Hirohiko Araki

Hirohiko Araki
Born	Toshiyuki Araki (荒木 利之) (1960-06-07) June 7, 1960 Sendai, Miyagi, Japan
Occupation	Manga artist, artist
Nationality	Japanese
Period	1980–present
Genres	Action, adventure, supernatural
Subjects	Shōnen manga, seinen manga
Influences Paul Gauguin
Influenced Hiroyuki Takei, Kazuki Takahashi

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Hirohiko Araki (荒木 飛呂彦, Araki Hirohiko), born Toshiyuki Araki (荒木 利之, Araki Toshiyuki) on June 7, 1960 in Sendai, Miyagi, is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for his long-running series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, first published in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1987 and which to date has sold over 70 million copies in Japan alone. The story is full of references to Western music and Italy, both of which Araki is reportedly very fond of.

Many of Araki's creations have been translated and released in Europe, but so far only Part 3 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Baoh and Rohan au Louvre have been released in the United States. One popular theory is that Araki's frequent references to Western music may violate American copyright laws.^{[citation needed]} Viz Media has eluded much of this problem in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure by replacing some band references with album or song references, which do not appear to be as strictly guarded.

History

Early life

Araki grew up in Sendai, Japan with his parents and younger identical twin sisters. He cites his sisters' annoyances as the reason he spent time alone in his room reading manga, naming Ai to Makoto as the most important one to him, and his father's art books, he supposes this was his motive for drawing manga. After a school friend praised his manga, he began secretly drawing manga behind his parent's backs. He submitted his first work to a magazine in his first year of high school. All his submissions were rejected while other artists his age or younger were making successful debuts. He decided to go to the publishers' offices in Tokyo to find out why in person, taking a manga he stayed up all-night to finish. The Shueisha editor he met highly criticized the work, but said it had potential and to clean it up for the upcoming Tezuka Awards. The manga was Buso Poker.

Debut and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

Araki left Miyagi University of Education before graduating, and made his debut in 1980 with the wild west one-shot Buso Poker. Which was a "Selected Work" at that year's Tezuka Award. His first serialization was Magic Boy B.T. in 1982, about a young magician who solves mysteries. But the first series to display his signature amount of gore, was 1984's Baoh. It tells the story of a man who is implanted with a parasite by an evil organization, giving him superhuman powers, and follows as he fights against them. It was adapted into an OVA in 1989, the manga was released in the US by Viz Media in 1990 (in tankōbon form in 1995), but the OVA didn't get a stateside release until 2002. It wasn't until Gorgeous Irene in 1985, that he really developed his signature art style of buff, muscular characters (it would later become more flamboyant).

His next series would become his magnum opus, 1987's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. The series takes place in 1880's England and follows Jonathan Joestar (JoJo) and his adopted brother Dio Brando, the latter eventually trying to kill their father to get the inheritance. When confronted, Dio puts on an ancient mask that turns him into a vampire. JoJo then learns a martial arts technique called hamon (or ripple), and travels to Dio's castle to kill him. Subsequent arcs of JoJo follow different descendants of the Joestar family, and many are set in different parts of the world. Part 3, which would become the most popular, drops the vampire story and ripple technique and instead introduces the power of Stands, which continues in the series today.

2009–present

In 2009, Hirohiko Araki was one of five artists selected by the Musée du Louvre to create original works set at the famous museum. His piece Rohan au Louvre starred JoJo's Rohan Kishibe and was shown at the exhibit titled Le Louvre invite la bande dessinée ("The Louvre Invites Comic-Strip Art"), which was created to show the diversity of comics, from January 19 to April 13. The following year, Rohan au Louvre was published in France and ran in Japan's Ultra Jump. It was released in the US by NBM Publishing in February 2012.

From September 17 to October 6, 2011, the Gucci store in Shinjuku hosted the Gucci x Hirohiko Araki x Spur "Rohan Kishibe Goes to Gucci" Exhibition, a collaboration between the luxury Italian clothing brand, JoJo's creator and the fashion magazine Spur. The exhibit celebrated the 90th anniversary of Gucci and featured a life-size figure of Rohan Kishibe, as well as numerous illustrations by Araki; including actual pieces of the brand's own 2011-2012 fall/winter collection and his own original fashion designs. For Spur Araki drew Rohan Kishibe Goes to Gucci, a full-color one-shot featuring Rohan Kishibe that ran in its October 2012 issue. Spur once again ran a JoJo spinoff by Araki, Jolyne, Fly High with Gucci starring Jolyne Cujoh from Part 6, in their February 2013 issue. A free English translation is available on Gucci's Facebook page.

To raise awareness of the ongoing reconstruction efforts of the Hiraizumi ruins, that were damaged by the March 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in June, Araki drew artwork depicting the ruins. A "Hirohiko Araki JoJo Exhibition" opened in Araki's native Sendai at the end of July 2012 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, it then moved to Tokyo in October.

Works

Cover of Weekly Shōnen Jump featuring Araki's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

Manga

• Buso Poker (1980)
• Outlaw Man (1982)
• Virginia ni Yohroshiku (1982)
• Magic Boy B.T. (魔少年ビーティー, Mashōnen Bītī, 1982–1983)
• Baoh (1984–1985)
• Gorgeous Irene (1985–1986)
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (1986–present)
• The Lives of Eccentrics (変人偏屈列伝, Henjin Henkutsu Retsuden, 1989–2003)
• Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe ~Episode 16.. Confessional~ (岸辺露伴は動かない〜エピソード16‥懺悔室〜, 1997, one-shot in Weekly Shōnen Jump)
• Dead Man's Questions (1999, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 4 spin-off in Allman magazine)
• Under Jailbreak, Under Execution (1999, collection of various one-shots)
• Oingo Boingo Brothers Adventure (2002, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 3 spin-off)
• Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe -Mutukabezaka- (岸辺露伴は動かない -六壁坂-, 2007, one-shot in Jump SQ)
• Rohan au Louvre (2010, one-shot in Ultra Jump)
• Rohan Kishibe Goes to Gucci (岸辺露伴 グッチへ行く, August 23, 2011, one-shot in Spur)
• Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe ~Episode 5 Millionaire Village~ (岸辺露伴は動かない 〜エピソード5:富豪村〜, 2012, one-shot in Weekly Shōnen Jump)
• Jolyne, Fly High with Gucci (徐倫、GUCCIで飛ぶ, December 22, 2012, one-shot in Spur)

Other

• Famicom Jump II: Saikyō no Shichinin (February 1991, seventh boss monster design)
• Kamedas (1993, an alternate story of Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo, an illustration)
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (November 4, 1993, novel written by Mayori Sekijima and Hiroshi Yamaguchi, illustrated by Araki)
• JoJo 6251 (December 10, 1993, art and guidebook)
• JoJo A-Go!Go! (February 25, 2000, artbook)
• Music is the Key of Life (December 13, 2000, album by Sugiurumn, cover)
• GioGio's Bizarre Adventure II: Golden Heart/Golden Ring (May 28, 2001, novel written by Gichi Ōtsuka and Tarō Miyashō, supervised and illustrated by Araki)
• Life Ground Music (February 27, 2002, album by Sugiurumn, cover)
• Spy! Boy Alex series of Her Majesty the Queen (2002, cover)
• Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo (2006, 30th anniversary special illustration)
• "Catwalk" (April 26, 2006, single by Soul'd Out, cover)
• Uniqlo (2006, T-shirt design)
• Fist of the North Star (2006, special tribute illustration in Weekly Comic Bunch)
• Cell (September 7, 2007, front cover)
• The Book: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure 4th Another Day (November 26, 2007, novel written by Otsuichi, supervised and illustrated by Arashi)
• "The Dancing Girl of Izu" (2008, cover)
• "Breeeeze Girl" (June 24, 2009, a single by Base Ball Bear, cover of the limited edition)
• Naruto (2009, 10th anniversary special illustration)
• Shameless Purple Haze: Purple Haze Feedback (September 16, 2011, novel written by Kouhei Kadono, illustrated by Araki)
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Over Heaven (December 16, 2011, novel written by Nisio Isin, cover)
• Jorge Joestar (September 19, 2012, novel written by Ōtarō Maijō, illustrated by Araki)
• Hirohiko Araki Works 1981-2012 (2012, artbook)
• JoJomenon (October 5, 2012, artbook)

• Stormbreaker (novel, illustrations for Fantasy Press)

External links

• Hirohiko Araki at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia