Anime: JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken (2012) 37553g

"DUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDUDU!!!@#!" - Villains' battlecry (JoJo's Bizzare Adventure).

Ridiculous battlecries, poses stupid beyond belief, cinematography that insults the intelligence, people shouting the name of the "secret technique" they are using and then explaining it, inconsistent logic, strategies that have nothing to do with winning and everything about "drama", training sequences, overly serious narration, idiotic monologs, situations which defy not only common but every convoluted sense, stock characters, a plot lacking drama, no character development... Oh, Shounen, how loathesome you are.

I haven't watched Shounen for ages after I started moving towards more artistic and mature genres. Once the transition to other forms of anime was complete, internally scoffing at Shounen due to snobbery became a vice of mine. But, time has ed, and my snobbery has been toned down plenty. Thinking that one of the more highly recommended ones with a fresh perspective and an open mind would probably allow me to take some joy in viewing, if for different reasons, made me sit down and watch JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Oh, how wrong I was.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has everything that is bad about Shounen. Still, I powered through it. Perhaps there was a point to the ridiculous throwaway plot and throwaway characters. Maybe I'm missing something that makes people recommend this. I thought to myself that perhaps the existence of all the bad things does not mean there are not any good things. Perhaps there is some redeeming feature hidden in the dungheap of Shounen idiocy. Maybe if I turn off my mind the way I do with parodies and "play or die" type shows will work. Perhaps my attempt to think is where I go wrong with this. Instead, I feel that watching this has made me dumber.

The combination of attrocious writing, subpar sound, bad animation, and general reliance on the fact that people love Shounen... when added together, comes down to a single fact: If you are above the age of eighteen sixteen twelve, you shouldn't be watching this. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is aimed at young children, not teens. Don't let the "explicit violence" fool you, there is no real darkness here. This is the standard "evil villain is pure evil, good guy is pure good, it is obvious from the start that the good guy will win because determination". Yup. That's about it.

Writing (Story and Characters):

No one expects Shounen to be masterpieces. No one expects the plot to be anything more than "good guy stops ultimate evil, saves world". No one expects there to be characters containing more than one dimension (determined heroes, evil villains, loyal sidekicks, wise masters, et cetera). And yet, people say that JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is fun. And that was what I was expecting, some good mindless writing for some fun. The problem with the writing is that it is on the wrong side of self-aware. It has moments ("DUDUDUDUDUDU!@!#") where you think that they understand that being so over the top is hilarious... but far more likely they actually thought that it was actually cool. If anything, it is definitive proof that people in Japan can be just as utterly moronic as people in the rest of the world.

The plot is the standard generic crap you'd expect. Supernatural villains, therefore the heroes must be the peak of humanity to save them. And of course they are. That is actually the one strength that keeps this anime from being complete garbage - while it is an obvious cliche, it is at least honest about it. There is also a cool thing that happens one third of the way through that made me think that perhaps, just perhaps, the story may actually stop being terrible. Unfortunately, that is just the exception to the rule. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manages to somehow become even dumber.

Characters being one dimensional is one thing. The problem is that one dimension is "annoying". The main protagonists can be described as a boring cliche, the other characters which are expected to add color can be described as tired cliches, the villains are annoying cliches, and in general, if you expect anything original out of anyone, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a slap to the face. Still, I went in to this series expecting that. After all, Shounen can manage to work their way around that through adding unique features and original character development. I thought to myself that perhaps this is one such case. WRONG! It is one Shinji away from being the worst cast of characters of all times.

The writing is downright horrible. The only redeeming feature is that JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is honest about what it is. It doesn't try to be deep. It doesn't force characters to be interesting. There is a good twist on things that happens once. I don't like Shounen. It is not that it is all bad, just that it is usually very, VERY, VERY bad. And my god, is this one such case.

Art (Animation and Sound):

Say what you will, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has its own style. The music sounds is forcefully energetic, the voice acting is over the top, the character designs are extreme, and the obvious attempt to stay true to a manga feel are everywhere. Long story short is that, unfortunately, the style sucks. It is actually stupid. Don't get me wrong, "stupid" is probably just what they were going for if you consider the writing. From the poses which are supposed to be cool but look like a parody of modern dance, the character designs which are a throwback to the worst of the 80s and early 90s, the stilted fight scenes... it just all screams "hurr, dis cool mistah?".

Animation is about bring pictures to life. Somehow, no one got that memo during the creation of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. For some unknown reason the staff thought the viewers would prefer endless poses. It plays out more like someone playing with dolls than anime made post 2010. As I mentioned the character design is retro, or more accurately, so outdated that it does not belong anymore. And by god, are the poses contagiously imbecilic. I'd recommend a drinking game where every time someone strikes a pose the viewers take a shot of vodka, but after three episodes you'd be hauling people off to the emergency room.

Professional sound production exists in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. While the soundtrack tries way too hard to be cool and energetic and ends up a parody of energetic soundtracks, it is professional. The voice acting is, in proud Shounen tradition, way over the top. There is just enough going over the top that the effect is "it's so bad it's good". There are moments where you just have to laugh at how retarded it is ("DUDUDUDUDUDU"). The anguished screams as someone mourns the person they met two days ago are actually genius in that way. This is the only part that is self-aware enough to actually be rather awesome. Still, below average, as even the good bits are drowned by the fact that the people who made this were ultimately serious.

The artwork, while crap, has its moments. By no means is this above average in any way. There is some artistic merit for some of the things that happen here, but it grows incredibly tired by the tenth episode. Still, it is not the worst. And who am I to judge? Just because I like things like fluidity, art, clever use of visual/audio effects, and stuff like that makes me the wrong person for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

Overall:

I don't like most Shounen, yet tried to come and view this with an open mind. That being said, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure was a horrible experience for me. It isn't as bad as some anime out there, but it makes "average" seem like genius. Don't watch this unless you are very young and think Shounen is cool.

Are you ready for the craziest and manliest anime ever made since Fist of the North Star? Then buckle up because JoJo does not hold back. It is a beast of a series and its first season utilizes the manga's first two arcs in order to surprise the viewer with a blend of action and romance, throw in jealousy and ancient Mayan powers derived from a stone mask plus some ancient deities later on and your all set for a one hell of a bizarre adventure! JoJo's Bizarre Adventure pulls no punches when delivering it's over the top scenes and insane plot reveals. So lets get go JoJo:

Plot: The first arc of this series concerns the rich boy Jonathan Joestar (JoJo) and his epic rival Dio Brando as they struggle to combat each other in an attempt to understand an ancient stone mask's secret powers. The three important characters in this arc are Jonathan, Dio, and Erina Pendleton. Each play a critical role in this nine ep arc. But since this is just to talk about the plot I also need to say a bit about the second arc as well. In the latter half of the series from ep ten onward we are with Joseph Joestar, grandson to Jonathan and living in New York City in the 1930's. It tells Joseph's rivalry with three ancient deities and what he must do if he is to rid himself of the curses they have placed on him. Both arcs focus fleshing out their locales in order to get the sense that this is a world unique to JoJo and not just something like a slice-of-life in which we must assume its like our own. Combined they get a score of 4/5 in this area for creating not one but two engrossing plot-lines, a 5 could have been awarded had less of a rushed feeling been applied to the beginning of the first arc and also to the latter half of the second arc. Both times in felt like it was being rushed to get to a good part or get away from something boring. In some series I have seen this used to the show's advantage but in JoJo it felt unnecessary and broke the pacing more times than I would have liked. 4/5

Character Development: For the first arc Jonathan received a better than average amount of growth but everyone else was left in the dust. The second arc shines more than the first because it decided to develop Joseph's partner and also because more secondary characters came around to switching sides and giving good reasons for it. Especially one bombastic character named Von Stroheim who went from being a Nazi loon to a war-machine for Joseph and his partner too. Combined the averages I have for them this section enjoys a 4/5 for developing two different main characters an equal amount in a short period of time. 4/5

Sound: The first arc's soundtrack does not have much of a presence sadly. However, the second arc fixed this tenfold with several great themes for the entire cast and a better opening theme song too. The ending theme for both arcs is the same and anyone with good taste in classic rock will immediately know why it became hard for me to click away to the next ep when the credits rolled. Had the first arc impressed with a better soundtrack I would score this higher but for now it enjoys a 4/5 for extra effort in the latter arc. 4/5

Art: The best part of "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" its the decision to keep the original manga art style and use to its fullest extent possible. Vibrant mixtures of every color imaginable fill both arcs and create an other-worldly atmosphere. This combined with gar (so manly you could go gay for them) character designs "JoJo" makes art its strong point. Not much needs to be said here because this series has to be seen to be believed on how great its art production really is. Is it really any surprise I'm giving this a 5/5? 5/5

Final Thoughts: The anime studio "David Production" had done nothing even close to a full length series before taking on "JoJo" and now it is very clear that they are here to stay. This show comes across as one studio's staff absolutely loving a manga and doing everything possible to create the most faithful and vibrant adaptation possible. They are currently adapting the third arc "Stardust Crusaders" and when its over and on Blu-ray I will see it and review that one too, but I doubt my score for it will be any less than the one given here. This series is a critical example of how to do a bombastic and over the top show right. Final Rating is 8.5/10

Pretty awesome show.
Easily best entertainment of the year.
But is it really all that good?

Video:

Flamboyant, flashy and over-the-top, this is an action show that makes sure to milk every single scene for all visual impression possible.
Living up to the word "Bizzare" in the show's title, it is as though the creators were making a point out of looking for every single visual gimmick they could possiblty insert in the show without outright breaking it.

If a scene allows for a shiny special effect - it'll be there. If there is any way at all to make the scene color scheme even a little bit funky - count on JoJo to make it so. If it makes any sense at all for a character to stike a pose for the camera - you can damn well be sure it'll be stricken in the coolest way possible.

However, what really makes this show take the proverbial cake in "Art" part is the focused and well-defined artistic vision. It is not yet another show about superpowers, putting on special effects on screen just for the hell of it. Every scene has a well defined goal it tries to achieve in of viewer experience, and doesn't compromise this goal for anything. Despite the sheer volume of visuals going on, there isn't really a single pointless brushstroke. Every odd color works to convey the mood of the scene and the state of the characters, sweeping the viewer right along with it.

JoJo is a show that makes great use of novelty of the experience. As long as there are new interesting characters, new interesting locales and new interesting action, the show's creators are really able to make all of that greatly entertaining stuff hit home for a 10-worthy visual experience.

There is, however, a problem. In a couple of cases where locales or characters are simply not all that interesting, the novelty that the show works off begins to sag. And that's when you begin to notice that JoJo is actually less of animated movie and more like a sequence of still images. Beatifully rendered, expertly paced, completely thought out, enchanced all sorts of SFX, but still just not quite there for an ideal action anime.
Which does force me to detract a point from what could otherwise have been a perfect score. 9/10.

Sound:

JoJo's sound works much in the same way as visuals. There is this awesome overall sound theme, which is basically about being LOUD in a lot of possible ways, and there is an exellent use of all sorts of sound to the scenes at hand.

Everything good that was said for the show's visuals, goes for the show's sounds as well. From the amazing OPs to the amazing ED, through all the supercharged voice acting and faithful SFX work, the audial experience of the show works as good the visual experience does.

And, what's more, when visual experience begins to show imperfections, it is the sound that picks up the slack. Because unlike the visuals, the sound of this show is not a series of individual well-played notes, but rather a continious, coherent and living song of a great bizzare adventure.

It wouldn't be a stretch to say that, even though the show's visuals are already amazing, it is the show's sound that actually carries them and ties them together. And for that, it's worth a 10/10.

Story:

JoJo's story is ... hard to judge by common story standarts.

There is a little bit of overarching conflict, which can be roughly defined as an adventure classic of "Pride versus Comion", and the initial ark really does a hell of a job, pretty much being an amazing story in it's own right, but...

Well, don't be fooled. JoJo is a show that thrives on novelty, not on smarts. Ultimately, the only purpose of JoJo's plot is to give a lot of burly men with superpowers to do battle with a lot of other burly men with superpowers in as many cool settings as possible.

That being said, in that regard the story is actually quite well done. All the various fight locations flow well into one another, and some care is taken for the timeskip-ridden story not to feel completely all over the place. The story's pacing is definitely it's strongest suit, with every episode delivering a small chunk of required exposition and then delivering completely on the full extent of the conflict the delivered exposition affords.

The true strength of JoJo's story, however, is not in any big wide story developments. Yes, it kind of wrestles with notions of immortality, ethics of world conquest and this kind of stuff. However, that's really not the point here.

The point here is how thick the big enemy guy's armor is, how hard is it to find holes in it, how far he will corner the heroes, and how the heroes will eventually find a way to slip in a burning piece of cloth in just the right spot anyway. It is about men faced with overwhelming odds and adapting to sur these odds.

Yes, it is about adventure. It is about blowing away all stereotypes associated with the genre and reminding all of us spoiled people just how much can looking at a good fight can make your blood pump.

And yet... There is a reason why people find pure adventure stories kind of boring. Ultimately, a fight is not interesting if it doesn't have a really awesome cause behind it. And JoJo's story does not really deliver well on awesome causes outside of first ark.
In this show, story has a clear function - getting the characters into more and more novel altercations. The extent to which it executes on this function is amazing and is almost unheard of for stories of this type, which perfectly merits a 7/10. Going beyond that, however, requires originality beyond the name and graphics of the character's next move. Which stories of that type are just traditionally bad on delivering.

Though, to be fair, i can totally see how 20 years ago (when the shown parts of the manga were written) this story would completely blow anyone's mind :D

Characters:

Now, characters in this show are drop dead amazing. They are so amazing that they really make you forget about the story's lack of originality. In fact, the story owes it's higher than average score precisely to the fact that it is graced by the existence of such amazing characters.

Now, what makes them amazing?
Three things. First, they are all unique, purely on the merit of power of their visual and audial presentation. JoJo works with a lot of old cliches, like the comionate hero, or a greedy villain, or the Obi Wan, or anything else you can think of. However, make them dress funny (but fitting for their roles) and have them be LOUD, and those cliches suddenly remind you of the sheer expressive power that made them cliches in the first place.

Second. They really love things. They love them so much they are easily able to LAUGH, CRY and then HIT STUFF for the sake of these things, completely sincerely and in really rapid succession. And those who aren't always being loud, instead do some amazingly colorful brooding over things that they loved, but lost.

Characters that are both unique and really, visibly, belieavably love what they do? That's already a recipe for win right there. But JoJo takes it that one important step further. It constantly takes two characters that love opposite things, pits them against each other and them gleefully watches the sparks fly, as the characters discover their strengths and weaknesses and devise ways to become stronger.
Now, sometimes the villain wins, in which case the heroes that survive his victory deal with loss and try to move on. Sometimes there are more than two characters, in which case instead of one-sided beatdowns by stronger parties, you'll see actual cases of three-way conflict. Sometimes one of the characters is not really a villain, just habitually nasty, but inherently noble. And in that case you can't help but root for the poor bastard.

JoJo is really a textbook example of classic approach to exellent adventure characters. You do this, and you got yourself an amazing set of guys who can pull the story pretty much on their own. 10/10.

Value:

Now, you'd think that with scores as good as above, the show's value would be amazing.
Sadly, it's only average in my eyes.

JoJo doesn't really do anything new. Heck, even it's story is two decades old. It provides great examples of how to do stuff that good artists already know how to do, but it doesn't really push the medium forward. The sad fact is, anime is not better for having had JoJo's Bizzare Adventure.
It is also squarely targeted at anime fans. I'm not aware of any other social groups that are able to handle this much concentrated weirdness.

I actually feel older adaptations of JoJo had more value than this newer one (even though they were positively less entertaining).

I guess, JoJo's biggest accomplishment is that it took all the knowledge that modern anime creators have amassed in of mechanics of keeping the viewer glued to a screen and having fun, and then put this knowledge together in a really neat package.
That's worth 6/10 in value, i guess.

Enjoyment:

I would be lying if i said i didn't enjoy it. I certainly did :D.

However, one needs to ask oneself... Was it the kind of enjoyment that reduces you to tears, leads you to reconcile entire scores of your own inner conflicts and leaves you a better man? Or was it just a good timewaster?

JoJo is in a weird spot in that regard. On one hand, it definitely felt like more of a timewaster. On another hand, i wouldn't mind wasting my time like that again, which is usually a good indicator that small-scale inner reconciliations are indeed going on.
I guess for now i'll have to put enjoyment at "slightly higher than strictly healthy" (which would make it 8/10) and hope that the next season clears things up a bit :D

Notice: Consider this a review of the first 3 arcs.

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is a very long 80s shonen manga, still on-going even after all these years. It is the second most GAR action title after Hokuto no Ken, full of martial arts, superpowers, gore, and other mindless fun stuff. It received a partial adaptation in a set of 90’s OVAs which were decent but also very slow and dull. Starting in 2012, it got a more proper version that will hopefully last enough to get to the juicer parts later on.

PRODUCTION VALUES
The series is animated by a minor studio called David Productions. They are not bad in of production values but they never made something significant in of plots or directing. In this particular case, they did a fine job, sticking close to the original manga style of manly bodies with rather bishonen faces. Still not as GAR as Hokuto no Ken but close enough to get a similar excitement. The animation is choppy and uses a comic book style of static images where the sound effects are shown on screen. It’s not something bad; it makes it look uncommon and saves budget. Voice acting and music themes are also very close to what the feeling of the series is all about. There are countless mames you can create out of the cheesy blood-boiling dialogues, and you can have the opening themes replaying 10 times in a row without ever becoming boring. Also, no squeaky voices and shitty jpop; thank God.

There are many weird stuff in this show, so it’s not something everybody can easily appreciate. The characters for example are drawn WAY too muscular and talk in over the top macho ways. So it’s like reading a cheesy action comic book that will feel awkward to those not accustomed to the style. It’s definitely very rare to encounter today and hard to get used to if you are accustomed to artworks of the likes of Naruto or Clannad. It’s not like the newer stuff are better; in fact they feel childish and simple if you consider how much more detailed are the character figures and the backgrounds in Jojo.

SCRIPT & CAST
The story is separated into many arcs, and not all of them have the same characters. I mean ok, the protagonist is always someone called Jojo but he is not the same person. Basically, you get various generations of the same family and each one of them has different adventures and styles.

The fighting scenes are very fun to watch, as they are over the top with all sorts of weird weapons and fighting patterns. They have their problems though; the choppy animation is making them somewhat hard to understand what is going on, plus there is partial censorship. But this is not a show you will be watching just for the action; it is the coolness of its characters that mostly does the trick.

Part 1 (episodes 1-9)
It begins with the childhood lives of two boys with very different backgrounds during 19th century England. The one is Jojo, a kind-hearted and aloof noble who grew up pampered in a rich noble family, the other is Dio, an intelligent and ruthless peasant who was forced to grew up in a very rough environment. As soon as they meet, Dio tries to take everything away from Jojo, in his quest to show to the world what someone of poor heritage can do compared to one who has it all but has no ambition for something greater. They are practically polar opposites and that makes their interaction very emotional. Of course the one who stands out is Dio for being so damn manipulative.

Sounds like it’s a historical drama without anything supernatural about it, but that changes when Dio’s schemes are revealed and he has in his possessions a mask that turns people to vampires. Jojo and his gang decide to fight back with mystic martial arts and begin to hunt him wherever he goes. Sounds stupid and corny? Yes, but it works.

The final two episodes in the arc are super awesome when it comes to shounen showdowns, with several plot twists and even some basic field tactics. They are still rushed as hell and there are several characters where you have no idea why they were there to begin with, but other than that, it ends with a bang unlike anything else you can find in others of its kind.

Part 2 (episodes 10-26)
The plot is now taken to America of the early 20th century and is about the grandson of the first Jojo… also called Jojo. He is far more violent and cool than his grandpa; thus a far more interesting character. His opponents are all sorts of creeps, from a former ally who ed the dark side for craving youth and power, Nazis who seek mystical forces to take over the world, and several superhumans, the very creators of the masks which turn people to vampires. This arc is far more interesting, as it has a far more global threat feeling to it. It is not just a skirmish between minor nobles in some backwater area. It is a global threat that includes supermen and the Nazis in various parts of the world! Also, the second Jojo is pure awesomeness; he is not a wussy like the first, he owns everybody with snotty remarks and on the run over-the-top battle tactics. At the same time the villains no longer feel so cool like Dio because… he kills them all too fast, lol.

Part 3 (episodes 27-74)
We begin in Japan during the 1970s, where the third protagonist (also named Jojo of course) teams up with a bunch of other dudes and his grandfather (the second Jojo) and set out to fight Dio (the enemy of the first arc) in Egypt. Although the early and later parts of the arc are as awesome as the previous two, the middle part is consisting of a very long line of stand alone battles against minor enemies. Most of them are ok but they feel insignificant and there just to stall time. This makes the arc to last five times more than it deserves. Also, the third Jojo is a very bland protagonist, even if he is super macho. He has no real personality and is more of a cheap imitation of Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star. Even Dio feels a bit tacked on, just for the sake of having something from all arcs being present. Thus as a whole, it is the weakest arc of the three.

The pacing is extremely fast for a shounen show, since it constantly goes through decades worth of plot or months of hard training in just a single episode. It’s not like three times more slice of life would do any better but it would at least help us to better connect with each character. Each event simply goes by way too fast to be too fond of it and the constant switch in characters as well as how fast most secondary ones die, sort of makes you sad for not having more adventures with the same major characters. Nothing major, just saying it would be cooler if it did. Still, it felt more interesting this way than the older version where everything was damn slow. And it sure beats all those snail-slow shonen shows out there.

LEGACY
And let me be honest here; it is cheesy as frakk, people in it will act like complete blockheads, there is overblown dramatization, everybody describes whatever is going on even when it is obvious, and many things don’t make sense. Yet I love it; I grew up watching mostly 80’s cartoons and anime, so I felt right at home with this one. It is self aware of its campiness and that helps you to accept it as a fun ride and not as a clown pretending to be a scientist. Most characters are named after retro rock bands or singers, and it manages to be funny even when they use in-jokes for the DVD commercials. Such attention to cheesiness is hard to encounter in other shows.

Now as far as newer viewers are concerned, this show is probably hard for most to appreciate since it has too much GAR in it. Newer anime are full of weak-willed protagonists with glasses, surrounded by bitches with huge racks, while this one is the exact opposite; it has very muscular and manly protagonists, while women act in a polite and are ive in manners. I see some calling it hard gay for having so much focus on pretty faces, huge biceps, and men who are really… friendly with each other. Also they are drawn in a style that makes twelve year old boys to look like they are in their 20’s. And the way they are posing in battles is like they are showing off for the Mr. Steroid of the Year contest, lol. It has its weirdness but it’s all part of the fun.

Well to all them critics out there, I say SCREW YOU this was made back in the days when men in fiction were like Conan the Barbarian and women were kind and frail. I am no fan of this modern mentality of dorks being surrounded by bitches; nobody who wants to enjoy this show should. It has a lot of nostalgia in it, it is self aware of the corniness, and it is well made. That is all you need in order to have a blast with it.

And now for some excused scorings.