでやれば楽になるのでは？と試し始めた頃のもので、結局まだまだ不慣れなのと、うまく使えないのとで、手作業でやってた方が早いじゃん！などと勉強不足を呪った思い出があります。

---

I don't have an assistant. This work is from a time when I had started experimenting with doing finishing touches like the blacking, tone and such on the PC, figuring it might be easier that way; but ultimately, between my unfamiliarity with it and my not being able to use it very well, I remember cursing my lack of study: "It would've been faster to do it by hand!"

External Links

• Kanzenshuu - Bonus Podcast: "Kintoki" Review
• Anime News Network - "Viz Media to Release Akira Toriyama's 'Kintoki' 1-Shot Manga Next Week"
• Viz - "REVIEW: This Week's Issue! - Jan 28, 2013"