Home Anime

What is JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure About?

It's a confusing saga from the outside, spanning over a century across six different characters all named 'JoJo.'

JoJos Bizarre Adventure Plot
Image via David Production

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is an anime series based on the manga of the same name by Hirohiko Araki. The series began in 1987 in Weekly Shonen Jump and is still running in the monthly seinen publication Ultra Jump.

Recommended Videos

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is a multi-chapter series that follows various different protagonists from the same family tree, each with the nickname JoJo. Across the series, each JoJo goes on a wild adventure where they face supernatural threats, deal with wild body horror, and face villains whose names are American music references. Since the 3rd part, Stardust Crusaders, the plots have revolved around powers called Stands, which are psychic manifestations of a person’s energy. 

The manga is composed of eight different series which have spanned two universes and ran without major break for all 34 years. The last 10 years of the manga have been dedicated to part 8, JoJolion, which is about to have its final chapter debut in mid-August, during rising hype for the series.

Every JoJo’s series has its own new twists and turns and villains, each of which are very weird with often seemingly unbeatable abilities. Let’s do a quick synopsis for each animated JoJo’s chapter, in chronological order.

Every animated JoJo’s installment

Season 1: Phantom Blood

Adoptive brother to the first JoJo, Dio, becomes a evil vampire after already being a pretty evil dog murder. Jonathan Joestar has to master a mystical art named Hamon to stop Dio from taking over tte world. 

Season 1: Battle Tendency

Joseph Joestar, the second JoJo, emerges here. Battle Tendency follows his journey mastering the Hamon and preventing the Pillar Men from rising to power. This era takes place during World War II and sees JoJo go up against the Nazis.

Season 2: Stardust Crusaders

Arguably the most popular and well known installment in the JoJo’s franchise, this episode introduces viewers to Jotaro Kujo, the third JoJo. Jotaro unlocks the ability to conjure a Stand, and it turns out Dio still lives on by posessing the original JoJo: Jonathan Joestar. This season takes place during the 1980s and introduces the Stands, one of the most important concepts in the entire series.

Season 3: Diamond Is Unbreakable

The fourth JoJo, Josuke Higashikata, learns about a mystical arrow that gives people Stands, as well as a serial killer who has been using their Stand to kill the residents of his hometown, Morioh. Josuke sets out to stop the murderer once and for all and bring peace to his town. Diamond Is Unbreakable takes place in 1999.

Season 4: Golden Wind

In 2001, Giorno Giovanna, the fifth JoJo, infiltrates the Italian mob in an attempt to take over the mob and stop them from dealing drugs to young kids. Giorno sets out to make his own gang from the inside, in an attempt to unmask the mysterious mob leader and replace him.

Season 5: Stone Ocean

That leaves us with Stone Ocean, series 6, which will be season 5 of the anime, set to arrive on Netflix in December. The sixth JoJo is sent to jail for a crime she didn’t commit and tries to escape at the advice of her father, Jotaro Kujo. Unlike the past four seasons, the sixth JoJo is a female character: Joylyne Cujoh. Season 5 is famous for being the first series of this epic to have a female lead and one of the few female lead series to have ever come out of Shonen Jump.

How long is JoJo’s?

With Stone Ocean on the way, it’s one of the best times ever to jump into the series.

As of now there is a grand total of 152 episodes of JoJo’s, split between the other 4 seasons. It’s impossible to know for sure how long the fifth season might be, given that each part has had a different episode count, which ranges from 9 to 48 episodes. However, season 3 and 4 both had 39 episodes each, which means it’s entirely plausible that season 5 will be equally long.