Hirohiko Araki’s Exhibit Goes to Gucci

Araki is going o be having a new art exhibition in Florence at the end of the month. “Hirohiko Araki an Exclusive Manga Exhibition” will be held in Florence starting June 28th and lasting all the way to July 14th. As you may be able to tell by the art, the event is sponsored by GUCCI and will be held in a historical building that is currently owned by them. On top of that, the exhibition is free to attend. The cost of actually getting to Florence so that you can attend it is different, but the exhibition itself it totally open to the public.

The above is going to be one of the key pieces out of a group of what’s intended to be 60 total works. It’s very fashion oriented and distinctly resembles the work Araki did for “Jolyne, Fly High with GUCCI” and his fashion drawings he did for their clothing line around the same time. The pose of Bruno sort of feeling Jolyne up is kinda weird, but the internet shows me that male and female partner fashion poses are often like that, so what do I know?

The exhibition is relatively soon, so hopefully will get some video or pictures of the works on display to go along with it.

(Image and news from Araki-JoJo. © LUCKYLAND Communications, Hirohiko Araki, GUCCI, and Shueisha)

ASB League Fights 1 and 2: Josuke vs. Bruno and Johnathan vs. Dio!

And we’re off on a long series of matches. They decided to start everything off with an exhibition between the top 4 characters, 1st vs. 2nd and 3rd vs. 4th. That’s why Johnathan, Dio, and Josuke are fighting despite them being automatically placed into the final 16 because they got so many votes.

Anyway, we’re getting our first look at the gameplay. These are CPU only matches, so the balance and mechanic functionality may change when human players start getting control.

Bruno vs. Josuke was pretty nice. Good exchanges leading to a pretty even match. Bruno’s dash looks like it’ll be hard to use since if your opponent doesn’t jump or recover from an attack that goes over you, they’re in a pretty good position to punish the move. I’m glad that we got to see the stands going at each other. From the looks of it, it seems to last a set time, and whoever has the advantage at the end of that gets the free hit. Bruno’s get up at the end of the match he’s losing did happen, though it happened so fast I almost didn’t notice it at first. It doesn’t look as troubling as I feared, but the amount he gets back is still a little more than I think would be ideal.

Johnathan vs. Dio is a little more telling. Johnathan at the end managed to get a small rally, but it looked like, without a stand, he was getting pretty stomped. Dio was able to keep him at bay pretty well by just attacking with The World. It also didn’t look like it was particularly difficult to land the Road Roller skill, though that could be due to CPU not having to do difficult button inputs. I’m hoping that it’s a fluke and that stand user vs. non-stand user won’t typically create that problem. It doesn’t affect the majority of characters, but it would be kinda lame.

This is just the first match. They haven’t announced when the next one will be, so keep an eye on the UStream channel for the most up to date matches and Nico, YouTube, and here for the match recordings.

Edit:

There’s also a short video of Okuyasu and Rohan demoing together that was part of an ASB livestream. I think it speak for itself.

The Bruno, Narancia, and Diavolo Famitsu Special with New Stages and Mode Reveals

That was nice and speedy. The Famitsu special for Part 5 characters is out with all the moves ready. And of course, there’s a generous translation from over on Dustloop. As last time, I’ll post the character pictures, their taunts, their Great Heat moves, and any extras, so feel free to open the link in a new window and read along.

Bruno Buccellati (Noriaki Sugiyama) and Sticky Fingers

A character featured in part 5. Though initially an enemy of Giorno’s, he has taken a liking of Giorno’s “Dream” and invited him in his team. Buccellati himself is a calm, level-headed leader of the team who earned everyone’s trust. His Stand, Sticky Fingers, has the ability to create a zipper on any object it hits to take it apart.

Command move: Closing zipper!
Buccellati can move quickly while his Stand is off thanks to this move. By holding onto the zipper on the ground, he is able to quickly zip back and forth around the battlefield. Moreover, thanks to being low to the ground, he can dodge projectiles and other attacks. While moving this way, you can perform “Looks like I’ll have to dispose of him!”.

Command move: Looks like I’ll have to dispose of him!

Command move: Over there!
A punch with great range from the zipper!

Command move: Ariariariari
Buccellati’s Stand unleashes a flurry of punches!

Command move: Opening zipper!
Buccellati attacks the enemy with a zipper in the ground.

Command move: Bloody bastard
By unzipping his own arm and that of his Stand’s, Buccellati can attack the enemy from far away.

Command move: I already realized that, too!
Buccellati and his Stand punch the ground simultaneously. The hand emerges from the zipper far away, hitting the enemy from an unexpected angle!

Command move: This isn’t my “Arm”

Normal throw: This has already become a “Torture session”.

Taunt

Heart Heat Attack: Are you ready? I will do it.
Buccellati grabs the enemy and falls into the space below the zipper along with them. Both players then erupt out of another hole and hit the ground. This move deals a lot of damage, though it deals some damage to Buccellati, too.

Great Heat Attack: Arrivederci
After being launched into the air with the Stand, the enemy falls underground through the zipper. The Stand quickly erupts from underground and unleashes a brutal “Ariari” combo! Finally, they are blown away with the last hit, as Buccellati says “Arrivederci” (goodbye).

Unique: The Chance of Fate is giving him another chance from “Heaven”
Bruno will have the unique ability that, at zero health one match away from losing, he can stagger up and fight again with a little health. It’s reminiscent of Bruno in the original being able to continue on past his final limit, and he will strike the appropriate pose.

Narancia Ghirga (Yuuko Sanpei) and Aerosmith

A character featured in part 5. One of Buccellati’s subordinates. Though he may seem innocent and unreliable, he has great spiritual power when it comes to protecting his friends, allowing him to face any danger head-on. His Stand, Aerosmith, takes shape of a plane that can attack with bombs and machineguns. It also has the power of detecting carbon dioxide, allowing Narancia to attack targets he can’t even see.

Command move: Can’t run away!
The Stand is summoned after a punch, firing machineguns.

Command move: I’ll make you talk!
Narancia raises his left hand upwards, letting his Stand fly and fire machineguns diagonally upwards.

Command move: If I can’t shoot, then I won’t
The Stand charges the opponent, cutting them with the propeller.

Command move: Take flight!
While in Stand mode, Aerosmith flies around the screen. You can follow it up with “Go, over there!” and “It’s worth shooting the hell out of you!”.

Command move: A beehive!
Aerosmith continuously shoots bullets with his machineguns.

Command move: Disappear!
Aerosmith drops a bomb, damaging the enemy with the explosion.

Command move: Go, over there!
You can change Aerosmith’s flight route with the direction buttons.

Command move: It’s worth shooting the hell out of you!
After traveling the determined route, Aerosmith unloads his machineguns on the enemy!

Throw: How about this! And this!

Taunt

Heart Heat Attack: Get them with the bigger one!
Aerosmith continuously bombs the opponent.

Great Heat Attack: Volare Via!
The Stand unleashes its guns, while Narancia is saying “Volavola…” – of course, ending it with “Volare Via” (have a nice flight).

Diavolo (Morikawa Toshiyuki) and King Crimson

A character featured in part 5. Boss of the gangster organization “Passione”. So no one knows his identity, he usually acts under the guise of a young boy named Vinegar Doppio. His Stand, King Crimson, can see into the future as well as erase time.

Vinegar Doppio (CV: Akira Ishida)
Diavolo’s second identity. A young boy who is deeply loyal to “Boss”. Boss himself takes over the body whenever he wants, but Doppio is not aware that Boss is inside of him.

Command move: It’s over!
A powerful overhead punch with the Stand! When the enemy is hit, they are forced into the knockdown state.

Command move: Time goes on again!
A powerful body blow from King Crimson! By holding down the button, this attack can be made unblockable.

Special move: Your life is in my hands!!

Command move: “King Crimson”!

Step movement: I’ll only skip half a second!
Before Diavolo’s forward step and backstep, he leaves crimson traces of teleportation. The enemy’s attack will never hit him while in this state.

Counter-move: What a meaningless act
A special counter-move that activates right before getting hit by the opponent. Though it costs Heart Heat Gauge, you enter the “Time erasure” mode, able to rewind the enemy’s attack as if it never hit you.

Command move: The time has been erased…!!
While in the “Time erasure” mode, the enemy repeats his attack over and over again, while Diavolo is completely invincible and can do whatever he pleases, moving out of the attack’s trajectory. After a certain amount of time or when you press an attack button, the “Time erasure” mode ends.

Throw: I won’t let you go!

Taunt

Heart Heat Attack: Epitaph
The ability that lets Diavolo see into the future with 100% precision. While in this mode, Diavolo dodges most of the enemy’s attacks automatically with Stylish Action. However, it does not drain his Guard Gauge.

Great Heat Attack: Pinnacle of Eternity
After activating the Great Heat Attack, the enemy’s attack is parried, as Diavolo activates the “Time erasure” mode, approaches the defenseless enemy from behind, and delivers a brutal blow from King Crimson.

Whew, again. Lots and lots of information, and that, again, isn’t even the end of it. They’ve also released a picture of the main menu screen with a list of each menu type. Story, where you play along with the manga story of the character, Campaign, a classic arcade mode, and Versus, Practice, Customize, Gallery, and Option, which are all self evident.

A big, new gameplay element has been put out. Once again, from Dustloop:

ゴゴゴ (rumbling manga SFX) “Rumbling” Mode: When HP is low, this is activated automatically, attack power increases and gauges fill up faster.

Preparedness Mode: Attacks no longer make you wince/flinch. Only 4 characters so far can activate “Preparedness Mode”: Giorno, Bruno, Mista, and Hermes.

I await the balancing arguments that come from only those characters having the incredible no flinching. I’m not sure how it’s activated, but it should also have something to do with health. The Awakening, as it basically is, makes sense.

There’s also a few more stages: The Naples Train Station where Pecci can hit you with his fishhook; Rome where Secco can create mud pits and knock you over.

Finally, they’ve revealed some situation finishes. For Downtown Cairo, you can slam Kakyoin into the water tower. For Dio’s Cairo tower, if you finish him over by the opening in the wall, he’ll be thrown out and evaporate in the sun. For the Wall Eyes, I’m not sure what’s happening, but it involves Joshuu and Yasuho.

All right! We’re at the end of the Par 5 debuts, so we’re ready to move on to the next characters. Come on, F.F. and Valentine. You’ve been keeping me going so far, CC2, but you’re not done with character reveals until the next Part 6 and Part 7 sets. Let’s hope for the best!

(All images from Famitsu. © Famitsu, NamcoBandai, CyberConnect2, Hirohiko Araki, LUCKYLAND Communications, and Shueisha)

My Resolution is Strong. It Will be Juice Time when I Decide!

The next line of JoJo’s baby clothes has launched today. There have been some of these in the past. There were some just styled bibs based around stands like Killer Queen and one of the Sex Pistols, a fun pick for baby clothing, and there was a run of a full Jotaro and Dio outfit with bibs covered in their respective kiai. Now we’ve got the next set ready to run and these use quotes suited to the character. The one you see at the top is Iggy with the sound “kuchakucha” on his bib. I’m not sure what that sound is supposed to be. It could be the patter of little dog feet, or might have something to do with sand.

Bruno Buccellati: “Is my resolution enough? I am prepared”

Johnny Joestar: “This ‘story’ is the story of how I started walking.”

JoJolion Josuke: “What in the world am I!? Who am I!?”

The Johnny one seems a bit appropriate to toddler clothing with starting to walk, and I like the somewhat melodramatic tone given to a toddler with Bruno’s clothing, but I have a soft spot for the JoJolion Josuke clothing because I love the idea of a two-year old walking around having an existential crisis. Who are you indeed, young one? Will your desire for a shorter nap time bring you true happiness, or are you trading greater health in the future for a meager temporary indulgence? Only time will tell.

The clothes are currently retail only from Village/Vanguard, so if you’re looking to buy at the moment, you’ll need to have a Japanese proxy. However, VV does have an online store with a whole host of JoJo products, including clothing like the limited run Converse, the Johnathan and Dio t-shirts, and these themed socks I never even knew about. If you’re interested in general, I would keep an eye on that page. They’re projected to run at ¥4,095 ($42.30)

(Images from Araki-JoJo. © Shueisha, Hirohiko Araki, and LUCKYLAND Communications)

The All-Star Battle League! Who Will You Cheer For?

So I was doing a little digging on Naver, and I stumbled across a graphic like this. I had no idea what it was, so I looked into it. You remember the announcement picture that there was going to be a new character announced officially on the 19th? I didn’t look into then, but I found out that that graphic came from the BandaiNamco site for the Official “All Star Battle League.”

It turns out that the event the character announcement is going to piggyback off of is wide scale CPU 1-on-1 tournament held on UStream the channel for which I can’t find so it may not exist just yet. That graphic comes from that you can go to this page and pick a character you intend to cheer for when they’re in match. What you do is pick the character you want from the grid, then you’ll get a hash tag for that character, for example: Kira’s is #jojoasbl_kira, you can use to post a tweet for to show your support. You’re only allowed one vote per day per account.

So it is a massive popularity contest that is not going in the direction I expected at all. That graphic up there is a screengrab from today’s voting set. Johnny Joestar is leading the pack by almost 100 supporters over Johnathan at 2nd place. The totals are added to the previous day, so Johnny came up to 1337 to to take the lead as he and Johnathan were tied yesterday at 534.

Here’s the whole list of characters and their totals for today the 11th:

1. Johnny Joestar 1337
2. Johnathan Joestar 1280
3. DIO 1237
—————————
4. Bruno Buccelatti 1222
5. Josuke Higashikata 1159
6. Caeser A. Zeppeli 983
7. Noriaki Kakyoin 948
8. Jotaro Kujo 917
9. Rohan Kishibe 910
10. Joseph Joestar 862
11. Yoshikage Kira 767
12. Jolyne Kujo 741
13. Diavolo 709
14. Giorno Giovana 645
15. Gyro Zeppeli 612
16. Narancia Ghirga 546
17. Koichi Hirose 518
18. Okuyasu Nijimura 507
19. Guido Mista 501
20. Jean P. Polnareff391
21. Cars 311
22. Wham 222
23. Hol Horse 221
24. JoJolion Josuke 209
25. Mohammad Abdul 198
26. Hermes Costello 193
27. Akira Otoshi 183
28. ACDC 163
29. Will A. Zeppeli 152

The participants that I’ve seen have all been Japanese, so this may be a good indicator of character popularity in that group. I had no idea Johnny was so popular, and Bruno is in a position to overtake DIO of all people. I’m surprised, and it’s important to know because at the end of the vote when the event starts, the top three characters will be seeded so as to be exempt from preliminary matches.

Important in that you’ll know which characters people wanted to see with the best chance to be #1. Now that you know, will you throw your hat in someone’s corner and cheer? Supporting your favorite is only a # away.

(Image from BandaiNamco’s All Star Battle League Official page, © BandaiNamco and CyberConnect2. Thanks to yuduki_magia for posting this on Naver!)

Someone Get that Phone, I’m Trying to Do My Kiai! All Star Battle PV 5 HD Video!

In glorious 1080 HD just for us. This is only the first half of the presentation from back on Sunday. The presentation of the new characters, modes, costumes and what have you all presented by a gloriously yelling Yuji Ueda.

Seeing this in HD is great because there’s a lot of details I didn’t pick up from the camcorder one. There’s obviously the voices. Sheer Heart Attack yelling at you to look at him right as it blows you up is a great touch. Hiroshi Kamiya sounds younger that I would have expected for Rohan. Romi Park was a fantastic Koichi pick. Yuuko Sanpei as Narancia, Noriaki Sugiyama as Bruno, and Toshiyuki Morikawa (Kyosuke Nanbu oh my god) as Diavolo are all doing excellent work with their characters too. I’m glad to know I wasn’t the only one thinking teleporting for how to use King Crimson in a fighting game. And as much as I liked the transition from Doppio to Diavolo before, seeing now that he was using the frog phone makes it so much better.

I never thought I’d be so excited over Diavolo. I mean, pulling people into the Zipper Dimension is going to be totally awesome, and any time I play Cars will be 10% becoming Ultimate Cars and 10000% squirrel shoot, but I’ve got to see the look on some of the new fans who’re coming in from the anime when the Boss lets me know he wants on this fight from his special hot frog line. I wonder if it’ll change and not always be the frog. Maybe we’ll also get the ice cream!

This game is getting better by the moment. Next stop is should be the new character reveal on the 19th after a slight detour to get a subbed version of this trailer. The blanked picture had the Part 1 background, but I’m really hoping for the Part 6 characters next. Look forward to it!

Edit:

There it is. PV 5 is already subbed in a show of top level fan speed. Oh, Speedwagon, you’re so charismatic. He basically says everything I want to say about the trailer but with that unique energy you only get from him.

The excitement’s rising, and this game can’t be in my hands soon enough!

“And now watch as I pull a spinning rabbit out of this hat.” Little by Little 2

Back for more fun, there’s a new chapter/edition of Little by Little up on Batoto. Virgina Room brings you another chapter of JoJo’s fun with a few quick jokes to bring you a smile and a good laugh.

There’s a different spread of content this time. The first issue had around two or three jokes per part with a little extra like the Joseph Finisher Rhyme-Off. This issue actually has a full on Part 2 story about Caeser’s and Joseph’s training days where Joseph climbed out of the Hell Climb pit only to be pushed back in every day. There’s also a lot more Part 4 gags.

Something about this makes me feel like I should be creeped out.

And we got to expand into full on Parts 7 and 8 jokes.

The only downside is that the issue cuts down in other areas. There’s only the one Part 5 joke and no Part 6 material at all other than a splash page of Jolyne. There’s also no new cross story interactions like the quiz show in the first one, but the jokes are still good and the art is still pretty nice. If you liked the first, you’ll like the second. And you can trust me on that.

I pledge to you that my taste is and will remain both honest and sanitary.

(Thanks to Little by Little‘s translator, Monocle, for sending me the link to the new issue.)

Arrivederci and Have a Good Flight. Bruno, Narancia, and Diavolo Confirmed for ASB!

Finally! I’ve been waiting on Bruno since this game was announced. The information is a little lacking this time. I can’t really tell what’s going on in those pictures other than the one of Bruno in the dramatic ducking pose, and I’m not solid enough to completely tell what the quotes next to them are, Diavolo is saying something along the lines of “Truth/Certainty will vanish,” Bruno is calling out defiantly and saying something like, “You’ll never understand my heart,” and Narancia is asking for orders.

But whatever. Bruno! Diavolo and Narancia are cool too. I figured Diavolo because of the Protagonist/Villain set up, which means I’m still expecting Enrico and Funny Valentine before the end of summer, but I was shaky on Narancia. He was ultra powerful during the original Part 5 game, so I was worried they might balk on using him, but if Giorno gets an instant kill, why the hell not?

Well, I found my character. I don’t even care if Bruno ends up being the worst character from a fighting game perspective. I’ll still be playing the hell out of him.

As a bonus, HC has released high quality scans of the Kira, Rohan, and Cars pages with a full blown translation. It’s a lot of material, so I’ll just link you over, but it contains info on the characters, a bit about their moves, and also about the new stage, the Yoshikage Home.

I’m on pins and needles for the next special. Look forward to it.

Hand Drawn Passione Restaurant

Curious about the other Parts making into anime form?

All right, this probably doesn’t count in the way you were hoping, but this is a very cool video considering that this is probably something someone made in their spare time for fun and fandom. Actually, there’s a whole series of these “手描きジョジョ” or “Hand Drawn JoJo” all over YouTube. They have some creative ideas here and there, but it doesn’t get as impressive as a whole animated short like the above. Look them up if you feel like some fan videos.

(Thanks to JoJo Tumblr for reposting this from Steel Ball Run Tumblr which has a few .gifs based on the video)

“Why does my watch keep skipping ten seconds?” Vento Aureo Commemorative Watches

Time comes up a lot in JoJo’s from powers. Style too, though that’s not typically a power. So let’s combine the two. The Seiko Watch company is entering a collaborative project with LuckyLand and Araki to make a series of Vento Aureo commemorative watches each based on one of the main protagonist group.

  The Giorno Watch with the very nice Stand Arrow motif on the 12 mark.

The Bruno Watch with the zipper teeth around the subclocks.

The Fugo Watch with his gold and purple outfit color set.

The Trish Watch with the math operators from her skirt and from Spice Girl

Then we start to get to my favorites with the Mista watch with the Pistols on their numbers and bullets on all the others

The Abbachio Watch with the face numbers done in the style of Moody Blues’s rewind clock.

And finally the Narancia Watch with face designed to resemble the Aerosmith radar.

On top of all that, each watch comes with two special engravings: One on the back with Coco Jumbo and the name of the character for the watch, and one on the side that reads “Vento Aureo,” and they all come in their own special box. If you’re interested in purchasing a high fashion item, they’re dropping sometime in April for the whopping price of ¥42,000 ($436.86.) I don’t know if I’m down to throw that much money at it, but I’m really loving the design of that Mista watch. If you were interested in the 1/1 Stone Mask, this might also be something to consider.

(All images Copyright Luckyland, Shueisha Inc., Hirohiko Araki, and the Seiko Watch Corporation. Make sure to visit the official page for more information and the character art that goes with each watch.)