Episode 1

Dio the Invader (侵略者ディオ) is the first episode of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime. It is also the first episode of Phantom Blood. It covers Chapter 1 through Chapter 5 of the manga.

Summary
In the year 1868, a carriage carrying a couple and their baby son has fallen down a cliff because of the ongoing downpour. A thief named Dario Brando and his companion see the crash and decide to steal whatever valuables there are from the corpses, first leaving an ugly looking Stone Mask. The gentleman George Joestar and his baby son have survived the crash, but his had died. Thinking Dario had come to save him, George offers Dario the right to ask him a favor for his "help". Dario accepts the offer.

Twelve years later, George is looking out from his balcony at his son, Jonathan Joestar (AKA JoJo), who had grown into a young boy over the course of the years. Meanwhile in the slums, a bedridden Dario orders his son, Dio Brando, for alcohol and tells him to fetch some beer. Somewhere in the slums, Dio plays a game of chess with a rough looking man. Dio wins and asks the man for the money they had bet, but just after he drops the money the man pushes Dio's face into his food. Dio can only struggle as he grabs the money on the table.

In another area, 🇺🇳 are bullying a small girl named Erina Pendleton by taking her doll. Jonathan intervenes and helps the girl. While he gets beaten up by the bullies, he's able to get the doll back. Erina attempts to thank Jonathan, but he refuses, claiming that he did not help her for her gratitude, but rather because he is training to become a true gentleman, one who would help those in need. He runs off, but inadvertently leaves his handkerchief on which Erina can read his name.

Dario, on his death bed, tells Dio of the favor George owes him. He hands Dio a and tells him to go to the Joestar Mansion so that he may be raised in better conditions. Not long afterwords, Dario dies and is buried. Dio briefly stands in front of his grave and as a "goodbye", spits on it. He then promises himself to exploit the Joestars to further himself. Soon after, Dio arrives at the Joestar Mansion and meets Jonathan. Jonathan's dog, Danny, comes running towards them but, without a thought, Dio knees Danny in the jaw, which gets on Jonathan's nerves. Dio then thinks to himself that he now must destroy Jonathan mentally in order to gain the Joestar's wealth. Dio proceeds to bully Jonathan and assert his domination over him.

Since then, Dio continuously tries to completely destroy Jonathan's social life. At home, he has gained George's favor, as he not only has better marks than Jonathan, but he shows much better table manners than him. During a local boxing match, Jonathan has to fight Dio, who demonstrates his superior fighting skill and manages to sneakily stick his thumb in Jonathan's eye. Jonathan is defeated, and Dio uses the popularity his victory gives him to tell everyone that Jonathan will rat them out.

Since then, nobody in the area includes Jonathan in their activities due to him being a "tattle-tale." However, he meets up with Erina again. The two quickly become friends and eventually start going out. At one point, Jonathan carves his and her name into a tree. Dio finds out about Jonathan's relationship thus, as Erina is walking home one day, Dio appears and forcibly kisses her, knowing full well that he had stolen Erina's first kiss from Jonathan. Later on, Jonathan finds out about this from Dio's peers and runs to the mansion to confront him. At first, Jonathan cannot beat Dio, but his rage allows him to overpower finally and Jonathan gets the upper hand. As Jonathan punches Dio repeatedly, some of Dio's blood sprays onto the Stone Mask causing it to grow tentacles and fall to the floor. Dio attempts to pull out a knife, but George appears and tells them to stop and sends them both to their rooms.

The next day, one of the butlers ignites an incinerator in which there is a large box, soon after the butler is shocked by what appears to be banging sounds coming from inside the incinerator. Jonathan, who had not been able to talk to Erina at all that day, comes home to find his dog buried: Danny was the one inside the box and had burned to death. Jonathan instantly thinks of Dio, but there's no proof. Later that night, Dio is seen standing under a streetlight thinking to himself. He realizes he had underestimated Jonathan and decides to change his tactics.

Commentary
"Since the whole production began with this episode, a lot of work has been put in it. No doubt it was the one that took the longest to do because of its neverending storyboard. Initially, 400 scenes were planned, but they didn't fit in the given time. We reluctantly had to cut a lot of scenes. The one where Jonathan eats his chocolate bar and the one where Dio stole the watch are simply absent.

Regarding the animation, our team wasn't familiar with the selected aesthetic; sometimes the lines are too thin or aren't dynamic enough. However, I think we did well for the boxing fight scene. It may be not obvious with the booklet, but one of JoJo's particularities are the wide angle poses. A too proper or prosaic style would have considerably lessened their charm. Thus we have reached for a restitution of the original material's vigor."

- Naokatsu Tsuda, Blu-Ray limited edition commentaries

Trivia

 * The arrows featured during the internal monologue scenes are an homage to one of Araki's other works, namely Cool Shock B.T. In the manga, they appear whenever B.T. (the main character) is scheming.