Manga in Theory and Practice: The Craft of Creating Manga

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You've spoken in other interviews about how you drew muscular body types in Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency because Stallone and Schwarzenegger were popular at the time. You've also said that you moved to thinner body types for Diamond is Unbreakable and Vento Aureo because readers were losing interest in muscle men and you wanted to do more with your interest in fashion. Steel Ball Run and JoJolion seem to represent another big shift in the evolution of your art style. What inspired the looks of Steel Ball Run and JoJolion? I believe just about anyone interested in storytelling will get something out of "Manga in Theory and Practice". I don't know of another book like it on the market right now. Also, he then goes on to explain how, because of this philosophy, he developed Hamon and Stands - "while Hamon made superpowers visible, Stands took the next step and made them into characters." Sometime after you begin drawing regularly, there will come a point when you think, “This just isn’t working out lately.” When this happens, you may become somewhat worried, but if you keep drawing, you’ll be able to break through it. The very fact that you’re worried about it means that you’re trying. [...] Overall, I enjoyed reading it, and as I said above, I recommend it to new writers and Shonen manga fans. Araki himself says this book is really intended as a “passing of the torch” book where he shares his secrets with the next generation of manga producers, and that’s what it is. There isn’t likely to be too many mind-blowing ideas here, but there is a lot of things worth thinking about, and I’m very glad I was able to read it. Like I said above, if you enjoyed this, try Bakuman next, which is a dramatized version of this topic. (And an amazing one at that.)

One that I had a difficult time with (not artistically, but rather in terms of plot and story development) is ‘ Killer Queen’ in Part 4. I felt that I may have made it too strong. It wouldn't have been a surprise if Josuke was not able to defeat it. Araki’s thoughts on the relationship between Setting, Story and Character and how they’re all tied together by Theme are worth remembering and a good primer for new writers. He also gives a lot of good tips and suggestions about those elements of story and how they work in a Shonen comic. Overall this book kind of reminds me of On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft with how it combines personal stories with tips on how to write. You can gleam a lot from the stories of both his successes and failures, as well as well as what personal elements they put in their story. All the advice comes across as quite humble, as Hirohiko seems to be unsure of his own worth to distribute such words of advice. This might be a little hard to put into words, but when I draw using physical media, I almost feel like I’m caressing the drawing, and I start to feel affection for my characters. That even applies—given enough time—to characters that I don’t like when I first create them. Sometimes I’ll even cry when they die."ANN: Your fansassociate JoJo's Bizarre Adventure with high fashion.Can you take us through the process by which you create unique costumes for your characters? SJ: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has a lot of horror elements and quite a bit of gore. What are your favorite horror movies?

Also, the book is full of references to Hirohiko Araki's own work. Not just his most famous serial "Jojo's Bizarre Adventure", but also his other less known work such as his first one one-shot "Poker Under Arms" (1981), and his first serial "Mashounen B.T." (1983). I think that even if you’re creating a manga that includes love and romance, you could have it be between two male characters, as long as that fits with your manga’s world. As long as your characters are appealing, you could get away with a world of all men. You have nothing to fear." Many of the references to Japanese media and culture may be lost on western readers too. Ever heard of East Asian Blood-Type Horoscopes? Or Sazae-san? Aún explicando la necesidad de los cuatro elementos regidores de toda narración —personajes, historia, escenario y tema; en ese estricto orden de importancia— Araki siempre acaba poniendo algo de sí mismo entre líneas. Cual es el método que él utiliza, o ha utilizado, para llegar hasta sus conclusiones. Y en ese arranque metodológico, es donde deja ver lo obvio: consiste no en hacer, sino en mirar.SJ: One of the endearing quirks of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga is the fact that many of the characters have names based on bands or musicians. Why did you decide to do this? After reading Hirohiko Araki's book on manga theory, I realized that this was similar to a lot of writing books that I have read before. There were differences to certain approaches, but it was close to what I have read from authors. The pacing of a book is similar, the path of your characters is similar, etc. There are a few times when the translation is a bit unclear, but those are few and far between overall.