Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

Hirohiko Araki's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure saga, serialized in the manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump since 1987, and in Ultra Jump since 2005, continues to fascinate people not only with its exciting story and unique worldview, but also for its eccentric and appealing characters, their unique poses, and the iconic gekiga-style illustrations.

A blockbuster work with eight parts so far and a total of 131 chapters, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure has legions of fans throughout the world. Due to its length and breadth, it's not unusual for fans to say: "I can't even begin to tell you all about 'Jojo!'" and others who can't stop raving about the series once you get them started.

That probably describes Egyptian-Japanese voice actress Fairouz Ai. In fact, not only is she passionate about all things "Jojo," but her life was drastically changed by it as well.

Fairouz Ai: How Jojo changed her life

To begin with, since she has an Egyptian father and a Japanese mother, Fairouz spent some of her younger years in Egypt, which happens to be the setting for the third part of the "JoJo" series, Stardust Crusaders. This surely made the work more appealing to Fairouz when she began reading the series.

In the anime adaptation of Stone Ocean, the sixth part of the "Jojo" series, Fairouz plays the role of the main character, Jotaro Cujoh's estranged daughter Jolyne Cujoh, who is framed to serve a 15-year prison sentence in a Florida prison.

Fairouz Ai’s encounter with “Jojo”

When Fairouz was in junior high school, she was reading through comments on a video-sharing platform when she first came across some of the language fans will instantly recognize as hailing from the "Jojo" series, such as "ora ora ora" and "muda muda muda." Immediately curious, she looked it up on the Internet.

After learning that the lines came from an original story called Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, she became interested in the series...

A fateful encounter with JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean

On Nippon Broadcasting System's internet radio program 『ネトフリアニメ presents 吉田尚記のFUKABOLIX』(Netflix Anime presents Hisanori Yoshida's FUKABOLIX), Fairouz explains:

After reading the first two volumes, Fairouz thought, "I've never seen a heroine like this before." Excited and interested, she wanted to learn more about the character Jolyne and her background, so she went back to the bookstore and bought the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure manga from Part One, Phantom Blood, and devoured each volume until she was caught up.

Soon, Fairouz became a passionate fan of the series. It got to the point that, in her words, "When I drank water, it reminded me of Foo Fighters, and steak pierced with a fork reminded me of Bad Company."

For those who speak Japanese or who are learning the language, you can enjoy her talking passionately on the show about how she made friends with other Jojo fans and the other things that led her to becoming a voice actor!

How Ai Fairouz realized her dream of playing Jolyne Cujoh

The "JoJo" series inspired Ai Fairouz to enter a voice actor training school.

Of course, being a fan doesn't guarantee you'll get to play the role of your favorite character one day.

Looking back on the audition for Stone Ocean, Fairouz reveals:

Fairouz shed tears of regret because she felt she couldn't show off her abilities, but as it turned out, she made it to the final screening.

When she was called in, she was shocked when she realized that the only people at the studio were the staff. There were no other voice actors there.

She read the lines prepared by the staff as they asked her to do, and was told on the spot that she had passed the audition for the role of Jolyne!

Apparently, the role of Jolyne had already been decided at the time of the audition. However, it seems that the staff made the announcement a surprise for Farouz, since they knew it would please her as a Jojo fan.

On the radio show, she talks about how she felt when she was told she had passed the audition, and how she felt when voicing original lines from the anime adaptation that were not in the manga.

Ai Fairouz enthuses about her favorite scenes!

Ai Fairouz finally got her chance to realize her dream, playing the role of Jolyne Cujoh. But even though that accomplishment is behind her, she hasn't lost her passion for “JoJo” and her love for the series has only increased.

Even when the radio show's host, Hisanori Yoshida, asks her what her favorite scene in the "JoJo" series was, Fairouz is hard-pressed to choose one, saying that she has divided them into categories, such as scenes that moved her or scenes that made her happy...

She also talks about a famous scene from Part Five, Golden Wind, that left a particularly strong impression...

After that, she can't contain herself and lets loose a barrage of entertaining episodes, passionately describing her favorite “Jojo” moments and not even giving Yoshida a chance to get a word in edgewise...

You can listen to Fairouz Ai talk enthusiastically about Jojo on the radio here. Even if you don't understand Japanese, her passion will surely be contagious and you may even recognize some elements if you're a Jojo fan...

Of course, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean is now available on Netflix for you to enjoy as well!

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean on Netflix.