Forum - View topicThe Best Way to Watch Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
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Ulinox
 Posts: 687 |
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Gotta watch the first anime to explore Dio's villany pre-Stadust Crusaders, and Joseph's Jojo is perhaps the best main character in the whole series. The first anime also has the best ending of anything I've seen recently: "Roundabout".
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O-chan
 Posts: 78 Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan |
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Actually I bought the DVD knowing this because I've heard a lot of praise for the dub. I even exposed the dub to a University anime club and now everyone is a big Jojo fan. Since Crunchyroll does offer a well done subbed version is a good alternative to the botched DVD subbed track. I honestly felt fans should just buy the DVD and give WB their two-cents since they are inexperienced at this. Fan input goes a long way and it's a lot better than simply boycotting the release and hurting future releases for the franchise. |
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residentgrigo
 Posts: 2416 Location: Germany |
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The best way to watch JoJo is still to read it despite the quality of the adaptation.
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Durga
 Posts: 103 |
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Part 1 almost ruined JoJo's for me.
Okay, that's melodramatic, but when the anime first came out in 2012 I tried watching Phantom Blood and after three episodes my reaction was "what's the big deal and why is this so ugly?" So come 2014 and Stardust Crusaders gets an anime, and I'm not expecting it to wow me, yet the first episode immediately had me hooked. I loved it from start to finish and its 50 episode length was not a problem for me at all. I even rewatched a few episodes here and there. Where Crusaders succeeded for me where Blood failed was having a likable cast of heroes and much more interesting superpowered scenarios. The humor also gelled in a way Phantom Blood's didn't. I did eventually go back and watch Phantom Blood. Still don't like it very much, but I'm glad I at least watched Battle Tendency. I'd rank Stardust Crusaders over Battle Tendency purely because of my preference for Crusaders cast and Stands. So my take on the best way to watch JoJo's is to start with Phantom Blood, see if it grabs you, and if not, feel free to dabble in the other parts and see if there's something you like. |
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mangamuscle
Posts: 2658 Location: Mexico |
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For me part one is where slowly but surely the plot transitioned from drama (I felt I was watching Remi: Nobodies Boy in the first few episodes) into bizarre territory. It is not like seeing larger than large males is unheard in anime dramas.
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Dai_Setsudan
 Posts: 7 |
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Phantom Blood has a rough first episode with scenes of violence against animals and a hero who seems so pathetic that you can't imagine being able to root for him. But I think over the next few episodes it does pull it back and it's useful for setting stuff up for part two (Speedwagon, the Zeppeli family etc) and part three (Dio is basically a blank space if you haven't seen part one).
Battle Tendency is probably my favourite of the three parts I've seen. Yes there's lots of over the top "let me explain the intricate details of the trap I have just caught you in" moments, but it's just so dang FUN to watch. It's also just short enough that it doesn't out-stay it's welcome. Stardust Crusaders is lots of fun. As one of the few people who didn't know anything about Dio beforehand, his new Stand powers made for some very memorable scenes towards the end. I do wish it had been truncated down though, as the anime feels waaay too long. I'm sure fans of the manga enjoyed seeing every story played out, but I found stretches of it very tedious, especially during the second half in Egypt. Crusaders probably suffers a little if you've seen the first two parts though. I couldn't help but see Joseph as the lead character rather than Jotaro. Also, the whole "Stands" thing just feels like some pokemon bs pulled out of someone's rear end to handwave why the setup isn't the one-sided beatdown of the world's best hamon user against a villain who's greatest weakness is hamon energy. The introduction of the Stands does make it suddenly feel like a completely different franchise to what came before, and I can imagine that anyone who got started with SC would similarly feel very confused by their absence in the earlier parts. |
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Top Gun
 Posts: 4570 |
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Anyone who advises people to skip the first two parts is just factually wrong. I mean, Phantom Blood is a bit clunky perhaps, but it starts the story off properly, and as others have mentioned it really gives you the proper perspective on the long-burning hatred of the Jojos towards Dio. But Battle Tendency is just glorious: I'd even put it ahead of Stardust Crusaders myself. I found Hamon/Ripple to be more interesting mechanics than Stands (it still feels like there was never a proper explanation given for why the latter just suddenly pop up in the Jojo universe), and the Pillar Men a far more compelling foe than the villains of the week that made up 85% of Stardust. Plus Joseph is best Jojo: he's still great as an old man, but he is absolutely legendary in his masterfully trollish youth. Oh, and did I mention Stroheim?
And God, yeah, those gg subs were legendary. Even when I wind up picking up the DVDs, I'm holding onto those for life. 
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kotelo_
Posts: 117 |
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You know, this entry could've worked better like this.
I didn't even read the entry because this is the only right way to do it. |
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Via_01
 Posts: 551 |
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I feel quite the opposite about this subject: I felt the Ripple, though a rather cool martial arts/chi thingy, was very limited on what it could accomplish, and so there wasn't much room for Araki to play around with it. Stands, on the other hand, can be just whatever the heck the author wants them to be: they are a flexible power that really doesn't NEED a proper explanation because it fits just too well with the unpredictable nature of Jojo (though Part VII does try to link the Ripple and Stand powers in a minor way). It took Araki a while to figure out just how to play around with Stands correctly, making initial stands rather mundane if you look back (Magicians Red's power was literally just to shoot fire, and Star Platinum had nothing other than "punching really fast" going for it until the last arc). |
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Sahmbahdeh
Posts: 712 |
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Watch it in order. I honestly can't imagine it working as well any other way. Phantom Blood establishes the Joestar lineage and Dio as a villain, starting one of the greatest rivalries/blood feuds in anime/manga history. In addition, there's just something great about watching the series progress and form this decades-spanning conflict as the generations go by. It's honestly kind of unique in anime, and I think it deserves to be viewed and appreciated as it was intended. The only reason I can think of to watch Part 3 first and then go back is so you don't get disappointed by Part 3 after the much better parts 1 and 2 (at least Battle Tendency is better; Phantom Blood is about on par).
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Cyclone1993
 Posts: 947 |
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I'm one of the weird Jojo fans. I watched them in order but my preferences are quite different from most others I know who have watched the series. I really liked Phantom Blood up until the Hamon stuff then it became kind of boring or odd, I'm not sure how to describe it. Then I watched Battle Tendency, and I didn't really like it. It was okay but nothing mind blowing.
I was actually considering not watching any more Jojo if more got made. However 3 episodes of Stardust Crusaders were out and I wanted to see the Stands, if only to understand the Gintama references better. Then it blew me away, and I watched all of it, and I've never really looked back. I think the dynamics that the Stands present are what pulls the series together. So I love them now, and I'm really looking forward to Diamond is Unbreakable. As long as it's more in the vein of Stardust Crusaders. |
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Herald Of JOJO
 Posts: 144 Location: Malaysia |
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Yeah, I can agree with this article. Now I can see why Part 3 isn't exactly revered as highly as some parts.
Honestly IMO, I think Part 4 is one of the best parts in the series. Diamond is Not Crash feels more like a goofy fun times story throughout it, what with the main character losing his shit when his hair is insulted, his best friend spoiler[being stalked by a yandere girl], his other best friend spoiler[being a dumbass who hates thinking in battle], and so on. That said, it can get pretty serious and depending on your tolerance levels, slightly disturbing. Anyone who has read Part 4 to the end, you know what I mean. 
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louis6578
 Posts: 1860 |
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All of the Parts/Arcs of JoJo are structured so that you can jump into any one of them with little to no knowledge of the series as a whole. That being said, if you don't like shounen, but the plot of... say, part 5 interests you, just skip right to it.
If you're interested in JoJo in general, well... may I introduce you to a revolutionary technique for getting into it. Step 1: Watch/Read Phantom Blood. Step 2: Watch/Read Battle Tendency Step 3: Wa- Wait a minute... this seems obvious. Are there really people who don't do this? Saying otherwise is like telling someone... "Dude! You gotta watch Yu Yu Hakusho! Oh, but the first arcs are kinda slow, so skip to the Dark Tournament arc!" Sure, Part I is weaker by some stretch, but I was engaged throughout. To be honest, Part I's first episode had minimal action and no superpowers, just Dio ruining Jonathan's life. That was enough to make me wonder where the show was going. Sure, Jonathan was a bit generic, too objectively nice, etc. But this was shounen in the 80's. Plus, the ending of Part I is a bittersweet tragic ending that is, to me, one of the most iconic things in the shounen genre. Part II is amazing. Nuff said. In my opinion, it's better than Stardust Crusaders, but I won't blame people for preferring Part III over it. I don't know why this article needed to be made. If someone's so impatient that they skip over the initial arcs of an anime to get to the good stuff, they're not really worth recommending this to. PS: I hate the DVD subs too. My biggest gripe is that they don't even have the common courtesy to sub the OP themes. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11330 |
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I was really curious about JoJo for a long time, so I was happy to check it out when the 2012 series started. But I only made it through the first 4 episodes (I know I watched at least part of episode 4 because of a comment about the frog I made on another forum, but rewatching it now, it all seemed new to me). I mostly felt that Dio was the only character with the brains god gave lettuce, and the overblown machismo just didn't appeal to me, so after they burned down the mansion and Speedwagon took him in, I quit.
When Stardust started, I decided to give it another go, because like Cyclone, I wanted to learn more about the Stands because Gintama.  It was kind of addicting and I enjoyed it to the end. Now I've caught up on Phantom Blood and am halfway through Battle Tendency in preparation for Diamond, and I'm enjoying the hell out of seeing young Joeseph. He's definitely the best JoJo so far in the series.
So yeah, there are different ways to watch JoJo. My only complaint is there just isn't nearly enough Dio in it. |
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sharkjack
Posts: 43 |
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I disagree that the ripple was limited on what it could accomplish, but it is definitely true that Araki felt constrained by what he could make its users do and more importantly what it let him let the villains do. If you look at part 2, he pillar men keep getting weirder and weirder abilities that he bends over backwards trying to justify with regular biology on steroids, with less and less conviction. Super heated blood, air vents in your body, impossible bone breaking and squeezing, it just felt like he wanted to do awesome special abilities but couldn't let go of physical constraints. Stands are the way to solve this problem, and part 3 greedily makes use of this the further it moves along. I really was sad how much he Araki downplayed the ripple in part 3, because it would've made Joseph a far more interesting fighter. (who didn't get to do a whole lot of anything in part 3, despite with DIO having killed 3/4 of his grandparents and having assaulted Erina, Dio being indirectly responsible for Josephs fathers death and being the reason Caesar had a screwed up childhood, and him being a fully realized ripple user made the conflict far more personal for him than Jotaro) Stands allow for a completely different writing style with regard to the way encounters are set up, which Araki experiments and gradually grows very competent in during part 3. Combined with the increase in experience in writing and with using some of the cast, Stardust crusaders is just a completely different beast from Phantom blood. I happen to like part1 and 2 better than 3, which I feel is often drawn out and too convenient for my taste. I am a sucker for the melodrama of Phantom blood and young Josephs use of Tommie guns, grenades, steel balls and pigeons is just too awesome to resist. I've had a blast watching part 1 with friends, it goes by super quick so you can watch it in one sitting, and Joseph's initial encounter with Straitz kept them hooked for the entirety of Part 2. But if part 1 isn't someone's thing, part 3 certainly might be and it is a valid starting point for sure. There are many ways to enjoy the ride on the JoJo train. I don't really care where people hop on or off, but I do hope it keeps going strong so that we can go past part 4 into part 5 and beyond! |
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