Series Overview
February 27, 2018
At its heart JoJo’s is, as the title would imply, an adventure series. Though, this does not mean that the protagonists are always on the move, with parts four, five, and six primarily taking place in one location.
The series’ logo
The real adventure comes from the varied supernatural and mysterious elements the protagonists encounter along the way. Despite originally seeming to involve classic movie monsters, vampires and zombies in JoJo’s possess many strange abilities that only Hirihiko Araki could have conceived of. In later arcs, Stands, an original concept of Araki’s, serve the same purpose, with even more varied and unique powers. This gives the narrative a lot of freedom, and nearly anything could happen. Some of the most entertaining Stand abilities range from an enemy that attacks you in your dreams, a Stand that can shape-shift into a large boat, and even a clairvoyant comic book.
JoJo’s is known for it’s very distinctive and unique artstyle. Despite being what the series is known for, the artstyle shifts quite a bit, starting with hulking masculine powerhouses, and progressively becoming more slender and feminine as the series continues. At the very beginning of the manga, the art is off putting and inconsistent, although this was fixed in the anime, and showed chiseled faces on top of fitness god level bodies. This continued into the second and third parts, although with increasing emphasis on fashion. By the fourth and fifth parts, the art has become relatively feminine, and most characters are slender rather than the giantesque muscle heads of previous parts. One thing that is consistent among all parts is an emphasis on unusual and flamboyant posing.
This battle of the week format can be both a great strength and a crippling weakness. On one hand, it allows you to jump in at any episode, and keeps the tone breezy and fun. On the other hand, there can be large stretches of episodes or chapters where the status quo remains nearly the same, and it can be tiring to go so long with such minimal progression.
Due to this formula, the quality of any part of JoJo’s comes down to it’s protagonists and the main antagonist.