The Genius of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

JOJO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE is a multigenerational saga written by acclaimed mangaka Hirohiko Araki. It is the one of the best selling manga, ranking at 11th, with over 100 million volumes sold. Every season, or in the manga known as "parts", is its own self contained story that takes place in a different setting with different characters. Generally speaking, the story follows descendants of the Joestar bloodline on their various "bizarre" adventures. All the main characters names' can be abbreviated, in one way or another, to "JoJo", hence the name "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" is the main title of manga despite each part having their own name. In this article, I will explore how JOJO is genius and how you should definitely read/watch it.

The main characters, or "JoJo"s, of each part. There are currently 8 parts.

STORY WRITING AND CHARACTERS:

Here are two different parts in the manga:

Phantom Blood (Part 1) takes place in 1868 Victorian era England, starring nobleman Johnathan Joestar trying to deal with his recently adopted (turned vampire) step brother who intends to take over his family's wealth.

Now contrast that with...

Golden Wind (Part 5), which takes place in 2001 Italy, where small time crook Giorno Giovanna (abbreviated to GioGio) joins a mafia syndicate (full of people with supernatural powers) to stop their sale of drugs to children.

I want to elabourate why having such distinct parts is genius for JOJO. Firstly, each part has its own genres. Part 1 is a vampire horror, Part 2 is an Indiana Jones-esque adventure, Part 3 is a road trip, Part 4 is a murder mystery, Part 5 is a gangster flick, Part 6 is a prison break, Part 7 is a cross country race, Part 8 is an amnesia story. This wide appeal to all sorts of genres draws in fans of each genre, uniting them under the common name "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure".

Secondly, the fact that each part has a different story also prevents JOJO from becoming stale. We go into each part not expecting to have the same setup (for example, the overdone "stuck in a video game" concept).

Finally, because the characters between each part change, this allows Araki to experiment with writing characters with different personalities in each part. For example Johnathan (Part 1's JoJo) is an honorable gentlemen, whereas Joseph (Part 2's JoJo) is a sly trickster to contrast with Johnathan. Everyone gets to find a main character that they like and behold as "Best JoJo". Creating different characters also allows Araki to improve how he writes and develops them. For example, readers can point out how mentor-friend Gyro Zeppeli in Part 7 is a combination of the roles of William Zeppeli (Part 1) and Caesar Zeppeli (Part 2), ultimately creating a more compelling and interesting character.

Also because characters change between parts, there is no "powercreep" in the strength of the villains. The problem with many villains in battle manga/anime is that after they're defeated, the main character is forced into fighting an even stronger villain, or else it wouldn't be as entertaining. Because each part's main character is different, the character will never have to move on to fighting the next stronger villain. There is no need to create stronger villains, instead JOJO can opt to create villains with different unique abilities.

Now, just as equally important as what changes between parts, is what each part shares in common that gives the trademark "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" name. On a surface level, this would be the power system. It stays (mostly) constant, it being "Hamon" (special breathing gives you the power to channel life energy) in Parts 1/2 and "Stands" (ghosts you can summon with unique abilities) in Part 3 onwards. Both power systems are created so that they can be used in creative and innovative ways. This keeps the fights in JOJO from being standoffs of "who's stronger?" to instead "who's smarter?", being a competition of how the characters can use their abilities in new ways in order to defeat their opponents. There's also the whole bizarre aspect. Whether it'd be vampires flash freezing people, gambling with your soul as payment, or drinking piss to prove loyalty, JOJO has no end to things that'll make you say "wtf" but manages to not break your suspension of disbelief. 

ART STYLE EVOLUTION

JOJO's art is a product of its time period, hence has a changing art style. The muscular art style of Parts 1, 2, and 3 take inspiration from popular macho-man action movies in the 1980s starring Sylvester Stallone (Rambo) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (Predator). However, these began to become out of style, hence a triggering a shift in Parts 4, 5, and 6, which was inspired by Greek-Roman sculptures and Renaissance art. The characters aren't as massive as in previous parts, but are lean and toned. Part 7 and 8 follows a similar trend, but characters look more effeminate and lose most of their muscle, like male fashion models, which is likely because Araki is a big fan of fashion, having done collaborations with Gucci and Lumine.

Johnathan Joestar, the protagonist of Part 1

Giorno Giovanna, the protagonist of Part 5

The evolution of Araki's facial designs. The above are all protagonists of their respective parts. 

CULTURE REFERENCES

JOJO has many cultural references, to an extent unlike any other manga. Part 3's "stands" are named after tarot cards, Part 5's characters are named after Italian foods, and Part 6's characters are named after fashion brands. But the greatest in quantity are the western music references. It's no secret that Araki loves western music, and it's freaking cool to see songs names or music bands that you recognize or even love pop up. How cool is it that one of the villains in Part 2 is named after ACDC? Or that Part 4's main character looks like Prince? Aside from being cool, some of the music references also serve as being the inspiration for a character, their superpower, or a story arc. For example, the "stand" Black Sabbath's creepy, demonic appearance is based off the lyrics in the same song. Here's a video explaining it, part 5 spoilers beware. Unfortunately, many of the music references are lost when translated to English due to copyright reasons, though Araki doesn't really care.

 Josuke Higashikata (Part 4's JoJo) and Prince

CONCLUSION: ARAKI IS BRAVE

So what makes JOJO so genius and hence so successful? It's because the author dares to make decisions no one else would. Changing up the genre, main characters, art style, the power system and even killing the main JoJo in their part are things that sound like they'd never sit well with readers. But the risk was taken, and it turns out it just works.

-GaryMuffuginOak

A SIDE NOTE ON THE ANIME ADAPTATION

The anime adaption by David Productions, is simply put, amazing. I recommend watching it over reading the manga, and then reading the parts of the manga that haven't been animated (if you can't wait). There was a movie and an OVA for JOJO previously, but the movie was so bad that Araki did not want it released and the OVA simply doesn't compare to what David Productions made. It is clear that David Productions understands what makes JOJO itself and is very passionate about adapting it. From the slick scene transitions to the unique color palette swaps during intense moments to adding the written sound effects from the manga into the anime to give an impression that we are reading the manga. Their love for JOJO especially shows in the adaptation of Part 5, which is still currently airing, where a 4 panel gag where the characters dance (beloved as a meme in the JOJO community) is expanded to a 50 second fully animated dance sequence. On top of that, anime original scenes are added to help better develop the characters or help to foreshadow future events in the story. Not to mention the show's great voice acting and soundtrack. So if you wanna experience JOJO, watch the anime!