Nisio Isin

From JoJo's Bizarre Encyclopedia - JoJo Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Nisio Isin (西尾 維新, Nishio Ishin), often stylized as NISIOISIN to form a palindrome, is a Japanese novelist, manga author, and screenplay writer.

Nisio has been involved with Hirohiko Araki's works on several occasions, notably the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure franchise. He is the author of JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE OVER HEAVEN, Cool Shock Old B.T., and Cool Shock Guy B.T., working alongside Posuka Demizu as the illustrator for the latter two works.

Nisio Isin is mostly known as the author of various novel and manga series, including the Monogatari series, the Katanagatari series, the Medaka Box manga series, the Bōkyaku Tantei series, and the Pretty Boy Detective Club series.

Biography

Nisio Isin was born in Japan in 1981. He attended the Ritsumeikan University College of Policy Science, but left the university without graduating. He originally wanted to work as a manga artist, but found himself unable to improve his drawing ability. This led Nisio to become a writer instead, as the fact that novels are printed rather than handwritten made up for his lack of skill in drawing and handwriting.[1]

Nisio began his career by submitting various works to the Mephisto magazine to participate in the Mephisto Prize competition which awards the best submitted unpublished genre fiction (notably mystery) novels.[2] In 2002, Nisio Isin debuted with the story Kubikiri Cycle: The Blue Savant and the Nonsense User, which won the 23rd Mephisto Prize.[3] It would go on to be the first novel in the Zaregoto series which ran from 2002 to 2005 over nine volumes.

Nisio Isin would go on to become a famous author, known for his mystery genre novels. He notably authored the Monogatari series, which began publication in 2005 and achieved widespread success with an animated adaptation. The Bakemonogatari and Nisemonogatari anime adaptation sold over one million DVDS and Blu-rays in September 2012.[4] His other novel series, such as Katanagatari, Medaka Box or Pretty Boy Detective Club series, were also successful.

Nisio would also collaborate with various manga series, writing spin-off stories for them. One example is Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases, a 2006 spin-off novel of the Death Note manga series. In 2011, Nisio Isin wrote and published the light novel JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE OVER HEAVEN, an autobiography of DIO.

Nisio Isin would become one of the most successful Japanese authors, his book series making him one of the three best-selling authors for years, notably being first in 2012 and 2014. Nisio had also international success, as his book series being translated make him the second author with the most English translations in the United States from 2008 to 2018.[5]

Works

Notable Novels

Notable Manga

Interviews

# Interview Type Media Published
1 Nisio Isin Chronicle (January 2006)
Interview
Book
 January 30, 2006
2 Seishun to Dokusho (June 2011)
Commentary
Magazine
 June 20, 2011
3 VS JOJO Maniacs - Ultra Jump (November 2011)
Interview
Magazine
 November 19, 2011

Commentary

Link to this sectionAfterword
TranslationTranscript
“
From what I remember, the first panel I saw in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure was of the Ebony Devil-possessed doll using a razor to cut off the face of a hotel worker like it was a mask. Of course, at the time, I wondered how that doll was moving, and then suddenly something that looked like an armored warrior appeared, and I kept on reading without even knowing what a Stand was. But even so, or perhaps because of that, I can still remember that intense feeling of being drawn in like it was yesterday. Well, I had actually read Weekly Shonen Jump before then, and if I think back hard enough, I believe I read the episode where Jotaro guessed the true identity of Dark Blue Moon's Stand user as it came out. So I'm clearly wrong about the other thing being my first memory of it, so what the hell do I mean by, "I remember it like it was yesterday?" Well, to explain it more favorably, I guess the scene that had the most impact on me as a child as the face-cutting-off scene. Nevertheless, you can't get away with depicting a face getting cut off like a mask in today's Shonen Jump. So in that way, I look back on that fondly. Times have changed a lot since those days, but one thing that I don't think has changed is the trend that JoJo's Bizarre Adventure created which has been inherited in the magazine. Within it are people like me that inherited it in kind of a misunderstood form.

And it's for that reason why this book is a novelization of a masterpiece of this century, no, of many centuries. A masterpiece that will still be read 100 years from now, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. This is the story of Dio. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure could also easily be called Dio's Bizarre Adventure, and having the chance to write Dio's story in this book makes me feel so lucky to be an author, and at the same time, so lucky to be a fan... But it's rare that I write an afterword as honest this one. And so, this has been the novelization of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, OVER HEAVEN.

By the way, I said I was really lucky as an author and as a fan, but putting together this novel was a challenge unlike any I've experienced before. You could say I had to overcome many obstacles to finish it. I have the deepest gratitude for Shueisha's "JUMP j BOOKS" editorial department for waiting patiently for me to persevere and complete it, and for Hirohiko Araki for drawing the illustrations and the beautiful cover, even though he's busy with the serialization of Part 8: JoJolion. ...I feel as though I've talked a bit too normally here. I suppose JoJo makes people honest.
”
—Nisio Isin, OVER HEAVEN
“
僕が初めて読んだと記憶している『ジョジョの奇妙な冒険』の『画』は、『エボニーデビル』の操る人形がホテルマンの顔面をカミソリで、さながらお面のように切り落とすシーンでした。当然、当時の僕はこの人形がどういう原理で動いているのか、突如出現した甲冑の戦士は何者なのか、そもそもスタンドとは何なのかもわからないままに読むことになるのですが、しかしそれでも、あるいはそれゆえに、強烈に引き込まれていったのを、今でも昨日のことのように思い出せます。まあ実際は僕はそれ以前から週刊少年ジャンプを読んでいたわけだし、よくよく思い出してみれば『ダークブルームーン』で承太郎が敵スタンド使いの正体を言い当てるようなエピソードも確かリアルタイムで読んでいたはずなので、それが初めての記憶だという記憶は明らかに間違えているのですが、つまりお前一体何を昨日のことのように思い出してんだよというような話ですが、ええ、好意的に解釈すればまあ子供心に一番印象深いシーンがその場面だったということなのでしょう。なんにしても、顔面をお面みたいに切り落とすとか、今の週刊少年ジャンプでは間違っても描けないシーンだよなあと、そういう意味でも懐かしく思い出したりもします。あれから時代も色々変わりましたけれど、しかしそれでもやっぱり変わることなくかの雑誌では、『ジョジョの奇妙な冒険』が作り出した潮流が受け継がれているように思います。中にはなんか勘違いした形で受け継いでしまった僕みたいな奴もいるんですけどね。

そんなわけで本書は世紀の名作、否、世紀を跨ぐ名作、更なる百年後でも語り継がれているであろう名作、『ジョジョの奇妙な冒険』のノベライゼーションです。ディオという物語。『ジョジョの奇妙な冒険』は、言い換えてしまえば『ディオの奇妙な冒険』でもあるのだと僕は思っていて、そんなディオの物語を今回描けたことは、小説家冥利に尽きると同時にファン冥利に尽きます。……しかし僕がこんな素直なあとがきを書くのも珍しい。と言うわけで『ジョジョの奇妙な冒険』ノベライゼーション、『OVER HEAVEN』でした。

ところで、小説家冥利に尽きるとか、ファン冥利に尽きるとか言ったあとでこんなことを言うのもなんですが、この小説は仕上げるにあたってかつてないほど苦戦しました。数々の進行をかいくぐって仕上げたと言ってよいでしょう。根気強く出来上がるのを待ってくださった集英社JUMP j BOOKS編集部と、第八部『ジョジョリオン』の連載開始でお忙しい中、美麗な表紙イラスト、そして挿絵を描いてくださった荒木飛呂彦先生に深く感謝します。……やっぱなんか普通で調子が狂うなあ。まあ『ジョジョ』は人を素直にするってことで。
”
—Nisio Isin, OVER HEAVEN
Link to this section25 Years with JoJo
4 Nisiosin.png
TranslationTranscript
“
Congratulations on the 25th anniversary of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure! Looking back, I started reading JoJo partway through Part 3, making me an absolute beginner at the time. Yet now, I've somehow become an old-school fan, and that fact astonishes me. As someone who has now worked as a creator and been serialized in Jump, I've come to truly realize that JoJo is an exceptionally brilliant manga in its portrayal of "adversity." It’s a manga about escaping from "adverse" situations and "adverse" positions. Life is a series of crises, and humans live through constant struggles. The reason I'm so captivated by JoJo is that I can't help but admire how the successive JoJo protagonists boldly face such harsh realities. Please continue to create such exhilarating manga!
”
—Nisio Isin, September 2012
“
『ジョジョの奇妙な冒険』25周年、おめでとうございます。思えば『ジョジョ』を三部の途中から読み始めたという、当時においては初心者中の初心者だった私も、今やもう、古参のファンになってしまったという事実に驚愕します。自分が原作者としてジャンプで連載して改めて、『ジョジョ』は『困難」の描きかたが極めて秀逸な漫画なのだと、実感しました。そしてその『困難』な状況、『困難』な立場からの脱出を描く漫画なのだと。人生はピンチの連続で、人間は苦しみながら生きていく。私が『ジョジョ』に惹かれる理由は、そんな現実に立ち向かう歴代ジョジョのスカっとする姿にどうしようもなく憧れるからなのだと思います。これからも痛快な漫画 を描き続けてください!
”
—Nisio Isin, September 2012

Gallery

References

Site Navigation

Other languages:
English
Retrieved from "http://jojowiki.com/index.php?title=Nisio_Isin&oldid=1053283"