JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Creator Shares His Philosophy on Creating Villains

There are great anime villains… and then thereare guys like Dio Brando from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures. Creator Hirohiko Araki makes bad guys unlike any fans have seen before, and it elevates their status to an impossible degree. For years, fans have wondered how Araki is able to craft such strange and complex villains, so they will be happy to know the artist has finally discussed the philosophy he uses when making baddies.

Recently, the artist sat down with Kotoba magazine, and the publication has put out the discussion in its spring issue. It was there Araki talked about his creation process with villains in particular, and he admitted he did a few things with Dio to ensure the JoJo character’s legacy endured.

As reported by Anime News Network, the first of these things was to find the horror element behind Dio. Not only is the bad guy a vampire, but he has a generations-long grudge against the Joestar family. Araki told the magazine he fears lengthy confrontation more than invincible villains, so the haunting nature of Dio’s disgruntlement set the villain up for solid success.

As for the second criteria used, the JoJo creator said Dio cannot be evil for the heck of it. For him, all evil must be “knowable” to be something worth fearing. Mystery can do its best to obscure the true intention of a villain like Dio, but their goal is one they pursue relentlessly.

Of course, these merits are seen in Dio, and Araki says that recipe he created has yet to fail him. The bad guys of JoJo might all be different, but they follow these principles without complaints. In fact, his most recent characters have taken inspiration from film as Araki told the magazine he is inspired by movie villains. For instance, he sights Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon as one such character. Hereditary by director Ari Aster has also impressed the artist as well as Todd Phillip’s Joker.

Which villain from JoJo stands as your favorite these days? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!