Their stories will become legend once the mysteries of the Stone Mask are revealed.
”
—Tagline
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, JoJo no Kimyō na Bōken Fantomu Buraddo) 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.
Before the 2008 Qurancontroversy surrounding the studio's previous adaptation of Stardust Crusaders, a DVD release was supposedly planned according to Junichi Hayama[1] but since then nothing further has happened and the movie remains as a piece of lost media.
Note: Due to lack of information, the events written here may not be in accurate order.
A powerful shockwave caused by Zeppeli having his future read by Tonpetty
The story opens in the Tibetan mountains with monks chanting inside a temple. On the edge of a cliff near the temple, a young Zeppeli asks Tonpetty to read his destiny by holding his hand. As soon as their hands connect, a giant burst of yellow light appears and encompasses the mountains, causing the skies to clear and turn blue. Tonpetty then sternly reveals to Zeppeli his fate, which is that if he continues down the path he has chosen, he will be met with a gruesome death.
In England, Dario Brando walks at night accompanied by a young woman in the pouring rain. As the two continue down a muddy road, Dario spots the wreckage of a carriage that had crashed. Dario smerks and decides to loot the carriage for valuables, only to find a strange Stone Mask. Dario then goes to rob the corpse of a well-dressed gentleman, only him to wake up. The man mistakes Dario for having saved his life and asks him if his wife and son are still alive. Upon learning that his son was the only one to survive the crash, he closes his eyes again in relief.
George noticing Dio's arrival to the mansion
Years later, in 1880, Dio Brando is seen standing in front of the grave of his late father, Dario Brando, spitting on it before leaving. Dio then travels by carriage to the house of George Joestar, the gentleman whose life his father saved. To repay the debt to his father, George offered to adopt Dio and accept him into his home. As the carriage draws closer, George's son Jonathan can be seen playing with his dog, Danny. Once the carriage stops, Dio bursts out and locks eyes with Jonathan as the two stare back at each other. The two promptly introduce themselves, however, Dio bursts into a fit of rage as Jonathan tries to help him carry his bags. Dio then proceeds to walk away, right before kicking Danny in the face much to Jonathan's dismay.
Dio aggressively refusing Jonathan's handshake
In the entrance of the mansion, Dio is lovingly welcomed into the family by his adopted father, George, alongside his servants. In the reading room, Jonathan meets with Dio again and tries to make amends with him by shaking his hand. Just as he reaches his arm out, Dio grabs it and angrily tells Jonathan never to look down upon him, before elbowing him in the stomach. Somewhere outside the mansion, Jonathan goes to talk to his friends, however, they suspiciously ignore him and walk away. Jonathan confronts them, but is pushed away.
A photo of Jonathan's mother, smashed by Dio
Returning home, he finds that his room as been ransacked and that the pocket watch he kept in his drawer is missing. He also finds the photo of his late mother, Mary Joestar, smashed on the floor. A sudden knock on the door reveals Dio, who is smugly holding the pocket watch in his hand, saying that he'll be borrowing it. Jonathan then follows Dio outside, angry at him for going into his drawer without permission. Dio responds by dropping the pocket watch on the floor and crushing it with his foot. That following night, Jonathan was pricked by a needle that Dio had hid under the pillow in his bed. Inside the mansion, Dio spots the Stone Mask and takes it off the wall. George approaches Dio and tells him that the mask was excavated from Mexico.
Erina and Jonathan
As Jonathan sits outside with Danny thinking about all the terrible things Dio has done to him, Erina suddenly appears to cheer him up and the two romantically carve their names into the tree.
A test pilot doubling as an announcement trailer for the film was shown at the 2004 Tokyo International Anime Fair. 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 lost media 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
Hayama, Jun Itoda, Araki, Kazuhiro Ozawa & Hikaru Midorikawa
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.
16 Minute Workprint
On May 19, 2012, a Youtube user named Erik Zamora uploaded a 16 minute version of movie footage which was a production workprint. This workprint was missing some scenes and had storyboards layered into cuts to serve as a basis for how a scene would play out into animation. Students at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco were tasked to use the footage for a sound design project where they had to add their own sound effects. Erik mentioned in the description of his video that while the SFX were not originally from the workprint, the music playing in scenes was. However, the university project didn't last long, as Marco d'Ambrosio dropped out from the class so it did not progress any further.
Sakura-Con 2023
At Sakura-Con 2023, Junichi Hayama was asked about the film. Although he couldn't talk in detail about it, he explained how the film was initially intended to be 70 minutes long, but it was then pushed to 90 minutes. The original director left in the middle of the project, so Hayama had to take over as primary director. Hayama confirmed that a DVD release was planned, but there were a lot of obstacles. For reasons Hayama couldn't explain, Shueisha seized the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure assets, preventing Hayama from continuing to work on the film. He also mentioned that he loves the film and regrets that fans couldn't see it completed.[2][3]
The horse cabin driver that died from a spike protrusion only has his head shown, and not his body.
Dario finds a ring within the carriage and keeps it.[10]
Dario waves his hand in front of a partially unconscious George Joestar I thinking he's dead, which George then grabs his wrist.
A lighting strikes creates a bright flash which shows the Stone Mask.
Dario's entire backstory of Dio & his wife is never shown in the movie. It's unknown whether George's story of him is told as the inspector is present in the Movie.[11][12]
The scene changes to a Young Dio Brando standing in front of Dario's grave.
George witnesses Dio's arrival from the upstairs window in the Joestar Mansion
Jonathan attempts to help with Dio's luggage but gets shouted at by him.
Danny doesn't walk up to Dio, instead Dio runs up to Danny and kicks him.
Dio takes his own luggage upstairs.
Jonathan attempts to formally introduce himself to Dio but is grabbed on the wrist and then elbowed in the stomach
Jonathan leaves the mansion after Dio's arrival to talk to his friend's, only for them to not trust Jonathan anymore.
Jonathan & Dio's boxing match is never shown.
An original scene is added of Jonathan returning to his living quarters after it being ransacked.
A smashed photograph of his mother can be seen on the floor.
An original scene is added of Dio outside, stomping on the pocket watch he stole.
An original scene is added of Jonathan trying to sleep on his pillow, but gets pricked by a needle that was placed under it by Dio.
Afterwards, Jonathan gets out of his bed and sadly stares at the moon.
Dio's inner monologues and his tormenting of Jonathan are never depicted.
Jonathan's desire of wanting to be a true gentleman is never talked about.
Dio takes the Stone Mask off the wall to look at, he is approached by George who explains the mask to him.
Erina's overall character is toned down and made to look more 'cuter'.
Jonathan finds out what Dio did to Erina in a forest rather than in a town, she can be seen running away.[13]
Jonathan's line when beating Dio up at the Joestar Mansion has been changed to "You! Why did you do this!"[14]
When Dio finds the singular Vagrant, he questions himself "is he homeless?"
Will A. Zeppeli visits Wang Chan's shop and investigates him, to which he is then told about Dio at the Joestar Mansion.[16]
After this theatrical trailer, Will A. Zeppeli can be seen in the bottom left of the screen running towards the light the emitted by the Stone Mask at the Joestar Mansion.
The Police Officers that're waiting for Dio at the Joestar Mansion are shown with more historically accurate British Police outfits.
Dio's infamous line of "I reject my humanity JoJo!" is changed to "I will transcend humanity!"
When Jonathan initiates his first fight with a vampiric Dio on the roof of the Mansion, he uses a warhammer to attack him instead of a spear.
Wang Chan apparently waits and hide for Dio in an abandoned mine next to the Joestar Mansion. Which can be seen on promotional art.[17]
Instead, Will A. Zeppeli picks up a "sword"—presumably Bruford's-- to use it in his fight with Dio.
The scene where Will A. Zeppeli, Jonathan & Dio clash under the moon takes place after Jonathan defeats the Dark Knights and is in proximity of Dio's castle.
The famous line spoken from Dio about "how many pieces of bread have you eaten in your life?" is omitted.
The specifics behind the freezing technique and why it counters Ripple are not explained.
Tonpetty appears by himself, this means Will A. Zeppeli gets to see him again whilst he's alive. Unlike the manga.
When Will A. Zeppeli fights zombies at Windknight's Lot, he takes off his hat to throw at the zombies.
Will A. Zeppeli doesn't die to Tarkus instead he dies by Dio's freezing technique, from him creating an ice spike/pillar out of the ground and not flash frozen like Dire was in the manga.
The Rose on Will A. Zeppeli's jacket (seen in promotion material) was used in his fight against Dio, similar to how Dire spat a rose into Dio's eye like in the manga.
The scene where Jonathan is given Will A. Zeppeli's life energy happens within the Windknight's Lot Castle.
Will A. Zeppeli doesn't age, nor does his hair turn grey when he gives Jonathan his Life Energy.
Jonathan does not light his gloves on fire to counter Dio's freezing technique. He instead overcomes it by "powering up" during their clash.
The ship Jonathan and Erina board sails through the Pacific Ocean instead of the Atlantic Ocean. This is an error as Erina is still rescued near the Canary Islands.
The baby Elizabeth is omitted from the movie. Instead, Erina enters the coffin without Jonathan saying anything. In the manga, she chooses to die with Jonathan but is persuaded after he asks her to save the baby.
Segment of the Colored Poster featured in a Weekly Shonen Jump Advertisement for Jump Festa 2006
The Colored Poster featured in a Manga Omnibus that contained the whole of Phantom Blood.
The Promotional version of the Poster which was from a Booklet handed out at the Theatres
Bonus Disc Front Cover
Bonus Disc, Contents
Bonus Disc
Trailers & 16 Minute Workprint
Trivia
Comedy Duo "Speedwagon"
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.[20]
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.
Voice Actor(s):
