Ora Ora Ora!

With the recent release of the new anime season (Stardust Crusaders) on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, the timing just seemed perfect to talk about one of my latest anime/manga obsessions: the perennial hit Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.

Years aback, when Shonen Jump was still being put out in English translation in America, I think there was a preview chapter of the famous Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Manga, and I think I might have picked up the first volume of Stardust Crusaders when it came first came out, again years ago.  (Which was odd, because Stardust Crusaders was the third arc, not the first.)

I don't recall too much of what I thought of it at that time (around ten years ago, if not more), but my poor young mind must not have been mature or experienced enough to really appreciate it or want to follow it seriously.  (Which was odd, because I still follow One Piece, which was already well up and running at that time.)

But, since my local library began carrying the series from the very beginning, I have developed WAY more of a taste for it.

Boy. where to even begin with this series?  The stories are phenomenal, the art is gritty and realistic, the characters are usually memorable and the battles are just...God, is there a even a word?

All it's been missing so far (my having read through only Phantom Blood, Battle Tendency and a fair amount of Stardust Crusaders because that's all that's been released in huge thick English volumes so far) is hot chicks and fanservice.  But, with the first-ever female Jojo in Stone Ocean's Jolyne, that's right up there on the horizon in a few years.  Not to mention the Higashikata family in Jojolion.

Our story arcs over the decades and generations, following the Joestar (and later Kujo) families as they face various supernatural threats, many of which were either directly or indirectly spawned from their family's past enemy, Dio Brando, the vampire.

And did I mention that he survived for 100 years after Phantom Blood by attaching his freaking SEVERED HEAD to the body of his deceased enemy Johnathan Joestar?

Go ahead, tell me that isn't epic.

There have been around eight arcs so far since the series inception in the 1980's (two of which take place after the freaking universe COLLAPSED and remade an entirely new reality!):

1. Phantom Blood
2. Battle Tendency
3. Stardust Crusaders
4. Diamond is Unbreakable
5. Vento Aureo
6. Stone Ocean
7. Steel Ball Run
8. Jojolion

 So, if you like manly fist-fights, crazy superpowers, deep rich stories, character legacies, intricate battles and, hell, even learning a thing or two here and there, pick up Jojo's Bizarre Adventure today!  Just be prepared for the long haul.

PS: There are few gory discretion shots in this series, and I haven't yet seen how they handle nudity.  May not be the best for your kiddies, unless they are very mature.