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In every volume of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, the front folded flap of the dust jacket usually contains a picture of Hirohiko Araki himself, and more than often a quotation. The quotes featured below the picture are always different from each other, and are usually about Araki expressing his opinion on certain subjects. These subjects can be about anything, including information about characters or the story itself. The notes below are from Stone Ocean.
Mr. Higashi has been replaced by Mr. Inoue. Thank you, Azuma-san, for all your hard work over the years. Inoue san, I look forward to working with you from now on.
I'm taking a late summer vacation this week. But I think I will draw something during that time. Right, I'm collecting data for "The Lives of Eccentrics".
It's surprising, but there was a fun thing to do this hot summer. It's weeding. Perhaps only those who have done it can understand that pleasant feeling.
I went in for a physical check-up. I got my blood taken in a hospital that was kind of like a hotel, but the carbonated water they made me drink for the Barium test was disgusting.
Recently, I have started painting 4-color manuscripts on an "easel" instead of a desk. It is like a tripod on which you can stand an oil painting or something.
The protagonist of JoJo Part 6 is a woman. Why go with a woman? Therein lies the problem. Since she's a JoJo protagonist, she's got to be tough enough to not get disheartened even if she gets punched in the face. Sometimes she might be crawling through a ditch, or she might be falling from the top of a building with her legs wide open. It's a bit of a tight setup for a woman. But thinking about the differences in contrast, it actually seemed very interesting. Furthermore, she could be a person with great humanity like the Virgin Mary. I felt I just had to make the protagonist a woman.
I would like to take this opportunity to offer my thanks to the people who helped me with the realization of this volume:
Mr. Takashi Mizutani, an attorney who graciously offered his time to teach me the differences between Japanese and American laws. Jeff Friend and Yoko Friend, married Japanese translators. L. T. Alhandro, director of the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami, Florida.
Of course, if you find any wrong information in this volume, these people are not to blame. I assume all responsibility for the content of this volume as the author.
Workplace Nature Watch, Part 4 Last year, I contracted gastritis. I was told that it was caused by stress. At the time, I had heard the European saying, "A house that grows tomatoes never gets ill," and I said, "Oh, really? In that case, I'll grow some myself," and so I decided to grow tomatoes with that in mind. I bought a flowerpot (2,300 yen), fertilizer and dirt (about 1,000 yen) and a stake (200 yen). I planted three tomato seedlings (140 yen), making for a total of 10,920 yen.
If I harvest ten tomatoes, how much would one of them yield? (To be continued.)
Workplace Nature Watch, Part 5 The foot of the "nameko" mushroom is very long, like a stem. It's said to be delicious, but the majority of the people find it ugly; shopkeepers are forced to cut them or else they don't sell. As for me, I've decided that my tomatoes will have the smell of real tomatoes. Nowadays farmers manage to produce odorless tomatoes, because a lot of consumers find the smell disgusting. Did you know that? I have a feeling that the same practice happens in the world of manga. Be careful.
Regarding My Lack of Sleep It seems like genetic code determines how much time a person needs to sleep. But recently, a strange event happened. Until six months before, I needed eight hours of sleep to have a clear mind, but lately, I've noticed that three or four hours are enough. I didn't want to sleep for eight hours anymore, even though I knew it was bad for my health. What caused this transformation? My change of diet? My pillow? It's a complete mystery.
When I visited a prison for research in Miami, Florida, I interviewed the director. I asked him if the reasons for each prisoner's incarceration varied based on gender. I had the mental image of men committing more heinous crimes and women committing more gentle crimes. The warden said, "They're the same. There's no difference between men and women. There are just as many murderers and rapists from either gender."
A Story from My Childhood When I was in primary school, I had a friend who was stupid. One day, as we were playing, he sat on a flowerbed, which was actually some cacti with thorns so tiny we couldn't see them. His shorts were covered in thorns. Immediately he shouted, grabbed his behind, and began to cry as he stroked it, covering his hands in tiny thorns. Even if I told him that the thorns were invisible but still there, he compulsively licked his hands anyway. The thought occurred to me that we should stop being friends.
Regarding Cell Phones It seems like practically everyone owns a cell phone these days, so isn't it odd to not have one? I don't think I'm crazy, though. It's simply that I don't need one. Firstly, my work makes it so that I'm always stuck in my studio. Secondly, I don't want people to be able to call me anywhere and anytime they feel like it, especially if it's to tell me banalities. I admit that it would be useful to inform someone with whom I have a meeting scheduled that I'll be late, though... (To be continued in Volume 8.)
What kind of person am I, to not need a cell phone in the modern era? I must acknowledge that it would be very handy if I'm late. As long as the person waiting for me has a cell phone, I can inform them on the way from a public phone booth. On the other hand, when that person is late, they have no way to contact me. Which allows me, who cannot wait for more than fifteen minutes, to quickly and peacefully go home. I'm sure that'd bother the other person. Which means that people like me who don't own cell phones are selfish. You all aren't angry at me, right?
How to Draw Manga Without Getting Fatigue In a nutshell, I must say that if such a trick exists, I want to know it. It's necessary that I find a way not to tire myself out so much when I'm drawing from now on. With that in mind, let me tell you about an experience I've had. During a seitai seance, I noticed that I had abnormally developed the posterior muscles of my right arm. By using my pencil on the pages day after day for hours, I've subconsciously trained the muscles of my right arm. The problem is that I've only trained those, which isn't good... (To be continued in Volume 10.)
The first thought to cross my mind is that I have to train my left arm, but it's not easy for a manga artist who, by drawing, trains only his right arm for hours. You won't believe it, but becoming left-handed in my everyday life is the only solution I've found. And so here I am, lifting my towel, my umbrella, my toothbrush, my coffee mug, my TV remote, and my chopsticks with my left hand. I hope that I'll correctly train the muscles of my left arm. But there's another way to not suffer from fatigue too much... (To be continued in Volume 11.)
(Continued from Volume 10...) How to Draw Manga Without Getting Fatigue Later On There are people who don't breathe while drawing lines in pen, especially when they are focused on drawing small details. The damage that type of person suffers from fatigue is severe. Through experience, I've realized that it's better to draw while breathing out. It's like how people breathe when playing sports, I think... But I suppose I'm the only one who takes this so seriously.
For research, I went to the city of Orlando, Florida. It's a city full of theme parks, and in that regard it's quite strange compared to the rest of the world. In short, I'd say that it's a city where people's hopes and dreams have taken form. Even the weeds and puddles seem to have been planned and constructed, and all the people walking around seem to be happy. Usually, that kind of thing makes me feel anxious, but it actually felt like a place where I could calm down and relax.
Regarding Superpowers, Part 1 According to my mother, I had superpowers when I was little (though that's no longer the case). What kind of super powers, you ask? For instance, in the waiting room of a hospital, I suddenly disappeared into the shadow of a couch. And then when my mother asked, "What's up with him?", a doctor in his blouse would come.
In other words, I apparently hated doctors so much that I had the power to predict (or rather, sense) when one was approaching. Unbelievable, right? A Stand ability that only works on doctors.
Regarding Superpowers, Part 2 The other day I bought five CDs. All of them were Western music, but their genres varied from jazz to rock to R&B, and the artists were all different as well. However, a close look revealed that all five of them were produced by the same person: a man named Antonio "L.A." Reid. What were the chances of that happening? Like getting a royal flush in a game of poker or winning the Lotto 6, I considered it a miracle. I felt a revelation.
Regarding Cute Faces Aiko-sama is cute. When I see her on TV, I unintentionally scream out "So cute!". I find Velázquez's Portrait de l'infante Marguerite Thérèse in the Louvre prettier than the Mona Lisa. It's so cute I could cry. The little girl drawn by the painter Yoshitomo Nara also makes me want to hug and kiss her stupid face. These three must have something in common, but I sure can't figure it out. They don't look anything like each other!
Manga editors generally only work during the afternoon. Twenty years ago, I brought my script to the Shueisha building in the morning and showed it to the only person who was working at that hour. That person became the very first editor-in-chief of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and his impressions and suggestions were very important to me. If I had gone there during the afternoon and met another editor, I would have produced a very different work. Fate isn't founded on chance, and it has its reasons. Within JoJo, this viewpoint is taken as a fact. Not because it makes sense scientifically, but because that's how I feel about it.
It's difficult to explain (and I know it's sudden), but when I'm drawing I feel the existence of what I call gravity. In other words, while you might think that as an author I have utter control over the actions of the main characters via the progression of the story, or the world in which I make them live, it's not always like that. At some points, when the characters have no choice but to act against my will, I have had to draw scenes I never wanted to draw. I feel that this is "gravity", and that "gravity" is part of fate. When you read this final volume of Stone Ocean, I'd like you to think about that for a moment.
