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Jojo's Bizarre Adventure |OT| Get back, Stand up

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ANIME ONLY WATCHERS, YOU ARE WELCOMED, BUT ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK OF BEING SPOILED

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(Credit to Jocchan for the banner)

What is Jojo's Bizarre Adventure?

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is a manga series created by Hirohiko Araki. It was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1987 to 2004, and then switched to the seinen magazine Ultra Jump where it still runs today. It is currently the 9th longest manga ever with 107 volumes at the moment.

What is JJBA about?

JJBA narrates the story of the Joestar family's "bizarre adventures" across multiple generations, taking place in settings varying from the streets of Victorian England, to a horseback race across all of the US. There will also be plenty of posing and fabulousness.

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The story is divided like this:

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Part 1: Phantom Blood

This is where it all started. It is the story of Jonathan Joestar and Dio Brando and during the late 19th century in England. After the death of Dio's father, he is adopted by the Joestar family. Despite being shown great hospitality, Dio's only goal is to one day become the sole heir to the Joestar fortune. When his plan didn't work out due to Jonathan finding out about his schemes, Dio uses an ancient stone mask that had been kept as a memento of Jonathan's mother to transform into a vampire. After a battle that left both badly hurt, Jonathan is found by Will A. Zepelli, an Italian master of a mystic power called the Ripple (also called Hamon by some), so that he can master those powers and then embark on a journey to defeat Dio and prevent him from ruling the world.

Part 2: Battle Tendency

50 years after the events of Phantom Blood, it follows Joseph Joestar, Jonathan's grandson. The story follows the quest of Joseph, Caesar Zepelli (Will's grandson), and their Ripple master Lisa Lisa to fight the Pillar Men, ancient super beings that are higher in the food chain than even vampires and creators of the stone mask, to prevent them from obtaining the Red Stone of Aja, which would allow them to perfect the stone mask and turn them into ultimate beings without any weaknesses at all.

It is a fan favorite and considered by many as one of the greatest battle shonen manga.

Part 3: Stardust Crusaders

By far the most popular and well known of all of the parts and it introduces the concept of Stands to the series, one its most iconic features. This time, the story focuses on Jotaro Kujo, Joseph's grandson. Having survived the ending of Phantom Blood, Dio returns and obtains the power of Stands. Due to Dio having stolen Jonathan's body after his death, this awakens a Stand in all of the living members of the Joestar bloodline. While this gives Jotaro and Joseph superpowers, it causes Holly, Jotaro's mother, to fall deathly ill because she does not have the ability to control it. With the only way of curing Holly being to kill Dio, Jotaro and Joseph, along with a group of allied stand users, embark on an adventure to Egypt to defeat Dio once and for all.

Part 4: Diamon is Unbreakable (also known as Diamon is not Crash)

Taking place in the town of Morioh, the protagonist this time is Josuke Higashikata (the kanji for -suke can also be read as Jo), Joseph's illegitimate son. It introduces the concept of a special kind of Arrow, which gives whoever it pierces a stand ability. In the beginning, it could be said that it follows a "stand user of the week" formula while trying to find the arrow and destroy it. After that is accomplished, the serial killer Yoshikage Kira is introduced, and the objective switches to finding and defeating him for the safety of Morioh.

While it is currently receiving a retranslation, it originally had some really bad scanlations which the fandom has dubbed as "Duwang" due to a mistranslation of Morioh, and turned it into a meme.


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Part 5: Vento Aureo (Golden Wind)

Before the events of part 3, Dio conceived a son called Haruno Shiobana, who changed his name to Giorno Giovanna when he moved to Italy. Giorno has a dream, and that dream is to be a Gang Star and gain control of Italy's mafia to change it into something that turns his home into a better place and help its people. To do so, he joins Passione, a mafia consisting of many stand users, with the intention of climbing up the ranks so that he can take over from the inside.

Part 6: Stone Ocean

It is the first story to star a female Jojo, Jolyne Kujo, daughter of Jotaro. In an attempt to bait Jotaro, Jolyne is framed for murder and thrown into the Green Dolphin Street Prison. While helping Jolyne to break out from prison, Jotaro gets attacked by the enemy stand White Snake while trying to protect Jolyne, and he gets both his stand and his sould and memories taken from him. Without both of those, Jotaro will eventually die, so she rejects her opportunity to escape from prison so that she can find White Snake and save her father.

Part 7: Steel Ball Run

We're back to the late 19th century, but this time in an alternate universe where you'll find new versions of the Jojo characters you know. While initially unrelated to JJBA during its run in Weekly Shonen Jump, it was announced as the 7th part of Jojo when it moved to Ultra Jump and changed to the seinin genre.

Johnny Joestar, a former genius jockey that became a paraplegic, meets Gyro Zepelli. Convinced that Gyro's rotation abilities are the key to regaining the use of his legs, Johnny follows Gyro to compete in the Steel Ball Run race, a race by horse across the entire United States. While it starts as a gigantic, but otherwise normal race, it is soon found out that the actual purpose of the race is a plan to find and collect the parts of a holy corpse made by the president of the US.

Part 8: Jojolion

The current, on going story. After the earthquake and tsunami of 2011, Morioh was devastated, and weird structures that got to be called Wall Eyes started appearing all over the town. One day, a girl called Yasuho Hirose finds a naked, unconscious man beneath one of the Wall Eyes. This man, our protagonist, has no memory of anything before he woke up, but it is shown that he has a stand that is able to remove things, and also that he has 4 testicles. He is adopted by the family of Yasuho's childhood friend, the Higashikata family, and given the name of Josuke Higashikata. Wishing to know more about himself, Josuke and Yasuho start investigating any clues that may lead to revealing his past.


Sounds interesting, how can I read this?

Unfortunately, unless you live in Japan or a couple of other countries, it is difficult if not impossible to find actual volumes of the series. Likely, your only choice will be to find scanlations. In the US, only Stardust Crusaders has been localized, while some European and Asian countries have most of the series localized.


Are there any adaptations of this story?

Yes, yes there are.

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-Phantom Blood movie: In 2007, Phantom Blood received a theatrical animated movie. Unfortunately, it never received a home release. It is said that the reason for this is that Araki hated the movie and forbid it from being released on DVD.
-Phantom Blood videogame: A brawler for the PS2, it was the first time part 1 was released as something other than a manga. It wasn't that well received IIRC, but it allowed you to play pretty much any character that so much as threw a punch during the story arc.

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-Stardust Crusaders drama CDs: Audio retellings of part of Stardust Crusaders. It has Norio Wakamoto as Dio.
-Stardust Crusaders RPG: Released for the SNES, it adapts part 3 and was the first Jojo videogame.
-Stardust Crusaders fighting game: Possibly the biggest exposure most people outside of Japan have to JJBA. Made by Capcom for the CPS3, it is considered a classic by many fighting game fans.
-Stardust Crusaders OVAs: Released simply as Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, these OVAs are an abridged retelling of part 3's story.

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-Vento Aureo videogame: The first PS2 Jojo game. It is a brawler that retells most of part 5's story in its own way. It was planned to be released internationally as GioGio's Bizarre Adventure, but Araki's refusal to change the musical references prevented it from happening.

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-Jojo's Bizarre Adventure 2012 anime: It is the anime that is currently airing, and what Jojo GAF is most excited about along with the All Star Battle videogame. So far it's planned to have 26 episodes and covers both Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency, with a possibility of it continuing and adapting more parts of the story.
-Jojo's Bizarre Adventure All Star Battle: A fighting game developed by CyberConnect2. It is the first time ever that characters from multiple parts appear in the same game and interact with each other. It will be released on August 29, 2013 in Japan, with no announced plans for localizing the game anywhere else (I'm not counting the trademarks as "announced plans").

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-Light novels: There are a couple of light novels, however, none of them were written by Araki, so it's very likely that none of them are canon. For the most part, they are some sort of expansion to the story.


-Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Abridged: Ok, this isn't official at all, but it is too good for me to not give it a mention. It is a parody of the Stardust Crusaders OVAs.


Ok, now for a few guidelines for this topic:
-ALL SPOILERS WILL BE UNMARKED. The exception to this is Jojolion since it is still being serialized, and maybe the final arc of Steel Ball Run.
-IF YOU EVER POST FANART PLEASE SOURCE. It is just rude for the artist to not do so, so be sure to at least make a mention of the author.
-BE CIVIL. I'm sure this goes without saying, but I wanted to have 3 things here :T So, pretty much just follow the usual forum rules.


Ok, I think that's about it. If any of you have a better short, mostly spoiler-free summary of the stories you're welcomed to submit it, as well as anything that you guys think might need to be added.

*Roundabout starts playing to signify the end of the opening post*
 

YAWN

Ask me which Shakespeare novel is best
Great OT. Love the banner.
Re-reading SBR at the moment. Might not be one of my favourite parts, but's it's still so god damn good. Nyo-ho!
 

Jocchan

Ὁ μεμβερος -ου
Great OT. Love the banner.
Re-reading SBR at the moment. Might not be one of my favourite parts, but's it's still so god damn good. Nyo-ho!
It's probably my least favorite part, mostly because of the overall lack of focus and the many plot threads started and left hanging everywhere. Felt very improvised, even more than usual.

Thankfully JoJoLion seems more cohesive, at least for now.
 

Kave_Man

come in my shame circle
I've been reading Jojo for the last few months slowly.

I just started Diamond is Unbreakable and no kidding on the terrible translations ugh.
 
Yay, community thread! My anime one will probably get less activity now, but that's fine. More people need to experience this franchise.
 

Yonafunu

Member
It's heeereeee! Awesome OT, awesome title. Subscribing the shit outta this.

SBR is probably my second or third favorite part. Johnny and Gyro are close to the greatest duo in the entire series, not counting the Josuke-Okuyasu Bromance of course.

I read Part 4 with Duwang-subs, and it's still my favorite part, so they're not that bad...
Not to mention they're hilarious. It's awesome.
 

yami4ct

Member
I've been watching the anime and just got so impatient that I started reading the manga. Part way through Part 3 now. I loved the way Part 2 ended. Those last couple fights are just badass incarnate. I cannot wait to see them animated.

As for Part 3, I'm mixed on it right now. I love the Stands and the way they completely change the way the fights are structured. I'm really enjoying all the Stand users that have been fought and how they all have their own gimmick. It's really fun. Dio being back is freaking fantastic as well, though he hasn't done much yet. After the Pillar Men, I can't wait to see how Araki ups the ante and keeps him threatening. After introducing a bunch of dudes that are basically his natural predator, he feels a little less then. His personality is still fabulous, so he still works.

The main problem with Part 3 is, while the side characters rock, Jotaro himself is really boring so far. He just is bland. His schtick is he's constantly angry and it's getting a bit old. Platinum Star is killer, though, so that helps balance it out.
 

Qvoth

Member
i've tried twice going into jojo manga... the 2nd time i stopped at the end of the jojo 1st part
should i continue but with the anime version instead?
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Best parts of the OP:
While it starts as a gigantic, but otherwise normal race, it is soon found out that the actual purpose of the race is to find and collect the parts of a holy corpse by the president of the US.

This man, our protagonist, has no memory of anything before he woke up, but it is shown that he has a stand that is able to remove things, and also that he has 4 testicles.
Btw, in your JoJolion synopsis you missed a word after "tsunami".
 
i've tried twice going into jojo manga... the 2nd time i stopped at the end of the jojo 1st part
should i continue but with the anime version instead?

Yes, check out the anime. I personally didn't like the series until I got to part 3, and then I retroactively liked part 2 a lot (though part 1 is still meh). The anime makes part 1 great though, and part 2 amazing.

Just remember it's the 2012 anime. There are 2 series of OVAs that cover part 3, which you could watch after the current anime finishes.
 

Somax

Member
Yeah, OT!
Started my exposure to Jojo with Steel Ball Run, when it first serialized in Italy.
Now I'm slowly getting up to date, thanks to the current reprint, at the moment it reached about half of Vento Aureo. Still trying to wrap my head around some random concept of part 5, such as "Gold Experience can do everything needed to get on with the plot" and "King Crimson just fucks with the reader's mind".

Great Op, by the way
 

YAWN

Ask me which Shakespeare novel is best
So, what are your guy's favourite stands?
I like Sticky Fingers, Man in the Mirror, Kiss, and Blackmore's, whose name I'm blanking on atm.
 

fertygo

Member
Let start the ranking wars guys.

Favorite Stands : D4C, Killer Queen, Stone Free, Star Platinum.

Favorite Sidekicks : A-tier, Kishibe Rohan, Bruno Buccealati, Gyro Zeppelli.

B-tier, Caesar Zeppeli, Old Joseph, F.F, Mista

C-tier, , Fugo, Hermes, Kakyouin

D-tier, Polnareff, Okuyasu.

Favorite Jojo : Kujoh Jotaro, Joseph Joestar, Kujoh Jolyne.

Favorite Villain : Kira Yoshikage, Enrico Pucci.

Favorite Parts

Stardust Crusaders : Screw the haters :p
I just love the adventure part of it, rally around asia to africa.. lively atmosphere and the stands battle that still not too complicated. People thought Jotaro's boring.. but that's what make him fun, many troll moment happened because that attitude. D'arby, Hol Horse and Bodingo moment.. still make me giggle remembering those. The most fun part to me.


Steel Ball Run
: Again, the adventure aspect.. God I just love it in JoJo, the interaction between two main lead also nice, plus with arguably the best Araki's work in art department its easy to choose this as one of my favorite.


Battle Tendency : So many iconic moment, definitely part with the highest highlight.. the part in middle kinda flat though.


Stone Ocean : The villain act in this arc just superb, I love his planning throughout the series, his backstory also solid.. The protagonist party also great, plenty of nice interaction between them too. And dat ending...


Diamond is Unbreakable
: I like the concept of "wacky town", but Araki put so many scenario that I didn't care about such like crazy lottery, restaurant, planet namek aliens, etc.. I just don't give a damn about those and the atmosphere just felt wrong to me. Its MUCH better when its touch the plot core with psychotic and cunning villain. the highlight on this part just so great, maybe I should reconsider to rank this part higher when I read the entire series in better translation, and thinking the high point out weighting the low point.

Vento Aureo
: Araki is not excellent writer, but this part have so many problem than its should, Other JoJo's part have its fair share of plot hole, but this part have some that very distracting for your reading experience, the interaction also felt dead for a quite big of protag's party. I do think this part have best collection of fight, oh god.. some of those just so brutal and explosive, and those outrageous chara design and fashion man.. Like part 4, I will revisit this part with better translation.

Phantom Blood
: Dio's act like douchebag are the highlight of this part.

Soon to be the best part : JoJolion, I WANT TO BELIEVE.

Its much better approach to part 4 concept to me, with that X-Files like atmosphere., let hope Araki can pull it off without too much glaring hole.
 

JohnDoe

Banned
Favorite Stands: Killer Queen Requiem, Gold Experience, The World, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Weather Report
Favorite Protagonists: Joseph Joestar > Jolyne Kujo > Giorno Giovanna
Favorite Antagonists: Dio Brando > Yoshikage Kira > Enrico Pucci
Favorite Sidekick/Bromance: Gyro Zeppeli > Caesar Zeppeli > Bruno Buccialatti
Parts Ranking: Battle Tendency ≧ Steel Ball Run > Stone Ocean > Vento Aureo > Diamond is Unbreakable > Phantom Blood > Stardust Crusaders (Yes, I just ranked Part 3 the lowest, come at me, bros)
 

YAWN

Ask me which Shakespeare novel is best
Favorite Stands: Sticky Fingers, Man in the Mirror, Kiss, Catch the Rainbow
Favorite Protagonists: Joseph Joestar > Jolyne Kujo > Johnny Joestar
Favorite Antagonists: Yoshikage Kira > Kars > Enrico Pucci
Favorite Sidekick: Bruno Buccellati > Kishibe Rohan > Narciso Aanasui/Gyro Zepelli
Favourite Side-Villain : Risotto Nero > MagentaMagenta > Donatello Versace
Parts Ranking: Vento Aureo > Stone Ocean > Battle Tendency > Jojolion = Diamond is Unbreakable > Steel Ball Run > Stardust Crusaders > Phantom Blood
 

Hagi

Member
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This thread, i like it.

Just received my copy of the 2nd BD for Phantom Blood. The key animation book it comes with is really cool, has a lot of nice shots especially of Jonathans death. Strange they didn't swap it with the t-shirt for Volume 3 it spoils the whole of Phantom Blood.

Favourite Parts:

Phantom Blood = Battle Tendency

Steel Ball Run

Stone Ocean

Diamond is not Crash

Stardust Crusaders

Vento Auero
 

Yonafunu

Member
Favorite Stands: Sticky Fingers, Soft & Wet, Crazy Diamond, Killer Queen, Hand
Favorite Protagonists: Higashikata Josuke > Joseph Joestar > Jolyne Kujo
Favorite Antagonists: Yoshikage Kira > Pillar Men > Dio
Favorite Sidekick: Gyro Zepelli > Okuyasu Nijimura > Rohan Kishibe=Bruno Buchellati
Favourite Side-Villain : Ringo Roadagain, Wekapipo, Oingo & Boingo
Parts Ranking: Diamond is Unbreakable > Battle Tendency=Steel Ball Run > Stone Ocean > Stardust Crusaders > Phantom Blood > Vento Aureo
 

YAWN

Ask me which Shakespeare novel is best
It's cool seeing so diverse rankings.
At least we all agree that Bruno is beast :p
 
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I approve of this thread. Subscribed!

Favorite Stands: Killer Queen, The World, Diver Down, Stone Free
Favorite Protagonists: Jolyne Kujo > Joseph Joestar > Giorno Giovanna
Favorite Antagonists: Dio > Yoshikage Kira > Enrico Pucci
Favorite Sidekick: Gyro Zepelli > Bruno Buchellati > Okuyasu Nijimura
Favourite Side-Villain: Holl horse, Ringo Roadagain, Risotto Nero
Parts Ranking: Stone Ocean >Vento Aureo > Battle Tendency > Stardust Crusaders > Steel Ball Run > Diamond is Unbreakable >Phantom Blood
 

Tizoc

Member
*drops baggage*
STRIKES A POSE said:

Right so I just caught up with the latest chapter for JoJoLion and HOLY STEEL BALLS!
The plot thickens! Whatever it is the Higashikatas have that would be a liability for Kira is really making this manga more suspensful, and man Araki is the ONLY author I know who could making looking after someone else so suspensful.
Looking forward to seeing how Joshuu and JoKira are gonna get out of this bizarre predicament lol

EDIT: Oh and if I were to have one Stand, it'd be Harvest...but only if I were living in Japan =V
 
Favorite Stands: The High Priestess, The Grateful Dead, Soft & Wet, Killer Queen, Stray Cat, Tubular Bells and D4C.
Favorite Protagonists: Joseph Joestar, Jolyne Kujo, Josuke (Jojolion)
Favorite Antagonists: Yoshikage Kira, Funny Valentine
Favorite Sidekick: Bruno Buccellati, Gyro Zeppeli, Narancia, Foo Fighters
Favourite Side-Villain : Diego Brando, Miu Miu
Parts Ranking: Steel Ball Run > Battle Tendency > Stone Ocean > Vento Aureo > Diamond is Unbreakble > Phantom Blood > Stardust Crusaders.

Favourite part overall is Vento Aureo.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Favorite Stands: The World
Favorite Protagonists: Joseph Joestar, Jotaro Kujo, Jolyne Kujo, Giorno Giovana, Johnny Joestar, Johnathan Joestar, Josuke Higashikata, 4 testicles
Favorite Antagonists: Heart Tiara Dio, Shadow Dio, Bara Dio, Dio's Boyfriend, Wham, Diego's Pimp Daddy, Yoshikage Kira, Cars , Diavolo, OG Dio, ACDC
Favorite Secondary Protagonists: Rohan Koshibe, Bruno Buccelatti, Foo Fighters, Hot Pants
Favorite Secondary Antagonists: Ringo Roadagain
Parts Ranking: Stardust Crusaders, Battle Tendency, Vento Aureo, Steel Ball Run, Stone Ocean, Jojolion, Diamond is Unbreakable, Phantom Blood
 

Baha

Member
Finally! I can now link Jojo medley:

Jojo Medley

I actually watched this before reading the manga and it compelled me to read it. I still watch it every so often.
 

Beckx

Member
Beautiful OP.

Huge Stardust Creators fan, hopefully getting some of the others from JP soon. Just got the first two BDs of the anime, going to binge on them this weekend.
 

EndcatOmega

Unconfirmed Member
Reading Part VIII, I'm struck by how a lot of this feels like Part IV done 'right'; I loved Part IV, but it was never really much of a mystery, especially to the reader who sees the villain relatively early on.

(Not really sure I need to spoil this, but better safe than sorry).
The mystery of the protagonist of VIII is much, much more well done in comparison, and gels well with the usual crazy Araki twists. I think this has the potential to be the best part yet, assuming it doesn't start falling apart (which it could do, it's not like we're far in).
 

Jocchan

Ὁ μεμβερος -ου
Part 8 has been starting off quite nicely, but to be completely honest I thought the same about the first few volumes of SBR. Lots of promise, some interesting characters. I hope Araki keeps more consistency this time, as the potential is there.
 

Lirlond

Member
Favorite Stands: Hand, Killer Queen, Cream, Kiss
Favorite Protagonists: Higashikata Josuke > Joseph Joestar > Jolyne Kujo
Favorite Antagonists: Yoshikage Kira > Funny Valentine > Pucci
Favorite Sidekick: Gyro Zepelli > Okuyasu Nijimura > Bruno Buccialeti
Favourite Side-Villain : Darby, Weather Report, Soundman
Parts Ranking: Diamond is Unbreakable > Steel Ball Run > Battle Tendency > Vento Aureo > Stone Ocean > Stardust Crusaders > Phantom Blood
 
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