JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - Hirohiko Araki Interview (1/2)

First, I think about the protagonist, and what kind of thoughts drive them to action. For example, I decided I would portray the conflict between Jonathan and a villain called Dio in the first part of "JoJo ". Then I consider the setting. I had things like vampires and other horror elements in mind, so I thought I would go with London. And then from there, I gave serious consideration to where the characters were born and how they were raised, which gave rise to the characters' wealth differences, and things continued from there.

Rather than one being more important than another, they're all essential elements that cannot exist independently, so ideally, they all work together. Works that place an emphasis on only the characters and not the story tend not to make much of an impression on us. These elements are all brought together by the work's underlying themes, such as "justice wins" or "the world is full of absurdity." I think that together, characters, plot, setting, and themes form something like four core principles.

People like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone embody a world driven by the human body and vitality, but I think there are frightening things that aren't tied to the body, such as curses. I wanted to take these invisible, supernatural powers and turn them into something visible, something I could show readers. This line of thought resulted in the creation of the Hamon and Stands.

First of all, I want my characters to assert themselves in their lives. I don't want to write a story whose characters say things like, "I hate myself," or, "I wish someone would save me." I want the protagonist to continue moving forward. I show the bad guys doing bad things, but I'm also affirming their humanity. The villains move forward in their own villainous ways. In “JoJo's Bizarre Adventure”, I portray the clash of these people who are all moving toward something. I struggled a bit coming up with what to write for the comment on the sleeve of the first volume, and ended up calling it an "ode to humanity," but looking back I felt that I'd said something pretty profound, and it became one of the story's central themes.

First, I considered Dio's characterization, whether he was doing something evil or audacious, or trying to steal something, and then I would think about how Jonathan would respond. So actually, during the planning stage, I thought that Dio would be the protagonist.

We often draft these when job hunting and the like, right? I believe that one's outlook on life can be seen through these. Another example is the seating chart at a wedding. The important people who are seated as guests of honor, people like relatives who are seated in the back... By looking at these things, you can learn a lot about a person. The same is true when it comes to characters—by making those decisions, their personalities start to become apparent. Because I use this type of information to create characters—who the boss is at a company, who someone's friends are, which of their relatives poses a bit of a threat—I've utilized this personal history tactic for a long time.

Someone who tries to follow the path they believe in, even when it diverges from societal expectations or is rejected by other people, is cool. That's a hero, you know? So, in my manga, the heroes aren't people who are praised by everyone. Being on the fringes of society... that is cool.

That would be through musical rhythms. Like dance music, or tempos found in rock music... When people read my manga, I want them to feel a similar sense of rhythm. To achieve that, I use tricks like switching nouns and verbs, using definitive statements, and inserting pauses.