is a Japanese

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series written and illustrated by Hiroshi Motomiya. It was serialized in

Shueisha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Shueisha is the largest publishing company in Japan. It was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The ...

's manga magazine ''

Weekly Young Jump is a Japanese manga magazine published by Shueisha. Launched in 1979, it is published under Shueisha's '' Jump'' line of magazines. The chapters of series that run in ''Weekly Young Jump'' are collected and published in volumes under the "Y ...

'' from 1994 to 2002, with its chapters collected in 30 volumes. It was followed by three series; ''Salary Man Kintaro: Money Wars-hen'' (2005–2006), ''Shin Salaryman Kintaro'' (2009–2011), and ''Salary Man Kintaro: 50-sai'' (2015–2016), The manga follows Kintaro Yajima, a former gang leader who, as a promise to his late wife, has become a

salaryman The term is a Japanese word for salary, salaried workers. In Japanese popular culture, it is portrayed as a white-collar worker who shows unwavering loyalty and commitment to his employer, prioritizing work over anything else, including family. ...

. A

live-action film Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a Live-action animation, live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define ...

adaptation premiered in 1999. A

television drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional te ...

adaptation aired for four seasons; the first one in 1999, the second in 2000, the third in 2002, and the fourth in 2004. Another drama adaptation aired for two seasons; the first one in 2008 and the second in 2010. A 20-episode

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

television series aired in 2001. Two live-action films are set to premiere in 2025. The manga has had over 35 million copies in circulation.

Characters

; : : : A

high school dropout Dropping out refers to leaving high school, college, university or another group for practical reasons, necessities, inability, apathy, or disillusionment with the system from which the individual in question leaves. Canada In Canada, most ind ...

and former who retired to become a fisherman, but after he saved Morinosuke Yamato he was offered a job at Yamato Construction in the sales department. ; : : Née . A high class woman who once had an affair with the late politician . She still has strong political and financial connections and later becomes Kintaro's wife. ; : The son of Kintaro and his late wife Akemi. ; : The daughter of Misuzu from her affair with Kuroda. ; : Kintaro's first wife, a kind blind woman who dies giving birth to Ryuta. ; : One of the many men that Kintaro saves. Chairman of Yamato Construction. He believes in Kintaro all the way. ; : ; : ; :

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Hiroshi Motomiya, ''Salary Man Kintaro'' was serialized in

's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''

'' from 1994 to 2002. Shueisha collected its chapters in 30 volumes, released from December 8, 1994, to March 19, 2002. In April 2005, the series started appearing as an online comic, and a sequel, titled , was serialized in ''Weekly Young Jump'' from November 11, 2005, to August 10, 2006. Shueisha collected its chapters in four volumes, released from April 19 to December 19, 2006. A third series, titled , started in ''Weekly Young Jump'' on January 15, 2009; an additional series, titled , started on April 1, 2010. Shueisha collected its chapters in seven volumes, released from August 19, 2009, to March 18, 2011. A fourth series, titled , was serialized in ''Weekly Young Jump'' from April 16, 2015, to February 10, 2016. Shueisha collected its chapters in four volumes, released from July 17, 2015, to April 19, 2016. The manga was digitally available in English on the NTT Solmare's ComicFriends

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app in 2012; the service closed in that same year. Manga Planet added the series to its digital service on August 3, 2020.

Live-action

Films

adaptation premiered on November 13, 1999. In September 2024, it was announced that two live-action films, directed by , with scripts by , and starring Nobuyuki Suzuki as Kintaro Yajima, would premiere in Japan; the first film, , premiered on January 10, 2025, and premiered on February 7 of the same year.

Drama

adaptation, starring Katsunori Takahashi as Kintaro Yajima, was broadcast on TBS. The first season was broadcast for 11 episodes from January 10 to March 21, 1999. A second 12-episode season was broadcast from April 9 to July 2, 2000. A third 11-episode season was broadcast from January 6 to March 17, 2002. A fourth 10-episode season was broadcast from January 15 to March 18, 2004. Another drama series, starring as Kintaro, was broadcast on

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as , and better known as , is a Japanese television station serving the Kanto region as the flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network. It is owned-and-operated by the a subsidiary of , itself controlled by ...

. The first season was broadcast for 10 episodes from October 10 to December 12, 2008. A second 10-episode season was broadcasr from January 8 to March 12, 2010.

Anime

A 20-episode

television series adaptation, animated by JCF, was broadcast on

BS-i is a Japanese satellite broadcasting station headquartered in Akasaka Gochome, Minato, Tokyo. Its channel name is BS-TBS (formerly, BS-i). Channels *Television: BS-TBS is assigned BS161ch - 163ch. *Radio: BS-i had been assigned 461ch, 462c ...

from February 18 to March 18, 2001. The opening theme, , was performed by Yumi Matsuzawa, while the ending theme, was performed by Norishige Takahashi. In North America, the series was licensed by Arts Magic. It was released on five DVDs from May 31, 2005, to March 28, 2006.

Reception

The manga has had over 35 million copies in circulation.

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * * {{Tomoharu Katsumata Business in anime and manga Japanese drama television series Manga adapted into films Nichiyō Gekijō Seinen manga Shueisha manga Shueisha franchises TBS Television (Japan) dramas TV Asahi television dramas