Who is Hirohiko Araki?

Hirohiko Araki was born on June 7, 1960, in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, where he grew up with twin younger sisters and a house full of manga and art books. He left Miyagi University of Education without graduating to pursue manga in Tokyo, a decision his family opposed, and his debut, Poker Under Arms, published under the name Toshiyuki Araki in 1980, won recognition in the Tezuka Award newcomer competition.

After early series including Cool Shock B.T. and the vampire action manga Baoh, he began the work that defines him: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1987. Built as a generational saga, each part follows a new descendant of the Joestar family in a new country and era, which let Araki rebuild his cast, his villains and eventually his entire drawing style again and again inside one continuous title.

The innovations stacked up across the parts. Part 3, Stardust Crusaders, introduced Stands, the visualized guardian powers that became one of manga's most copied inventions. Later parts moved the series from shonen to seinen publication, to Italy, to a prison in Florida, to a horse race across 1890s America, and the art moved with them, absorbing fashion photography, Renaissance sculpture and pop color into a style no other manga resembles.

Araki's standing outside manga is unusual and documented. He contributed a JoJo related work to the Louvre's comics art project, exhibited a large manga canvas at the National Art Center in Tokyo, and is regularly interviewed as much for his working discipline and famously youthful appearance as for his stories. JoJo's ninth part, The JoJoLands, began in Ultra Jump in 2023, with Araki in his sixties drawing a monthly series set in present day Hawaii.