JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, created by manga legend Hirohiko Araki, has no doubt become one of the most popular anime franchises in the world over the past few years. What started off as a niche show filled with inside jokes and crazy poses is now a phenomenon that seemingly everyone has an opinion of.
Like any other popular anime, there are plenty of fans who show up late to the party. And JoJo, unlike some anime, can be incredibly intimidating to catch up on. Here's how to get caught up with the entire JoJo's anime, perfect for you to start reading the manga or wait for Part 6 to be animated.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood/Battle Tendency
The first two parts of JoJo's were animated together by David Production back in 2012. Called JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The Animation, this first season of the show combined the first chapter of the series starring Jonathan Joestar (and the immaculate Robert E. O. Speedwagon), Phantom Blood, with Battle Tendency, which starred Jonathan's grandson Joseph. Both series see the Joestars master the martial art of Hamon (Ripple in the dubs) and solve the mystery of the evil Stone Mask that turns its wearers into vampires. Jonathan battles his adopted brother Dio as the latter steals the Stone Mask from Jonathan's father George and dons it for himself. Joseph, meanwhile, must defeat the Pillar Men, a trio of ancient vampires who seek to take over the world.
Worth noting is that these two parts were written in 1987 and might be a little...challenging to get through for the modern anime fan. The anime does a great job to sort of speed things along, but keep in mind that you're watching a 33-year-old anime. Skipping these parts will ultimately be detrimental to you understanding the backstory to the later parts and missing what might be the "funnest" part in Battle Tendency. Plus, Parts 1 and 2 can be easily streamed on Netflix, and can even be downloaded to a smart device for offline viewing.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders
Stardust Crusaders, or Part 3, might be the most recognizable part in terms of main characters. This part stars Jotaro Kujo, a buff, oversized high school student, and a returning (but much older) Joseph Joestar, as they try to save Holly Kujo, their mother and daughter, respectively, from a spiritual force that's slowly killing her. The duo, along with a cast of other friends, travels across the globe to defeat DIO, who survived the events of Part 1 and amassed an army of Stand users ready to defeat the Crusaders and squash the Joestar bloodline once and for all. Stands are, as Joseph describes, "physical manifestations of a user's spiritual energy" and take many different forms. Some, like Jotaro's Star Platinum, are humanoids that enjoy beating the tar out of anything that stands in its way. Others have more niche uses - but all are inherently dangerous.
Stardust is where many of the inside jokes and references come from and is often cited as the most popular part. The old OVAs (which we'll discuss later) and the JoJo's game in arcades and on Sega Dreamcast are all inspired by Part 3. Jotaro is often ranked as the most popular Joestar due to his cool, calm demeanor, badass fighting style, and his incredible stand Star Platinum. The climactic battle between Jotaro and DIO can be compared to Dragon Ball Z's Goku vs. Frieza battle on Namek - the stakes never felt higher, and if evil triumphed, it would truly mean the end of the world. It allows the viewer to deeply connect with the entire team of Crusaders along their journey. More than almost any other part, these guys felt like a family, and the anime's second ending song (Last Train Home) is able to capture the emotion of the series finale perfectly. Bring your tissues. You can stream this on Crunchyroll, where the series is broken up into two parts: Stardust Crusaders and Stardust Crusaders: Battle In Egypt.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable
Diamond is Unbreakable is the fourth part of the JoJo's saga and sees a drastic shift in the tone and style of the series. It's much more colorful, with an abundance of purples, oranges, and yellows, a stark contrast to Stardust's muted color palette. Things seem a bit more cartoony and the first half of the series is much goofier than its predecessors. That doesn't last long, as eventually series protagonists Josuke Higashikata, Koichi Hirose, Okuyasu Nijimura, Rohan Kishibe, and the returning Jotaro Kujo encounter a serial killer with a twisted sense of self.
DiU also starts the trend of Araki naming stands after famous music acts and songs, such as Crazy Diamond, Red Hot Chili Pepper, and Killer Queen. Part 4 is a must-watch, and might all-in-all be more fun than even Battle Tendency. It also has the second-best opening (Crazy Noisy Bizarre Town) which adds to not only the colorful aesthetic but the fun as well.
Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe
The first detour is a one-shot focused on Rohan Kishibe. In the series, Kishibe travels the world looking for inspiration for his next manga series. It's very much a shift in tone from the entire JoJo's series and especially DiU, as it becomes more of a drama-thriller than a shonen action anime.
Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe is one of the few JoJo installments not available on Crunchyroll or Netflix so it can be hard to track down, but it's absolutely worth a watch.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind
The most recent part, Golden Wind, takes place in Italy and follows Passione, a team of gang members just trying to make a living. The protagonist, Giorno Giovanna (GioGio, get it?) is not only a Joestar by blood, but is also Dio's son (which will be explained during the series, don't worry.) Along with mob capo Bruno Bucciarati, Guido Mista, Narancia Ghirga, and more, the team tries to figure out the identity of the cutthroat "Boss."
The tone of Golden Wind finds itself between Stardust and DiU, being silly, yet dark at times, especially as the series progresses. Darkness aside, it features the absolute best part in the series so far, where 3 Passione members perform the "Torture Dance," a bizarre sequence that is as confusing as it is mesmerizing. If you don't watch any part of this series, at least do yourself the favor and watch that scene.
The OVAs (1993, 2000)
The OVAs serve as more of a history lesson, as many JoJo's fans were first introduced to the series via these two sets of animations, but are mostly deemed inferior to David Production's interpretations of the series. The OVAs only cover Stardust Crusaders and originally pick up right when the team arrives in Egypt to confront DIO. Unfortunately, it omits many of the battles seen in the manga. Eventually, the first half of Part 3 was animated in 2000 to fill in the blanks viewers might have had going into it. For a series from the 90s-00s, the animation is stellar, and any fan of the series would do well to watch these OVAs at least once.
And that's really all there is to catch up on JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Now you can start reading the manga to Part 6, Stone Ocean, or wait for the anime to release sometime in the next year or two.