Manga series by
Hirohiko Araki, serialized in
Shonen Jump from 1987 till the present. Collected in over 80
manga volumes, with part 6 released under the title Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean. The story is divided into 6 major plot arcs, each featuring a new main character always bearing the nickname Jojo.
Originally a story about fighting vampires, in part 3 the focus changes to new spiritual guardians called
Stands, and the 6 Magical Arrows that can create them. The popularity in Japan skyrocketed at this point, from a respectably popular manga to a
phenomenon which has lasted 14 years.
Part 1
Phantom Blood
(manga volumes 1-5)
Setting: England, 1888
Star:
Jonathan Joestar
Part 2
Battle Tendency
(manga volumes 6-12)
Setting: Europe, 1938
Star:
Joseph Joestar
Part 3
Stardust Crusaders
(manga volumes 13-28)
Setting: Middle East, 1987
Star:
Kujo Jotaro
Part 4
Diamond is not Crash
(manga volumes 29-47)
Setting: Japan, 1999
Star:
Higashikata Josuke
Part 5
Whirlwind of Gold
(manga volumes 48-63)
Setting: Italy, 2000
Star:
Giorno Giovanna
Part 6
Stone Ocean
(Stone Ocean manga volumes 1-17)
Setting: America, 2011
Star:
Jolyne Joestar
Part 7/Side Story
Steel Ball Run
(Steel Ball Run manga volumes 1-?)
Setting: America
Star:
Gyro Zeppeli
Note that the main character of this part is not a Joestar, but members of the Joestar, Brando and Zeppeli families appears. This is not actually marketed as "Jojo's Bizarre Adventure" but seeing as how everyone has a Stand and all the characters are involved, its basically Part 7.
One of the biggest quirks about the character names comes from the fact that Araki is a huge American
music buff. Most of the character names are names of
bands,
songs, and
albums, some of which can be harder to spot than others. The art is generally characterized by extreme
violence, coupled with random
goofiness which keeps the reader guessing where the series will go next. Araki never disappoints, every volume seems more over the top than the last. It boggles the mind how any one man could think of things so...
bizarre.
Several video games have been released, including an
RPG on
Super Nintendo, a fighting game in the arcade, later ported to
Dreamcast and
Playstation (both based on part 3), and an upcoming fighter on
Playstation2 (based on part 5). 6 anime episodes were released under the Jump Video label as an abridged version of part 3 in the late 80's, to capitalize on the still burning popularity. More recently, 7 volumes of a remade, more complete view of part 3 was released by APPP in 2000, and will be released in America by
Super Techo Arts.