JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - 21 Authors Pay Tribute
So all credit goes to Manga News' twitter feed for posting an awesome picture of 21 different authors' rendition of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. It definitely made my day and at the same time got me excited for the anime. Here's the full list of authors who contributed along with their images:
Akira Akatsuki - Illustrator of Medaka Box
Admittedly I don't read Medaka Box and I ended up dropping the anime after a few episodes, but even I managed to recognise the reference.
I'm pretty sure it happened in the first episode of the anime and the first chapter of the manga and might have happened a few more times in the series.
Akatsuki-sensei is one of the junior mangaka at Jump, but even so it's nice to see him pay tribute to Jojo's Bizarre Adventure in a comedic way. Nice choice with it being Jotaro from (Part 3: Stardust Crusaders) since I believe him and Medaka would have some serious battles due to Jotaro's short fuse and Medaka's annoying omniscient attitude.
I still wish that he would have done something with Jotaro's design but I gess his artistic style isn't that unique that it would come out noticeably different. Oh well, the comedy was a nice touch.
Akira Amano - Author of Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
Whenever it comes down to something drawn by Akira Amano-sensei it can only be one of two things: a bishonen character design or the chibi baby designs that first appeared in Reborn! when it was still a gag series.
I guess the men and woman of the Joestar lineage are already good looking enough and didn't need Amano-sensei's own bishonen twist and thus we're left with the always entertaining chibi drawing of..... I don't actually know, anyone care to help me out with this one
I can't even tell if it's meant to be a girl or not but with the airplane in the background, I'm going to go ahead and guess it's Joseph Joestar from Part 2: Battle Tendency. Still..... could she have made a member of the Joestar family into any more of a bishonen character Guess we'll never know.
Akira Toriyama - Author of Dragonball
The legendary Toriyama-sensei graces us with his own drawing of Jotaro alongside the badass mascot character of Stardust Crusaders, Iggy.
Maybe a little disappointing that we didn't get to see Jotaro as a Super Saiyan but he's pretty buff already, so giving him even more muscles and an aura wouldn't do anything more for his character. Not to mention his hat is his distinguishing feature amongst the Joestar men, so taking it off him wouldn't be cool. Of course as a delinquent, it wouldn't feel right for him not to wear his hat. I still liked this gag-style drawing of Jotaro, which reminded me that
Toriyama-sensei's first successful manga was actually a gag series by the name of Dr. Slump. I'm also pretty sure that Hirohiko Araki-sensei must be honoured to have had such a reputed mangaka draw an illustration of his manga.
CLAMP - Collective group of xxxHOLIC and Tsubasa Reservoir fame
Speaking of honours, getting an illustration done by one of the most famous and inspirational mangaka groups out there would be enough to bring a flutter to anyone's heart.
CLAMP's art is so distinct and famous that I'm sure I'm not the only who would be able to recognise it from a line-up of 100's upon 1000's of manga and anime. And what do you know I can still do it with this illustration.
Certainly a good choice picking Joylene Kujo (from Part 6: Stone Ocean) as the character to be illustrated by this group. She's the only female lead....well.....notable female lead that the franchise has and her new look is rocking! CLAMP's male character designs tend to be on the more weedy/lean side so I can understand them foregoing the choice of any men from the series and instead giving their own bishoujo twist on Joylene.
Even a hiatus due to illness wouldn't stop this legendary collective from contributing to Araki-sensei's tribute.
Eiichiro Oda - Author of One Piece
Here's the most popular manga artists' contribution to the world of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.
It's no secret that I'm quite fond of Oda-sensei's character designs. They all hold a certain originality and even if they may border on the ridiculous they are never anything but aesthetic. This is no exception. Here we have another Jotaro Kujo drawing but this one looks like a movie poster for a classic film.
Leave it to Oda-sensei to give Jotaro a completely new and slightly villainous look by just tweaking the angles of his body and his outfit. Then we've got Jotaro's face which looks more like a bad guy's than a series protagonist's but it works because lets face it, Jotaro is definitely not a saint. Gotta give credit where credit is due: Oda-sensei knocked it out of the park.
Probably my favourite one of the bunch with CLAMP's coming in a close second.
Hideaki Sorachi - Author of Gintama
I'm not too familiar with Hideaki Sorachi-sensei's art, so I didn't really know what to expect.
I knew about him as the author of Gintama and I have checked out the series but I haven't had enough exposure to Sorachi-sensei's artwork to conjure up any expectations. Even so, this is without a doubt the most interesting one of the lot! At its roots, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure was actually gory and the grotesque artwork was what made it stand out from other series I had encountered.
This illustration is more like the original stuff we've seen in this series than possibly any of the other illustrations here (excluding ones which didn't really change the art style much). I'm not too sure what we're meant to be looking at here. This is probably meant to be Dio at some point in Part 1: Phantom Blood or one of the 3 immortals from Part 2: Battle Tendency but my guesses are excluding parts 4-8 which I haven't read yet.
That doesn't stop this from being a great illustration that hits the nail on the hammer in terms of style. It feels like Sorachi-sensei really got it right.
Hiroshi Shiibashi - Author of Nurarirhyon no Mago
Another author I'm not too familiar about, although I've seen his artwork a lot more than Sorachi-sensei's.
There's a certain element in Shiibashi-sensei's art that makes it memorable and even without reading Nurarihyon no Mago, in just the various pages I've seen, I've managed to remember his artwork rather vividly with no trouble at all. Clearly he's had not trouble giving his own little twist to Gyro Zeppeli. He's managed to make an already cool-looking character slightly cooler by giving him a more striking look and dare I say more distinct muscles and a stern face to go along with them.
Nicely done and finally someone decided to do an illustration of a Zeppeli family member. They to have an important role in Jojo's Bizarre adventure and unfortunately, they always get hurt.
Hiroyuki Takei - Author of Shaman King
Here's another interesting take on Joylene Kujo, and what better man to do it than Shaman King's Hiroyuki Takei.
It's hard to explain how he actually does it but whenever I see Takei-sensei's art, I immediately think to myself that this is what evil children should look like in all manga and anime.
With my biggest exposure to his work being the 15 odd chapters of Ultimo -which is filled with dangerous Chibi like characters - I read, I can say that it's no surprise that he's managed to make this chibi-ish version of Joylene still come off as badass and frightening.
Even if she looks a little scary, I still think there's a certain charm and cuteness to this design. Nothing less from the always interesting Takei-sensei.
Kazuki Takahashi - Author of Yu Gi Oh!
Well here's another surprise, but mainly because I haven't seen or heard from Takahashi-sensei for a while. Probably because he no longer needs to create anything to enjoy a life of luxury.
Yu Gi Oh! artwork was never quite my cup of tea but I did always think that Takahashi-sensei was quite skilled and his character designs never did lack originality. It's good to see him contribute something, especially after you see his contribution.
I'm not too certain but it looks like he did a drawing of Josuke Higshikata from Part 8: Jojolion. Again I haven't got to that part, so if I'm wrong I apologise.
Still it's a avery nice illustration, especially when you look at the drawing of the stand. Takahashi-sensei always did have a knack for creating random creatures, so no surprise that it looks good.
Kenta Shinohara - Author of SKET Dance
So the author of SKET Dance steps up to the plate and he......takes it seriously !
Its certainly acceptable for a manga artist of a comey serious to do a serious illustration, however there is no shame in doing something funny like Amano-sensei and Akimoto-sensei did. Even though this is serious, I'm not really a big fan of it. I'm not going to hazard a guess as to which Joestar member this is meant to be, but it looks a little too bishonen.
This may seem like a double-standard after I've said how much I've liked the other illustrations with the authors' added style but that's just how I feel. It's not bad by any measure by it reminds me more of Bruce Lee's martial arts posing than it does Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.
Still a decent illustration and quite frankly a little surprising coming from Shinohara-sensei. I'd still chalk this up to a win.
Kyousuke Usuta - Author of Sexy Commando Gaiden: Sugoiyo! Masaru-san
Usuta-sensei is primarily a gag manga artist. Putting aside his first manga Sugoiyo! Masaru-san, he had a gag series run in jump for a decade.
With his illustration of the entire Joestar lineage, he's using an art style similar to his first work which doesn't make a few of the characters seem all that different but a closer look begs to differ.
They all certainly look more Japanese and some of them even look like ordinary humans that don't have muscles bulging out of every body part. The biggest change seems to be for Joylene and Jotaro, both of whom no longer have rougher looking facial expressions.
Not my favourite one of the bunch but I do appreciate the inclusion of Usuta-sensei's own artistic style.
Masashi Kishimoto - Author of Naruto
Ahh Kishimoto-sensei. If Oda-sensei's art is recognizable for being a little quirky and surreal, Kishimoto-sensei's can be recognized for being sleek with characters that are just the right amount of pretty for an action series.
It looks like Kishimoto-sensei decided to give us his pretty boy version of Giorno Giovanna, the amalgam of the Joestar lineage (seeing as how he's technically Dio's child but was conceived in Jonathan Joestar's body).
It might be just my opinion but Giorno looks a little more evil here, a pretty easy task considering his face looks a little more like a delinquent's (more than the others at least).
A very nice rendition by Kishimoto-sensei.
Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro - Author of Toriko
Probably more than any other author currently with Jump, Shimabukuro-sensei is the one closest to recreating the bodies of the Joestar men. Why you ask Well if you've read or seen anything of Toriko, you might think that Shimabukuro-sensei drew inspiration from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
No drawings of muscles here which is odd (maybe he felt he couldn't compete with Araki-sensei in that respect), though you can recognise the difference he's made to Jotaro's design.
It definitely reminds me of Toriko's - or another character from the series - eyes, which is essentially the goal of this illustration. Since we're only exposed to the eye, it's good that there is a recognisable difference in the design.
Still... you gotta wonder who would win in a muscle drawing contest between Araki-sensei and Shimabukuro-sensei The outcome could be surprising, although Araki-sensei has many years more experience.
Osamu Akimoto - Author of Kochikame
Akimoto-sensei is the utmost veteran author over at jump.
While Araki-sensei was just a green horn starting the first part of his epic adventure series, Akimoto-sensei had already been drawing Kochikame for over a decade. That's why you wouldn't expect him to do anything other than a Kochikame x Bizarre Adventure illustration.
I have no idea what the name of Kochikame's main character is or what character he's closest to in the world of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure but that didn't stop me from laughing as soon as I saw this drawing.
I have to say, taking the good looking aspect out of the character was a nice breath of fresh air.
Ryuuhei Tamura - Author of Beelzebub
What could be more fitting than author of a delinquent manga, doing an illustration
Let's face it Jotaro and Josuke come across as the delinquent protagonists of their respective sagas so it only makes sense that Tamura-sensei would draw his own version of Josuke Higashikata fro Part 4.
The hair is certainly the hint here, because the face doesn't look all that much like Josuke; maybe if it was him when he's angry. And just to make sure we'd recognise the author, he gave Josuke baby Beel on his back.
Seems appropriate since Jojo's Bizarre Adventure has a lot of supernatural powers present and Beelzebub does a similar thing with the story in that respect.
Tadatoshi Fujimaki - Author of Kuroko no Basket
Now it's time for some 21st Century pretty boy image upgrade for Giorno Giovanna. Who better than Fujimaki-sensei, the man with the most pretty boys in his series than any other mana currently running in Jump.
You can notic Fujimaki-sensei's art style when you look at this picture since it bears a striking resemblance to Kise Ryota from Kuroko no Basket. I'm glad to see Fujimaki-sensei chose a character besides Jotaro, though I have to wonder if his rendition of Josuke would have been more entertaining.
Well, if you always pictured Giorno as a soft-faced pretty boy, now you know what he would look like.
Takeshi Obata - Illustrator of Death Note and Bakuman
I'm of two minds when it comes to Obata-sensei's art. Sometimes it's aesthetically pleasing and well done but on occasions it can feel stiff; it a took a while for Bakuman's art to undergo a drastic change.
I'm having trouble recognising the characters drawn even though it does look familiar. If anything, this illustration stands out from the lot by being something different and more obscure in the sense that it's not obvious which series the characters are from.
I'd go as far as saying that the character designs could be mistaken for another series.
Tite Kubo - Author of Bleach
Kubo-sensei has such good Germanic character designs that I'm very happy with his illustration!
Choosing a minor antagonist from Part 5: Vento Aureo sure is surprising but it definitely helps that Kubo-sensei included his name in the background and in English to boot.
Ghiaccio is his name and even I'm not familiar with his involvement in the story (yet) he isn't one of the well-known characters in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. His picture on th JJBA Wikia page doesn't seem all that refined, so Kubo-sensei did a great job with this illustration.
Kubo-sensei, how do you know of this character Are you a big fan of the series I certainly think so.
Tsugumi Ohba - Writer of Death Note and Bakuman
You might be inclined to laugh at this one but please remember that Ohba-sensei isn't an artist but a writer. That wasn't enough to stop him from paying his respects to Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and at least you can tell which character he was trying to draw.
If you couldn't tell, its Josuke Higashikata from Part 4: Diamond is unbreakable (not to be confused with the character of the same name from Part 8: Jojolion). As I've already mentioned it's not perfect and looks like a lazy version of Mitsuru Adachi-sensei's style but it still have value.
I think one deserves praise for being the only one done by a writer and not a sole author (writer/illustrator).
Yoshihiro Togashi - Author of Hunter x Hunter
You know what, I should be annoyed with Togashi-sensei because of how long his hiatuses last but this is not the forum for that. We're here to ogle the fine art and celebrate the greatness of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.
Stil....what the hell is this illustration exactly I'm at a loss here so if someone could leave a comment telling me what this is meant to be, it will put my mind at ease.
I do remember seeing this image at one point but now I've completely forgotten. As you can see it's not as detailed as some of the other illustrations but it's the thought that counts.
Get well soon Togashi-sensei and thanks for the contribution.
Yusuke Murata - Illustrator of Eyeshield 21
I'm a little disappointed with what Murata-sensei drew, especially since I love his artwork so damn much.
My disappointment comes from the lack of originality in his illustration. He's proven he can draw very well on many occasions but he didn't add his own artistic touch to the drawing.
Another addition to the Jotaro collection and it's not particularly exciting, but at least it looks a lot like the real deal.