JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 1 Phantom Blood by Hirohiko Araki

Blurb:

A multigenerational tale of the heroic Joestar family and their never-ending battle against evil!

The legendary Shonen Jump series, now available in English for the first time, in a deluxe edition featuring color pages and newly drawn cover art! JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is a groundbreaking manga famous for its outlandish characters, wild humor and frenetic battles. A multigenerational tale of the heroic Joestar family and their never-ending battle against evil!

Young Jonathan Joestar’s life is forever changed when he meets his new adopted brother, Dio. For some reason, Dio has a smoldering grudge against him and derives pleasure from seeing him suffer. But every man has his limits, as Dio finds out. This is the beginning of a long and hateful relationship!

Review:

My cousin recommended this series to me a few years ago. It’s not like I hadn’t heard of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure or the legendary status it holds in the world of manga. However, I never really got around to reading it because of its length. But then, my cousin told me that JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is broken into separate parts, each following a different JoJo who’s a descendant of the same Joestar family. 

This one bit of detail changed everything. It meant there were very clear points in the series I could take a break, and come back when I’m ready to continue. So, after years of putting this off, I finally dove in. And what an absolutely absurd story this was!

Note: this is an ongoing series. Even with the series divided into parts, there is an overarching narrative, so this review will mostly just focus on Part 1: Phantom Blood (the complete arc, chapters 1-44). 

SPOILERS AHEAD!

What I liked:

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is really that. It’s about JoJo who, owing to misfortune and circumstances, ends up embarking on an Adventure that is—and I cannot stress this enough—Bizarre. I mean, imagine having to fight your adopted brother’s henchman who ends up being a zombified Jack the Ripper, with the help of a magical ‘ripples’ technique that your Italian sailor mentor has taught you—one he learned from a Tibetan master so he could track down an ancient Aztec mask that turns the wearer into a vampire; also, your adopted brother has turned into a vampire by using said mask. I’m going to stop right here, because I think I’ve spoiled enough. And yet, not really. 

Vampires, zombies, reanimated legendary knights (fictional), and so much more. That’s what’s in store for you in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part1: Phantom Blood. 

I don’t have a lot to say about the characters, because they mostly felt one-dimensional. However, their caricature behavior, coupled with the quirky awesomeness of their fighting styles really made for some interesting manga panels. JoJo (Jonathan Joestar) is your typical manga protagonist; he’s an idealist, a true gentleman who will always fight for what is right, and an optimist to a fault. But honestly, JoJo was my favorite character of the lot. I did end up rooting for him, especially in the second half where he’s trained with Zeppeli and is really coming up as a true warrior ready to fight against Dio’s evil schemes. 

To be fair, the plot is pretty straightforward. Greedy man with no values ruins his life, and that of his wife and child. On his death bed, he reveals that a rich noble owes him a favor, and sends his son to live with that rich noble. However, the son has a very clear plan in mind: steal everything and make it his own, doesn’t matter if other lives are destroyed in the process. There’s little rhyme or reason to Dio Brando’s cruelty other than he was raised cruel by a greedy, seedy father. But, that sort of makes sense. It’s a little too basic a reason, but it does lead to some crazy conflicts.

And lastly, I want to talk about Araki’s imagination. Because not only is the crazy cranked up to 11, the artwork neatly reflects it. All our main heroes and villains are absurdly proportioned, their muscles making Terry Crews look like Tom Cruise. The way the fights take place is equally maximalist, pushing the boundaries of what’s normal. This unique art style, coupled with the no-restraints absurdity in world-building and character design, all clashing in ways that are epic, is probably why this series is so well loved. I know I’m going to keep reading on. 

Hell, I’m a few chapters into Battle Tendancy already, and spoiler alert: I am loving it!

What I didn’t like:

I don’t have a lot to complain about, honestly. But there are a few points. 

Firstly, Erina. It’s bad enough that we only have one real female character. And she’s basically a damsel in distress. None of the characters seem to have as much depth, but none are shallower than Erina. I know at least one JoJo in the future instalments is female, so I guess that’s something Araki improved on.

The manga’s first couple of chapters were a little wonky in the sense. Firstly, there was a kind of demonizing the poor, glorifying the rich aspect to them that really didn’t work for me. But, given that there’s still quite a few parts to the series, this might change in later instalments. I’ll comment in my later reviews about it.

In addition to my last comment, Dio’s malice was very overt to the point of it being unmissable. The fact that Jonathan’s father, George, pretty much turned a blind eye to it was a little strange. That whole episode with Danny—I don’t even want to mention it here, but it can be super triggering for some—was where I would draw the line, but George pretty much did nothing. 

But then the time skip happens, and I enjoyed the story a lot more from there. Despite it not being a masterpiece, I really enjoyed Phantom Blood. However, I am aware that this is the weakest of the parts, which is what has me super excited for the future. 

Conclusion:

More bizarre than I had expected, Phantom Blood, part one of this epic manga series was as entertaining as it was fantastic. Can't wait to see what's next!

TL;DR:

WHAT I LIKED: The absurd plot progression, magic and world, JoJo’s relentless drive and optimism

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE: The way Erina (the only female character) was presented, some wonky chapters in the start.