Rohan Kishibe ★ History
A detailed chronological summary of the life of Rohan Kishibe.
Early life
When he was young, he was often left at his babysitter's house, Reimi Sugimoto. During the night of August 13, 1983, his parents had an important thing to attend to and so Rohan was left with Reimi. He was saved by Reimi at the cost of her own life from the serial killer Yoshikage Kira, but was in shock and couldn't serve as a witness. He intentionally chose to not remember much of this life in his adult years.
At some point during his childhood, Rohan, while playing on the beach, fell onto some rocks and broke ribs on the left side of his body. Because of that injury, he experiences pain in that area if he finds himself wherever there is extremely low atmospheric pressure.[1]
Years later, Rohan met a woman named Nanase Fujikura at the inn of his grandmother. Rohan, at the age of seventeen at the time, becomes intrigued by her and attempts to use her as a model for his drawing. Nanase shows interest in his drawings and asks to read his work once he finishes it.
Days later, Nanase tells him the story of Nizaemon Yamamura, who created the "Under the Moon", which Nanase describes as "the darkest painting in the world." She leaves the room to answer her phone briefly, but when Rohan goes to check on her, she appeared to be crying about her divorce and goes running out of the house.
A week later, she returned and Rohan knocked on her door. She opened the door and embraced him while crying. Rohan attempts to show her his drawings of her, but she suddenly becomes enraged and begins stabbing the drawings. She runs away crying again, only this time she doesn't come back.
Three months before the events of Diamond is Unbreakable, Keicho Nijimura shoots Rohan with an Arrow, awaking a Stand ability in him.
Diamond is Unbreakable
Meeting the other Stand Users
One day, Koichi Hirose and Toshikazu Hazamada, both fans of his work, attempt to ring at his doorbell to meet him. Rohan mistakes the youngsters for pranksters at first but the misunderstanding is cleared. Rohan is happy to meet his fans and invites the two boys inside with the intention of reading into their lives as inspiration. He brings the pair to his office and explains how he works to them. When he spots a spider, Rohan identifies it, guts it and licks its innards to gather the most information possible about the spider, which freaks out Koichi and Hazamada. When Hazamada pukes, Rohan tries to use this as an inspiration but he stops when he notices Hazamada is exaggerating his puking on purpose.
Rohan leaves the room under the pretense of making tea for his guests. He purposefully lets the drafts of his next chapter in the open so that Koichi and Hazamada are tempted into looking at it. Soon enough, both are turned into books by the power of Heaven's Door. He returns and reads the bio of a horrified Koichi, learning about his experiences and the other Stand Users in town. Fascinated by Koichi's colorful life and admiring Koichi's character, he decides to make the boy his muse. For his safety, he writes a command on Koichi forbidding him from doing Rohan any harm. Indeed, Echoes is forced to miss all its attacks. However, he is appalled by Hazamada's personality and refuses to use his life as material. When Koichi asks him why he's using such extreme methods to gather inspiration, Rohan angrily tells him that he's working to be read and that he's addicted to the rush of completing a chapter, meaning he will get his hand on material no matter what. Immediately after, Rohan rips several pages from Koichi. He then lets the boys leave with an autograph and a sketch, but secretly commands Koichi to come back. Moreover, Koichi still cannot harm Rohan and forgets about the incident every time he wants to call for help.
During the night, his new material inspires him so much he's practically completed a chapter in a few hours. When Koichi comes back in the morning, Rohan finishes his chapter and rips another page from Koichi's bio. When Okuyasu Nijimura and Josuke Higashikata knock at his door, Koichi crawls to the door and opens it. However, Rohan's command still makes Koichi unable to tell his friends about Rohan and the mangaka patiently waits for Koichi to return to his office. When Koichi returns, he again regains his memories. However, Josuke and Okuyasu have guessed that something is wrong because of an injury on Koichi's hand. Okuyasu threatens Rohan, but he uses Okuyasu's bio to his advantage and psyches him out. When Okuyasu attacks, Rohan shows him his latest page and turns him into a book. Rohan now awaits Josuke (who was right outside the office) to act.
To force Josuke to stay, Rohan orders Okuyasu to burn himself if Josuke leaves, forcing Josuke to step into the office. Josuke opts to keep his eyes closed and run into the general direction of Rohan. Somewhat impressed, Rohan throws pen nibs at Josuke's face, who keeps his eyes closed despite the pain. Then, Rohan decides to taunt Josuke about his hairstyle, knowing that he'll lose control of himself. Josuke approaches Rohan and summons Crazy Diamond. Although Rohan is faster than Crazy Diamond and shows his art before Josuke's Stand can land a punch, Josuke proves to be immune to Rohan's art because he is literally blinded by rage. Crazy Diamond pummels Rohan into his bookshelves. Despite everything, Rohan hears Josuke's tragic backstory and is inspired into etching more manga. However, Josuke finds him and violently beats him up again. Rohan is sent to the hospital. Rohan's manga, Pink Dark Boy, is suspended for a month as a result of his defeat.
The ghost of Reimi Sugimoto and the Killer
Upon leaving the hospital, Kishibe finds a lot of respect for Koichi, in whom he confides, and at the same time holds an extremely deep hatred towards Josuke. One day, Rohan feels some nostalgia about his childhood. Convinced that an artist should be in touch with their chilhood, Rohan decides to revisit the neightbourhood he lived in when he was 4, although he was few memories of that place. On his way, Rohan meets Koichi again and pressures the boy into following him. The two spot an unmapped alley and decide to explore it. Soon enough, they realize that the alleys in there are abandoned and that the path loops on itself despite the impossibility of it. Suddenly, a girl greets them. Rohan uses Heaven's Door on her, reading her bio in detail. He learns her name, Reimi Sugimoto but when he gets too personal, Koichi tells him to knock it off. Rohan decides to erase Reimi's recent memories to have a proper introduction. Reimi presents herself and nicely tells the pair to follow her to the exit, pretending that they are simply lost. When Reimi tries to play at pocky horoscope with them, Rohan dismisses it. Suddenly, Reimi decides to tell the two the horrifying story of a girl that was assassinated in one of the houses nearby. One night, a girl heard a disquieting dripping sound coming from her parents' room, but she knew that her dog was by her bed as it licked her hands when she put it down. When the dripping sound continued, the girl gathered the courage to check on it but saw with terror that her dog was dead, its throat slit, and hanging from a coat rack. The killer revealed himself from under the bed and killed the girl. After the story, Rohan sees the dog from the story, Arnold, and realizes that he's been talking to the ghost of the murdered girl.
Rohan and Koichi try to flee but are still stuck in the alleys. Reimi eventually calms them and explains herself. She's a revenant because she isn't at piece, knowing that her killer is still mudering people. Reimi begs Rohan and Koichi to bring the killer to justice, to which the two accepts although Rohan tells her he is more interested in the case as an inspiration. Reimi thus tells the pair how to exit the alley but warns them about spirits that will take them away if they turn back. As they approach the exit, Rohan and Koichi nervously keep walking as they hear and feel things behind them. When Koichi is tricked into turning back, Rohan thankfully uses Heaven's Door to command Koichi's to fly towards the exit. Reimi tells the pair that she will be waiting on the spot and salutes Rohan, which she calls "Rohan-chan".
When Rohan investigates the cemetery to confirm Reimi's story, he meets a local monk who not only confirms her story but also informs him that he was present at the time of the crime. Reimi was babysitting him and threw him from the window to keep him safe from the killer when he attacked her.
The Killer surfaces
When Yoshikage Kira, Reimi's killer, kills Shigekiyo Yangu, the Stand Users in town are alerted and gather at Reimi's place. They all agree to work together to find the killer, and Rohan.
Although Jotaro and Koichi acquire a solid lead thanks to a button Shigechi left the heroes, Kira unleashes an automatic sub-Stand on them. After a fight, Kira is seemingly cornered but he manages to flee. Worse, he uses Aya Tsuji to change his face with an anonymous salaryman. The heroes lose track of Yoshikage Kira, who has changed identity.
Janken-boy
The ghost of Yoshihiro Kira decides to create as many Stand Users as possible in an effort to kill the heroes. One of them, Ken Oyanagi, is a boy who decides to defeat Rohan to make a name for himself. While Rohan takes photographies of every commuter in Morioh, Ken confronts him and asks him to play rock-paper-scissors. Rohan uses Heaven's Door to confirm he isn't an enemy and then ignores him as he believes Ken is an ordinary boy. However, when Rohan calls a taxi, Ken overtakes him into the car and forces a first round. Rohan wins with a "rock". At a café, Rohan sees Josuke, Okuyasu and Yukako sitting together; although they invite him, Rohan looks down on each of them and decides to sit alone. However, Ken steals his seat and makes a scene, forcing Rohan to play again. Rohan wins the second round with "paper". At a bookshop, Ken again takes a book Rohan was interested in. Angry, Rohan punches Ken in retaliation but loses the round because he technically played "rock" against Ken's "paper".
Ken's Stand, Boy II Man, steals a third of Heaven's Door. Rohan realises the trouble he's in. Ken uses this opportunity to throw doubt in his mind whether he will use "paper" again. In the fourth round, Rohan is fooled into playing "rock" and loses. In the fifth round, Rohan's legs give in as he prepares to play "rock". Luckily, Ken changes his "paper" into a "rock", disturbed when Rohan drops to the ground. Ensues a stalemate. When Josuke and Joseph pass by with Shizuka in his hand, Ken tests his luck. He waves at the JoJo's waging that they will not come. As Josuke hates Rohan with a passion, the two do wave back but leave. Moreover, Ken breaks a window and stands in the middle of the falling shards, coming out unscathed. Ken's luck is at its apex. However, Rohan is determined to make his own luck. In another round, Rohan plays "paper" and Ken plays "scissors", but his the boy's fist closes unexplicably, making it a "rock". Rohan wins and regains his Stand. The mangaka reveals that he's used Shizuka to modify Ken's hand.
Furious, Ken takes Shizuka hostage and forces a new game. Determined, Rohan wins easily. To neutralize Ken, he decides to write a command preventing Ken from ever playing rock-paper-scissors. Desperate, the boy throws himself in front of a truck. Amused, Rohan also throws himself in front of the truck. Luckily, Yoshihiro's photo blocks the view of the driver, forcing him to swerve. Rohan and Ken survive. Ken recognizes his defeat and Rohan merely tells him not to use his Stand. However, they have lost Shizuka and must look for her even though she's invisible.
Playing Cee-lo
When Josuke finds a shapeshifting alien named Mikitaka Hazekura, he concocts a plan that will allow him to win big. Josuke rings at Rohan's doorstep and begs him to play Cee-lo with him. Despite his contempts, Rohan accepts. As a precaution, the mangaka refuses to play with the dice Josuke has brought and uses his own. Unbeknownst to him, Josuke has planned for this and planted Mikitaka beforehand in Rohan's drawer.
During the first round, Josuke wins five times his wager with a triple 6. Then, Rohan has the worst possible result. Suspicious about the results and Josuke being visibly panicked, Rohan takes the dice, goes inside his home to take a magnifying glass, and calls Tamami Kobayashi. First, Rohan examines the dice but doesn't see the trick thanks to Josuke's lies. During the second round, while Rohan has a seemingly normal result, Josuke gets a triple 6 again. Humiliated, Rohan cuts his finger with a pen and declares that he'll discover how Josuke is cheating by the next round. If he does, he'll take Josuke's pinky as punishment. With Tamami's help, Rohan forces Josuke to cheat again. Mikitaka's dizziness threatens to undo his disguise and Josuke is forced to throw the dice with Mikitaka on the verge of being discovered. However, a fire starts in Rohan's house and the mangaka is distracted. This allows Josuke to flee after he quickly heals Rohan's finger. Rohan's hate for Josuke increases.
A room in the tunnel
Some time later, Rohan crosses path with Josuke again in the bus. Rohan's passive-aggressive behaviour makes Josuke uneasy. Inside of a tunnel, Rohan sees a room in the walls of the tunnel, where someone is cutting off a woman's hand. Rohan tries to warn Josuke but he isn't believed thus Rohan checks on the room alone. Driving his motorcycle in the tunnel, he soon finds the room but realizes that something is pursuing him. Rohan flees on his motorcycle and manages to keep the enemy away as long as he drives above 60kmph. Forced to slow down because of a passing truck, Rohan is caught by the Stand Highway Star. Highway Star proceeds to sap Rohan's lifeforce and takes him out. Josuke comes back and also sees the room, where Rohan is kept. Highway Star promises to let Rohan go if he lures Josuke inside, but Rohan refuses out of principle. The mangaka warns Josuke to stay away. When Josuke still steps inside the room, an angry Rohan calls him out on his stupidity. When Highway Star attacks, Rohan makes Josuke fly out of the tunnel and warns him about Highway Star's limitations. To shut him up, Highway Star takes the last of his strength.
After Josuke finds and defeats Yuya Fungami, Rohan is found and recovers although his opinion about Josuke doesn't improve.
Cheap Trick
Because his house has been burned down, Rohan makes an appointment with an architect named Masazo Kinoto to appraise the cost of repairs. When Kinoto appears, Rohan uses Heaven's Door to confirm Kinoto is not a Stand User and even writes a command on him. Sure of his safety, Rohan lets Kinoto free. Intrigued by Kinoto's obsessive fear of having his back exposed, Rohan traps the architect to take a look. At first disappointed by Kinoto's ordinary back, he sees the back open and Kinoto dying. Cheap Trick then appears on his back.
Rohan cannot use Heaven's Door without hurting himself and cannot run from the enemy Stand. As it tells him to burn the photos, Rohan decides to call Koichi as he trust him. However, Cheap Trick is invisible to Koichi and Kinoto's body has shrunk to the size of a toy. The boy thinks that Rohan is messing with him and thus leaves. Rohan examines the photos once again, but falls asleep from exhaustion. Cheap Trick almost kills him by ordering several deliveries. As they open the door to his living room, they bump into his chair and wake him up just in time.
Rohan is thus forced to go to Jotaro Kujo and must cross the city. Hiding his back with the trees and walls, Rohan is blocked by a passageway. He decides to walk backward, his back stuck to a passerby. Cheap Trick insults the man to make him turn, but Rohan uses Heaven's Door to force him to keep walking. In an alley, Rohan finds himself surrounded by dogs and cats. He tries to shoo the cats, but Cheap Trick explains that he's slandered Rohan in dog and cat language to turn them against the mangaka. Thankfully, Koichi reappears and Echoes ACT3 makes the animals flee. However, when Echoes uses his power on Rohan's back, Cheap Tricks holds and threatens to rip Rohan's back.
Rohan seemingly loses his mind out of desperation and shows his back to Koichi and Cheap Tricks turns around to possess Koichi. However, Rohan reveals that they are in Ghost Girl's Alley. The malicious spirits of the alley take Cheap Trick away and to seal its fate, Rohan commands the enemy Stand to go to hell. Out of the alley, Reimi looks at Rohan's scattered items and sees the photo of a certain Kosaku Kawajiri.
Kira's demise
During the final investigation of Yoshikage Kira's new identity, Rohan narrows it down to Kosaku Kawajiri after finding a suspicious photograph of Kosaku being tailed by his son, Hayato Kawajiri, holding a video recorder. Rohan manages to meet with Hayato and uses Heaven's Door to find out more about his father. As Rohan opens contents of Hayato's body book, he discovers a warning on Hayato's pages to not read further. Rohan eventually discovers that Kosaku is actually Yoshikage Kira in disguise. His excitement of this revelation is cut short when a miniature Killer Queen appears, revealing that Kira has unlocked a new Stand Ability, Bites the Dust. By discovering Kira's identity through Hayato, Bites the Dust marks Rohan. Wounded, Rohan feebly attempts to call out to Koichi and Jotaro who were just a few blocks away from him and is promptly killed by an explosion, which, coincidentally, reminded him of his first time with Josuke. Bites the Dust loops time back an hour and in the second version of the hour, Rohan is killed again as he was already marked by Bites the Dust in the previous time loop, despite not meeting Hayato in the current time loop. In the third and final time loop, Kira is forced to deactivate Bites the Dust in order to protect himself when Josuke discovers his identity, sparing Rohan just seconds before his fate.
Rohan is here to witness Kira's last moments as the serial-killer is defeated by the heroes and is crushed by an ambulance.
(The information below derives from the TV Anime. As such, it may or may not be considered canon.)
He is seen preparing to draw manga. He is later mentioned by Okuyasu, who states he heard a rumor about him being caught shoplifting at Kameyu store.
The Book: 4th Another Day
(The information below derives from a Light Novel not written by Araki. As such, it may or may not be considered canon.)
Rohan appears drugging 34 cats to find out the one who invaded his house earlier, but forgets about the cat after finding Trinita covered in blood. Searching for his master with Koichi they find the corpse of Hanae Orikasa. Rohan uses his stand on Trinita and discovers that the killer has red marks on his arms, and so tags along with Koichi to find him.
Mutsu-kabe Hill
In order to research a Yokai legend for his manga, Rohan buys six mountains to prevent a corporation from building a resort road in that area.
After meeting Naoko Osato on the mountains, Rohan uses Heaven's Door on her and discovers the story of her accidental murder of Gunpei Kamafusa, a gardener whose body never stopped bleeding and whom Naoko has been obliged to take care of since then. Suspecting him to be a yokai, Rohan investigates the region around Naoko's house until he comes across a young girl. The girl tells Rohan she's not allowed to talk to strangers and runs away, and when Rohan tries to catch her, the girl falls and hits her head on a rock, bleeding just like Gunpei. Rohan realizes this girl is actually Naoko's daughter with Gunpei. Surprised the man who became a corpse was able to impregnate Naoko despite being dead, Rohan soon realizes the girl is a yokai trying to possess him. He uses Heaven's Door and notices the girl's memories is starting to fade away because she is dying, so he quickly writes one last memory: "I don't know Rohan Kishibe. Even if I meet him, I won't see him". When the girl comes back she briefly shows her true form to Rohan but leaves after not seeing him. Saved, Rohan names the yokai a Mutsukabezaka, and declares his research complete.
Rohan then meets with his editor Minoru Kaigamori and asks for an advance on his manuscript fees due to being bankrupt. The value of the land he bought became worthless since the plans for construction stopped. He has to live at Koichi's house and even had to sell all of his Sailor Moon merchandise, Led Zeppelin record sleeves and his Rurouni Kenshin volumes. His only remaining asset is a Nicolas de Staël artbook. His editor thinks he's crazy until Rohan explains what he discovered on his adventure.
Rohan at the Louvre
Rohan tells Josuke, Okuyasu, and Koichi about Nanase. He then decides to investigate the painting she told him and travels to Paris. There he discovers the painting is located at an abandoned section at the Louvre and asks to see it. Thinking it's strange there's a painting at an abandoned section and its archives being top secret, the interpreter Noguchi accompanies Rohan in there with Gaucher and two firefighters. When the group finds the painting they are attacked by a ghost mob of their relatives and everyone save Rohan is killed the same way the ghosts died. Rohan is almost killed by his grandmother, but the ghost of Nanase, who reveals that she was actually his ancestress, reveals to him the painting uses the memories of its victims. Thus, Rohan erases his memories with Heaven's Door, but not before writing a clue to recover it once he's outside of the Louvre. At the end, his four unfortunate companions are considered missing and Rohan discovers the painting was burned after being examined by scientists, even though he doubts it.
Rohan Kishibe Goes to Gucci
Rohan, accompanied by a beautiful interpreter, goes to a Gucci factory to investigate about his grandmother's treasured bag, that has the strange ability to vanish valuable things. He is informed by the leather goods artisan in charge that it is one of three bags created by a genius artisan from Gucci. Rohan asks for the bag to be fixed, even though the artisan tells him he doesn't understand the bag's true purpose. The interpreter gets Rohan drunk and steals all his valuable things, except for the bag, leaving him wandering alone. Fortunately, he finds an umbrella and a firelighter to shield himself from the rain. Rohan finds a hotel but is unable to pay for any room. It is then that a man shows interest in Rohan's recently found umbrella, offering the exact value of the bills Rohan made the bag vanish for it. Rohan then comes to the conclusion that the bag had a Stand bound to it, with the ability to take away valuable items but giving back their equivalent during misfortune, but laments that he had the bag fixed and now can't make use of the Stand anymore.
Millionaire Village
The village was under a curse that gave things to anyone who showed good manners, while those who didn't lose things. Ikkyu claims that this time Rohan broke a rule, as he hadn't given permission to be turned into a book, and Izumi starts to have a heart attack. Rohan begs for another test to save Izumi and is successful in it, all the while making Ikkyu break a rule (as he wrote earlier). Ikkyu says Rohan cheated and asks for another test, but Rohan denies it and carries Izumi away from the village. He notices the bird also returned to good health.
At a Confessional
The mangaka heard a horror story from a mysterious sinner confession. As he is visiting Italy, Rohan decides to research the churches, especially for their architecture and spiritual background. He walks into a confession booth to research the interior, but mistakenly walks into the side reserved for the priest. Shortly after, a man walks into the other side of the booth and confesses his sin to Rohan, believing him to be the priest. Rohan hears his confession anyway, interested in getting information out of the man's horror story. The man tells he has been cursed by the spirit of a beggar he had been responsible for the death, who would come to take him at his happiest moment. After telling the story, where the man continues to explain his sins and why he was still alive after apparently killed by the spirit, it is revealed that he had found a servant who was willing to do anything for him, and used plastic surgery to alter both his and the servant's appearances, thereby fooling the beggar into dogging the servant instead. The spirits of the beggar and the beheaded servant then dog the man, and both vow to watch him around the clock to make sure that he does not do anything suspicious again. Rohan watches on with curiosity, deciding to interview him later if given the chance, as he didn't know what happened to the man after that.
Vento Aureo
He is mentioned by Koichi, who revealed that Rohan used Heaven's Door to make it so Koichi could understand Italian for his trip.
Stone Ocean
When Made in Heaven sped up time to the point where one work day lasted for less than 5 minutes, Rohan was mentioned as the only mangaka to continue to meet his weekly deadlines, easily publishing over 20 pages in less than an hours time without food or sleep. Rohan himself does not appear however, as it is mentioned over the radio.
JORGE JOESTAR
Rohan is the one who called in about a murder in Morioh, which another character, Kato reports about, and is how the protagonist Joji Joestar ends up there. In a relationship with Reimi, somehow. As noted in Stone Ocean, Rohan escapes the effects of Made In Heaven by being so focused on his manga that he does not realize the world is changing around him.
References
- ↑ Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan Episode 7; Page 4
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