In terms of Stand abilities (speaking from my own perspective), it felt at the time like I had drawn all that I needed to in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 6: Stone Ocean, and I felt a sense of creative satisfaction at the thought that, perhaps, I had reached the pinnacle of my ideas. Time itself was getting faster and faster and outpacing human senses, approaching infinity itself, or at least as close to infinity as possible. I thought to myself then that no Stand ability could ever surpass it. There was nothing more incredible I could draw. My ideas had indeed reached their pinnacle.
I've always believed that a sense of satisfaction or accomplishment is a dangerous feeling. To put it bluntly, speaking as a human being and a manga artist, the situation that arises from thinking that everything's turned out alright and nothing more needs to be done is a dangerous thing, for the development of society and civilization, for science, for philosophy, and especially for art. It's like a love that has burned itself out, an Ashita no Joe with no more battles to fight. We all work to achieve something, to find satisfaction, but what do we do after that? That was the contradictory feeling I had when I finished Stone Ocean.
The protagonist, Jolyne Cujoh, lacked the love from her father that she so desperately sought, which led to her involvement in a car accident and her incarceration. But then, by trying to save her father, she grows as a woman. The story of her growth as a protagonist is complete. What do we do now? I felt much the same way about the process of creating the manga itself. In other words, there's nothing left to draw. It's over. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has reached its peak. That is Stone Ocean. The end.
No, it still doesn't feel quite right. Maybe I'm just conceited, but this is still no good. That feeling of having accomplished something is a problem in and of itself. The red light's flashing. What can I do? What can I possibly do? And then it hit me.
We'll go back to the root. The Italian Renaissance was inspired by a return to ancient Greek and Roman concepts. The French painter Gauguin created a new painting by returning to nature in Tahiti. We'll make the Stand ability of the main villain, Father Pucci, even more powerful. That way, time, the protagonists, and the bloodline itself can make a full cycle of the universe and return to their origin. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure will abandon modern civilization and return to nature.
That is the end of Stone Ocean, which was changed and redrawn at the last minute. Moreover, it also brought out a sense of nostalgia. Jolyne Cujoh's memories are different, but her love and affection will remain and become eternal, and she will surely continue to grow and move forward. Speaking of which...
As I finished Part 6, I had a thought: the protagonist of the next part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Part 7, should be a protagonist who fights against nature, but also learns from nature and grows as a person as a result. Would Steel Ball Run (tentative) be a good title? Under normal circumstances, I probably wouldn't have said or written any of this. But it's an afterword written by the author. The afterword is what it is.[Translated by HudgynS]