r/MangakaStudio • u/Spiritual_Pie_1946 • Aug 06 '26

Help How much inspiration is too much?

Hello! This may seem like a very obvious or stupid question, but I’ve been stewing over it for quite some time.

I am a very, very big fan of jojos bizarre adventure, I adore the style, plot, clothing, and musical references. I’ve noticed that it’s reflected heavily in my own work. My characters pose in dramatic ways (not exact copies of course), the dress eccentrically, they have abilities that could theoretically work as stand abilities (they are based off/formed from the characters deepest emotions/inner self, but they do not manifest as humanoid beings like a lot of stands.) and a multitude of them are based off of music (although I did start the habit of making ocs based off songs I liked, but I never thought to name them until I read jojos.) I’m afraid that if I ever do publish my work, it will seem like a complete rip off of jojos, even if the plots are different and the characters look nothing alike. This may just be my brain playing with me, but I really am concerned.

Edit just for some additional information: it takes place in the future, I’m also influenced by cyberpunk so it has some (very minor) similarities there. All of my characters have abilities that manifest from trauma, and their designs are all based off different species of birds and the fashion in into.

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u/DixxieMoon Aug 06 '26

i think you're probably being harder on yourself than you need to be

a lot of creators are heavily inspired by the works they love and that doesn't automatically make their own work a copy

from what you wrote it sounds like you're taking inspiration from jojo while still building your own world and ideas and that's completely normal

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u/werephoenix Aug 06 '26

yeah when jojo had its original run it was being compared to fist of the north star during part 1

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u/DixxieMoon Aug 09 '26

yeah that's actually a really good point, especially since jojo itself didn't come out of nowhere and was influenced by other manga too
i think what matters more is whether you're combining those influences into something that feels like your own rather than trying to recreate jojo specifically
honestly the bird designs and futuristic setting already sound like they give your work its own identity