The Hunter x Hunter author Yoshihiro Togashi puts the golf manga Oi! Tonbo among the best manga he’s read in 2023. The mangala reveals that its main character Tonbo is how Togashi tried and failed to make Gon at the beginning. The letter was addressed to idol Yumiko Seki and was read out during a segment of Iwakura to Yoshizumi no Bangumi (The Iwakura and Yoshizumi Show) on November 21, 2023. Seki’s question to Togashi was “What manga have you found interesting recently?” to which he replied: “There is a manga that I thought, ‘It’s amazing as expected regarding recent works but I don’t have the courage to name the specific work. So, if I were to change the definition of ‘recent’ to works that are still being published, I would choose one work that I continue to enjoy reading, and that work would be ‘Oi! Tonbo’. It’s a manga about golf, but I think you can enjoy it even if you don’t know the rules. The main character, Tonbo, is the kind of person I wanted Gon to be when I first started planning the serialization of Hunter² [sic]. It was the ideal image that I failed to realize in the first chapter. It’s a work that perfectly combines Mr. Kawasaki’s knowledge of people and golf with Mr. Furusawa’s warm illustrations that gently portray the dedicated characters.“ 531t51
Oi! Tonbo has been published in Golf Digest’s Weekly Golf Digest magazine since August 2014, spanning 46 volumes. The manga is written by Ken Kawasaki and illustrated by Yu Furusawa. While the manga may not be well-known internationally, an Spring 2024 release date were revealed in October. Studio OLM Team Inoue (Pon no Michi, Yo-kai Watch) was also announced to be animating the series with SMDE responsible for the CGI.
The official synopsis for the anime is:
Igarashi discarded his past and relocated to the Tokara Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture as if fleeing from society. On Hijinoshima, a place called “Japan’s Last Undiscovered Spot”, the one person he meets is the middle schooler, Tonbo. This innocent and cheerful girl conceals an unbelievable talent for golf!? Triggered by this fateful encounter, the destiny of the two greatly changes…
Togashi’s letter, endorsing the Oi! Tonbo manga follows other reveals read out on The Iwakura and Yoshizumi Show. It was revealed that Hunter x Hunter originally featured a multiple endings, including one if Togashi es away.
Source: The Iwakura and Yoshizumi Show, via Golf Digest
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