Hirohiko Araki was born in Sendai, Japan, in 1960, and is the creator of all of these Bizarre Adventures. He has stated that he began sketching manga in high school and initially kept it hidden from his parents. He was originally intimidated by manga editors, but he absorbed guidance to develop a distinct and eye-catching style. Araki devised a unique use of color and an instantly recognized style of drawing, typically full of deformed muscular masculine forms, that would come to characterize the JoJo look, inspired by the French post-Impressionist artist Paul Gauguin.
Araki’s debut work, Poker Under Arms, was considered for the Tezuka Award, a manga prize granted by the proprietors of the popular magazine Shonen Jump, which would later publish JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Araki has worked on a variety of projects throughout the years, but JoJo is always on his mind. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is a property that characterizes his career, and it is the result of his own eccentric mix of hobbies.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (S1)
JoJo’s relationship with pop music
Hirohiko Araki is a fan of popular music, especially pop and rock from the United Kingdom and the United States. Araki enjoys naming characters after bands and artists, which is seen in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. When the first JoJo visits London and meets the gang boss who will reform and become his right-hand man, Robert E.O. Speedwagon, you can’t help but notice. Then there’s Dio, JoJo’s sworn foe. Kars, Esidisi, Wamuu, and Santana are among the Pillar Men’s later villains. There are far too many characters with musical names to list here, but it’s a recurring theme throughout the series.
When JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures was turned into an anime, it became feasible to directly add music. The first season’s closing credits feature “Roundabout” by Yes, a song that will forever be linked to JoJo by anyone who has seen it. Season 2, set in the 1980s, features the Bangles’ “Walk Like An Egyptian,” which is a little off-kilter given the story’s Egyptian setting, but it works. Season 3 is set in the 1990s, thus Savage Garden’s “I Want You” is a natural fit, especially as it coincides with the series’ increasing acceptance of homoeroticism. Season 4, the most recent so far, puts things in a more R&B direction by finishing with Jodeci’s “Freek’N You.”
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JoJo’s reaction to fashion
Apart from Gauguin and pop music, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is heavily influenced by fashion. The characters are identifiable by their distinct clothing even in the fantastical version of Victorian England where the narrative begins. The outfits become increasingly extravagant and avant-garde as the series progresses and the timeframe draws closer to the present. By the anime’s fourth season, a protagonist striving to create a name for himself in the mafia is dressed in a finely tailored pink suit with a heart-shaped cutaway that exposes his naked chest doesn’t seem so unusual.
Araki’s passion for fashion has led to a number of unusual possibilities throughout the years. Araki teamed up with Gucci for a spread in Spur Magazine in 2011, which featured a JoJo spinoff narrative in which the characters posed in the latest Gucci clothes. Glamb, a Japanese fashion house, launched a JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure-inspired streetwear range in 2018. It was miles ahead of the average anime T-shirt, but it didn’t even come close to the JoJos’ own style.
The JoJo manga’s backstory
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure first appeared in the Weekly Shnen Jump magazine in 1987 and was serialized there until 2004, when it was moved to the monthly magazine Ultra Jump, which is geared at a slightly older readership.
“Phantom Blood,” the first installment of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, is about 19th-century British hero Jonathan Joestar. Joseph Joestar, his grandson, is the focus of “Battle Tendency,” a film set in the late 1930s. “Stardust Crusaders” is set in the 1980s and stars Jotaro Kujo, Joseph’s half-Japanese grandson, as well as an older Joseph. “Diamond is Unbreakable” is set in the 1990s and stars Josuke Higashikata (a Joestar by birth if not by formal name), Joseph’s illegitimate late-life son. The protagonist of “Golden Wind,” Giorno Giovanna, is the son of Dio Brando, JoJo’s greatest enemy, although GioGio is legally a Joestar as well because Dio stole Jonathan’s body.
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Jolyne Cujoh, Jotaro’s daughter and the first female JoJo, was introduced in Part Six, bringing the main lineage back to life. She stars in “Stone Ocean,” a film in which the universe is effectively reset in the conclusion. Following that, Araki launched a totally new line of JoJos set in an alternate timeframe, beginning with “Steel Ball Run” and Johnny Joestar, a completely different character who serves as a loose replacement for the original Jonathan. In the current JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure episode “JoJolion,” a new version of Josuke appears.
