Introduction:
In the mid-80s, the first chapter of the shonen manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure by author Hirohiko Araki appeared in Weekly Shonen Jump and the manga is still on airing today. The Golden 80s are considered a very special era not only in general pop culture, but also in the world of anime and manga. After a thirteen-part OVA series from studio APPP, studio David Production set out to create a manga faithful anime adaptation. JoJo is a monument to the 80s and still bows to this era thanks to David Production. Thus, the entire anime is kept in the style of that era. At the same time, the manga is so iconic that it served as a role model for many other movies, series and video games. The Persona from the franchise of the same name are a reinterpretation of the Stands from JoJo, introduced in Part 3, and JoJo also served as the inspiration for the Street Fighter series. Or a popular anime example, the breathing art from Demon Slayer is taken from the Hamon from JoJo. Other examples: Fairy Tale, Tekken, and Devilmay Cry. So many allusions exist that the obligatory JoJo reference has become a meme itself. But if it's just not a JoJo reference, JoJo memes consist mostly of two things: the famous theme "Giorno's Theme" and the many quotes (as an example: "You excpecting JoJo to be your first kiss? Too bad! It was me, Dio!"). One of the big unique selling points of JoJo is the artstyle. For example, parts of the manga were temporarily on display at the famous Louvre art museum. Furthermore, the fashion brand Gucci organized several JoJo promotions in their stores. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a phenomenon. At the end of 2016, there were about 100 million manga volumes in circulation, securing JoJo's Bizarre Adventure a place on the list of the best-selling manga of all time.
Story:
The spirit of JoJo Part 1 is strongly reminiscent of oldschool anime such as Fist of the North Star, also an anime from the 1980s era. The story of Part 1 is kept relatively simple. JoJo and Dio are step-siblings. Jonathan Joestar, JoJo for short, is the good guy. Dio is the bad guy and he gains vampire like abilities through a mysterious mask. A chase ensues in which JoJo meets many friends and enemies. One of the friends is Zeppeli. I liked Zeppeli a lot. He serves as a mentor for JoJo and explains the Hamon combat system to us viewers in an understandable way. More about that later. But the enemies are also really well written. Jack the Ripper, as the well-known antagonist of Sherlock Holmes, worked well as Dio's henchman. But this one was evil anyway. The noble knights Tarukus and Blueford, on the other hand, reflected the diabolical side of Dio's abilities and the noble abilities of JoJo. These warriors, who were actually dead, were reborn for Dio's purposes, and their personalities were greatly consumed as a result. Dio dehumanized them and filled them with hatred. This was well shown by Blueford. JoJo's Hamon destroyed Blueford's zombie form in battle causing his actual noble soul to resurface. JoJo trusted in humanity and gave Blueford the chance to kill him. Blueford, however, refrained from doing so. He felt pain again through JoJo and where there is pain, there can be joy. This is what humanity means to Blueford. This is a bowl scene for the rivalry between JoJo and Dio. JoJo and Dio are agonist and antagonist. They are opposites. And so are their powers and personalities. Dio is inhuman and hateful, while JoJo is human and noble. Tarukus is meant to reinforce the effect of Dio's dehumanization. Blueford becomes human again thanks to JoJo and dies as a result. But his friend from old times Tarukus doesn't care. He even desecrates Blueford's grave by destroying his armor. Later he kills Zeppeli, which rekindles JoJo's flame. So Dio killed JoJo's father and caused Zeppeli's death. JoJo thus had every reason to hate Dio. But when JoJo throws Dio out of the castle, Dio cries. Their relationship is tricky. Yes, JoJo hated Dio, but he grew up with him. They are opposites and opposites attract. They grew up together and also died together (for the moment). In the end, their destiny was one.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is, at its core, a story about generations. JoJo is not simply good because he is good. And Dio is not simply evil because he is evil. Just like their tricky relationship, this has familial reasons. JoJo's father was already a kind-hearted man, and Dio's father was evil to the core. In the very first scene, these two fathers meet. JoJo's father had an accident. The mother died and the baby, JoJo, had survived. However, Dio's father did not take care of the baby. He suspected JoJo's unconscious father was dead and wanted to rob him out of greed. JoJo's father noticed this and believed Dio's father wanted to save him. So JoJo's father believed in the good in people and Dio's father was greedy. These qualities were adopted by the sons. You could say they "inherited" them.
In general, the story from the first part was solid. There were no special tricks or plot twists. It was just very simple. But the fights were fun. The ideas were good, but they were not developed enough. If the fast pacing had been slowed down a bit and the characters and relationships had been given more time, it would have done the story some good. On the other hand, the first part only serves as a foundation for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, on which the following parts can build. So it's a good decision that the first season consists of Parts 1 and 2.
Part 2, Battle Tendency, builds on Part 1 and is very similar to it. The "new" JoJo, Joseph Joestar, is the grandson of Jonathan. Joseph has inherited his hamon from Jonathan and can use it. But he only knows basics. It should be mentioned that Joseph's father, George, did not know hamon. In Part 2, we learn that the masks come from the Pillar People. They awaken and they want world domination. Now it's up to JoJo and his friends like Caesar Zeppeli to stop them in order to save JoJo's life and the lives of many others. To do this, JoJo must learn to deal with Hamon. He and Caesar go to Venice to meet the mentor of this Part Lisa Lisa. The many real life locations and the embedding in the story of the real world give the story more realness. The training session is short but well designed. We learn many new things about Hamon and different ways to use it. Of course Zeppeli dies again. This time it is Caesar Zeppeli. The fights were again a lot of fun in this part. The horse race remains in my mind, a clear highlight of this part. The main antagonist Kars is the ultimate evil. There is no real explanation for his actions. But there is no need for one. Kars wants to defeat the sun and strives for more and more power. He wants to become an immortal super being. For this he also acts with dishonest means. For example, he fights two against one in a one on one battle. His henchmen, especially Wamuu, unlike him, have honor and stick to agreements. In the course of Kars‘ fight against JoJo and company, Kars achieves his goal and defeats the sun. To finally defeat him, JoJo follows in his father's footsteps and becomes a pilot. However, Kars is not killed. He is transported into space by JoJo's gumption and a bit of luck, freezes and now floats for all time through the vastness of space. This is the greatest punishment for Kars. Now he wishes to die. But he has ruined this for himself by his greed for power. This part doesn't have any special tricks or plot twists either. The fact that Lisa Lisa is JoJo's mother was weakly resolved and ultimately vegetated into a bad cliffhanger. Sad.
Fighting system:
Hamon is a very good fighting system in terms of the idea. The decision to explain it to the main character and at the same time to us with the help of Zeppeli was successful. But unfortunately, Hamon was used poorly. New rules were introduced during the fight, which always seems like making up something new for the main character to win. For example, in Part 1, during the fight, it is suddenly said that metal conducts Hamon. As a result, JoJo wins, which of course feels somehow undeserved. But if metal is suddenly surrounded by stone, it doesn't conduct hamon. This rule exists so that JoJo remains trapped. It seems like the rules are there for the plot to move forward, not because they are the rules of this world.
Also, the inheritance of Hamon to the grandson of Jonathan is stupid. Especially because the son of Jonathan could not use hamon himself. Anyone who knows anything about inheritance can see that this makes no sense. Besides, hamon is a skill that has to be learned laboriously. Likewise, Caesar accidentally uses hamon in his flashback. Hamon is a breathing technique that you use consciously and which is weakened by feelings of anger or fear. One must learn to embrace fear. This is how Zeppeli explains it in Part 1, but Caesar uses Hamon in the flashback even though he is upset by an insult.
Hamon is a well-established martial art and much could have been made of it. However, Araki does not follow the rules himself or these rules are explained during fights for the benefit of the main characters or to avoid plot conveniences. This is lazy writing. You can tell Araki didn't feel like doing Hamon anymore, so the battle system changed from Part 3 on.
Characters:
The characters are well narrated throughout. Every single one of them brings the story forward. My favorites are, on the one hand, Dio as the antagonist of Part 1. He's the biggest asshole, but his performance is very epic. His character design and good synchro add to that. On the other hand, JoJo from Part 2, he's very funny. I also really liked his ideas/plans as well as personality.
Humor:
The humor in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is special and extremely unique. It's hard to explain. It's that over the top. You laugh your head off when Dio just hammers his legs into the wall or JoJo pulls a Tommy-Gun out of nowhere. Humor, as always, is a matter of opinion. You have to experience it yourself to decide if it appeals to you. In Part 2, the humor is much better than in Part 1. I liked it throughout, though.
Art:
The manga faithful adaptation is most evident in the artificial presentation of the anime. There are huge onomatopoeias everywhere, which are really only typical of manga. Furthermore, from time to time the screen is split similar to manga panels, often at the theatrical reaction faces. The artstyle of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is super iconic and own. It's perfect for portraying the exaggerated nature of JoJo. At the same time, the artstyle is kept in the style of the 80s. All the colors create beautiful images. The animation is not particularly outstanding. Often it consists only of still images or, in dialogues, only of moving mouths. However, the artstyle ensures that this is not very noticeable. In general, the visuals are superbly done.
Sound:
The anime is very true to manga. Still, it is well aware of the strengths of the anime medium. Namely, the anime features a great soundtrack. Both the openings of Part 1 and Part 2 are bangers. One of the best openings in anime history. I found the opening of Part 1 to be a bit stronger. The transition to the ending "Roundabout" from YES is so creative that it became a meme itself and few know the origin. The soundtrack from Part 1 by Hayato Matsuo is in a classic old style, which is very fitting. The Part 2 soundtrack by Taku Iwasaki is more action packed and some tracks have lyrics. I really liked the soundtracks of both parts and the tracks were used appropriately throughout. The sound effects are also just fitting to the over the top of JoJo. The explosive and deep basses capture the spirit of JoJo super.
The dubbing in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is over the top, just like the anime itself. The voice actors are absorbed in their roles and many of the scenes are carried by the outstanding and emotionally charged dubbing. The voice actors did a phenomenal job.
Conclusion:
The story alone is not special. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is not carried by the story but by the spirit of the series. What makes this series special is not what is done, but how it is done. The arstyle, the soundtrack, the synchro and the humor all work together to create a work that is incomparable. There is no such thing as JoJo. JoJo is one of a kind. This series is so over the top. On the other hand, you still take the series absolutely seriously. It prances on the border to trash tv. But it doesn't cross that line. The meme culture of JoJo on the internet was not created because the series is trash, but because it was so brilliantly done. The author Araki wanted it to be that way. He thus achieves what many series fail to do.
Thanks for reading
