Diamond is Unbreakable Paperback
Kahoku Shimpo (February 2004)
Interview Archive
Hirohiko Araki's afterwords for the first and last volumes of Diamond is Unbreakable in the paperback edition, published on February 18, 2004 and August 10, 2004 respectively.
Commentary
Volume 1 (18)
The protagonist, Josuke Higashikata, was one of my favorite characters to draw. He is a free-spirited individual, and he has just enough humor to him to make him tough. I also appreciate the sadness that pervades his family. When I met with my editor at the time and told him I was going to give the protagonist a regent hairstyle, he said, "Wouldn't that look old-fashioned?" (In the world of manga, things like regent hairstyles and school uniforms were firmly in the realm of gags.) But in 1999, the regent hairstyle was rather new to me, and the character of Josuke Higashikata, who insists on wearing that hairstyle, seemed perfect for the protagonist who would protect his town.
In Part 3: Stardust Crusaders, the setting was a journey from Tokyo to Egypt, but that meant that the type of enemies appearing over the course of the journey had to be pursuers who attacked directly. As a result, I wanted to draw enemies that would, like a spider, wait patiently to trap the protagonist. For that reason, I naturally decided to set Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable in a single town.
I wanted to make the town feel as though the readers actually lived there, as though they were actually walking down the street to the bakery just around the corner. As the artist, I found that the easiest way to do this was by reminiscing about my hometown of Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture, where I'd lived since I was a child.
In the late '70s and '80s, the fields and forests where I used to play and go cycling as a child underwent rapid development, and many new towns cropped up in the suburbs of Sendai. The roads, houses, and yards were shiny and new, and everyone seemed happy. But at the same time, the mountains where old graves were strewn all about, the ruins of air-raid shelters where people were killed during World War II, the swamps where bodies of those who had drowned themselves were found, as well as all the other places that were haunted and therefore quite dangerous... All of them were cleared and reclaimed to create new towns.
So I thought to myself, "Then what about the ghosts there? Where did they go?" With a creeping feeling of unease, I thought, "They look so peaceful and beautiful, but are they?" For that reason, I used them as the model for the city of Morioh. That's the setting of Part 4. Morioh serves to criticize the practice of destroying people's nostalgia in the name of development.
People seem peaceful and happy, but you really have no idea what they're up to in their own homes. That's the feeling the people who live in Morioh give off. In the latter half of Part 4, a certain serial killer emerges as the main villain, but I'll talk about him in the afterword for Part 4. And yet, Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable was the most well-received part of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series among my friends and family. Often, they would show their appreciation with responses such as "Did you use him as a model?" or "Don't use my name," or "That's my line you stole."
I also remember enjoying being able to draw my favorite foods, fashions, stores, and so on. I had a hard time putting the brakes on the series, but I wanted to avoid spoiling the eerie atmosphere by having too much fun. If I had the chance, I would love to give Morioh more depth by drawing more of the town and residents that didn't appear in the story proper...
"I'd rather not be their friend, but I have a soft spot for them." Those are the residents of Morioh, the town of the 21st century.[Translated by HudgynS]
主人公〝東方仗助〟は描いていて最も好きなキャラクターのひとりだ。精神的な自由さがあって、しかも適度なユーモアがタフな感じがする。杖助の家庭的な悲しさもよい。
当時の編集担当と羽ち合わせをした時ヘアスタイルをリーゼント風にする、と話すと「古っぼくならないかな？」と言われた。（漫画界では、もはやリーゼントとかガクランといったものは、ギャグの範囲に入っていた）
だけど1999年当時のリーゼントが自分にはむしろ新しさに思えたし、その髪形に未だにこだわる東方仗助というキャラクターが、町を〝守る〟主人公としてピッタリに思えた。
『第3部スターダストクルセイダース』では、東京からエジプトへの旅が背景のテーマになっていたのだけれども、旅の途中に出てくる〝敵〟のタイプといったものが、追跡して襲撃してくる者たちの形式をとらざるをえなかった事に対して、「じっくり待って蜘蛛のように主人公にワナをしかける」タイプの敵を作者的に描きたくなっていた。
……というわけで『第4部 ダイヤモンドは砕けない』は、町を背景のテーマとして描いて行こうと自然と決まっていった。
「道路を歩いてカドを曲がったらパン屋がある」といった風に、実際に読者が住んでるかのような感じにしたいと思った。
そこで作者的にはやっぱり描きやすいのは、子供の頃から住んでいた生まれ故郷（宮城県仙台市）を思いながらという事になる。
子供の頃に遊んだり、サイクリングに行った田畑や山林といった場所が、70年代後半から80年代にかけて一気に開発され、新しい町が仙台市の郊外ではたくさんできた。
道路も家も庭もピカピカで新しく、みんな幸せそうだ。だけど、子供の頃あそこの山には昔の墓がゴロゴロたおれていて、幽霊が出るからヤバイだの、第二次大戦時の防空壕跡で人が殺されただの、あそこの沼で入水自殺の死体があがっただの聞かされてた場所が切り開かれ埋めたてられて町ができたのだ。
自分的には「じゃあ、あそこにいた幽霊はどこ行っちゃったんだ？」と、そりゃあ不気味で不気味で、「一見平和で美しいけど真実なのか？」……と言った理由からの、〝モデル〟がこの〝杜王町〟。第4部の舞台である。
杜王町は開発の名のもと、破壊された個人的な郷愁への批判もこめられた象徴でもあるのだ。
平和で幸せそうな人々が実は、家の中では何してるのかわからないぞ。その感覚が杜王町に住む人たちなのである。
第4部は後半、最大の敵の殺人鬼が出てくるが、それは、第4部あとがきの時ふれる事にする。
…とはいえ『第4部 ダイヤモンドは砕けない』は『ジョジョの奇妙な冒険』中、最も〝自分の身内
「モデルは彼でしょ？」だとか「オレの名前使うなよ」とか「セリフ盗ったな」とか親戚友人から大いに喜ばれました。
自分的にも好きな食べ物とか、ファッションとかお店とか、本当、楽しんで描いた思い出があるし、あまり趣味に走りすぎて、不気味さが損なわれないようブレーキをかける方に苦労したシリーズでもあります。
機会があったら、まだ描かれていない町の部分や新しい住民をさらに描いて、より深い杜王町を作ってみたいな……という気にもなっています。
「親しくお付き合いはしたくはないけれど、なんか好きな人たちなんだよな」
Volume 12 (29)
Sometimes I think I do it just because it's my job, but whenever I draw manga, my shoulders and hips ache, and I seem to get sick to my stomach. (Also, do you know about "tight glutes"? I sit in a chair for too long, which causes stiffness and fatigue in my hip muscles, as if they were a stiff neck.) Anyway, when I draw manga, there are always times when I put myself in physical pain. During those times especially, I think to myself, "Why do I draw manga? There must be an easier way to live. I can't keep doing this unless there's some meaning to it." If the idea or the work is very well-received, the problem might not be so serious yet. On the other hand, when the physical pain is overwhelming and the work isn't good enough (when you work every day, times like those are inevitable), it really makes me stop and ask myself, "Why do I draw manga?!"
There may not be a definite answer, but it reminds me of a story. Orson Welles, an American filmmaker and actor, performed a radio program in either the 1940s or 1950s. It was a science fiction story about aliens coming to and invading Earth by the title of The War of the Worlds. When the program was broadcast as a faked news report, people listening to the radio believed that aliens had really arrived, and entire cities started to panic. The confusion was so great that it became a social problem, and Orson Welles was ultimately forced to formally apologize on the air and in the papers, saying "of course, I'm terribly sorry now." But when I heard this story, I immediately imagined the following: when Orson Welles bowed his head and apologized, he definitely stuck out his tongue at an angle where people couldn't see it... No doubt about it! I swear he was laughing in his heart! (I know he was!) This part of the story seems to hold the answer to the question of why I draw manga. It's hard work, but there's a kind of fun to it that no one else knows about... That's what I think.
I'm aware that JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable is a work that took a creative stance on many of its aspects. (I'm not saying I cheated the readers. I mean that I drew it in a way that people don't understand and enjoy.) There's no end to the number of specific examples I could give, so I'll leave it up to the reader to imagine what they want to see explained, but I'll tackle the biggest portion of it here: the character of Josuke Higashikata. I had wanted to draw a dumb character for a long time (because I had never drawn such a character before), and I imagined that the intelligent storyline and dumb character would contrast each other perfectly.
I began drawing Part 4 with a promise in my mind: "My older brother, who's a bit of an idiot but has a kind heart, happens to be a Stand user." The first reaction of my editors and readers was: "Huh? A pompadour? What a stupid hero! And do people like that even exist in 1999? Are you sane?!" In short, he was unpopular. I would respond with, "I did it! I really hate to be unpopular, but I'm also a little glad that it wasn't accepted from the beginning." I thought that the perfect contrast would reveal itself later as the pages piled up. Moreover, I had a lot of fun during the creative period designing the character of Josuke. (By the way, Okuyasu Nijimura and Shigechi are also dumb characters...) I felt as if he was a real friend by my side. "This is what creating manga is all about," I thought to myself. Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable ended up being the period in which I learned that lesson.
Even though they were antagonists, Yoshikage Kira and Rohan Kishibe were also characters that I enjoyed creating. They were murderers and unforgivable villains, but (though I don't want to say too much) I found their lives enviable. They must have had difficult childhoods, but they have a positive outlook on life, always affirming themselves without playing the victim, and the strength of their spirit was enough to get them through difficult crises. If you ignore the fact that Yoshikage Kira kills people, I feel like he's the very image of my ideal hero, and drawing him made me feel ecstatic.
But stories and encounters with people always have to come to an end. When I approached the end of the story, I felt really lonely. I didn't want to leave everyone. That's how I really felt. Josuke Higashikata. Yoshikage Kira. Koichi. Okuyasu. Rohan Kishibe. Reimi Sugimoto. Hayato Kawajiri. "Goodbye, Morioh," I said with a tear in my eye.[Translated by HudgynS]
子供の時に漫画を描き始めて、そして初めて作品の雑誌掲載が決まってから二十数年、その事をずっと考え統けてるのかもしれない。
自分はなぜ漫画を描くのだろうか？
仕事だからって思う時もあるけれど、漫画描いていると必ず肩とか腰とか痛んできて、胃まで気持ち悪くなったりするし（あと、おシリが
とにかく漫画描いていると、肉体的に苦痛のある時がしょっちゅうなのだ。そんな時など特に「自分はなぜ漫画を描くんだ？ もっと楽な生き方だってあるはず。なにかの『意味』がないとこんな事やってらんないぜ」と……強く考えてしまう。アイデアや作品の出来が大好評ならまだ問題は浅いかもしれない。だが肉体的なダメージが深い時に、作品の出来もいまいちだったりすると（毎日仕事してると、誰にもそういう時が絶対にある）本当にさらに深く、なんで漫画って描くんだッ!?って考えこんでしまう。
確かな答えなんてないのかもしれないが、ある話を思い出す。
オーソン・ウェルズといつアメリカの映画作家兼俳優が、一九四〇年代だか五〇年代だかに、ラジオの番組をやったそうだ。
タイトルは『宇宙戦争』というSFで、内容は宇宙人が地球を侵略しに来るという話。これをニュース番組の演出形式で放送したら、ラジオを聴いていた人が本当に宇宙人がやって来たと信じ込んでしまい、街中がパニックになってしまったらしい。あまりの混乱で社会問題にまでなって、ついにオーソン・ウェルズは放送やマスコミを通して謝罪せざるを得なくなり、正式にあやまった。「本当に申し訳ない事をしました」…と。
だけど、ぼくはこの話を聞いた時、次の事をただちに想像した。
オーソン・ウェルズは頭を下げてあやまった時、人から見えない角度で絶対にべロを出したなー……と。間違いない！ 心の中では絶対笑ってた！……と（ぼくにはわかる！）。
このエピソード、
「とてもつらいんだけど、誰にもわからない楽しみもある」………と。
『ジョジョの奇妙な冒険Part4ダイヤモンドは砕けない』は、そんな部分が多い創作姿勢をとった作品だと認識している（読者をだましたって事ではないよ。人にはわからない楽しみ方をして描いたという意味）。
具体的にどこがどうと細かく例をあげていくとキリがないので、まあ読者に勝手に想像していただくとしてだが、大きいところを解説すると、やはリ東方杖助のキャラクターだろう。ぼくはこの時期、どうしても頭の悪いキャラを描きたくて描きたくて目標としてかかげ（今まで描いた事のなかったキャラだから）、知的なストーリー展開とその頭悪キャラは必ずや絶妙なコントラストを奏でるだろう……と想像した。
「頭はバカだが心はやさしいお兄さんがスタンド使いなんだよ」と心に誓ってPart4を描き始めた。すると編集と読者の反応がまず「え？ リーゼント？ ダせぇ主人公！ しかも1999年には、そんなヤツもういないんじゃあないの？ 大丈夫？」みたいな不評。
「やった！ 不評なのはイヤだけど。でもなんか最初から認められないのも、ちょっとうれしい」。絶妙なコントラストってのは、のちのちページが重ねられると出てくるものだと思ったからだ。しかも杖助のキャラを創ってる間は本当に楽しい創作期間だった（ついでにバカ頭キャラは虹村億泰とか重ちーもいて…）。いつしか杖助は本当に自分の側にいる仲間のように思えてきた。漫画の創作とはこうゆう事のために行われる事なのだと思った。
『Part4ダイヤモンドは砕けない』はこの事を学んだ時期だった。
敵ではあるが吉良吉影と岸辺露伴もキャラを創っていて楽しい登場人物だった。
殺人鬼でとても許せない悪党だが、（人にはあまり言えないが）とてもあこがれる存在となった。
つらい少年時代を送っているに違いないが、人生には前向きで、常に自分を被害者づらなど決してせず、肯定している所、つらい危機的な状況をなんとか切り抜ける精神の強さなどだ。吉良吉影は殺人を犯している所をのぞけば、本当にぽくのヒーロー像そのものだと感じ、描いてる間はとても幸せだった。
東方杖助。吉良吉影。康一くん。億泰。岸辺露伴。杉本鈴美。川尻早人。
さよなら杜王町、って感傷にひたった。
