Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, objectively speaking, is one of the best anime’s in recent history. From muscular beat downs to incredible themes to iconic and outlandish poses, openings, and outfits, Jojo’s is one of the most consistently and thoughtfully written and crafted shows in recent history. Jojo manages to faithfully adapt each part of the manga into a meticulously crafted show with phenomenal voice acting, themes, musical and philosophical, and an overall binge worthy experience. (Beware, minimal Spoilers ahead)
Part 1, Phantom Blood, is the ultimate classic good vs evil story, while not the most interesting beginning to a show it ultimately acts as a base to the pantheon that is Jojo’s. Part 1, or the first 9 episodes established the relationship between Jonathan Joestar, an aristocratic Englishman in the 1800’s with his pure evil adopted brother Dio Brando. In the short 9 episodes, we are introduced to the first important main JoJo as well as the power’s some manage to manifest called hamon. Part 1 truly shines when introduced to the main storyline of defeating a vampiric Dio by Jonathan and his new found companions. Jonathan is however, a tragic hero as shorty after his “defeat” of his sworn enemy, Dio returns to crash Jonathans honey moon cruise and forcing Jonathan into a suicide bomb of sorts in an attempt to defeat Dio for good. 6/10
Part 2, Battle Tendency, occurs years after Part 1 beginning with the aftermath of Jonathan’s death at the hand’s of Dio, and introduces the audience to the new Jojo, Joseph Joestar. Joseph is Jonathan’s grandson who was born of Jonathan’s wife, Erina who managed to flee the ship, pregnant with a child. Jojo’s finally begins to hit its stride with Part 2 as Joseph is far more comical and quippy which serves as a direct opposite to Jonathan while having his own values and character flaws. Arguably the best part of all Jojo parts are the side characters, Lisa Lisa, Cesar Zeppeli, and Smokey all serve great portions of the plot and are each incredible characters of their own. The villain’s of part 2 are none other than the infamous Pillar men, three immortal vampire gods whom Joseph, Cesar, and Lisa Lisa set out to thwart their world domination. Part 2 while being a minorly confusing follow up to part 1 is all eventually laid bare and explained (No Spoils, go watch for yourself!) 8.5/10
Part 3, The Stardust Crusaders, is the ultimate team up in which an older Joseph, Joseph’s grandson Jotaro and others set out to stop a resurrected Dio. What causes Part 3 to shine is the introduction of Stands, the ability to manifest one’s soul into an anthropomorphic ability. Stand’s are so bizzare and outlandish it establishes a completely different world that the story takes place in while also fulfilling the legacy of the Joestars vs Dio brando. Part 3 is the viewing of Jotaro Kujo, Joseph’s grandson, fulfilling his great, great grandfather’s legacy and putting an end to the evil Dio Brando and saving his mother. Jotaro is ultimately the most cool Jojo with an iconic look and line,”yare yare daze” (good grief). Jotaro’s unfeeling nature and stoic, punch first talk later nature allows for some of the best fights in anime history as well as creating a great dynamic and the rest of the team. 8.5/10
Part 4, Diamond is Unbreakable, sees the return of Jotaro to a small town in Japan to investigate Joseph’s illegitimate son who’s also inherited the ability of a stand. Joseph’s son, Josuke Higashikate runs into his own issues as his town has a plethora of evil stand users in which he and his posse but an end to while also hunting down an active murderer of 15 years. Part 4 is the most laid back and quirky of the parts, the story is mostly story driven and far more focused on the town of Morioh and its people rather than the fights. Part 4 once again shines with its stranger things vibe and it’s incredibly interesting characters while once again delivering on a fantastic villain. Josuke is a big ol clown with big hair and an even bigger heart. Josuke would rather punch people into being his friend and fighting for what’s right which creates a separation between him and Jotaro. 8.5/10
Part 5, Golden Wind sees a side character of part 4 go to Italy to investigate a mysterious stand user who is none other than the son of Dio Brando, Giorno Giovanna. Giorno, who is related to the Joestar line through a ridiculous (and bizzare) line of reasoning also happens to have a stand. Giorno Giovanna is a man with morals and a dream, a dream of reorganizing the Italian crime to old standards, keeping drugs and violence away from the public and away from women and children. Giorno, of course, goes to extreme lengths and joins the largest gang in Italy only to befriend a team and flip on the leader of the gang to enact his will. Part 5 once again has an amazing and engaging group of characters as well as a character driven plot. With a great ensemble, incredible voice actors, great themes, and outlandish style and poses adapted directly from the source material, Jojo’s once again delivers another great season. 10/10
What allows Jojo’s Bizarre adventure to truly shine is its faithfulness to the source material. The show is almost an exact adaptation of the manga, which manages to find logical reasons to include the outlandish style choices and poses of the character. Jojo’s also switches between different genres for each part as well as different roster’s of characters allowing for audiences to have something just for them in every part. Jojo’s is once again an incredibly meticulously crafted show with some of the most iconic characters in anime/manga history as well as a great score, phenomenal style and great voice acting. Definitely worth your time and dedication. Watch on Netflix, Hulu, and Crunchyroll.