By Ollie Campbell

The manga series known as JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, created by Hirohiko Araki, is one of the biggest and most popular manga in Japan. It recently became more mainstream in America, after the anime adaptation by David Production came out in 2012. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is most known for its heavy pop culture references. The most recent season, Stone Ocean, has been produced by the infamous streaming service Netflix. Not a lot of fans are too happy with Netflix and how they’ve been treating our beloved show. 

The manga are separated by parts. The manga has 1-8 parts (all completed) so far, and Araki is said to be working on part 9. So far, only parts 1-6 have been animated, and Netflix announced the rest of part 6 to be released in December of this year. Many fans were upset with Netflix for a while because of the previous wait time given to us. Netflix had basically set aside Stone Ocean(part 6) for almost 2 years, the first batch coming out in late 2020. Not only that, but they seemed to have cheapened out, and not too many people were fond of the bad animation and CGI. There are also critiques relating back to the first part in the series, as the anime adaptation left out a lengthy amount of lore, rushing the first part. The first part titled Phantom Blood was so short, they combined it with part 2, Battle Tendency, the two parts now making up one season (26 episodes total). This can confuse new fans, especially to those who haven’t read the manga. Fans will get parts confused with the seasons and call part 3, part 2. This has been widely criticized by the fandom for a while.

Part 1(Phantom Blood) is set in the late 1800’s and follows the main character, Jonathan Joestar. His nickname is JoJo. He is the son of a very wealthy man named George Joestar. Adopted brother and main antagonist, Dio Brando (named after the band, Dio) joins the family, and tries to sabotage the family, so he can inherit all their riches. Dio finds a mask and becomes an immortal vampire, and Jonathan must find a way to stop him. Jonathan leaves town to find help, and while he is gone, he meets his loyal sidekick, Robert E.O. Speedwagon(named after the band REO Speedwagon). Dio kills George Joestar while Jonathan is gone too. Jonathan returns, and is enraged. Jonathan embarks on a journey, learning how to use Hamon, and supernatural ability introduced by a new character, William Zeppeli (a spin on the band, Led Zeppelin). Jonathan defeats Dio, by decapitating him, and continues on with his life. At the end of part 1, Jonathan travels to America with his wife by ship, and Dio, who was supposed to be dead, returns. Dio is just a head at this point, and comes back to steal Jonathan’s body. Jonathan yet again defeats Dio, but the ship burns down and kills Jonathan. Fortunately, Jonathan’s wife escapes and saves a baby(a key thing to remember for part 2). Speedwagon also creates the Speedwagon Foundation, which constantly makes appearances throughout the anime. This ends the first part, and leads us into part 2. Phantom Blood was an overall boring part, compared to the later parts in the manga. Granted, this was Araki’s earliest work, and he improved greatly throughout the manga. Not only does his writing progress, but his art does too.

Part 2(Battle Tendency) begins in the 1940’s, during WWII. The main character, Joseph Joestar, is grandson of Jonathan Joestar. Part 2 touches more on the origins of the mask that Dio used in part 1. We learn that ancient celestial beings referred to as Pillarmen(the new antagonists), created the mask. Joseph and his best friend, Caesar Zeppeil, grandson of William Zeppeli, build their Hamon abilities with the help of Lisa Lisa. Lisa Lisa is Joseph’s mother, which we find out more towards the end of part 2. She was the baby that Jonathan’s wife saved on the ship. She married George Joestar the 2nd(Joseph’s father), who was murdered during his time serving in the war. Lisa Lisa also introduces Joseph to his future wife, Suzie Q, who is a maid. Joseph defeats all the pillarmen, but tragically loses Caesar in the process. Joseph also loses an arm, but the Speedwagon Foundation’s technology quickly replaced it with an advanced bionic arm. Battle Tendency was far more enjoyable than Phantom Blood. It also has one of the best rated anime openings. It didn’t feel as rushed, despite it not being a lot of episodes. The characters had more memorable personalities and the plot felt more intriguing. 

Part 3(Stardust Crusaders) is where a whole new concept to the JoJo universe is introduced. Hamon is no longer needed, and this is pretty much the last of what we’ll see of it. This part is also one of the longest parts in the series. Part 3 takes place in the 1970’s, following Joseph’s grandson, Jotaro Kujo (my favorite JoJo). Jotaro’s mother, Holly, married a Japanese musician, and raised Jotaro in Japan. Jotaro is around 17 years old when the events begin to happen. Joseph visits Japan to see Holly and Jotaro. Holly had Joseph fly out from the U.S. to help her with her son. Jotaro is in jail, and seems to have a “ghost” possessing him, but this is all wrong. Joseph brings his friend, Avdol as well, to help Joatro. Jotaro doesn’t have a ghost possessing him, but it’s actually just a manifestation of his soul. This new concept is called stands. Stands have unique powers and abilities. People who have stands are usually referred to as “stand users”. Jotaro calls his stand Star Platinum. Joseph and Avdol are also stand users. At this point, we are unaware of how one gets a stand, but the only reason Jotaro and Joseph have them is because of Dio, the infamous villain from part 1. Dio returns after being brought up from the bottom of the ocean by fishermen. Dio steals Jonatha’s dead body, and is now blood related to Joseph and Jotaro. Whatever Dio does to obtain a stand affects the whole Joestar bloodline. This includes Holly Joestar as well. Holly’s stand is too powerful for her and slowly starts to kill her. This is when Joseph, Avdol, and Jotaro embark on a journey to find and kill Dio, so Holly can live on.

Along the way, they encounter enemy stand users, which were brainwashed by Dio. Jotaro is able to use his stand to remove the parasite that is brainwashing them. This is when we meet a new friend, Kakyoin, another student that is Jotaro’s age. Then a few episodes later, we meet Jean Pierre Polnareff, a French man trying to avenge the death of his sister. This sets in stone the Stardust Crusaders, and they all will travel from Japan to Egypt in a matter of 50 days. They cannot take a plane due to the risk of an enemy stand user, which already happened in a few episodes back. Throughout part 3, we meet continuous enemy stand users that work for Dio, trying to kill off the crusaders. They also acquire a new crusader, Iggy the dog, who is also a stand user. This is when we find out animals can also be stand users. Once they arrive in Egypt, they battle Dio and discover what his stand’s power is. Dio’s stand can stop time for a few seconds, and by practicing more and more, he continues to grow the amount of time he can stop. Avdol, Iggy, and Kakyoin die during battle, and Jotaro kills Dio for good. The remaining crusaders finally return to their normal lives, and part 3 ends. This part was excellent. The stand concept is very interesting and definitely kept the story alive, and was way more detailed and attention grabbing than the hamon concept. Stands are continued on in every part after Stardust Crusaders, and we learn more lore about them in each part. 

For my first part of my review, part 3 blows part 1 and 2 out of the water. The plot and lore is just so amazing, Araki truly showing his improvement with writing. In the 2nd part of the review, I will review parts 4-5, as I’m currently finishing up parts 6 and 7. I have yet to read part 8, but I’ve heard it’s one of the best and well written parts.