エジプトを目指す旅にしたのはどうして？
当時の担当が、エジプトにものすごく詳しかったんですよ。エジプトの古文書とか遺跡とかの文字も読めるくらい。「これはいい！」と。それと、やっぱりエジプトって神秘的な感じがしたからですね。最終目的地はエジプトというのを先に決めて、それからルートを決めていきました。『スターダスト・クルセイダース』の後に､『電波少年』で猿岩石が旅したルートも大体同じでしたね。だから、間違ってはいなかったのかな？取材でエジプトやアジアの国なんかにも行ったけど、あまり好きじゃあないんです(笑)。マンガにも描きましたけど､エジプト人は見るからに怪しいし。ホントにスタンド使いみたいでした(笑)。
う～ん、好きな国はやっぱりイタリアなんですよ。イタリアにさえ行ければ、他の国にはもう金輪際、行けなくてもいいくらいです。イタリアは、やっぱり美術館にいけるのがいいんです。印刷物とは違って、有名な絵画の実物がある！これは何度でも足を運ぶ価値がありますね。他の人が､演劇とかに行くのと同じ感覚だと思います。でも演劇は、そのときどきに違ったりするけど、美術館はもう､絵画の究極の姿があるわけだから、何度でも行きたくなります。ダ・ヴィンチとか、ロダンとかが好きですね。
よく自分の絵柄は独特だといわれるんですけど、自分からすると基本に忠実な絵だと思っています。ルネッサンスが絵画のオリジナルですから、僕はそれに忠実に描いているだけです。自分からすると、他のマンガ家さんのほうが異端だなぁと思いますね。
どうして承太郎を学ランにしようと思ったのか？
何度も行ってますけど、やはり『バビル２世』のイメージが強い。学生服で砂漠に立っているというインパクト。今考えても、『バビル２世』のあのコマはすごい。もしあの絵をリトグラフとかで売ってるんだったら、ぜひとも部屋に飾りたいですね。日常と非日常が同時に存在している､というところがいいんですよ。
承太郎のは、普通の学生服だとつまらないんで、いろいろアクセサリーを付けたりしてみました。ホントはあんな学生服ありませんけどね。僕も中学高校は学ランでした。でも、承太郎みたいなあんな長ランは着てません(笑)。
ジョセフはどうして連続登場した？
ジョセフは第２部『戦闘潮流』との橋渡し役なんですよ。毎回、部が変わるごとに、橋渡し役と出すようにしています。『戦闘潮流』の頭にはスピードワゴン、そしてジョセフ、承太郎、康一・・・というようにね。それに、ジョースター家は短命で、一生涯一人の女性しか愛さないと言われてるけど、ジョセフだけは例外だという設定にもしたかったんですよ。性格的にもジョースター家の中では異端ですしね。
アブドゥルはいったいどんな役割？
アブドゥルは参謀役ですね。本当は､一番年のいったジョセフがそんな役回りをやるんだろうけど、ジョセフの性格じゃあできないだろうと思ったから登場させました。スタンドという新しい概念も登場させたので、スタンドの事について詳しい解説役でもあります。
花京院の死の直前に生い立ちが明らかになったのは？
花京院には戦う動機というのを、ちゃんと考えてあげたかった。花京院が仲間になってからずっと、それは考えていたんですよ。承太郎、ジョセフはホリィを助けるためだし、ポルナレフは妹の件があったりする。でも花京院には何もなかったから､その理由をつけてやりたかった。命を賭けてまで戦う理由を・・・死ぬ間際にそれを描く事が出来てよかったです。このことは、第５部『黄金の風』の仲間たちも同じなんですよ。ブチャラティやナランチャたちの戦う理由をちゃんとつけてあげたかった。だから、それぞれ過去の話、どうしてギャングになったのかをちゃんと考えたんです。
ポルナレフは『黄金の風』に登場すると思っていた？
まずポルナレフは、承太郎と対称的なキャラクターにしたかったんですよ。承太郎はクールでどっしり構えていて、あまり走らせたりもしないと決めていたので、走りまくる､直情的なキャラクターが欲しかった。静と動ですね。ポルナレフは、かなり描いてて楽しかったし、動かしやすかったですね。だから結果的に、かなり活躍してます。あと、髪形もよかった。他の仲間たちがぺしゃんこな頭ばかりだったので、コマの中にポルナレフがいるとメリハリも効いて絵になるんですよ。『スターダスト・クルセイダース』が終って､第４部『ダイヤモンドは砕けない』になってから､ポルナレフはどうしているのという読者からのはがきがとても多かったんです。だから『黄金の風』ではポルナレフが『スターダスト･クルセイダース』の後、どうしているかも描く意味で登場させました。承太郎と同じように、彼も戦っていたんだよ、というのを描いてあげたかった。
犬をどうしてスタンド使いに？
僕は､弱そうなヤツが実は強いというのが好きなんですね、基本的に。ちっちゃくてブサイクな犬が強いというのは面白いんじゃないか？と思って、イギーを登場させました。助っ人として現れて､人間だったら普通じゃないですか。それが犬だったら面白いな､とも思いましたね。『ダイヤモンドは砕けない』では、さらにそこにこだわりました。本体は弱そうでも、スタンドは強い。ドブネズミのスタンドとか、重ちーとかもそうですね。
ホル･ホースを仲間にする気はあった？
ホル･ホースは、仲間にしようかと思ったりもしました。でも、仲間になるヤツばっかりだと面白くないなと思い直して・・・仲間になりそうでならないヤツがいてもいいんじゃないかと。ホル･ホースの性格を考えると、仲間にはならないですよ。けっこういいかげんな性格で、あっちへふらふらこっちへふらふら。コウモリみたいなヤツ。でも、ホル･ホースはもっと登場させたかったですね。ポルナレフと同じくらい､動かしやすいキャラだったし、描いてて面白かった。あと何回か、登場させてあげたかったですね。
DIOはいったいどんな存在？
『ファントムブラッド』の頃から､３部構成で・・・ということは考えていて「３部の最後はDIOを倒すんだろう」とは漠然と思っていたんですよ。『警察署長』というTVドラマにもなった小説があって、代々警察署長の家系の話なんですよ。それでも、最初におきた事件を子孫が解決したりしている。それをやりたかったんです。善のジョースター家に対して、シリーズ全て通して悪の存在がDIO。圧倒的な悪。『スターダスト･クルセイダース』でDIOは倒されましたけど、その後の物語でも、DIOの悪の精神は残っていて・・・ジョースター家は代々、その邪悪な精神と戦っているんです。『ストーン･オーシャン』でも、DIOは出てきませんが､DIOが残した邪悪な精神と徐倫は戦っています。DIOを描く時は、いつも気合が入りましたね。DIOが出てくると、雰囲気もなんか変わるんですよね。マンガの中の空気がこう、張りつめるというか・・・。生き物本来の弱肉強食の世界からすると、DIOのやってることは正しいことなんです。人間が生き延びていきやすくするために作った 、社会の常識ということからは外れてますけどね。弱肉強食の世界から考えると、DIOは普通の行動をしている。DIOを描く時は､自分もDIOの気持ちになってます。・・・こんなこというと、反社会的だっていわれるかもしれないけど、ある意味DIOは自分の憧れの存在です(笑)。[9]
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Note: Not transcribed word for word. Actual Interview can be viewed here.
ナレーション
荒木飛呂彦、1960年6月7日、仙台市産まれ。
週刊少年ジャンプ第20回手塚賞に『武装ポーカー』で準入選、デビュー。
『魔少年ビーティー』『バオー来訪者』に続き、87年スタートの『ジョジョの奇妙な冒険』は現在も続き、読者に絶大な支持を受けている………。
タイトル
船越「どーもはじめまして。船越です。今日はお忙しいところ………」
荒木「ああ、どうもありがとうございます」
船越「荒木さん、ちょっと今伺いましたら、ついにジョジョの六部が最終回とか………その原稿を、いま………」
荒木「ええ、今描いてますね」
船越「もう終わるかなという所なんですか」
荒木「そうですね、今日の深夜には」
船越「そんな時にッ！出くわしたわけですね。いやこれはもうこの週刊少年『』の創刊を飾るのにふさわしいタイミングでお邪魔しまして。ちょっと早い完成祝いといってはなんですけど………」
(豆源の紙袋)
荒木「ああすみません」
船越「非常にアンバランスなもので申し訳ないんですが」
荒木「ああ、ありがとうございます」
船越「おかきでございます。よろしくお願いいたします。先生、僕と同い年ですね？」
荒木「あ、そうなんですか？」
船越「1960年生まれですよね？」
荒木「ああ、そうですけど………」
船越「そうですね、僕も60年生まれですね。6月だそうですね？」
荒木「はい」
船越「僕は7月です(笑)」
マンガ家としてQ1～Q20
Q1 朝何時に起きる？
船越「朝、何時に起きますか？」
荒木「私は10時半ですね」
船越「10時半？」
荒木「朝の10時半、はい」
Q2 ストレス解消法は？
船越「ストレスの解消法はなんです？」
荒木「仕事場まで歩いて通ってきているんですけども、歩いて10分ぐらいなんですけど、それですね」
Q3 アイデアを考える場所は？
船越「アイデアを考える場所はどこですか？」
荒木「えっと………この部屋ですね」
(撮影場所は仕事場)
Q4 マンガ家になろうと思ったきっかけは？
船越「マンガ家になろうと思ったきっかけは？」
荒木「これはもう………ものすごい複雑です」
船越「ですよね」
荒木「一言では答えられないですけど、まぁ小さい頃、友達がマンガ上手いね、って言ってくれた事がきっかけかもしれなないですね」
船越「はぁ………」
荒木「友達に誉めてもらったことが嬉しくて」
Q5 マンガ家になっていなかったら
船越「もし、マンガ家になっていなかったら、何になっていましたでしょうか」
荒木「えーっと、これはもう考えられないですね。何も無いと思います」
Q6 印象に残るファンレター
船越「印象に残っているファンレターはありますか？」
荒木「ああ………なんかね、コンサートのチケットとかが同封してあって、一緒に行きませんか、みたいな(笑)」
船越「(笑)」
荒木「ちょっと行ったら隣に座っていらっしゃると思うんで、ちょっと遠慮させていただいたんですけども。すごいいい席で行きたかったんですけど、ロックアーティストのボズ・スキャッグスっていう………」
船越「ボズ・スキャッグスですか………我々の世代にはストライクでございますね」
荒木「そうですね。行きたくてしょうがなかったんですけど、ちょっとそれは………(笑)」
Q7 資料について
船越「資料は、どのようなものを見ますか？」
荒木「ええっと………いや、何でも。もうその時に消防車を使うっていったら消防車の写真をもってくるし、月の満ち欠けを知りたかったら、月の満ち欠けの資料を探してくるって感じで」
Q8 こだわりの道具
船越「こだわりの道具をひとつ、教えていただけますか」
荒木「こだわりの道具？ まぁ、一つはGペンですね。これしか使わないんですよ」
船越「マンガ家の命ですよね、Gペンといいますと」
荒木「ええ、他にもペンあるんですけど、これだけですね、僕の場合。ええっと、この種類だけ、ということ」
(画面に「ゼブラのGペン」のテロップ)
Q9 アイデアノートはある？
船越「アイデアノートのようなものは、ございますか？」
荒木「ああ、あります。見せて………表だけ？」
(引出しから大学ノートを取り出す。なんの変哲も無いノート)
船越「突然見せていただけるのですか(笑)」
荒木「中はちょっとあれですからね」
(と言いつつ、パラパラと見せる)
船越「ええ、もちろんもちろん………これがアイデアノートですね」
荒木「こういう感じで」
Q10 マンガ家になって得したことは？
船越「マンガ家になって得したことはありますか？」
荒木「あの、損はあるねぇ。子供の時はマンガばっかり読んで、マンガを読むな、って言われていたんですけど、マンガ家になったとたんマンガを読め、って言われて、それが逆に辛いっていうか………毎日読まなきゃいけないんで(笑)」
船越「そうですよねぇ」
Q11 辞めたいと思ったことは？
船越「辞めたいと思ったことはありますか？」
荒木「これも今のところ、ないですねぇ」
Q12 マンガ家として確信を得たのは？
船越「自分が、マンガ家としてやっていけるなと確信を得たのはいつですか？」
荒木「これも確信したことも別に無ければ………いつ切られるかって毎日おびえていて、それで何年も経っているかな、って感じですけど」
船越「なるほど」
Q13座右の銘は？
船越「座右の銘は？」
荒木「あらゆることを疑う、っていうのが何て言うか………そういう風にしているのが座右の銘ですね。例えば、葉っぱの色が緑っていうのも、本当に緑かなって思うような」
船越「なるほど」
荒木「ピンクでもいいんじゃないの？ってそうやってピンクの葉っぱにしたりとか、そういう事ですね」
Q14 ジンクスは？
船越「ジンクスはありますか？」
荒木「ジンクスでもないですけど、アイデアを考えるときはゴルゴ13じゃあないんですけど、壁を背にするとよく浮かぶんですよ。寝てても駄目なんです。こういう所にこう(壁を背にして)考えると。何故かは解らないんですけど。入り口とか窓を向いてじゃ駄目ですね」
船越「それがジンクスですか」
荒木「それがジンクスです」
Q15 締めきりは守られる？
船越「締めきりは守られる方ですか？」
荒木「ええ、一応。落としたことは今のところなかったと思います。ないですね」
Q16 最大の修羅場は？
船越「マンガ家として最大の修羅場を迎えたなと思ったのはいつでしょう？」
荒木「やっぱり体調を壊したときが」
船越「そうですね」
荒木「特に、僕はストレス性の胃に来るタイプみたいで。その時は、治りも遅いし、締めきりも来るし、と。あれは修羅場だったかもしれません」
Q17 アシスタントは何人？
船越「アシスタントの方は何人いらっしゃいますか？」
荒木「ちょうど6人います」
Q18 アイデアに行き詰まった時は？
船越「アイデアに行き詰まった時はどういたしますか？」
荒木「これもね、行き詰まらない、って思うんですよ」
船越「ああ………」
荒木「宇宙が無限のように広がっているように、人間の心も広がるんだなと」
船越「なるほど」
荒木「膨張すると思う」
Q19 編集者の存在とは？
船越「荒木先生にとって、編集者はどういう存在でいらっしゃいますか？」
荒木「やっぱり助さん角さん、って感じですかね」
Q20 マンガ家の職業病は？
船越「マンガ家として、職業病はなんでしょうか？」
荒木「よくへそ曲がりって言われる(笑)。だから右って言ったら左っていうような癖がついているのかもしれないですね」
(以降、それぞれの質問について詳しく回答)
船越「先生の一週間というのをアバウトに教えていただけるとどういう風な一週間になるんですか？」
荒木「まず、木曜日にネームっていう、アイデアを紙にする訳ですね。金曜日、土曜日、日曜日でペン入れして、月曜に締めきりと仕上げっていうか。そして火、水で休みっていう………」
船越「この………実際には描かれる作業は四日間で」
荒木「四日間ですね」
船越「これで一週間分という事になりますか」
荒木「(ネーム原稿を見せながら)例えばこんな感じに………」
船越「ああ、コマ割をここであらかじめしていく訳ですね」
荒木「絵を描かれる先生もいますが、僕はもうキャラクターだけ描いて、台詞がこうあって」
(ストーンオーシャン最終話、「僕の名前はエンポリオです」のページのネーム原稿が映る)
船越「はあはあ」
荒木「涙を流している、と脚本みたいな………」
(エンポリオのアタリ位置に「涙を流す」と字で書いてある)
船越「ラフスケッチですよね」
荒木「そういう感じで。全部、ページも決まっているんですよ。」
船越「あの、先ほどマンガ家になられるきっかけは、友達に誉められたからみたいな事をおっしゃっていましたけども、その友達に誉められる以前のことをお伺いできればなと」
荒木「今だから解るんですけど、兄弟って言うのが関係あるのかなと思うんですよね」
船越「先生の家族構成をお聞きしても？」
荒木「ああ、父と母がいて、妹は二人なんですけど、それが双子なんですよね。これがね、ちょっと悪魔のシスターって感じなんですよ(笑)。僕にすればね。例えばどういう事かっていうと、学校から帰ってきておやつが３個あったりしますよね。そうすると妹が当然先に帰っているわけだから、食べちゃうわけですよ。そうすると一個あまる。どうする？って感じになると思うんですよね、二人で。食べちゃえば多分解らないだろうって事で、僕が帰ってくるともうないって状態で、ああないのか、感じなんですけど。後でバレたときに、その陰謀がねすごい傷つくわけ(笑)。なんかね、ものすごいんですよ。これ一回や二回ならいいんですけど、毎日なんですよ子供の頃(笑)」
船越「(笑)」
荒木「それでさみしくて、そのときに読んだマンガっていうのはホント、救われるんですよね。例えばテレビのチャンネル権も妹にあるんですよ。二人だから。だからやっぱり部屋で読むマンガっていうのが、素晴らしいもんなんですよね」
船越「その時に先生を救ってくれたマンガ達っていうのは、どういうマンガなんでしょうか？」
荒木「梶原一騎っていう、スポーツ根性モノ………『巨人の星』とか『あしたのジョー』とかね。違うマンガ家さんでは白土三平の『カムイ外伝』とかね。そういうのとか『バビル二世』みたいなやつですね」
船越「『バビル二世』ですね………！」
荒木「もう大好きですね」
書庫拝見
船越「こちらが、先生の書庫」
荒木「書庫っていうかね、本置き場」
船越「こちらにマンガの本が沢山ありますけど、これはもう先生のご趣味？」
荒木「ええそうです」
(画面に『タイガーマスク』『新巨人の星』『カムイ外伝』『ヤマトの火』『仮面太郎』が映る) 船越「これが先生が愛好している作品と思っていいですね」
荒木「捨てられないマンガですね」
船越「なるほど。(船越、何かを取り出して)あった………一度先生に伺いたいと思っていたのがこの方です」
(画面に『ワイルド7』(望月三起也)とその解説、映る) 荒木「ああ、いいですね」
船越「どうしても先生のイラストがね………」
荒木「似てます？」
船越「似ているというよりも、何かこう、望月三起也さんを必ず見ているだろうっていう………」
荒木「あります。銃の握り方がね、望月三起也のはこう、重さがあるんですよ。手首がこう、グッと入る。(実演しつつ)こう固いんじゃあないんです。ここがいいんですよ」
船越「そうですよねぇ」
荒木「(笑) こういう感じでね、重いんだ」
船越「銃を本当に好きな方ならではのリアリティがありますよね」
(アイデアノートはある？)
船越「これ、感動したのはですね、大学ノートだっていう所ですね」
荒木「ああ、そうですか？」
船越「ええ」
荒木「だってこれは中性紙でね、色が変わらない紙なんですよ(笑)」
船越「あの、ちょっと(見せて欲しい)」
荒木「どのへんかな………使っちゃった所ならいいか。この辺だったらいいのかな」
船越「(じっと見る)」
荒木「こっちがテレビを観た感想で、こっちが主に………」
船越「………なるほど、先生これは完全にアイデアブックというよりも、ネタ帖ですね」
荒木「そうかもしれない」
船越「先生が日常生活をされている中で、気づいたこと、あるいはこれを引用しようとか思われていることを書き綴っていらっしゃると」
荒木「はい」
船越「言ってみれば先生の心の日記みたいなもんですね」
荒木「そうかもしんないですね」
船越「作家としての、心の日記かもしれませんね」
(マンガ家として確信を得たのは？)
荒木「やっぱり読者にそっぽを向かれたらその時点で終わりかなぁ、みたいなのは………」
船越「今でも、その危機感というのがおありですか」
荒木「あります。その覚悟はいつでもしているっていうか、覚悟っていうのかな、そういう時はありますね」
(ジンクスは？)
船越「壁を背にするとアイデアがわいてくる、これがジンクスだとおっしゃっていましたね？」
荒木「なんかこのへんが(目の前を手で示して)広い感じがいいんですよね。だから机なんかも必ずこういう感じで、本箱とかを後ろにしたりとか」
船越「何かを背負う」
荒木「ええ、そうですね。アシスタントが前、いたりとかしたんですど、ホント駄目ですね」
(ここで本棚の中が一瞬映る。ジョジョの単行本のほか、辞典など？)
船越「それはちょっと面白い心理ですね」
荒木「アシスタントが前にいる………学校の先生のように。ああいう感じがいいですね。ありますね絶対」
(最大の修羅場は？)
船越「修羅場、これはもう体調を崩したときっておっしゃっていましたけど、これはファンの方の興味は一体ジョジョの何巻目なんだろう、っていう………」
荒木「ああ………第四部のね、最終決戦のあたりとか。吉良っていう敵がいるんですけど、そのへんとかね。これもしかして負けるかもとかね(笑)」
(ナレーション)
(第四部のカラーほか映る。仗助が「それ以上言うな………てめー」のシーン他)
荒木先生最大の修羅場だったというこのシーン、第四部「ダイヤモンドは砕けない」のクライマックス！ 殺人鬼・吉良吉影のスタンド、キラークイーンの爆弾に、四代目ジョジョ・仗助が窮地に追い込まれる！
荒木「主人公っていうのはコントロールしていると思うじゃないですか。皆さんは。作家がコントロールして書いていると」
船越「もちろんそうですよね」
荒木「そうじゃあないんですよ。主人公の方が上にきちゃってる事もあるんですよ。描かせられるというか」
船越「主人公に描かせられる！」
荒木「描かせられるときがあって………」
船越「勝手に主人公がこの上で人生を演じいくって事ですか」
荒木「そうですね」
船越「それはみんなから、こうだこう、みたいな」
荒木「動機とかを感じてやると。作った技とかね。あまりにも強すぎると、どうしようもなくなってくるんですよ。あと、性格とかが悪すぎると。どうするんだろうと思って、どうしたらいいかわかんなくなっちゃって(笑)」
船越「先生が今まで手に余っちゃった悪党っていうのは誰でしょうか？」
荒木「やっぱり吉良吉影っていうリアリティあるやつがいるんですけど(ここで『JOJO A GO-GO！』の吉良が画面に映る)、あいつ何でもありなんですよ。あの時はちょっと………でもしかも僕は好きなんですよ、あいつが」
船越「吉良好きなんですか」
荒木「好きなんですよ。なんかちょっと、お前も解るな、っていう所があるんですよね」
船越「負けそうになった承太郎と仗助が勝てたのは、先生の体調の復活と関係があるんですか？」
荒木「いや、それじゃなくて死にもの狂いでどうしようか考えたからだと思いますけど。もう(自分が)主人公の様な感じでしたね」
(ナレーション)
『ジョジョの奇妙な冒険』。1987年より週刊少年ジャンプに連載。19世紀末のイギリスが舞台となりスタート。
第一部の主役はジョナサン・ジョースター。続く第二部はジョセフ・ジョースター。第三部は日本人、空条承太郎。第四部は東方仗助。第五部はイタリアが舞台でジョルノ・ジョバーナ。現在、近未来2011年が舞台の第六部まであり、その連載期間は実に16年にも及ぶ。
それぞれの時代によって主人公が変わり、英国貴族ジョースター家の血統にあるジョジョが活躍。一世紀以上にもわたるジョースター家とディオの因縁を描いた傑作大河ロマン。
プライベート Q21～Q60
Q21 好きな映画ベスト3
船越「好きな映画ベスト3を教えてください」
荒木「洋画ですけど『大脱走』とか。『大脱走』カッコイイですね一番」
船越「(共感して)おお！………スティーヴ・マックイーン」
荒木「あと『ジョーズ』と『ゴッドファーザー』ですね。何度でも観ますね」
船越「今、握手したいなと、私は思っております(笑)」
Q22 好きな小説ベスト3
船越「好きな小説ベスト3を教えてください」
荒木「三本もないんですけど、子供の時は『シャーロック･ホームズの冒険』みたいなのシリーズ。あれで、主人公っていうのはどういう人なのかなって解ったようなような気がするんですけど」
Q23 必ず読む雑誌は？
船越「必ず読んでいる雑誌は何ですか？」
荒木「何十年も読み続けでいる雑誌は………『ロードショー』って映画雑誌があるんですけど、あれはずっと買っているなぁ」
船越「奇しくも集英社ですね(笑)」
荒木「そうですね(笑)」
Q24 好きな食べ物は何ですか？
船越「好きな食べ物は何ですか？」
荒木「スパゲッティーです。何味でもいいです。ナポリタンでもいいし、何でもいいですね」
Q25 嫌いな食べ物は？
船越「嫌いな食べ物は何でしょうか？」
荒木「嫌いな食べ物は………トマトの皮ですね。プチトマトとか、絶対食べれないです」
船越「でもスパゲッティーって、トマトばっかりじゃあ………」
荒木「煮るといいんですけど、生は駄目なんです」
船越「ああ、生のトマトの皮。後は何でも大丈夫、と」
Q26 休日の過ごし方は？
船越「休みの日は何をしていますか？」
荒木「本読んだり、映画観たりとか。あと、運動ですね」
Q27 具体的には？
船越「具体的には？」
荒木「筋肉トレーニングとか、走ったりとか」
Q28 趣味は？
船越「趣味は何ですか？」
荒木「ないです」
船越「仕事、と」
荒木「仕事です」
Q29 最近ハマっていることは？
船越「最近ハマっていることは何ですか？」
荒木「最近ハマっているのは………自分の絵をでっかく描くのがハマっています」
Q30 好きな音楽は？
船越「好きな音楽は何ですか？」
荒木「全部好きですけど………もうラップでも何でも、いいです。ジャズでも」
Q31 一番好きなアーティストは？
船越「登場人物にアーティストの名前が多く出てきますが、一番好きなアーティストは誰ですか？」
荒木「プリンスが好き。プリンス」
Q32 おすすめのアルバム
船越「お勧めのアルバムを教えてください」
荒木「最近はねネリー(NELLY)っていうのの………ちょっとどっかにあったな(CDラックから一枚のCDをさっと取り出す)これがいい。これがいいんですよ。ラッパーのネリー」
(画面にジャケ。『COUNTRY GRAMMAR』(NELLY))
船越「ああ………わざわざありがとうございます」
Q33 好きなテレビ番組は？
船越「好きなテレビ番組は何ですか？」
荒木「最近のですか。あんま観ていないですね」
船越「そうですよね、ご覧になる時間はないですよね」
荒木「映画は観るんですけど」
船越「是非、サスペンスをご覧になってください(笑)」
(注:船越は二時間サスペンスドラマの帝王)
荒木「観てみます(笑)。解りました」
Q34 荒木流健康法は？
船越「荒木流健康法をひとつ、教えていただけますでしょうか？」
荒木「執筆前のストレッチですね」
Q35 ファッションのこだわり
船越「ファッションにこだわりはありますか？」
荒木「自分ではあんまないですけど、やっぱよく見ます」
Q36 一番落ち着く場所は？
船越「一番落ち着く場所はどこですか？」
荒木「落ち着く場所………やっぱこの部屋がいいかな？」
Q37 クセは？
船越「クセはありますか？」
荒木「あごをいじるのが。緊張すると。(自分では)わかんないけど」
船越「そうですね、今日も何度か拝見しました」
Q38 お酒は強い？
船越「お酒は強い方ですか？」
荒木「ほとんど飲みません」
Q39 もらって嬉しいものは？
船越「もらって嬉しいものは何ですか？」
荒木「美味しいお菓子がいいですね」
船越「お菓子、お好きですか」
荒木「ええ」
船越「甘いもの、しょっぱいもの………」
荒木「"おいしい"のがいいんですけど(笑)」
船越「今日お持ちしたものは大丈夫かな、と思って(笑)」
Q40 どんな車に乗ってる？
船越「現在、どんな車に乗っていらっしゃいますか？」
荒木「あ、僕運転できないんです」
船越「そうですか、それはあえて運転を………」
荒木「いや、何か知らないけど、免許取りに行かない人生になってしまいましたね」
Q41 幼少期はどんな子供？
船越「幼少期はどんなお子さんでしたか？」
荒木「妹にいじめられているお兄ちゃんでした(笑)。たぶん」
Q42 初恋はいつ？
船越「初恋はいつでしょうか？」
荒木「ええっ、高校一年の時かな」
Q43 子供の頃見ていたアニメは？
船越「小さい頃、見ていたアニメは何でしょうか？」
荒木「何でも見ていたと思います。『巨人の星』とか。でもあんまりハマんなかったですね。マンガの方が好きですね」
船越「アニメーションよりも、マンガ、と」
荒木「そうですね」
Q44 初めて買ったマンガは？
船越「初めて買ったマンガは覚えていらっしゃいますか？」
荒木「さいとうたかをの『無用ノ介』。侍の」
船越「あれが初めて買ったマンガ？」
荒木「あれ、絵が上手いんだよなぁ………すんごいいい絵が入っているんですよ」
Q45 好きだったアイドルは？
船越「好きだったアイドルはいらっしゃいますか？」
荒木「浅田美代子が好き。歳がねぇ………やだなこういう話」
Q46 欠かさず見ていたテレビは？
船越「欠かさず見ていたテレビは何ですか？」
荒木「向うのテレビが好きでした。刑事コロンボとか。あれはもう、絶対観ていたね土曜の夜」
船越「僕も絶対観ていました」
Q47 得意科目は？
船越「学生時代、得意だった科目は何ですか？」
荒木「別にあんまり得意なものはないけど、好きだったのは社会とか理科が好きでしたね」
Q48 苦手科目は？
船越「学生時代、逆に苦手だった科目は何でしょうか？」
荒木「英語かな」
船越「英語なんですか」
荒木「やなんですよね、あれ単語とか覚えるのが」
Q49 クラブ活動は？
船越「学生時代、どんなクラブ活動をしていましたか？」
荒木「剣道をしていました」
Q50 好きな異性のタイプは？
船越「好きな異性のタイプを教えてください」
荒木「異性のタイプ？ あのね、おしとやかじゃあない方がいいですね」
船越「まさしく先生の作品に出てくる女性達が」
荒木「ああ、そういうのが。何か、黙っていると何考えているか解らないような女性は嫌ですね」
船越「活発な人がいいんですね」
荒木「そうですね」
Q51 奥さんはいますか？
船越「奥さんはいらっしゃいますか？」
荒木「います」
Q53 好きな色は？
船越「好きな色は何色ですか？」
荒木「何でもいいけど、オレンジとか、オレンジっぽい黄色」
Q54 最近、思わず笑ったことは？
船越「最近、思わず笑ってしまったことはなんですか？」
荒木「これもよく解らないですけど、眼科に行って検眼とかするじゃないですか。コンタクトレンズ買いに行った時に。そのお医者さんが静電気を持ってまして、僕のまぶたに触ったときに、こうなんか電撃がはしった時かな。あれもトラウマになる。もう行けない(笑)」
船越「『バビル二世』の衝撃波みたいなものですか」
荒木「そうです。衝撃波が目にはしったのには………もう怖くて行けないですよ」
Q54 最近、腹が立ったことは？
船越「最近じゃ腹が立ったことは？」
荒木「腹が立ったことも………あんまりないですね。ないです」
船越「先生、あまり腹はお立てにならないような感じにお見受けするんですが」
荒木「でも、これじゃ駄目だなぁと思うときはありますけどね。テレビとか、ニュースとか見てて」
Q55 最近、涙を流したのはいつ？
船越「最近、涙を流したのはいつですか？」
荒木「最終回描いててちょっと、泣いちゃったな」
船越「今日ですね先生(笑)」
荒木「いや、ネーム書いている時だから、木曜日かな(笑)」
船越「やっぱりそうですよねぇ………それは………そうなんだろうなぁ」
Q56 旅行で一番良かった所は？
船越「旅行で一番良かった所はどこでしょうか？」
荒木「僕はイタリアが好きなんですよ。イタリアの、ヴェネツィアがいいですね」
船越「ヴェネツィア。水の都」
荒木「あの、車がないところがいいですね」
船越「そうですね。全く歩くのにストレスを感じませんからね。ちょっと人が多いかなというのはありますけど」
Q57 もう行きたくない所は？
船越「逆に最悪だなぁと感じた所はございますか？」
荒木「言っていいのか解らないですけど、エジプトが駄目ですね」
船越「でもエジプトといったら第三部のまさに………」
荒木「もうあそこ嫌いで、だから舞台にしているんです」
Q58 宮城県で一番美味しいものは？
船越「宮城県のご出身ですが、宮城県で一番美味しいものはなんでしょうか？」
荒木「あるのかな？(笑) 東京の方が美味しいですよ」
船越「身も蓋もなく終わってしまいました(笑)」
Q59 行きつけのお店は？
船越「都内で行きつけのお店はどこかありますでしょうか」
荒木「あります。僕はイタリア料理が好きなので、そのレストランが好きです。大好きですね。お酒飲まないんで、そういう所が大好きです」
Q60 東京で好きな町は？
船越「東京で好きな町はどこでしょうか？」
荒木「東京で好きな町は………表参道が好きですね」
(好きな映画ベスト3)
船越「(好きな映画)『大脱走』………」
荒木「『大脱走』ね、これはもう子供の頃観て本当に手に汗握ったかなぁと。これ今でもいいです。マックイーンが何回も戻ってくるところもいいんです」
船越「やっぱりそのへんが根深くあって、第六部はジェイル(監獄)ものになったのかなと、それがルーツなのかなと」
荒木「ああ、それはありますね。マックイーンが戻ってくるたびに僕は泣いていたもん(笑)。これだよ！ ヒーローってのはこれだよ！って感じ」
船越「そして『ジョーズ』」
荒木「『ジョーズ』ですね。これはもう海に行けなくなるぐらい怖くなった映画。で、何で怖いんだろう、っていう恐怖の分析っていうんですか。最初観たら最後まで。後半は何かバトルものになるし、いいんですよねやっぱり」
船越「で、『ゴッドファーザー』」
荒木「『ゴッドファーザー』………。大河ロマンですね。こういうのがいいですね。親子何代にも渡る………一部、二部、三部とあって」
船越「解りやすいですよね。この映画がジョジョの世界観を作ったっていう」
(最近ハマっていることは？)
船越「大きな絵にハマっていると………これはちょっと面白いなと」
荒木「そうですね。マンガってこのサイズで描いているから(と、原稿用紙を取り出して見せる。B4サイズか？)、もっと何倍かに描きたいんですよ」
船越「そもそも大きく描きたい、と」
荒木「その後ろにあるやつなんですけど」
(たて1mよこ60cmのキャンパス映る。ジョルノ？が描いてある)
船越「おお………ではあまりイラストにしても何にしてもお描きになったことがあったんですか？」
荒木「ないですね。ゆくゆくは2メートルぐらいにしたい。描きたいです」
船越「例えばバオーのイラスト、あるいはゴージャスアイリンなどあのぐらいの時代のイラストを拝見するとあらためて先生の世界観の深さというのが痛感するんですけど」
荒木「あの頃なんかね、凄いファッションデザイナーみたいな人がいっぱい出てきたんですよ。スターみたいなのが。ヴェルサーチですとか、モスキーノとか、それが良かったんですよ。影響を受けて、主人公に着せたいなぁって感じ」
(初恋はいつ？)
船越「初恋は高校生？」
荒木「(笑) はい」
船越「その初恋の方はどういう女性だったんですか？」
荒木「違う学校の女学生ですよ」
船越「明るい子？ 暗い子？」
荒木「ちょっとね、おしとやかな感じだったね。だからダメだっったのかも(笑)。そういうマンガのイメージか小説のイメージか知らないけど、そういう女性がいいのかなと思って最初思っていたんですけど、付き合うと駄目ですね。辛いですね」
船越「先生は割とリードしていってくれるような女性が好きですか？」
荒木「ああ、そっちの方がいいですね」
船越「という事は、奥様にはかなりリードして………」
荒木「そうかもしんないですね(笑)」
(欠かさず見ていたテレビは？)
船越「欠かさず見ていた作品に、刑事コロンボを挙げていましたが」
荒木「あれも、犯人に感情移入するときもありますね」
船越「刑事コロンボの作りっていうのはそうですよね」
荒木「僕は結構、犯人に味方しているときがありますよ。コロンボ、また戻ってきたよ！とかね(笑)。ああこれ帰ってくるんだろうなと思うと帰ってくるんだよ、あれ」
船越「これで救ってやりたい、っていう瞬間がある話がいくつかありますよね。このまま逃げ切ればいいのに！っていう」
荒木「そう。でもそこが面白くて(笑)」
(ナレーション)
『魔少年ビーティー』。1983年週刊少年ジャンプ、荒木飛呂彦の記念すべき初連載作品。
悪魔的頭脳を持つ少年、ビーティーが手品トリックを駆使し犯罪に関わっていく様を親友・康一君が語る。すでに荒木独特の台詞回りは確立され、かなりエキセントリックな内容となった。
84年、週刊少年ジャンプに連載された本格SFアクション(『バオー来訪者』)。
遺伝子操作によって生まれた生物兵器バオーを体内に持つ青年と、悪の組織ドレスとの戦いを描いた熱狂的ファンを生んだ作品。
マンガ作品について Q61～Q80
Q61 なぜジョジョという名前に？
船越「なぜ、ジョジョという名前なんですか？」
荒木「もう忘れたけど………(笑)。頭文字が同じになって欲しかったんですよ。AAとかBBとか。あと、ジョナサンというところで打ち合わせをしていたからだと思います」
船越「いわゆるファミレスのジョナサンで………」
Q62 ジョジョのテーマは？
船越「ジョジョのテーマは何ですか？」
荒木「やっぱりこう、人間は素晴らしいな、と。正義とか、清い心を貫いている人ですね。そういう事を、ええ。」
Q63 スタンドの概念はどこから発想？
船越「スタンドという概念はどこから発想されたんでしょう？」
荒木「これは先祖霊っていうの、何ていうのかな」
船越「守護霊？」
荒木「守護霊です。守護霊が出てきて、一緒に戦ってくれたらいいな、っていう。昔『うしろの百太郎』(つのだじろう)っていう………あの辺がルーツではないかな、と思いますけど」
Q64 どのジョジョが好き？
船越「今、第六部までありますけど、先生はズバリどのジョジョがお気に入りでいらっしゃいますか？」
荒木「僕は第四部の仗助っていう………あのツッパリの、あれがいいんですよね」
船越「後ほどじっくりと………」
Q65 お気に入りのキャラクターは？
船越「一番、気に入っているキャラクターは、何ですか？」
荒木「さっきも言いましたけど、吉良吉影がいいですね」
Q66 ボツネタについて
船越「没になったエピソードはありますか？」
荒木「いっぱいありますけど………それもよく覚えていないです」
Q67 荒木流擬音について
船越「荒木流擬音はどこから思いついたものですか？」
荒木「これはヘビメタですね。ギュウゥゥゥーーーーンとか」
船越「あれは楽器の音だったのですね」
荒木「そうです。ホラームービーとかに出てくる。キュンキュンキュンキュンとか」
船越「出てきますねぇ」
荒木「ああいうやつで」
Q68 独特のポーズについて
船越「キャラクターの独自のポーズはご自身でもされるんでしょうか？」
荒木「いや、自分ではしないですけど」
Q69 一話描くのにかかる時間は？
船越「一話描くのにどのくらい時間がかかりますか？」
荒木「一話って、連載一回ですよね？ 絵だけで三日ですね」
Q70 連載スタート時、どこまで構想があった？
船越「連載スタート時、どこまで構想があったのですか？」
荒木「一応大河ドラマみたいにしていこうって、世代が交代していくって………第三部の結末までありました。構想だけですけどね」
Q71 テレビアニメ化の話は？
船越「テレビアニメ化の話はないですか？」
荒木「たぶん、子供に見せるマンガじゃあないんで、ないと思いますけど」
Q72 キャラを描くのに一番重要な部分は？
船越「キャラクターを描く上で一番重要な部分は？」
荒木「絵ですか………口ですね」
船越「口ですか」
荒木「色っぽくないと嫌なんですよ。目より口のほうがものを言うと思うんですよね。ちょっと、モナリザじゃないですけど、スマイルで違ってくるんですよ。目はこんな(モナリザの真似？をする)もんでいいんですけどちょっと………(微笑んで)モナリザになるんですよ。微妙ですね」
Q73 『静・ジョースター』の再登場は？
船越「第四部登場、静・ジョースターもジョジョですが、再登場は果たしてあるのでしょうか？」
荒木「これはマニアックですけど………ないです(笑)」
Q74 『ディオ』の再登場は？
船越「続きまして第三部登場、ディオの再登場はありますか？」
荒木「これもないです」
船越「ないんですか！」
荒木「ええ、ありません」
Q75 ジョセフはまだ生きてる？
船越「第六部は2011年の設定ですが、ジョセフ・ジョースターはまだ生きてるのでしょうか？」
荒木「はい、あの………ちょっとボケていると思うんですが、生きていると思います」
船越「このへんは私は、とっても疑問がありますので先生に後でこの疑問を解消して頂かないとと、思っています」
荒木「何歳？って感じ？」
Q76 魔少年ビーティーの本名は？
船越「魔少年ビーティーの本名はなんですか？」
荒木「一応、ないんですけど、僕、寺沢武一さんってマンガ家が好きでして」
船越「『コブラ』の」
荒木「一応その辺も」
船越「Buichi Terasawaですか」
荒木「高木ブーって言われたこともあるんですけど(笑)」
Q77 空条承太郎を演じるとすれば誰？
船越「空条承太郎をもし俳優が演じるとすれば役者は誰になるでしょう？」
荒木「ええっと………解らないですね。でもイメージで描いたのはクリント・イーストウッドがイメージ。あの走ったりしないところが」
Q78 もしも自分がスタンド能力者だったら？
船越「もしご自身がスタンド能力者だとしたらどのスタンドを使いたいですか？」
荒木「何だろうなぁ………時間を止めてみたいですね」
船越「やっぱりね。それですよね」
荒木「ちょっとね」
Q79 第6部で単行本が一巻に戻った理由
船越「なぜ第6部で単行本が一巻に戻ったんでしょうか？」
荒木「編集部の要望です」
船越「先生が何かたくらんだという事ではなくて」
荒木「いいえそういう事ではないです。何か解りやすさを取ったんじゃあないでしょうか」
Q80 第7部の構想は？
船越「第7部の構想はもうあるんでしょうか？」
荒木「はい、あります」
船越「よかった！ ………(カメラ目線で)これはもう本当に皆さんご安心下さい。第7部は始まります」
(なぜジョジョという名前に？)
船越「衝撃的ですね。ファミリーレストランだったっていうのが。ジョナサンのルーツが」
荒木「深夜までやっていて、24時間だから、打ち合わせはそういう所でやるんですよ。それで頭文字がスティーブン・スピルバーグ(S.S)みたいにしたかったんですよ。覚えやすいから。それでジョナサンになった」
(スタンドの概念はどこから発想？)
船越「スタンドっていうのは………これはもう『うしろの百太郎』というような言葉が、僕も一瞬ダブったんですけれども」
荒木「そうですね。壊して欲しいって時に、超能力っていったらウーンって念じてパカって割れるんだけど、ここ(背後)から出てきて、守護霊が割るってくれるって見せたほうが、マンガ向きなんですよね」
船越「スタンドと自分自身の肉体が一体化しているという所ですよね。この辺の発想が非常に興味深いんですけど」
荒木「あれもね、たぶん横山光輝先生のマンガだと、リモコンが敵に渡ったら敵のものになっちゃうとかね」
船越「敵に渡すな大事なリモコン、ってね」
(注:『鉄人28号』の主題歌の歌詞)
荒木「そう、ああいう弱点っていうかな、ああいうところが面白いんですよね。ドキドキするっていうか、そういうのがないと面白くないっていうか全部強いものばっかじゃ描いていてサスペンスが成り立たなくなってくるんですよ。だからそういうのを先輩を見習って作っているっていうのはあるんですけど。
「その横山光輝先生のマンガだとね、学生服を着て砂漠に行くんですよ」
船越「『バビル２世』、まさしくそうですよね」
荒木「それがいいんですよ。戦闘服を着て、じゃあ駄目なんですよ。なんかあれが涙が出てくるの(笑)。学生服を着ている少年が砂漠にいる、っていうの。絵がいいんですよね」
船越「でも裏切られたのは、アニメになったとき学生服着ていなかったんですよね」
荒木「そう、アニメは戦闘服着ていたからあれはひどかった」
船越「ひどいですよね。何であんな裏切り方をするんだろうって。僕も『バビル２世』はやっぱり学生服なんですよね」
荒木「そうです！」
(連載スタート時、どこまで構想があった？)
船越「先ほど、ジョジョの話にも出ましたけど、だいたい第三部までは構想がスタート時にあったという………これはもう第三部は日本に持ってこよう、という所まであった訳ですか？」
荒木「はい、世代を通じるドラマってあるんですよ。『エデンの東』とかいろいろ。それみたいにしようと思って」
船越「日本に持ってくるっていうのはかなり大胆な発想では？」
荒木「いやでもね、逆だったんですよ当時は。日本人じゃあない主人公を少年マンガにはつかっちゃいけないっていうタブーがあった。外人を主人公にすると絶対駄目なんです。そういうタブーが80年代にあって、ウェスタンでも何故か日本人が主人公なんですよ。日本のマンガって」
船越「『荒野の少年イサム』とかね」
荒木「そういうのがなんか知らないけどあったんですよ。だからそっち(主人公が日本人)の方が普通で、一部とかの方が(外国の人が主人公とかの方が)異常なんです」
船越「何で外国の人を主人公にしようって思われたんですか？ そのタブーを犯してまで」
荒木「うーん、なんか洋画とかをいっぱい観ていたからですし、旅行したときにカルチャーショックっていうんですか、観るもの全て凄かったですね。美しくて。鼻血出るぐらい美しかったですね。何観ていいかわからないんだもん」
船越「先生は旅行に行かれたっていうのは、最初イギリスなんですか？」
荒木「そうですね、イギリスとかフランスとか行ったんですけども」
船越「これはもう、イギリスを舞台にしたものを、という事ではなくて」
荒木「そこでちょっと凄かったからですね、やっぱり」
船越「という事は旅行にインスパイアされて、ジョジョの舞台はイギリスになったっていう風に解釈しても？」
荒木「あ、そうです。やっぱそういうのも編集者っていう人の影響みたいなもの、あるんですよ。編集者の趣味もとか入ってくることがあるんです。エジプトに行こうって言ったの、編集者なんですよ。大好きなんだもん。あの象形文字とか読める方で、もう行きたくてしょうがないの」
船越「ヒエログリフが読める」
荒木「読める人で、僕は行きたくなかったんですけど(笑)、汚そうでね、とにかく嫌なんですよ」
船越「じゃあ先生の中にあったものがエジプトじゃあなかったんですね」
荒木「そうですね、あれは担当さんとかそういうそばにいた人の影響っていうのがあって、例えば外国の主人公にしたらどうかな、っていうのも担当さんが反対される場合もあると思うんですよね、打ち合わせで。そりゃまずいよ、って。でもその人は乗ったんですよね。いいかもしんない、みたいな。そうすると勇気になってくるというか」
(『DIO』の再登場は？)
船越「ディオのお話になるんですが………やっぱりジョースターという血統があって、こっちの対極に数十年を貫いて綿々とディオというのが、どうも読者の我々にとっては常にいつもディオの影がつきまとっています。六部に至ってもディオの骨まで出てきました。なのに先生は再登場はないとおっしゃっていたんですけど」
(画面にいつかのカラー原稿？のディオ映る)
荒木「あれは承太郎がやっつけたもんだから。でもその意思は残っているっていうようにしたいんですよね。その志(こころざし)みたいな。悪の志」
船越「という事は、ディオは形としては現れなくとも意思としてはもしかしたら今後も」
荒木「そうかもしれないですけど」
船越「第７部だ………(笑)」
(ジョセフはまだ生きている？)
船越「ところで、ディオもさることながら、ジョセフは先生？」
荒木「ジョセフ………矛盾点は？」
船越「あのね、リサリサは50歳の設定で出てきましたよね？ 肉体は二十代でした。あれは何故かというと、波紋があの肉体を保つんだ、老いのスピードを緩めるんだとお描きになりましたよね先生？」
荒木「はい」
船越「何故………リサリサよりもジョセフのほうが僕は波紋のパワーは上だと思うんですよ。何故、ジョセフは人間と同じスピードで歳をとっちゃったんでしょうね？」
荒木「やっぱちょっと、気の持ちようというか(笑)」
船越「失礼いたしました(笑)」
(キャラを描くのに一番重要な部分は？)
船越「先ほど、一番ポイントになるのは口だっておっしゃっていましたよね？ これがインパクトがあったんですよ」
荒木「何かね、色気を出しいんですよね。中性的っていうのかな。男でもなく女性でもなく、っていうような。絵にしたときに惹きつけるものがあるんですよ」
(仗助、ジョルノ、ドッピオのカラー原稿、口もとのアップ)
荒木「例えば男描くんでも、女性の顔を見ながら描くときがある。スタイルとか、ポーズの取り方とか………」
船越「先生、顔を描かれる場合、最後は口ですか、それとも最初は口ですか」
荒木「最初は鼻ですね」
船越「鼻、まぁそれは中心をとって」
荒木「どう描くんだろうな………やっぱ最後が口ですね」
船越「やっぱり最後が口。ちなみにちらっと描くところを見せていただいてもよろしいでしょうか」
(荒木、紙をサッと用意して描く)
荒木「こういう感じ」
船越「(小声で)大変なことになりました」
(荒木、ペンを一度取り、また別のを取り直して描き始める。ロットリング？)
荒木「まずちょっと輪郭」
(輪郭、鼻、眉毛、目の順でサッサと描いていく。やや左向きの顔で、右目、左目の順。目はフチ、目玉の順)
船越「やっぱり先生は仗助が好きなんですね」
荒木「いや、これは何でもないんですけど」
船越「あ、何にでもなるんですか、そこから」
荒木「仗助にする？」
(リーゼントを少し描いて、口を描く)
荒木「こういう感じですかね………」
(耳、そして右側の輪郭)
船越「なるほど、確かに表情がスッと出てくるのが口ですね」
荒木「あと叫ぶときにはこう(口をあけるように描くふりをして)なったりとか」
(リーゼントの上の部分を描く)
船越「先生、生のを描かれてしまいましたね」
荒木「生仗助？」
(服を少し描いて、単行本でも人気のラフ画が完成。早い) 船越「先生、口というのはあえて影響を受けたとしたらこの口元はどこがルーツですか？」
荒木「やっぱこういう写真とか(写真集をぱらぱらとめくる)見て描いているんですけど、(写真の口を指差し)やっぱこういう口とか、いいですよね」
(写真がハッキリ見えるんですが、何の写真集でしょうか？)
荒木「でも、これ見て男を描くときもあるんです」
(仕事場拝見)
荒木「ここはアシスタントの仕事場です」
船越「はああ………なんかイメージが全然違いました。もっと雑然とした中で生まれていくのかなと思っていたんですけど。先生の几帳面さが」
荒木「そうですか？ いや………まぁ………はい(笑)」
(この時、壁にかかっている絵が面白い。荒木先生の絵？)
(アシスタントがペン入れをしている作業、映る)
ナレーション
荒木先生の絵に、丁寧にペン入れをするアシスタントの皆さん。 (最終話？、神父が地面に倒れこむPAGEが映る)
この日は第六部ストーンオーシャン最終話の仕上げ。
『ジョジョの奇妙な冒険』はここから生まれているのです。
(第7部の構想は？)
船越「これでいよいよ第七部が始まるという、私達は嬉しいニュースを耳にさせていただいたんですけども………」
荒木「編集部とは全然打ち合わせしていないんで」
船越「でも、先生の中にはもう………」
荒木「ありますね。タイトルも、なんだっけな、『スティール・ボール・ラン』っていうんですけど」
船越「教えてもらっちゃいましたよ(笑)」
荒木「でも舞台とか、内容は駄目ですね、まだ」
船越「それはもちろんそうですよ。どっか先生の中で、大きな未来に飛躍するっていうためらいがあるっていう事はあるんですね」
荒木「取材ができない、っていう。あと身近でないと、リアリティっていうか、何でもある発明とか、何でもある世界になるとちょっとまた違ってくるんじゃあないかと思うんですよ。やっぱリアリティですね」
船越「先生がご自分で未来を構築しようとはあまり思われない？」
荒木「ええ、もうスタンドが架空のものだから、どこかリアリティがないと駄目なんですよ」
船越「なるほどなるほど。それでは皆さん、第七部はそれほど遠い未来へ行かない、と。これだけはお聞きできました」
荒木「もう血統がいないんですよね。例えば仗助だって愛人の子なんだもん。苦しいんですよ(笑)」
エピローグ Q81～Q100
Q81 おすすめマンガベスト3
船越「それではエピローグ的にその他のことというくくりで質問をさせていただきたいんですけども、お勧めのマンガベスト3を教えていただけますか？」
荒木「『バビル２世』と………そうだな梶原一騎の………うーんやっぱ『巨人の星』かな。柔道一直線もいいんですけどね」
船越「いいですよねぇ」
荒木「後はやっぱ『ドラゴンボール』ですね」
船越「『ドラゴンボール』ですか！」
Q82 「やられた」と思ったマンガは？
船越「やられた！と思ったマンガはありますか？」
荒木「いや、べつにないですね」
Q83 尊敬するマンガ家は？
船越「尊敬するマンガ家はどなたでしょうか？」
荒木「やっぱり横山光輝先生」
Q84 週刊連載で心がけていることは？
船越「週刊連載をする上で心がけていることはどういう事でしょうか？」
荒木「締めきりを守る」
Q85 長く続ける秘訣は？
船越「長く続ける秘訣を教えてください？」
荒木「あ、これがそうですね。締めきりを守る、と。そういうことです」
Q86 仲の良いマンガ家は？
船越「仲の良いマンガ家さんはどなたでしょうか？」
荒木「えっと………いないですね(笑)。特に。いるって答えてもいいんだけど、そんな会っていないんだよなぁ。みんな忙しくてさぁ(笑)」
船越「そうですよね。なかなかねぇ」
荒木「そうなんですよ」
Q87 パソコンは使う？
船越「パソコンは使えますか？」
荒木「僕は駄目ですパソコン。あの待ち時間が」
船越「でも、お使いにはなられると」
荒木「ええ」
船越「あまり好きではない、と」
荒木「好きではないですね」
Q88 着メロは？
船越「携帯の着メロを教えていただけますでしょうか？」
荒木「携帯は僕、持ってません」
Q89 一番会いたい女優さんは？
船越「一番会ってみたい女優さんを一人教えてください」
荒木「ええっ、これ日本の女優さん、って事ですか？」
(スタッフが「いや、外国でも」と答える)
荒木「ナタリー・ポートマンに会いたいですね。『スター・ウォーズ エピソード1』のアミダラ姫。あれ、いいですねぇ(笑)」
船越「目尻が下がりましたね先生」
荒木「すごい美人ですよあれは」
船越「そうですよねぇ」
Q90 無人島に持っていくものは？
船越「無人島に持っていくものを三つ挙げてください」
荒木「やっぱり好きなマンガと、CDと、鉛筆」
Q91 一番高価なものは？
船越「今まで買った一番高価なものを教えてください」
荒木「何だろう………仕事場かなぁ」
Q92 尊敬する人は？
船越「尊敬する人は誰ですか？」
荒木「尊敬する人？ ………僕は画家のベラスケスが」
(画面にベラスケスのテロップ出る。
「ベラスケス」(1599～1660) スペイン セビリア生まれ。フェリペ4世の宮廷画家として活躍)
Q93 今後、挑戦してみたいジャンルは？
船越「マンガ家として今後、挑戦してみたいジャンルはどんなものですか？」
荒木「別に、今のマンガをどんどん進めていきたいだけ」
Q94 『少年ジャンプ』どこから読む？
船越「『少年ジャンプ』どのマンガから読みますか？」
荒木「最初から、載っている順に」
Q95 マンガはいつまで描く？
船越「マンガはいつまで描こうと思われていますか？」
荒木「50ぐらいですかね。そんな長く描けるのかなぁ(笑) 少なくとも週刊連載はちょっとできないんじゃあないかなぁ。スポーツ選手と同じ様な感じがありますけど」
船越「やっぱりこれは時代でしょうかね」
荒木「時代っていうか、体力」
Q96 老後の過ごし方は？
船越「老後はどう過ごしたいですか？」
荒木「やっぱりこう、友達とレストランでだべりながら、みたいな(笑)。それいいですよ。男同士でね」
Q97 もし願い事が叶うなら？
船越「願い事が叶うなら、何をお願いされますか？」
荒木「ええっ………？ 何だろうな………あんまりないですけど。別にないです」
Q98 マンガ家に向いている人はどんな人？
船越「マンガ家に向いていると思う人はどんな人でしょうか？」
荒木「マンガ家って、いろんな魅力があるんですよね。脚本家であったり、画家であったり、監督であったり、役者であったりすねから、たぶん音楽家以外は誰でも向いているんじゃあないかと思いますけど」
船越「はぁーなるほど」
荒木「いろんな魅力があるから、そこさえあれば。絵下手なマンガ家もいるし、絵だけで話ができない人もいるし。いろんな魅力があるから何でもできると思いますね」
Q99 マンガ家として大切なことは？
船越「マンガ家として大切なことってなんでしょう？」
荒木「創作は美しい、って心に念じていることじゃあないですか」
船越「素敵な………」
Q100 あなたにとってマンガとは？
船越「では最後に、ちょっと難しい質問かもしれませんけど、先生にとってズバリマンガとは何でしょう？」
荒木「自分を見つめるものですね」
船越「ありがとうございました」
(船越、荒木と固く握手しつつ) 船越「ありがとうございました。素敵な創刊号にさせていただきましたお蔭様で。これからも楽しみにしておりますので、くれぐれも体調を崩さないように………体調を崩すと主人公がピンチになってしまいますからね(笑)。ご活躍をお祈りしております。ありがとうございました」
荒木「はい、どうもありがとうございます」
(ジョリーンと荒木先生のサイン映る。夜道を歩く船越)
船越「いかがでしたでしょうか。週刊少年『』創刊号としては素晴らしいものが出来上がったと編集長としては自負するとともに、あらためて荒木先生に感謝したいと思います。荒木先生のお話を実際に伺うことができて、ジョジョのルーツにも触れることができて、さらにジョジョの作品世界が広がったような気がします。第七部が本当に今から待ち遠しい、そんな思いでいっぱいです。是非、荒木先生、老後のお茶のみ友達の中に私を加えていただきたいと思います。それでは皆さん、また次号でお会いしましょう！」[10]
ARAKI Hirohiko : Exposed
AnimeLand : Pouvez-vous nous éclairer sur la genèse de Jojo ?
ARAKI Hirohiko : En premier lieu il y avait le concept de succession des générations, l’héritage père/fils. Ensuite, je voulais mettre en scène des héros voyageurs qui se battraient pour défendre l’humanité. L’idée des générations successives m’a été inspirée par la saga du Parrain (Brian DE PALMA), ou A l’Est d’Eden (Eliat KAZAN) : des histoires de familles, dont l’action se déroule sur plusieurs générations. Très Jeune, J’ai été touché et inspiré par tous ces films devenus des classiques.
A.L. : Aviez-vous une idée de ce serait chaque saison à l’avance, ou votre idée première s’est-elle modifiée au fur et à mesure ?
A.H. : Au tout début tout était axé sur le combat, les rapports de force, puis, au fil du temps, tout est devenu plus “spirituel”, avec une grande place faite à des valeurs comme l’amitié. Au niveau graphique, les premières séries mettaient en scène des héros très “machos” aux muscles surdimensionnés. Puis les personnages sont devenus plus fins, plus élégants aussi.
A.L. : Que pensez vous de la traduction occidentale du titre de Jojo (1) : le terme bizarre vous parait-il approprié ? Et si oui, quel aspect de votre travail reflète-t-il ?
A.H. : En effet, le titre japonais se traduirait plus par “amazing” : étonnant, merveilleux. Mais justement, ce que je tenais à exprimer dans ce manga est réellement quelque chose de différent, d’étrange, de bizarre. Donc, en définitive, la traduction est plutôt juste (sourire). Je pense que cette sensation se reflète dans certains aspects ou situations du manga : les retournements de situation imprévus, la façon dont l’expression des visages change, se déforme, la personnalité cachée de certains personnages…
A.L. : Comment vous est venu l’idée de l’Onde, puis du Stand ?
A.H. : Pour l’Onde (ou Hamon), l’idée de départ était celle d’une force indirecte, une force qui frappe à distance, comme dans l’eau par exemple : si je frappe une surface d’eau calme, j’affecte indirectement les alentours grâce à l’onde résiduelle.
Le stand, quant à lui, est peut-être quelque chose de difficile à appréhender pour un occidental. Il trouve son origine dans le shintoïsme : l’essence spirituelle de nos ancêtres nous protége, en fait chacun de nous est protégé en permanence. Sans être moi-même shintoïste, je connais bien la culture et la philosophie japonaise pour y être né, je suis donc influencé par elles dans mon travail de création.
A.L. : Vous semblez beaucoup apprécier le gore et mettez souvent en scène des personnages possédant la capacité de se reconstituer après blessure. Est-ce un hommage à ce cinéma, et au The Thing de John CARPENTER ?
A.H. : Oh, j’aime beaucoup ce genre de cinéma, mais aussi les comics, et la télé. John CARPENTER, DE PALMA… leur travail m’intéresse énormément, j’étudie beaucoup tout cela, je les ai tous vus. Maintenant, concernant The Thing, il ne faut pas oublier que les premiers volumes de Jojo remontent aux années 80, j’avais probablement eu l’idée avant de voir ce film.
A.L. : Il parait d’ailleurs que vous êtes un grand fan de culture occidentale, classique ou moderne ?
A.H. : Oui, je m’intéresse beaucoup à l’art en général, qu’il s’agisse d’impressionnisme, d’art contemporain ou d’illustration. J’étudie tout cela également, et ça m’influence dans mon travail.
A.L. : Cela peut-il expliquer, à votre avis, le succès remporté par Jojo en occident ?
A.H. : Eh bien, pour devenir auteur de manga au Japon, il faut étudier énormément, apprendre beaucoup de choses très différentes : en quelque sorte, il faut tout connaître, de JANGAYA à SPIELBERG.
A.L. : Tous les héros de Jojo ont certaines caractéristiques communes : morale impeccable, témérité, don de soi, plastique parfaite, force incommensurable. N’avez-vous jamais été tenté de donner vie à un anti-héros ?
A.H. : Non. Pour moi, un héros doit être propre, juste, du moins c’est l’idée que je m’en fais. Il peut avoir l’air méchant, dangereux, il peut traverser des moments difficiles, mais son coeur reste pur, et jamais il ne ferait quelque chose de malhonnête. Jamais il ne s’attaquerait à une femme ou à un enfant, voila son principal trait.
A.L. : Jojo est également un des seuls manga à mettre en scène la mort de ses héros de façon très gore. (voir la mort de Zeppelli, coupé en deux).
A.H. : Pour protéger quelqu’un, un vrai héros peut avoir à se sacrifier, même si sa mort ne fait aucun doute : c’est là aussi un héritage de la philosophie japonaise. Un héros ne cherche pas l’argent, il devient ce qu’il est pour sauver autrui, il est honnête, charitable. Plus sa mort est horrible, plus son sacrifice prend de la valeur.
A.L. : Parlant de valeurs morales, on a d’ailleurs l’impression d’assister à des affrontements “moraux”, plus qu’à de réels combats dans JoJo.
A.H. : C’est une symbolique, cela a trait à la façon dont le héros arrive à vaincre le mal. Il y a très basique ment trois archétypes de personnage dans Jojo : les gentils, les méchants, et les personnages indéterminés (du moins momentanément, un personnage apparemment agressif pouvant se révéler être un gentil par la suite). Même les personnages “mauvais” ont une raison de mal agir, il y a toujours une raison qui justifie leurs exactions. Et il faut présenter au lecteur les circonstances qui ont poussé ces individus à se tourner du mauvais coté.
A.L. : Jojo reflète également votre passion pour la magie, l’illusionnisme… A.H. : Oui, je ne rate jamais un show de magie, au Japon ! Lance BARTON, David COPPERFIELD : vous savez, par exemple, ce tour ou il fait disparaître une moto…Ça m’intéresse beaucoup, je me donne du mal pour essayer de comprendre comment ils font tout ça ! Cela me donne également de l’inspiration.
A.L. : Comme pour la création du personnage de Zeppelli notamment ?
A.H. : Oui (rires) !
A.L. : Et vous, pratiquez-vous la magie ?
A.H. : Je connais quelques tours, je sais faire disparaître les pièces de monnaie (rires)
A.L. : Jojo’s bizarre adventure a souvent été comparé à Hokuto no Ken : qu’en pensez-vous ?
A.H. : HARA Tetsuo est un de mes amis, nous dînons souvent ensemble. Il a complètement révolutionné la représentation du corps humain dans le manga, il m’a donc influencé également à ce niveau.
A.L. : Parlez-vous de vos travaux respectifs quand vous vous voyez ?
A.H. : En fait, étant tous deux des professionnels du manga, nous évitons de parler boulot.
A.L. : Et peut-on dire que Jojo’s est émaillé de clins d’oeil, à HNK ?
A.H. : Dans les premiers épisodes, oui, au niveau des corps masculins et des effets gore… Mais plus maintenant.
A.L. : Toujours en ce qui concerne votre travail sur la plastique de vos héros, quelles sont vos influences, hors manga ?
A.H. : Je consulte en permanence des livres d’anatomie, des écorchés, pour la structure des os et des muscles. J’ai été très impressionné par le musée Palazzo Vecchio à Florence, en Italie. J’y ai acheté des ouvrages sur le sujet.
A.L. : La sculpture également ? Il y a des oeuvres dans ce musée démontrant des poses très caractéristiques de votre travail…
A.H. : Oui, tout à fait, et j’aime également beaucoup le musée RODIN, ici à Paris. J’ai assisté à des séances de pose, cela m’a beaucoup touché.
A.L. : Pour finir, il semble qu’il y ait plusieurs niveaux de lecture dans Jojo, et chacun peut selon son âge, apprécier ce manga à sa façon. A qui destinez-vous Jojo en priorité ?
A.H. : Actuellement au Japon, on me demande d’écrire des choses pour un public plus jeune (moins de 15 ans), dans un esprit très mignon, très Kawaii… Mais tout cela est très loin de moi, en fait. Pour écrire quelque chose de correct, il faut avant tout être capable de le comprendre et de l’apprécier.
A.L. : Chose étonnante, Jojo’s Bizarre’s adventure semble beaucoup plaire aux lectrices françaises, alors qu’il semblait destiné avant tout à un public masculin.
Qu’est-ce qui peut justifier cela, à votre avis ?
A.H. : Eh bien, peut-être le fait que mes héros sont tous très beau garçon ! (Rires)
Remerciements pour la traduction à M. OGII Michael-Akira, organisateur de l’exposition.
[11]
Hirohiko Araki Interview - Kira My Hero (Short Summary)
“
Kira Yoshikage is obviously a pun on Killer, and of course Killer Queen. Regarding how his name is spelled, the reason I use 吉良 (Kira), and 吉影 (Yoshikage) is because I love alliteration.
I love Kira's personality. He is always calm and tries to keep a low profile. He consistently does his best to live a quiet life, which includes secretly killing women and always having a hand to hold (literally). The way he keeps a record of the length of his nails is similar to things I do, like keeping track of my blood pressure. He knows and admits his quirks and usually knows what he's doing; he understands that there is no way to stop him. I admire him so much except for the fact he kills.
You know the photo of Kira with his parents? I thought I'd describe his childhood and all he had gone through, but decided against it as I figured Kira's childhood would have made the readers feel sorry for him. That's not good; after all, he is the main villain Josuke has to face. Instead of trying to illustrate it fully, I tried to hint how his childhood was like, such as the fact his parents are old. Another is his mom in the photo, doesn't she look somehow strange?
- In Deadman's Questions, I hid the fact that the main character was Kira until the very end of the story because I didn't want core fans to read though the story with the image of Kira in mind.
- Why did Kira's father have the bow and arrow?--He received it from DIO.
- I never planned for Cinderella being Kira's ticket to survival. I usually deal with the plot on a weekly basis.
- With Kira's death, I wanted to make Morioh seem "eternal". In my mind, Morioh just stayed the same, so things such as "what happen to Josuke afterwards," aren't that important. Amoungst all the bosses in the JoJo series, I love Kira best.
- About Josuke's hairstyle...my editor said it was "out of fashion." That comment made my day, though it would be more challenging for me to describe Josuke's personality.
”
Full Interview
“
Before we talk about Kira, lets talk about the town of Morioh.
It is modelled after a new residential development built close to where I grew up. Back then, I was looking at these new buildings and felt a sort of anxiety as opposed to admiration. “Was everything really going well [in there]?”
Looking from the outside, you see all these warm lights in the houses, but you have no idea what people are doing inside. These houses that looked the same were being built and they all looked pristine and happy. Doesn’t that sort of make you feel like a Kira might be [lurking] there? (laughter)
With ‘Diamond is Unbreakable’ my theme was to build out a town. I wanted to draw the humor and spookiness that might be lurking the peripheries of everyday life. Even myself now, there might be bizarre things going on if I just change my point of view.
I was also very influenced by the novels of Stephen King. I was reading them a lot in the 80’s and 90’s, but I especially liked ‘Misery’. The stage is fixed and you just keep delving deeper and deeper within it. Back then I read a lot of King novels.
Also with Part 4, I got to bring in a lot of my own tastes into the work so that was fun. Games, shops, Italian restaurants! With Tonio’s store, I paid a lot of attention to what I was drawing down to the ornaments. It was great bringing that into the fold too… Research was also really easy—I just had to go home to Sendai (laughter) I would just go back, take a few pictures at a souvenir shop and draw them in—all within the realm of not being scolded [for frivolous travel] of course!
Also, Josuke’s hairstyle, even my editor pushed back being like ‘Please draw a main character suited for the era’. But I thought it was good because he wasn’t. The way he cares about his hairstyle, it’s very ‘70’s~80’s delinquent’-like isn’t it? But when you go to the countryside, you occasionally see people like that (laughter) When I was a student, I would stay away from people like that because they scared me, but now there’s almost something endearing about them.
So it seems that when we remixed the comics, there were 7 volumes just dedicated to episodes related to Kira. I myself was like ‘Wow, did I really draw that much of him?’
One of the themes of ‘Diamond is Unbreakable’ is that Horror may be lying right behind our everyday lives. The reason for that is because I liked reading books on serial killers back in the 80’s—this is right before ‘Silence of the Lambs’ would be published and that became a trend—and I wanted to understand what the motivation of serial killers were. Why would you be born a human and do things like this? Those types of questions really interested me and the actions of these people I found really spooky.
So when I started drawing out ‘everyday life’, I had an initial assumption that a serial killer would be the enemy. A sort of different enemy from ‘Stardust Crusaders’, one that lies in wait. The ‘Stardust Crusader’ enemies came rushing in, but [I was thinking of] an enemy that would sort of lure you in… Eventually I was thinking of drawing something like that, but I wasn’t imagining Kira Yoshikage as a specific character from the start.
The first enemies were student-level enemies like Okuyasu and Keicho, also the guitarist Otoishi Akira—at first I was thinking of student level, delinquent level enemies. The reason for that being that I didn’t want to make a sort of ‘Greatest enemy’. When you create a ‘Greatest enemy’ to be overcome, to be the goal, the readers can’t focus on anything besides that. I didn’t want that to become a weakness in the work. For every story I wrote, I wanted the attention to be on what’s happening right now.
But it seems ‘Jojo’ readers really wanted a ‘Greatest enemy’ of some sort, I guess DIO gave off too strong an impact…. so when it seemed like the end was in sight, I thought up of Kira.
The name Kira is of course from ‘Killer’—so a murderer. Its very simple (laughter) The name ‘Yoshikage’… I wanted the first kanji of both names to be the same. Same with Jojo right? So it might be easy to remember if I aligned it around the letter ‘吉’. That;s all. But it sounded right.
The first appearance, I drew from the PoV of Kira. I wanted to draw something from the point of view of the antagonist. Up until this point, I only wrote the villains from the point of view of the protagonists—the villains as seen by the protagonists. But antagonist has a point of view as well, and I wanted to draw what their mental state might be. Why does Kira commit murders? And I wanted to draw that in a fashion where he stays an antagonist and doesn’t become a protagonist.
So I didn’t want to make him a very sympathetic character. When you read about the young lives of these serial killers, you often see that they lived unhappy childhoods. But if you start drawing that out, they become useless as antagonists. So I took care to cut out those parts as best I could when building his character. That took a bit of work.
For DIO, he had a thing about becoming a pinnacle over humanity right? But Kira is pursuing true human happiness. That’s why he hates trouble. He just wants to live in a world of his own interests, and that’s what makes him dangerous (laughter) But he might have an philosophy of his own… The enemies up until that point like DIO and Kars were all aiming for the top—it might have been symbolic of the Japanese economy up until that point, like the bubble economy (laughter). Back in those days, DIO’s might have been the more natural mindset and you might unconsciously sympathize more with that.
When I was drawing Kira, what people were looking for was tranquility. The idea that happiness is not about standing on top of others. Kira’s awards since he was a middle schooler were all for the #3 spot. Not #1 or #2, but #3. Not conspicuous, but still respectful. He himself has the talent to become #1. But standing out, making enemies, being chased, feeling pressure, feeling expectations he can’t handle that at all. There might be a lot of adults who think like that, but it’ll be creepy if someone was thinking that when they’re a kid right? It’s much cuter for kids to be like ‘I’m going to become #1!’ That sort of abnormality was what I wanted to draw, that sort of odd genius.
Killing Sugimoto Reimi when he was 18, that was Kira’s first murder.
It’s around the same time Jotaro and his companions fought DIO. Maybe that was a sort of year when the stars aligned. A year of destiny. Josuke was saved by the man with the pompadour that year too, so a lot of things went on.
His first murder, it was probably by impulse. By chance, he saw Reimi and snuck into her house… and that changed his fate. If not for that incident, he might not have lived a happy life without killing, but the stars steered him wrong. And from there, you can’t shake fate. His first murder went a long time without being uncovered. You read about serial killers and how they have dozens of bodies buried under the floor. You wonder how that happens without being uncovered, but that’s really scary right? Maybe its driven by the apathy of the neighbors… With that first murder, Kira became destined to kill 48 people.
Kira’s background of bottling up his nails… that was inspired from a real life story of someone who preserved his nails to monitor his own condition and stress levels. That person is not a serial killer (laughter) That nail story was interesting, and I remembered it. It seemed like something Kira might do… ‘When my nails have grown x millimeters, I’m doing great!’ ‘This is when I can never be caught!’ I feel like I do something similar… I measure my blood pressure and read from it my condition. Sometimes I feel invincible when the readings are good. There might be athletes who do that too… not with nails of course. Kira just does a sorta-creepy version of that (laughter)
Now for Kira’s family, do you remember that scene where you see a picture of Kira’s family, I put a lot of thought into drawing that. It’s not a fun-looking family, but it also looks sort of peaceful… and that’s creepy. The father and mother appears close to each other, but also distant. They probably haven’t ever really had a major fight either. When you read about a serial killer’s life, you feel chills when you come across a picture of them as a child. I wanted to imbue that picture with a bit of that feeling.
Now Kira’s father, he was a strange person. Not quite a criminal, but considered odd. He probably knew his son was a murderer and went ahead hiding his crimes. Of course, Kira’s father went to Egypt and obtained the bow and arrow from Enya to protect his son. Right around then, DIO was looking for allies around the world and Kira’s father was one of those accepted as having potential by him. The same for Okuyasu’s father. People who had been scouted by DIO were all around the world, and even among them, Kira’s father and Okuyasu’s father may have had extra attention paid to them as they were in Japan along with Jotaro. For the mother, I haven’t drawn anything about her at all, but I think she may have done a sort of ‘abusive coddling’ towards Kira. That’ll be scary right?
Even now, I wonder if I should have drawn out Kira’s relationship with his parents in more depth. But I had to cut it out with much reluctance… or maybe I should say that I didn’t have the courage to draw that out. Like I said before, I didn’t want to detail Kira’s past too much. I didn’t want the readers to look at Kira and his father and think ‘these are actually very sad characters’. I drew out Kira’s mental state when killing, but if I started delving into the fundamental reason why he kills, Kira becomes a sort of sympathetic character… if you start emphasizing with Kira that’s not really appropriate for a Shonen manga. I didn’t want readers to feel sympathy. That may be the hardest thing about drawing out Kira. Although I think I might have been able to add another two or three volume if I started delving into Kira’s mental state, his motivations and his relationship with his parents.
I’m really interested in familial relations… the Joestar bloodline is about families too after all. When I draw a character, I start wondering about their parents or siblings. It might be because I was influenced by my parents and sisters a lot. When follow that trail, when you draw out an antagonist I start wondering what influences he got from his family. But if you start delving into that person’s background, you start straying from the theme. There’s so much you could draw out. Even DIO had a lot of influence from his father. But because this is a weekly serial manga, its always difficult to decide how to cut that out. I mean, you only have 19 pages to draw on a week. That’s no space at all. You basically just have to take one idea and run with it. But even then it won’t fit, so I have to think hard about how I might condense two pages down to one…
Kira was cornered once and had to flee. Some people thought that might be the end of Part 4, but I was always planning on reviving him. His flight is equivalent to DIO’s resurrection. You think he’s lost, but then he surges back… around there was I really felt a sort of vitality from him. A different sort of vitality from DIO. DIO’s is merely a biological vitality, but Kira was able to tap into the world of a sort of spiritual or mental strength. At that point, Kira trumped Josuke and his friends in spiritual strength. It’s because he had that resurrection that Kira became such a great antagonist. If he had given up then, he would have been a no-go.
I didn’t think at all about using Cinderella to change his appearance. When he was cornered and I was thinking hard about how Kira might escape, lighting struck me and I realized ‘hey I could just use Cinderella which I wrote about last episode!’ I’m basically thinking at a week-by-week interval and never about what happens after that. I don’t know about Jump manga these days, but it’s all about how I make this week interesting for me.
I also like that part after this where Kira becomes a ‘father’ as Kawajiri Kosaku. There’s a P.K. Dick novel about an alien masquerading as a father in a family; I wanted to draw something like that. Only the son knows that he’s an alien… those types of stories are fun. Those episodes are written from the point of view of the son Kawajiri Hayato, and I think it was good as it changed up the pace. After that you had a few Kira point of view stories and you saw that wife falling in love with Kira. I guess it’s plausible that you might grow to love someone if they’ve actually changed, but falling in love with a serial killer, that’s sort of abnormal too and good.
At the end, the son discovers his secret and Kira discovers a new ability. That’s an extension of his resurrection. It’s impossible to stick around in Jojo with the same ability, you have to power up. The youngling who develops into something greater is a common archetype in Shonen. It’s one of the things I feel are a ‘must have’ in a story. Josuke and Jotaro are sort of ‘completed’ characters so it’s difficult to draw a development scene for them, but Koichi-kun and Kawajiri Hayato fit that type. To see Kira also grow in parallel to them is an atypical way of fulfilling a Shonen stereotype.
On ‘Bites the dust’ ability. When you start thinking around the theme of time or rather time travel there’s a lot of variations you can delve into like stopping time, rewinding time… So its sort of like me passing on ideas I wasn’t able to use for DIO. I like the idea of time manipulation. I did something like that with ‘Golden Wind’ and ‘Stone Ocean’.
Writing the ‘Bites the Dust’ episodes were fun. It felt like I was assembling a puzzle or building a game. But because the same time was incremented so many times, I became concerned with whether the readers would follow along. I said this before too, but given that I only have 19 pages a week, I started wondering if this was appropriate for a Weekly manga. A weekly serial has build up story tension within those 19 minutes then pass it along to the next week. It’s a lot of work, but I see those as the rules I have to work within.
In the end, Kira dies after having been run over by an ambulance, and his face was obliterated and nobody could tell who he is.
With ‘Diamond is Unbreakable’ … with the town of Morioh, I wanted to trap it into a world of ‘eternity’. Like would the wife have been happy if she knew that her husband was no longer the same person? If she realized it, it would be a bit boring right? So I was fine with that state continuing forever and no answer being resolved. Within myself, Morioh will forever be in that state. What happened to Josuke after the series? I don’t think about that at all. Morioh is ‘eternal’.
I drew Kira also in a spinoff called ‘Deadman’s Q’. Being trapped in an ‘eternal’ world with his soul being unable to go to heaven or hell, I thought that might be a form of suffering or punishment too. The same thing with Diavolo in ‘Golden Wind’, but it might be a punishment to be trapped within eternity. In the commentary for the short story collection [‘Under Eecution, Under Jailbreak’] I wrote that I was tearing up as I drew the story (laughter) I was very invested in Kira. I almost understood his feelings, if only he hadn’t committed murder… I didn’t draw it at the time, but thinking back on it I feel that he might have been person with the burden of sadness too.
Out of all the villains I’ve drawn so far, Kira is my favorite. I like DIO too… but more than DIO. Because he was seeking a quiet life and wasn’t a character you would see often in a shonen manga, I was very invested
”
Afterword written in the last volume of the second printing of Stone Ocean translated by twitter user @macchalion from the Japanese volume
“
The truth is, I don’t really know what to say about this. Writing this sixth part of “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure - Stone Ocean”, I started feeling a great sense of satisfaction regarding the stand’s powers. I felt like I had reached the peak of my creativity, as an author I had drawn everything my capabilities allowed. ‘Time’ that got faster and faster for humans’ senses to perceive, getting closer to the concept of infinite – given we can’t really comprehend much of it. How could there possibly be a stand power bigger than this? “There’s nothing more incredible, my creativity has reached the highest point”, that’s what I thought. I normally think that feelings like a sense of satisfaction or personal realization are extremely scary. Finding yourself in a situation where you think everything’s going well and you don’t need to do anything more is without doubt a terrible situation, as a person and as a mangaka, but also if we think about society and the development of science, philosophy, art and culture in general. People act to achieve something, to obtain satisfaction above all else, but what do they do when they reach it? This contradictory feeling crept up my heart while I was coming up with an ending for ‘Stone Ocean’.
Jolyne Cujoh, our protagonist, felt a deep void in her heart too because she was missing the paternal love that brought her to befriend the shady guy that caused her to be imprisoned, after causing a car accident. But what’s important is the progress she makes because of that, because of the actions she has to do to save her father she becomes the strong woman she is. If we look at this story as a telling of the protagonist’s growth, her story had ended. So know what should I do for the accomplishment of this manga? In other words, I don’t have anything more to draw. It’s over. ‘Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure’ has reached its summit.
This is ‘Stone Ocean’.
The end.
But this is not right, not at all, it feels wrong. The fact that I’m feeling accomplished should not be a good thing.
It’s like a red light is in front of me, what should I do?
This is what I was thinking then, until I had an idea.
Go back to the origins! Isn’t this how Renaissance happened in Italy, going back to Greeks and Romans concepts in classic art? The French painter Gauguin also built a whole new painting going back the origins that Tahiti represented for him.
I need to strengthen further Father Pucci’s stand power. This way time, the characters, the bloodlines and the whole universe will have a turnaround and go back to their origins. For ‘Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure’ I had to leave modern days and return to nature. I had to change Stone Ocean’s ending right before the last chapters for this reason, I brought out all the nostalgic feelings I had in my soul and this is why it came out like that. Jolyne Cujoh’s memories might be different in the reset of the universe but her love and her feelings are still there, they became something eternal and I’m sure she’ll keep growing wiser and stronger. I want the protagonist for the seventh part to be fighting against nature in a way that teaches him how to be mature. This were my thoughts upon writing the sixth part, maybe these things shouldn’t be said or written but this is the author’s afterword right? It came out like this
[13].
”
“
"To be honest becoming a mangaka was my childhood dream. When I was about 9, I was drawing all the time at school and my friends I was showing my drawings to, like them a lot. It gaves me the bravery and desire to try my luck in that field. And after at universty I could participate in a contest which allowed me to begin my career as a mangaka."
"When I was young in the early 70's there was a huge amount of manga that I liked. My favorite ones being those with stories dealing about sports, horror, and even sci-fi. Therefore I was inspired by all of this to create my own stories. I'm not sure but still I consider having been inspired a lot of by the works of my elders and I reckon my work wouldn't be what it is "without them. Anyhow I'm still attached to the past of manga and there is still today influence by the authors I'd read as a teenager."
"What I've been trying to do when I started manga was to make evolve the drawing which was somehow too flat, but from the 80's on mangakas started to inspire from Michaelangelo's work. The generation of mangaka I belong to was inspired much by the artists like Michaelangelo or some French painters in order to create characters whose physical aspects was more striking."
(On Tetsuo Hara, I suppose) "The fact that our drawings look alike is very easy to explain. We started at about the same period in the early 80's and it was then too that movies starring Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger started to come to Japan and all these action movies were big hits there. Actually I reckon we wanted to make manga starring macho characters, with big muscles and fighting all the time, a bit like the heroes of the action movies."
"Before the 5th part I reckon, the story was too long so I'll try to make them shorter now."
"The new generation of mangaka is about 10 years younger than me, so they've read Jojo in their childhood, and so it's normal that it has inspired them."
"What I've been trying to do when I started Jojo is to implement a powerful and invisible force which would overcome my characters during the fights. So the idea of stand came to me by thinking of shintoism, which teaches us that our ancestors are always by our side to protect us."
"It's a real pain in the ass for me trying to show the good side of some of my bad guys as it's always very hard. I'd rather go for a more stereotyped approach where I create a hero who will fundamentally be good and to make it balanced, oppose him to a truly evil being."
"About the animé nothing is planned so far but maybe in the future the 5th part will be adapted to TV too." (!?)
"I've no experience as a prisoner myself but I've visited jails and made researches on the subject to make my scenario credible and I've no real mesage to pass on except maybe the condition of mangaka regarding to their editors. Every week I've to hand in 20 new pages to mine.
I work simply, on friday I imagine what's next in the story and write the scenario, then from saturday to tuesday I create the drawings, so normally I've two days off a week, but I mainly use them to imagine the sories of weeks to come."
"I deal with the main drawing but my assistants are the ones who deal with the details. And if I can be here today it's only because I've just finished the 6th part so I'm entitled to a few holidays. But the rest of the time I'm very busy."
[14]”
Renowned artist and ageless wunderkind Hirohiko Araki (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Baoh, Steel Ball Run) recently gave a lecture at Tokai Junior & High School in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, as part of their Saturday Program series, as transcribed/compiled by @JOJO, Japan's premier site for Jojo-related news. Due to its length this entry will be broken into 2 parts.
The lecture hall was filled to its 1,500 person capacity. There were so many people that there was a delay while people moved in and out of the hall, and the lecture began 15 minutes later than planned, at 12:45.
[12:45: The Lecture Hall]
After a student MC introduces Mr. Araki and his body of work, he abruptly pops up on stage, at which time the hall erupts into a deafening round of applause. Mr. Araki, quite nervous at the reception, immediately has a slip of the tongue, saying "I'm a little honored to meet all of you today." "I'm a little..no..quite messed up. I feel like I've met an entire lifetime's worth of people today." Although he claims that he is not a performer, and asks not to expect laughs, he claims "I'm just going to meander along today," scoring some unintentional laughs.
[Reason For Accepting The Invitation]
Araki, who marks his 25th year as a manga artist this year, used to dislike (from well over a decade ago) being told "I used to read your comics!" "I was a fan when I was young!" etc, since it stirred fears within him that perhaps he was getting old, and becoming irrelevant. But in the past 5 years or so, he has had a gradual change of heart, and has begun to enjoy and appreciate the accolades he gets, especially from older people and people in esteemed positions in society. Also, when he was younger he may have been writing manga to benefit himself and his publisher's bottom line, but now he has a slightly different point of view and wants to give back to people, especially younger people. That's when he got an invitation from Saturday Program, and, figuring it would probably just be a classroom of 30-40 people, he said "sure, I'll do it." However, he arrived today to this circus, and thought, "this wasn't what I signed up for." (audience bursts into laughter)
[Motives For Drawing Manga, Family, Days of Youth]
Young Araki lived with his father, an office worker, his mother, a stay-at-home mom, and younger identical twin sisters. Those sisters were quite a handful: for example, if there were 3 snacks, the sisters, upon arriving home first, would eat all 3, and then proceed to conceal any traces of evidence. Growing up, young Araki, thinking that there weren't any snacks, "would think 'man, I'm hungry' and go chew on something like a really old piece of kamaboko." (audience bursts into laughter). And when his sisters' evil doings came to light, a fight would erupt; and this would occur on a daily basis. (yet more laughter) He would often feel such a sense of exclusion and ill-will towards his sisters that he didn't want to come home. He used to find relief in spending time along in his room, reading classic manga from the 70's and his father's collection of art books, which he supposes was his motive for drawing manga. He figures that had he not started drawing manga, he "might have gotten out of hand and killed my sisters." (laughter)
[Days of Submissions and Rejections]
He attended a prep school through junior high and high school, but a friend complimented him on the manga he drew (apparently he drew his first manga while he was in 4th grade), which made him think that if his very first fan thought he was good, he might want to become a manga artist. So, he began to secretly draw manga when his parents were not looking. He first began submitting his work during his first year of high school; however, all of his submissions were rejected. At the same time, a rash of artists who were the same age (Yudetamago) or younger than him (Masakazu Katsura) continued to make big splashes with their debut. But Mr. Araki could not understand why he was rejected, and decided to finish off a submission on an all-nighter and go on a 4-hour trip to pay a visit to the editors in Tokyo, and to ask them for an explanation. At first he intended to visit Shogakukan, which published Shonen Sunday, but he was intimidated by the size of their building, and decided to take his submission into the smaller Shueisha building next door. It was noon when he visited, but one rookie editor (about 6'2", or 185 cm, tall) happened to be there, so he showed him his work. However, the editor, after reading the first page, promptly quipped "your white-out's leaked (you haven't fixed it)": he was criticized every time the editor flipped through each page; Mr. Araki, already exhausted from having been up all night, felt like he was going to pass out. However, after he was finished, he was told that it might be good, and was immediately told to fix it up for the Tezuka Awards in 5 days. That submission was "Buso Poker (Armed Poker)", which won was the runner-up prize at the Tezuka Awards.
[The Jump Editors At The Time Were Really Scary]
At the time, Mr. Torishima (Akira Toriyama's editor, and inspiration for the Dr. Slump character Dr. Mashirito) would take submissions out of their envelopes, glance at the folder, promptly go "I don't want to see this style!" and order a rewrite. Apparently, he wanted people to draw in such a way that looking at the cover was enough to make people want to read the manga. The editorial department as a whole was always on edge at the time. But he also mentioned in the latter half of his lecture that manga editors were like golf caddies; they provided objective information like "why don't you hit this way" or "you're X meters away from the green" and that he appreciated them. He also said that people who wanted to become manga artists had to get along with editors.
[Drawing Manga, Araki-Style Part (1): 10 Meters]
Drawing styles which are so distinctive that you can look at a person from 10 meters away and go, "oh hey, he's reading that manga" are incredible: Araki managed to make his debut, but didn't feel like he had that unique style. And so from 1981 onwards he started thinking about how he could achieve that distinctive style, something that would make people think "oh, that's him!"
[Drawing Manga, Araki-Style Part (2): The World's Most Simple Drawing]
(Showing a blank piece of paper) If you told your art teacher "this is a drawing of 'snow" he would be very upset at you, but in manga you could say this was "the flash from a nuclear bomb" or "my soul is barren" and that would fly. And here Mr. Araki drops a bomb: "There are people who get paid for stuff like this." (audience bursts into laughter) "It's amazing, really. You know, like....I guess I could get in trouble for mentioning names." (more laughter) [Note: probably in reference to Shaman King, which printed a blank 2-page pullout to supposedly express an "incredible move"] "And coloring the page all black, and saying "he went to hell." Sort of like in the last few chapters of Death Note." (audience goes into hysterical laughter, applause) Mr. Araki tried to patch things up by claiming that he was joking, but could not help further mentioning how much per page said-artists were probably paid for those particular pages.
[Drawing Manga, Araki-Style Part (3): The Ultimate Character]
Araki introduces modern abstract art such as Barnett Newman's drawing of an orange square on a piece of canvas, Agness Martin's drawing of nothing but a pencil line on white canvas etc. And then he drew the following, calling it the ultimate simple, ideal character in manga anybody could draw:
Oh no, we're gonna get sued!
"I might get in trouble for displaying this in public, so." (audience bursts into laughter)
He also introduced things like the smiley face and Morizo and Kiccoro (Mr. Araki thought that Akira Toriyama had designed them), and explained that he respected these types of drawings that anybody could recognize, and that it was what he aspired for. "It's incredible. It's the ultimate style."
[Drawing Manga, Araki-Style Part (4): Gauguin]
Gaugin's art, while having depth, also did things like contain certain colors within certain areas, paint the ground pink and the trees blue etc. Araki loved Gauguin's art ever since he was a child, and has been deeply influenced by him. When Jojo became an OVA, one of the animators asked Araki, "What color is Jotaro?" however Araki had no such concept. He colors everything based on calculation. For example, in Volume 54 Giorno's clothes are pink, but in Volume 63 they are blue. Also, regarding the color cover illustration, he explains that placing the color blue beside pink exudes more power. He says that he gets his inspiration from 80's art, shading techniques in Western art, classical paintings and gets inspiration for his various poses from sculptures. All of this research, blended with Araki's own personality, result in Jojo's art style.
[Drawing Manga, Araki-Style Part (5): Aim & Direction]
(Araki shows a diagram mapping the world of manga, broken into 4 quadrants with the X-axis labeled "Using classical methods to portray reality" and "Impressionist markings and symbolic fantasy" and the Y-axis labeled "Treating introspective themes such as inner emotions as the central focus" and "Putting weight on the plot structure. "Suspense" and "creating a sense of the world")
If you don't think about "where you stand," you won't have any sense of direction even after you become a mangaka, wandering from idea to idea, not knowing what you want to write about and ending up becoming one of those people who asks their editor, "What should I write?" In the case of Jojo, Araki is trying to pursue reality by portraying things with classical methodology, but he gives precedence to emotion and inner thought over plot structure, trying to portray the protagonists' destiny, so he ends up in the bottom-left quadrant.
[Drawing Manga, Araki-Style Part (6): The Theme is "Mystery"]
Araki was fascinated by mysteries ever since he was a child, fantasized about deserted islands and believed that King Kong and Nessie existed, and so writes his manga with "mystery" as the central theme. In Jojo, Araki wondered what "superpowers" really were, and if he could portray "energy" itself, which lead to Parts 1&2, and the Stands in Part 3, which were like guardians who could "destroy boulders and stuff." They would "stand" by their master and would be called "stands." Apparently Part 3 began immediately after Part 2 with no interval in between.
[Drawing Manga, Araki-Style Part (7): Like an RPG or Board Game]
At the time, the "pyramid (tournament) formula" (A would fight & defeat B, then fight stronger character C, and on and on) was all the craze in Shonen Jump. But, Araki wondered, how strong could they get? Wouldn't the entire system collapse as soon as you reached the top, much like the economic bubble of the 80's in Japan? It wasn't like there could be an infinite number of levels of strength. So, he decided to create an RPG/board game-style system where characters traveled to different places to fight enemies, as seen in Jojo Part 3, where the protagonists traveled across Egypt while battling enemies
Araki's lecture ended here and proceeded to a Q&A with students, which may or may not be posted here as Part 3.
[13:38: Araki-sensei's Talk Ends Here]
From now on the lecture will be a discussion between Araki-sensei and the students of Tokai Junior & High School. Since there were a lot of questions, they'll be summarized and presented together in a certain order.
[Question for Araki-sensei! (1): "When You Were Young, What Was Your Source of Inspiration?"]
"Manga, movies... I didn't have any collections; neither did I have any 'solid' objects like plastic models. I enjoyed drawing pictures. I was a boy who wanted to live in a world of fantasy with movies and novels.
(When asked what influenced his works) "After achieving success, respecting my sempai was the most important thing for me. It all started with Da Vinci - reading about such people was very important for me. I learned about the things they mastered, and through their discoveries, I found my own answer.
As for manga I read when I was a boy, the most significant one was Kajiwara Ikki/Nagayasu Takumi's Ai to Makoto (Love and Truth), the scene where the protagonist is stabbed by a knife... although the manga ended in the next issue (a January New Year's double issue), it was still a rather extraordinary experience for me. When I was in middle school, I joined the kendo club because of Tetsuya Chiba's kendo manga Ore wa Teppei (I'm Teppei)."
[Question for Araki-sensei! (2): "The Model for Morioh Town, Sendai City"]
- Morioh Town is a town in JoJo, while Sendai is Araki's hometown.
"Sendai, when I was a kid, was an old and historical city. Since the '80s, construction began on a new residential district. The new houses were beautiful, but strangers from who-knows-where were scary, and those personal experiences have been tied together with the town itself."
"Well, I don't think there are any homicidal maniacs, but..." (Everyone starts a roar of laughter). Of course, Araki-sensei likes his hometown very much, but he was intimidated by the rapid increase in stragers, maybe Morioh Town was made based on his "disdain" of that situation. Of course, using the real name of the city in his manga may anger people, so Araki-sensei changed the name to something else.
- Also refer to Kahoku Shinpou: Araki Hirohiko's "Buried Gold Requires Daily Expedition" and Araki Hirohiko's talk-essay "My manga are the 'outcries of my heart'"
[Question for Araki-sensei! (3): "What About Love and Passion?"]
Although he went a boy's school, he had a girlfriend. "There's not much to add, since it's what causes the most problems in today's relationships" (everyone starts a roar of laughter).
- By the way, Araki-sensei is married, and according to an interview from "Weekly Shounen Jump", Araki met his first love during his first year in high school, and his preference for the opposite was "a woman who is not ladylike."
[Question for Araki-sensei! (4): "What Model Did You Base Your Protagonists On?"]
"Eeeeh?" Araki-sensei appears worried. There was no model, but there were influences from "muscle movies" such as "Rambo" and "Terminator." Jotaro Kujo (a character from JoJo) feels like Clint Eastwood: he doesn't run, his movements are minimal and he's a silent person. "On the other hand, the Stands are fast." The personalities of protagonists' from each part are different. After drawing Part I, I wanted to do something I haven't done before. (1st Part: Serious --> 2nd Part: A crazy person)
[Question for Araki-sensei! (5): "Irene = Gorgeous★Irene?"]
What is the relationship between Irene of Gorgeous★Irene and the Irene who made her appearance in the last part of "JoJo 6" (Stone Ocean Volume 17)?
"I was just having a good time, there is no deep meaning behind it, I'm sorry." (Everyone laughs).
[Question for Araki-sensei! (6): "About the Ability of 'Time'"]
The most powerful technique: "Time". Stopping it, returning to the past, watching the future... if there were people who can control such a thing, they'd be invincible. For a main character with powers that aren't invincible, I want to have people wonder how such a character could win. The ability to control physical things, such as gravity, is also very powerful.
From Araki Hirohiko/Shibasaki Tomoka's Osaka University of Arts, College Manga Vol. 4:
- Araki: About time, when I think about it, it's incredibly powerful. You can do things like repeating the same morning over and over, stopping time while jumping, and the people who become visible only at a particular time, etc. But if I used that concept every time, someone would say: "Is JoJo only about 'time'?" So... (laughs).
- Shibasaki: Is it because you're interested in the representation of time?
- Araki: It's an interesting and powerful concept. To what extent is it changing? Is the other side of the earth being affected by it as well? And things like that.
- Shibasaki: What is the maximum affected range when time is stopped?
- Araki: All the way out into space. Speaking of which, what kind of energy would that be?
[Question for Araki-sensei! (7): "Joseph Joestar"]
And now the 'forbidden question': "Why, as an old man, is Joseph such a lustful man?" "Although JoJo was a story that ended naturally after Part 3, I asked myself: 'Should I draw a 4th part? There shouldn't be anymore Jojo!'" (Everyone laughs). Since I didn't know what would happen in the future, even though I wanted to keep his personality, the personality did match up with his age (Joestar is an old man in Part 4).
[Question for Araki-sensei! (8): "Lineage"]
When asked about the reason why he's only focusing on the story of the "Joestar family", according to Araki, going back, back, way back, all the way to the origin of the family lineage, his character's lineage gives him a feeling of pride - the wonder and the mystery that exists within the "lineage". "I put more importance on such things than others (said with a serious tone)".
[Question for Araki-sensei! (9): "If You Can Describe Manga in A Single Word"]
Troubled by the question, Araki replied: "My combined feeling would be 'the salvation of the heart'? I think it's very important."
[Question for Araki-sensei! (10): "Western music and its influence"]
Using names from Western music to name his characters and "Stands" is a "simple hobby" for Araki. It's also a way to pay his respect towards rock artists. "But the fact that nowadays there aren't many names of bands to use is becoming a problem". (Everyone starts a roar of laughs). The imitative sounds of Jojo is also influenced by music (This was said on "Weekly Shounen Jump"as well). While on the subject, according to SOUL'd OUT, their music is influenced by JoJo. So while "JoJo" is influenced by Rock, it is also influencing "Rock"!
[Question for Araki-sensei! (11): "About the Change in Design"]
When asked about his designs that continue to change, Araki replied that since he's not trying to draw using classical techniques, the designs won't be the same, and usually experience rapid changes. "I'm not concerned about the old drawings (assertion)." Though the readers may get confused, I wonder if they will forgive me".
- It has also being reported that in Hirohiko Araki's collection of short stories, Gorgeous★Irene, the illustration of Irene that was drawn for Ultra Jump in 2003, was originally a character drawn in 1985 as an entirely different person. At that time, the comment from UJ PRESS was: "I can't draw in my old style anymore".
[Question for Araki-sensei! (12): "You Stopped Drawing Your Self-Portrait"]
Often fan letters would ask: "Please take out that character from the manga", but since the character is almost complete, I don't want to take it out, and that is all. Although "Baoh the Visitor" ended as though it will later continue, but...
[Question for Araki-sensei! (13): "If you can describe JoJo in a single word"]
To a question that he hates to answer, Araki-sensei's answer was: "'The enigma of human beings', it's something I wanted to draw". As a human who works with a theme that will last for an eternity, that's all. Moreover, the manga is also being drawn for people who have committed crimes, it will make them think: "How did I become like this? Is there a meaning in this existence?" It's a "eulogy of human".
[Conclusion]
And so the time has come, the last words from the moderator, and the falling of the curtain. The clock says it is 2:05 PM on June 24, 2006. An event of about 1 hour and 20 minutes long, but to Araki's fans, without a doubt it was a "golden personal experience." Escorted by applause heavy as thunder, Araki-sensei disappeared behind the curtain with a smile on his face.
- End -
Translated by Aldo[15]
“
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?
Part 3 was a story that had the shape of a role playing game. It's like a board game where you go here and there. There's a book called "Around the World in 80 Days," which I made Part 3's story with that as an influence. If that's the case, then enemies have to be types that come and attack Jotaro themselves, though they might be waiting for them too. So when i was thinking of ideas I thought of people that were willing to wait in their positions for a long time: like people that live in houses and attack when customers arrive, people with personalities like trapdoor spiders. I had a lot of these ideas left over and so I thought that I could probably use all of them within a single town. There were various incidents back then such as a serial killing incident that sent huge shockwaves across Japan. The feeling of your neighbor possibly being a serial killer was the perfect atmosphere, so I used that idea when positioning lots of Stand users around the town. That's basically how Part 4 was born and you can see how it's different from part 3. Making Part 3 different to Part 2, and making Part 4 different to part 3...is the way JoJo was made.
Up until Part 3, the setting was in an imaginary, mythical kind of world but for Part 4 I drew an everyday world so I feel more closeness to Josuke, which is why I like him the most. I found it really fun to write, it was like he became a friend of sorts. Jotaro, however, is someone that you admire, like a hero from a mythical tale. But Josuke seems more like a friend or a senior.
Josuke is supposed to be the child of a lover but...?
Yes, he is. If I could write more of Part 4, I'd like to explore that more specifically. You would probably develop some complicated ways of thinking if you were a child of a lover and Josuke was also meeting his dad for the first time in a while, so I'd like to write more in depth about that. If I had the opportunity to write that, I would really like to. Part 4 isn't really finished yet. If I decided to continue it, I could as much as I want.
Part 5: Vento Aureo
Why did you make the hero Dio's son?
Oh yes right. In part 5, he's not really a blood relative...well kind of. I find great importance in the upbringing and background of the characters. Stuff like what kind of place they were born, and what their parents were like. If I know that then it makes it easier to understand and write. That's what I do it for, so I find bloodlines very important. It might seem like a bit of a stretch, but that's how Part 5 started. During Part 4, the editor said to me, "Are you able to draw sadness?" But life is a sad thing though isn't it? He asked me if I could draw that, and initially I said that it wasn't really my style but during Part 5, I suddenly felt to urge to draw just that. Like the sadness of being ostracized by society but still having a sense of justice. That was what I tearfully wrote for Vento Aureo.
Part 6: Stone Ocean
You once said that you can't draw females.
Back then, it was an era when it was unthinkable to have a female character taking punches and in JoJo, arms can go flying if you're not careful. I felt that I wasn't able to draw that with female characters and the readers wouldn't be able to keep up. As I grew older, the difference between genders became less important, and I started to feel that I could actually draw a tough female. What I came up with was Stone Ocean, whose takes place in a prison setting.
About the end of Part Six
The last boss in JoJo has to be made incredibly strong. And I already made Dio stop time, so I figured the readers wouldn't be happy unless I thought of something even stronger. That factor had become a bubble-like situation and so I thought what would happen if you sped up time really fast, and ended up going full circle. Your brain goes strange when you think about infinity.
What are your thoughts regarding time?
It's mysterious isn't it? If you think about time, it feels mysterious and possibly the ultimate power if you could control it. My thought process involved coming up with this ultimate power and then thinking up how on earth you'd defeat it. Even while writing JoJo I myself often thought, "Oh...they're going to lose this one, they can't possibly win." But thinking about how it will be done is how I go about making this, so even now I still think about the question from Part 1, "Who is the strongest person in the world." I find that there's a great deal of romance there.
Manga Artist Araki HiroHiko
About drawing old characters.
I really find it hard being asked to draw previous characters. I wonder why that is..? I just get really tired. First, I have to try and draw the essence of my older style and then I have to fuse it with my current style, which made drawing the cover of this game really tiring. Though I did end up drawing it anyways after telling them that I can't draw older characters.
Second, artwork always changes; for example, I said before that muscular characters were really popular in the 80's but that wasn't really the case anymore in the 90's. I think it's strange to keep drawing muscular people if that's the case. So when I started on a new chapter back then I made Giorno Giovanna quite thin to be like a normal sized person. From around the time of Josuke, I decided to change from a mythical kind of person to a more ordinary size. That's the kind of way that artwork changes. Well, that's what I think. Also, I don't know about my art getting better. You could say that I was bad at the beginning though. I don't really try to keep it like my older styles; they're pictures that I've drawn in a classical kind of method, so I don't really mind if it changes.
About the game's cover
Well I first imaged it as having the ripple, but I was requested to have Dio and Jonathan fighting with the stone mask but I basically tried to bring the stone mask to the front more. The stone mask is like the game's emblem or the game's mark, so I put water and ripples over the background to lessen its impact. Usually, the main character is right at the front for package illustrations but I kind of made it the opposite of that.
About the poses.
The poses are influenced from Italian sculptures. I really like the way the bodies are twisted and it makes me want to turn them into a drawing. Also, you might not understand unless you're a person that draws, but the pelvis moves up and down and that's what I find fun. Like doing this... and stuff like if you move your wrist than you move up here. (Hand gestures) It's fun to draw while you theorize about that. Well for example, I'll show you here...If you put weight down on your right leg like this, your left shoulder drops and stuff. Or if you raise this hip, you go like this; it all moves oppositely. If you raise one hip then a shoulder goes down. If you concentrate on it you'll notice it, I found that about the human body very interesting and I really find it fun putting that into a drawing.
Also, it's not related but I actually enjoy drawing skin getting peeled. So I had alot of fun when drawing Koichi turning into a book. Not because it's grotesque but I think it's because I have to theorize what it might be like. It's strange. Also, things like what would happen if you bend a finger this way. You can make it possible by drawing. I think those are the kind of things I like, though I like drawing the poses too.
About the unique 'sound words'.
Oh, right. They're influenced from horror movies and rock music. In progressive rock and horror music, they use synthesizers and an instrument called a mellotron and sometimes I really want the tinkly kind of sound it produces for some scenes. Also stuff like "Chwween" and "Kyun Kyun Kyun!" You know how they often have noises like that in horror moves? I get the feeling of wanting those in my work. So I just write them out using letters and they naturally become the sound words I use, and I'm not really conscious of it.
Is the model of Kishibe Rohan yourself?
Everyone I meet for the first time thinks that I'll be like Rohan, so it's a bit of nuisance. I once thought about just acting like that character but that is something I aspire instead and I'm sorry if I break anyone's dreams, but I'm not really like that. Everyone comes into my house a little bit frightened. Sorry, but I'll use this to change my image now.
Do you lick spiders like Rohan?
Well, I do sometimes try eating some unusual things. If they tell me that it's edible cooking then I'll eat it, but... (Laughs)
Themes Embedded in Araki's Work
The theme of JoJo that continues for 20 years?
To not negate human beings. What I mean by that is is to have positive thinking characters that don't stress about things going wrong. They're not allowed to stress. They believe strongly in what they do. Even if its a bad guy doing bad things, those actions are very important to him and he'll use that to move one step forward. Then in response, the hero comes to defeat that. When they both step out forwards they'll then conflict. That's what I find interesting. I don't think it's interesting as a Shonen manga if the hero feels some sort of empathy for the villain. For example, with the character Yoshikage Kira, he's a serial killer but I think that he had his own proper reasons for doing so, such as the poor environment of his childhood, his relationship with his mother and his father always ignoring him. But if I write that you start to feel sorry for Kira, and so despite being such a horrible villain, when Josuke fights him, I think he'll kind of feel sorry for him. But then Kira says that he's fine being that way and moves one step up. That's what I like. That's the reason why I really like Kira. Although he may have had a bad childhood and turned into a serial killer, I always hope that he tries his best at being one. I can't really say that out loud much though. I'm secretly a fan of his. So living with a postive outlook like that is the theme of JoJo. It's a 'celebration of humanity.' To make humans positive. There may be conflicts because of that but that sort of thing is a theme.
Will that remain to be the theme?
Yes, probably. I said this before but I think that if the villains weak, it'll definitely be a boring story. They may be that way in real life but its better if its not in a manga like this. Yes...so I don't think it'll change.
A finale message to the fans
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood is a piece that I created 20 years ago and it really feels nostalgic. I'm really thankful that it has been adapted like this after 20 years.I find it more special than a recent and currently serialized one being adapted because it makes me think that it really has been appreciated for 20 years. So I would really like to express my gratitude and say thank you very much. I hope you really enjoy it. I've properly checked the game myself and I've given it my guarantee.[16]
”
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.
Shoko: 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.[17]
December 29, 2006
ARAKI HIROHIKO & NEKOI TSUBAKI SPECIAL TALK
From the xxxHolic reading guide, new edition.
Araki: My meeting with CLAMP was quite interesting. Though I don't know if it's all right to say this.
Nekoi: It's fine, please go ahead. *laughs*
Araki: By coincidence they frequent the same beauty salon as my wife. So apparently she was chatting with the beautician saying "My husband draws manga," and they told her "We have other clients who are mangaka too."
Nekoi: That's right. Then I heard that Araki-sensei's wife was there and basically it turned into a huge deal.
Araki: We live quite close so said "Why not come over sometime if you like?" and that's how it started.
Nekoi: But really, I've only met Sensei four or fives times in total up to now. And it was always the four of us as a group, so I think this is the first time we've had a one-to-one conversation. I'm really nervous.
Araki: Come to think of it, at first I believed CLAMP were male. I thought it was a man pretending to be a woman in order to draw in a girlish style. [2] And then I heard rumours that it was several people collaborating and not just one person, and I thought, What the hell? There were too many pieces of information flying around, I couldn't make sense of it. It was pretty mysterious.
NEKOI TSUBAKI'S FASCINATION WITH ARAKI'S SLIGHTLY ALIEN WORK
Nekoi: It was really very early on that I encountered Sensei's work and thought "Wow, I love this person's manga" - with Devil Boy BT.
Araki: BT! I got into so much trouble with the editors for that one. They said right off the title was impossible, there's no way you can run a manga called "Devil Boy" in Shounen Jump, and that the main character was evil. I had to explain that it was essentially a rehash of Sherlock Holmes and in the end somehow I convinced them.
Nekoi: That's amazing, it was that difficult then. I couldn't have imagined but there was something alien about it I found as a child, I think, and that fascinated me.
Araki: Really though, the 70s were a period in the manga world where you had to develop to set yourself apart from the crowd. That was the tide, to go where no one else had gone before. I worked hard on that, so it makes me very happy to be told someone liked it.
Nekoi: I loved it!
Araki: Thank you very much! But, to think those readers back then have become what they are now... it's amazing. They even criticized my work. *laughs*
Nekoi: Please don't say things that sound so awful~
Araki: They crowded up and were like "Why did you do such a thing to Jotaro there!?"
Nekoi: But, anyone would do that if they had their favorite mangaka in front of them! You don't know if the chance will ever come again, right? So you want to run up and make them tell you everything! [3]
THE BLACK-AND-WHITE AESTHETIC ADMIRED BY ARAKI
Araki: If I had to say what interests me the most as someone in the same line of work, it would be how you divide the work among the four of you. I've heard you don't use assistants so… In any case I would venture that xxxHolic is mainly drawn by Nekoi-san, is it not?
Nekoi: I wonder if that's so... perhaps that's not the case? *laughs*
Araki: It must be Nekoi-san, surely. The kimono styles, the atmosphere of the art has that feel to it... I don't suppose you can tell me? [4]
Nekoi: No, it's quite all right, I'll answer.
Araki: Ah, you can tell! I thought this might be CLAMP's greatest secret. *laughs*
Nekoi: I'll go with the conclusion. The female characters in xxxHolic are drawn by Mokona.
Araki: Eh! Yuuko-san and Himawari-chan and everyone!?
Nekoi: That's right. I draw the male characters, the youkai, and any spirits that aren't in human shape. And animals. The covers and colour pages are Mokona and I together. The overall flow is blocked out by Mokona from Ohkawa's script, after which I check it, and that's how things typically advance. If we get stuck on anything we go back to Ohkawa and ask, "I don't quite understand this part, what is it supposed to be?" and then we fix it. Once everything is settled, Satsuki, Mokona and Nekoi each draw our parts separately.
Araki: You're really systematic. How did you establish xxxHolic's global aesthetic?
Nekoi: There's a concept for the cover or opening art each time, and that's decided by Ohkawa. The story and worldview are all Ohkawa. She's like the overseeing producer.
Araki: There's something of an Art Nouveau element to it, design wise.
Nekoi: There's a Japanese-ness to it, and Chinese too.
Araki: The gothic atmosphere that permeates the work is a large part of its charm. All that flat black is great.
Nekoi: We decided not to use tones this time.
Araki: Yes, it's good to have a clear divide between black and white. That's something I can't do. I can't bring myself to colour something in as a flat surface. I have to crosshatch and make it stand out in 3D. Something like a school uniform, it's frightening to colour it in… if I bring it down to a basic aesthetic level, perhaps.
Nekoi: But if I had to choose I'd pick Tsubasa's tactile feel. *laughs*
Araki: I see. But you can also draw in a gothic style. That's amazing! All of xxxHolic has a flat, decorative feel to it, like Japanese prints or Alphonse Mucha.
Nekoi: Ah, Mokona likes Mucha.
Araki: I thought so. It comes across. And the base colour of the tankoubon covers is never white.
Nekoi: That's true. It's always gold or silver, and then colour printed over it.
Araki: The feeling that there's an overriding concept at work is what makes it special. I think it's cool. With the JoJo series I wanted to use the classical method as a base and then introduce modern elements in the singular. For instance, drawing in a realistic style but colouring in completely impossible colours. Or completely impossible poses.
Nekoi: Impossible poses… but the fans imitate the poses? The "JoJo stances".
Araki: True, true. That's the thing, I aim for impossible but then am like, "Huh? Well, I guess it's possible after all..." *laughs*
WHERE IS REALITY? THE DAY THE KAPPA APPEARED IN TOONO
Araki: Does CLAMP ever travel for research purposes?
Nekoi: Almost never. We know that drawing from imagination can't approach the solidity that comes with research, that level of reality where people can say, "Turn the corner right there and you'll see my house..." But if you take the scenery from xxxHolic, for example, the place where Yuuko-san exists is an enclosed courtyard really. Aside from that I think depicting fantasy in a fantastical way is also a matter of technique. Well – one of our early stories did have an Indian flavour to it.
Araki: I understand. For my part, you see, I'm currently drawing a journey as my main theme. I started wondering about the psychology of someone who's been walking for three days straight. So I went and walked the Kumano pilgrimage road, which is a World Heritage site, to see what it was like.
Nekoi: Wow. And did you understand anything from it?
Araki: Yup. After three days, first of all you want to throw away everything you're carrying. I even wished I could throw away the cel phone they told me to carry in case I came across a bear. And when I saw the shrine at the end of the road, I felt thankful from the bottom of my heart. I honestly and unironically thought, "Thank god I came this far without getting hurt." It cleansed my heart, perhaps? I understood then that the road was put there in order to give people that experience.
Nekoi: That's a World Heritage site for you.
Araki: xxxHolic takes place in a magical alternate world, doesn't it. What I get hung up on is, What are those youkai-like things!? The ones shaped like young girls and the ones shaped like animals, and the monster types, are they all part of the same existence?
Nekoi: Er... the properly-formed youkai and the monster-like ayakashi are different things actually. But then, if you put them all together one can't say much other than "Well, that's the kind of world it is."
Araki: The "stands" in JoJo can be conceptualized as a reification of hidden talent, with their source being a sort of energy that's been in the earth since ancient times. So there are no real monsters or youkai in my story. I've never really been able to get the existence of such things. I looked at Mizuki Shigeru-sensei's drawings and thought they were lovely, but when I saw something like a "bean washer" in the picture I would just think, What's up with that? I couldn't see any reason for that creature to exist. Purely for the sake of washing beans?
Nekoi: That's true. It's the sort of world where you go take a bath and there's an "akaname" in there.
Araki: Exactly. What the heck is it? Is it an enemy? An ally? What does it want? If you can't figure out that much how are you supposed to fight it! Is what I think.
Nekoi: That's a Jump-like way of looking at it. *laughs*
Araki: With that in mind, the other day I went to Toono, in Iwate. In order to gain a better understanding of youkai.
Nekoi: Wah~ Such lengths. *laughs*
Araki: "I'd like to draw youkai too~" was what I was half-thinking. *laughs* So I went to the Kappa River there, the one that's famous for kappas, and stood on the riverbank spacing out. And as I was standing, there was this middle school-aged boy there at the same time, and he bursts out with, "Hirohiko's in the Kappa River!" Like, "Oniichan, look, there's a Hirohiko in the Kappa River!"
Nekoi: *dies*
Araki: And even I for some reason thought for a split second, "Gah, I have to get out of here!" At that moment I finally understood what it must feel like to be a youkai. *laughs*
Nekoi: You understood what it feels like to be a youkai, huh... *laughs* I bet it's passed into legend by now. His brother came and said, "There's no such thing, you're lying!" And he said, "It was really there, I saw it!" And there was a huge disturbance, and years afterward you'll hear the story of the kappa Hirohiko in the river.
Araki: So there, I think that might be what youkai really are.
FIGHTIN' PRESIDENTS AND DRAMA AT HIGH NOON
Araki: If it had an Indian flavour... do you watch a lot of movies? On DVD or whatever.
Nekoi: I watch films in the usual way, because I'm always following fads. I liked "Jurassic Park".
Araki: I like stuff like that too. Like "Jaws". But recently I've really been into Michael Mann's films: "Heat", "Collateral" and so forth. I like the sense one gets that the characters are driven by fate, but they don't hesitate over their actions. They hurtle toward their destiny in a way that goes beyond considerations of good or evil. It makes me weak at the knees. They're not movies you're supposed to cry at but I get tears in my eyes anyway. I think, "Oh, you people!" Do you have anything like that?
Nekoi: I'm faddish but I did like "Independence Day".
Araki: The story's pretty astonishing in that one. In order to fight with aliens, they get into a flying saucer that was buried on earth by aliens in the past. The human strategy was like ripping off the opponent's fundoshi in sumo. The designs all came from other SF works. And on top of it all the President himself flew the saucer to fight. When I saw that I decided the party would be battling the President in Steel Ball Run.
Nekoi: Really!?
Araki: Yeah, I realized a fighting President is awesome. [5] Was there ever anything like it?
Nekoi: It's very American. Although maybe Americans themselves don't realise it. And it was a German who made it. I think he made it with the intention that that's what Americans would like to see, and it really hit home. I like it too! *laughs*
Araki: What about Japanese films? I don't go to the theater but I watch a lot of DVDs. I saw "Sekachu" and so on.
Nekoi: Wow, you saw it?
Araki: Yes, it was good.
Nekoi: Was it!
Araki: Yes. I'm the type who cries at everything. That's right, lately I've gotten hooked on daytime soaps. Ever since "Shinju Fujin" I can't go without checking in with the latest developments. She became his lover with the aim of getting her hands on his fortune! It's awesome!
Nekoi: *laughs*
Araki: The dialogue gives one thrills down the spine. They say such dangerous and suggestive things the viewer's left panting. Like, is it all right to show that? But there they have it on television, at high noon.
Nekoi: It feels like you watch it to enjoy the names.
Araki: Exactly. A lot of mangaka seem to watch soaps, because time-wise it's just when one's getting out of bed. Morita (Masanori) sensei told me he also watches them. *laughs*
CLAMP'S MYSTERY VERSUS KISHIBE ROHAN'S SKIN: AND ONWARD, LEGEND
Araki: Many of CLAMP's mysteries were made clear to me today, so for my part this has been a meaningful hour spent. Thank you very much.
Nekoi: The pleasure's all mine, thank you very much. Though I would have liked to talk more about JoJo.
Araki: But today we're talking about xxxHolic.
Nekoi: Don't you think we should reveal more of JoJo's mysteries too, even for the sake of the reader?
Araki: Oh, I think it'll be quite enough if you say "He's so cool and looks just like Kishibe Rohan ♥". *laughs*
Nekoi: Oh yes, that's true. He's so cool and looks just like Kishibe Rohan. *laughs* And you look younger and younger in the photos that get published these days.
Araki: That's because I'm a hamon user. *laughs* [6]
Nekoi: Please do become a new legend in Toono, I'd love to see it.
Araki: Leave it up to me. *laughs*[18]
Eureka November 2007 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 Josuke and Jotaro, too. They both have a kind of "pursuer" feel to them, don't they?
Kaneda: It was so cool when Jotaro 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 Josuke respects Jotaro 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 Jotaro is Kakyoin!" 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 Josuke 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)[19]
―― 『The Book』を読まれて荒木先生はいかがでしたか？
荒木：
ラストシーンがグッと来るんですよ。サスペンスがあって盛り上がって、その解決がガーッとあって、悲しくて切ないラストがある。杜王町にぴったりだし乙一さんにぴったりだし。ハッピーエンドとは違った豊かな感じがあるんですよ。
乙一：
…「豊かな感じ」…いいですね。
―― 荒木先生は、ご自分のマンガがノベライズされるというのはいかがですか？
荒木：
別に大丈夫なんですよ。才能のある作家さんが小説にしてくれるのはすっごく面白いですし。特に今回の『The Book』はスッと入っていけるんで。
―― 『ジョジョ』の世界に入れる？
荒木：
そう、馴染んでるんですよ。引き込まれるっていうか。乙一さんの仗助になっていて。マンガのノベライズってあまり読んだことが無いから誤解しているのかもしれないけど「ちょっと原作と違うなー」って思うこともあったんですよ。でも、この『The Book』はかなり熟成されていましたね。書き上げるのに何年かかったんでしたっけ？
乙一：
何年かかったのかな…、多分5年くらいだと思います。大量のボツ原稿があります。結局、2000枚以上書いたはずなんですが、思い返すと5年はアッという間ですね。
―― 執筆5年、ボツ原稿2000枚はすごいですね。
乙一：
『ジョジョ』のキャラクターを自由に動かせていないというか、操り人形しか書けていない違和感がずっとつきまとっていて…。それで、いろいろと考える必要があると思って自分で何度もボツにして作戦を練っていました。こういうことをできるのは一生に一度なんじゃないかと思うと、納得できない原稿で本を出すのは一生後悔しそうだったので、各方面に頭を下げて本が出ない状況が続きました。
荒木：
でも、その甲斐はあったと思うよ。たしかにすごい本になってる。
乙一：
今回の『The Book』では荒木先生に口絵や挿絵も描いて頂いたんですが、今の絵柄で4部のキャラを見られるのは、すごくうれしいです。
荒木：
挿絵で気を使ったのが日常性なんですよ。冬の杜王町が舞台なんで背景に雪を降らせてみたり。小説オリジナルの敵も仗助たちと戦うけど、でも「悪くて強い敵」っていう感じじゃない。「町の中にいる主人公」っていう感じで、ちゃんと人生の背景がある。その辺のリアリティとかは注意しました。
乙一：
どのイラストも僕のイメージ以上でした。それと巻頭口絵で描いて頂いた飛び出すイラスト、これがまたすばらしい…。
―― 乙一先生は、ノベライズの執筆で面白かった部分はどこですか？
乙一：
『ジョジョ』ファンだけに判るようなネタを散りばめてみたんですが、そういうところが面白かった。同人誌を書いている気分でした。
荒木：
そういうネタ的な部分が、なんか生き生きしてるんだよね(笑)。適度にリラックスしている感じも出ていたし。
乙一：
最初はネタ的な部分を排除する方向で書いていたんですが、そうすると借り物的な違和感が出てしまって。ところがネタ的な視点を入れたら、不思議と違和感がなくなっていくような気がしたので積極的に入れようと思いました。
荒木：
乙一さんは以前から「4部を小説にしたい」って言っていたよね。
乙一：
3部と5部のノベライズがすでに出版されているというのもあるんですが、でもそれが出ていなくても4部を選んでいた気がします。不気味で好きなんです。
荒木：
4部が乙一ワールドに近いからじゃないかな？ この『The Book』が出たらね、スッゲー悔しがる作家さんもいると思うよ。
乙一：
僕は、いろんな作家さんが4部の小説を書いたら面白いだろうなぁって思っているんですよ。書いた作家さんが『ジョジョ』をどう読んできたのかが出てきそうで面白そうだなぁと…。「この作家はこういうところが好きだったんだな」とわかると思います。
―― 劇中のスタンド能力(詳細は小説を読んでくれッ！)は乙一先生のオリジナル？
乙一：
そうですね。
荒木：
スタンドって必ず自分の人生観が入ってくるんですよ。だから考えた本人じゃないと、たいした技に思えないんじゃないかな。描く本人が「こりゃスゴイ」って思ったのがいいんだよね。
乙一：
「スタンドが人生観を反映している」…、これもいい言葉ですね。
―― 乙一先生が4部で好きなキャラクターは誰ですか？
乙一：
吉良吉影ですね。連続殺人犯の悪役なんですが、とにかく平穏に人生を終えようと言うその思想が衝撃的で、僕の人生にも馴染んだところがあって。
荒木：
吉良は前向きなんだよね、とにかく「悪のヒーロー」を目指してたんで。じつはマンガでは描かなかったけど吉良の背景もあるんですよ。吉良の母親が虐待みたいなことをしてて父親は見て見ぬフリで、それを「すまない」って思っていたから吉良をあそこまで救おうとしてたっていう。ただマンガでやっちゃうと悪役としては悲しいヤツになるし、敵にもならないし。そこの兼ね合いは描けなかったっていうか少年誌だからできなかったのかな。でも乙一さんの小説にはそういう悲しい部分もあって、かなり良かったですよ。
―― 小説家という立場から見て、『ジョジョ』のキモはどこだと思いますか？
乙一：
それは人それぞれ違うと思いますが、僕の中では演出です。普通のマンガならいきなり見せて読者を驚かす場面でも、『ジョジョ』は少しずつ周辺を固めてから提示するような、ゾクゾクする感じがあります。そういうビックリするような仕掛けがすごく好きで、『ジョジョ』を読んでいて至福を感じる時ですね。
荒木：
ありがとうございます。でも何気なくやってんだけど(笑)。
―― 荒木先生から見て、この『The Book』の魅力はどこでしょうか？
荒木：
この『The Book』にはね、サスペンスがあるんですよ。あと、「血の因縁」的な設定が出てくるんだけど、その辺がイイっすね。そこを外さなかったのは、さすが乙一さん。
乙一：
僕は『ジョジョ』を読んで「血縁」という言葉を気にするようになったんです。少し前から「父」とか「子」とか、そういうキーワードが好きになっていて、自分の小説でもそういった血族の話を書いたりしていました。
荒木：
『The Book』は乙一ワールドに4部のキャラクターが入っていく感じがするところもイイんですよ。億泰とか仗助といった4部の各キャラクターたちが深く描かれていて、原作よりいいかもしんないですね。
―― 小説だと、心理描写をより細かく入れられますね。
荒木：
3部や4部を描いていた頃、担当編集者から「悲しい話を描いてくれ」と言われたんですよ。僕もそれを目指したんだけど、でも若かったせいか、そこまで達していなかった。だけど、この『The Book』にはそれがあるんですよ。4部当時に目指していたものの完成形がある。完璧ですね。
乙一：
良かった…。ホッとします。
Interviewer: I'm so nervous today....
Araki: Oh, don't worry. I not here to make anyone nervous today, my goal is to be healing others:) Really, please don't be nervous.
I: Thank You!
A: Oh no, Thank you.
Part1: Hirohiko Araki, Road to becoming a Mangaka
I: Well my first question is, what kind of 22 year old were you, and what was your life like after graduating from high school?
A: Um... Well, it was the 70's. The mangakas at that time were a generation after people like Tezuka-sensei, Akatsuka-sensei, and Fujiko-sensei. And it was a time when the genre of manga really diversified. Not only manga, but music too, like jazz crossing over to rock music. I spent my teen during a time when everything was fusing together, so I kind of caught the momentum of that, and then Yudetamago-sensei, who was the same age as me debuted when we were about 16 or 17. Then I realized that I can't be wasting time. Of course I studied too, but as a student, I also was really interested in art, like manga, music, film, and fine arts. I really aspired foreign countries as well.
I: How old were you when you became interested in such things?
A: Well, from around high school, or maybe even middle school... Then I dreamed of being a mangaka or have a job relating to that.
I: So, you actually read Yudetamago-sensei's works?
A: Read it, and, well, there were many mangakas, and I couldn't do anything about that, but I felt like I had to something myself.
I: Interesting, so that was your turning point in life?
A: Probably... It may overlap with some questions later but can I keep going on?
I: Yes! Please, go ahead.
A: Well, how should I put it... You know how you learn from your elders? Back then was a time when doing the same thing as your elder was really looked down at. You had to do something different. If there were several paths that your elder paved, it was like finding somewhere in between that no one else has gone before. Kind of like that.
I: So it was about doing something different?
A: Well, you had to kind of make sure not to mimic anyone, yeah. It wasn't necessarily about going your own way, but learning from your elders and not stepping in their footsteps. You were looked down if you ever stepped in it. People would say “you're just doing the same thing, just coping!” or something, and look at you with scornful eyes.
I: What did people actually say towards your works?
A: Like, “This looks looks that,” or “thats story development is identical to so-and-so,”
I: At times like that, where did you get inspiration to paved your own way?
A: Um... so, I had influences from my favorite mangakas, but also came up with my own things, or added on to it. Draw an area that hasn't been explored by others... and like that, for example, I now think theres a theory, and following a “theory of hit” makes you feel like you have to do something that sells. I didn't think of that at all, so I guess I was pure in a sense, yeah.
I: Not a manga only for the sake of selling?
A: Its about drawing something that's never been drawn.
I: Interesting. This gets a little personal, but going to art school, I really understand what you mean. You take a class with a teacher and you get drawn towards your teachers style, but are punished if you fully adopt that style.
A: Yeah, its pretty much like that, but more intense with a strong 70's feel to it
Part 2: What it feels like after becoming a Mangaka
I: So, what was it like to actually become a mangaka?
A: Well, I was worried sick and couldn't sleep during earlier works, and even when starting JoJo. I wasn't sure if it was alright.
I: And did you have a strong support, someone backing you up?
A: Ahh, yeah. In my case, I based my works on works of art from the past that I felt sure, and things that were done by people I was sure about, so even if someone saids something bad or negative, I always was able to feel sure. And the told me that I had to be bold if I wanted a serialized series. Failing a serialized series is losing to yourself, so I think it works out well for an optimistic person.
I: Do you think most mangakas are optimists?
A: I think people who can keep doing it are like that. More like someone confident than an optimist. Many of them have absolute confidence in themselves. Many seems like they go beyond narcissism. So, you don't want to cripple their pride, you have to nurture it:) They're probably simpletons:) Out in the real world, you have to be careful not to be scolded for that.
Part 3: Araki's Manga-ism
I: Manga has really infiltrated our society nowadays, what does “manga” mean to you?
A: Like I said earlier, its about the beauty of the art and training your “eyes for judging beauty.” Its kind of like a training. Um... I'm drawing and sometimes fall into meditation, and skip time. Kind of like that.
I: How do you feel about other mangas and works?
A: Well, yeah, I like some of them, but I'd also like to recognize those I'm not sure whats fun or interesting about them. Maybe not recognizing them, but try to think while I read them. Not only in manga but also in films, the kind of story that I don't feel interesting is when the protagonist doesn't have a reason to progress. For example, there are some that are negative towards fighting, and I personally think thats a no-no. So, if theres going to be war, it should be like “Yeah! I love war!” Thats an extreme example, but fighting in war while denying war I'd say is negative story-wise. If the is a “zero,” the denial makes it a “negative.” But fighting for one's own satisfaction, or fighting war to save one's mother, that kind of elements that makes the story “positive” is really interesting. The kinds of film fit in that. And because they fit in, I analyze from there. So, if you like “negative,” and gather a lot of “negative,” you start compiling those kinds of movies, but there are many perspectives, so there's not really a right or wrong direction. Its up to your own preference.
I: So the kind of things you're not interested are things that are negative.
A: Yeah. I can't get psyched watching or writing things like that.
Part 4: Relaxing, Araki style
I: You have been doing manga for a long time. I've heard in other interviews that you never miss an due date, and we see you as always being on schedule. Do you ever have trouble coming up with new ideas?
A: Its not really about the lack of ideas, but the scariest thing is the lack of the will to draw. Lack of idea is really losing the will to create. If you're willing to write, you will get ideas, so you shouldn't be afraid of the lack of ideas. Just keep putting things out there, and save nothing. Feeling like you don't care is the worst thing.
I: Have you ever felt like that?
A: Well, yeah, I start feeling like that when I get exhausted.
I: And how do you cope with that?
A: Um, in my case, I go discipline myself a little. Nothing serious, but go out on a walk to shrines, like that. I don't go out in waterfalls:) but that takes away my worries. It kind of weird, but going on a walk or a bicycle trip alone, discipline through a little exercise.
I: Not only use your mind, but also your body...
A: I exhaust myself, and theres many things. Like carrying a heavy load, and you start to realize what's really necessary. I start to think I don't need a cell phone because its heavy and I wanted to toss it, and I had no signal anyways... but I feel really healed by an iPod for some reason.
I: Why is that?
A: Somehow music is really good. So I really only need water, raincoat, and an iPod. I went to a place called Kumano Kodo once. It saids Kumano (Kuma = bear in Japanese) so I figured there will be bears in this place, so someone told me to take my cell phone. I took it, but didn't get any service... Then my feet starts to hurt, and I really started getting sick of all my luggage. I brought some bread with me but I ate it. And I started to realize that those things are not necessary. You don't need it to survive.
I: What do you feel like when you're out training at places like that.
A: Empty, and then I come back from that and start working again.
Part 5: Other Dreams
I: Your art works has been featured in fashion, a science magazine cover, and now in the Louvre. What is the meaning of working on projects besides manga?
A: Um, its the drawing... if theres story and drawing, I guess I'm better at drawing . I don't know, I'm a mangaka, so I have to draw, or otherwise people won't think me as an mangaka. There are mangakas famous for their story, but I'm more on the drawing side, so I want to draw the ultimate picture, something really good.
I: Do you not have enough time at the moment to do that?
A: You know, like the Louvre and the science magazine, especially the science magazine, theres more to that one, but I tend to think all of them as one. Physics, literature, there all the same in a sense that they are searching for the truth. Its nothing alien. So, the person who asked me the science magazine project felt the same way too. He thought that I can illustrate his scientific theory.
I: Was there anything else you were asked to do?
A: Something weird? Is there any thing weird? Maybe the CD cover? The t-shirt designs? I guess the Cell project was the weirdest, but that doctor's medical theory and my philosophy of stands were the same, so he asked me to draw. That way of thinking makes me happy, happy because its kind of like DaVinci. That really is a theory that no one can understand, borderline crazy. No one who sees those sentences agrees to the theory. It might be wrong. And if you write something wrong, someone is going t object later. So that project was a little risky.
I: What do you wish to do next, do you have any requests?
A: Umm... yeah, I probably want to do a series of pictures.
I: You mean like a CD cover?
A: Um, something like the "The Dancing Girl of Izu"
I: Oh!
A: The "The Dancing Girl of Izu" was a little different too. They asked me to draw the cover of "The Dancing Girl of Izu," and I couldn't believe it. They just asked me to do a work based on a famous literature.
I: So, did you choose that?
A: Yeah, but only from the Shyeisha-Bunko series.
I: Why the "The Dancing Girl of Izu."
A: I kind of wanted to draw the emptiness of youth.
Part 6: Message to 22 year olds today
A: I think people's actions should be based on their “eyes to judge beauty.” How to judge what's beautiful. Are your own actions beautiful, or not. And by beautiful, I don't simply mean the appearance of something, but does something fit in, can you understand it. I think studying is for training your “eyes to judge beauty.” For example, whether its physics, sociology, or literature, its a way to find out how the pieces fit together nicely, and the study of medicine is the way to discover a theory to cure beautifully. And as you layer those theories together, you are able to judge things, and if you know how judge you will be able to make a decision. I want young people to train their “eyes” so they can judge things, theories, and themselves, and I don't want them to study only as a way to become rich or for a high academic record. I think having such evil or not is important. It may sound fancy, but being something like a hero for the good is really important.[20]
