Our Japanese language reporter and die-hard manga fan can’t hide his disappointment.

Normally, we love Uniqlo’s many lines of graphic tees. Under the sub-brand “UT’, they’ve put out some jaw-droppingly gorgeous, cool, and stylish T-shirts featuring Sailor Moon, anime by Your Name director Makoto Shinkai, Pokémon, and Street Fighter. Unsurprisingly, UT also has a great selection of manga-themed T-shirts, including a newly-released 60th anniversary collection for Weekly Shonen Magazine, which is known for serializing such famous titles as Hajime no Ippo, Great Teacher Onizuka, and Attack on Titan,

But one manga, which our Japanese language reporter P.K. Sanjun is a die-hard fan of, got a less-than-stellar representation at UT: the ’90s cooking manga Shota no Sushi (Shota’s Sushi). P.K. has been waiting years for some gear representing one of his favorite manga, but when he finally got some, he was deeply disappointed by Uniqlo’s effort–or lack thereof.

Shota no Sushi was serialized in Weekly Shonen Magazine between 1992 and 2000, and is considered a legendary manga (by P.K.). It was written by Daisuke Terasawa, who is also known for another cooking manga and anime, Mister Ajikko, and was the pioneer of shonen stories about cooking, which P.K. says is responsible for inspiring young men’s interest in the culinary arts. In other words, he’s a god (according to P.K.).

So imagine superfan P.K.’s delight when the Shota no Sushi shirts went on sale at Uniqlo earlier this month! It’s part of the larger Shonen Weekly Magazine 60th Anniversary Collection, which also includes shirts for Hajime no Ippo, Attack on Titan, Negima! Magister Negi Maji, Fairy Tale, and more. That Shota no Sushi, a mildly popular manga with only a small, but dedicated, following, should be included among such lofty titles…P.K. was over the moon. As soon as the release date arrived he went off to Uniqlo with a hop in his step and a song in his heart…

…until he laid eyes on them, that is. With just one look at the sad display, he could not help but feel deflated. Compared to some of the other truly cool designs UT has put out, these two shirts were just…underwhelming. He reached out a trembling hand to get a closer look, but he knew it was fruitless. “They’re so lame!” he thought despondently.

▼ He still bought them, though. How could he not?

The gray one…it was just a plain gray T-shirt, with a tiny nigiri sushi on the chest and the logo just above it. From the front, there was hardly any indication that it was actually a Shota no Sushi T-shirt! And the white T-shirt was just a plate of sushi. The logo was on there, too, but it just didn’t feel like much of a representation of a legendary (according to P.K.) manga.

“W…why?” whispered P.K., barely able to hold back his tears. “Couldn’t you put some characters on it? Not even Shota, or Mr. Saji, or Shingo?? This…this is not the Shota no Sushi shirt I wanted!!”

▼ The face of a despondent fan

For some reason, Uniqlo had decided to make its two worst T-shirts in the history of Uniqlo shirts at the same time. P.K. firmly believed that no one could wear such a lame shirt stylishly, not even Kyary Pamyu Pamyu or someone else known to make weird and boring clothes look cool.

▼ Even the office’s most handsome and cutest members could not make the shirts look good.

P.K. was absolutely heartbroken. But, on the bright side, he managed to get an interview with the legendary Daisuke Terasawa (who wrote Shota no Sushi) himself! Though he would rather have met with him under more joyous circumstances, P.K. does intend to ask how these designs came about (and perhaps why cooler ones weren’t chosen instead). But it will be with the utmost respect, and probably while bowing low, because Terasawa-sensei is, after all, a god (according to P.K.).

What will P.K.’s favorite manga author have to say? Find out soon!

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[ Read in Japanese ]