There is no shortage of groundbreaking anime and manga series, but Hirohiko Araki’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has managed to surpass expectations and achieve an unbelievable level of success and acclaim. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure continues to tell the legendary story of the Joestar family, but it’s a series that hasn’t been afraid to make serious changes and mix up its formula.
Anime is a medium that’s particularly versatile due to the copious amount of genres that exist and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is a property that’s been able to embrace many contrasting ideas and archetypes over the years. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is guilty of certain anime tropes, but more often than not, it’s a series that forges its own path and has done some things that have never been attempted by other anime.
10 It Changes Its Primary Attack System
Hirohiko Araki’s JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has been going strong for nearly 35 years and it’s only natural for certain changes to take place over the course of this extensive run. This is typical for any long-running anime, but these pivots can often be in response to fairly benign elements. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure makes a radical change once it transitions from Battle Tendency into Stardust Crusaders. The primary force of energy in the series, Hamon, becomes replaced with the humanoid Stands, which leads to a very different style of combat.
9 Hirohiko Araki’s Art Style Continues To Evolve And Change
Araki is the brilliant mind that’s been behind JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure ever since its inception, but some readers of the manga might actually believe that the series’ artist has changed due to the very contrasting aesthetics that are present across different chapters of the series. The truth of the matter is that Araki’s art style just changes throughout his tenure on the series, which has resulted in different types of character models, line use, and other deviations from how JoJo looked at its start. These aesthetic shifts are also represented very effectively in the look of the anime series.
8 It Resets Its Narrative And Starts Over In A New Timeline
One of the benefits of long-running shonen series is that they build such an impressive narrative over time that continually adds to the story and the development and maturity that the characters experience. The ongoing chapters of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure might focus on different protagonists, but they tell an interconnected narrative.
However, the conclusion of Stone Ocean makes a bold move to ostensibly reset the JoJo canon in an effort to simplify things and start over. Steel Ball Run and JoJolion have existed in a new canon, but one that still riffs on past events in clever ways.
7 Its Global Perspective That’s Set Across The Whole World
Anime is such a versatile medium of storytelling because it’s able to tackle any sort of subject matter or be set in fantastical worlds. At the same time, a lot of anime are content to be set somewhere in Japan. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure does eventually spend time in Japan, but the series has such a fresh flavor to it because it adopts such a global point of view with its storytelling. JoJo begins in England and makes its way over to Egypt, Italy, Florida, and more. Steel Ball Run embraces a desert aesthetic with western genre ideals and spans the length of the U.S.
6 The Novels And Off-Shoots That Have Happened By Different Authors
Hirohiko Araki is the mastermind behind JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’s manga, but like any popular franchise, it’s found ways to expand its storytelling beyond the standard avenues of manga and anime. There are a series of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure light novels that peel back the layers on certain characters from the series, yet Araki has given authors permission to put their stamp on his world. Books like Jorge Joestar, Over Heaven, Purple Haze Feedback, and Golden Heart, Golden Ring all expand on JoJo, but are arguably out of canon.
5 The Popularity Of Its Rohan OVA Gaining A Life Of Its Own
OVA series are another element that can often allow popular anime to tell a self-contained story that might not otherwise fit into the anime’s proper narrative. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure features a series of OVA installments titled Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan, which focus on Diamond is Unbreakable’s ornery mangaka, Rohan Kishibe.
Strangely, not only have these OVAs turned into a major hit, but they’ve spawned their own live-action adaptations, which are still being made today. They’ve gained an odd following that’s beyond what could be anticipated for such a niche JoJo expansion.
4 The Curious Naming Conventions Used For Characters And Stands
Names aren’t easy and they shouldn’t be the most important aspect of a story, but there are several anime series that turn to unexpected inspiration for their characters’ labels. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is especially egregious in this regard and it settles upon an interesting theme where characters and Stands are named after musical groups and song titles. This isn’t JoJo’s only approach for naming, as Stardust Crusaders embraces a Tarot card motif and Stone Ocean turns to different fashion labels. It’s a fun tradition, especially since JoJo’s English dub will often change names in a hilarious copyright-free capacity.
3 The Way In Which It Messes With Its Opening Theme Songs
Something extremely unique about JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is the playful way in which it shows that some of the heroes and villains’ Stands are so powerful that they literally alter the show’s opening title sequence. It’s become an entertaining custom ever since Stardust Crusaders that a JoJo’s opening theme will experience some transformation that reflects the powers of the main Stands. It’s such a creative idea that catches the audience by surprise and teaches them to never skip the show’s introduction. It’s such a smart way to get meta with the series, but without unnaturally breaking the fourth wall.
2 The Generational Aspect Of The Storytelling
It’s actually a somewhat common approach in some shonen series to introduce the original protagonist’s children and allow the narrative to pass the torch over to the next generation, whether it’s in Dragon Ball, Naruto, or even InuYasha. What makes JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure distinct in this area is that it pulls the trigger on its generational storytelling very early in the series rather than waiting hundreds of episodes like other shonen stories. Additionally, JoJo navigates through the whole Joestar family lineage and hits as many branches of the family tree as possible, rather than just one son.
1 Its Heavy Use Of American Music
It’s not very common, but there are a small section of anime that make use of American music, either for title sequences or to punctuate some powerful moment within the series. Accordingly, this strategy isn’t only employed by JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, but the series has indulged in this capacity far more than any other anime. Each of JoJo’s ending theme songs make use of appropriate American music, such as "Walk Like An Egyptian" by the Bangles, "Roundabout" by Yes, "I Want You" by Savage Garden, and even "Freek'n You" by Jodeci. It adds such personality to the series.