JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Thin Air

Post-Reading Author's Note (Optional)

Hey everyone! This is the author slicedbread103, or syk if you're familiar with that name. I've been a fan of JJBA since 2019 and I can confidently say that it is one of my favorite anime/manga of all time. The inspiration for this fan-made part came when I was re-watching Part 4 (by far my favorite part) and I remember watching Josuke and Joseph bond with each other using the invisible baby as a catalyst essentially. By now, we all now that this invisible baby is Shizuka. It kinda made me annoyed how much wasted potential she ended up being in canon, so that was the main driving force that led me to writing this story. I also wanted some closure regarding the Zeppeli family, who were forgotten about after Part 2, and of Avdol's backstory, because he is truly an extraordinary character and he doesn't get the appreciation he deserves, so these two factors guided me to create Monica. From writing the first chapter to writing this note, it took me 10 and a half months and I never would've thought that it would receive any attention, so for those of you who gave it even a minute of their time to it, I thank you immensely.

Some other reasons I chose to have Shizuka as the main character were that there really isn't much female representation in JJBA, and introducing her as this damaged, angry young woman and slowly building her into a more confident, stronger yet still vulnerable person was a very important part of creating this story, as typically character development isn't a very profound part of JJBA, so I wanted to explore that as well. I also felt that it was important to have her in such a prominent role because she is canonically the youngest member of the Joestar family, so it just made sense for me to have her there instead of having to create a completely new Joestar. Overall, I had a truly rewarding time writing her character and fleshing her out to become the woman she became in the final chapter.

I created Keith originally as sort of a tribute to Jonathan, with his physically imposing features yet noble soul. However, I realized that he'd be boring if he stayed that way, so I gradually incorporated scenes that reveal more of his personality, such as in the battles with Broudie and Hol Horse and with Mira. I also didn't intend to have him in a romantic relationship with the MC, but after making the last third of the story as dark as it is, it felt refreshing to give these two characters a somewhat happy ending. Personally, he is my favorite character in the story but I love all the characters that I wrote.

Going back to Monica, her role in the Joestar Group was to be a sort of comic relief, with her loud and sometimes obnoxious personality, but also to be a useful ally when the time came to. This is somewhat representative of the Zeppeli family, as we see with Caesar, but her conclusion isn't fatal, but tragic regardless. Think of it as an "I've won, but at what cost?" type scenario. I didn't really have a reason to make her Avdol's niece other than Fate which is definitely one of if not the most important theme in JJBA. She was also a character I enjoyed writing.

Finally, I'd like to go over Bryson a bit. I never thought he'd return after his first encounter with the Joestar Group, but after planning out Josuke's defeat, I realized that there would be a big hole to fill. Wanting to make his mom proud and keeping his new friends safe were interesting motivations I thought of so I applied them to him. Also, I wanted his death to serve as a reason for Shizuka to continue fighting and searching for Clapton even though she didn't want to anymore. Interestingly enough, I still consider him more of a side character rather than a main character, but he is an enjoyable one regardless.

Q&A:

Q: Where do you get name inspiration from?

A: It's pretty simple, actually. For most of the main and side characters, I use the names of random singers and actors I find (in true JJBA fashion). For other names, I'll just find a name generator for a region in the world and use it for someone.

Q: Does Clapton like pineapples?

A: He likes all fruits and vegetables, he wouldn't be Lennon Institute's star rugby player without them.

Q: Who's your favorite character in Thin Air?

A: Clapton's my first, but my next four are Shizuka, Monica, Josuke (not my character obviously but specifically in this story he's 4th), and Jai.

If you enjoyed reading this story and want more, be sure to check out my Extras book, which contain character profiles, side-stories and more content in the near future! Thank you to everyone who took the time to read this page, I'm grateful for all the support I've been given over the past 10 months :)