Wissenswertes

Known to be a snappy dresser and looks incredibly youthful for his age. According to Araki, the secret behind his youthful look is washing his face each day with tap water, not working before 10 a.m., and only working four days a week.

He cites Italian Renaissance art and Italian fashion (Versace and Moschino, the works of fashion illustrators Antonio Lopez and Tony Viramontes), and the French artist Paul Gauguin (an unusual but vibrant color scheme) as an influence on his art.

He spent all night working on a manga comic, "Buso Poker", and decided to take it to a Tokyo publisher. He submitted his manga to an editor of Shueisha Publishing. The editor highly criticized the art, but said that it might be good, and Araki was immediately told to fix it up for the Tezuka Awards in 5 days. The manga won the runner-up prize at the Tezuka Awards.

Is a big fan of rock music.

Growing up, Araki assumed that he lived in a house without any snacks. In reality, his sisters would often eat all the snacks located in the house before he got home from school. Even when there were three snacks, one for each of them, the sisters would usually eat them all and proceed to conceal all evidence of having done so. When these doings came to light, a fight would erupt; and an event of this sort might occur on a daily basis. Araki would often feel such a sense of exclusion and ill-will towards his sisters that at times he felt averse to going home. He found relief in spending time alone in his room, reading classic manga from the 1970s and his father's collection of art books, which Araki believes informed his motive for drawing manga.

Araki's favorite book as a kid was Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.".

Araki drew his very first manga while he was in 4th grade. He attended a prep school through junior high and high school, which was where a friend complimented him on a manga he drew for the first time. Araki thought that if his very first fan thought he was good, he might want to become a manga artist.

His favourite manga comics were Ikki Kajiwara's "Ai no Makoto", Tetsuya Chiba's "Ore Wa Teppei" and Mitsuteru Yokoyama's "Babel II" . All three are fighting tales, which he admits made an influence on his work.

He is a big fan of Clint Eastwood films and Godzilla movies.