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

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

television series produced by David Production. An adaptation of the Japanese

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series of the same name by Hirohiko Araki, the series focuses on the mysterious adventures of the Joestar family across generations, from the end of the 19th century to the

modern era The modern era or the modern period is considered the current historical period of human history. It was originally applied to the history of Europe and Western history for events that came after the Middle Ages, often from around the year 1500 ...

. The series was first broadcast on

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV (channel 9), branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent station, independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city and parts ...

before entering syndication on 4 JNN stations, BS11, and

Animax , stylized as ANIMAX in all caps, is a Japanese animation satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. Launched on July 1, 1998, Animax is the first 24-hour network in the world dedicated to anime.The Anime Biz' - ...

. The first season, adapting the first two parts, '' Phantom Blood'' and '' Battle Tendency'', aired in Japan between October 2012 and April 2013. The series is distributed in North America by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and

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, 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

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Toonami Toonami ( ) is an American late-night television programming block that broadcasts Japanese anime and American action animation. It was created by Sean Akins and Jason DeMarco and currently produced by Williams Street, a subsidiary of W ...

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

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from December 2021 to December 2022. A sixth season covering the seventh part, '' Steel Ball Run'', has been announced. 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'' and promoting series creator Hirohiko Araki'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 David Production. The first season of ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' covered the first two parts of the manga, '' Phantom Blood'' and '' Battle Tendency''. 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, ''shōnen'' manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the ''Jump (magazine line), Jump'' line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many Action (fiction), action scenes and a fair ...

'' and the fifth ''

tankōbon A is a standard publishing format for books in Japan, alongside other formats such as ''shinsho'' (17x11 cm paperback books) and ''bunkobon''. Used as a loanword in English, the term specifically refers to a printed collection of a manga that w ...

'' volume of '' JoJolion'' 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 , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and special episodes of a series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the ...

(OVA) adapting the '' Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe'' 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''. It was streamed worldwide on

from December 1, 2021 to December 1, 2022. On April 12, 2025, at the ''JOJODAY'' promotional event, a sixth season and adaptation of the seventh part of the manga, '' Steel Ball Run'', was announced. With the 2014 premiere of ''Stardust Crusaders'', American-based website

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation. The service primarily distributes fi ...

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

Sales

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.

Critical reception

The ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' anime television series was named one of the best of 2012 by '' Otaku USA''. It was added to the list by Joseph Luster, however, in his review he cited David Production having a small budget for several of his problems with the series, stating some portions of the animation are a "butt hair above motion comic standards," but that it usually makes up for it in "sheer style." Michael Toole of ''

Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and ot ...

'' had similar views, writing that the show's good writing, art direction, and pacing were "sometimes obscured by grade-Z animation." Several critics have credited the success of the anime adaptation for bringing about a surge of popularity for the ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' franchise amongst Western audiences. In 2018, Danni Wilmoth of

included the series on her list of "The 20 Series Every Anime Fan Needs to Watch". In 2019, ''

Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain. The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon ...

'' named the series as one of the best anime of the 2010s.

Accolades

At the 2013 CEDEC Awards, the anime's opening sequence won in the Visual Arts division. At the Crunchyroll Anime Awards, the anime's '' Diamond is Unbreakable'' received three category mentions in the most popular "Other" in 2017: "Best Action" and both Hero of the Year and

Best Boy In a film crew, there are two kinds of best boy: best boy electric (also known as the assistant chief lighting technician) and best boy grip (also known as the 2nd company grip). They are assistants to their department heads, the gaffer (in ch ...

for Josuke Higashikata, while Yoshikage Kira was nominated for Villain of the Year; Takahiro Kishida won "Best Character Design" for the anime's '' Golden Wind'' and its opening theme, "Fighting Gold" by Coda, was nominated for "Best Opening Sequence" in 2019; Yuichi Nakamura won Best Voice Artist Performance (Japanese) for his work as Bruno Bucciarati, while ''Golden Wind'' was nominated for three categories in 2020; Marios Gavrilis was nominated for Best Voice Artist Performance (German) for his work as

Dio Brando , later known mononymously as , is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the Japanese manga series '' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. He is featured initially as the main antagonist of the series' ...

in 2022; the anime's '' Stone Ocean'' was nominated for six categories, including Best Action and Best Continuing Series in 2023. ''Gadget Tsūshin'' listed "Pesci, Pesci, Pesci, Pesci yo!", a quote from the fifteenth episode of ''Golden Wind'', in their 2019 anime buzzwords list.

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{David Production 2012 anime television series debuts 2014 anime television series debuts 2016 anime television series debuts 2018 anime television series debuts 2021 anime ONAs 2022 anime television series debuts Adventure anime and manga Anime reboots Anime series based on manga Crunchyroll Anime Award winners David Production Muse Communication Television censorship in Japan Television shows about psychic powers Television shows written by Yasuko Kobayashi Tokyo MX original programming Vampires in anime and manga Viz Media anime