The Art of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, and The Life of Hirohiko Araki
A while back I promised to give a walk through of the Jojo art books I own, and I found myself with quite a bit of free time today, so that's what I'm doing. These art book are... something else. Everybody knows how much Araki's style is influenced by high fashion and pop culture (specifically music), to the point that stands are named after bands, and a lot of illustrations in these books borrow poses and themes from actual photo shoots. But it's far greater than that when you experience it in full. The depth and sheer scale of Jojo's exists on a different level through these references, the locations, the styles, even Araki's comments. It well and truly is the world that Hirohiko Araki inhabits, and I hope I can do it at least the slightest bit of justice in this (not so) little post.
Jojo A-Go!Go!
So, Jojo A-Go!Go! (as well as Jojoveller) are actually collections of books for Jojo. The main/big volumes containing all the major illustrations, while the smaller ones are dedicated to more knowledge than art. With A-Go!Go! we get separate books for the various stands of Parts 3-5, and a volume that explores Araki's past through countless interviews and snippets that I'd love to see officially translated some day.
Regardless, one cool aspect of the A-Go!Go! set is this little wheel featured on the box that contains the volumes. As you can tell, there's a layer behind the circle on the top of the box that you can spin around to align properly, or like I show here, create some funny mix ups.
Anyways, the art. Man, the art. Incredible, just incredible. The book opens with a lot of double spreads that feature groups of characters based on parts or roles within their respective parts, and they all look so good.
Of course, it's not just good art, it's an impressive creative process that captures the best parts of Araki's creativity, with pages like this. I just think it's so cool how they use a cutout page to provide a unique style and experience through the art book. Especially with the bottom image, as you can see stands in the darkness of the pages.
But yeah, an absolutely stunning art book for parts 1-5. Very impactful and strong poses and styles, as expected from Araki.
I really wish that the stands and Hirohiko Araki volumes were translated for this art book. There's so much information and a world of interesting pieces from Araki himself within them. I can read a little bit, but it does take a while, so sadly I can't really translate or explain much either. One day though, I hope Viz or someone else will provide an English version of these art books for English-speaking audiences.
Jojoveller
A rather similar story to A-Go!Go!, Jojoveller is the art book for Jojo parts 6-8, plus a few extras. In addition, it also has a full collection of Jojo stands that's up to date with the release of the art book back in 2013, plus a history book of Jojos. Once again, a huge amount of information, but a lot stuck in Japanese which presents a challenge for NA audiences.
Anyways, the art. There's not much to say besides what I've already said. It's incredible. It's powerful, creative, stylized, unique, so on and so forth. But showing it makes more sense than telling you.
Once more, I love how these art books use translucent or partial pages to create an experience for readers. So very cool.
And here's an example of the extras. Incredibly cool to get the Gucci x Araki artworks at this scale (also cool cause it's Rohan).
These pieces are just so incredible. I'd to try and go through one day and find the real life counterparts for the illustrations that borrow from photoshoots. Just on that topic though, it's incredible that Jojo's has created a feedback loop with it. Borrowing concepts and poses from high fashion and photoshoots to use in its world and story, which people in turn mimic and use themselves.
Jojo 6521
Want the previous two art books but don't want to spend the money, or want to be able to read what's in them in English? Jojo 6521 is the almost answer. It's a condensed version of the two art book collections, condensing the art and information of them into a single book which includes a really interesting breakdown of information by part.
It's not near the same scale of information as the other books, but it's also only one volume at a fraction the page count of the others combined, and it's the only one in English. Sort of a beggars can't be choosers thing, but still quite a bit of cool stuff in it. I think my only gripe would be how plainly the illustrations are put together in this art book, as the vast majority of them are just placed together on a plain white page with each other. But, I think that's counteracted by the new/original material discussed and shown in this volume, with loose character designs and other pieces placed thoughtfully throughout.
And there it is, the Jojo art books I own. I could spend hours looking through all the different illustration and designs that appear in these books. Hell, I could spend a significant chunk of time just looking at the packages/formats that these art books come in (specifically the JP ones). The entire experience of these art books is so incredibly well designed that even though they're very expensive, I'd say for anyone that can afford them and is a Jojo fan, you absolutely need to own these art books.
1. āOff-Roadā - the most stubborn little shit ever, arrogant but always right and knows it, bratty and gets away with everything
2. āShineā - quirky, whimsical, street style fashion, loves avocado, canāt live without Red Bull, book smart, 0 street smarts, binges on animated love stories, looks like a hamster, wears funky socks, needs to learn how to text in paragraphs
3.Ā ā ģź°ķ“Ā Think About Youā - so very shy, looks like a lamb, adores the smell of laundry, only wears organic cotton, die hard romantic, lights candles around the house even though thereās something called lamps, shops at LUSH
4. āģ¬ė°ź² ė¤ Do it for fun (Rap Unit)āĀ - dreams hard even though lives in a shell, always takes bets, secretly loves poetry, leisurely plays basketball, works out when stressed, addicted to Gatorade, canāt take a joke, collects sports jerseys
5.Ā ā ė³“ė¼ ģė°ģ Nothing I Can Doā - drunk texts all exes, nearly an alcoholic, huge cry baby but pretends to be a tough cookie, delayed reactions, a pure soul, knows all the trot songs, likes to look through old photos, always says they were born in the wrong generation
6.Ā ā ķØź» ź°ģ ģ°ė¦¬ Letās Go Togetherā - the one thatās always sending positive messages to friends, procrastinates like crazy even though they keep saying theyāll do work, still gets work out on time, always snoozes their alarm, gifts people photo frames, bottles up all their feelings, nags like theyāre your mother
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