9 [9] JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Yoshikawa Daishi let out a slight sigh of relief. Now that they had agreed to the visit, he believed in this matter for the most part. The remaining doubts could only be resolved by seeing it with his own eyes.
"Excuse us."
"Excuse us."
Yoshikawa Daishi and Iwamoto Yu changed into slippers and walked with Kazuya to his studio.
"Here's some tea for you."
"Yes... Ah, thank you, Kurokawa-sensei," Iwamoto Yu thanked.
"No need to thank me. I told you when you came over that you could have tea," Kazuya said as he placed another cup of tea in front of Yoshikawa Daishi. "Please, help yourselves."
"Thank you," Yoshikawa Daishi said, taking a sip. "This tea is excellent."
"As long as you like it," Kazuya said, then walked over to the bookshelf in his studio and took out two stacks of bound books, placing them beside the two visitors.
"Is this the continuation of 'JoJo'?" Yoshikawa Daishi looked at the thick stack of books in front of him with some surprise. They were quite thick. These collected volumes alone could make up about twenty volumes if he were to publish them individually.
But what about the content inside?
"Kurokawa-sensei, did you bind these yourself?" Iwamoto Yu asked, puzzled.
"Yes, that's right," Kazuya nodded. "I figured that an editor might come to take a look, so I made a few copies and bound them myself. The original manuscripts are sealed and stored at home."
"I see," Iwamoto Yu sighed in relief. It would be disastrous if something happened to the original manuscripts.
"Yes, indeed," Yoshikawa Daishi flipped through the books quickly, making sure there were no issues with the quality, or even if there were quality issues, he wouldn't be able to tell. "Since you've drawn so much, it's inevitable that situations like this might arise, and it would be a disaster if the original manuscripts were lost. This is just right."
Yoshikawa Daishi nodded. "What's the order for reading these?"
"Just start from the top," Kazuya said.
"I see." Yoshikawa Daishi picked up the top volume.
"Well, I'll read through it again," Iwamoto Yu said. "Even though I've already read it once, it feels like I'm addicted to it. I keep thinking about these scenes in my mind these days, haha."
"Oh, and the cover..." Yoshikawa Daishi said with some surprise after flipping through the first few pages.
After the first blank page, there was a powerful cover.
Several characters were depicted on it, all of whom he had never seen before. Below them was the title of this part, "Battle Tendency."
He thought for a moment, and these characters above should be the characters from the second part, right?
In the front, there were two men posing strangely, and there was a woman beside them. Yoshikawa Daishi thought that this might be the female protagonist of this part.
As a chief editor, and wanting to provide feedback on this "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure," he had naturally carefully read and appreciated all the content of the first volume of this manga. For the woman depicted on the cover of this new part, his first thought was the previous part's female protagonist, "Erina" from "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure." Although she had few appearances and very limited lines, she had left a deep impression on him.
The image of her washing her mouth with muddy water right after having her first kiss taken away was a testament to the mangaka's excellent imagination.
Through just one or two pages of description, the personality of a woman had been perfectly portrayed.
And behind these characters was a large moon, with three men posing strangely beneath it.
"Battle Tendency... Let me take a look..."
After reading the name of the manga once again, he opened this volume of the manga—
And he became immersed in the world of "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" once again.
The novel phrases, unique poses, unusual character personalities, Ripple, Pillar Men, and Ultimate Life Being...
Even in the 21st century, these things that didn't seem outdated brought him endless surprises.
This was a quite dazzling manga—
He quickly finished the manga for the second part, and his hand reached for the next volume. The tea on the side had been sitting there for quite some time, and he hadn't even had half a cup; he was too engrossed in reading to drink tea.
The new setting for the third part— the introduction of Stand Users— brought him another huge surprise.
Various abilities in the manga made him see a different kind of vitality compared to other manga!
The unique arrogance of the protagonist, Jotaro Kujo, had also left a deep impression on him.
And there was the main antagonist from the previous part, Dio Brando, who appeared again in this part. After his appearance in this part, his mysterious and exceptional aura left a clear impression on even people outside the manga—
His hand kept turning pages.
Accompanied by the perspective of the protagonist team, they traveled from Japan to Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Pakistan, the Red Sea, and finally reached DIO's base in Egypt!
The local customs along the way gave him a feeling that "this is probably how it is in reality," even though he hadn't been to most of these places.
And the battles in it were fantastic.
The abilities of the characters in it were almost predetermined from their first appearance, and there were very few instances of characters suddenly becoming stronger.
The battles in this manga often relied on intelligence and courage to defeat the opponent, rather than simply overpowering them.
Even the protagonist from the second part once said, "The two words I hate most are 'effort' and 'cheer.'"
Such sentences, which are almost impossible to appear in a shonen manga, have made this person, who originally could use Ripple to prevent aging, become an old man by the time he appeared in Part Three...
The sun in the sky had been rising continuously since they entered, and it was slowly beginning to set...
He had now turned to the part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure that came after the third part.
The statement Enyaba made before dying, "Even villains have their saviors," filled him with anticipation once again.
And then, the story of D'Arby the Gambler, which had no combat at all, made him feel like he was reading the most satisfying episode content he had ever read!
And then—
The plot quickly reached the later part, the battle with the final boss, DIO—
The successive sacrifices of Abdul, Iggy, and Kakyoin...
Dio's portrayal was approaching perfection, with no whitewashing or any reasons given. He was a born villain, and his victory and domination were deeply ingrained in this character.
Finally, the protagonist, Jotaro Kujo, who had realized time stop, defeated the last boss, Dio Brando, and indeed turned Dio's vampire body into ashes in the sunlight.
"This is... an incredibly excellent manga."
The chief editor couldn't help but praise.
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