JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has quickly cemented itself as a classic manga series. Written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki, the series began all the way back in 1987, starting life in the pages of the legendary Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine. Since then, the series has gone from strength to strength, delighting millions around the globe. It has even spawned a popular anime adaptation and several films.
Right now, fans are thrilled that the Stone Ocean anime adaptation has finally hit Netflix, giving fans a fresh taste of JoJo action and excitement. However, if you want to read the manga, things are a little more complicated.
What is Stone Ocean?
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is split into parts, and each part has a unique subtitle. Stone Ocean is the 6th part of the JoJo franchise, covering volumes 64 to 80 of the manga. This collection of 158 chapters follows Jolyne Cujoh, Jotaro Kujo’s daughter.
Stone Ocean is set in Port St. Lucie, Florida, in 2011. It sees Jolyne Cujoh getting arrested for a murder she insists she didn’t commit. Unable to prove her innocence, Jolyne gets sent to Green Dolphin Street Prison for 15 years. However, just before she gets locked up, Jolyne manifests her Stand and learns about her family and its strange history. This new knowledge sets Jolyne on a new path as she plots revenge on the person who framed her. She also has to stop a plot that could have massive ramifications for her family and the entire world.
How can I read JoJo in America?
JoJo has a strange and complicated release history in the U.S. Viz Media looked into localizing the series in the 1990s and even published a short blurb about it in their magazine. This blurb said that they would be localizing the series as The Strange Adventures of JoJo. Alas, this localization never came to be. Viz Media considered it again in 2002 and planned to release the series as a monthly comic book. However, the market for paperback manga periodical comics was quickly crashing, thus Viz decided against this plan.
Viz didn’t actually start localizing the manga until 2005. It wasn’t a quick process, as Viz made several changes to the series, including censoring some of the violence, especially violence against animals. It also changed several Stands and character names, mainly ones that referenced songs or musicians, as Viz was worried that they would get sued by the artists referenced due to differences between the American and Japanese copyright systems. This delay and a slow release schedule mean that the JoJo manga is currently a whole part behind the anime version.
The last volume of the manga to come out in America was JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 5 ⏤ Golden Wind, Vol. 2, which hit stores and digital distribution platforms on Nov. 2, 2021. This covers chapters 16 to 33 of this part. The next release, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Part 5 ⏤ Golden Wind, Vol. 3, is available as of Feb. 1, 2022.
This means that those wanting to read Stone Ocean in its entirety will have to wait a while, as Golden Wind contains around 154 chapters. It will be at least a few years before fans can read Jolyne Cujoh’s full set of adventures.