JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

AUTHOR:Araki, Hirohiko

ARTIST: Hirohiko Araki (illustrator); Sean McCoy (letterer)

PUBLISHER: Shueisha (Japanese); VIZ Media (English)

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION:JoJo no kimyo na boken, 1987-

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 1987- (English translation, 2005-2010)

Publication History

Hirohiko Araki launched JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure in 1987 in Japan’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. The first five parts of the series, consisting of 594 chapters later collected in sixty-three volumes, were published in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1987 to 1997. Strictly speaking, these first sixty-three volumes are the only ones published under the series title of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. However, as Araki has used the same characters, ideas, settings, and background in later works, he has, in fact, continued the JoJo story under different titles. For that reason, the series is considered to be ongoing.

From 1998 to 2002, Weekly Shonen Jump published seventeen volumes under the new series title Stone Ocean. In 2004, the series moved to Shueisha’s Ultra Jump, a seinen magazine, and ran for another twenty-four volumes under the title Steel Ball Run. After Japan’s devastating Tohoku earthquake on March 11, 2011, Araki launched a new version of his series, JoJolion, for Ultra Jump. JoJolion is set in a fictional Japanese town affected by the earthquake and tsunami and features some of the familiar JoJo characters.

VIZ Media began to publish the series in English under the title JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure in 2005. The VIZ volumes begin with the last chapter of the original volume 12 and extend to the end of the original volume 28. For the English edition, Araki created an eight-page prologue summarizing the story up to the point at which VIZ’s first volume begins.

Plot

Targeted to a teenage male audience, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure combines an action-adventure story beginning in nineteenth century England with supernatural elements. As the series develops, Araki introduces new protagonists for each different story arc, all of whom are given names that fit the nickname of JoJo.

As summarized by Araki in his introduction, part 1 of the series begins in 1868, when a carriage accident kills the wife of English lord George Joestar. A bandit prowling for loot, Dario Brando, rescues Lord George and his infant son, Jonathan. Out of gratitude, George raises Dario’s son, Dio, as his own. However, evil Dio plots to take over the Joestar family.

At age twenty, Jonathan Joestar fights Dio. Jonathan has been trained in the supernatural martial art of Hamon, or Ripple, by an itinerant teacher. Hamon uses solar energy and is most effective against vampires. This is fortunate, as Dio becomes a vampire after he puts on a magic South American stone mask.

After Dio kills Jonathan’s father, he severs his own head. This saves his head from being destroyed by Jonathan’s Hamon attack. Later, at sea, Dio’s head attacks Jonathan. Both appear to die as Jonathan grips Dio’s head and they sink to the bottom of the Atlantic.

Part 2 develops another story arc bypassed in the English version. It features the fight, ultimately victorious, of young Joseph Joestar, grandson of the late Jonathan, against Nazis and vampire gods in 1938.

The English edition begins with part 3 of the series. Part 3 opens as seventeen-year-old Jotaro Kujo sits in a jail cell in Tokyo in 1989. Jotaro is the half-Japanese grandson of Joseph Joestar. A punk-style rebel, he was arrested after winning a street fight against four armed thugs. However, as Jotaro believes he is possessed by an evil spirit, he refuses to leave jail.

A flashback reveals that vampire Dio was brought back to life four years before when sea treasure hunters raised and opened a chest containing Dio’s head, now fused with Jonathan’s body. Aware of this, Jotaro’s grandfather Joseph arrives in Japan to prepare Jotaro for the battle against Dio. Joseph tells Jotaro that he has acquired special psychic powers. The manifestation of these powers is called a “Stand,” because it stands beside the person who can command and control it. Jotaro’s Stand is Star Platinum, and Joseph’s is Hermit Purple; the first part of each Stand’s name comes from a distinctive card in the Western tarot deck.

Jotaro leaves jail with Joseph and his grandfather’s Egyptian friend, Mohammed Avdol, who also has a Stand. The fight against Dio becomes more urgent when Jotaro’s mother and Joseph’s daughter, Holly, develops a plantlike Stand on her back. This Stand will consume Holly’s life unless Dio dies.

Jotaro and Joseph embark on a quest to fight Dio, who has come to reside in Egypt. The airplane meant to transport them there crashes during an onboard fight with one of Dio’s henchmen, who also controls a Stand of his own, a giant stag beetle. Jotaro, Joseph, and their allies fight their way from Hong Kong to Egypt. On this quest, many new characters with unique Stands of their own join, or oppose, Jotaro and Joseph. By the time Jotaro confronts Dio in Cairo, many of his closest friends have died as the result of fights with Dio’s allies.

In Cairo, Jotaro discovers that Dio’s Stand, The World, enables Dio to stop time for his opponent for a few seconds, rendering his opponent defenseless for this period. The two fight, and Dio initially seems to overpower Jotaro. However, after Dio stops time for nine seconds, Jotaro manages to stop Dio’s time for two seconds and escape his trap. Jotaro defeats Dio and allows the sun to destroy the vampire’s remains. Reunited with Joseph, Jotaro relishes his well-earned victory.

Though the VIZ volumes end with Jotaro’s victory, the original series continues past this point. Part 4 features the adventures of Joseph’s illegitimate son, Josuke Higashikata. Part 5 introduces Dio’s son Giorno Giovana, who seeks to become a Mafia don. The original series ends after part 5, but parts 6 through 8 are also set in the JoJo universe, employing alternate time lines and different versions of the familiar characters. The setting of the ongoing series then moves to the fictional Japanese town of Morio, which is suffering from the aftermath of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

Volumes

• JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: The Evil Spirit, Volume 1(2005).Collects original Japanese chapters 114-123 (renumbered 1-10). Jotaro Kujo is introduced, as is the concept of the Stands. The series moves from a domestic Japanese setting to an international one.

• JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Silver Chariot, Volume 2 (2006). Collects original chapters 124-132 (renumbered 11-19). Jotaro’s journey to Egypt is interrupted when his plane crashes near Hong Kong. This plot device stretches the travel time to allow for the development of a multitude of adventures featuring good and evil characters and their Stands.

• JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Volumes 3-10 (2006-2008). Each volume collects nine to ten of the original chapters, ranging from chapter 133 to 210 (renumbered 20-97). The adventures move from Asia to the climactic location of Egypt. In Egypt, Jotaro and his allies battle enemies using Stands based on ancient Egyptian gods. Jotaro is helped by a sympathetic animal character, the Boston terrier Iggy, who commands a Stand of his own.

• JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure,Volumes 11-15 (2009-2010). Collects original chapters 211-246 (renumbered 98-143). Jotaro and his friends move in on Dio, who is defended by the flamboyant D’Arby brothers. Several prominent characters are killed, including Avdol, Iggy, and Kakyoin.

• JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Journey’s End, Volume 16(2010). Collects original chapters 257-265 (renumbered 144-152). The story arc ends with the climactic showdown between Jotaro and Dio.

Characters

• Jotaro Kujo, the protagonist, is a seventeen-year-old high school student living in Japan. He has an English American mother and a Japanese father and likes to dress in punk-style clothing, wearing a black leather cap and piercing the collar of his black high school uniform overcoat with a short chain. He is a rebel and commands the Stand Star Platinum, which delivers powerful punches to any opponent. His quest to defeat Dio and save his mother drives the plot.

• Dio Brando, the antagonist, is a blond vampire from Victorian England. He commands the Stand The World. He desires to rule the world and seeks to destroy the Joestar family.

• Holly Kujo is Jotaro’s loving mother and the daughter of Joseph Joestar. A pretty English American woman, she is married to a Japanese jazz musician. Her unnamed Stand will kill her unless Jotaro defeats Dio.

• Joseph Joestar is Jotaro’s grandfather, a bearded older man who wears a hat and cloak. His Stand is Hermit Purple. He is kind but determined to kill Dio. He mentors Jotaro in the use of his Stand and seeks to save Holly from hers.

• Mohammed Avdol is a middle-aged Egyptian magician with the Stand Magician’s Red. A friend of Joseph, he trains and supports Jotaro until he dies in battle.

• Noriaki Kakyoin is a tall, somewhat arrogant Japanese high school student with flowing brown hair and pierced ears. He hides a warm heart under a cold posture and commands the Stand Hierophant Green. Although he initially seems to be an enemy, he becomes a close friend of Jotaro until his death.

• Gray Fly is an elderly, balding Japanese man who commands the Stand Tower of Gray and is allied with Dio. His attack on Jotaro brings down the plane on which he is traveling, setting the stage for an adventure-filled journey to Egypt.

• Jean Pierre Polnareff is a young Frenchman with white hair. His ears are pierced with broken heart ornaments in memory of his sister.

• Captain Tennille’s Impersonator is an assassin in league with Dio and impersonates a ship captain to try to kill Jotaro.

• Soul Sacrifice is a sadistic Native American shaman and assassin.

• J. Geil is an ally of Dio with a deformed body and two right hands. He commands the Stand the Hanged Man and is killed by Polnareff in retribution for the murder of Polnareff’s sister.

• Iggy is a Boston terrier tamed by Avdol. His Stand, the Fool, helps Jotaro and his friends battle Dio and his allies.

• Daniel J. and Terence Trent D’Arby are brothers and powerful allies of Dio. One is a cheating poker player, and the other is a skilled video-game player.

• Vanilla Ice is an ally of Dio who commands the Stand Cream. He is defeated by Polnareff, Avdol, and Iggy.

Artistic Style

Perhaps because of the series’ origin as a vampire story set in England, Araki draws JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure in a Western-influenced style that does not feature many of the stylistic elements common in manga, such as exaggerated wide eyes. Major characters are drawn extravagantly, often breaking out of their panels and occasionally filling up more than half a page. Araki takes great pride in creating detailed drawings of the elaborate costumes of his characters. Jotaro, for instance, stands out by wearing a black leather outfit resembling a punk version of a traditional Japanese boy’s high school uniform. This emphasis on black leather clothing may remind Western readers of the figures drawn by Tom of Finland (pseudonym of Finnish artist Touko Laaksonen).

The supernatural Stands offer Araki the opportunity to exercise Artistic freedom to stunning visual effect. The many Stands depicted within the series range in look from human-shaped martial-arts experts to insect and other animal shapes and the robotlike The World. The World, commanded by Dio, has sensuously drawn lips similar to those of his master, who somewhat resembles the Joker of the Batman series.

Araki’s exuberant graphic style rarely follows traditional, static arrangements of panels. Instead, he seems to enjoy splashing his human and animal characters and their Stands wildly across double pages. Blood and body parts often splatter the panels. It is not uncommon for minor characters to endure brutal violence. Some of the graphic violence against animals, particularly dogs, has been toned down by Araki for the English version of the series.

The story is told through pictures, dialogue, and bursts of sound effects, which are occasionally written in Japanese characters. Plot information is provided on introductory pages for each English volume. For his covers, Araki uses bold, splashy colors that contrast with the black-and-white content of the interior pages. On the color covers, Jotaro’s leather coat is depicted as dark blue, and the links of his chain are painted gold.

Themes

The core themes of part 3 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure are good versus evil and coming-of-age. At the center of the story is Jotaro, who has obvious problems fitting into regular Japanese society. With his outsized leather coat and torn leather cap, Jotaro is the very image of a teenage rebel verging on juvenile delinquency. He feels stifled by the affection of his mother and seems disparaging of the many female high school classmates who adore him.

What makes Jotaro special is his discovery of the magic powers of his Stand and his obligation to carry on the fight inherited from his maternal grandfather. When Jotaro learns he must fight the evil vampire Dio to save the life of his mother and ensure the survival of the Joestar family, the knowledge gives the young man a new sense of purpose in life.

Jotaro is guided by his English grandfather, Joseph, who takes the place of Jotaro’s absent Japanese father, who is touring Japan as a jazz musician and never makes an appearance. This aspect has been noted as a critique of contemporary Japanese family and society. In the course of his quest to defeat Dio, Jotaro gains new friends and ends his initial social isolation. As a consequence of his supernatural adventure, he matures as a person.

Many characters are named after real-life pop stars and music groups. For copyright reasons, a few of these names were changed in the English version. Most Stands are based on Tarot cards. However, both of these Artistic choices seem to lack a discernible deeper motivation or effect.

Impact

Part 3 of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure proved to be the most popular segment of Araki’s multigenerational adventure story, and the invention of the Stands gave the manga a unique edge with its young male readers. Despite its popularity in Japan, the series was not as well received in the United States; as of 2012, part 3 remains the only part of the series translated into English. Its publication in the United States was additionally hindered by a one-year hiatus between volume 10 and 11, from April of 2008 to April of 2009. The hiatus came about because of complaints from viewers of the animated adaptation who objected to a scene in which Dio is shown reading the Qur’an. Nevertheless, Araki has continued the manga in Japan, creating new story arcs and characters that expand the JoJo universe. By including the 2011 Tohoku earthquake in his plot, Araki has also made his ongoing series very topical.

Films

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Directed by Hideki Futamura and Hiroyuki Kitakubo (first season) and Kazufumi Nomura and Noboru Furuse (second season). A.P.P.P., 1993-1994, 2001-2002. This thirteen-episode original video animation stars Jurota Kosugi as the voice of Jotaro Kujo and Nobuo Tanaka as Dio Brando. The first season covers the middle of the story to its end, with the second season adapting the beginning of the story. In the United States, Super Techno Arts released the entire story arc in chronological order in six DVD volumes between 2003 and 2005.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood. Directed by Junichi Hayama. A.P.P.P., 2007. This animated film stars Katsuyuki Konishi as the voice of Jonathan Joestar and Kenji Nojima as Dio Brando. It follows the plot of the first story arc quite faithfully.

Further Reading

Araki, Hirohiko. Baoh (1985-1986).

Miura, Kentaro. Berserk (1990- ).

Bibliography

Gravett, Paul. Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics. New York: Harper Design, 2004.

Johnson-Woods, Toni, ed. Manga: An Anthology of Global and Cultural Perspectives. New York: Continuum, 2010.

Thompson, Jason. Manga: The Complete Guide. New York: Del Rey, 2007.