User:Fatianma/Sandbox

Volume 12 (Noriaki Kakyoin)

TranslationTranscript

In my mind, I grouped together the fivesome that is Kakyoin, Jotaro, Joseph, Avdol and Polnareff as the "Joestar party." From the beginning, I wanted to balance the party to where their features, personalities, dress and Stands were all unique and didn't overlap. I wanted their silhouettes to be easily distinguishable when they were standing in the desert, but my editor at the time told me that because none of them have round heads, they all sort of look the same as silhouettes (wry laugh). I considered Kakyoin to be the prim, proper and sensitive one in the group.

Kakyoin is the Japanese main character in Part 3 other than Jotaro, but I didn't really think about his nationality much. His name is much more interesting. I always come up with first and last names together. I took his last name, "Kakyoin," from an area in Sendai, where I'm from. Whenever I went to Sendai Station, I would always pass through there, so it was a very familiar name to me. I gave him the following kanji for his last name: 典明. Kanji can be read in different ways, and while canonically this is read as Noriaki, I had always read it as Tenmei. You can see this in the hotel log where he signs his name (see the last volume). I spent a lot of time considering the sound and the balance of the kanji characters for the main character, Jotaro Kujo, but my editor had a "Noriaki" join the Joestar party instead (wry laugh). I was pretty shocked when I first saw that in the graphic novel release, but I justified it as that maybe his parents named him "Tenmei," but his friends called him by a different reading of the same kanji, "Noriaki"--a relatively common thing to happen with kids.

I didn't really pay much mind to the fact that he was of Japanese nationality, but I did have him act as a foil to Jotaro. I had him be Jotaro's first real opponent in a Stand vs. Stand battle so that I could visually convey the concepts for both short-range and long-range Stand abilities to the reader. I thought making Kakyoin's Hierophant Green able to stretch itself out like a rope as a long-range type would contrast nicely with Star Platinum, making it easy to understand how they differ in action. I had lots of ideas for long-range attacks, but I wanted to keep things from getting too far out of control by having Stands need to "stand" near where the action was happening.

I didn't get too many chances to actually show this, but Kakyoin goes to the same high school as Jotaro. While they're not super close on their journey, they do have a nice friendship, and I wonder what might have happened had they not had Stands in common. They might not have become friends (laughs). I have a feeling that Kakyoin would have been better friends with Josuke from Part 4.

Q. Did you ever consider making him wear something other than a gakuran (Japanese school uniform) to distinguish him from the main character?

A. Kakyoin's well-tailored gakuran gives him the feel of being an honor student. Meanwhile, Jotaro's loose-fitting gakuran fits with him being a delinquent. You can distinguish characters like that even though they might be wearing the same outfit. I think the accessories I gave Jotaro helped distinguish him as well.

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　花京院を含め承太郎、ジョセフ、アヴドゥル、ポルナレフの5人全員はジョースター一行としてセットで考えていまし た。見た目、性格、ファッション、そしてスタンドに至るまで何一つ被らせないために、全体のバランスを最初に決めたかったんですね。僕のイメージでは彼らが砂漠で立った時に全員分かるシルエットが大事。それでも当時の担当からは「シルエットで頭が丸いヤツがいないから全員まっすぐだね」って言われましたけど(苦笑)。そんな一行の中で花京院は線の細い、やや神経質なキャラクターとして考えました。
　承太郎を除いて花京院は第3部で唯一の日本人ですが、特に国籍は意識しませんでした。印象深いのはやはり名前ですね。僕は名字と下の名前は必ずセットで考えます。彼の名字「花京院」は僕の故郷、仙台にある町名から取りました。 僕にとっては仙台駅に行く際、必ず通る場所だったんでとても身近な地名なんですよ。そして花京院という名字に対して僕が付けた下の名前は典明。公式では「のりあき」 となってますが、僕の中で呼び名はずっと「てんめい」なんです。実は、エンヤ婆が待つホテルの宿帳にもサインを残していますからね(JoJonium11巻参照)。 主人公が「くうじょうじょうたろう」なので音の響きとか文字とのバランスも色々考えて付けたんですけど・・・
担当は「のりあき」の名でジョースター一行と旅をしていたんですね(苦笑)。コミックスで見た時に違っていることに気づいて少し驚きましたけど、世間では親が「てんめい」と付けても、子ども同士では「のりあき」と呼び合うこともあるしなぁ~と、思うことにしました。日本人であることは特に意識しませんでしたが、花京院は承太郎の対比となるキャラクターとして動かしていきました。承太郎が腕試しではなく実際にスタンド同士で戦う最初の相手を花京院にしたのは、近距離型と遠距離型それぞれのスタンドの概念を絵で読者に伝えたかったからです。花京院の「法皇の緑」を遠距離型として、体を紐状に伸ばす描写にしたのも「星の白金」と見比べた際に両者の差が分かりやすいと思ったから。

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