Hirohiko Araki

Place: Sendai

Born: 1960

Biography:

Hirohiko Araki is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for his long-running series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, which began publication in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1987 and has over 120 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series in history. He made his debut under the name Toshiyuki Araki (荒木 利之, Araki Toshiyuki) in 1980 with the wild west one-shot Poker Under Arms, which was a 'Selected Work' at that year's Tezuka Award. His first serialization was Cool Shock B.T. in 1983, 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. Baoh 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 The Gorgeous Irene in 1985, that his signature art style of buff, muscular characters came into its own, though it would later become more flamboyant. His next series would become his magnum opus, 1987's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. The series begins in 1880s England and follows Jonathan Joestar (nicknamed JoJo) and his adopted brother Dio Brando, who eventually tries to kill their father in order to obtain his share of inheritance. When confronted, Dio puts on an ancient mask that turns him into a vampire. Jonathan then learns a breathing technique named Hamon, which grants JoJo various powers to combat Dio. Subsequent arcs of JoJo follow the descendants of the Joestar family, and many are set in different parts of the world. The third and most popular arc, Stardust Crusaders, downplays the vampire story and Hamon technique, instead introducing a new power known as Stands, which remain the focus of the series today. Still being serialized over 30 years later, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has been adapted into numerous other forms of media and the manga had 120 million collected volumes in print by 2022.