On April 4, we finally got official announcement that JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure will be getting a TV anime for its Part 6: Stone Ocean. It came at the very end of the JOESTAR The Inherited Soul event, and we learned that Ai Fairouz will voice the protagonist Jolyne Cujoh. Upon the announcement, the voice actress cried and spoke about how she started voice acting because of JoJo and that voicing Jolyne is a dream come true.
She said: “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure” is the reason why I wanted to become a voice actor, and it is a very important work that is indispensable in my life. I couldn’t find the words, and I couldn’t stop crying because I was so happy that the dream I had been chasing for 12 years had come true. I am very grateful for the opportunity to play the role of Jolyne Cujoh, who I love and admire so much that I can’t even describe how much I appreciate it. My admiration for her hasn’t changed in 12 years. I’m very happy to be able to go on this strange adventure with her, and I’ll put my life into my performance so that I can acquire the same ‘amazingness’ as Jolyne through recording process.” (rough translation). She also made a post on her official Twitter account:
Now to add more context, she actually spoke about this in an interview via WebNewType back in 2019. She said she came across the JoJo manga in her junior high school days. As she read it, her worries seemed to be tiny, saying “Everyone is fighting for what they believe in and what they want to protect. But I’m thinking only about myself. This is no good...” In addition, she said she got courage from Jolyne Cujoh, and that she wanted to be strong like her. The “Stone Ocean” part of the manga ran through 2000-2003. At that time, it was popular for fans to post videos of reading the manga. So she participated in reading sessions of JoJo via Skype, and was very praised. It’s when she wished to become a voice actor and do it when JoJo became an anime.
And now the Part 6 of the anime is official, with her coming as the main character! The trailer:
However, she had to give up once because her parents opposed her wish. So she went to a graphic design vocational school to study illustration instead. But when she was in third grade, she told her mother that she wanted to go to a voice actor training school after graduation. Then her mother replied: “You just say that because you don’t want to get a job. If you get a proper job, work for a year, and go to a training school with the money you saved there, I will accept it.” So she did exactly that. Another fun question was if she’d like to voice Jolyne if part 6 got an anime. She said she’d want to be Foo Fighters. “Jolyne is my longing, so I’d like to be the Foo Fighters who helps her”.
She also talked how she met Amamiya Sora and became friends. Her first anime role was Sakura Hibiki in “How Heavy are the Dumbbells you lift?”. Ten-chan was also there as another main character, Souryuuin Akemi. Ai Fairouz also sang the opening theme for the Dumbell anime. Its title is “Onegai Muscle” and it features Kaito Ishikawa as well. Listen to that below:
It’s awesome to see that the voice actress for Jolyne had adored the character for so long and that she even started voice acting because of JoJo! The character was previously voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro in the Eyes of Heaven game, and fans might be a bit surprised. Still, just her “Yare yare dawa” was enough to convince us we should not be disappointed. Such a dedicated fan will surely give her all to deliver, and she deserves all the support we can offer. There is a key visual for the upcoming anime:
For the fans wondering, Jolyne is Jotaro’s daughter. “Stone Ocean” follows her own strange adventures, though we don’t know any details about the anime yet. You can read the synopsis from the manga though:
Set in and around the maximum-security Green Dolphin Street prison in Florida, surrounded by palm trees, swamps, and man-eating alligators, this storyline stars Jolyne Kujo (Stand: Stone Free), the daughter of Jotaro Kujo. After being falsely accused of a hit-and-run automobile accident, she is sentenced to 15 years in jail, a plot which may be orchestrated by some dark conspiracy, some unknown enemy.
Sources: WebNewType, Warner Bros Japan YouTube, Livedoor News
Official JoJo Twitter: @anime_jojo
Official Ai Fairouz Twitter: @fairouzzzzzz
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