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Interview: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Creator Hirohiko Araki




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torchic91



Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 16
PostPosted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 10:41 am Reply with quote
Great interview! It's refreshing to hear how Araki conceptualizes his series, and illustrates the evolving landscape of both his work and the manga industry.
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KENZICHI



Joined: 16 Oct 2010
Posts: 1101
PostPosted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 12:31 pm Reply with quote
I just bought his book too. Can't wait to read.
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 5294
PostPosted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 3:58 pm Reply with quote
Can I get this Tokyo Tap Water in a bottle? I don't want to travel to the other side of the world.
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Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
Posts: 5113
Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready...
PostPosted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 5:04 pm Reply with quote
Still keeping his vampire status to himself, I see. Razz Wink

MarshalBanana wrote:
Can I get this Tokyo Tap Water in a bottle? I don't want to travel to the other side of the world.

He should start selling it on the side, use the profits to produce more JoJo anime.
That was an interesting interview. Wish it were longer.
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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
Location: Another Kingdom
PostPosted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 6:27 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
I believe that people are able to grow by overcoming obstacles through the power of the human spirit and strength, and that, I believe is “an affirmation that humanity is wonderful”.


Are Hamon and Stands an analogy to that, as they are manifestations of human strength and human spirit, respectively? Nevertheless, one thing I like about JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is its relentless optimism. It may be hammy, and it may get quite violent and disturbing at times, but every JoJo is the most optimistic and idealistic character of their parts (well, maybe except for Joseph), and naturally, they're the ones who come out the winner over their antagonists, who are jaded, selfish, and lack empathy (well, maybe except for Valentine).
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Takkun4343



Joined: 19 Jul 2007
Posts: 1493
Location: Englewood, Ohio
PostPosted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 7:32 pm Reply with quote
So we're not allowed to refer to it as Killer Queen, even in an interview separate from the actual English adaptational stuff. That's... somewhat bothersome. Confused
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reanimator





PostPosted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 9:32 pm Reply with quote
Personally I think aspiring young artists don't need more "how-to-draw-manga" books which is purely focused on just how to draw stuffs, but a good book that help them develop storytelling skills with visuals first.

With all those unimpressive "How-to-draw-Manga" written by some unknown artists taking up a whole shelf space in book stores, I'm glad that a veteran artist like Araki is putting out a good book with a real substance.
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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
Location: Another Kingdom
PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 12:22 am Reply with quote
reanimator wrote:
Personally I think aspiring young artists don't need more "how-to-draw-manga" books which is purely focused on just how to draw stuffs, but a good book that help them develop storytelling skills with visuals first.

With all those unimpressive "How-to-draw-Manga" written by some unknown artists taking up a whole shelf space in book stores, I'm glad that a veteran artist like Araki is putting out a good book with a real substance.


The thing is that those books sell well. Real well. They perpetuate stereotypes about what manga is and what they look like, but if those authors can make lots of quick bucks from it, then clearly it's what the people who buy these books are looking for.

The main audience for these how-to-draw books for anime and manga seem to be kids and teenagers who want to draw in a particular way: The way your average American or European perceives anime and manga to look like. Christopher Hart plays very well into that image, which is how his books could sell so well despite them looking so horrible--the people who buy and enjoy these books don't know any better. (He's a genuinely very good American comic book artist though, and his how-to-draw American comic book books are a lot more insightful.)

There isn't much for storytelling because these people are either not interested in the narrative aspect at all (that is, they want to "draw anime-style" out of excitement or to impress their friends), or they already have plenty of story ideas. Based on my experience with these people, the ones who want to make stories are convinced they're already good at it and don't need advice. Their "young Japanese-flavored misfit hero gets cool powers and goes out on a mystical quest" stories are all they think they need. (I'll bet Shueisha will get a mountain of these from North America for their international manga contest.) It's a lot harder to know you're bad at storytelling than to know you're bad at drawing.

Now, I'm sure Hirohiko Araki's book on making good manga stands heads and shoulders above most other how-to-draw anime and manga books, if not every single one of them. But he won't be telling what the normal audience for these books want to hear. (It also seems directed at those already at least moderately experienced in drawing and layout.) If Araki's book will sell, it'll be to a different, older and more savvy audience than usual.
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 16 Dec 2008
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Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City
PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 6:45 am Reply with quote
[quote="leafy sea dragon"]
reanimator wrote:

Now, I'm sure Hirohiko Araki's book on making good manga stands heads and shoulders above most other how-to-draw anime and manga books, if not every single one of them. But he won't be telling what the normal audience for these books want to hear. (It also seems directed at those already at least moderately experienced in drawing and layout.) If Araki's book will sell, it'll be to a different, older and more savvy audience than usual.


You're right - Araki's book is a craft manual rather than a how-to book, and it's better than a lot of the books I've seen used in college (and that I had to get in grad school). One of the major differences from those "how to draw anime" books is that Araki tells his readers that it's important to have a good classical base before morphing into a manga style. From a writing perspective, his discussion of dialogue is excellent.
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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 1:57 pm Reply with quote
Princess_Irene wrote:
You're right - Araki's book is a craft manual rather than a how-to book, and it's better than a lot of the books I've seen used in college (and that I had to get in grad school). One of the major differences from those "how to draw anime" books is that Araki tells his readers that it's important to have a good classical base before morphing into a manga style. From a writing perspective, his discussion of dialogue is excellent.


Even more so in storytelling: The best way to get good at writing an entertaining story, besides practicing relentlessly (like everything else), is to have a broad foundation of knowledge to work from new and old, which helps you create believable characters, fleshed out settings, and interesting premises.

Araki's general style definitely comes across to me as derived from life drawing, even more so than usual for anime and manga. However, there is an understandable reason why those how-to-draw books leave out information about human anatomy (well, most of them anyway--I've seen a few that do): Those books exist for people who want to draw like Akira Toriyama or Masashi Kishimoto and don't want to invest much time into it. Studying life drawing takes months or years, which would take too long for them. They want easy, quick, step-by-step instructions. They want to get straight to the good stuff.

(Well, either that or their non-artist parents buy these for them thinking that these will do and are a lot cheaper than art classes.)
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