"A story about a boy who becomes very rich in the subtropical islands."
When reading the first chapter of the ninth arc of the manga Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, we can measure the distance that separates Araki from most of the current mangakas.
Thank You Araki sensei !
Araki Hirohiko's work is without common measure compared to his colleagues of the 80s and 90s who, like Masaya Tokuhiro, the author of Mizu no Tomodachi Kappaman, are the masters of the best current mangakas, in this case Oda Eichiro who started his career as an assistant on the manga of the legendary hero half man half Kappa or Tatsu Yukinobu who made his debut on Fire Punch with Fujimoto Tatsuki, the brilliant author of ChainsawMan.
In terms of writing quality, Fujimoto is one of the only ones of his generation who can compare with Araki. Of course, he is part of the current trend of successful mangas that do not exceed 25 or 30 volumes. But unlike his contemporaries or predecessors such as Tite Kubo or Kishimoto Masashi, Fujimoto does not waste his story. He does not use a graphic quality to fill the gaps of a story without relief. He gives life to characters that have meaning, singular characters in a scenaristic development that offers them depth.
Throughout his work, Araki has ensured the continuity of the lineage of the Joestars and Brandos without the charisma of Jotaro and Dio overshadowing the new generations. Each arc takes place in a different time and place than the previous arc, and each arc revolves around a theme that serves as a common thread. A horse race across the USA in the Steel Ball Run arc, the prison environment in the Stone Ocean arc or the atmosphere of settling accounts between Italian mafia groups in Golden Wind.
With this ingenious process, Araki renews his work with each new arc. And nobody thinks, 9 arcs? A manga that started in 1986 ? Two years after the debut of Dragon Ball in the same Weekly Shonen Jump ? It's getting long, we should move on, we have to live with the times. Araki does better than living with his time, he creates his own temporality, his space, his visual identity, his style without ever repeating himself or plagiarizing anyone. Unlike Boruto who copies the passing of the baton from Allmight in Boku no Hero Academia or Black Clover who copies the "great war" at the end of Naruto's manga.
Like a Toys Story
In Naruto, the final ninja war is completely messed up, all the characters are lined up like toys out of their boxes on a Saturday afternoon to impress your best buddies in 1986. There are a lot of them but nothing happens, the presence of all the characters gathered in the same place trivializes them and annihilates the effect of their appearance at the right time in a finely chiseled scenario.
It is the translation by facts of the lack of depth of most of the mangakas who met success these last years. It is the syndrome of Bleach or Black Torch, graphic jewels with a non-existent scenario. Works without vision that exist only thanks to the fan service.
The case of One Piece is a bit mixed because the story is well written, the mesh of the scenario proves it. We know that when we follow the main storyline, secondary storylines are the bearers of events that will become intertwined in the main storyline, or even, at certain moments, see a secondary storyline become the main storyline. On this point, criticizing One Piece has no sense, the scenario being the strong point of this manga. The field in which Oda is weak is the very purpose of a Shonen manga, it is the scenario of the fight which is poor and which is always the same
Fighting is a science, there are several types of fighting.
Oda only masters the fight with wear and tear, the marathon fight that lasts for ages to show the power of the protagonists. There are so many ways to magnify the strength, he knows only one. Only Blackbeard brings a little relief by being this traitor who compensates his weakness by a diabolical tactical sense. We can only hope that the Five Elders live up to their reputation.
We invite you to read the ninth arc of Jojo Bizarre Adventure because in this interview with Araki that we recommend you to read, it appears that the story of JojoLands features Jodio and Dragona Joestar, the children of the second daughter of Joseph Joestar, Barbara Ann Joestar. What a beautiful family tree.
