Kishibe Rohan Louvre e Iku
Rohan at the Louvre

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Truly, I'm the first to review this? Being the only story or collection outside of the main manga series that has been officially translated into English, I would have thought this story would be one of the first stops for new Jojo readers. And it's not even that hard to get - less than $20 on Amazon with Prime Shipping available. I know that today I'm likely the only one who was still invested in reading more about Rohan, what with all the one-shots and his OVAs that were produced recently, but c'mon.

Though I just want to take a moment to ask: how do you ... create an art style so fabulous that you have official tie-ins for your series not just with Gucci (for TWO characters, mind you) but with the Musée du Louvre Editions, as in the Louvre's own co-published collections. Both the Louvre and Gucci with Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. That's like the highest praise in pure connections that I can imagine for the art and design of just about any series if you take any stock at all in that kind of thing. As someone who was also studying in the arts for some time, I'm just blown away.

But onto the book itself:

Rohan at the Louvre is a colorized manga, and it uses its art and its pallet so effectively. A major plot point is this painting that uses the darkest color black known to man, and the imagery invoked with it is mesmerizing, in conjunction with the Vogue-esque poses and art style Araki is known for post-Jojo Part 3. You KNOW what I'm talking about. And it just flows so well.

Story-wise it's not THAT much to write home about, feels like another issue of Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan, but honestly, that's what I signed up for and was expecting. Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan: Art Museum Edition.

Interesting in that we see the closest thing ever to Rohan feeling attraction toward a woman in this book, the first instance since a mildly perverted comment in one of the Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan chapters and slight romantic hints mixed with more slight perversion toward Reimi('s ghost) during the main series. Not that I ever doubted he was written to be straight (or at least bisexual), but he just isn't a character you often think of in any kind of romantic or sexual entanglements since he is someone that does very well for himself living on his own, making his art, and having his career take off.

He may or may not have come to regret those lingering feelings once PLOT happens that makes the whole thing kind of eww-y, but regardless it was a secondary plot point that I appreciated, which is high praise coming from me as I'm one of those trolls who hates romantic plotlines of any orientation shoved into just about anything without the connection or chemistry in the writing to back it up.

I know that right now any Jojo's Bizarre Adventure manga past the official translation's team current stint in Part 4 (as of writing this review) is likely being pirated because there IS no official English translation beyond that point, but being the only book that has been given that treatment and one that has one of my favorite characters in the series thus far (I'll get to Part 6 soon, hold your horses - I'm doing a lot of backtracking with the manga and light novels right now), collected in one simple book as opposed to creating an entire library for a series you love, I just think this is well worth the purchase. Oh, and if you already have made the huge library for all the Jojo manga? Add one more. Seriously, one more, won't make a difference space-wise and you'll thank me.

Similar to most of the other Rohan one-shots, Araki continues more of the same horror you have come to expect from Rohan. While artistically Araki's use of color and movement are as good as they always have been, the plot tends to be thinly developed due to constraints. Some of the "reasoning" like insects being used to make the ink really made little sense, even more than Araki's usual affair. It is not a long work, and as a result the moment the plot begins to reach a crescendo is the very moment it ends.

The similarities to Part 4 and Reimi's story are obvious, ... but Nanase doesn't leave anywhere near as strong an impression.

Some plot elements are interesting, such as Rohan's ancestors/relatives, but there just isn't enough time spent exploring these ideas. Perhaps this was Araki's goal, as the feeling you get reading this is much the same as Rohan's solution. You are left with a sense that nothing has happened at all. In my eyes this is a weakness, since there is no strong impression this manga leaves on a reader. Which would seemingly be important with a story for audiences unfamiliar with Rohan, rather than those already familiar, always ready for more, just viewing this as another day in Rohan's shoes.