In every volume of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, the front folded flap of the dust jacket usually contains a picture of Hirohiko Araki himself, and more than often a quotation. The quotes featured below the picture are always different from each other, and are usually about Araki expressing his opinion on certain subjects. These subjects can be about anything, including information about characters or the story itself. This section's notes are from the volumes of Stardust Crusaders and were translated in the English version published by VIZ Media.
What do you think about Part 3's new protagonist, Jotaro? My plan's to make him the cool JoJo who wouldn't lose to Jonathan or Joseph. Other than that, we also have an enemy from 100 years ago, as well as an unprecedented, great adventure starting up! I really do appreciate everyone and your support.
In our neighborhood, there's this strange cat that frequently shows up that we've nicknamed "Muscle Cat." The sight of its raging shoulder muscles is hilarious!
So I predicted the weather completely wrong, and was met with a huge downpour of rain. Leaks sprouted everywhere. An old lady in the neighborhood laughed at me.
What'd you think of the colored pages? I'd like to do as many colored manuscripts as my schedule allows, so please support me. After work, I like to relax and recover while reading my favorite Koontz novels.
I recently started wearing contacts, but my eyes aren't used to them yet, so they hurt. Whenever I react to something, my facial expressions end up looking a bit off.
My editor is constantly traveling abroad for Formula One coverage. It makes me a little anxious every time he leaves me behind in Japan! Something like that, anyway.
As an avid hater of summer, I’m thrilled that autumn is here. I get to enjoy my favorite chestnut rice, and honestly, I just love everything about fall!!
I was thrilled to get a print of my favorite David Roberts painting from 150 years ago! His skill in drawing is something I could never hope to aspire to.
Friends from my elementary school days are getting married one after another. I don't get to see them very often due to the distance between us, but congrats nonetheless!
My grandfather passed away. He used to tell me stories from the past, and played somewhat of a role in shaping who I am. I'm feeling rather lonely without him.
I'm someone who rarely stays up all night, but I had to put in extra hours for the next issue's color pages. I was deeply moved by the sunrise's extreme beauty.
As a Sendai-born manga artist, Tohoku Broadcasting Company came to interview me, and that'll be airing on March 17th. Anyone in the area should absolutely watch it.
In this volume, a new ability called a Stand is introduced. Stands are psychic powers given a visible form and shape. Traditionally, these kinds of powers were shown with light and electric effects, or through aftereffects like crumbling buildings. I asked myself, "How can I express this invisible power?" That's how I came up with Stands.
Now let's begin a new adventure with Jotaro and his friends!
When I'm traveling, I can feel very lonely, so I appreciate the kindness of strangers from the bottom of my heart. Still, sometimes I start wondering why someone is being so nice to me! Are they actually evil, and planning my demise? Who's my friend? Who's my enemy? A big smiling face says, "Please give me all your money." AHHH! Now that's scary...
When you start working in the real world, you're often asked to trade business cards. But ever since I became a manga artist, I've had to say, "Oh, I don't have a business card. Sorry!" Well, I've finally designed a business card with the mark you see above on it. I designed it with the big callus on the finger, a badge of honor for manga artists, so that people can somewhat figure out what profession I work in even when I go overseas for research.
People often say that prostitution is the world's oldest profession. Well, that's what I learned in history class at least. (For those who don't know what "prostitution" is, ask your father.) But is it really the oldest profession? I found an even older one! I can't prove it, but I bet it goes away back! That profession is the storyteller who tells scary stories. (To be continued in Volume 17.)
(Continued from last volume...) A long, long time ago, people sat under the starry night sky, gathered around a fire, and listened to an old man tell frightening tales. They listened intently and let their imaginations take them into the world he described. "Okay. That's enough for tonight." "We want to hear more. I'll give you this fruit if you tell us more." "I'll tell you tomorrow! Now, go to bed!" That's the kind of story I hope to keep on telling.
My friends often tell me, "You're really rude when I call you when you're working." I stopped and thought about it when my mother called me and said, "You're so rude, you're no son of mine." But think about it, people! I don't see what's so hard to understand. When I'm working, I can't blab about stupid stuff on the phone for hours like I do when I'm just hanging out, or I'll be late submitting my work. I'm a Gemini so I have a split personality. I wish people would just think of work and play as my on/off switch.
No one realizes this, but as of December I will have been a manga artist for ten years. (I'm not saying this because I want someone to congratulate me.) Ten years... it's only two words, but it's an amount of time that makes me go "Hmm..." When I consider that I spent my entire twenties working in manga, again I go "Hmm..."
But I'm grateful to God and my ancestors for this feeling.
In the early 1980s, I lived in Sendai. Back then I used to send photocopies of my corrected manuscripts to my publisher by postal mail. One photocopy cost me 40 yen (about 40 cents) per page. After the publisher received it I'd have to talk to them on the phone and discuss it. After a while this became a pain, so I moved to Tokyo by myself.
Now faxes and color copiers are much better than they were back then. If they had been available back in the day, I doubt I would have moved to Tokyo. Lately I'm really seeing how times have changed.
I'm not proud of it, but I'm horrible at remembering things. I can barely remember what I did for fun as a kid, or what such-and-such TV show was about. The other day I saw Rie Miyazawa (a Japanese actress), but I completely forgot her name. When I asked someone what her name was, they laughed at me. (I should mention that I'm a huge Rie Miyazawa fan.) I'm really worried about my future... (To be continued in Volume 22.)
(Continued from last volume...) I could stay depressed about my bad memory, but that's a negative way to live. Let's look on the bright side and list the advantages of having a bad memory:
You can reread a book and see a movie over and over and enjoy it as much as the first time.
If you make an inconvenient promise, you can pretend that you forgot about it and still be forgiven.
This is the most important thing: you can keep coming up with ideas without being held back by convictions or the past.
Lately cigarette smoke bothers me. I always notice it when someone is smoking near me.
That's why I decided to have Hol Horse give up smoking. But then, I thought that it would be weird to suddenly change a character's habits. Hmm... but on the other hand, Hol Horse changes his mind all the time anyway. I figured "What the heck," so now he's using a smoke-free pipe.
The most frightening thing that ever happened to me was when I experienced hail for the first time. As a child I never heard of this mysterious phenomenon of "hail" falling from the sky. One day I was playing in an open field when the sky suddenly turned black and a ton of ice cubes, like the ones I put in my Calpis Water, started falling from the sky.
I remember thinking, "It's the end of the world. I'll never lie to my parents and I'll never pick on my little sister."
I know you might think this is silly, but I once had a dream that I was a sumo wrestler standing in the ring. This might sound humorous, but it was the most terrifying dream I had ever had. The match was being broadcast live nationwide on NHK, so if I ran away I would be known as the biggest coward in Japan. I was nearly naked and wearing only a loincloth... Geh! I still weighed 57 kilograms! "I'm going to die," I thought... (To be continued in Volume 26.)
(Continued from last volume...) So, in my dream, I am facing a sumo wrestler on national TV and trying to avoid being known as the biggest coward in Japan. I try to concoct a plan to lose the match without getting hurt. I get in the ring, and the referee says "Lock eyes!" The other wrestler glares at me, his face four times the size of mine. There's an open wound on his forehead, probably from yesterday's brutal match. The wound starts to twitch, and blood oozes out of it. I'm pretty sure I let out a piercing scream at that point. (The end.)
In my entire life, I've only seen a ghost once. It happened a few years ago when I traveled in England. I stayed in a hotel that used to be an old castle. It was only eight o'clock, but I was exhausted, so I went to bed early. A few minutes after I lay down, a woman came out through the slightly-open bathroom door. I saw that there was blood on her wrist... (To be continued in Volume 28.)
(Continued from last volume...) The female ghost floated across the room. Standing beside my bed, she looked down at me with a blank expression. I thought to myself, "I'm seeing a ghost! I thought I had no psychic powers!" But a moment later, I thought, "I'm really sleepy... I don't want to deal with this right now." As if she knew what I was thinking, the ghost's expression turned to sadness, and she disappeared. This really happened. People say I must be dreaming, but I swear it really happened.
↑Armour of God II: Operation Condor is titled Project Eagle (プロジェクト・イーグル) in Japan.
↑The Hop Step Award (ホップステップ賞) was a monthly award given by Weekly Shonen Jump to up-and-coming manga artists from March 1985 to July 1996. The winners' submissions would be published in a series of collections every few months.
Author's Note
