JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken (TV)

Overview:

Nearly every review of JoJo 2012 praises it as a MASTERPIECE, because it represents a triumphant return for the macho manly anime of the past. I have a slightly different perspective than most critics on MAL, so unsurprisingly my conclusion was a little different as well. If I was born between 1995 and 2000 and grew up during the "sparkling kawaii desu moe" era of anime where every male protagonist is a whiny pussy, I too would be inclined to give Jojo a 10/10 out of sheer novelty alone. However, I was born in the 1980s and I actually remember the GAR days of manly ... anime. In the 1990s, you watched anime largely by going to the video store and renting whatever anime was available. Almost ALL of it was cheaply licensed, ultraviolent OVAs from the late 80s and early 90s. Were those anime better? Well believe it or not...no, not really. There were indeed some awesome anime like Fist of the North Star (Hokuto no Ken), but for every Fist of the North Star there was absolute garbage like: Genocyber, Violence Jack, MD Geist, Mad Bull 34, Angel Cop, etc. Simply being macho didn't make an anime good by default back in the 1990s, and that shouldn't be any different today! I am going to look at Jojo from a fair and objective view rather then simply heap praise on it based on principle alone.

Story and Characters: 6/10

(SPOILERS!)

The 2012 JoJo anime adapts the first 2 arcs of the manga, so this is the JoJo series you should watch first sequentially! JoJo is about the Joestar family and their epic feats of badassery over the generations. The first generation of Joestar asskicking takes place in Victorian England with Jonathan Joestar, whom I will call Johnny JoJo. The dumbass father of Johnny JoJo decides to adopt the blatantly evil son of a man who "saved his life" when he had a carriage accident. Even though it is later revealed that papa Joestar knew that Brando was a dishonest man and wasn't actually trying to save him, he adopts Dio anyway and continuously believes Dio over his own son despite the fact that Dio may as well have "evil" tattooed on his forehead. Dio is a 1 dimensional bully who exists to make Johnny JoJo miserable, steal his father's affection, and ultimately try steal his inheritance. Dio will perform some act of over the top evil like brutally murder Johnny's dog, and papa Joestar will instantly believe Dio's side of the story, simply to frustrate the viewers. This is like that Spongebob episode where Spongebob adopts an evil lamprey as a pet and keeps blaming the obviously innocent Gary the snail whenever anything goes wrong. The difference is that JoJo isn't a comedy cartoon for small children. It is a Shonen demographic anime that actually expects us to take this seriously! Johnny JoJo discovers that Dio is attempting to poison his father and inherit the fortune, so he goes to find the poison shop where Dio has been purchasing his product. Johnny JoJo proves Dio is guilty, but Dio uses a mystical artifact Johnny has been studying to transform himself into a vampire and start wrecking shit. Dio kills papa Joestar and seemingly gets killed in turn by Johnny, but it turns out Dio survived and wants to create a vampire army to take over the world. Johnny takes some mystical martial arts training to unleash sunlight with punches (just go with it) and goes on a crusade to take out Dio. Unfortunately, that son of a bitch simply won't stay down and eventually Johnny must sacrifice his own life in manly fashion to save his wife and unborn child.

I'm going to come right out and say it, Dio is a SHIT excuse for a villain. There are many things that can make a great villain: complex motivations, based on a historical figure, or even being extremely evil in an interesting fashion that is fun and frightening to watch. Dio is a cliche bully archetype that gets turned into a vampire, then decides to take over the world because he wasn't already cliche enough. In a way, Dio does remind me of the villains from oldschool GAR anime like: the bullies in Genocyber that randomly decide to rape a homeless child, or the bully in Devilman who decides to butcher the class bunnies for no reason. However, those bullies were quickly and brutally dispatched because that kind of character isn't very interesting. They exist to piss off the audience and grant a cathartic revenge fantasy when they get killed. Dio just lingers on and on like a sulfurous fart that won't go away. Johnny JoJo is a gentlemen and a badass, but his character depth never goes beyond that. He doesn't have a strong internal struggle or ambiguous goals or anything that makes complex character. I know that isn't the point of JoJo, but a show aimed at older audiences should probably try to have SOME level of complexity unless the action is so awesome it doesn't matter. However, JoJo isn't a non-step action violence fest like Hellsing Ultimate. JoJo actually does take a LOT of time to focus on plot and characters, which is why it is disappointing that the plot isn't very good and the characters are paper thin archetypes.

After a decent but certainly not masterful arc 1, we get to see the adventures of Johnny JoJo's grandson: Joey JoJo. Joey JoJo must go to Mexico to fight against the evil vampires that created the mystical mask from part 1. He teams up with the grandson of one his grandfather's old allies along with a surprisingly friendly Nazi dude named Rudol Von Stroheim. I guess the writer of JoJo meant to use the name "Rudolph" because "Rudol" isn't even a real German name. Rudol's catchphrase is German (insert whatever) is the best! Characters with goofy catchphrases can work like Korbowitz in Berserk or Armstrong in FMA, but I wasn't really feeling this one. Honestly I just found myself wishing this guy would be replaced with Captain Germany the manly werewolf from Hellsing. This second arc does have some pretty awesome action scenes including Joey JoJo punching the vampire leader into Outer fucking SPACE! However, the plot and characters still come WAY short of being called a masterpiece or anything approaching a masterpiece.


Art: 7/10

The art and animation is heavily stylized and admittedly does a good job creating the look and feel of anime from yesteryear. There are lots of still-shots to recreate the look of cheap animation from the days where anime had extremely limited budgets. There are plenty of "action lines" that the old anime had in abundance especially pre-1990. I think my favorite part of JoJo might actually be the art because it really does recapture and recreate what anime used to look like and now no longer even resembles.

Overall: 6/10

Does JoJo do a decent job capturing what old school anime used to look and feel like? Yeah, and that is why it isn't a bad show. Does being retro make it a masterpiece by default? Absolutely not. The story may not suffer from pointless "tournament arcs" like so many shonen anime, but the plot isn't honestly very good. Like the characters, the plot is very simplistic and doesn't exactly carry JoJo into the realms of truly great anime. The male characters are actually manly and don't resemble either Keitaro Urashima from Love Hina or Shinji Ikari from NGE, the 2 characters that basically convinced anime executives that Otaku identify more with Beta males and completely neutered anime. However, JoJo's mediocre action and old school animation doesn't quite make up for its simplistic and overall lackluster story and characters. At the end of the day, JoJo 2012 is a good anime, but is JUST a good anime. It doesn't nearly deserve the ratings it has received on MAL, or the praise it receives on 4chan. I WOULD recommend it to younger viewers who want to see what old anime was like, but I caution against the kind of blind praise that has already made this anime absurdly overrated.

Many people suggested JoJo to me and I probably came to watch it expecting too much. This is a very generic shounen anime, with cool masculine elements added to it. Art is cool (even if I prefer the illustrations made by the author much more than their anime counterpart) and sound too. Story however is poor and the main reason is that characters are poorly written. The first arc features a bland protagonist with absolutely no depth behind his sense of justice and an even less deep villain who has at least a nice character design, but is just evil for the sake of ... evil. Other characters in the first half, expecially the mc's father, are just outright stupid. Other than characters, there isn't really much else for the story. A villain appears and main characters aquire poorly-introduced-super-powers to punch their way to the final fight. Oh and those super powers can do basically whatever according to the plot needs, with no consistency whatsoever.

Second half is a little better than the first, as characters at least use some tactic in the fight, even if that is usually just a decently written @$$pull. Weapons materializing out of thin air because who cares are to be expected. Plot is still a mess but I enjoyed this part more, probably because by this time all my hype and expectations had already been shuttered. As soon as I turned my brain off and accepted the show as it is, it became less dreadful to watch.
Do not come to jojo expecting a masterpiece
Come here for a poorly written plot, dumb characters that explain their tactic to the enemy, a few punches and a lot of random moments. Come here for juvenile humor, muscles and the most linear story a shounen could tell you. Come here for a generic anime that's probably iconic for the sole reason that it was one of the first modern shounens and so ended up being influential.
Still, I have to admit it has a certain style to it, with the manly feel, the cool poses and a few interesting character designs. That's probably its saving grace. And it "could" be enjoyable if you shut your brain off. I'll give the show a 5.

Imagine if Dragon Ball Z was actually good, or if Kill la Kill wasn’t so weird.

I feel sorry for this anime. It takes a stupid, pointless idea and makes the best of it. The world has dozens of stories about macho dudes beating up other macho dudes because they don’t agree with their morals. In the worst cases, these stories are filled with overcomplicated fight systems nobody cares about, and silly monologues.

The world of macho dudes who never really die, where time doesn’t exist is a bit tired now. Franchises like Naruto, One Piece and Dragon Ball will outlast the heat death of the universe. ... It’s bizarre how no author of these mangas pulled a Robert Jordan, but nothing is as bizarre as this anime.

Macho-ness, like most tropes, is bad because it’s boring. The problem with using tropes has nothing to do with sophistication. It’s just that after seeing the same technique for 100 stories, you get bored. You become like JoJo and can predict their next sentences. Bad cliches are used by storytellers who don’t know what kind of story they want to tell. Is it an epic adventure? A silly show about silly people beating each other? An examination of good an evil?

JoJo‘s strength is the focus, unlike all these shows. The anime makes it clear what it wants to be early in the beginning. Then, every single thing that happens connects to that. JoJo wants to deliver a simple story of good and evil. The bad guys are really, really bad. The good guys are really good and charming. If the fate of the world was really in the hands of a macho dude, we’d all be filled with adrenaline. When it’s a bunch of colors on the screen, you need more than this.

Since JoJo knows its purpose is to deliver excitement, it will do everything it can to raise the stakes. Bad guys don’t come back after being defeated just because you can milk the show a little more. They come back because it raises the stakes, makes us wonder how they can be defeated. The anime establishes that everyone knows what everyone’s next move is, which is exciting because we wonder when will one of these will fail.

Battles in anime always have pre-determined results. Every battle in anime is a man playing chess against himself. So a battle is only as exciting when the writers can challenge themselves, when they find ways to overturn their own schemes. The set-pieces drive the battles, not just meaningless shots of people using fists. Each battle is a progression of moves. It’s an odd way to describe a fight but they’re like a chess game in how every move has a clear influence on what happens next. There’s something thrilling in seeing a person trying hard to beat himself up in chess.

It’s not the animation that sparks up the battle, which is weird. Most of the time, exciting fights are well animated. They have fluid movements that create a kinetic energy. JoJo opts for more still shots, but its set-pieces and beautiful progression saves it.

The art style itself is very old school and gloriously macho. It’s so old-school it’s jarring at first. Everyone has a Schwarznegger build and dangerously low amounts of fat. Even characters who don’t fight look muscular, with square faces and bodies of an endomorph. This style can be ugly. It does suffer from Same Face Syndrome, but they make up for it in other ways. Where it fails to dazzle in character shapes, it succeeds in customes and hairstyle. Every important character has a unique, often elaborate dress style.

In fact, beyond the endomorph build, JoJo‘s version of macho is unique. Perhaps it was common in old times, but today it’s rarer. We now love our heroes rebellious, slightly selfish and enforcing their morality in brutal ways. We want Deadpool and Iron Man, heroes who are only good because the plot requires it. The macho-ness of JoJo is the ‘respectable gentleman’, a man who respects even his enemies. The first part drills this the most, but even the second arc with the rowdy second JoJo has it. Wham is an honorable villain. JoJo duels him fairly and with respect, rather than with malice.

So the characters don’t look gritty and tough. Rather, in the language of 12-year-old kids, they look gay. Their customes are elaborate and decorative. They look like men who are so sure of their macho-ness that they don’t mind looking so ridiculous.

The female design also enforces this weird form of macho-ness. JoJo doesn’t downplay the female’s femininity. In fact, it shows it with all the glory. Although there are no ecchi moments, the female characters look distinctly feminine – lipstick, eyelashes, gentle features. A common problem in battle shounen is that everyone is so macho, the show is afraid of femininity. So besides having longer hair and breasts, the females look like men. JoJo doesn’t need sexuality to remember its female characters are female. It’s a macho series that doesn’t view femininity as a weakness.

For all its fun (and it’s a lot of fun), there’s a glass ceiling it cannot break. It’s a great macho adventure about saving the world, but that’s all there is. It does a lot with its style, but it’s always limited by it. Dragon Ball Z looks pathetic next to it, but JoJo is overshadowed by Kill la Kill. For all of its weirdness and energy, it never becomes as absurd Kill la Kill. It aims there and it succeeds enough to not become useless. I’ll definitely check out the sequels, but Imaishi’s cartoon prove there is so much more you can do with macho bullshit and saving the world. The fact JoJo keeps up with it and and is still worthwhile is a point for it.

JoJo is excellent at what it does. There are plenty of silly people who think there’s no value in adventure stories about saving the world. It may not be Kill la Kill, but it gets everything else right – the pacing is focused, the art is beautiful, the fights are coherent. It’s the sort of thing that inspires a lot of anime that can’t measure up to it.

6 skedaddling out of 5 here

JoJo is one of those generic anime--

"Well, I let you know that before your Naruto, Fairy Tail <insert more mainstream Shonen anime> came in, we had JoJo. JoJo is the root of all Shonen (Now Seinen)."

Well... Umm... Okay. The show is indeed Bizarre so even though it had its generic moments it's fine, but there are things that I dislike about this show.

STORY:
If you're still clueless about the story, we follow this guy named JoJo and we follow him through his bizarre adventures. For more information, read the synopsis. written by MAL.

If you love Shonen anime, you'll get easily hook by the show, which I ... did got hook. This season didn't answer a lot of questions from its plot, but hey, we already got Stardust Crusaders and Diamond is Unbreakable (Which I'll watch soon).

However, the story's biggest downfall is its pacing. The first part (first half) of JoJo has a very fast pacing. They didn't took time developing Erina and JoJo and they didn't took time on JoJo's training with the two characters at the second half which I even forgot their names because they're forgettable.

Fast-pacing leads to forgettable...

CHARACTERS:
Not the main characters of course. The JoJo(s. Let's leave that letter there.) aren't forgettable. However, this anime doesn't really take time to develop some of its minor characters because of its horrible pacing.

Despite some forgettable characters, JoJo, JoJo, and the villains of this show are actually entertaining to watch despite the show being kind of generic. I guess it's generic, because it is bizarre. We'll get onto that part later.

Animation and Sound:
The colors and shadings of this show is really impressive and I like how it switches its colors on moments that are intense and bizarre. Though, the animation doesn't really have smooth or "sakuga" moments unlike other action shows that I've watch. For the soundtrack, it's something that I have to get used to. I didn't really get in with its OP themes, but they actually get catchy once you listen to them all over again. For the OSTs, there are good ones, but then there are okay ones.

OVERALL:
I did say that it shows some generic moments, but what makes this different from other shows is that this show is aware of its generic moments because heck, it is bizarre. However, what turns me off is its fast-pacing story (at some parts) and some of its minor characters are completely forgettable. The show didn't really do a good job on making them shine.

I heard Stardust Crusaders is good, so I hope that lives up to the hype as I'm going to watch it soon.

Score: 6/10

[6.0/10]
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Starting reviews with a quote is often cheesy and forced, however, I figure i'd fall in line with the series if I do, so...

"Mama Mia!"

That was Jojo's Bizarre Adventure's first season and it was indeed bizarre and quite the adventure, with a sprawling cast of characters and two massive arcs that end up giving more than they take. What felt like a generic action shounen, which I am strictly not a fan of, ended up transitioning into something just a little bit more... bizarre. Perhaps not quick enough, though, but the end result here is undeniably fun. I think that's the easiest way to ... characterize this series as a whole at the moment. Fun. It is a fun show. It has fun characters. It has wacky fun twists.

Thanks for reading!

Fun/10

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[Presentation]

Just joking! I wouldn't be myself if I didn't criticize everything and hate on things that are hardly even made for me. Onto the animation, or, as I could put it more accurately, the moments that are actually animated. In classic action shounen fashion, this series has the air of a slap-dash production. A lot of it feels rushed, as most anime does, and that shows the most in the animation quality.

It is sparingly good with a deeper pang of mediocrity to downright ugliness. That being said, it has some smart tactics up its sleeve to cover up said ugly animation with what can only be called "signature Jojo-isms", which is how i'll be referring to them from now on. Signature Jojo-isms are the parts of the series that we, and to a certain extent, I, recognized immediately as unique to this product. The moments and artistic choices that I was aware of coming into the series because they span seemingly throughout all of culture.

Shoddy animation is hidden behind posing, rumbling text on screen, awesome use of color and ultimately an appealing visual style. I feel like a series like this can actually be consumed frame-by-frame and the end result wouldn't actually be any worse than what we have here. The animation feels like a transition from one pose to another, rather than just something fluidly paced. If anything, it is a clever use of budget. It feels natural to have these characters move less when they're so focused around standing still and looking good. This isn't me excusing the poor animation in some areas, but it is me complementing the series in understanding its strengths and not trying to amend impossible weaknesses. This is undoubtedly the smart way to go about presenting a series.

The sound is also standout. What effort and time they didn't have for the animation they clearly outsourced well for the sound. Both the music and the sound effects have a great cheese to them that really brings the series to life. The opening to the second arc is a total ear-worm that I don't see myself forgetting anytime soon. But this design goes past just sound-effects and the opening, the backing music even has personality to it. Each character ends up having a somewhat memorable theme. In the shows superior second arc, we get plenty of recognizable stingers and bombastic techno-anthems that seriously pound your eardrums in the best possible way.

From the Pillar Men to our favorite Nazi, everyone gets a time to shine, musically. Once again, I feel like this show could've easily been consumed in some kind of less movement focused visual medium, like a Visual Novel. Especially since it is so focused around the music. What you'd be losing, however, is the grandiose voice acting. Don't get me wrong, everything here is over-acted to shit but I think that's how it was meant to be. It is all silly, and the actors are clearly having a hoot yelling just about every line they read.

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[Characters & Story]

The series really ramps up in quality as it progresses, not necessarily in the art department but in the overall enjoyment of what is transpiring in front of you. We start with a mildly generic battle-arc that has sparring moments of entertainment mixed in with a jambalaya of boring nothingness. The first arc really leaves a lot to be desired. Both the settings and our protagonist feel incredibly weak in comparison to the second arc, where the series really decides to take off.

When we meet the second JoJo, Joseph, you end up seeing exactly what direction this show is going and understanding exactly why this is positive. It went from a slightly wacky battle Shounen to an off-the-wall batshit insane battle Shounen, and honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way. I find that most battle shounen in anime tend to go down the same path and I rather not harp on the entire genres problems this review since I do that so often in my other outings. All that needs to be said is that JoJo is bizarre enough to stand out from the already bizarre selection of battle shounen that end up getting mushed together into one lump of over-moralizing strung-out garbage.

Of course we get plenty of the cliches that come with the genre, though. From the over-abundance of still images with a few action lines thrown in to training arcs and jobbing that act like the cherry on top of the action shounen pudding. We have side-characters that do nothing but gawk at the action, and the general illogic of battle, where every moment feels like decades and characters just stand around chatting and explaining rather than actually fighting. We also have one of my least favorite cliches, as a character watches their friends get decimated before doing something, instead of helping them right away. Because of course they have to monologue and let the story unfold as dramatically as possible. For example, Joseph battles one of the three main baddies in this chariot race. Joseph cheats by piling rocks at the starting line and makes the baddies chariot unable to begin the race, while he flies by. Moments later, however, it is revealed that the baddy actually wanted this to happen and needed to be behind Jojo all-along. Yet his reaction to the initial rock pile-up, even when Joseph was hundreds of meters ahead of him, was that of shock. Why? Who was he playing to? The viewers?

These are issues that even Jojo can't overcome. That being said, what it does within this genre it does well. The villains were both memorable and the unfolding battles, during their peaks, were solid. Even if the barrage of episodes leading up to the final climax, or what I call "battle build-up", where the characters fight through seeming gauntlets of nothingness is just tedious to sit through. What's great about Jojo is that it does its best to even make those moments funny, and I think at its best, Jojo's is hilarious.

As something that can be defined as the pulpiest possible anime, which is already an insane sentence to write since most anime is pulpy. Jojo's embraces that title and really runs the miles with it. You have man-eating squirrels, bubble-blowing Italian men, and every character death, major or not, treated as the worlds greatest tragedy. It is so unabashedly corny that you can't help but laugh. And maybe that's not the emotion I should be feeling during the sad moments, but the fact that the show so willingly plays every one of these bizarre and silly scenes as totally straight makes it so endearing and comical.

There really isn't much to analyze here, though. The thematic elements are blunt and childish, as they are supposed to be. Every piece of symbolism is so hammy and funny that it really doesn't hold any weight. But it really shouldn't in a series like this. You should understand exactly what kind of show this is and revel in the mawkish glory.

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[Conclusion]

What I can't help but think about is how this series does just about everything a parody should do, yet can't really be classified as a parody. Everything is definitely exaggerated, but I wouldn't even say it was deliberately exaggerated for comedy. The author, I feel, just wanted to make something bizarre and indulge in that quality. Comparing it to something like an earlier series I ended up dropping, Food Wars, the differences are palpable. Food Wars can be classified as a parody of action shounen, yet it was both less funny and less creative than Jojo. It was even less bizarre! A parody is supposed to over-exaggerated elements, but when non-parodies like Jojo's are already so absurd I can't help but feel like this entire genre is beyond parody at this point.

Which is interesting. Maybe I just haven't thought of a proper approach to parodying a genre that already comes off as way over-the-top. Maybe Jojo's really is a parody of sorts. But it plays like the kind of B-movie you end up really attached to because of how seriously it commits to the role of being that crappy B-movie. At the end of the day, that's all you can really ask for. A fun, campy series that embraces the cliches of its brethren with enough vigor and prowess that you end up with a product that not only exceeds your expectations, but completely surpasses them, for the most part.

Still weighed down by the genre trappings, much like any above-average Shounen action series that I've seen, Jojo's crafts its own visual style and personal identity, while also wearing its faults and scars like a cloak. Don the mask, become a supreme being, indulge in the inanity. Get in on the campy fun.

***contains spoilers***

Excuse me if this seems scattered, but my brain is all over the place after watching this.
So my story goes like this - after seeing lots of gifs and praise of this anime, i decided to give it a go... And oh boy, i couldn't imagine what i got myself into, guess it wasn't called a "bizarre adventure" for nothing. Let's start with the few good things the anime has - visuals and sound. The visuals are very stylized and amazingly drawn, though the fact that almost every male character looks the same (macho face and body that almost look indistinguishable from eachother) kinda ... ruins it.

I didn't read up on what this anime is or watch any spoilers, so going into this blind, my first impression of this was that this is a COMEDY. I watched this with my friend, and our time watching the first few episodes was split in 3 - one third when we where just laughing our asses off nonstop (from the comical acts, poses, face expressions, narration and lack of physics and logic), one part where we where wondering why everyone acts and looks so strange, and the final third of the time doubting if it is in fact a comedy or not and if we should take this shit seriously... Which is next to impossible. Sadly, after a while we came to the conclusion it IS supposed to be serious!

So, what's the problem you ask? Well, first of all - consistency, internal logic, logic, physics... They all cry in the corner because the machos in the show seem too manly to notice those whimps. On top of that the show actually somehow manages to take itself seriously! And that would be ok if it was a show for kids, but it isn't! With all the gore cruelty and violence, its rating of 17+ here on MAL is well deserved (though how its tagged as shounen at the same time is a mystery to me.. probably because of how immature it is despite being rated for mature audience... i just... WHAT?).

Narration. There's literally about a third worth of airtime of it. From the obvious to the less obvious, there's so much of it that the show manages to make the characters start narrate despite the fact that the show ALREADY HAS a narrator as well! The characters are weak at best. Now that doesn't mean they didn't have potential, because they did - a lot of them where actually interesting to begin with, but they all get really boring and obnoxious after a pretty short time period because they are cliche and predictable, as well as lack any kind of development... Maybe that's why the show's answer to that problem is just killing them off as soon as possible, a fate that catches even the main protagonist (in the first part at least). The story is REALLY weak.

So in the end my verdict is 6/10, but that's mostly because of the art, i'd say the rest is pretty dreadful and may be worth a watch only if you want some laughs.

Coming into this show I had very high expectations as everyone who recommended this to me said it was the best show ever and you absolutely must watch. I was very excited and thought it would be an amazing show. Oh how I was wrong.

The intros and art were good and I enjoyed them very much. Sadly, the plot felt lacking. With all the hype this show has surrounding it I expected a much more interesting plot. It did not leave me wanting to come back for more and it took me much longer to finish these 26 episodes than it has taken me to ... watch shows almost double the length.

JoJo's includes two parts with two different plotlines that tie together and even though they had two opportunities for an amazing end, it never happened. The way the final battle ended for the first part was okay but for the second part I was extremely disappointed. There was so much build up and they ended it based on pure luck. It annoyed the crap out of me. Even with plot twist/reveal minutes before the reveal I said out loud exactly what the reveal was. While I can usually predict reveals this was just sad, even my mom who was watching it with me at the time could guess it and she had only seen that one episode.

I don't think this show is bad, I would recommend it to someone looking for basic animes but the amount of hype this show has is far too much. I don't know if it was just these two parts that were lackluster as I have not seen the others, but I am sincerely confused on why this show has so much attention on it.

Overall I really enjoyed this show, but I do think it has some glaring problems.

This season is split in half, with the first part focusing on Jonathan Joestar and the second focusing on Joseph Joestar. I didn’t care much for the first part. Although the elements were there to make it just entertaining enough to sit through, the second part really triumphs over it in a lot of aspects.

The first part really only starts picking up after the 3rd episode, after which Hamon is introduced. Only then does the crazy buff fighting dude stuff really start happening, but it was few and farbetween, and the ... stakes were often pretty low from what I remember. All in all, the visuals didn’t feel as strong in this part either, nor where there any musical themes that stood out to me.

The second part was one hell of a ride compared to the first, and really made sitting through it all worth it! Joseph is much more of an interesting character than Jonathan, and Ceasar is an extremely memorable dude. The character designs felt a lot more stylish, the fights were much more interesting, and the art felt a little more wild overall. The Pillarmen theme is extremely cool in my opinion. The story felt overall more dense and compact despite how obvious it is that it was all written on a whim. That’s really part of what makes this series so interesting, though.

I really enjoyed it, but the first part really dampens the overall experience for me. The second part made up for a lot of it though, and I hope the series continues to become increasingly bizarre.

Jojo'S bizarre adventure is a long-running manga series in multiple parts, and this anime right her adapts the first 2 (also the worst 2). For the sake of convenience, I'll split this review in half: Half on part 1 (episode 1-9) and Half on part 2 (episode 10-26).

PART I: PHANTOM BLOOD

STORY
The story is damn near impossible to explain without you sounding crazy. A buff British guy gets an evil step-brother who becomes a vampire, so he goes on an adventure to learn powers and beat up some dead guys. It's crazy - no it's.... bizarre. If nonsensical surreal humor is your style, you'll probably ... enjoy this, even though I didn't. Trust me, surreal humor is incredibly up my alley, but it has to make sense within the world set up for it to be good. Yes, the entire series is crazy and nonsensical, but with part 1, it's too nonsensical. Even when taking the pre-established rules of the world into consideration, this makes no sense, it's just a lot of random events put together.

CHARATCERS
Awful. I didn't care for anyone. Jonathon Joestar (the main character) is extremely underdeveloped as is the main antagonist, Dio. When the show wanted me to care about them by having a "heart-warming" moment, I couldn't care less, because they do nothing to make me care. This applies to all other characters. REO speedwagon is a really good band, but not a good character.

ART (animation and sound)
The best part about this arc. It's really solidly done in terms of sound and animation. The uniqueness of the art style doesn't become apparent until part 2, but it's still really good here, as is the sound. The ending theme is "Roundabout" by Yes which not only is it a really great song, but it's also a meme. The voice cast, however.... The English dub is horrendous. They some how managed to mess up Johnny Young Bosch, one of the best voice actors ever. Even in Japanese, everyone seems to think that screaming at the top of their lungs and over-acting makes quality entertainment.

OVERALL
Part 1 is not good. You have to watch it if you want to get into Jojo though, but it's only 9 episodes you have to trudge through. Maybe you will like this arc, it's not impossible.

PART II: BATTLE TENDENCY

STORY
Part 2 follows Jonathan's grandson - Joseph Joestar. This part depicts him traveling around the world to defeat an ancient race of ultra-powerful, sexy naked men... I'm not joking. This part's story is marginally better, as it makes a tad bit more sense, and it also really got me captivated at times. But it's not great enough to save the season from Part 1.

CHARACTERS
Also weak. Joseph is 20 times more entertaining than Jonathan, but still rather underdeveloped in terms of main characters. His supporting cast is the exact same. When someone died, I didn't actually care all that much.

ART
Now things get cool. When looking at Jojo's bizarre adventure as a franchise, my favorite thing is the art style, and starting here, the art style gets really psychedelic, colorful and well-done. The same goes for the music, which is one of my favorite anime OSTs out there. The music can range from dubstep, to rock, to classical. The voice quality remains the same, though.

OVERALL
Part 2 is much better, still flawed, but much better. I actually enjoyed part 2 to some extent.

OVERALL OVERALL
Jojo's bizarre adventure is such a great franchise and the amount of good outweighs the amount of bad. I recommend you watch these 2 arcs only because I recommend you watch the next 2. In order to fully enjoy the great parts of Jojo, you need to see these first 26 episodes, despite their flaws.

If you want an anime that doesn't take itself seriously at all including: corny dialogue, silly characters, goofy fight sequences and ass-pulls, I'd say give it a shot. It does these things in a way that didn't leave a sour taste in my mouth because it does these things unapologetically.

For me this part is everything I enjoy, the unapologetic unseriousness and the bizarre situations that come along with it. The pacing does not drag it is one weird situation to the next and you never feel like the characters are talking their heads off because of how funny the cast is, villains included. The ... animation is great, I love the art style so much. The choreography for the fights took a little bit of time for me to get used to but I eventually did, there's only a handful of fights that I didn't really enjoy. The storyline isn't very complex because that's not what it's trying to do, it just wants to tell it in the goofiest way possible.

A stand out character for me is part of the main cast in the second half, Joseph. I found him really funny. He's extremely resourceful and his fighting style is really enjoyable to watch. I enjoyed the contrast between him and Jonathan who also is a great character.

I feel like you'll either love it or hate it. I think a lot of people say part 1 is the weakest of all parts, I would have to agree so far as I'm a handful of episodes into Stardust Crusaders (the sequel) and I feel like the series is really settling into itself in the sequel. People say this part isn't mandatory, I would agree but give it a shot before going onto Stardust Crusaders. If you don't like the first half of this season you might find yourself liking the second half better. I enjoyed the first half but the second half is the one I prefer. But if you don't find yourself liking this season at all and you're skipping to Stardust Crusaders, look up what happens in season 1 because it has a lot of things that would be great to know, I think you'll find yourself enjoying the other parts better knowing the origin of everything because that's essentially what the first half of part 1 is.

To conclude, I love this anime.

I cant put more than 6 because it mixes Phantom Blood with Battle Tendency, and we all know how 'bad' is Phantom Blood part.
The animation is old, the story is basic, fights arent epic yet but the end of the first chapter is pretty interesting.
And it's the origin of the story so you have to watch it anyway, and it's only 9 episodes, then you can start have good times with Battle Tendency ;)

So basicly i would put almost everything 5- expect Characters for the first part, and everything 7+ for the 2nd part, that's why i put an average of 6.

All i have to ... say is, hold on, and you''ll be very happy watching part 3 "Stardust Crusaders"...

Part 1
-Bland and boring just sets up for the latter half of the season
-Dio is the only thing great about the characters
-Jonathon's only personality trait is being manly
-The story just felt like your villain of the day archetype and was so boring because you knew the final fight was going to be Dio and it just wasn't gratifying

Part 2
-Joseph is a much better protagonist
-The misogyny is SOOOOOOOOO real in this half even with a kick-ass female main character
-Villains and story overall are better
... -Humor comes into its own (this is what keeps me watching)

Overall
-The opening theme sequence is very cool, it's all in 3D which is a nice contrast to the series' overall art.
-Outro music is iconic

Jojo is really just buildingon tropes from 80s animes (primarily Dragon Ball Z) with macho characters fighting against progressively stronger villains. It's refreshing from your 'unlikely' hero trope that's been really overdone in recent years. However, the macho archetype does get old quite quickly and makes it harder to watch as the series goes on.

Reccommendations
-Would recommend One Punch Man if you liked this anime, similar character archetypes plus I find One Punch Man funnier than Jojo

The first 2 parts of JoJo's Bizarre Adventures is one of the good animes I watched. Ofcourse you know it felt really wierd in the beginning, watching the wierd art style and old animation. But you know when the story started to progress it was cool. We don't really see the MC die quite early in a shounen anime. But JoJo did it. The characters were insane. You get to see some insane wierd characters in this anime but you know that insanity makes the story really cool. Just watch it its really cool but don't expect much from the art and animation. I will ... guarantee you that the story was freaking amazing.
Have a good time watching.
See you guys at nxt review 🖐🏾

Part 1:

This is the pinnacle of masculinity. The entire show is based on the pillars of it, I don’t think I could watch a show with a clearer, simpler definition of manliness. The art and music is fantastic, but the downside is the characters and story, which are usually.. the most important parts. The characters are extremely simple, there is no realness between the fantasy that creates relatable, and it does not even have a compelling story. It is truly, just two guys trying to kill each other for 9 episodes straight. But there are no other major flaws, like bad dialogue or storytelling, which ... makes it feel even simpler.

Part 2:

The second part was much more fun to watch. The characters had better backstories and dynamics, the plot wasn’t as basic. Episode 20 was amazing. But this is not a show for people who want a realistic portrayal of humanity, it’s for people who want to watch attractive muscular men have epic battles with some of the best art and music in anime. The biggest problem with the story is the fact it is based on exciting ideas with some added justification of depth, instead of it being based on emotional depth portrayed in a fun, exciting way. This can be a good thing for people who don’t care for pretentious art, and just want to watch an adult version of what they watched as kids. In short, it can be fun to watch, but don’t expect depth.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is a phrase that should have an emphasis on the word "Bizarre", because no other word can encapsulate what this show is about.

Does this show have plot? Yes, but mostly no. It is strange in that way, almost... Bizarre. The series has more plot-holes than chain-mail made of rubber bands - it has novelty to same, but serves little to no practical value. Give it a good tug and the whole thing breaks.

What are the characters like? Odd. Any semi important character undergoes any and all character development within the first episode they appear, then stagnate throughout the rest of their time ... in the limelight. To use a car analogy, the characters go from 1 to 60mph in two seconds, but top out at 63. Any other character is static to the point of irritation.

The art style is fairly unique, getting more unique with every season and iteration of the series. Memorable, but not my favorite.

The sound is good and the subbed voice actors did their jobs well. Good sound effects kept it immersive.

Was it fun to watch? The action scenes were fun, ridiculous, and compelling. The character interaction was... bad, though. Additionally, while the internal monologues could be entertaining, most of them were quite dull. I did not laugh at any point watching this show. If anything, it was mostly a "what the heck is up with this" smile and shake of the head.

Did I enjoy the show? To better understand memes, yes. Did I enjoy the show for it being bad? Also yes. I didn't, however, enjoy it as a story or as an anime. If you are like me and primarily interested in plot or character development, Jojo is not a good place for those things. At all.

I fucking love JoJo, but god damn part 1 just gargles the most gargantuan, hairy and sweaty balls. Part 1 has the most bare bones characters I've ever seen, just about none of them are interesting in the least. Jonathan is so fucking boring to watch, I'd have more fun watching the new coat of paint on my wall dry. Dio is fun to watch for like five minutes before his charm of doing absurd shit just kind of wears off. It moves way too quickly so you hardly have any time to get attached to any of the characters, and most of the scenes ... that are so supposed to be impactful can just easily be brushed off. The only reason I'd really tell anyone to watch part 1 is because it's the foundation, none of JoJo would exist without this part even though it's so fucking bad.

Part 2 is already a major improvement from part 1, but I still wouldn't exactly call it good storytelling. Joseph is not even comparable to Jonathan, in the sense that Joseph is impossibly more fun to watch. He isn't just the living embodiment of good like Jonathan, and he has an actual personality. The antagonists are also overall better, with more character and just a more interesting goal. I still wouldn't say it's good storytelling per se, at the end it doesn't really feel like anyone has changed much as characters.

Overall I'd say:
Part 1 is pure ass, but it's the foundation of the series so kind of unavoidable. Part 2 is a lot better, but still not quite good writing and is therefore lifted up by the charisma of Joseph.
You can really see just how much Araki has improved as a writer in the newer parts compared part 1 and 2.

[PSA: Though I'm a good few episodes past the end of it, this review was made for Part 1 of JJBA (and not the entire "season" like how Netflix grouped them).] (At the time of writing this review,) I've heard so many people rave about this show, and since (ATM) Stone Ocean's anime just came out, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and see what all this is about. The one thing I was told before starting this series: "Part 1 is pretty slow; Part 3 is where it really picks up." Were they right? I'd absolutely say so. The art is iconic and ... unique, yes, and the soundtrack is known for being really good, but that's nearly about all I could rave about. Everything else was OK. The story was eh and a little hard for me to grasp, the characters and their motives were only slightly understandable (and remembering who's related to who was a little too confusing for my pea brain), and I remember constantly checking the time to see when the episode would end because I just wanted to be though with this "you gotta know the context" mumbo jumbo. Overall, I'm just glad it was only 9 episodes and I didnt have to waste much time on it. It wasn't terrible terrible, but this is what I would think a spin-off series would entail.

JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure



JoJos Bizarre is a title that has built an immortal fan base due to its immensely individual and questionable bizarre, which I also belong to.

And it all started with these 2 parts. An adventure story that extends over several generations and has a Shounen typical main story.
It would only be as simple as it sounds. JoJo is not a normal anime as one might imagine.

...
This season includes the first part, which is the background story of the Joestar family and the origin of all events. The first 4 episodes are interesting, but the last 6 are very dragging. This is also one of the reasons why Part 1 is known as the weakest, even among fans. It contains essential scenes and knowledge for the audience but fails in almost every other area. Both at the beginning and during the rewatching, I had enormous difficulties getting this part over with.

From about episode 10 the series jumps over to the second part, which still doesn't have a stunning plot, but has its own strengths. A group of bizarre and amusing personalities, bizarre fights, bizarre events, and bizarre dialogues. Definitely, the work did a very good job of keeping the word "bizarre" in focus again and again.



story

The plot is very simple and contains no twists. Almost all of the first part can be seen in the description of the title.

Otherwise, Part 2 also remains very linear. But JoJo never intended to create the greatest storyline, but rather to win the hearts of the audience. And they have succeeded in doing this more than just successfully.


Animation / pictures

Animations are pretty average and only offer faint still images with no detail or gloss. Only the optically colorful display is easy on the eyes.

Characters

The characters are just as important at JoJo as the Amen in church. They don't exactly have the greatest depth of character, but they have a massive annual supply of sympathy and charisma.

Both on the part of the main characters and the antagonists.

The provocateur Joseph-Uh Joestar. The absolute gentleman Jonathan Joeastar. And the offspring of darkness and desires Dio Brando.

These 3 are predominantly in focus here and Dio in particular has a quite complex and interesting personality.

However, all of them are nothing compared to the great Lord Speedwagon as everyone should know.


Music

One catchy tune follows the other, each one is unforgettable and will certainly be remembered for a long time. Whether it's intros, outros, or the real Osts. Mostly half of them are undoubtedly in my playlist as they should be.

Conclusion


JoJo Part 1 and Part 2 have been an excellent start to this long story. I recommend a bit of perseverance to everyone who has some problems with the start. The first part is actually exhausting and extremely tension-free. The later parts build up a lot more tension.

Story - 4
Art - 5
Sound - 7
Character - 4
Enjoyment - 6
Overall - 6

TLDR: Like all of JoJo, don't go into it expecting this amazing plot with amazing characters. JoJo is
just a bunch of WTF is happening, mixed with over the top violence and BS plot twists that tricks you into thinking its a 10/10 story when in fact it's mostly just @$$pulls but since it's JoJo and it's wonky we accept it because why not.

Part 1 is extremely underrated! A classic tale of Good vs Evil but it could be a turn off with how textbook defined Johnathan and Dio are, mixed with the fast pacing and the lackluster supporting cast, it could be hard to ... get through since this is in comparison, the most "normal" JoJo part. AMAZING OPENING!

Part 2 is carried by Joseph who is the complete opposite of Johnathan in every aspect. The guy is the walking definition of a human highlight reel and since he's the most quirky and entertaining JoJo, you'll be entertained by him from the get go. The Pillermen are a disappointment and the supporting cast while better than Part 1's, isn't much of an improvement. ALSO AMAZING OPENING!

---

Phantom Blood is definitely the most underrated part of JoJo just because it's the first one and people tend to prefer the "bizarreness" of Part 3 and on, but Part 1 is actually really good, I'd argue. It's the classic tale of Good vs Evil. With only 9 episodes though, the story lacks the breathing room and time for you to really care about Johnathan and at face value he may look like the generic hero, which he is but theres a bit more to him but you'll need to go a little bit deeper in on your free time to really get that. Dio Brando, just like Johnathan, comes off as a generic villain just doing evil doing for the sake of it and lets be honests, it's the 80's, that's exactly what this is but that being said the story itself is a nice little tale with a huge twist in the last episode that a lot of people weren't expecting. Part 1 for me personally was carried by Dio and Johnathan, since the supporting cast was extremely weak. From Erina to Speedwagon (which the community stans solely because it's a meme) to Zeppeli. I personally Rank Part 1 as my 3rd favorite JoJo Part.

Halfway through the Season we shift a couple years into the future and now we follow Johnathan's grandson Joesph who was a huge improvement from Johnathan in every single aspect. He's quirky, silly, funny, entertaining, where Jonathan was more serious and "normal" which given his situation i don't really blame the guy. That being said, Joseph single handedly carried Part 2 for me. The main antagonists were a huge let down and the supporting cast, just like Part 1 was lackluster. Caesar and LisaLisa were only other characters I cared about but theyre not in the story much for me to care.

I've been watching JoJo's Bizarre Adventure for over 2 years. While part 1 and part 2 are not my favourites, they are decent. Jonathon is an ok JoJo, but Joseph is the best one of the two. However, I don't like Joseph that much compared to the other JoJo's. I won't say that parts 1 and 2 are horrid, but, part 1 one is definitely is dated.

Spoilers for those who haven't watched it:

Part 1 is bland, boring, and stale. It does set up the events to come, but it does it in a way that is so dragged out and monotonous that it ... takes me, as well as my friends, to force ourselves to watch. The only good episode is the final one when Dio kills Jonathon, who sacrifices himself to save his wife and unborn baby.

Part 2 is... ok, the pillar men are good Jofoes. And by pillar men, I mean Wammu. Esidisi, and Kars are bland, basic, and are more boring then PB! Dio . Then there is Santana, which is a joke. He is the first enemy encounter, and he does a good job of showing how Joesph Joestar fights. And while Joesph is annoying, he is funny... but he is also a dumbass. He is the king of asspulls. Other than that, he is an ok JoJo.

Overall, I rate part 1 & 2: 5/10