Yuji Kaku

**Yuji Kaku** (賀来 (かく) ゆうじ, *Kaku Yūji*?) is a Japanese mangaka and the creator of *Ayashimon*.

## History

Kaku previously worked as an assistant to Tatsuki Fujimoto, the creator of *Fire Punch* and *Chainsaw Man*, and also worked as an editor at Shueisha. In 2009, Kaku made his debut after working on his 41-page oneshot, *The Remembrance Tax* (おもいで税関, *Omoide Zeikan*?), which earned the 14th honorable mention of Jump SQ.'s Newcomer Cartoon Award "Supreme Comic Grand Prize." The manga was later published in *Jump SQ.II* and was included in *Jump SQ. Comic Selection 2* in 2010.

In 2013, Kaku published his second work *Fantasma* (ファンタズマ, *Fantazuma*?), originally named *BAD☆SWING*, as a oneshot in *Jump SQ* Issue 2012-07. Around a year later, the manga was turned into a series and started in Issue 2013-08 of *Jump SQ*. The last volume was released on July 4, 2014.

In 2016, Kaku created a new oneshot, *Jailbreak Princess* (脱獄姫, *Datsugoku Hime*?) and had serialized in *Jump SQ. Crown*.

In 2017, Kaku presented the storyboards for the first three chapters of his next manga, *Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku* (地獄楽, *Jigokuraku*?), to the *Shōnen Jump+* editorial staff. Having become a big fan of Kaku's art since *Fantasma*, Hideaki Sakakibara enthusiastically volunteered to take on the series and became the manga's second editor with chapters two and three. He believed that *Jigokuraku* was the "mainstream battle fantasy" series that *Jump Plus* was still lacking and could become a best-seller in print. As he helped work on the series, Sakakibara credited Kaku's genius at quickly and simply introducing characters and his drawing talent for making it all work.

Kaku and Sakakibara worked together by planning out what was going to happen in sets of 10 chapters, or a whole volume. The editor gave Kaku free reign as far as illustrations were concerned. Sakakibara said that from the first chapter the series has had "extreme" illustrations, which has resulted in popularity among readers, but makes it hard for new readers to get into. Kaku and Sakakibara said that they were currently trying to earn more female readers. According to Sakakibara, he said it was easy to communicate things to Kaku since he was a former manga editor, as the artist was quick to figure out what he meant. However, Kaku admitted that this had caused him to unconsciously hold back creatively by thinking objectively like an editor.

## Works

### One-Shots

* **The Remembrance Tax** (おもいで税関, *Omoide Zeikan*?) - Published in *Jump SQ.II* and *Jump SQ. Comic Selection 2* in 2009.
* **Jailbreak Princess** (脱獄姫, *Datsugoku Hime*?) - Published in *Jump SQ. Crown* in 2016.

### Series

* **Fantasma** (ファンタズマ, *Fantazuma*?) - Published and serialized in *Jump SQ.II* Issue 2012-07 in 2013. It was serialized from July 4, 2013 to June 19, 2014
* **Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku** (地獄楽, *Jigokuraku*?) - Published and serialized in *Shonen Jump+* in 2018. It was serialized from January 22, 2018 to January 25, 2021
* **Ayashimon** (アヤシモン, *Ayashimon*?) - Published and serialized in *Weekly Shonen Jump* in 2021. It began serialization on November 15, 2021.

## Author Comments

In *Weekly Shonen Jump*, authors leave comments at the end of every issue. These are all of Yuji Kaku's author comments thus far.

### Comments from 2021

* **Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #50 - November 15, 2021**: "It's my first time in Jump! Thanks for having me. And thank you to all my senpai creators who let me reference their series."
* **Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #51 - November 22, 2021**: "It's chapter 2, and I'm already fretting over what to write in this space."
* **Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #52 - November 29, 2021**: "I like Toei's V-Cinema line of movies from the nineties, especially the thrillers. Like *Serpent's Path*."

### Comments from 2022

* **Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #1 - December 6, 2021**: "Chapter 1 had an error with the dates, so I'll fix it in the graphic novels. How embarrassing."
* **Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #2 - December 13, 2021**: "The time has finally come when I no longer know what to write here, and it's now harder to think of something than to draw the manga."
* **Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #3-4 - December 20, 2021**: "I went to the Zenkaiger show at Tokyo Dome. It was fun!"
* **Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #5-6 - January 4, 2022**: "Happy New Year! Here's to another great year."
* **Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #7 - January 17, 2022**: "My 2022 New Year's resolution is to be able to write the comments here effortlessly."
* **Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #8 - January 24, 2022**: "I can't come up with good comments for this section no matter how hard I try. What do I do?"
* **Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #9 - January 31, 2022**: "Don't Look Up was good. I want to create a one-shot like that."
* **Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #10 - February 7, 2022**: "I spent two hours thinking about what to write here."
* **Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #11 - February 14, 2022**: "Natsume Arata no Kekkon has been great from the start. The latest volume was awesome too."
* **Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #13 - February 28, 2022**: "I'm thinking I really should have used the week off to think up a bunch of comments for this section."
* **Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #14 - March 7, 2022**: "I spent a good hour trying to come up with what a good author comment would entail. No answer on that today."
* **Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #15 - March 14, 2022**: "I bought a professional pan for frying, and now I can fry everything much better."
* **Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #16 - March 19, 2022**: "I've thought about it so much that now I'm thinking, "What do I need to do to be able to think about the author comments?"
* **Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #17 - March 28, 2022**: "There's a movie I want to see, and then I quickly realize that it's no longer playing in theaters. I hate that this keeps happening."
* **Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #18 - April 4, 2022**: "Even when I think, "This is what I'll do for my next author comment," I always forget."
* **Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #19 - April 11, 2022**: "I want to watch the DC show *Peacemaker*, but I can't sign up for any more subscription services."
* **Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #20 - April 18, 2022**: "I read Alan Moore's *Neonomicon*. It was really good. I'm hoping for a sequel."

## Illustrations

* Chapters
* Special

The illustration for the release of Chapter 1.The illustration for the release of Chapter 2.The illustration for the release of Chapter 3.The illustration for the release of Chapter 4.The illustration for the release of Chapter 5.The illustration for the release of Chapter 6.The illustration for the release of Chapter 7.The illustration for the release of Chapter 8.The illustration for the release of Chapter 9.The illustration for the release of Chapter 10.The illustration for the release of Chapter 11.The illustration for the release of Chapter 12.The illustration for the release of Chapter 13.The illustration for the release of Chapter 14.The illustration for the release of Chapter 15.The illustration for the release of Chapter 16.The illustration for the release of Chapter 17.The illustration for the release of Chapter 18.The illustration for the release of Chapter 19.The illustration for the release of Chapter 20.

The illustration announcing Ayashimon three days before the serialization.The celebrator illustration for the start of 2022.The illustration announcing the hiatus for Chapter 13.