The English localization of the manga is titled Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe.
Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan[1] (岸辺露伴は動かない, Kishibe Rohan wa Ugokanai, lit. Rohan Kishibe Does Not Move) is an ongoing series of one-shots featuring the titular character, Rohan Kishibe, as the narrator and/or protagonist. These one-shots are intermittently published in various magazines such as Weekly Shonen Jump or Jump Square.
The Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan series is a set of short stories, each spanning a single chapter of around 40 to 60 pages and usually organized into disordered "episodes". They all feature Rohan Kishibe, who frequently witnesses and subsequently makes an account of the supernatural phenomena around him. The stories are set in the original world of the JoJo story. [2]
The first chapter of the series, At a Confessional, was published in Weekly Shonen Jump on July 7, 1997, under the restriction set by the magazine's editorial team that it couldn't be related to the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series. As a workaround, Araki took inspiration from the 1950's TV show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and made Rohan the narrator of the one-shot.[3] The title, Rohan Kishibe Does Not Move, was initially derived from the fact that Rohan is not the main protagonist of At a Confessional, but rather a "navigator" or onlooker of the story who ultimately does nothing.[4]
The plot of each chapter is generally divorced from the main JoJo's Bizarre Adventure storyline, featuring many esoteric creatures not appearing otherwise in the franchise, such as Yōkai. However, characters from Diamond is Unbreakable and the town of Morioh regularly make appearances and/or are referenced.
Bankrupt from buying a large piece of land, Rohan tells Minoru Kaigamori the story of a yokai he witnessed while investigating Naoko Osato, a wealthy woman who accidentally killed her secret lover, Gunpei Kamafusa. Naoko hides the corpse in her house, never straying far from it and collecting its blood as it bleeds endlessly. On the way back, Rohan stumbles into Naoko's daughter, who accidentally falls and hits her head against a rock, seemingly dying. Realizing that that the girl was Gunpei's child, Rohan uses Heaven's Door to erase the yokai's memories and prevents it from possessing him as well.
Next, Rohan tells the story of his neighbors, Mochizuki family, who are all cursed to die on the same day. The family stays together on the dreaded night of the Harvest Moon to avoid the curse, but strange events occur, and the eldest daughter almost dies from a hornet attack. Her boyfriend proposes to her, saving her from the curse as she is no longer a member of the family. The rabbit-like creature carrying the curse returns to the sky and promises to come back during the next harvest moon.
While discussing his next one-shot, Rohan's editor, Kyoka Izumi, mentions wanting to buy a villa in the mountains, which she claims makes anyone incredibly rich. Visiting the villa, a child butler greets them and warns them of the strict etiquette the villa's owners expect. Kyoka breaches etiquette by mistake, which causes her mother and fiancée die in a car crash. Rohan uses his Stand on the butler and discovers that the Gods of the Mountain test visitors by punishing them with the death of their loved ones. Because of is actions against the butler, Kyoka collapses due to a heart attack. After Rohan correctly eats corn, which was the next trial, Kyoka comes back to life. As his reward, Rohan asks for Kyoka's loved ones to be returned and carries her out the villa.
Rohan goes to Tonio's trattoria and eats an abalone risotto to cure his eye strain. Tonio then asks Rohan to help him harvest some disk abalones to cure his girlfriend's disease. Rohan and Tonio go poaching for the abalones, but they get stuck on their bodies and almost drown. Rohan uses Heaven's Door to command some nearby octopus to target the abalones on him and Tonio, saving them. After curing Tonio's girlfriend, Rohan has an octopus dish with Okuyasu, Koichi, and some punk.
In his next story, Rohan tells of a time when he was at a train station where everyone was distracted by their smartphones. Rohan is pushed onto the train tracks by a woman with a stroller and is almost hit by two trains. An obese man tries to help Rohan, but he discovers that they're both being attacked by robotic-like insects that feed off electromagnetic waves and control people to prey on the weak. The insects kill the obese man, who already had a heart disease, by harvesting his bioelectricity. Rohan saves the crowd from the incoming trains and cancels his meeting to write a new manuscript.
One day, Rohan is confronted by Yukako Yamagishi and Mai Katahira about Mai's daughter, Mao, who has strange physical characteristics and abilities, such as speaking in reverse and camouflaging herself. Despite Yukako's pleas, Rohan tells Mai that there is nothing to cure and that she should accept her daughter the way she is. Yukako later discovers that Mao's father was a sperm donor from Yamagata with a scar on his face. Mai also spots a man with similar features and follows him, but it turns out he also has a son. The man introduces himself as Obanazawa, and the two become close and get married. Yukako later reveals to Rohan that Mao had manipulated Mai into marrying Obanazawa.
After an incident forces Rohan to put his series on hiatus, he takes a vacation to Italy. While in Venice, Rohan accidentally enters a confessional where a man begins to confess his sins. The man tells of his youth when a starving vagrant came to him for food. Disdainful, he forced the vagrant to carry large bags of corn, ultimately leading to his death. However, the vagrant's ghost appeared, swearing to return and take revenge on the happiest day of his life.
After becoming rich and successful, the man walked cheerfully with his daughter and servant in what he thought was the happiest moment of his life. Suddenly, the vagrant's spirit possesses his daughter and reveals that he was behind man's prosperity from the start. The ghost explains that he wanted fate to judge him, demanding that he throws three pieces of popcorn into the air higher than the lamppost and catch it in his mouth. If he fails, the ghost would would cut off his head. The man successfully catches the first two pieces of popcorn, but misses the third piece after being blinded by the sun. As it lands on his shirt, the ghost cuts off his head. Yet the man still was alive, revealing he used his servant as a body double to trick the ghost. Rohan then witnesses the man leaving the confessional followed by the spirit of the vagrant and servant, who vowed to endlessly stalk him.
Taiwan was the first country to publish the series after Japan. The two volumes were published in Chinese on September 14, 2014, and February 2, 2019 by Tong Li Publishing.[7][17]
Star Comics published the series in Italy as "Così parlò Rohan Kishibe" on January 8, 2015 and November 13, 2019.[8][18]
Delcourt published the series in France as "Jojo's - Rohan Kishibe" on April 6, 2016 and March 13, 2019.[9][19]
Munhak published the series in South Korea on March 3, 2021 and May 14, 2021.[10][20]
In Spain and Argentina, the series is translated into Spanish with the title "Así habló Kishibe Rohan". Ivrea España published the volumes in Spain on July 22, 2021 and August 12, 2021. Ivrea Argentina published the volumes in Argentina on June 10, 2022 and September 23, 2022.[11][21][12][22]
In North America and the United Kingdom, the series is translated into English with the title "Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe", using the Western name order. The two volumes were published on September 27, 2022 and December 27, 2022 by VIZ Media.[13][23]
Unlike the other international releases, the English and Spanish releases do not include Kishibe Rohan Meets Gucci due to Shueisha's request.[24]
Other Media
An OVA adaptation by David Production was announced on April 15, 2016. The first two episodes were released as a promotional DVD to those who had purchased the entirety of the Diamond is Unbreakable anime adaptation. Another two episodes released on Blu-ray and DVD on March 25, 2020.
Three booklets of an anthology of short stories based on the series were released with issues of Ultra Jump from July 19, 2017 to December 19 of the same year, with a fourth following suit on October 19, 2021. The stories were written by multiple Japanese authors, including Ballad Kitaguni, Ryo Yoshigami, Yusuke Iba, and Mirei Miyamoto. The stories were later compiled into three volumes that released on June 19, 2018, July 19, 2018, and December 19, 2022.
NHK aired a three-episode live action TV drama adaptation of Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan in December 2020. The live action series follows a different format from the manga, choosing to adapt various chapters, short stories, and arcs from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure featuring Rohan into one cohesive storyline. The adaptation received good reception and continued with two more seasons that aired in December 2021 and 2022, as well as a theatrical film based on Rohan au Louvre, which is set to be released on May 26, 2023.
November 19, 2013
Sep 14, 2014
Mar 3, 2021
Jul 22, 2021
Jun 10, 2022
Sep 27, 2022
