【プロレスＭＡＪＯＲ】「 ＧＯ　ＴＩＭＥ」茂野吾郎
PRO-WRESTLING MAJOR:　”GO TIME” GORO SHIGENO

ハッピーバースデー、茂野吾郎!（11月5日）
Happy birthday, Goro Shigeno!

私はあなたがそれを好き願っています。 あなたのフィードバックは非常に高く評価されています。
I hope you will like it. I would appreciate your feedback for this drawing.

漫画:　ＭＡＪＯＲ　（メジャー）
Manga/Anime:　MAJOR

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Additional Notes:

It’s that time of the year again. It’s November 5, which means it’s the fictional birthday of Goro Shigeno, the main character of the baseball anime/manga series MAJOR. And thus I continue my personal tradition that started since 2014.

For this piece, I decided to go for a baseball theme. One main reason for this is that the past couple of years saw the rise to baseball superstardom of Japanese baseball player Shohei Ohtani, who has been frequently compared to the original Goro Shigeno. As such, I also wanted my piece to be a nod to the man often called as the real-life Goro.

As part of my nod to Ohtani, I decided to use colors often associated with his current Major League Baseball (MLB) team, the Los Angeles Angels. As such, I put aside the green and white that I often used for Goro, and brought in red, white, navy blue, and grey. The nickname I used for Goro in this piece is “Go Time”, which is a nod to Ohtani’s nickname “Shotime”.

The baseball theme was also inspired by the planned (but eventually cancelled) pro-wrestling event of New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in Yokohama Stadium, which seems to be the place where the Yokohama Ocean Stadium in MAJOR was based on. I conceptualized Goro being in a wrestling match in the middle of the Yokohama Stadium, thus the background. If ever I get enough time and energy for it, I may expand this further into drawing the match itself.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this piece. Happy birthday, Goro!

Alternative Versions

「プロレスＭＡＪＯＲ」： ザ・メジャー・チャンピオン、茂野吾郎!!（２０２０）
PRO-WRESTLING MAJOR:　THE MAJOR CHAMPION, GORO SHIGENO!! (2020)

アナウンサー：　赤コーナー、１８０ｃｍ、８３ｋｇ、メジャーチャンピオン、茂野 吾郎！！
Announcer: Red Corner, 180 centimeters, 83 kilograms, The Major Champion, Goro Shigeno!!

ハッピーバースデー、茂野吾郎！ （11月5日）
Happy birthday, Goro Shigeno!

私はあなたがそれを好き願っています。 あなたのフィードバックは非常に高く評価されています。
I hope you will like it. I would appreciate your feedback for this drawing.

漫画:　ＭＡＪＯＲ　（メジャー）
Manga/Anime:　MAJOR

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Additional Notes:

Every year since 2014, I’ve made it a point to commemorate Goro Shigeno’s fictional birthday on November 5 by turning one of my favorite anime/manga characters into a professional wrestler. For this year, I decided to try something I’ve always wanted to draw: streamers.

In many Japanese pro-wrestling promotions, a pro-wrestler is usually introduced in their match as they are standing on their assigned corner. Once their name is introduced, audiences throw streamers towards the pro-wrestler, which is honestly a beautiful sight to see. This moment is what I aimed to capture in this piece. That’s why I also added what I imagine the ring announcer would say before the streamers are launched in the air.

The background was based on the current ring and arena design for Pro-Wrestling NOAH. I’ve always modeled the Pro-Wrestling MAJOR universe on Pro-Wrestling NOAH, so even if the mat is no longer green, I still continued to take some cues from it.

For this piece, I opted not to draw Goro Shigeno with a championship belt. That doesn’t necessarily I’ve “taken away” the belt from him; I simply didn’t want to draw the championship belt once again in favor of the streamers. Besides, by the time the ring introductions are made, the champion would have already given their belt to the staff or the championship committee.

I know that I’ve published this piece quite late already, since Goro’s fictional birthday has already passed by the time I’m posting this. But I guess it isn’t too late to celebrate it. (Also, I am monitoring a highly significant event in the global community, which you probably know at this point.)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this piece. Happy birthday, Goro.

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Alternative versions

「プロレスＭＡＪＯＲ」： 茂野吾郎、プロレス王者 （２０１９）
PRO-WRESTLING MAJOR:　GORO SHIGENO, PRO-WRESTLING CHAMPION (2019)

ハッピーバースデー、茂野吾郎！ （11月5日）
Happy birthday, Goro Shigeno!

私はあなたがそれを好き願っています。 あなたのフィードバックは非常に高く評価されています。
I hope you will like it. I would appreciate your feedback for this drawing.

漫画:　ＭＡＪＯＲ　（メジャー）
Manga/Anime:　MAJOR

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Extra Notes:

November 5 is pretty much a special day for me. This day is marked as the fictional birthday of MAJOR protagonist Goro Shigeno, who has been one of my favorite characters to draw. And ever since 2014, I’ve made it a personal tradition to draw a portrait of him as a wrestler on this day. This year is no exception.

For this year, I opted to give it a much different feel, to represent the shift that has taken place over the last few months. As some of you may know, I originally conceptualized Pro-Wrestling MAJOR (my alternative pro-wrestling universe for MAJOR) from the Japanese pro-wrestling promotion Pro-Wrestling NOAH. As such, my previous works have significantly emphasized the use of the color green.

This year, though, Pro-Wrestling NOAH had a huge makeover in its logo, ring mat, vibe, and (most recently) its championship belt. As such, I opted to depict Pro-Wrestling MAJOR in a similar way.

I also experimented with the eyes for Goro in this piece. In the official art for MAJOR, Goro is sometimes depicted with eyes that show an aura of confidence. I decided to go ahead and try it out myself. After all, I’ve made him a champion for quite a while already, so I think it makes sense for him to display it prominently.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed making it.

Happy birthday Goro!!

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Alternative versions