The JOJOLands (ザ・ジョジョランズ, Za JoJoranzu) is the ninth and current part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. It was announced in the September 2021 issue of Ultra Jump on August 19, 2021, and began serialization in the March 2023 issue on February 17, 2023.[1]
In modern Hawaii, Jodio Joestar, a 15-year-old boy living in Honolulu, aspires to become extremely rich by reaching the apex of the world's mechanisms. As for what he plans to do to achieve his goals, an unpredictable story unfolds in the islands woven with light and shadow.[2]
The JOJOLands represents the third part of the series set in the second continuity.
The JOJOLands featured on the cover of Ultra Jump.
Jodio Joestar presents the plot as the story of how he will become rich in Hawaii, as he is shown with his older sibling Dragona Joestar on a boat looking at a volcanic eruption.
On a road in Oahu Island, two police officers pull over a pickup truck being driven by Dragona, with Jodio sitting in the passenger seat. One of the policemen eyes the driver believing they are a woman. He decides to arrest Dragona, molesting them under the pretense of searching for drugs. To his surprise, he discovers that Dragona is biologically a man, but that only arouses him more. Jodio exits from the car to defend his big brother. The brothers proceed to take out their respectiveStands to defeat the policemen, then burn down the patrol car to get rid of the evidence and finally complete a drug deal with local gangsters.
Jodio introduces himself and his family, explaining that Dragona likes girly fashion, and outlines his mother Barbara Ann Joestar's daily routine. He also presents his family ties to the Joestar family and his outlook on life. After a bus ride to school one day, Jodio completes a drug sale with one of his eccentric seniors. He then explains his outlook on life based on the concept of "mechanisms" and his dream to become rich. Later that day, Jodio, Dragona, and a thief named Paco Laburantes who is also a Stand user meet with their boss, Meryl Mei Qi. Meryl tells them that a lone Japanese tourist has come to Hawaii with a precious diamond in their possession, and she asks the group to steal it. Surprisingly, Meryl assigns a fourth member to the group, which turns out to be Jodio's senior from earlier.[3]
Before going on their mission, Jodio and Paco decide to complete another drug deal. At South King Street on Oahu, a woman approaches Jodio by introducing herself as a mutual acquaintance, though Jodio denies knowing who she's talking about. The woman attempts to purchase from him, but Jodio suspects she's a police officer. She goads Jodio into asking whether she is an officer or not, claiming that police officers are not allowed to lie in an undercover investigation. Jodio believes her, so they complete the exchange as Paco points out where the drugs are hidden. The woman then immediately pulls out a gun and her police badge from her helmet, revealing that she actually was an undercover cop for the DEA. She places them under arrest while police officers storm out of a nearby ice cream truck to pin down Jodio and Paco. The cop pinning down Jodio is the same one from the previous day, who threatens to molest Jodio and Dragona again. Angered, Jodio uses November Rain to destroy the bag of drugs, forcing the police to let him go afterwards since they no longer have evidence.
Jodio recalls when he was forced to pay for mental counseling at his school, where the psychotherapist diagnosed him with antisocial personality disorder. Barbara Ann didn't believe the diagnosis and demanded a refund for the screening. Jodio is sure he can become happy if he works hard, but he hates running into people like those police officers who don't play fair.[4]
On the day of the heist, Jodio, Dragona and Paco fly together to Hawaii Island and wait for their new ally, Usagi Alohaoe, at the airport. Usagi is late and makes light of his tardiness. However, he does the role he was assigned and brings the group to a car rental business. Usagi assures that the car will leave no trace of them because the company doesn't track the renter's whereabouts with onboard cameras or GPS recorders.
The team drives around Hawaii to the Japanese tourist's villa and Jodio goes to scout the place first. He notes that the tourist is home but also spots some drinks on the table of the balcony, as well as a towel, suggesting that the tourist will go swim in the pool. This gives the group the opportunity to sneak in and quickly steal the diamond. Usagi reveals his Stand THE MATTEKUDASAI which morphs into a second security camera to produce a modified recording of the group with disguised faces when they trespass into the property. Jodio watches the pool and suddenly recognizes that their target is Rohan Kishibe, a famous manga artist.[4]
While Jodio sneakily consults Rohan's iPad, the rest of the crew searches the house and discover a laboratory full of cooled lava. A cat suddenly enters the house, prompting Rohan to leave the pool. Jodio warns his teammates and distracts Rohan with light rain localized at the pool induced by November Rain. Meanwhile, the crew has found the safe and they open it, taking the diamond with them. However, as they exit the room, they are attacked by wires that coil around their arms or legs and dig into their flesh. Usagi suspects the cat of being an enemy Stand user. At the terrace, Rohan becomes suspicious of the rain.[5] Although the team manages to get rid of the wires, the diamond has somehow fallen out of Paco's backpack and Dragona has to go back to pick it up. Rohan appears and uses his Stand Heaven's Door, incapacitating Paco and Usagi, and turning Dragona's arm into a book. However, Dragona is more worried about the diamond which somehow seems able to escape containment.[6]
Rohan calls the police and almost ties up Dragona. However, Jodio intervenes by using November Rain to create a makeshift traphole beneath a carpet, as his rain is heavy enough to make the concrete floor collapse when Rohan steps on it. Thus, Jodio is able to take Rohan by surprise and ties him up, but the group's escape is still compromised because Rohan has learned about their identities and knows their faces. Rohan offhandedly mentions that they are now in greater danger than facing the police, as they are being followed. Nonetheless, Jodio has figured out that Rohan has come to Hawaii to study the Lava Rocks and that the samples that the manga artist keeps in his safe are somehow precious to him. Jodio tells Rohan to lie to the police about the burglary and crushes one of the two samples to prove he's serious, which surprisingly makes Rohan relent. The group is able to take the diamond and leave the house while Jodio keeps the last sample of lava to himself as insurance. Admiring Jodio for his win, Rohan secretly tells Jodio that he will be able to become rich if he carefully handles the Lava Rock, but does not give any specifics. Rohan also warns Jodio about the untrustworthiness of his gangmates. As Jodio takes his leave and the gang enters the jungle, a trio of cats begin to stalk the group.[7]
In the jungle, the diamond and a precious artwork Usagi has stolen from Rohan somehow end up near Jodio. Thus, the group realizes that precious items seem to be drawn to the Lava Rock. Jodio comes to pick up the diamond but he's caught by a wire that coils around his ankle and pulls him up, which leaves him dangling to a tree branch. When Dragona approaches, they are also attacked by two wires that pierce their stomach. When Paco comes to their aid, the wire then stitches Paco's arm to Dragona's abdomen, binding them together. Paco notices that Usagi has escaped with the diamond, the artwork, and the Lava Rock, and has gotten in the car. The cats send several other wires their way, but Jodio uses November Rain to disintegrate them.[8]
As the trio struggles against the wire onslaught, Paco uses THE Hustle to remove the wire from Jodio's ankle. Jodio's November Rain manages to fend off one cat, but the remaining two ensnare them in a net made of wires, which is revealed to come from their fur. Just as the situation seems dire, Usagi intervenes by crashing the rental car into the tree. He reveals he had fed the cats expensive caviar he stole from Rohan's villa. Usagi has Dragona ask THE MATTEKUDASAI to transform into a net and lures the cats toward him. He then drops the Lava Rock he was holding, causing the cats to be drawn toward the rock due to its properties. After Usagi cleverly captures the two felines, Jodio reflects on the mysterious nature of the Lava Rock and suspects that something had been observing Rohan even before their arrival at Rohan's villa.[9]
Jodio's group winds down after escaping from the jungle. They drive to a café, where Usagi begs Dragona to lend him $20. Dragona wonders if his family is poor, so Usagi divulges that his father was a construction worker in Oahu who passed away after getting hit by a bus, but they aren't cost-burdened since his mother received insurance money. Dragona agrees to lend the money, which Usagi uses to test the Lava Rock's ability to attract valuables. Usagi places the rock on top of the bill while they talk for a few minutes, then marks the bill with a symbol using a pen before throwing the cash to the ground. A man steals the bill and uses it to pay for food, but the money eventually returns to the group after Paco gets a refund from a shop, confirming the Lava Rock's power. Dragona then suggests a test at a luxury watch store, Diamotch, so they can fully figure out how the Lava Rock's powers work before boarding the plane. Inside, Dragona and Usagi's nervousness and a series of misunderstandings combined with the Lava Rock's influence leads to tense moments with the salesman and security over a missing high-end watch.
The Lava Rock's owner sheds their disguise
Jodio and Paco wait outside. Feeling hungry, Paco goes to buy some food. When he returns, they discover a morbid warning in their food bag: the decapitated heads of the three cats they fought earlier. Jodio surmises that the cats' owner had been watching Rohan's villa the whole time and was stalking the group afterward, aiming to retrieve the mysterious Lava Rock.[10] Paco suggests they relinquish the Lava Rock to the supposed original owner, but Jodio refuses as he explains that they obviously know more about the Rock than anybody and adds that he doesn't expect the owner to leave them alive anyway. Meanwhile, in the shop, the staff eventually watch the security footage and see that Dragona had the wristwatch under their bracelet. However, Dragona has no recollection of it and finds the watch next to the Lava Rock, seemingly brought there by Smooth Operators without Dragona's knowledge. Luckily, when the security staff searches Dragona and grabs Dragona's pendant carrying the Lava Rock, the watch suddenly ends up caught onto the salesman's shoelaces and slips away out of the room. The clerk assumes the watch is just slippery and apologizes for accusing them, so the duo are free to leave. Back at the food court, Jodio learns that he was with an imposter when the real Paco returns with food. This leads to the false Paco to shed their disguise and attack Jodio with a knife.[11]
Paco prevented Jodio's injury from being deeper with THE Hustle by tapping his neck before he was hit. Paco then engages his opponent in close-quarters combat and discovers that his foe has a Stand ability, and the man's skin also feels like sand. After a few exchanges of blows, the enemy camouflages himself with his power. Dragona and Usagi then return from the store and are caught up to the situation. Dragona sees a bird carrying the expensive watch toward them, but as they grab it, the foe reveals he was transformed into the bird and the sky, and the watch was just an illusion. He snatches the lava rock and also stabs Dragona in the neck.[12] Thankfully, Dragona can displace the wound onto a bottle to save themself. In addition, Jodio wounds the attacker with November Rain allowing the group to follow the trail of blood.
The assailant is fused with a car door and attacks Jodio when he checks the car. Jodio evades the attack, but the group loses the blood trail as the enemy disappears again. However, since the enemy is carrying the Lava Rock, they use the diamond as a compass to track him down. They follow it down to the shore, where he ambushes Paco. Jodio grabs the enemy and drags him underwater with him. Although the enemy pins him down, Jodio is able to breathe in the air leaking from an inflatable raft that Usagi kicks into the water and grabs onto the enemy to force him to stay underwater for longer. On the surface, Paco changes his mind about the enemy. He deems that their assailant is not so ruthless because he saw that the cat heads in the food bag were actually just potatoes that were disguised with the enemy's Stand. Paco decides to save him and make him an ally instead.[13]
The fight thus ends and the crew brings their former foe, named "Charming Man," with them to Oahu. In a flashback, Charming Man was riding along the slopes of Hualalai with his little brother Mauka when Mauka suddenly disappeared in one of the lava tubes under the ground, taken away by a mysterious water flow as well as someone lurking in the shadows. Charming Man never found his brother and even the rescuers dismissed his case. At the same time, Charming Man saw Rohan conducting his research. In the present, Dragona and Usagi surprisingly retrieve the luxury wristwatch at the airport, though it is broken. They return to Iko Iko after their flight, and the group gives the diamond and other items they stole to Meryl, who is satisfied about the job. When she notices the diamond's bizarre movements, as well as learning the group has a new friend, she suddenly has an idea.[14]
Dragona recalls an absurd moment in their life which led to their family's current situations. Four years ago, Dragona and Jodio first discovered their Stands. At fourteen, a girl physically injured and threatened Dragona for hitting her face with a volleyball when passing it during gym class. The bullying escalated on the school bus when none of the other students let Dragona sit beside them. Dragona found a seat and sat on ice cream by accident, which ended up belonging to their bully. Dragona was harassed, publicly humiliated, and threatened by this girl whose parents were wealthy and influential enough to control the livelihoods of the school employees. After the girl stripped Dragona, Jodio witnessed the assault and interrupted it with his Stand, using a raindrop to strike the girl's eye. Dragona stayed home the next day. Intending to avenge Dragona, Jodio trapped their classmates in a bus and set it on fire. He reconsidered upon seeing a trapped parrot, saving everyone with his Stand's rain. Around twenty students and the teacher were hospitalized with major burns, but Jodio wasn't caught for the arson. Dragona confronted Jodio, acknowledging his actions as a twisted form of support, and vowed to grow stronger while keeping the incident a secret. Discovering Smooth Operators, Dragona transferred the scar on their chest caused by the assault onto a spoon, damaging the spoon instead. A few months after the incident, Barbara shared with her children that their father had left their home and Hawaii. He lost his job at an insurance company for being cornered by Dragona's bully's influential parents into agreeing to pay an exorbitant sum to their bus company. Thus, Barbara had to work two jobs to support her family as a single mother while stress and bills piled up. While walking through a dangerous neighborhood to meet with their mom, Meryl Mei picked the Joestar brothers up and offered a "win-win" proposition to them.
Shifting to the present, Dragona and Paco explain to Meryl that she can trust Charming Man. Charming Man explains what happened to his brother, believing that society itself is preventing him from searching for Mauka. Since the infrastructure development company HOWLER owns the private land on Hualalai with the Lava Rocks where Mauka went missing, Meryl hatches a grand scheme to claim the rights of the entire mountain by having them get close to the land using their Lava Rock. The total worth of everything should be around 50 billion dollars and Meryl plans on giving each member 4% each.[15]
The Land Registry Heist
Jodio, Dragona, Paco, Usagi and Charming Man all head to the Hawaii state's land registry office. Dragona, Usagi, and Charming Man head inside the building while Jodio and Paco stay behind in a van as support. Using their Stand abilities, the trio manages to fake an identity for Charming Man who makes a request to consult the original land deeds belonging to HOWLER.
The staff brings the group to the archive where the clerk presents the original land deeds to Usagi and Dragona on a table. They manage to make the rock touch all 48 land deeds and then quickly exit the office. Charming Man calls Jodio and Paco so that they drive back to the building and pick them up, but Usagi suddenly feels sick. Usagi collapses on the floor while vomiting and choking. Charming Man notices that he's throwing up a cloudy liquid and when he examines Usagi, he sees that his neck is covered in rock-like scabs. Dragona is just as puzzled as Charming Man by Usagi's symptoms, as they barely know him and don't know if he's suffering from a chronic illness or has been poisoned. Dragona almost calls the ambulance but Charming Man warns not to because it will leave a trace of their presence.[16]
Usagi has to ask Dragona to ask THE MATTEKUDASAI to turn into a straw and he pierces his own lung then puts the straw in to breathe before he's brought inside the van. After arguing about whether Usagi is actually being attacked by an enemy Stand or he's suffering from his suspected drug addiction, the group lets Charming Man check inside of Usagi's lung. Charming Man, crumbling himself into small pieces of sand to insert his own eye through the straw into Usagi's body, does see a Stand damaging the blood vessels. He tries to drag the enemy Stand out but becomes sick as well, developing tumors around his eye. At the same time, Dragona also starts to become sick.[17]
According to the Japanese Oricon sales charts, the first volume of The JOJOLands lasted in the top 50 physical manga sales for a month and a half, selling around 243,067 copies as of September 24, 2023. It debuted with an estimated number of 93,918 copies sold within two days, ranking in 1st place overall on the week of August 14, 2023 to August 20, 2023.[22] The second volume lasted in the top 50 physical manga sales for about a month, selling around 214,917 copies as of January 14, 2024.
Araki previously mentioned in an interview at the start of Steel Ball Run that he had already planned out the general outlines for each part up to Part 9.[37] When asked what country he would be interested in depicting in the future, he stated that he would like to go to Northern Europe or the Scottish Highlands.[38] He has also mentioned wanting to depict Morioh in Part 9 as well.[39] When receiving the Iwate Hometown Special Manga Award for JoJolion on December 19, 2021, Araki stated that Part 9 of JoJo was in the works.[40]
When the part was first announced, it was originally named simply "JOJOLANDS" (ジョジョランズ, JoJoranzu). However, the name was altered to The JOJOLands (ザ・ジョジョランズ, Za JoJoranzu) when it was later revealed in both Ultra Jump and JOJO magazine on December 19, 2022.[41][42] Some other proposed titles were "JOJOLANDS 9" (ジョジョランズ9, JoJoranzu 9) and "MADE IN JOJOLANDS" (メイド イン ジョジョランズ, Meido in JoJoranzu). The stylization "The JOJOLand(s)" was also proposed.[43] Noriko Narumi designed the logo based on a "traffic sign" motif because of the feeling she got after seeing the scenery of Hawaii in the first chapter. She added arrows because of JoJo's iconic "To be continued" arrow, volcanoes erupting vertically, and the upward aspirations of young people. The triangular edges to the letters represent a traveling vibe with tickets, airplanes, passports, and such.[43]