JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Axed Light Novel Surfaces With Hirohiko Araki’s Art

The creator of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has done a lot in his career. For decades now, Hirohiko Araki has put his best foot forward while crafting the Joestar legacy. Of course, other artists have stepped into the IP with spin-off titles and light novels. And in the wake of one canceled project, unseen artwork from Araki has surfaced online.

The post comes from fan-pages on social media like JoJo Wiki after the art from Araki went live. As it turns out, the artwork all stems from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicholaes Tula. The light novel was slated to go live in the early 2000s, but the project never came to fruition. In 2002, a rough draft of Otsuichi’s work was released, but the world was never given a look at what Araki inked for the light novel until now.

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The artwork puts Josuke center stage as you can see, and there are a number of other characters featured including Kaoru. There is no denying just how sharp these pieces look, and that is typical of Araki. Even after years in the business, the artist is one of the best in manga, and Araki continues to impress readers with their work to this day.

Obviously, this surfaced look at JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicholaes Tula has fans wondering what could have been. Otsuichi was determined to gift JoJo part four its own light novel, and that is how the spin-off title began. Unfortunately, the project didn’t pan out as Otsuichi believed the light novel was becoming too complex. At one point in 2005, the novelist said they wrote more than 2,000 pages while crafting the JoJo light novel which is insane at best.

Of course, JoJo fans will know Otsuichi did get to join the franchise after years of work. The writer oversaw The Book, a light novel that acts as a sequel to Diamond Is Unbreakable. Otsuichi’s story follows a number of characters as they investigate a mysterious death in Morioh, and JoJo fans were admittedly obsessed with the story once it went live.

What do you think about this latest peek at Araki’s resurfaced work? Let us know what you think in the comments below as well as on Twitter and Instagram. You can also hit me up @MeganPetersCB to share your take!