February 2026 "A Trip To The de Young" by Julia Calvert

     December 28th, 2025, 5:30 AM, we’re up early to catch the northbound Amtrak to San Francisco–the San Joaquin Gold Runner. My sister and I planned this trip impromptu. Only about three days prior did we get our train tickets, as well as our tickets to the de Young Museum. Poorly planned was the commute–mom’s tire was too bald to drive on the 180, so we opted to take my sister’s car, but the rear-view mirror had fallen off. Into my Ford Flex we piled, window ticket and all. Upon starting my car, it made a funny noise, so we piled back into my sister’s Lexus. It’s now 5:58, and we should have left 20 minutes prior.

     Three minutes down our road, we realized we left the window ticket for parking at the station in my car. We turned around, got the ticket, and headed out again. We were leaving now at 6:02 AM, and we were certainly going to miss our train. The station was 55 minutes away, and the train was scheduled to leave at 6:58 AM. My sister and I decided that in the large margin that we would miss the train, we'd take the L, and simply get tickets again for the following day. I frequently checked the Amtrak schedule map, hoping the train would be late. Now, suddenly, my sister and I decided that we could simply take the freeway and cut our time down by 10 minutes–and we, indeed, arrived 10 minutes early; bonus–the train was late. Normally, I have more to say about the train ride, but I slept most of the time. I suppose that is anticlimactic, but the ride itself is less important than the experience of seeing Hirohiko Araki’s art in person–the mangaka behind JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.

     My first experience with JoJo’s dates back to Summer 2019; Golden Wind—part 5—had just been animated and translated, and my Croatian friend Marko was insistent on me watching it. I was sold on hearing that Johnny Yong Bosch—a familiar voice, as I knew him from his role in Bleach, which I watched as a kid—voiced Jonathan Joestar. Unfortunately, I am hellaciously bad at watching things. I have to have a ‘buddy’ to watch with me. Sometimes this is because I am not fond of people using the TV if they are the only one watching. It is a bother–thus, I implore the Golden Rule. (And, I mean, really, watching JoJo’s by yourself in the living room? What if someone walks in during one of the infamous Polnareff scenes? No thanks.) Humorously, I was watching it alone in my room, which simply means I just need someone to watch TV with me, otherwise it is a lonely experience. I believe I only watched the first three episodes of Phantom Blood—part 1—I recall Dio getting jumped in London, and I vaguely remember Speedwagon…after that, it fell into the memory hole. I occasionally saw edits and art of characters–sometimes good enough to save to my gallery. I’d tell my sister and myself ‘we should watch JoJo’s…’ and she’d always agree, and then nothing would happen.

     Then it all changed this December; I watched the trailer for part 7–Steel Ball Run, and realized I had to start watching again. By December 28th, only 8 days after I had started watching it again, I was looking at Araki’s art in person.

     As bad as this sounds, upon getting into the exhibit, I sped through the other manga artist exhibits–once in the Hirohiko Araki room, I stood frozen, admiring the colours in a 16x24 of Jolyne and her stand, Stone Free. It was an original, not a print, so the vibrancy of the colour was unlike anything I had ever seen. All done with pen and ink, she shone in her pinks and blues, next to her great-great-great-uncle, Giorno, who is only 7 years older than her. His mostly pastel colours and dynamic pose, coupled with the bright pink of his outfit, were wonderful to behold. To the left, a piece of Rohan Kishibe from part 4, which was made from individual pieces of coloured paper, layered together, creating a drawn collage.

     I saw the first ever published drawing of Jonathan and Dio, all the way from 1987–it was used as the cover for the first chapter. Not to mention, I saw one of Araki’s g-pens, as well as one of his inkwells. Saving the grandest for last, there was his 12-panel piece, There's Always a Traitor. This piece, comprised of 12 life-size panels, portrayed figures inspired by various characters in JoJo’s. These were the airbrushed originals, inspired by Leonardo DaVinci’s The Last Supper. I could only admire them for so long before it was time to say goodbye.

     Heading towards Nihonmachi for a bite to eat before catching our southbound train home, my sister and I got lunch at Nande-Ya—tobiko rolls, California rolls, and miso—a wonderful lunch to end a wonderful day.