Who is Time Paradox Ghostwriter's Kenji Ichima?

Who is Kenji Ichima? As far as we know, he is the writer for the new series in Weekly Shonen Jump, Time Paradox Ghostwriter which can be read on Viz or Manga Plus.

           Some might wonder though if he wrote something else that was published and in fact, he did!

           On January 6, 2019, Shonen Jump Plus published a one-shot manga titled "Shisaku Shinwa" (Prototype Myth) which can be read free on the site in Japanese only. 

         

Kenji Ichima tweeted about this saying "We posted Prototype Myth at Jump Plus! It seems to be a strange manga, but please read it! I'm sorry if it's boring!" This is the first published manga under the name "Kenji Ichima" but it isn't HIS first published manga.

Going back to May 2014, Ichima-sensei's started out with another pen name "市真 時系 (Jikei Ichima)" where his manga "Loser Game" won an honorable mention for the 83rd Treasure Newcomer Manga Award when he was only 19 years old.

Loser Game is about "a god of death game, a game of competing for your life. The play of the genius Makimido and the dark young man Sakamoto fall into the ultimate thrill." It can be read here in Japanese.

Later that year Ichima-sensei made his debut as a manga artist on October 15, 2014 in Jump Next!! Vol. 5 (now known as Jump GIGA) with the gag manga "Guerilla Dining".

Shonen Jump Next!! 2014 Vol.5 Cover

Jump Next!! 2014 Vol.5 Alternate Cover

                This page states that he was born on August 15 (1994) and that his favorite manga at the time was Hinomaru Sumo. The 15-paged one-shot is available in Japanese here.

                 Ichima-sensei returned in March 2015 where he wrote a one-shot manga titled "Bokura no Q" published in Jump NEXT!! 

Jump NEXT!! 2015 Vol. 1 Issue Cover

Jump NEXT!! 2015 Vol. 1 Alternate Cover

Ichima-sensei's first twitter account was @Itimajikei but had stopped using it and made another which was formerly @itima_jikei. This was unknowingly changed around February/March 2020 with all tweets having been deleted. You can read the one-shot in 2 parts here and here.

Ichima's author comment from Jump NEXT!! issue

           2 years later this one-shot was picked up as a serialized manga on Shogakukan's Ura Sunday & Manga One (Serialized Mob Psycho 100, Magi's Sinbad spinoff, and more). Quoted from Manga Machinations' Dakazu, "This manga was about about a boy being followed around by a mysterious talking sphere that grants him regenerative powers for answering it’s questions about life.

A pretty strange series that reminded me of series like Parasyte. The main character ends up using the sphere’s powers to battle against an antagonist who uses his own sphere to murder people as he pleases. The art work of Jikei Ichima is a little rough around the edges but it gives the series a pretty unique feel. I’m willing to check out some more to see if the story progresses past a simple battle manga."

From September 19, 2017 to February 12, 2019, the manga was collected into 4 volumes consisting of 45 chapters. The manga isn't licensed and has no English translation, but you can still read (or just look at) them in their respective original language on Bookwalker Japan and other various sites.

Ichima-sensei has gotten a lot of praise from Japanese fans and as they find out that the same author that writes Time Paradox Ghostwriter wrote this, the more hyped they become. So does this give us reassurance that his new manga will stay consistent and interesting? Of course! Only time will tell though since this time Ichima-sensei will have to deal with Shonen Jump's insane schedule. Thankfully to only have to deal with the writing and not the art, this can give him more time in thinking on how to keep writing a potentially great story. 

Thanks for reading! If you want to see more posts from me follow me on twitter @YourAnimeGuy where I may possibly end up boring you if I haven't already.