Phantom Blood (film)

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood (ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 ファントム ブラッド) is an animated film produced by Studio A.P.P.P., which was given a limited theatrical release in Japan starting on February 17, 2007. It adapts the first part of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, Phantom Blood.

Phantom Blood was produced to commemorate the 20th anniversary of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, as well as the 25th anniversary of Hirohiko Araki's career as a manga artist. A PS2 game based on the Phantom Blood manga was also released a couple of months prior to the film, with a few characters sharing the same voice actors.

The film's home video release was delayed due to controversy surrounding the studio's previous adaptation and has since then been considered.

2004 Tokyo International Pilot
A test pilot doubling as an announcement trailer for the film was shown at the 2004. The animation and character designs are entirely unique to the trailer and were not used in the final product. Some scenes and characters, including Robert Speedwagon, were present but did not make it into the actual film.

Much like the film, the pilot had been considered until September 14, 2019, when a Youtube User named MangoMation uploaded it to his channel with the description: "I found this pilot on an old DVD-RW, with the help of Notelu, who restored and upscaled the pilot: Notelu's Channel. A comparison of the raw file and the restored version of this pilot can be found here: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood Pilot", which links to a restoration comparison.

Phantom Blood PS2 Event
This event was held on September 13, 2006 to promote the upcoming Phantom Blood PS2 game that was set to release on October 26, 2006.

Hirohiko Araki, Junichi Hayama, Hikaru Midorikawa, Jun Itoda, and Kazuhiro Ozawa attended this event, where it was revealed that the movie was currently being worked on. Hikaru Midorikawa, the voice actor of Dio Brando in the PS2 game, reprised his role in the movie. The comedy duo named Speedwagon, comprised of Jun Itoda and Kazuhiro Ozawa, voiced Wang Chan and Dario Brando respectively.

Those who were present at this event were given a sneak peek of a 47 second trailer as to what the movie was expected to look like. This exact trailer came on a bonus disc for those who pre-ordered the PS2 Phantom Blood game.

Two unused/rare posters were displayed in the hallways of this event, which weren't used for the final movie except in promotional material.

Trivia

 * Despite the character's own lack of involvement in the movie, the Japanese comedy duo "Speedwagon", comprised of Jun Idota and Kazuhiro Ozawa, voiced Wang Chan and Dario Brando respectively.
 * In the Teaser Trailer the music is remixed of 2 tracks from the 1993 OVA's
 * Dio's Dervish OST Vol. 2
 * Going Home - (Dio's Dervish remix) OST Vol. 3
 * In the theatrical trailer, the music is remixed of 2 tracks from the 2000 OVA Soundtrack
 * Polanreff's Feelings
 * Polnareff's Anger
 * There have been unproven rumors regarding Araki's opinions on the film since its release;
 * Hirohiko Araki "hating" the movie started from a poorly circulated rumour online long before the 16 Minute Workprint surfaced.
 * Him wanting the movie "burnt" stemmed from another defunct rumour with no source to prove his claim.
 * On the movie's poster, Jonathan is modeled after Joseph from the cover of Volume 8. Whether or not this was intentional is unknown.
 * Jonathan's jewellery on the movie poster is referenced from the Cover of Volume 3.
 * Dio is modeled after two poses from the manga: one from Chapter 13 when he is standing on the broken window ledge, and another from a Chapter 36 panel spread.