, also known as ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The Animation'', is a Japanese

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

television series produced by

David Production is a Japanese animation studio founded in September 2007 and is based in Nishitōkyō, Tokyo. Notable works from the studio include ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'', '' Cells at Work!'', and ''Fire Force''. Establishment The company was founded b ...

. An adaptation of the Japanese manga series of the same name by

Hirohiko Araki is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for his long-running series ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'', which began publication in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' in 1987 and has over 120 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling ...

, the series focuses on the mysterious adventures of the Joestar family across generations, from the end of the 19th century to modern times. The series was first broadcast on

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...

before entering syndication on 4 JNN stations, BS11, and

Animax , stylized as ANIMAX, is a Japanese animation satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. The channel also dubbed other cartoons in Japanese language. A subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan, it is headq ...

. The first season, adapting the first two parts, ''

Phantom Blood is a 1987 manga series created by Hirohiko Araki, and the first part of the larger ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' series. The manga was originally serialized by Shueisha in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' under the title and was collected in five ...

'' and ''

Battle Tendency is the second story arc of the manga series ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. It was serialized for around years in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from November 2, 1987, to March 27, 1989, for 69 c ...

'', aired in Japan between October 2012 and April 2013. The series is distributed in North America by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and

Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

, with the former handling the series on DVD and the latter handling the series on Blu-Ray and the merchandising rights. In the United States, it aired on

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...

Toonami Toonami ( ) is an American late night television programming block that primarily broadcasts Japanese animation and occasionally American action animation. It was created by Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco and produced by Williams Street, a divis ...

programming block starting in October 2016. A second season adapting the manga's third part, '' Stardust Crusaders'', aired between April and September 2014, with a second part airing between January and June 2015. A third season covering the fourth part, '' Diamond Is Unbreakable'', aired from April to December 2016. A fourth season covering the fifth part, '' Golden Wind'', aired from October 2018 to July 2019. A fifth season covering the sixth part, '' Stone Ocean'', was released worldwide on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

from December 2021 to December 2022. As of December 2022, the series consists of 190 episodes.

Premise

''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' tells the story of the Joestar family, a family whose various members discover they are destined to take down supernatural foes using powers that they possess. The story is split up into unique parts, each following a member of the Joestar family, who typically have names that can be abbreviated to the titular "JoJo".

Release

On July 5, 2012, at a press conference celebrating the 25th anniversary of ''

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. It was originally serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1987 to 2004, and was transferred to the monthly ''seinen'' manga ...

'' and promoting series creator

's then-upcoming art exhibition, Araki and his people announced that an

adaptation of ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' was in production and would premiere in October 2012. In August 2012, it was announced that the series would be produced by

. The first season of ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' covered the first two parts of the manga, ''

'' and ''

''. It aired for 26 episodes on

between October 6, 2012 and April 6, 2013. Although teased at in the post-credit scenes of the finale, the second season of the anime series, which covered the third part of the manga, '' Stardust Crusaders'', was officially announced in the 47th issue of ''

Weekly Shōnen Jump is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the ''Jump'' line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many action scenes and a fair amount of comedy. The chapters of the series that run ...

'' and the fifth ''

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...

'' volume of ''

JoJolion is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki, and is the eighth part of the larger ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' series. Set in Japan in 2011, it follows Josuke Higashikata, a young man afflicted by retrograde amnesia, ...

'' in October 2013. It was broadcast on Tokyo MX in two parts for a total of 48 episodes; the first from April 5 to September 13, 2014, and the second from January 10 to June 20, 2015. The Japanese broadcast censored scenes of underage characters smoking by overlaying black shadows on them. In October 2015, at the "Last Crusaders" event for ''Stardust Crusaders'', a third season and adaptation of the fourth part of the manga, '' Diamond Is Unbreakable'', was announced. It premiered on April 1, 2016 and ended on December 23, 2016. An original video animation (OVA) adapting the ''

Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe ''Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe'', known in Japan as , is a series of manga one-shots created by Hirohiko Araki. It is a spin-off from '' Diamond Is Unbreakable'', the fourth part of Araki's ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' series, and features the ...

'' manga spin-offs to people who had purchased all thirteen Japanese DVD or Blu-ray volumes of the ''Diamond Is Unbreakable'' anime series. On June 21, 2018, at the "Ripples of Adventure" art exhibition, a fourth season and adaptation of the fifth part of the manga, '' Golden Wind'', was announced . The pilot debuted at Anime Expo on July 6, 2018, and formally aired from October 5, 2018 to July 28, 2019 on Tokyo MX. On April 4, 2021, at the ''JOESTAR The Inherited Soul'', which featured the cast of main characters from each part of the series, it was announced a fifth season and adaptation of the sixth part of the manga, '' Stone Ocean''. With the 2014 premiere of ''Stardust Crusaders'', American-based website Crunchyroll began streaming the anime series for viewers outside Japan an hour after it aired in Japan. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment released Parts 1 and 2 in a DVD set on September 22, 2015, with an English dub. In July 2016, Viz Media announced they acquired the Blu-ray rights to the series and released it with an English dub in July 2017. On October 15, 2016, American cable block

began airing the anime on its

block.

Reception

At the 2013

CEDEC Awards CEDEC Awards are annually presented by Tokyo, Japan-based CEDEC ( CESA Developers conference) for outstanding game developers and games. The awards started in 2008. Selection Process The CEDEC Awards began in 2008, at the "CEDEC 2008" conferenc ...

, the anime's opening sequence won in the Visual Arts division. The first DVD release of the TV anime was the fourth best-selling animation DVD in Japan for the week of January 28 to February 3, 2013, with 4,510 copies sold. Its Blu-ray version was the fourth best-selling animation Blu-ray for that same week, with 14,860 copies sold. The second volume ranked sixth in both animation DVDs and Blu-rays for the week of February 18–24, with 2,764 and 12,501 copies sold respectively. The anime's third volume was the sixth best-selling animation DVD, with 2,994 copies sold, and the second best-selling animation Blu-ray, with 13,536 copies sold, for the week of March 25–31.

Notes

References

External links