SUPER MASTERS BOOK in BOOK Vol.1 - Super Jump (October 2008)
KochiKame Vol. 160 (June 2008)
Interview Archive
A short interview with Hirohiko Araki published in the "SUPER MASTERS BOOK in BOOK Vol.1" booklet for Super Jump's 20th anniversary. It was included with Super Jump #21 2008, released on October 8, 2008.[1][2]
Interview
Reading is a gift of friendship!
Interviewer: Please tell us about the time you were working on Under Execution, Under Jailbreak.
Araki: When my first editor became deputy editor-in-chief of Super Jump, he asked me to draw a short story for him. I wasn't sure what to do at first. But once I began working on it, I enjoyed it quite a lot. That work in particular was difficult, but I also took it as a challenge to pursue suspense above all else.
Interviewer: You also wrote a short story called The Lives of Eccentrics back when Super Jump first entered publication, didn't you?
Araki: That was also a request from my first editor. "It would be appreciated if you could draw a short story for the new magazine's launch." That's the way those often come about. They're the results of connections between people... the products of friendship, you could say. For that reason, because I lacked any intention of making a smash hit, I really enjoyed drawing it.
Interviewer: What image do you get from Super Jump?
Araki: A magazine full of scary seniors in sports clubs... (laughs). At the time, Hiroshi Motomiya, a judge for the Rookie of the Year Award, was also working on his own series, and I was very nervous to be in the same magazine as him. Cobra debuted as a new serialization in the same issue where Under Execution, Under Jailbreak was first published. Buichi Terasawa had his eye on me since before my debut, so the thought of being in the company of such people made me even more anxious.
Interviewer: Which work from your 20-year career do you think is the most impressive?
Araki: I guess it would have to be continuously drawing JoJo's Bizarre Adventure without taking a break, at least until Part 5. But even when the title changed, I never took a break... Of course, I had my meetings to keep up with, but I also went overseas to conduct interviews abroad. Looking back, I don't know how I pulled it off.
Interviewer: Do you have a message for the readers of Super Jump?
Araki: Please be the kind of reader who both values the big names and nurtures the new authors.
[Translated by HudgynS]
読切とは、"友情の賜物"!!
── 『死刑執行中脱獄進行中』を描かれた時のエピソードをお聞かせ下さい。
僕の初代担当がSJ副編集長になった時に読切を描いてくれないか? という依頼があって。どうしようと思いましたが、作業に入ったら楽しかったです。特にあの作品はハードな仕事でしたが、ひたすら"サスペンスを追求する"という挑戦でもありましたから。
──先生はSJ創刊当初にも読切『変人偏屈列伝』を執筆されましたが?
それもやはり初代担当からの依頼ですね。新雑誌が創刊するので読切を描いてほしい、と。読切はそういう流れで描く事が多いです。人の繋がりというか…友情の賜物ですね。だから、売れようとかいう邪念はなく、楽しく描いてたと思います。
──先生にとってSJのイメージは?
体育会系のコワい先輩方がいらっしゃる雑誌･･･でしょうか(笑)当時は、新人賞時代の審査員だった本宮ひろ志先生も連載されていて、同じ雑誌に載って緊張しましたね。『死刑執行中〜』が掲載された号は、ちょうど『コブラ』が新連載だったんですが、寺沢武一先生にはデビュー前から気にかけていただいていたので、そういう方々に囲まれていると思うと余計に緊張しました。
──20年間で最も印象深いお仕事は?
『ジョジョの奇妙な冒険』を第5部まで休載せずに描き続けた事でしょうか。シリーズが変わる時も休まなくて…。打ち合わせはもちろん、海外へ取材も行っていのに、今となってはどうやっていたのか分かりませんね。
──SJ読者にメッセージをお願いします。
大御所を大切にして、新人作家を育てるような読者であって下さい。
Gallery
Full interview
Inside sketch
Super Jump #21, 2008
