Interview Archive

“

I don't play fighting games myself, so I can't comment on that aspect, but I think it's amazing how perfectly they were able to recreate everything. It's beautiful. Whenever people try and adapt JoJo they always want to use a bunch of different colors. But this game actually suppresses the colors and makes them refined/quiet. I think this is good, because it will keep players' eyes from getting tired. I think the more colors on the screen increases the exhaustion in one's eyes. I also think the cutting-edge CG technology they used did a great job of capturing the atmosphere.

The characters have been recreated so well, they may look cooler than they are in the manga. (Laugh) There's a psychological level to the battles here. I like how they've made it something more than just a fighting game.

The town of Morio-cho appears in Parts 4 and 8, but they're in parallel worlds, so they aren't linked in time or space. The two Josukes would never meet each other normally. With this game, though, it becomes possible. At first I was bit taken aback. But then the bizarre nature to it all really got me interested. It's very entertaining. I would never allow something like this in the manga, but since this is a game, it's cool. Same thing with Jotaro fighting Dio Brando. The way the characters look is so different over the parts, though, that normally if you lined them all up they'd look very out of place with each other. But this game fixes all that, and I think that's one of its strengths.

Personally, I play a lot of horror action/adventure games. I like exploring a lot, not just fighting. I like puzzle games too. And I like sports and racing games too, as you might have figured from my inclusions of F-MEGA and Oh! That's a Baseball! in part 3. Lately games have been getting really "real." I still like cheap-looking games like F-MEGA.

Lately, though, I haven't really played any fighting games or shooting games. When I get excited during battles, my Adrenalin pumps up. I want games to heal me. That's why I play horror games. Horror heals me. (Laugh) Even in this game, the punch animations are just too fast for me. I'd rather watch them in slow motion.

I wish I had a technique that girls liked. (Laugh) Or, I wish I could appear as a side character, who says "Do your best!" and offers up an energy drink or something.

People who started reading JoJo when they were young have now become adults and are contributing to this project. I'm really amazed. And moved that we can work together to let the next generation read JoJo. I was so surprised when I heard they were going to make an anime. For 20 years, I've thought about how unsuited JoJo was for TV. (Laugh) It ended up being a lot bigger than I imagined it would. I'm so glad the fans enjoyed it.

People say my gallery showing in Florence was a success, but I don't have any strong feelings about that personally. But one thing I did notice is that whenever I go to Italy, I always hear people talking about Japanese manga. Dragon Ball, Naruto, and Yu Gi Oh are all very popular. And whenever people talk about Japanese manga they always talk about Japanese soccer. I suppose Captain Tsubasa has had a lot of influence over there. Whenever you mention Japan in Italy, it's either Naruto or Nagamoto (soccer player).

I listen to country and Western music a lot. It's like American "enka" music. I like the pure, "human" sound of the vocals.

As for movies, I mainly watch suspense and horror. Recently I saw "Life of Pi" and "Gangster Squad." They were very good. There look to be a lot of good horror movies coming out in 2013, including the Evil Dead remake, so I'm excited.

From here on out, in JoJolion, I plan to focus on the Higashikata family in more detail. But it won't be linked to Part 4 in any way. People keep asking me when Kishibe Rohan will appear, so let me answer that question: he won't. (Laugh) That is absolutely set in stone. Another weird mangaka will appear, though.

Q. What is manga to you?

A. Like how food is a blessing from the sky and earth, I think manga is a blessing from society. I'm receiving ideas and inspiration from Japan.

Q. Who do you respect?

A. Many people... Shirato Sanpei and Fujiko Fujio I've respected since long ago. Recently, I've really thought about how amazing pro mangaka who came before me are. Like how they've polished themselves so much, how much work they were able to handle... it'd be impossible in the present day. They were always so pure about how they faced their work. They weren't drawing manga because they wanted to become someone great. they just wanted to draw. That's what's so amazing.

Q. What's the most important thing in the world to you?

A. A lot is important to me... hmm. The most important thing would be my breathing technique, I suppose. (LOL) If my breathing gets bad, my stomach starts to hurt. So every morning, I use a special breathing technique. I store up breath around my ribs. It trains my inner muscles and connects me with the universe. It's pretty deep.

”

—Hirohiko Araki

Eureka November 2011 Hirohiko Araki Interview

Kaneda: A while ago, there was a story called "Let's Go Hunting" and I really liked how Josuke and Jotaro teamed up. First you have Josuke who always feels like he's about to burst into a rage but he's always reliable when push comes to shove. Then there's Jotaro who can get really mad and he'll barely lose the cool expression on his face. I thought them working together went well, I love that story. It's to be expected seeing as he's a scientist, but I'm really enthralled with how Jotaro knows so much about wild animals (laugh).

Araki: Yeah, I like partnerships. When I see artists that have partnerships, I get all jealous. Though I guess there's sort of a partnership between a mangaka and an editor. I liked the partnership of Jousuke and Joutarou, too. They both have a kind of "pursuer" feel to them, don't they?

Kaneda: It was so cool when Joutarou said "You've got to be the one to shoot." and then went off to let himself become a decoy.

Araki: They have a relationship where they sort of bring out each other's strengths.

Kaneda: I think that because Jousuke respects Joutarou so much, he feels a lot of pride from just being with him. It's an exceedingly good relationship, even one that almost crosses a certain line (laugh).

Editor: Sounds like she's reading into it in a yaoi sort of way. I guess she's excited by that sort of thing.

Araki: Oh, I see (laugh). Maybe it's better that I didn't write that, then.

Kaneda: Yeah! If you'd written that openly, there'd be no room for imagination and that'd ruin all the fun. I don't think anything like that would happen for the whole hunting thing, but if it turned into something like "After the hunt is over, do you wanna go to a hotel?", I feel like that'd be really overdoing it! (Laugh) Also, if something like that were written in the story, there would be a lot of people that really like coupling and would say things like "the only one for Joutarou is Kakyouin!" So it would actually, it would actually narrow the scope of the story. So I really think that stopping just short of that is much better.

Araki: That kinda sounds like "Beverly Hills, 90210". This person and this person are connected, and this person is with so-and-so, that sorta thing.

Kaneda: It's good to draw all sorts of jumbled lines like that (laugh). That way it never goes to the point of actual acts, it's more desirable to be potential.

Araki: I see.

Kaneda: Really, from a boy's point of view a team play is "admirable friendship". and from a girl's point of view it's has a different kind of admiration. And we want it to end with that double meaning. Personally, I think Okuyasu and Jousuke make a good partnership, too. Both are good-for-nothing-types. Truthfully, if Okuyasu were smart, he would have a top-class Stand. I think that the user not being smart strikes a good balance.

Araki: He's a lovable character, isn't he? (laugh).

Kaneda: I think Okuyasu is the best person you'd want for your friend. But in regards to partnerships, I think Johnny and Gyro in the current Part, "SBR" are the best.

Araki: That was me tracing the story of Part 1 with Zeppeli making Jonathan grow and trying to write it a bit more deeply. This time they're a bit closer in age, and I'm really enjoying writing their conversations.

Kaneda: I just love those pointless exchanges between the two. Like when Johnny used his evolved nail bullets to brush his teeth and Gyro gave that monotone response about being jealous (laugh). I remember thinking "This is how boys communicate!" when I read that.

Araki: Yeah, boys tend to have those sorts of pointless back-and-forth conversations a lot, don't they? (Laugh)

Kaneda: You really feel their friendship in those sorts of scenes. Rather than hug each other or anything, that makes them really charming to girls.

Saitou: But they have a fixed relationship, so they're kinda hard to couple, right?

Araki: Yeah, there really isn't much room there for reading too much into it, is there? I wanted to have a deeper connection of friendship between teacher and disciple than I did in Part 1.

Kaneda: It's written so richly, so they don't even need to be coupled, I guess. People have ideas about how Johnny is paralyzed in the lower half of his body, so while Gyro generally seems very cold, there are times at night when he has to care for Johnny and that sort of thing.

Araki: Yeah, I like that (laugh). Well, maybe I'll draw a scene of them in a night-time camp scene.

Kaneda: That sounds good! I hope you do (laugh)! Also, I'm hoping that Dio gets involved in their relationship somehow...... Fundamentally, Dio is a character who started out in poverty. So then, because of his desire to be successful in life, he's not afraid of anyone and he's not afraid to dirty himself to make his way to the top. Girls love that sort of thing. Fujoshi-wise, I mean in my mind, at the point in Part 6 where the character of Father Pucci that feels seriously about Dio, I've made this theory of "Dio = Princess" (laugh). Like he started out from the status of prostitute, so he dirtied his body with lots of different men, but his soul never lost its purity. And the 16 year old Pucci was attracted by that...... Early on, there's a scene where Dio and Pucci are sitting slovenly on the same bed facing different directions and having a discussion ('The Time of Heaven', "Stone Ocean" Volume 11). I simultaneously could barely believe my eyes and went mad with joy. That's the effect you must've been going for, right, Araki-sensei?

Araki: Uh... I didn't really think it would be taken that way, I don't think. Guys do that sorta thing all the time. Just sorta crashing someplace. Like when you go drinking and it gets late, so you need to stay over at somebody's place.

Kaneda: Eh, then you're saying that Father Pucci and Dio were out late drinking?! (Laugh) Um, I'm not so sure these are the types of characters who would crash at each other's place because they missed the last train for the night or something.

Araki: Now that you mention it, I think I might've had something like that in mind when I drew it (laugh). But Dio's sort of a composed character that could go either way. He could go with a man or a woman.

Kaneda: Really?! As I thought, my interpretation was correct.... (laugh). So, Dio originally liked Jonathan, right?

Araki: Ah, did he?! (Laugh)

Kaneda: Jonathan Joestar was a man that had everything he didn't, so Dio felt that he wanted to make Jonathan his. That sort of thing. He couldn't allow Jonathan's first kiss to be with Erina, so he did it to Erina himself.

Araki: Uh, it kinda sounds comedic if you're gonna go that far (Laugh).

Kaneda: No, but Dio thought about Jonathan seriously, but at the same time homosexuality was a serious crime in England during that era, so Dio had to hide his desires for such a future deep inside.

Araki: Uh, I guess that could be.

Kaneda: And those feelings he'd suppressed so long finally resulted in him taking over Jonathan's body.

Araki: I see. Well if you look at it at that angle, it gives the story a fresh feel, I suppose. (Laugh)

Kaneda: Dio, someone so dirtied, wanted to profess "I like you" to Jonathan. But he was unable to and then Erina took Jonathan, so through bitter tears at the end he took Jonathan's body. "Now we've finally become one, Jonathan." That sorta thing. If he'd had time to smooth his words over a bit more, he would have said that he wanted to be part of Jonathan's bloodline.

Araki: That kind of sounds like the movie "Purple Moon".

Kaneda: He wanted to become Jonathan. But I think in the end, he lost track of whether he wanted to become Jonathan or he wanted Jonathan to become his. With his noble soul that harbored such sorrow, there were men showing up that loved Dio one after another. Like in Part 3, Vanilla Ice and N'Dour and those guys. Particularly in Part 3, whenever was mentioned, they talk about his almost-transparent white skin and his bewitching charm that made it hard to believe he was a man. Even Avdol felt dizzy the first time (laugh). Even Avdol, that macho guy that liked peeing outside was attracted to Dio. So he really had an aura that attracted all types of men.

Araki: Uh, I guess that's a way of looking at it, too. (Laugh)

Kaneda: ......I'm glad. If you'd said something like "There's no way there was anything like that!" and just cut me off, I don't know what I would've done.... (Laugh)

Araki: There's no way I could write that, but I'll admit that could exist as a sort of hidden meaning. He definitely had some lust somewhere.

Kaneda: Dio's confusion of not being sure himself if he wanted Jonathan's bloodline or wanted his body or wanted his heart is really juicy from a yaoi aspect.

Araki: But someone like Dio would never offer his love 100% to someone.

Kaneda: Speaking of which, he had lots of illegitimate children, didn't he? I feel bad for Ungaro being the only ugly one. (Laugh)

Araki: (Laugh)

Kaneda: So it's a bit different from the sort of love Jonathan and such have, huh?

Araki: Jonathan and the others' love is far deeper than Dio's. They didn't run purely on desire like Dio. Dio will do anything to get what he wants, but he would absolutely never pour 100% of his love into a specific person.

Kaneda: True. It doesn't sound so much like love as it does like stealing. Well, I suppose Father Pucci, pursuing the princess he would never obtain, was really the juiciest character of Part 6.

Araki: Now that you mention it, I think I really did consciously write it that way (Laugh).

Kaneda: He wanted so thoroughly to love Dio more, so when Pucci said the line "I love you as I love God", it was a real thrill. And in response to that, I'm glad Dio said "I was afraid you'd disappear". Vanilla Ice loved Io as well, but he died spinning around in circles like that, so you wanted to have a character express their intense feelings towards Dio in a more open way, huh?

Araki: I think if Dio had lived, it could've gone a bit more in that direction. But he's dead, so all of that will just remain in the realms of imagination.

Kaneda: But there were people like this in Dio's life, so I feel vindicated.

Araki: But I don't think Dio loved Pucci.

Kaneda: I suppose so. I think for Dio, their relationship was casual. There was a sort of feeling like "You don't know anything about my life, so don't start worshipping me like a god." I guess. "I've been the object of pleasure for hundreds of men!"

Araki: He was made the object of their pleasure? (Laugh)

If you could use a Stand power, whose Stand would you choose and what would you want to do with it?
Araki: Well, which one do you choose, Shokotan? Can I call you Shokotan?
Shoko: Of course! He calls me "Shokotan"! I'm so glad. My dream is to marry Jotaro-sama and have a child with him. He'd probably say to me, "Yare Yare Daze" and spit on me. That's my dream. Sorry, the question was about stands, wasn't it.
Araki: So, Star Platinum?
Shoko: I want to receive 'ora ora' from him.
Araki:(Laugh) Hmm...I think I would choose Rohan Kishibe's Stand. I want to know what people are thinking by opening their minds.
Shoko: You work with various people, so that would be useful.
Araki: Yes, I want to discover the unknown sides to them.
Shoko: It's scary though, it seems like you are already able to use that Stand, I guess.
Araki: (Laugh) Well, yeah. And your choice is Star Platinum, right?
Shoko: I want to be beaten up by him.
Araki: I hope your dream will come true.
Shoko:(Laugh) I am a completely bizarre person.

What type of woman does Jotaro-sama like?
Araki: Type of woman? Uh, I don't think he is interested in women that much.
Shoko: I think he would say, "Yare Yare Daze," to a girl like me, right?
Araki: He definitely would. That is his charm.
Shoko: He would also say: "You are annoying."
Araki: (Laugh) That would be great.
Shoko: That's what I want! I want to have a child with him. How can i make him love me?
Araki: He might say that you're annoying, but he'd still love you, I think.
Shoko: I like it! It's tsundere. Does he prefer a girl who's neatly dressed or one with a short skirt?
Araki: Eh, he is more of a straightfoward guy. He will enjoy the time with you, though he might say that you're annoying.
Shoko: Really? Then I will do my best! I think I should go to a disco.

Is Jotaro's school cap a part of his head?
Araki: Yes, it's true.
Shoko: Is it? Why is the cap a part of his head?
Araki: Well, because he never takes off his cap.
Shoko: The cap is part of his body?
Araki: Right. When drawing Jotaro, I felt it was OK to combine his and his hair since he never takes it off.
Shoko: That's a unique idea.
Araki: Indeed. By doing so, Jotaro looks more elegant. I want readers to recognize him from the back, not just his forefront.
Shoko: So he isn't actually wearing a cap. The cap is completely part of his body.
Araki: That is right.
Shoko: Only Araki-sensei could come up with such an idea. It's me who wants to use Rohan's stand to see inside of Araki-Sensei's imagination.

There is a rumor that one scene in the 20th volume of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure predicted the 9/11 attack in New York 11 years before it actually happened. Did Boingo really predict 9/11?
Araki: Yeah, that actually surprised me. I don't know why I drew such a scene.
Shoko: You clearly wrote the word 911 and the laughing plane.
Araki: I don't even know why the plane is laughing.
Shoko: You didn't intentionally draw the scene?
Araki: Well, I don't know. I don't remember. I drew that scene as part of the story, but I don't know what it means. I learned about it recently, but I think it's just a coincidence.
Shoko:Your stand can predict the future. Your Stand predicts the future AND keeps your yourself young. (Laugh)

How can one defeat Star Platinum: The World, the most powerful stand ever?
Araki: Eh...Jotaro can be defeated only by Jotaro himself or by the child of Jotaro and Shokotan.
Shoko: You allow me to have his child? So Jotaro-sama and I have a child and he won't be invincible.
Araki: Correct.
Shoko: That's a great idea!!
Araki: Actually, it's impossible to defeat his stand at the moment. Star Platinum can halt the flow of time, so to defeat him, you need to let time flow again.
Araki: So you would need to possess a power to control time itself? Sounds great.

What do you keep in mind when drawing pictures in color?
Araki: Well, the combination of colors is important. Like what color should be placed where.
Shoko: What is your favorite color?
Araki: My favorite color? Green...or moss green with some white. The mix of dark moss green and white is my favorite.
Shoko: But the color you actually draw with and the color that is printed are somewhat different right?
Araki: Yeah, you're right. So the important thing is not only the color itself but its adjacent colors.
Shoko: When you were a child, what were you drawing?
Araki: I was drawing things like Hakagata Mitsuru, a character from Kyojin no Hoshi. I'm a big fan of Ikki Kajiwara. I was curious how Joe Yabuki's hair looked like when we saw him from the forefront, right side and left side.
Shoko: Ordinary kids draw Joe only from the right or left sides, but you were not a normal kid.
Araki: (Laugh) Yeah.

What type of woman does Araki-Sensei like?
Araki: EH..? This question is hard to answer.
Shoko: You wife may be watching this show.
Araki: I like a woman like my wife.
Shoko: A good answer. What do you like about your wife?
Araki: As soon as you meet her, you will see that she loves gags. She will often say gags like Shokotan's giza thing (means "super").
Shoko: She uses "giza"?
Araki: When I said to her "Giza Ohayu-su" (Super good morning), she told me I was doing it wrong.
Shoko (Laugh) You wife corrected your usage.

“

Your thoughts about your 25th anniversary as an author?
I think that it was a very quick 25 years. But when I look back at my work...it's kind of like the stuff around the Phantom Blood era is the work of someone else. Yeah, that's what I honestly feel. So, when I read it I can kind of read it objectively; I can read it as though I was a fan.

Do you read back on your old work?
Not very much, but if there's a game or something released like now, I'll read back and think "Ohh, so I was writing this kind of stuff?" Once the stands started coming out, I often forget about some characters. Someone will mention a guy and I'll be like, "Who was that again?" and I'll read back and say "Ohh yeah there was that guy." Kind of like that. The readers know more than me.

Next year will be the 20th anniversary of JoJo.
Well, they let me debut on the New Year's of '82 but that still felt a bit vague to me. I couldn't really imagine myself as a manga artist; it wasn't clear on what kind of manga artist I was going to be. It was like I just was incidentally awarded the Tezuka Award, it wasn't really like I was aiming to win it. So that was kind of when I began training. And...when I look at the other Jump artists manga, they all had their own distinct styles. So the period when I was thinking about what style and what kind of manga I should draw was right before JoJo. I sort of feel that I finally became a pro with JoJo; it was like everything opened up in front of my eyes.

How was "JoJo" born?
I liked movies and at the time Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger were popular. They're both muscular characters and their bodies are covered in muscle, which made me think to myself "I wonder who the strongest person in the world is?" This question was basically the beginning of the idea of JoJo. Themes such as immortality, seeking life, justice and things that humans innately seek spawned from this and eventually lead to the creation of Part one. So basically stuff to do with immortality and super macho guys and how strong they can get; that was what I was pursuing. Also, I had gone on a trip to Italy about 2 years before that and you may already know but, the art in Italy kind of strives for human beauty. When I saw the original artworks, it made me want to do the same.

The origin of the name "JoJo"
I wonder if it's okay to say this..? Umm, the place I used to hold meetings with the editor was at a local family restaurant in my neighborhood called Jonathan's. We were thinking of making the name "Jonathan" Something, and you know how a name can be two S's like Steven Spielberg? I wanted something like that so I thought "Well if it's Jonathan then it'll start with J so...Joestar should be okay." But that was really adventurous for a Shonen manga because it was taboo to have a foreigner as a main character; it was that kind of era. It was a big adventure so I was really grateful to my editor at the time.

Regarding the birth of the arch nemesis, Dio
He's full of confidence, very arrogant and he's aiming to become a God, or top of the world. Because of this, I used the Italian word, 'Dio,' that is used to refer to a God, as well as the 'Dio' that plays Heavy Metal. I like Heavy Metal and Rock so I used those as a reference to make characters. They're also characters that I created to signify 'black and white' or good and evil.'

Part 1:Phantom Blood
What were your initial ideas?
Back when I started drawing part one, I liked stories that went over several generations like 'East of Eden' and the show 'Roots' that they did on TV. The lead character changes but it kinda continues; it's something like an American periodical drama or periodical novel. And I don't think it was very Jump-like in style but I thought that it might be good to go where nobody else had before.

There's also a manga that I really respect called Babel II by Yokoyama Mitsuteru which has fights that follow rules. I also wanted fights that followed rules in JoJo, so the Hamon was one of those things. Also, you can't see psychic abilities right? Like if you concentrate your mind and something breaks, you can't really see it. But it's a manga so I thought I should be able to draw it and try and make it easy for readers to know what kind of psychic powers they were, which is how I came up with the ripple. It kind of spread from that like how ripples slowly spread, no pun intended. (Slowly is 'jojo' in Japanese)

When I look at him now, I think Jonathan is too much of a good boy. If I was to draw him now, I'd probably show more of the weaknesses of his heart too.

Part 2: Battle Tendency
Was Joseph's personality affected by Part one?
One more thing that you weren't supposed to do in those days was to let your main character die. That was another forbidden act. We had a discussion as to whether that will happen first and it was eventually decided in a meeting that we'd kill the main character. Because of this, I had to drastically change the story's characters and portray events that I didn't show in part one in part two and then similarly portray events I didn't show in part two in part three. That was my plan. I had a story devised up until part three, but because the story convention required Part 2 to be different to Part 1, I created Joseph. He does share similarities to Jonathan though in that he is also a muscle type.

Was it always your plan to revive Dio in Part 3?
I really wanted to draw him being dead for awhile and then coming back to life, but if I was to do that I needed something to happen in between (Part 2). Yeah.

Part 3: Stardust Crusaders
How was the process of changing from Ripples to Stands?
I tried portraying the ripple through pictures and I also tried portraying the psychic ability of Stands with pictures too but, how should I say it... I wanted to have punches from here (away from body). I had a meeting for it where I was asked, "What are you going to do next? You can't use the Ripple anymore." But when I said, "Well, a punch comes out of here (referring to the front of the body) and breaks stuff," they'd be confused and wouldn't understand me. So I was like, how should I say this...? Well, there's a thing like a guardian spirit and...it comes out and attacks." That's how I explained what the new ability would be and nobody would understand what I was on about. I told them that I think I could create alot of characters this way; I could make like a green colored punch or a sharp thing spawn and make them fight. Unlike the ripple, I can do lots of variations. That's how I started with Stands, though I originally thought that people who read it at first wouldn't know what's going on. Stands gave me alot of trouble when it came to explaining them, but I really felt that I could keep inventing new characters and ideas this way forever. It was like I dug up a gold mine. No one else thought it was gold, but I was like "Wow, look what I dug up!"

Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable
What were your ideas from Part 4 and onwards?
This section requires expansion.

”

—Hirohiko Araki