JoJo ~Sono Chi no Sadame~

"JoJo ~Sono Chi no Sadame~" (ジョジョ ～その血の～) is the first opening theme song of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The Animation. Associated with the first arc of the series, Phantom Blood, the song is the debut solo release of Hiroaki "TOMMY" Tominaga.

The song is written by, composed by , and arranged by. Both Fujibayashi and Tanaka are noted for their contributions to theme songs, having previously worked together on "We Are!" for. Tominaga's vocals and the accompanying brass band were said to give the whole song an "anime song groove" that harkens back to much older and love-theme songs. The lyrics resonated well with the story of Phantom Blood, and Jun Yamamoto for  said he "could almost feel the passion and ambition that Jonathan Joestar had in his fight against Dio Brando".

"JoJo ~Sono Chi no Sadame~" did moderately well in the charts, peaking at 14 on the 's Weekly Album Charts. On Billboard's, it debuted at 52 and peaked at 19; on the Japan Hot Animation chart, it debuted and peaked at 5; and on the Japan Hot Singles Sales it debuted and peaked at 10, and left the charts after the week of February 25, 2013, after a 12-week run. When the subsequent theme song, "Bloody Stream," by Coda entered the charts, "JoJo (Sono Chi no Sadame)" was seen on the Oricon to jump from a ranking of 65 to 41 in one week

Opening Animation
The opening serves as an abbreviated version of the part, showing the major highlights of Phantom Blood.

It begins with a quick montage of manga scenes featuring the first six JoJo protagonists shown in reverse order (Jolyne, Giorno, Josuke, Jotaro, Joseph, and finally Jonathan) each animated panel showing at least two of their most memorable moments. When Jonathan appears he emerges from his panel, color filling his body, before smacking the camera, causing the title to appear.

From there the camera moves through a tunnel towards a door, which slams open into a stylized version of the Joestar Mansion. A young Jonathan is seen, framed like a portrait, Dio then jumps out of a painting, like he did when arriving at the Mansion, and the two stare each other down. The scene shifts over to a rotating Statue of the Goddess of Love. A sudden spin of the statue turns it into an arm holding the Stone Mask and another spin turns it into, what is presumably, Jonathan's arm holding a knife, carving his and Erina's name into a tree. Erina is shown blushing and attempts to move in for a kiss from Jonathan, but is surprised and horrified when Dio kisses her instead. The scene then changes to Dio's perspective, as an enraged Jonathan appears and punches the camera, causing its gaze to shift onto the Stone Mask as blood splatters on it. The Stone Mask's eyes glow and the camera rotates behind it, as tendrils emerge from the mask and pull the camera in.

The scene changes to when the police attempt to shoot Dio after he has put on the Stone Mask. Dio flies back after being shot and the window shatters. One of the broken pieces of glass shows the reflection of Jonathan holding his dying father. A moment later, Jonathan's arm points toward the sun. Dio, after gaining his new vampire abilities, is seen walking up the wall of the burning Joestar mansion. The room spins and Dio appears up close holding the Stone Mask. He stabs a knife into the camera and another montage of scenes from the manga, featuring him as a child to an adult, commences.

After a quick worried glance from Erina, a scene starts up with Jonathan staring at the darkness at the top of some stairs. Swinging his arm, the Ripple shoots through his body. Jonathan then proceeds to walk up the stairs. He gradually picks up speed and starts running until his eyes are close up with his pupils filled with the flames of rage. At the top of the stairs, Dio sits on a throne, holding the Stone Mask in front of his face. A quick zoom into a reverse montage of scenes from the manga starts up, including one featuring Zeppeli at his last moments with Jonathan, which starts with the confrontation before their fight and ends with Dio and Jonathan meeting as children. Jonathan is then seen charging his Ripple overdrive and punches Dio. Dio attempts to block it. The camera rotates and zooms out from the battle up a long flight of spiral stairs. A moment later, the Stone Mask is seen falling into the ocean and slowly sinks to the bottom.

Lyrics
{| style="border-collapse:collapse;" border="2" width="100%"
 * align="left" width="33%" style="background-color:#;"| Japanese Kanji
 * align="left" width="33%" style="background-color:#;"| Japanese Rōmaji
 * align="left" width="33%" style="background-color:#;"| English Translation
 * colspan="3" |
 * colspan="3" |
 * colspan="3" |


 * }

Tracklist
Lyrics: Shoko Fujibayashi / Composition: Kohei Tanaka / Arrangement: Kow Otani
 * 1) JoJo ~Sono Chi no Sadame~ (ジョジョ～その血の運命～)
 * 1) JoJo ~Sono Chi no Sadame~ ~ORIGINAL KARAOKE~

Trivia

 * The sinking Stone Mask into the ocean foreshadows what ultimately happens to Jonathan and Dio: sunken to the bottom of the ocean and not to be heard of until the events of Stardust Crusaders.
 * In the US airing of Phantom Blood on Toonami, the opening was edited down to 30 seconds to fit American television guidelines for several more commercials than Japanese television broadcasts.

Site Navigation
