JOJO’S BIZARRE ADVENTURE | Review

Derived from the immensely popular 1986 manga of the same name, this anime is without a doubt one hell of a ride! Right from the first scene, you get a sense that this is not gonna be your run of the mill anime. Nothing is ever what it seems and once you’re thrown into the world of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, there’s no getting out until it’s all over. This show will grab you by the neck and squeeze your throat until you’re breathless, and you’ll love that!

The story straight away starts with an act of deception which leads to a promise to fulfill a debt. Dario Brando, a rugged old greedy drunk, discovers wreckage from a horse carriage. Presuming all involved in the incident are dead, in swine fashion, he decides to help himself to the spoils of this accident, while a babies cries are heard coming from within the wreckage. As Dario is on the verge of stealing some precious object, George Joestar, one of the victims gains consciousness and mistakenly thinks that Dario saved his life. George and his infant son are the only survivors and he deeply thanks Dario by making him a life promise to owe him whatever he desires. 12 Years later, Dario in his death bed tells his son, Dio, to go live with the Joestar family, which consists of just George and his son, the now grown Jojo. George adopts the boy as fulfillment to his promise to Dario and swears to raise him as he does his own son. The moment Dio arrives on the Joestar compound, his vile nature is revealed as he vows to overthrow Jojo and claim all inheritance for himself.

Now the ride is in full swing! The first thing you notice straight away from this anime is it’s stunning artwork. The figures are solid and the color melts right out of your screen. Various color shades come in to play when there is great emotional impact to the story, and this hits home hard! It has such a majestic look you feel like royalty while watching it. Music! Holy crap the music! You just can’t get enough of that chest pounding music numbers that mix so well with the Victorian England setting of this show. All I’ll say is that the music in this anime is amazing and a lot of work went into it to make it brilliant. Truly a labor of love with the reward merely a bonus from the creators.

The story just never dulls out. Each episode leaves you wanting more, like a bad drug you can’t get enough of. What begins as a rivalry between two teenage boys soon becomes a battle between life and death as bizarre supernatural forces take place. Up to this point the plot in this anime may seem complicated, but instead it is simple to the core. Soon enough you realize it is merely about a Hero vs. a villain…and that’s it. Be warned though, sure its a simple plot, but full of twists that will feel like a swinging bat you think you see coming, only to be hit at the back of your head hard, leaving you unconscious.

I could go on and on with the good things this anime has to offer, but as anything manmade, it has its flaws. I have not read the manga and have no idea how it is paced, but the story in the anime feels rushed. Events transpire from one to another in such quick fashion, you don’t have time to digest what just happened. Explanations of the various powers and abilities are quite vague, in fact it got to a point I had no idea how the powers exactly worked, so I just went with the flow and enjoyed the fireworks. Another thing that may be an issue with some people, this anime has loads…and loads…and not stopping there, but loads of Fights. Is having too many fights and too much action a factor that can lead to something losing it’s awesome ticket? This anime comes close to proving that. Also, most fights are “attack-and-dodge” based, where as I would have preferred to see more dynamic hand to hand or weaponry based combat, but hey, not everything’s Dragon Ball Z.

All in all, this anime won’t appeal to everyone. Only if you have the ability to throw all logic out the window and just enjoy a solid story backed with a lot of noise, muscles and fights, then you should watch this today! In the end, the whole mythos behind Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is so entertaining in such an imposing way, it’ll be hard to not find at least a few good things to say about it especially by those who may not like it. Trust me though; this is one not to be missed by anime fans.

[Cheerz for reading! And always keep in mind: The real trouble with reality is that there’s no background music]