Hitoshi Ariga Sheds Light on Mega Man’s Split From Comic BomBom

For years, a story has circulated among Japanese fans that Mega Man’s disappearance from Comic BomBom was tied to then-editor-in-chief Shinpachiro Ikeda wanting to move away from the series. But according to Hitoshi Ariga,what happened behind the scenes was a lot more complicated than that.

In a new retrospective, Ariga says the split appears to have come down less to one person and more to growing friction and poor communication between the magazine and Capcom, which came to a head during the development of Mega Man & Bass. 

As part of a collaboration between Capcom and BomBom, Ariga, Yoshihiro Iwamoto and Koji Izuki, all of whom had worked on Mega Man manga for the magazine, were brought in to design the game’s six new Robot Masters. BomBom handled the artists and their schedules, while Capcom implemented the designs.

While the artists were credited in the game, BomBom itself was not. Not on the packaging, in the staff roll, the manual, or in Capcom’s advertising. As a result, the magazine’s involvement was barely recognized outside of its own pages.

Ariga also recalls another issue that may have already been brewing around Mega Man Legends. Capcom chose to reveal and promote Legends through rival magazine V Jump. Ariga says Capcom explained that they saw Legends as a different kind of Mega Man game aimed at a different audience. Since V Jump skewed a little older than BomBom, the decision made sense to him. From BomBom’s perspective, though, it may have felt more like a betrayal. 

Ariga believes both sides simply failed to understand where the other was coming from. Capcom may not have fully understood why BomBom was frustrated, while BomBom may not have understood Capcom’s reasoning for taking Legends to V Jump. He compares it to both sides “buttoning the shirt wrong,” with one misunderstanding leading to another.

Unfortunately, Ariga was caught up in the fallout himself.

At the time, he was working on a new Rockman Megamix project that had already reached the storyboard stage and received approval from both BomBom and Capcom. Then, without much warning, he was told the project was being put on hold.

At the time, Ariga says he was furious after so much work had already gone into it. But all the work wasn't for naught. He eventually finished the story years later, with the work appearing in Rockman Gigamix.

In the end, things worked out for Ariga. As for Capcom and BomBom, the relationship never recovered. Mega Man would eventually find a new manga home in CoroCoro Comic during the Battle Network era, a pairing Ariga believes ultimately worked very well for the franchise.