Ryo Saeba and Hitomi Kisugi

Weekly Comic Bunch 2010 no. 4-5, on sale on 24 December 2009 from Shinchosha, ran a tribute for Tsukasa Hojo’s 30th career anniversary. Six artists, Takehiko Inoue, Haruto Umezawa, Masashi Asaki, Masaharu Noritsuke, Mayu Shinjo and Tetsuo Hara, drew Hojo’s characters. Hara contributed a colour illustration, “HITOMI&RYO”, in which Ryo Saeba (City Hunter) stands in the foreground in front of Hitomi Kisugi (Cat’s Eye), against Shinjuku at night. In his message, he explained that he was tackling, for the first time, the characters of the man he had seen as a big brother since his debut, and admitted it had been harder than he expected. The originals were exhibited at CAFE ZENON in Kichijoji from 24 to 27 December 2009, and the illustration was included in Hojo’s 30th anniversary artbook, given away with Comic Zenon no. 2 in late 2010.