Netflix announced this morning that the first 12 episodes of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean will stream worldwide on Dec. 1. Series director Toshiyuki Kato returns to adapt the next arc in the franchise that sees the DIO and Joestar feud carried to over an entirely new continent.
A brief new subbed trailer accompanied the announcement.
Stone Ocean is the fifth season of David Productions’ adaptation of the classic shonen series and is part six of Hirohiko Araki’s prolific manga. The single arc was released over 3 years in Shonen Jump and is collected into 17 volumes. This season will take fans of the show to Florida in 2011, where Jolyne Cujoh has been framed for murder. Sentenced to Green Dolphin Street Prison, she’s visited by her absent father Jotaro Kujo and warned of a plot by disciples of DIO. Jolyne is a descendent of the Joestar and will have to access her lineage to awaken Stone Free.
The anime adaptation began in 2012, and Stone Ocean will be the first season of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure to air exclusively on Netflix. The franchise has since grown from its cult status among English-speaking anime fans online and is now a banner of Netflix’s anime acquisition campaign. The announcement was made at Netflix Festival Japan 2021, which emphasized the streaming platform’s plan to expand its Japanese entertainment catalog through original anime, live-action adaptations of manga and anime, and live-action feature films.
The first four seasons of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure are currently streaming on Netflix.