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Genesis of Universe
Postscript
PostscriptIn principle, a manga author is unable to reread his own work and enjoy it. It’s because of this that I find extraordinary the fact that every so often versions of my works are made involving media other than the comics themselves.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has already been given several adaptations, from the Drama CDs to the animated series (and, later on, multiple video games), and now there’s also a novel. Through other authors’ reimaginings I’m able to understand much more about my own work. I can experience it from a completely different point of view, like that of a reader, for example, and comprehend what aspects have interested the audience, and which perhaps I had never noticed. It is a bit like travelling around the world and distance yourself from your own home country, Japan in my case, and rediscover its charm precisely because people from other nations spoke to you enthusiastically about it.
To enjoy your own work from the point of view of a reader and discover new things is, in short, an experience without comparison. In this case, it was even more so because I found myself having to create the illustrations, based on the story that other authors came up with, and which is greatly different from what I usually make.
A manga page and an illustration are more different than what one might normally think, and I was very apprehensive despite JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure being my own creation. While making them, I kept asking myself if the illustrations were like what the novel’s authors had imagined.
At the same time, I was working on producing the fourth part of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, whose protagonist was Josuke Higashikata. In the book, instead, the characters from the third part show up, Jotaro and Joseph Joestar, Polnareff and Kakyoin, Avdol and Iggy, who were and still are for me like old friends.
Working together with them again was truly moving for me.「作者」というのは、自分の作品を読むことができないものです。だから、自分の作品が漫画以外のメディアになり、楽しむことができる――これは、何とスリリングなできごとであろうか!
『 ジョジョの奇妙な冒険』は、CDブック化、ビデオアニメ化(11月19日(金)発売)され、今こうしてJ―BOOKSに於て活字化されたわけですが、こうした「他人」の手による『ジョジョの奇妙な冒険」に触れると、今まで見えてこなかった新たな発見があります。
他のクリエイターの手による新しいアイデア、ストーリーを読むことによって、 自分の作品が「他人」にどう読まれているかが客観的にわかり、今まで気づかずにいた自分の作品の思わぬ「魅力」を見つけることができるのです。
「外国」に出かけて改めて「日本」の良さに気づいたり、「他人」に指摘されて「自分」の思わぬ「魅力」を知ったりといった、そんな新鮮な発見と同じことだと思います。
こうして、「読者」の目で自分の作品を楽しみ、発見する――作者にとってこれ以上のスリリングな体験はありません。
また、今回、この小説にイラストレーションという形で参加したわけですが、「他人」のイメージした「小説」にイラストを描いていくということは、自分のイメージを絵にしてゆく「漫画」と違った作業で、新鮮でスリリングな仕事でした。小説を書いた方のイメージにぴったり合ったイラストになっているでしょうか? 最後に、現在連載の方は、東方仗助を主人公にした第4部を描いているのですが、高校生の承太郎、ジョセフ、ポルナレフ、花京院、アヴドゥル、ギーと旧友に再会したょうて作者としては楽もいです。PostscriptLe Bizzarre Avventure di JoJo constitutes the longest Japanese comic book series ever published in Italy. Thanks to its structure (now commonly called ‘generational saga’), it has successfully been able to span an entire decade. Starting from the distant November, 1993, when it cropped up on Italian bookstalls, which was when the publishing phenomenon of manga was still in its beginning.
What would have initially seemed like a miniseries taking place in the United Kingdom at the end of the 1800s created some characters that caught everyone’s attention. Among them was Jonathan Joestar (the protagonist), Dio Brando (the bad guy), and the thug Speedwagon.
It was an action horror, which concluded leaving a door open for future events, thanks to the theory of the Ripple (a breathing technique aimed at dramatically improving physical faculties) and the mysterious Stone Mask (thanks to which a human being could become immortal).
The foundations were laid. And thus, in the second part the genius Hirohiko Araki could pick up the Joestar’s family strange events through one of their descendants, Joseph, who around the time of the Second World War finds himself taking up the task of saving the world from a menace of the ancient world. With that problem solved, Joseph can peacefully grow old until the day when, in the late half of the 80s, the threat of Dio Brando once again shakes things up for the Joestar family. And with this they develop the mysterious and powerful Stands.
It is right during this third part that the two stories of this book take place, that is, while the crusaders are headed to Cairo in the hopes of permanently putting to rest the evilest of comic book villains ever created. Cruel and immoral enough to go as far as to join his head to his adoptive brother Jonathan Joestar’s body in order to continue his dark existence in this world.
This book should be read as if it were an extra episode (or rather, two) of the comic book series, like some sort of sunken treasure that is found after many years. The manga of Le Bizzarre Avventure di JoJo is still being published in our country, and has reached the sixth part, taking place in 2011, where the protagonist is Jolyne Kujo, daughter of the same Jotaro present in these pages. In the meantime, the public has also become captivated by the events narrated in the urban thriller of the fourth part, taking place in 1999 (with Josuke Higashikata, illegitimate son of a very old Joseph), and the gangster tale of the fifth part, taking place in 2001 (Giorno Giovanna, descendant of Dio Brando and–for the reasons described previously –of Jonathan Joestar). And it is during this part, the entirety of which develops on Italian ground, where the next novel of Le Bizzarre Avventure di JoJo takes place, soon to be published by Kappa Edizioni.Le Bizzarre Avventure di JoJo costituiscono la più lunga serie a fumetti giapponese pubblicata in Italia. Grazie alla sua struttura (chiamata ormai comunemente 'saga generaziona-le'), ha potuto attraversare con successo un intero decennio, dal lontano novembre del 1993 quando apparve nelle edicole italiane, ovvero quando il fenomeno editoriale del manga era ancora agli inizi.
Quella che inizialmente doveva sembrare una miniserie ambientata alla fine del 1800 nel Regno Unito generò alcuni personaggi che conquistarono l'attenzione di tutti, fra cui Jonathan Joestar (il protagonista), Dio Brando (il cattivo di turno) e il ladro Speedwagon.
Si trattava di un horror d'azione, che si concluse lasciando una porta aperta a futuri eventi, grazie alla teoria delle Onde Concentriche (una tecnica di respirazione volta a migliorare a dismisura le capacità fisiche) e alla misteriosa Maschera di Pietra (grazie alla quale un essere umano poteva diventare immortale).
Le basi erano tracciate. E così, nella seconda serie il geniale Hirohiko Araki poté riprendere in mano le tenebrose vicende della famiglia Joestar attraverso uno dei suoi discendenti, Joseph, che durante gli anni della Seconda Guerra Mondiale si trova a dover salvare il mondo da una minaccia archeolo-gica. Risolto il problema, Joseph può invecchiare in santa pace fino al giorno in cui, nella seconda metà degli Anni Ottanta, la minaccia di Dio Brando torna a far tremare la famiglia Joestar, e con essa si sviluppano i misteriosi e potentissimi stand.
È proprio all'interno di questa terza serie che si situano i due racconti di questo libro, ovvero mentre la compagnia si diri-ge al Cairo nel tentativo di eliminare una volta per tutte il più maligno dei cattivi da fumetto che sia mai stato creato al mondo, tanto crudele e privo di scrupoli da arrivare a unire la propria testa al corpo del fratellastro Jonathan Joestar pur di far proseguire la sua tenebrosa esistenza in questo mondo. Questo romanzo va dunque letto come se si trattasse di un episodio extra (o meglio, due) della serie a fumetti, come una sorta di tesoro sommerso che torna alla luce dopo anni e anni. Il manga de Le Bizzarre Avventure di JoJo è tuttora in corso di pubblicazione nel nostro paese, ed è giunto alla sesta serie, ambientata nel 2011, in cui la protagonista è Jolyne Kujo, figlia dello stesso Jotaro che agisce in queste pagine.
Nel frattempo, hanno affascinato il pubblico italiano anche le vicende narrate nel thriller metropolitano della quarta serie ambientata nel 1999 (con Josuke Higashikata, figlio illegittimo di un vecchissimo Joseph) e la gangster story della quinta serie ambientata nel 2001 (Giorno Giovanna, discendente di Dio Brando e - per le ragioni sopra descritte - di Jonathan Joestar): è proprio all'interno di questa saga, che si snoda completamente su suolo italiano, che è ambientato il successivo romanzo de Le Bizzarre Avventure di JoJo, di prossima pubblicazione per Kappa Edizioni.
