Manga in Theory and Practice: The Craft of Creating Manga

Product Information

SJ: How do you come up with the Stand powers? Do you come up with the character or their powers first? 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? The most important part of a character is their motivation. What does your protagonist want to accomplish? [...] Your characters’ motivations have to gain the interest and empathy of your readers. A good motivation is one that makes the reader wonder what will happen to that character, and what that character will do, because then the reader will want to keep reading. [...] You need to include in your main characters weaknesses or faults, or more human desires." 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? 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 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. That is not to say that I do not recommend purchasing this book. The insights into the mind of a mangaka is interesting to read about. At first, I thought he was telling you how his way was the only way, only to find out that he wants you to take what you have learned in his book and do better. Be original. Follow certain paths, but create something brilliant. I left any dreams of becoming a comic book artist, let alone a mangaka, behind me more than ten years ago, but still admire the passion and dedication. I aim to apply that ferocious passion to my own work, wherever possible, while also learning the lessons of burnout and overtime that beguile the best of them - R.I.P Miura. So, I read this book to understand JoJo's, Hirohiko, himself, and perhaps even to learn some tips on how to keep writing exciting in the ways I, relatively, admire in his work. Let's get this outta the way. I very much like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure ( JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken.) That said, I don't think it's perfect and is marred by numerous errors, mostly owing to the unforgiving nature of the drafting, creating, publishing, mangaka. Originally, I went into this book thinking that maybe I should write a manga because that was what I was interested in, and I figured I would hire an artist to do that portion.

Open Library

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. they influence one another, and are not mutually exclusive. He also stresses the importance of questioning why you enjoy the things you enjoy, and over analyse their latent informative content.

But sometimes the difference between good and evil may depend on your readers’ viewpoints. As I’ve grown older, I’ve found that good and evil are not so easily delineated, and I’ve taken more interest in the reasons why people do bad things." SJ: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has a lot of horror elements and quite a bit of gore. What are your favorite horror movies?In many ways, I agree. In some ways, I disagree. Still, nonetheless, those I admire fall in this camp.