Hirohiko Araki became only the second manga artist to have a solo exhibition in a national museum after the legendary Osamu Tezuka. What is the creative philosophy of the creator of the “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure” series that has been running for more than three decades?
BY MASANOBU MATSUMOTO, PHOTOGRAPHS BY MIE MORIMOTO, TRANSLATED BY NAOKI MATSUYAMA
Hirohiko Araki
At the press preview for the exhibition in The National Art Center. In the background are the official visuals for the Tokyo venue. This is only the second time since Osamu Tezuka that a national museum hosts a solo exhibition by a manga artist.
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Hirohiko Araki is, without a doubt, a manga artist whose name will be part of the medium’s history. His magnum opus is the “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure” series, which started running on “Weekly Shōnen Jump” in 1987. The story that continues to this day all began with the battle between the protagonist Jonathan, heir to the Joestar family, and his adopted brother Dio. This story, which combined the classic battle component of “shōnen” manga (manga aimed at a teen male readership) with the horror and suspense elements of someone who lives in your home becoming a threat to your life by turning into a vampire, went on to increasingly expand its dramatic scale as it portrayed successive generations from Part 2 onwards. 122 volumes of the manga have so far been published, with more than one hundred million copies printed in total. It was made into an animation series, a novel, and motion picture too.
This is not to say that Araki is simply the author of a manga that sells very well. He was, for example, invited by the Bande Dessinée (comic strips in French speaking regions) project of the Louvre Museum in Paris to produce an original work, for the first time as a Japanese manga artist. He was also commissioned by Gucci to create drawings of JoJo characters wearing its collection, which eventually dressed the windows of the brand’s stores around the world. He collaborated with Bulgari to create a unique item and produced the cover illustration for the renowned American biology journal “Cell ”. Japanese manga has long won international recognition, but it is rare for a manga artist to go beyond the ambit of subculture to be welcomed in such a manner in the realms of world-class science, art, or fashion.
(Left)Cover of “Rohan au Louvre” (Shueisha, 2011).
A work produced for the Bande Dessinée project of the Louvre Museum, Paris. Araki visited the basement rooms that are closed to the public to come up with a unique story. This was the first full color work that Araki ever produced.
(Right) “Jolyne, Fly High with GUCCI” from Spur, Vol. 2, 2013.
Araki’s second collaboration with Gucci. Jolyne, the protagonist of Part 6 (the first female lead in the series), wears what was at the time the latest collection of Gucci. Araki says that he sympathized with Gucci’s praise of nature as seen in the flower patterns and bamboo materials.
© HIROHIKO ARAKI &LUCKY LAND COMMUNICATIONS / SHUEISHA
In May, Araki took on a new challenge. He left his usual studio to paint 12 large scale original artworks at a temporary workshop set up in Tokyo. The works were being produced as the main attraction for the “Hirohiko Araki JoJo Exhibition: Ripples of Adventure” that would mark the culmination of 30 years of work since the birth of JoJo. When we visited the workshop, the artist explained to us that he was painting a life-sized JoJo character, while adding brush strokes into an unfinished work.
Being the first time Araki worked on large-scale paintings, he said that he “struggled because there were many things he didn’t foresee, like the amount of painting material that was required or the time needed for paints to dry.” The character he is working on here is Killer Queen, a popular ‘stand.’
Araki adding the finishing touches to the 12 large scale original artworks.
The motifs for the 12 works are the characters of “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure”. “At this life-sized scale, the brush moves as if I were caressing the face or the body. It made the characters I’ve drawn thousands of times before even more endearing to me.”
“The venue for the exhibition is The National Art Center. It’s much larger than any other venue in which I have exhibited my artwork, so I felt I needed something that could stand its own ground in a large space. The painter Akira Yamaguchi has once said ‘if you can draw something of the size of a manga, you can also draw something large’ and I thought this would be a good occasion to try that. And since it was going to be large, why not make the characters life-sized? I wanted to make paintings that made people feel a sense of unity—as if they were sharing the same place with the characters.”
I glance at the desk on the workshop. Disposed on it were felt-tip pens, G-pens, brushes, and copious amounts of black and colored inks and acrylic paints. For Araki, it was important that these enormous paintings were painted by hand, and not digitally or by employing new methods, just like with his usual original artworks. “I like the ‘chemical reactions’ that happen when you draw manga. You could call it contingency. For example, the unexpected contrasts or bleeding that occur when you paint two different colors next to each other. I enjoy being surprised by what happens. Manga presents many appeals be it the story, the characters, or the general world-view, but I’d like to add ‘enjoying hand-drawn original artworks’ to that list. And not only that, I’d like those original artworks to be produced precisely to be enjoyed as original artworks, and not for being printed as it is usually the case.”
Drafts for the large-scale original artworks found at the workshop. The coloring was done based on the notes seen here.
Color mixing recipes. Araki mixes different inks in order to create the colors that match what he wants to express.
In addition to the large original artworks, the exhibition also includes numerous original artworks that are presented to the public for the first time, as well as works produced in collaboration with artists who are fans of JoJo, such as sculptor Motohiko Odani, and designer Kunihiko Morinaga of the fashion brand Anrealage. These works open our eyes anew to JoJo’s multifaceted allure: the “Stands” that materialize super-powers, the poses struck by characters inspired by Renaissance era sculpture and fashion magazines that came to be known as “JoJo dachi” (JoJo standing), or the memorable character quotes. But how did Araki conceive of this work with such expressive breadth?
Araki stands in front ofthe completed large-scale original artwork “There's Always a Traitor” at the press view for the exhibition. Seeking to merge the viewers with thecharacters, Araki explained “I positioned the works so that the horizon (the vanishing point in perspectival drawings) comes at the height of the viewers’ gaze.”
The answer to this question was connected to Araki’s comment, that he wanted to “thank the manga world,” made in relation to the exhibition. “Gratitude to the manga world is directed to the young manga artists who are bringing excitement to the industry, and of course to my predecessors too. The idea for JoJo was born of the desire to depict something different, something that doesn’t resemble the works of Osamu Tezuka, Fujiko Fujio, Tetsuya Chiba, or Katsuhiro Otomo—all great masters that I used to read. It simply wouldn’t have been possible without such predecessors.” The expression ‘something different’ does not imply that Araki is against the past masters. It rather points to the fact that the origin of JoJo lies in the process of creating ‘something new’ within the lineage of manga’s classic appeal, expression, and style, which Araki scrutinized in a highly logical manner. “Looking back, so many manga artists of the 1970s and 1980s were geniuses. It was also an era in which new forms of music and fashion emerged incessantly. Maybe making a debut and beginning to work on JoJo around that time was good for me.”
“Part 1: Phantom Blood” from Shūkan Shōnen Jump, Vol. 46, 1987.
The scene where the protagonist of Part 1, Jonathan Joestar, dies. It attracted significant attention as it was uncustomary for the protagonist to die in shōnen manga (manga for boys).
© HIROHIKO ARAKI & LUCKY LAND COMMUNICATIONS / SHUEISHA
Araki mentioned horror films as another one of the sources of inspiration from that era. The 1980s are known to be a period of rapid development for horror film, as low budget experimental works were produced one after another. “I even imported videos of films that were not released in Japan. I was particularly attracted to zombie films. In zombie films, dead people come back to life and everyone is equal as there are no bosses, so the basic philosophy and rules of human society are turned on their head.” He also acknowledges that the various aspects of the bubble economy had an impact. That was translated into the rejection of the tournament format, which was at the time regarded as a crucial element of a popular shōnen manga. In a tournament format, the protagonist defeats a strong opponent and then goes on to fight an even stronger one. This would ultimately lead to an inflation of power, and the collapse of the narrative. Araki, instead, adopted a method where the protagonist encounters enemies during his journey, fights them in a more unpredictable sugoroku (a table-top game similar to snakes and ladders) format, and employs wit rather brute force.
In the studio’s bookshelves aredifferent reference materials regarding architecture, interiors, and vehicles from around the world. A book on table manners, found in the shelves, is suggestive of Araki’s attitude of seeking a profound sense of reality.
Araki at the studio where he usually draws his manga.
In general, he does not employ digital tools. He commutes here on foot.
Araki thus seems to have succeeded in creating a sense of contemporariness and reality that directly links to the world we live in by incorporating elements from philosophy, economy, and the natural sciences. “When you draw a tree, it ends up looking weird if you don’t thoroughly observe how the branches are attached. To draw is, in that sense, something like a chemical experiment. In many ways, I learn by drawing. My ideal is to portray the world of JoJo based on an idea or theory that unifies everything from the natural sciences, to philosophy and economy. Manga pertains to fantasy, to the fictional. But when it is drawn based on a unified idea or theory, the characters, in a strange way, begin to feel as though they truly exist there. That’s what’s really fun, and that’s what I always seek when I draw.”
There was one thing I really wanted to ask Araki, and that was about the turning points in his career as a manga artist. I felt that the answer to that would provide a hint as to how the work of JoJo is linked to Araki’s own life. His answer was unexpected. “Maybe it’s when I was hospitalized for gastroenteritis.” He said that being forced to swallow a gastric camera was the most shocking experience of his life. “It made me aware that the period in which one is physically invincible doesn’t last forever. And it made me want to enjoy my daily life more, going travelling or cooking. My attention was no longer exclusively devoted to manga after that.”
Araki is deeply knowledgeable about music, particularly rock. It is his daily habit to work while playing music, and around his desk are piles of CDs. He said that he is currently going through a personal Elvis Presley revival phase.
His favorite cuisine to cook is Italian. For an online article in the past, he presented his pasta dishes, but he says “I kept working on these recipes and I finally have a few dishes that I feel are perfected.” What is it that draws Araki to cooking? “For example, slicing or chopping garlic changes its flavors and aromas. The order in which you mix lemon juice, salt, and olive oil also has an impact. This is similar to the ‘chemical reaction’ that happens when drawing, and I enjoy researching that. When you make Spaghetti Naporitan [a popular dish in Japan], the key is to put ketchup in two phases, once during the stir-frying and once at the end. In the case of drawing too, overlaying pink in the same manner enhances its beauty.”
“Part 5: Vento Aureo” from Shūkan Shōnen Jump, Vol. 5/6, 1996.
The protagonist is Giorgio Giovanna, who is a descendant of the arch-nemesis Dio. It is set in Italy, a country that Araki adores.
© HIROHIKO ARAKI & LUCKY LAND COMMUNICATIONS / SHUEISHA
The expression ‘chemical reaction’ captures Araki’s idiosyncrasy well. The ‘chemical reaction’ that happens in his drawings that are regarded as art. The encounters and collaborations with fashion and art are also one of the ‘chemical reactions.’ Countless fans visited to enjoy Araki’s large scale original artwork that the artist wished “would be looked at in detail.” The ‘chemical reactions’ must have happened in each of the viewers too.
Hirohiko Araki
Born 1960 in Miyagi prefecture. He made his debut with Poker Under Arms, which was selected as a runner up to the 1980 Tezuka Award. “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure” began in 1987 on Shūkan Shōnen Jump (the series currently continues on Ultra Jump). In 2012, he held a large scale exhibition of his original artworks in Sendai and Roppongi, Tokyo. He received the Grand Prix in the Manga Division of the 2014 Japan Media Arts Festival.
The exhibition’s official visuals.
The Tokyo venue took Jotaro Kujo (left), the protagonist of Part 3, and the Osaka venue took Dio (right) as their respective motifs. These are the two strongest characters by Araki’s own admission. These two original artworks are also showcased in the exhibition.
© HIROHIKO ARAKI & LUCKY LAND COMMUNICATIONS / SHUEISHA
Hirohiko Araki JoJo Exhibition: Ripples of Adventure
The exhibition, which closed in Tokyo to wide acclaim, will move venues and open in Osaka (Osaka Culturarium at Tempoan) on November 25 (Sunday). This will be the first time that Araki’s original artworks are exhibited in Osaka.
Period: November 25, 2018 (Sunday) – January 14, 2019 (Monday/Holiday)
Venue: Osaka Culturarium at Tempozan (Next to Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan)
Address: 1-5-10 Kaigan-dori, Minato-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka
Opening hours: 10:00-20:00 *Last entrance half an hour before closing time
Closed days: None
Telephone:
Up to November 20 (Tue), 050(5542)8600 (Hello Dial Service, 8:00-22:00)
From November 21 (Wed), 06(6574)2323 (Osaka Venue Office, 9:30-20:00)
Tickets: Details about purchasing tickets can be found here.
Official website
*Exhibition details are subject to change without notice.
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