New details about the elusive 2007 film Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood have surfaced.
As described in a report from J-List Blog, Phantom Blood was the first anime adaptation of the first arc of Hirohiko Araki's popular shonen manga. Despite this, the film vanished from the public eye soon after its theatrical release. In 2012, David Production released its anime series adaptation of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, which went on to become wildly successful and ultimately overshadowed Phantom Blood, leaving it little more than an object of curious speculation for the JoJo fandom.
For several years after its theatrical release, the only evidence of Phantom's Blood's existence came from promotional materials and concept art floating around online. It wasn't until 2012 that a student at the Academy of Art University in California uploaded a 16-minute workprint for a project containing Phantom Blood scenes, storyboards, and parts of the film's soundtrack. In 2019, the YouTuber Mangomation discovered a "test pilot" teaser for the film in an old DVD he got at an auction and uploaded it online.
Studio APPP produced Phantom Blood. The production company also worked on an OVA miniseries inspired by Stardust Crusaders, the third part of the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure manga. Episodes of this miniseries were released starting in 1993, and it was generally well-received by audiences. In 2004, Studio APPP reportedly revealed the aforementioned "test pilot" teaser for Phantom Blood at the Tokyo International World Fair, but it wasn't until 2007 that the film made its theatrical debut, with Junichi Hayama at the helm as Director.
JoJo's Bizzare Adventures: Phantom Blood Received Mixed Reviews
Phantom Blood performed poorly at the box office, and surviving online posts suggest that audiences had a mixed reception of the film. Some fans complained that certain plot points of the manga's first arc were either skimmed over or completely omitted. In addition to this, the popular character Robert E.O. Speedwagon is absent from the story, despite being a major character throughout the saga. Hirohiko Araki reportedly stated that he found the film unusual but enjoyable, but the origin of this statement is unclear, so its veracity is uncertain.
To date, Phantom Blood has never been released on DVD or digitally. The main reason for this is likely due to the "major distribution challenges" that Studio APPP faced after the film's theatrical release. While Phantom Blood remains lost, David Production's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure adaptation is available on Netflix and Crunchyroll.
Source: J-List Blog