User:Nabu/Sandbox

SBR BUnkos


 * "In 2004 i started drawing Jojo's Bizzare Adventure Part 7 Steel Ball Run,that being the story of Johnny Joestar and Gyro Zeppeli and their participation in the great race throughout the North American continent from San Diego on the West Coast to New York on the East Coast. I'd now like to share with you all some memories regarding the genesis of this work.

Part 1: The Protagonists Each one of them has their own family problems: Johnny and his relationship with his dad and Gyro with his lineage. Its almost as if their own births were a contradiction,therefore they accept the challenge of the race,pushed by a desire to take control of their lives. The other characters as well have a positive attitude and those who hide the power of a Stand are very confident in themselves. That being said,maintaining a positive attitude is a tiresome way to live life,afterall to find a bit of peace they only have 2 choices: retire from the race or reach New York." I'm gonna do these one at the time if you don't mind

Up until this work,in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure i created stands with the intent of representing through images those elements which are impossible to perceive with earthly eyes yet still exist. Basically,my target was all the physical phenomenons and the entire Creation (i think he means as in everything on Earth?) Transforming flames into characters or drawing time itself stuff like that. With the previous work "Stone Ocean" i had a sort of sense of fulfillment,as if i pretty much reached that purpose. So,what should have i done next? When i started drawing it,i had a a predilection for rotations (specifically the spiral rotations). The flames that i designed resembled whirlwinds,the splashes of water flew in vortexes,the body joints bended as if screwed together,hair grew in a sinuous way,the tree branches connected recurved to the main stem,the petals of flowers were like spirals,the shadows which touched rocks seemed like they were rotating etc.. By dint of drawing things like these i reached to the conclusion that rotations and spirals gave a clear explanation to every phenomenon in this world of ours. Had i made a stand out of them it probably would have been extremely powerful. Additionally by concentrating on the rotation as rebirth then most likely the story too would have gone back to it's starting point. It is by this reasoning that i convinced myself that SBR had to be set in the same time period as part 1,that being the end of the XIX century.
 * "Part 2: The Stands

I love stories in which characters grow through a journey,i think it's a universal experience. In the recent years you can just search on the internet to obtain whatever type of information,therefore research trips are no longer necessary. However,there are places which are necessary to be seen in person to perceive their magnitude and in which we must live to truly comprehend the other side of the coin,with their misery or inequity and understand what would happen if for example we were to find ourselves without milk. (I have absolutely zero clue what this entire paragraph means,maybe i'm just dumb) Pushed by the desire to experiment these sentiments i went on a discovery trip on a Cessna and in a car starting from a desert in the Far West. Not that it has anything to do with SBR but i was particularly by the abandoned cemeteries of planes right in the middle of nowhere. Subsequently i went for a walk of 5 days and 4 nights in the mountains of Kumano Kodo (a group of ancient pilgrimage footpaths,patrimony of UNESCO since 2004) in the prefecture of Wakayama in Japan. I wanted to find out what would happen if i were to walk for 20 kilometers in a row every day,and so i did. See,now maybe this experience has some relevancy to SBR. Past four o'clock the marvelous panorama offered by the forests becomes increasingly darker,more than you could image. One day i happened to see an old lady,all alone,coming out of the dark and saying "If i hadn't met that kid i would have certainly been lost and i would have been in trouble!" (what kid was she talking about?!). After 2 days fo walking my muscles started to hurt a lot,the phone had no signal and it seemed to get so much heavier that each day i would ponder the idea of just throwing it away. These are the contradictions of useless inventions. Jesus man i can now safely say that Araki fucks
 * Part 3: Research

President Valentine who appears in the second half of SBR is the last boss,the worst enemy,the big bad,an extremely evil person. However i would like to explain why he is a villain from the POV of the protagonists Johnny and Gyro. President Valentine uses the Steel Ball Run race to collect the treasures neccessary to transform his native country into the greatest and biggest nation in the world and to steer it towards a new era. Basically,through the sporting event,he plans to conquer the the sympathy of the people and obtain the rights for his fellow countrymen. He is aware that the future will bring the passage from horses to machines and knows that democracy means the acquisition of rights of a capitalist economy. That being said,a person who doesn't know egoism is truly terrifying. In practice the ideas of President Valentine are much more valid than those of our protagonists Johnny,Gyro,Stephen Steel etc.. In the SBR this president who wants to follow the rightful path is the antagonist by antanomasia. (Look up the meanings online) In him resides the contradiction that exists between good and evil. It's sort of a paradox. However it may be...what is happiness? If happiness coincided with the victory of truth,then it would have to be the objective of this era? In the end will Johnny and Gyro really be able to achieve it? The publication of this work switched from being Weekly Shonen Jump to the monthly Ultra Jump,not just because after many years the weekly deadlines began to feel stressing,but also because I felt that in SBR the "Area" which i could draw had grew a lot (I'm referring to the number of pages per chapter) I sensed that i could improve on the proportions between backgrounds and characters and i felt that i found an ideal ryhtim to develop this manga which,by its nature,is more suited to being monthly.
 * Part 4: The Enemies
 * Part 5: Area


 * "Recently I managed to calm myself down quite a bit....well,let's say that instead of arguing,which is something that just tires me out,i prefer obeying what i'm being told. During the time i was writing Vento Aureo I really tormented myself regarding the matter of "self censorship" in boys' manga. With "self censorship" I'm talking about the request to an author,from the editorial board,to stop drawing,or at the very least to soften,certain elements of your story which haven't been deemed presentable (such as for example,discriminatory phrases,expressions which might appear as racist,the way skin color is drawn,violent scenes or abuse on both the weak and animals,callbacks to real life crimes,the representation of nude bodies,smoking or drinking habits etc..) I wanna make it clear right away that what i am about to write here isn't a critique towards my editors but simply the real sensations that I,Hirohiko Araki,felt while writing Vento Aureo."

When representing the clash between good and evil it is necessary to describe evil in a realistic way,and it's here that the power of "self censorship" in Shonen Manga really strikes the heaviest of blows in the story that you're trying to write. Smoking,being relentless towards the weak,sexually molesting someone,stabbing him with a knife,cutting off heads,abusing men and women,gouging eyes out,eating brain matter: all these are examples of pure evil. To express the evil shadows of human beings a minimum of cruelty and brutality is essential.
 * Having reached the fifth part of the series I desired to write a story which would deal with topics such as the deep sadness in us human beings,or the pain of being born into this world,and i wanted to do it in a stronger manner than the other parts beforehand. Depending on the circumstances in which they are born there are people who are lucky from the very start,but how would these individuals act if they had been born in a different place instead,one which much harsher conditions? In Vento Aureo all the protagonists have been,in one way or another for whatever reason been estranged from society and forced to live on its boundaries. We are talking about an environment in which the strong eat the weak and one where evil pervades everything. In such a situation is it still possible for these characters to find justice?

I'll say it again,this is absolutely not a critique in regards to my editors,neither am i insinuating that they took a flighty attitude. (Truth is that I've always been very grateful to my editors!) All i'm trying to say is that during that period,while i was writing Vento Aureo that sensation was there with me. It is nothing else but a simple personal impression.
 * Despite having happened sporadically in previous years,as soon as i started Vento Aureo (around 1996) suddenly the editorial board started sending me more and more requests along the lines of "fix this page" ,"change that line","modify the drawing" and so on. I would like to show you precisely which dialogues and pages i'm talking about but it would be a long list so its better to leave that out. Additionally although these requests were rarely motivated,even those which were but never in a convincing manner,the indications which were given to me were "...well,its just that there is kind of a regulation,plus the deadline is close and things just go like these in the board. Cmon hurry up and fix it! You'll think about the rest right?!


 * So it is easy to imagine just in what type of crisis i was in and how difficult it was for me to succesfully express in a satisfying manner the themes that i was trying to develop. Moreover, I kept asking to myself if by any chance a wall was definitevely built to limit the liberty of expression, if the possibilities for an artistic development in manga had ran out or if the ideology of authority and non stop profit weren't completely stripping away the sprouts of Art itself. Even now, despite being in a mch more relaxing condition, I can't give myself a final answer but what I felt in that era naturally transpired into the actions and attitudes of my characters.

Giorno and Bucciarati, two of the protagonists, betray the organization which they are part of for the sake of justice. The organization is a symbol of power and moral obligation, almost a second home for them, but they both decide to fight to follow the desire of living according to Justice. Even I, as an author, while I was drawing those scenes, felt courage swelling up inside of me. Thinking back on the sentiments of mhy protagonists never fails to bring tears to my eyes. If the two boys had decided to remain in the shadow of authority, maybe they would have went on live a safe and comfy life, but instead, even knowing the risks, they chose to path of justice, because only in its sign they would have been certain their existence mattered. Vento Aureo, between great Italian fashion and all the more creatuve Stand battles, is a story full of suspense but I also think, according to my judgemen as an author, can be considered a really dark work. Having said that and considering how at the times we can take on such heavy subjects, I am very proud of it. Just like with all the other parts, I hope with all my heart that you have fun reading it. About that parts that I had to cut I will talk about this in the afterthoughts on the last volume.

Sometimes,i suddenly get overwhelmed by periods in which i think about how weird things which i previously never cared about before really are and an unusual anger arises. It exists within me,this "Season of Hate",which is often however caused by the "Season of Agressions". Some time ago i happened to be with my parents and so,with lightness,i said this "You know,near my house there is this traffic light which turns red even in those moments of the day where cars are nowhere to be seen. I didn't care before and if there was no one i would just go ahead and pass anyway,lately however i began to think that it might not be such good behaviour so i now decided to stop and stand still there until it turned green." As soon as I finished saying this i started getting bombarded with a flurry of comments such as "Oh c'mon nobody does that anymore!" and "You are giving me a headache! What you trying to play goody two shoes now?!" and even "You are an hypocrite! You just want someone to see you so he can write about it on 2channel!" Heck.(modifié) Here it is. The "Season of Aggressions" has arrived. If you get attacked for saying or doing something wrong there's nothing wrong with that,but i did no such thing. I mean i didn't even pass with the red light. See,this is the "Season of Aggressions",that period of time when people get angry at me for reasons that i fail to comprehend. And when it inexorably presents itself again,even when there are arguments on which i could easily clap back,i just end up being assailed and suffer even more. Because of this the only thing that i can do is sit and wait it out until it passes one more time,just like people affected by pollen allergies,on hold,until the cause of their nuisance flies away. In these circumstances the saying "The best defense is a good offense" does not work.
 * Part 6 Afterword:

Ever since she was little she lived in Florida,in the United States,and since Jotaro was really busy in Morioh-Cho she grew up without the presence of a father figure and she now became a young woman with an absent father. Jolyne has certainly inherited the tough and cool headed side of her family,but she slowly but surely went towards a path of restlessness. Her mother just scolds her. She falls in love with a guy whose affection she blindly trusts. He represents the love and affection that she never got from his father. But its precisely this sentiment that will drag Jolyne into a crazy world. Will she be able to free herself from it like "unraveling a string"? And will she mature as a person? This is the lay out that i had in mind when writing Stone Ocean and its protagonist.
 * The Bizarre Adventures of Jojo have finally reached its sixth protagonist-Jolyne Kujo-and she too is in the middle of this "Season of Aggressions"


 * "Gorgeous☆Irene" a short story which had a woman has a protagonist,but in that time period i just, don't know,kinda felt something was off....I perceived a weird atmosphere telling me that a female protagonist wouldn't work in my works and so i scrapped the idea of turning it into an actual series. Now almost 15 years have passed and i'm convinced that,in some way,the times have changed. Today we live in an era in which,even if a girl takes a punch or her finger goes flying or gets pushed down a building,you can really have a strong atmosphere. The responsibility is all on her dad's shoulders,Jotaro Kujo. He is the one that at the start comes in to save her daughter,but then ends up getting saved by none other than her,therefore favoring the internal growth of the girl. It seems to me that putting yourself out there by inserting a character like this into a manga really pays off. We can be men and women,but the blood relations and the sentiments which derive from them are elements which we all inherit.

I could enter three sections and not the male detention one because it was deemed too dangerous,I was only able to see the kitchen and the model prisoners working there. In any case it wasn't a huge prison like the one where Jolune Kujo was incarcerated in,rather it was a very high tech one and in some way reminded me of Roppongi Hills. (Big urban complex in Roppongi,a Tokyo district) At the entrance i was patted down to check what i was carrying with me and possible metal objects,then i took an elevator,walked,took another elevator,walked again,then another elevator in repetition. At every passage a heavy metal door with an electronic lock would be opened and closed,then another,an another and so on. During the way i was escorted by some guards of average rank. Doors can't speak,but it was like they were telling me that by now i couldn't leave that place anymore even if i willed it. I'm not sure if it was claustrophobia but i was very nervous,I felt like i was in a state of hyperventilation and my breathing was ragged. Some prisoners,no matter how many times i told them i was from Tokyo,wanted me to gift them a Bible in Korean. Furthermore,there was a woman with a massive body structure who looked just like the boss from a movie,seated next to her was instead a girl with a slim figure,probably her henchman,through which she asked me how old i was. When later i heartily described my feelings to the warden,the fact that i was really anxious to the point of suffocation he replied "Its the same for me every day. I always feel relieved when i can finally get out and go back home." Writing this sixth part,i keep questioning msyelf with concern over Jolyne's Kujo. If i was in the same situation i think that after just 3 hours of being put in i'd probably already feel destroyed. My impression is that,between all the previous Jojo protagonists she is the toughest one and that i desire for her to be happy the most,especially because as if that wasn't enough,she is right in the middle of the Season of Aggressions.
 * What does "Stone Ocean" mean? "Stone" is the will of Jolyne while "Ocean" symbolizes women. This Stone Ocean can also refer to the image of the prison in which the story is set. After having decided to draw Stone Ocean i wanted to collect some material and went to visit a prison in Florida. It was divided into 4 sections,juvenile detention,female detention,young male detention and death row,i could enter only after i was granted a permit. In America there are also "private" prisons in which a penalty discount becomes the equivalent of a commercial enterprise. (Not sure what he means)