JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken Part 1: Phantom Blood

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Dai Ichi Bu Jonathan Joestar: Sono Seishun

Japanese: ジョジョの奇妙な冒険ファントムブラッド

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 5

Chapters: 44

Status: Finished

Published: Dec 2, 1986 to Oct 13, 1987

Genres: Action, Adventure, Horror

Themes: Historical, Vampire

Demographic: Shounen

Serialization: Shounen Jump (Weekly)

Authors: Araki, Hirohiko (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.28¹ (scored by 83,627 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #5276²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #99

Members: 139,167

Favorites: 2,606

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7.28

Ranked #5276Popularity #99Members 139,167

MangaShounen Jump (Weekly)Araki, Hirohiko (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /5

Chapters: /44

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 1--Phantom Blood

Vol. 1
$16.99

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Synopsis

While the gold rush takes Europe by storm, a young Jonathan Joestar lives a life of luxury with his father at their estate in Liverpool, England. Jonathan, known by his peers as JoJo, spends his days playing the part of a gentleman and living a carefree life. However, those peaceful days soon came to an end when Dio Brando intrudes upon him.

Dio is a young boy from London who is adopted into the Joestar family due to a debt Jonathan's father owed to Dio's father. While Jonathan is receptive towards having a new brother, Dio schemes against the Joestars in order to inherit the fortune. As Dio's schemes get out of hand, Jonathan is forced to confront him once and for all.

Thus begins the story of the Joestar bloodline, as Jonathan matures with and eventually combats his adoptive brother while encountering bizarre new friends and foes.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

A 17-volume kanzenban version dubbed as JoJonium was published in Japan from December 4, 2013, to March 4, 2015. This edition covered the first three parts of the Jojo no Kimyou na Bouken series and included new cover art which showed redesigns of the characters by Araki Hirohiko. JoJonium's first three volumes cover the first part.

JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken Part 1: Phantom Blood was published in English by VIZ Media as JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 1: Phantom Blood under the Shonen Jump imprint digitally from September 2, 2014, to February 3, 2015, and in print from February 24, 2015, to August 4, 2015, featuring the JoJonium artwork and contents. It was also published in Italy by Star Comics from November 1993 to May 1994, and in Spain by Editorial Ivrea following the JoJonium format from June 30, 2017, to September 21, 2017.

A beat'em up video game based on the series developed by Namco Bandai Games Inc. was released in Japan on October 26, 2006.

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Characters

Brando, Dio

Main

Speedwagon, Robert E. O.

Main

Joestar, Jonathan

Main

Zeppeli, Will A.

Main

Pendleton, Erina

Supporting

Bruford

Supporting

Joestar, George I

Supporting

Brando, Dario

Supporting

Dire

Supporting

Straizo

Supporting

Reviews

Oct 12, 2025

JOGIDALTRA

Recommended

(ENG)
First of all: it’s undeniably stylish and entertaining. The mangaka has a great knack for turning exciting moments into grand displays of drama, flirting with humor without sacrificing the story’s epic tone. The character design contributes masterfully to this: characters who are absurdly eccentric (and muscular) and monsters who are absurdly grotesque (and also muscular).

Ironically, the manga’s greatest flaw lies precisely in its exciting moments, or rather, in the lack of balance. There’s a lack of development in every aspect of the story, from character building to world-building. The author seems to face a very common challenge when dealing with complex narratives: conveying to the ...

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Oct 25, 2024

TheScarletCutter

Mixed Feelings

Let’s talk about JoJo’s first part. Phantom Blood is definitely the simplest of all JoJo parts in terms of how the story is built but also one of the most complicated when it comes to how we view how it goes. Now, it’s clear why it’s the first thing that JoJo has ever created and therefore, the simplest. It reminds you of the simple, classic tales you learned or heard about before, most notably in this case, vampire stories. I, myself, like vampire stories, I think they’re fun but at the same time, though, it can get a little stale with writing whenever they tend ... to run out of ideas. JoJo part 1 is similar to that but with a bit of unique magic injected into it. This has been regarded as JoJo’s weakest part and while I do understand that assessment and agree that it’s flawed, I don’t think it’s bad or even mediocre either.

Now, what’s the story of Phantom Blood? As the first installment of the franchise, Phantom Blood slowly introduces quite a lot of interesting features, surprisingly enough. It’s about two men in the United Kingdom who go by the name of Jonathan Joestar and Dio Brando respectively. Both Jonathan and Dio possess the same determination yet are polar opposites of one another. They have a very complicated, competitive, and hateful relationship with each other. While they’re at it, both of them equally explore the stone mask, a mysterious artifact that will turn you into a vampire and once discovered by an Aztec tribe. The stone mask may look like a simple doomsday item at first but it holds a lot of questions that need to be answered. How does the mask affect you? Will it be carried any longer in the future? Or hell, shall it be destroyed for the better?

That’s where we talk about the story in practice. The story, while simple, is a little hard to think about. The first few parts of Phantom Blood are surprisingly solid. Sure, those may be that bizarre contrary to what the title says but they slowly build up well. From there, we see both Jonathan’s and Dio’s introductions and how they interact with one another. Jonathan represents courage, heroism, and honesty while Dio represents selfishness, dominance, and lies. Even if they’re introduced as children from the start, the story tackles their personal symbolism nicely as they treat them as brothers who fight over who will be on the hills or below. It’s also nice how they keep the stone mask a secret for a little while. Portraying it as a decoration until both Jonathan and Dio fight each other in a mansion and afterward, Dio’sbit of blood after his defeat suddenly activates the mask.

The slow build-up of how both Jonathan and Dio discover the mask on their own as now adults is also pretty good. Again, we still see how the story develops on how the two represent. After Jonathan finds out what Dio is plotting, Dio has no choice but to reject his humanity. Dio figures out the true potential of the stone mask embraces the greater evil and, by extension, kills Jonathan’s father. Jonathan lost nearly everything but he still avenges his ruined family. This is the best part of the story personally because not only did we see a major cycle of two people interacting with each other, finding out mysteries, and starting a major clash but also the consequences Jonathan has to face, whether it’s his fault or not. Despite his beef with Dio, he wants him to know better even with his gentlemanly acts. Their contrasts with each other only motivate them more and more.

This, however, is slightly bumped down with the introduction of Hamon. Hamon is a power that is channeled after practicing outdoor martial arts. It comes with a variety of moves depending on how anyone who learns it fights. Hamon is actually a cool power system but since it was utilized, the story from here doesn’t necessarily have the same charm it has before. Now, it still extends the compare and contrast between the two main characters but we’re going slowly from here. A vampire that creates a zombie army is sick as hell, even if it’s not the most unique type, but with the focus on zombies, it becomes your everyday battle Shounen. That being said, the story still holds potential but aside from the penultimate battle between Jonathan and Dio which is the most interesting part of the Hamon arc, it can feel a little too stiff for its own good. I mentioned before how this part resembles a lot of the classic and simple vampire stories. The use of Hamon pretty much proves that. Thankfully, though, the final clash with Jonathan and Dio where both of them indirectly embrace each other at the end despite their characteristics while Jonathan successfully saves Erina is the saving grace.

Now, for characters. Starting with the main cast consists of Jonathan, the first JoJo and a gentleman, Dio, the main villain, and an invincible vampire, and Will A. Zeppeli, the man who first showed us Hamon and is Jonathan’s mentor and companion. Jonathan is kind of an endearing protagonist, contrary to what one would say. His will to be a gentleman and motivation to protect both the world and his future family not only is pleasing but also add to his character. Sadly, however, he can also come off as quite bland. He’s a very honest and honored person with a few silly moments of him being a dork, especially before the time skip, but that’s much about what he could offer. He’s still a solid character but he could have done more with his development, especially as the JoJo of this part.

The main villain of this series is, funnily enough, the true protagonist. Dio pretty much carries the whole series. He’s the villain that started it all. What really makes him special is how he gets away with things as long as he wants to reach what he wants. He has a tragic backstory where he lives with a poor and foul family and he admits what went wrong with both his life and his doings and yet, he doesn’t care because he wants to be known better. Even after becoming a vampire, he’s a great villain because of how his evilness is portrayed. Not only that but even though he wants to lower Jonathan (although he respects him more as the story goes on), he also uses him as a tool because Jonathan shows some kindness to him. He’s a despicable and loathsome character done right in my books.

Will A. Zeppeli is a little disappointing. He may introduce the concept of Hamon and is a helpful sidekick to Jonathan but he could have developed more. He could have explored more about the future of his family. A similar case can be said with the side characters. They help Jonathan but that’s about it. Yes, Speedwagon is one of the most important characters in the franchise as he’s the future of the later JoJo parts, mainly with his legacy, but aside from that and the memes, he still comes off as a little flat. Nonetheless, he’s still decent overall and the best side character in this part.

The art surprisingly aged well. Even though some of the body proportions tend to look off, the art is very unique and differs from a lot of anime/manga art styles. It gives more detail and expression to both the environment and the cast. Fashion choices are good too, although I’m not a fan of Dio’s second vampire outfit.

And that does it. Phantom Blood has its flaws but it still shows more heart than you would like to admit. It can be slow despite being the shortest part but it’s still a good introduction to the franchise. The story and characters could have done better but they still manage to show their own unique charms. The whole part isn’t too great or anything but even then, it still should not be skipped all things considered.

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Apr 14, 2023

Pezguy97

Not Recommended

JoJo Part 1 may just be the worst manga series I have ever read, but three factors keep me from giving it anything less than a 5. First, it is easy to see how JoJo influenced a lot of anime and manga series that I find more palatable because they dial down the goofiness from JoJo a bit. Second, the art style in JoJo is well above almost all of it's Shonen Jump peers. Third, there is a significant jump in quality between part 1 and part 2. Pretty much every other aspect of this manga is banal. Just getting through all the volumes felt ...

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Poll: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 1: Phantom Blood Chapter 44 Discussion TuzoAnime - Apr 4, 2010	42 replies	by phantom346 »» Dec 23, 2024 1:12 PM
Poll: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 1: Phantom Blood Chapter 43 Discussion ZetaZaku - Sep 28, 2012	15 replies	by wallus81 »» May 6, 2024 8:07 PM
Poll: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 1: Phantom Blood Chapter 41 Discussion ZetaZaku - Sep 28, 2012	15 replies	by wallus81 »» May 6, 2024 7:54 PM
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JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken Part 1: Phantom Blood
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