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 quotation. The quotations featured below the picture 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 quotes and pictures below are from the volumes of JoJolion.
Hello. This is the beginning of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure "Part 8". I made the stage the fictitious town of "Morioh" from Part 4, a story I wrote a long time ago. But this, "Part 8" isn't linked to that story at all. The stage is the same "Morioh" of Japan, but this is a story about different inhabitants. Therefore, even if you haven't read "Part 4" or don't really remember it, or have no memory of it whatsoever, you'll be all right.
I really hope you enjoy it. And I send my regards and best wishes to all of you.
The "lion" in the title "JoJolion" means things like "blessed thing", "evangelistic", and "commemorative seal". It's a word from ancient Greek or something like that. By combining this word with "Jojo", I've meant for the title to signify the existence of the protagonist "Josuke" in this world. It's also used in the name of the tragic king in a Greek myth called "Pygmalion" as well as the Japanese animation "Evangelion", but I'm not sure if it has to do with the same idea.
Sometimes, I am confronted with a Cornelian dilemma such as "Which came first, the egg or the the chicken?"
Despite racking my brain over it, I never manage to find an answer.
In that case, I prefer to decide on the answer myself (laugh). I tell myself "No doubt, the egg must have come first." And just like this, life comes in order and everything's fine again.
Huh? What is my point, you ask? Well... I forgot. Sorry!
I think the season of "Anger" may have come. On the early-morning TV weather forecast, the weather man asks the audience "So, what do you think the highest temperature in Japan will be?" and then cuts to commercial! This is the morning when we're in a hurry trying to figure out what sorta outfit we should be leaving the house in, don't screw around! Moron. Are you a weatherman or some sort of entertainer? Are you a quiz show host or something?! I hate people that're vague like that! Maybe I'll just look up what the high for today is on the internet during the commercials and then I won't need you!
There are some things I just kinda have fun drawing. Previously, I really enjoyed doing the character Polnareff's hairstyle, the original Josuke's hairstyle, Killer Queen's whole design, and Soft & Wet's ears. Those sort of drawings where you draw them up with a "swish swish", I go "Ooh!" from the impression it gives myself. This time, I have a lot of fun drawing Yasuho-chan's skirt and don't want to let anyone else draw it, but whenever I do draw it, I always think the flowers on the skirt have got to feel lumpy on her butt so she can't sit down. Are you okay, Yasuho? I'm a little worried.
This is kind of a negative topic. I've been thinking about what are some things I hate to hear people say to me. For those, the #1 worst is "What a long story." Not about manga. I just don't wanna be one of those kinds of adults. Ahaha. Then #2 "You're fixating on glorifying the past." WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Man, I seriously don't want people saying that to me at ALL. #3 "I'm not using this charger anymore, do you want it?" #4 "I'm surprised you don't know of any good Sushi places." I know at least one beautiful place. And I'm using a brand-new cell phone, dangit! #5 "Have you gotten taller?" That's all.
There are some very creepy song lyrics, for instance London Bridge's lyrics or this children's tune Tōryanse: "Going in is easy, but returning is scary." As for me, I've recently been marked by the lyrics of this American folk ballad: Oh My Darling, Clementine.
Clementine is the daughter of a miner. Light as a fairy, she drowns in a river and dies because of her big feet. The narrator, Clementine's father or maybe her lover, laments her passing until the day he kisses her little sister and forgets his dear Clementine. Oh my god! What the hell is that ending ?! What the heck is that guy playing at ?! In any case, it was a powerful song.
The place of your dreams... I am certain you do have one too, don't you? For my part I have a predilection about the ancient vestiges of the desert, or the beauty of an azure sea. And so, I put these on paper, in my mangas, driven by the irresistible wish to go there someday. And yet... When the opportunity to go presents itself to me, where goes my desire? I tell myself: What's the point to go there, why should I get so worked up? Finally I go there half-heartedly because it's part of my job. In fact I think that I hate travels. But of course, that's it, I only just realized that.
"If the world ended tomorrow, what would you have as your last meal?" I often asks this question. Everyone has their own answers and I have quite some fun with it. For my part, I would like to end my life with the "fried oysters" of a three-stars Japanese restaurant. But the chefs would surely have better things to do on this day than cooking for me. So, why not let myself be tempted by some "spaghetti with tomato sauce"? It's my mother's favorite recipe. As a child, I used to eat these softened pastas flavoured with some onions. But of course, that's what I needed! Well, I think I will make myself some of that for tomorrow's lunch.
"What is the second highest mountain of Japan?" Nobody can answer this question. Not even with a "Ah shoot, it's on the tip of my tongue..." nothing at all. Poor mountain. The answer was "Mt. Kita", which is 3193m high.
It stands at the second position in all of Japan, but it received nobody's attention. But what can you do? Mt. Fuji is so high, and everybody loves it.
Look at Mt. Kita's name, it looks like it's been chosen at random. Mt. Kita (北岳, Kita-dake) means "northern peak", so it must have been north of something... In short, we've seen better in the prestige department. Notice that Mt. Fuji also has the perfect look for a mountain so... If Mt. Kita had been the highest peak in Japan, people would perhaps not even acknowledge it. Or worse people would even have a grudge against it and even destroy it to take it down a notch. Well, Mt. Kita, you can count yourself lucky to be second place.
I'm a bit reluctant to say this, this isn't something I'm generally into, but one time when the opportunity arose, I went to a classical piano concert. I'm not going to write the pianist's name here, but let me just say, they were incredible. I ended up being moved in a way I never had before. I thought that classical meant interpreting great compositions and playing them with precision, but what I found there was what felt both like the pianist was treating the instrument as part of their body and doing battle with the instrument at the same time. I'm used to digital, programmed music, so I'd forgotten about this concept altogether. It almost made me question if I was still in the same day and age, but I was.
I made a set of personal standards to judge whether the things I see in life are OK or not OK. When I go to my office, I travel through a residential area where you can see a house that's got things hung to dry on the veranda. I don't know whether the owner of the house is elderly or young, but the washing pole is stuck straight through the sleeves of their shirts and the legs of their pants, and so on. That's not something you see too often... They also put their shoes on the handrail to dry after washing. Now, is this OK, or not OK? Verdict: OK! (Standards to be continued on the next volume)
Is something okay? Is it not okay? My assessment depends on whether it enriches your life.
I have assessed drying your laundry on a washing pole to be okay. The reason being, whenever that house doesn't have their laundry hung up to dry on that pole, I get pretty disappointed and saddened by its absence. It makes me think, Hang up that laundry, guys. Please.
Conversely, what I think are not okay are houses that hang their christmas lights up by the window so other people can see them. Smugness is unpleasant. One of the factors of my assessment is smugness. In other words, smugness is not enriching.
I'm going to sound like a complete fanboy writing this but there are times when I hear music that makes me think, ”How is it that in the multiple decades I've been alive, I've never heard this incredibly talented person?”
Where have they been all my life that I've never even heard a thing about them? How did they stay hidden from me all this time? There are people out there that surprise me like this when I first get introduced to them. Names like Leonard Cohen and Curtis Mayfield.
Among them is a band called "CAN". And one song of theirs is called "Vitamin C", with vocals by Damo Suzuki. And for that reason, I named a villain character "Damo Kan" (note: the kanji for "Tamaki" is usually read "Kan")
Current status... recently, I've fallen in love with going to parties. Though, I'm not really sure why. I'm just in that kind of a mood. On the other hand, I don't like travelling because it's seriously a lot of effort. I'm just in that kind of mood too.
When I was young, it was the opposite. I longed for other countries, and I wanted to go to places I didn't really even need to.
I used to hate going to parties, even though the same weird people there existed back then and still exist now. Is there some causative relationship here? If I'm invited to a party in another country, what should I do?
I've always wanted a tree house. Like those hideouts American kids build in their huge back yards, where they play poker and stuff. I used to be so jealous of them.
But, nowadays, what I dream about is a lift house, where you live on an aerial lift in the mountains.
It would be ultra high-tech, and everything would be electronic. You can move around on the cables, and you've got everything you need right there. Mamezuku is living the life! He can harvest his crops while he's right above them, and then cook them on the spot. That's the life! Mamezuku, please invite me over.
I won't mention any titles, but the fact that we've had several good horror movies recently doesn’t just make me happy, it makes me feel relieved. By "good" here, I mean "scary".
Horror movies can be made on low budgets, without needing any big-name stars. And, if they’re R-rated, they can be made with a large degree of creative freedom. They have the same spirit as rebellious rock music. Horror is an expression of society's anxiety, so you can really clearly tell the talent of the people who worked on it when you see one. That sort of movie being "good" means our society’s culture and its spirit are not stagnate, but rather constantly developing. That’s why a good horror movie both relieves me and makes me happy.
Dentist: I'm going to perform treatment on your cavity. Me: Uh huh. Okay.
I went to the dentist, and I don't know much about this, but do conversations with your dentist normally go like this? I was wondering, could I possibly have cavities? So,
I went to the dentist, and that's how it happened. What are they going to do to me? I wanted to know so I could make mental preparations. After this conversation, I got my cavity drilled, filled, and treated."
Regarding a recent mystery: I have a younger sister (50s), and apparently she fell and broke her leg. Was it minor? Was she severely hurt? I had no idea, and then my sister said she wouldn't be attending an Araki family celebration, so I called her and asked, "Is your leg okay?" and my sister responded, "Ufu." Just that. What in the world? Why couldn't she give me an answer? This sister has a daughter in her 20s, so I asked her, "How is your mom's leg doing?" and she responded, "Ufu." Just that. Are they telling me to use my imagination to discern the hidden meaning behind "Ufu?" What is "Ufu"?
"Believe in yourself! I know you can do it!" doesn't seem to be something anyone's ever thought about me as child.
For certain reasons, I was at the hospital and had to have a suppository put into me. "I'll do it myself", I'd said. But then a nurse with a pretty cute face said to me, "No, I'll do it", as she put on her rubber gloves with a snap.
I've been thinking about my childhood. Suppositories always made fevers go down quick, so even if I yelled "I can do it!" I would be told "No, your father will do it". Why does everybody want to put suppositories into me so bad? Like, what? Is the rate of "pew & roll" on the floor really that high?
For the first time in a long time, I took a trip around historical locations in Italy such as Florence and Lucca. I always enjoy traveling there. When I thought about why I like it so much, I decided that it must be because I can sense the rise and fall of humanity in those places. On my journey this time, I wondered about the sculptors and painters who stopped midway through their creations, and thought: Why did they stop? It really moved me. Or an architectual structure where a woman married a rich man who later fell to ruin. It's sad. And the fact that many people come from all over the world to view these spots is also great.
The piece of music that expresses the greatest feeling of happiness in this world is "Sleep Walk" (a song by Santo & Johnny)! I don't mean a sense of euphoria, like a rush of excitement or anything. It's more of a relaxed peace, as if you were pretending to fish with your best friends in your healthy childhood, when you had no worries and not a care in the world. What a happy guitar tone. It truly is the best. But it's too much happiness, so now that the song is over and I've returned to reality, I feel so depressed. Well, what I'm trying to say is that I feel the same way as usual. That's all.
When it comes to coronavirus, even though we all want to stop the spread of infection, we don't also want to stop people from going outside or crash the economy. This world is full of contradictory rules we call dilemmas. When it comes to manga, there's a set number of pages. Even though I want to keep the story progressing on schedule for the sake of my readers, there are other things I want to draw but must tearfully erase. It really is full of dilemmas. Theory alone can't solve a dilemma, and it may be only in the world of fiction that we can approach dilemmas. Volume 25 depicts such a dilemma.
