Gorgeous Irene (ゴージャス★アイリン, Gōjasu Airin), titled The Gorgeous Irene in the aizōban, bunkoban, and digital editions, is a compilation of one-shots from Hirohiko Araki.
The tankobon edition includes artwork of Irene Rapona between short stories, while all subsequent editions instead include two full-color illustrations before the table of contents. The English titles used in the aizōban edition onward were contributed by Kazuhiko Kairiku, and the cover for the aizōban edition was designed by Mitsuru Kobayashi.
My father and mother, who are over 50 years old, do not read my manga. They look at the pictures, but they don't seem to understand them. Or rather, they don't know how to read manga. My goal is to draw a work that will make them say, "That's fascinating!" What kind of work would that be...? Also, my debut work Poker Under Arms is reproduced here with love!
Regarding My Early Short Stories What perspectives and ways of thinking did I use when writing these short stories? I'll try to remember... When I made my debut as a manga artist in December 1980, I had no doubt in my mind that the basis of a good story was suspense. There are many manga artists I like, but I especially learned a lot from the manga techniques of Mitsuteru Yokoyama (Babel II) and Sanpei Shirato (Legend of Kamui). Both of them are characterized by their prowess at building suspense: once you read a single page, you can't help but think, "Wh- What's going to happen next?!" and you'll have to keep running to the bookstore until you finish reading the final page. I need to study suspense!
Up until I turned 20, I only read novels, movies, and comics with boats in them. But looking back on them now, I realize that all of my favorite works have one thing in common: they all tell their stories by building unparalleled suspense. That's why I had to study them. I wanted to create manga with that in mind. There was one other element I needed: a style. To be honest, I didn't quite know yet what my own style would look like. Professional manga artists would take a look at my work and say, "Ah! What an artist!" and yet I hadn't the slightest idea of how to create a unique style for myself. Whenever I tried to draw detailed art, someone would say to me, "You're just copying your teacher," and so I felt like I was groping in the dark to find something that worked.
Author's Note
