'JoJo' Creator Reveals How 'Blade Runner' Inspired Dio

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is one of the longest running, popular manga and anime series in the industry, and fans of the series know series creator Hirohiko Araki has no qualms with making references to pop culture in his writing.

This even includes Blade Runner, which features a villain that directly inspired Araki's own famous villain DIO.

The Spring 2018 issue of Shueisha's kotoba magazine features the "Blade Runner 2019-2049" feature where philosophers, directors, authors, and scientists all had interviews discussing different elements of the film (as reported by Anime News Network). This includes Hirohiko Araki, who discusses the impact of the film on his own series, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

Araki made his original debut as a manga author in 1980, two years before the premiere of Blade Runner, and the film had influence on his work around the time and he went on to exclaim that he wanted to "make manga that are like films."

With JoJo's Bizarre Adventure debuting in 1987, Araki mentioned how Blade Runner's Roy Batty influenced DIO. Rutger Hauer's short hair and muscular stature went on to influence DIO's final look. It only makes sense DIO became the villain that he was given Araki's initial influence as Hauer's performance in the film is regarded as one of the most memorable in cinema history.

DIO is one of the most prolific villains as well, as this reoccurring foe throughout the JoJo's series is one of the most bombastic and theatrical antagonist to grace manga pages. His shared operatic nature with Roy Batty just cements his place in manga history.

For those unfamiliar with JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, the series was originally created by Hirohiko Araki. It follows the story of the Joestar family, who are each destined to take down various supernatural enemies. The series has been split up into eight parts, with each part following a different generation of the Joestar family. The series was first published in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump in 1987, and is currently the second longest running series in the magazine with over 121 volumes.

The series has sold over 100 million copies and is the best-selling manga series in history and has been licensed for an English language release by Viz Media. The series has spawned multiple anime, video games, toys, and even jewelry. The series currently has an anime adaptation that began in 2012 and has run for over 100 episodes and spans the first four major arcs of the series.

via Anime News Network