The first season of the 2012

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 by

David Production is a Japanese animation studio founded in September 2007 by former Gonzo producers Kōji Kajita and Taito Okiura, and is based in Nishitōkyō, Tokyo. Notable works from the studio include '' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'', '' Cells at Work!'', t ...

, also known as ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The Animation'', adapted the first two arcs of

Hirohiko Araki , better known as , 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 ...

's manga of the same name: and . The ''Phantom Blood'' arc, which aired 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 ...

between October 6 and December 1, 2012, revolves around the mysterious adventures of the Joestar family, beginning with an encounter involving

Jonathan Joestar is a fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are ...

, his adoptive brother

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' ...

, and a Stone Mask that transforms people into vampires. The ''Battle Tendency'' arc, which aired on Tokyo MX between December 8, 2012, and April 6, 2013, focuses on Jonathan's grandson,

Joseph Joestar is a fictional character in the Japanese manga series '' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'', written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. Joseph is the main protagonist of the series' second story arc, '' Battle Tendency'', and the grandson of the firs ...

, and his fight against the Pillar Men, ancient humanoids which created the Stone Mask. The series was released on a series of nine DVDs and Blu-rays between January 30 and September 27, 2013, with the Blu-ray releases having the option of English subtitles.

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 series in April 2014. The English DVD was released by

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment; formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the American home video distribution ...

on September 22, 2015, with both English and Japanese audio with

closed captioning Closed captioning (CC) is the process of displaying text on a television, video screen, or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information, where the viewer is given the choice of whether the text is displayed. Closed cap ...

for the English dub only.

Viz Media Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...

released an English Blu-ray set on July 25, 2017, that includes English and Japanese audio with new subtitles for the Japanese. A second season, '' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders'', based on the series' third arc, began airing from April 5, 2014.

Plot

The first season was split into two parts: part 1 comprised episodes 1–9 covering the ''

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

'' manga arc, and part 2 comprised episodes 10–26 covering the ''

Battle Tendency is the second main 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, fo ...

'' arc. The first part, ''Phantom Blood'', is set in the early-to-late

1880s The 1880s (pronounced "eighteen-eighties") was the decade that began on January 1, 1880, and ended on December 31, 1889. The period was characterized in general by economic growth and prosperity in many parts of the world, especially Europe and ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. George Joestar takes in the orphan

to pay off a debt to Dio's late father Dario. Dio's attempts to become the sole heir to the Joestar fortune are thwarted and he resorts to using an ancient Stone Mask which transforms him into a

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...

with his sights now set on world domination. With Will A. Zeppeli, a master of a supernatural ability called Hamon, and former street thug Robert E.O. Speedwagon at his side, George's son Jonathan trains in Hamon and stops Dio who is left aboard an exploding ship after he mortally wounds Jonathan. However, Jonathan's wife Erina is pregnant with a child and escapes, continuing the Joestar name. The second part, ''Battle Tendency'', takes place in 1939. Jonathan's grandson Joseph teams up with Will's grandson Caesar Zeppeli to battle ancient humanoids called the Pillar Men, but are overwhelmed by the Pillar Man Wamuu. Joseph and Caesar have a month to defeat the Pillar Men Esidisi and Wamuu to obtain the antidotes for the poisoned rings in Joseph's windpipe and aorta, while also preventing them from gaining a powerful stone called the Red Stone of Aja. The two are trained in controlling Hamon by the Hamon coach Lisa Lisa. Joseph defeats Esidisi and Wamuu, but Kars obtains the Red Stone of Aja, becoming more powerful. Aided by the German soldier Rudol von Stroheim, Joseph uses the Red Stone of Aja against Kars to defeat him. In the epilogue set in the 1980s, a "treasure chest" engraved with the name "Dio" is salvaged from the sea, while an older Joseph is set to meet his daughter in Japan.

Voice cast

Music

The first season of ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' uses three pieces of theme music, two opening themes and one ending theme. The first opening theme is the song performed by Hiroaki "Tommy" Tominaga, vocalist of Japanese "

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

" band Bluff, as the opening theme for the Part 1 episodes. The score for Part 1 was composed by

Hayato Matsuo is a Japanese music composer and orchestrator who primarily does work in video games and anime. He has worked on games such as '' Front Mission 3'', ''Final Fantasy XII'', the '' Shenmue'' series, '' Magic Knight Rayearth'', and '' Hellsing Ulti ...

, and was released in two parts as ''Destiny'', a bonus disc in the first Blu-ray box set released on January 30, 2013, and ''Future'', a separate CD release on February 22, 2013. ''Future'' debuted at number 95 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Japan Top Albums charts and peaked at 115 on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

Weekly Album Charts. The opening theme song for the Part 2 episodes is " Bloody Stream" by Coda. Its score is composed by

Taku Iwasaki is a Japanese composer and arranger. His hometown is Tokyo, Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japa ...

, and was released in two parts as ''Musik'' (German for "Music"), a standalone CD release on March 29, 2013, and as ''Leicht Verwendbar'' (German for "Light User"), a bonus disc for Blu-ray box set volume 4 on April 26, 2013. ''Musik'' debuted at number 63 on the Japan Top Albums charts and at 89 on the Weekly Album Charts. The ending theme for the whole season is British

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band

Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * Young Eisner Scholars, in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Appalachia, US * Young Ep ...

' 1972 single "

Roundabout A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junct ...

Episode list

Notes

References

External links

Official website
* * {{JoJo's Bizarre Adventure JoJo's Bizarre Adventure episode lists 2012 Japanese television seasons 2013 Japanese television seasons Television series set in the 1880s Television series set in the 1930s Television shows set in England Television shows set in New York City Television shows set in Mexico Television shows set in Italy Television shows set in Switzerland