JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

[WARNING: Some of the contents of this entry might be considered spoilers.]

About

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (Japanese: ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 JoJo no Kimyō na Bōken) is a series of manga created by Hirohiko Araki^[1] and published by Shueisha. It is made of multiple parts and each one of those is starring a different protagonist, each nicknamed JoJo. The series is known due to its art and its plotline, notable for supernatural and seemingly bizarre events.

History

The series is divided into 8 story arcs:

Part I: Phantom Blood (1987 – 1988)– The part’s protagonist is Jonathan Joestar. The story is about a bizarre relationship between him and his adopted brother Dio Brando in 19th century England. Hamon is introduced.

Part II: Battle Tendency (1988 – 1989)– Starring Joseph Joestar, Jonathan’s grandson, in the late 1930’s. In this part, Joseph has to fight the Pillar Men, members of an ancient vampiric race.

Part III: Stardust Crusaders (1989 – 1992)– Arguably the most popular story arc. Takes place in 1989 and centers around Jotaro Kujo, grandson of Joseph Joestar, and his adventure around the world in search of still alive Dio Brando. This story arc introduces “Stands”, spiritual manifestations of the characters, which have some specific ability. This is the last part, where Hamon is ever used.

Part IV: Diamond Is Unbreakable (1992 – 1996)– This part (also known as Diamond Is Not Crash) is about Josuke Higashikata, illegitimate son of Joseph Joestar, and his friends’ adventures in the Japanese town of Morioh. The story takes place in 1999.

Part V: Vento Aureo (1996 – 1999)– (AKAGolden Wind) Takes place in 2001 Italy. The protagonist is Giorno Giovanna, son of Dio Brando, who wishes to become a gangster and joins Passione, Italian Mafia ruled by a mysterious boss.

Part VI: Stone Ocean (2000 – 2003)– The story tells about Jolyne Kujo, daughter of Jotaro Kujo, and her escape from the Green Dolphin Street Prison in Florida, USA. The part takes place in 2011.

Part VII: Steel Ball Run (2004 – 2011)– Takes place in alternate universe USA in 1890. The story is about Johnny Joestar, his ally Gyro Zeppeli, and the race across America, named Steel Ball Run.

Part VIII: JoJolion (2011 – Ongoing)– Takes place in the alternate universe Morioh, after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake. The protagonist is Josuke Higashikata (unrelated to the protagonist of Part IV), an amnesiac, who was found half-buried under a rock.

Over the years, the manga has received several animated and video game adaptations.

In 1993, an OVA^[2], covering the key points of the second half of Part 3, was released. The other half was animated in 2000. In 2012, a TV anime^[3], covering Parts 1 and 2, was produced by David Productions. The new season, covering Part 3, began on April 4th, 2014.

Several JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure videogames have been made, the most well known being the fighting game JJBA: Heritage For The Future^[4], developed by Capcom in 1998. In 2013, a fighting game, named JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle^[5], was developed by CyberConnect2 for PS3, and was released in US on April 29th, 2014.

Cultural Impact

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures is currently the second longest running series of the comics run by Shueisha, the publisher of Jump comics.^[6] It’s also, as of February 2012^[7], the 7th greatest-selling title of Weekly Shonen Jump.

The series is often referenced in other mangas and animes, whether it may be a sudden change in style, characters doing one of signature poses, or other kinds of shoutouts.^[8]

Some famous video game characters, such as Guile, Rose, and Juri from Street Fighter, and Benimaru from The King of Fighters, are considered to be respectively based of Rudolf von Stroheim, Lisa Lisa, Jolyne Kujo, and Jean Pierre Polnareff.

Online Presence

The series has gathered a significant following over the years. It has it’s own Wiki^[9], a fan community site^[10] and a significant presence in other websites, such as 4chan and Tumblr.

Numerous JJBA-related MAD videos have been created, using manga panels and footage from both OVA and TV anime adaptations. The videos can be found video sharing sites such are Youtube^[11] and Nicovideo^[12].

The series has also been a subject of numerous cosplays^[13]. Fans also tend to portray the cast of characters with lots of details, including makeup, bright clothes and posing in-character.

A Youtube user Antfish^[14] made JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: The Abridged Series (JJBATAS), made using the footage from 1993 and 2000 Part IIIOVA adaptations. Up until July 8th 2010, Antfish had released 10 episodes. Antfish has also started a new abridged series, based on the Part 1 of the 2012 anime adaptation.

Related Memes

Za Warudo / WRYYY

In Part 3, Stardust Crusaders, during Jotaro’s final battle, Dio uses his time-stopping abilities to drop a steamroller on Jotaro. This has been popularized on the internet with a clip demonstrating its power using stick figures while adding his war cry at the end. “WRYYY” is Dio Brando’s notorious battle cry, while The World (Japanese: ザ・ワールド, pronounced as Za Wārudo) is his Stand, which grants the ability to stop time.

ORAORAORA / MUDAMUDAMUDA

One of Jotaro Kujo’s most popular moves is a series of extremely rapid punches dished out by his stand Star Platinum. At the same time, he cries ORAORAORA. Dio has a similar attack, but uses another battle cry, MUDAMUDAMUDA, which roughly translates to “USELESS! USELESS! USELESS!”. Several other characters in the series have their own battle cries, like Josuke’s “DORARARA” and Bruno’s “ARIARIARI”.

JoJo’s Pose

JoJo’s Poses are various dramatic poses featured in Hirohiko Araki’s work, including JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. The fans started copying the poses and posting them online. These poses have also been referenced in other works.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Shift-JIS Arts

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Shift-JIS Arts, also known as “JoJo Ascii Arts”, are a series of Shift-JIS arts inspired by the manga. Those Shift-JIS arts have been used as fixed phrases or reaction faces in the Japanese text board community 2channel since 2005.

Hirohiko Araki’s Style

As mentioned above, Araki’s artwork is notable for its serious, detailed and glamorous looking style. Many artists tend to draw parodies and homages of his artwork with characters from other franchises and media. This kind of fanart can be found at art sharing websites like pixiv^[15] and deviantART.^[16]

Duwang

The fourth arc, Diamond Is Not Crash/Unbreakable, takes place in the Japanese city Morioh (Japanese: 杜王町). Duwang is the Chinese pronunciation of the town. The meme originates from the badly translated scans of Part 4 known for their broken English and many other mistakes. This translation has since evolved into a inside joke through out the JoJo community.^[17] A DUWANG fansub of the 2012 anime was created as well. Among the many traits in these scans, sound effects and characters in speech bubbles weren’t translated. One of these is “啊”, translated to “Ah”. Many western fans read the character as ABAJ and has since associated it with the Duwang translation and tend to use it as a parody and/or homage.

It Was Me, Dio!

It Was Me, Dio! is a quote, associated with a screenshot of Dio Brando from the 2012 Phantom Blood anime adaptation. After Dio kisses Jonathan’s girlfriend Erina, he says the following line: “So, did you kiss JoJo yet? Probably not. Your first wasn’t JoJo! It was me, Dio!”. This has spawned numerous derivatives within the community.

Even Speedwagon is Afraid!

Even Speedwagon is Afraid! is a quote said by Robert Edward O. Speedwagon, a supporting character from Parts 1 and 2. The phrase is often quoted by fans in discussions and reactions as well. Some parodies have been produced as well, as well as Speedwagon’s personality, often categorizing the character as moe.

How Many Breads Have You Eaten in Your Life?

How Many Breads Have You Eaten in Your Life? is another popular quote in the fandom. It comes from a dialog between supporting character Will A. Zeppeli and the antagonist Dio Brando. This exchange is also quoted by the fandom in many discussions and has been parodied as well.

The Taste Of a Liar

The Taste Of a Liar is a quote which comes from a dialog between Part 5 protagonists, Giorno Giovanna and Bruno Buccellati, in which Bruno is accusing Giorno with the murder of Leaky-Eyed Luka. During the conversation Bruno licks Giorno’s sweat, saying that he has a taste of a liar. The scene has been parodied in several pieces of artwork.

King Crimson / It Just Works

King Crimson is a stand with a controversial ability featured in Part 5. Its ability consists in skipping time with everyone but its user unaware of it. Due to the bad quality of translations at the time and the fact that most of the fights against this stand feature complex layouts, the ability has caused a lot of confusion in forums. The controversy raises from fans trying to explain how the stand works, the most common explanation simply being “It just works”.

Hirohiko Araki

Hirohiko Araki has been described by many fans and other mangakas as an immortal person since he doesn’t seem to age. This has evolved as a joke, among many other traits in the author. He’s often compared to his speculated author avatar, Rohan Kishibe, an arrogant mangaka that dislikes a lot of things, including obnoxious fans and North Americans.