Author's Note/Stone Ocean

In every volume of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, the front folded flap of the dust jacket usually contains a picture of Hirohiko Araki himself, and more than often a note to the reader. The quotes are always different from each other, and are usually about Araki expressing his opinion on certain subjects. These subjects can be about anything, including information about characters or the story itself. The following notes and pictures below are from the volumes of Stone Ocean.

SO Vol. 1

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“ The protagonist of JoJo Part 6 is a woman. Why a 『woman』? That's where it gets tricky. She's a JoJo protagonist, so she's gotta be tough enough to not get disheartened even if she gets punched in the face. But sometimes she might be crawling around a ditch, or she might have her legs spread open and fall from the top of a building. Having it be a woman is a bit of a tricky setup. But thinking about that gap, it actually seemed interesting. And it could be a person with great humanity like the Virgin Mary. I felt I just had to make the protagonist a woman. ” —Hirohiko Araki

SO Vol. 2

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“ Observation of the nature surrounding us n°4 Last cause I contracted a gastritis, due to stress they say. During that period I heard of the european proverb "He who cultivates tomatoes is never ill." I thought: "Really ?...Let's try this." Thus I've begun to cultivate tomatoes. I bought some flower display cases (2,300 yen), fertilizer and compost (around 1,000 yen), stakes (200 yen), tomato seeds (140 yen), in brief, for three seedings I had to pay 10,920 yen. If I harvest ten tomatoes, how much does one of them would yield?(to be continued) ” —Hirohiko Araki

SO Vol. 3

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“ Observation of the nature surrounding us n°5 The foot of the "nameko" mushroom is very long, like a stem, it is said to be delicious too. However the majority of the people find it ugly, shopkeepers are forced to cut them or else they don't sell. As for me I've decided that my tomatoes would have a real tomatoe "smell". Nowadays farmers manage to produce odorless tomatoes, because a lot of consumers find the smell "disgusting". Did you know that? Besides I have a feeling that the same practice happens in the world of manga. Be careful. ” —Hirohiko Araki

SO Vol. 4

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“ About my lack of sleep. I seems that genetic code determines how much time a person needs to sleep. But recently, a strange event happened. Until six months before, I didn't have a clear mind without my eight hours of sleep, but lately, I've noticed that three or four hours were enough and that I didn't want to sleep for eight hours anymore even though I knew it was bad for my health. What caused this transformation? My change of diet? My pillow ? This is a complete mystery. ” —Hirohiko Araki

SO Vol. 5

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“ When I had a talk with the director of the Miami prison in Florida, to document myself, I asked him if the reasons for incarceration were different between men and women. Indeed I had the impression men were imprisoned for more terrible reasons than women. He answered: "It's the same, man or woman it doesn't matter. There are as many murderers and rapists from either gender." ” —Hirohiko Araki

SO Vol. 6

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“ Let's talk about my youth. When I was in primary school, I had a friend who was stupid. One day, as we were playing, he sat on a flowerbed, more precisely on some cacti whose thorns were so tiny we couldn't see them with the eye. His short was covered in thorns. Immediately he shouted, grabbed his behind, and began to cry as he stroke it, covering his hands in tiny thorns. Even if I told him that the thorns were invisible but were still here, he still compulsively licked his hands. I think we didn't stay friends for long. ” —Hirohiko Araki

SO Vol. 7

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SO Vol. 8

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SO Vol. 9

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SO Vol. 10

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SO Vol. 11

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SO Vol. 12

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SO Vol. 13

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SO Vol. 14

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SO Vol. 15

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SO Vol. 16

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SO Vol. 17

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