What was the process leading up to participating in this project?
It was through a character design competition. I had been asked to join since Phantom Blood, but my schedule never lined up, so I was able to join at last in this season. I had been buying and reading Stone Ocean even before I was asked to work on it, so I believe it was fate, and my wish came true.
What was it like getting to design the characters?
Jolyne in particular has so many expression variations that I had a hard time in the beginning. She grows from a normal girl to a strong young woman, so her expressions are compeletely different in the beginning versus later in the season. After discussing with Director Suzuki, we decided to split her design sheet, one for the first half, one for the second half. We have two character design sheets just for Jolyne.
Were there any other requests from Director Suzuki that you recall?
He requested that I streamline the line work as much as possible so that everyone could draw the characters. Of course, if we remove too much of the line work, it's no longer JoJo's, so he ended up asking me to add more lines back in. [laughs] I wanted to make sure the style followed the manga art as much as possible, so that was a challenging aspect.
Tell us about your character designing process.
I start with the ears, actually. Every manga artist draws ears a different way, so getting the ears down is a big step toward grasping the character as a whole. Araki Sensei leans towards realism, but his ears are very manga-esque, so I find that very interesting.
The JoJo's series has some very unique poses.
I was concious of that as well, JoJo's bodies have a very particular form, so outlining the human form like normal would not bring out Araki Sensei's style. Everyone's proportions are unique, and Jolyne and gang never stand like normal people, so re-creating those poses was difficult. I also paid special attention to how characters looked lined up next to one another.
There's quite the height difference between Jolyne and Emporio.
Exactly. It's especially difficult striking the right head-and-body ratio. Since anime is horizontal, re-creating Emporio as is would cut him out of the screen because he's so short. And if you include his hat, Weather Report is like nine or ten heads tall, so lining him up with other characters tends to throw off the balance.
Could you tell us more about how you struck the right balance?
Since Jolyne wouldn't be Jolyne if we changed her proportions, I used her as the base for everyone else. For example, we made Emporio's ratio a tad taller than he is in the manga, just enough that it doesn't feel wrong.
You were also one of the chief animation directors. How was that experience?
My biggest regret is not being able to work on all of the episodes and not being able to check all the scenes. But I really love the scenes of Jolyne that I was able to work on in the first episode. Also, since shadows are drawn in a unique way in JoJo's, I went back and forth about how to go on about it for this season, but in the end we went with a more realistic style. I'm proud of the results, especially in the first episode.
Do you have a favorite character out of the ones you designed?
Jolyne is my favorite, but I also like Gwess. I had the opportunity to draw Gwess for the anime, too, and I am really satisfied with my work! I liked her as a character when I was reading the manga, as well.
What are your favorite aspects of the JoJo's series?
The art style, definitely. I personally adore the style in Diamond is Unbreakable, but Vento Aureo leaves the biggest impression. I used to follow the series in real time via Weekly Shonen Jump, and I finally began buying the manga volumes around the time Stone Ocean started up. This applies to all the seasons, but I love how we can never predict what will happen next.
Finally, please leave a message for the fans who've purchased the Blu-ray.
I mentioned Jolyne earlier, but I also really love Jotaro, especially this new perception of him as a father. "I want to make him as badass as possible" was always on my mind during production. So, I hope that my feelings are reflected in the way Jotaro is animated.
