JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

File:Jojo no kimyou na bouken japanese logo.svg

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (ジョジョの奇妙な冒険, JoJo no Kimyō na Bōken) (often shortened to JoJo or abbreviated JJBA) is a shōnen and seinen manga written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki, and the main subject of this wikia project.

Profile

JoJo was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1987 until 2004, when it then transferred to the monthly seinen magazine Ultra Jump, where the story continues.

The series has over 95 million copies in print, making it one of the best-selling manga series in history. Filling over 100 volumes (for a total of ~20,000 pages), it is Shueisha's second longest-running manga series. Publication in English of the earlier parts of the series is ongoing.

JoJo's genre spans Action, Adventure, Supernatural, Thriller, Comedy, Tragedy, Mystery, and Horror. It is perhaps most popularly known for its Stand phenomenon; the Stardust Crusaders arc and its characters Dio Brando/DIO and Jotaro Kujo; the expressive rendition of its proud, glamorous personalities; and its hundreds of nominal references to Western popular music.

Adding to the JoJo canon to varying degrees, Araki has authored several spin-offs and related artbooks; and several light novels have also been produced, all containing his illustrations.

JoJo is the longest Shueisha manga series to have not received an animated adaptation for television. However, the official TV anime finally made its debut on October 6, 2012 (separating the manga and anime debuts by twenty-five years); designed by animation studio David Production.

Its range of other merchandise includes several adaptations in video games, including three fighting games of international release; Heritage for the Future by Capcom (on the CPS-3 board) in 1998; All-Star Battle by Bandai Namco Games for the PS3 in 2014; and Eyes of Heaven for the PS4 in 2016.

Guide

• List of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure chapters
• Episode Guide

Summary

The story in JoJo is divided between two continuities. The first includes Parts 1 to 6, detailed in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1987 to 2003, while the second includes Parts 7 and 8, detailed in seinen magazine Ultra Jump from 2004 to the present. The plot across these stories is supplied in multi-chapter arcs detailing precarious, melodramatic conflicts between parties defined both by unique supernatural powers, mainly by the versatile Stand phenomenon, and exclusive ambitions, attitudes or moral standards. These arcs vary in tone, alternating adventure, suspense, mystery, and horror; always through action, often with some embedded comedy. Typically, a race emerges among the heroes of a story to intercept a powerful central antagonist.

Many references to modern film, television, fashion, fine art, and (particularly) popular music are readily identifiable throughout JoJo in many settings and both the characterization and nomenclature of the cast. Examples of physical, mathematical and psychological theory, biology, technology, mythology, natural phenomena, historic events, and segments of other artistic work inform the design and functionality of JoJo 's multitude of unique Stands. The series occasionally makes fanciful developments upon contemporary scientific theory in creation of the routes by which certain Stands and other powers exert their influence on nature.

Morioh, fictional Japanese town and base of Diamond Is Unbreakable and as a distinct incarnation in the ongoing JoJolion shares its coordinates with Araki's hometown, Sendai, assuming a more culturally detailed description and referencing more contemporary topics (such as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake) than other settings. Additionally, Stand-wielding mangaka Rohan Kishibe, a resident of Morioh introduced in Diamond Is Unbreakable, returns as guide in a number of JoJo spin-offs.

Hirohiko Araki, asked in 2006 to describe the subject of JoJo in a phrase, answered "the enigma of human beings" and "a eulogy [to] [the] human"; and as his attitude to manga, "the salvation of the heart". Subjects in the text of the manga may be condensed under themes of Fate, Fortunity, Justice and Redemption, as affirmed by several central characters.

Part 1 to Part 6

The first continuity follows an intergenerational feud between the Joestar Family and various forces of evil, the most prominent of which is Dio Brando and his followers.

Part 1 to Part 3

The first part Phantom Blood, set in England in 1880, follows Jonathan Joestar as he matures with and eventually combats his adoptive brother, the cunning, merciless Dio Brando who becomes a Vampire with the help of an ancient Stone Mask. Jonathan is trained by William Anthonio Zeppeli in the vibrant energy of the Ripple, wielded in the human body and transferred in hand-to-hand combat, which is the only sure way apart from sunlight of defeating Vampires and their Zombie minions.

The second part Battle Tendency sees Jonathan's grandson Joseph Joestar crossing the world in the wake of the Second World War in 1938 to combat the Pillar Men, an ancient race of hostile beings responsible for the creation of the Stone Mask. Like his grandfather, Joseph undergoes strenuous Ripple training alongside Caesar Anthonio Zeppeli, Will's grandson, by the secretive Lisa Lisa and tries to protect the Red Stone of Aja, a gem sought by the Pillar Men to complete the Stone Mask and grant them immunity to the Sun.

The third part Stardust Crusaders is set in 1989 as Joseph's grandson Jotaro Kujo journeys along with Joseph, Muhammad Avdol, Noriaki Kakyoin, Jean Pierre Polnareff and Iggy from Tokyo to Cairo in order to fight DIO who has returned from the depths of the sea and save his mother from DIO's mystical influence. From now on allies and villains alike primarily use Stands, spiritual guardians possessing mystical powers which would become one of the series' most prominent features.

The three first parts constitute a trilogy after which Hirohiko Araki intended to end the series, but JoJo's Bizarre Adventure continued nonetheless after the end of the third part.

Part 4 to Part 6

The fourth part Diamond Is Unbreakable is set in the fictional town of Morioh, Japan, in 1999. It follows Joseph's bastard son Josuke Higashikata as he collects friends and enemies among a host of new Stand users within the population of Morioh created with the Bow and Arrow, two items which gave DIO his Stand. He, Okuyasu Nijimura, Koichi Hirose, Jotaro Kujo and Rohan Kishibe eventually chase the serial killer Yoshikage Kira.

In the fifth part Vento Aureo, set in 2001 in Italy, DIO's son Giorno Giovanna fights his way to the top of the most powerful gang in Italy Passione as he plots to overthrow the gang's mysterious Boss in order to protect the civilian populace from the gang's drug trade. To do so he cooperates with gang member Bruno Bucciarati and his own team as they are tasked with protecting the Boss' daughter from the traitorous assassin team La Squadra di Esecuzione.

The sixth part, Stone Ocean, is set in 2012 as Jotaro's daughter, Jolyne Cujoh, is framed for murder and imprisoned in Green Dolphin Street Jail. Jotaro then has both his memories and Stand stolen by the Stand Whitesnake after an attempt to free Jolyne. Jolyne then decides to stay imprisoned in order to find out both who Whitesnake's master is and what he plans to do with Jotaro's memories and stand. Along her adventure, Jolyne gains allies such as Emporio Alniño, Ermes Costello, Foo Fighters, Narciso Anasui and Weather Report.

Part 7 & Part 8

Mysteriously, the second continuity features many references to events in the former series, including fresh incarnations of core characters; resetting the timeline, but knowingly following certain patterns, including a new (though incidental) rivalry between a JoJo and a Dio; and a new Morioh town.

Set in 1890 in the United States, Steel Ball Run follows the epic American Steel Ball Run horse-race, as deuteragonists Gyro Zeppeli and Johnny Joestar compete with many other horseriders for the enormous cash prize then uncover a government conspiracy led by U.S. President Funny Valentine aiming to gather the relics of an unnamed Saint. This part is unique in that it prominently features a power separate from Stands: the Spin which revolves around using the rotational energy of a Steel Ball.

Leaping to 2011 in JoJolion, Yasuho Hirose discovers an amnesiac man tentatively named Josuke Higashikata in Morioh after the (then-contemporary) Great East Japan earthquake. Both then decide to investigate Josuke's past identity and the circumstances of his presence in town, uncovering the neighbouring Higashikata Family's darkest secrets and a drug trade involving mysterious human-like beings and an equally mysterious fruit.

Parts

No.	Title	Original Run	Volumes
1	Phantom Blood	1987 – 1988	5
Beginning in 1880, Part 1 follows Jonathan Joestar as he matures with and eventually combats his adoptive brother, the cunning, merciless Dio Brando.

No.	Title	Original Run	Volumes
2	Battle Tendency	1988 – 1989	7
Set in 1938, Part 2 follows Joseph Joestar, grandson of Jonathan, who finds himself embroiled in a war against ancient super-beings named the Pillar Men, creators of the Stone Mask.

No.	Title	Original Run	Volumes
3	Stardust Crusaders	1989 – 1992	16
Part 3, set in 1989, follows Jotaro Kujo, who has acquired the power of Stand, and his allies as they journey from Tokyo to Cairo to save his mother's life by defeating his family's archenemy, DIO.

No.	Title	Original Run	Volumes
4	Diamond Is Unbreakable	1992 – 1995	18
In Part 4, set in 1999 in the fictional town of Morioh, high-schooler Josuke Higashikata and his friends seek out the Arrow, which has the power to give Stand abilities, as well as the serial-killer Yoshikage Kira.

No.	Title	Original Run	Volumes
5	Vento Aureo	1995 – 1999	17
Part 5, set in Italy in 2001, follows the adventure Giorno Giovanna, the son of DIO, in his ambition to rise within the Italian mafia by subverting the dominant gang Passione and its mysterious Boss with the aid of a team of fellow Stand users.

No.	Title	Original Run	Volumes
6	Stone Ocean	2000 – 2003	17
In Part 6, 2011, Florida, Jolyne Cujoh, daughter of Jotaro Kujo, is framed for murder and thrown in the Green Dolphin Street Jail. She and her allies struggle to discover who is responsible for what and what are they planning to do.

No.	Title	Original Run	Volumes
7	Steel Ball Run	2004 – 2011	24
Beginning another continuity, Part 7 follows Gyro Zeppeli, master in a mystic art named the Spin, and Johnny Joestar, a paraplegic ex-jockey, as they compete with a vast number of others in the highly rewarded Steel Ball Run race in the U.S. in 1890, designed in part by the American government.

No.	Title	Original Run	Volumes
8	JoJolion	2011-Ongoing	10
Part 8 begins in 2011 and follows Josuke Higashikata, a young man afflicted by retrograde amnesia, on his search to uncover his identity in Morioh, a coastal Japanese town affected by the Tohoku earthquake.

Publication

Chapters are serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump and Ultra Jump, under Shueisha.

For Stardust Crusaders, there exists an English translation and publication in volumes by VIZ Media (Shueisha). Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency are also to be published by VIZ Media, from September 2014 for Part 2, and March 2015 for Part 2.

In Italy, the entire series is translated and published in volumes by Star Comics (Italy).

In France, the first four parts were published by J'ai lu until 2006. In 2007 publisher Tonkam resumed the publication of the following parts and made a reedition of the old publications.

Trivia

• List of cultural references in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
• List of cultural references and inspirations from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
  • JoJo 's Influence on Internet Culture
• The 25th year of JoJo's continuous publication is commemorated in part by a booklet titled 25 Years With JoJo, featuring fan art by mangakas including Eiichiro Oda, Akira Toriyama and Osamu Akimoto.
• As of 2016, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has sold more than 100,000,000 copies in Japan.

References

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