Production and publication
Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe is created by Hirohiko Araki in an episodic format. It began with "Episode 16: At a Confessional", which was published by Shueisha on July 7, 1997, in Weekly Shōnen Jump #30/1997. He was asked to contribute a one-shot for the magazine by the editorial staff, with two requirements; it had to be shorter than 45 pages, and could not be a spin-off or side story.[4] However, he created a spin-off featuring the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure character Rohan Kishibe. Araki speculated that had he not been forbidden from making one, he probably would not have created a spin-off with Rohan, and for that he is grateful.[4] He also said that he created a version of the story without the Diamond Is Unbreakable character, but found it much better with Rohan's commentary.[4] For later episodes, the series switched back and forth between different Shueisha publications, with new episodes appearing in Weekly Shōnen Jump, Jump Square, Shōnen Jump+, Bessatsu Margaret, JoJo Magazine, and Ultra Jump. "The Harvest Moon", the episode from the web magazine Shōnen Jump+, was part of the publication's launch line-up and was made available to read for free.[5] Looking back on them, Araki found each story to have a distinct "flavor" and influence depending on where it was published and noted this was not a conscious decision on his part.[6] He used to read the shōjo manga magazine Bessatsu Margaret at the house of a female relative when he was a kid. As such, he speculated that might be why "Deoxyribonucleic Acid" has an emotional, happy ending instead of a scary one like he typically uses.[6] The characters Tonio Trussardi and Yukako Yamagishi from Diamond Is Unbreakable appear in "Poaching Seashore" and "Deoxyribonucleic Acid", respectively.[4][6] Araki said the Mochizuki family in "The Harvest Moon" is reminiscent of the Higashikata family from JoJolion.[6] For "The Run", Araki said he revived the muscular character style he used for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure in the 1980s.[6]
In 2009, Araki's was one of five artists featured in the Louvre's Le Louvre invite la bande dessinée ("The Louvre Invites Comic-Strip Art") exhibition for his artwork of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. To commemorate this honor, he wrote Rohan at the Louvre, a 123-page full color story starring Rohan Kishibe visiting the Louvre and discovering a cursed painting tied to his family.[7][8][9] The following year it was published in France and ran in Ultra Jump, and in May 2011 the one-shot was released as a standalone hardcover publication.[10] Rohan at the Louvre was slated to be translated and released in North America by NBM Publishing in February 2012, but eventually released in April of the same year instead.[11][12]
From September 17 to October 6, 2011, the Gucci store in Shinjuku hosted the "Gucci x Hirohiko Araki x Spur 'Rohan Kishibe Goes to Gucci' Exhibition", a collaboration between the luxury Italian clothing brand, Araki, and the Japanese fashion magazine Spur. The exhibit celebrated the 90th anniversary of Gucci and featured a life-size figure of Rohan Kishibe, as well as numerous illustrations by Araki that included actual pieces of the brand's own 2011–2012 fall/winter collection and his own original fashion designs.[13] The October 2011 issue of the Japanese fashion magazine Spur featured another one-shot manga titled "Rohan Kishibe Goes to Gucci", in which Rohan goes to a Gucci factory to discover the secret behind a magical handbag.[14][15]
A collected volume of one-shots by Araki, titled Under Execution Under Jailbreak, was released in 1999 in Japan, containing "At a Confessional" along with three other stories.[16][17] A collected Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe volume was later released in Japan on November 19, 2013, containing the first four episodes, along with "Rohan Kishibe Meets Gucci."[18][19][20] A second volume containing the next four episodes was released in Japan on July 19, 2018. In February 2022, Viz Media announced they licensed the series for English publication under the title Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe,[21] with the first volume released on September 27, 2022. The first volume was also published by Star Comics in Italy on January 8, 2015, as Così parlò Rohan Kishibe, and by Tonkam in France in April 2016 as Rohan Kishibe.
