started: Spring 2020 | con debut: ECCC 2025 | last worn: ECCC 2025
I watch Jojos in 2020 on a friend's recommendation; I tell the tale of my initiation elsewhere. By Part 4 I am fully invested in this series, thinking about it constantly, drawing it all the time, rekindling social media accounts to participate in the fandom. If I'm asked for my favorite part I will usually say Part 3 because it most effectively broke my heart, some of the characters remain very high on my favorites list, and the monster-of-the-week format goes down easy on rewatch, but Part 4 might ultimately be closest to my soul. In some ways it feels like a culmination or a more full inhabitation of some of the best features of the series, a certain genuine hope despite real stakes, a warmth and generosity for its definitely weird characters. We're more often invited to pity evil than to fear or hate it, but we do meet true evil in mundane, insidious form.
First of all, Rohan is visually perfect. He has so many outfits and they're all 1) completely off the handle 2) kinda femme but not in a wholly committed way? 3) to my eye the most deliberate Actual Real Life Couture references yet 4) broadly sort of matchy/on-brand but with a pretty loose palette and set of shapes. He's like the most successful version of those capsule closet people or something. His visual brand is clear but also he can wear whatever he wants somehow. He also is wearing something different every time we see him, so he's a demonstrated in-universe fashionista (maybe the only one? Which seems weird for a series so steeped in fashion!).
Second, he is neither a hero nor villain, because he is already self-actualized. He is granted magic powers and he uses them to continue to do his job. Imagine any other character receiving the godlike ability to rewrite anyone else and not immediately using it to, at minimum, manipulate people to their own ends. Imagine any real life people you know with this power. No way I'm not using that to make everyone like me, right? Rohan could never, because he does not care for a single second about anything except making his own art more interesting. That's either so inconceivably well-adjusted and reasonable that it's impossible to imagine or it's actually insane. Unironically I would like to be just like him. The unshakable self-confidence paired with the genuine curiosity and commitment to a higher purpose. Unbelievable.
He's also deliberately weird and self-absorbed. He's annoying! And he has next to no instinct for self-preservation. He's prideful and spiteful, nearly anti-social. No interest in dealing with actual people beyond turning them into abstractions for the sake of his art which sort of begs the question why he has so much investment in the art. He doesn't seem all that attached to the benefits of fame beyond getting more resources for his art.
Also, crucially, his art is manga! He behaves like a smug literary type who must set aside all worldly concerns in service of the muse, and he's seemingly writing like, exclusively popular fantasy comic books for young teens? In any case he takes his craft very seriously despite its position in the market as an inherently unserious form. Obviously I love this and I think it's key to his character. He is capable of deciding for himself what is important and good and worth dedicating a life to, and I think that's genuinely inspiring. (Obviously, as someone who strives to take their own nonprofessional craft seriously.)
I start the process by yearning for all of his outfits and seeing how many I can just make out of closet cosplay, trying out fashion-magazine poses in greens and whites. In creating a simple version of the "I'm an Alien" episode outfit and in the process of searching for other cosplayers' takes on this outfit I decide the sweater in particular has been criminally underbaked in most versions I've seen, so by god I'm going to knit it myself.
My friend and knitting-sensei Sam guides me in selecting a base pattern which we use for general principles/proportions but also end up using almost none of. (Happy to report that I still do not know how to read a knitting pattern 👍) I order the yarn in September 2020, after finishing the Joseph scarf, and finish the knitting in March 2023 (lol). Evidently I take no photos of the process whatsoever, but it's knitting, so it looked like knitting.
The yarn is a Madeline Tosh Merino Light in with holo sparkly threads so it has a little shimmer to it (and also sheds during the knitting process). They don't sell the exact yarn anymore but this is the same base color. The pattern is a funnel-neck with a raglan sleeve, and we added tubular/double-knit edges for more structure, steeking for the holes, and the sleeve slash gaps to match the design.
At some point during this process the TV drama of Rohan's side adventures is released, which is great news for my cosplay inspiration; the visual direction of the drama is more understated and realistic than the anime, naturally. I like the black leather wrap interpretation of the headband crown thing, so I go with that to create my own piece. I've also seen it knitted and crocheted and sewn with all manner of fabrics and I like those too, depending on the base outfit, but I liked the idea of adding the leather to my outfit's textural palette. The manga and anime provide literally every color of the rainbow as an option for the headband but I went with drama-series-accurate black so that whatever color my hair might be at the time would be the key color. I make matching wristlets as well, which he's often depicted wearing.
The rest of the outfit (trousers, shoes, green suspenders) are purchased to fit the color palette. I was so happy to find some 90s-inspired wide canvas trousers that fit the vibe and match the yarn!
I go to Japan in summer of 2023 and get the chance to do many excellent otaku activities including several mini-popups in department stores (including for Moriarty the Patriot!!! an anime I was previously pretty sure about ten other people in the world had watched!!!! I bought basically every merch item available, to the good-natured consternation of my light-packing travel companion).
One of the shopping highlights of this adventure was at the Glamb storefront in Harajuku, where I bought a lovely Rohan-themed jacket and had a nice chat with the person working at the store (who had only recently started watching Jojo's, essentially to see what all the fuss was about). The jacket is included in my Rohansemble going forward.
Rohan is rare among my cosplays in my genuine yearning to embody more of this character. (Too many of the rest of these dudes are actually pretty reprehensible.)
I'll say this only once. You said you wanted to surpass me... this is something you'll learn with age. It's not actually that hard to surpass someone. If you want to surpass someone, it's much harder to surpass yourself! Allow me to demonstrate by overcoming my own fate!
Reality is the lifeblood that makes a work pulse with energy! Reality itself is entertainment! You might think comics draw on imagination and fantasy, but that's wrong! To write something interesting, you have to write what you've seen, what you've done, what you've experienced! (from JoJo's Bizarre Encyclopedia)
