JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

Now this is definitely not my cup of tea. I didn't like the animation, or above all the look of the characters (but I could have lived with that, if only...), but I was particularly bothered by all the macho characters. Hi, I'm twelve years old, I don't really know how to transform yet, but my shoulders are as wide as the Charles Bridge... But even though you could turn a blind eye to that stuff (you'd just have to forget they're kids and think of them as swashbuckling teamsters), if only the story were worth it. This story, flowing from one pathetic pose to the next, from one pathetic speech to the next, just didn't grab me by the heart. On the contrary, it rather rudely robbed me of my time. If you're into macho stuff and like those cheesy speeches, postures, and an unchallenging battle of good vs. evil along with some of the supernatural stuff, then go for it. I backed off it right away. (01/23/2018)

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has been recommended to me many times and it has some fairly decent ratings. I have repeatedly tried to watch it, but I always quit the show after just a few episodes. This is like a soap opera intended for guys! I am used to anime series being crazy and over-the-top, however, the intensity and melodramatic storylines just got too much for me. On top of that, the melodramatic dialogues are full of pathos that are supposed to be edgy, cool, and perhaps entertaining, however, I just could not get into it. I am sorry, I can be such a horrible killjoy at times and I am just not into this level of macho, testosterone-fueled fan service, rough fights, over-the-top twists, and melodramatic dialogues. I can see why it gets such good reviews, so perhaps it is a bit like Tarantino movies - there is always something going on, things are always over-the-top, and characters overact while looking cool and conniving... However, I thought that all too often it just does not work in this particular show (just like I thought that it did not work in some Tarantino movies). I think it is way too over the top and so instead of having fun and enjoying myself, I simply have to hang my head and concede, “this is too, too much”.  I also had to raise my eyebrows suspiciously at some of the dialogue and melodramatic monologues... In conclusion, I could not get on with JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and I am done with it after six episodes (which is the furthest I have ever gotten with this show, as I could not usually make it past the first three episodes). Dropped after the sixth episode and I am awarding it only 4/10… (08/15/2018)

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has garnered a multitude of accolades. It is one of the longest-running Japanese manga series and an endless source of memes that truly embodies its title in every conceivable way. Above all, it is an exquisitely unpredictable series where each installment offers a distinct and unique story. While it is set in a vast shared universe, the only commonality between each installment is that the protagonist is a member of the Joestar family, whose names all contain "Jo" or its phonetic equivalent. Additionally, each story is set in a different place, including historical England, ancient Japan, and bizarre versions of Egypt and Italy. However, the primary weakness of this Joestar family saga is its first nine episodes of the first season. After reading the negative reviews here, it is evident that most viewers gave up during this season, and I can understand why. The first part is overly dramatic, with each line drenched in pathos, the animation is too static, and the protagonist is too aloof and perfect. Nonetheless, those first few episodes are a necessary evil as they provide the foundation for understanding the subsequent events. The second part (episodes ten to twenty-six) is a marked improvement and introduces a more engaging male protagonist, completely altering my perspective on the series. The third part (Stardust Crusaders) is set in Egypt and features the best characters and fights, even though the plot is the most straightforward. My personal favorite, however, is the fourth part (Diamond Is Unbreakable), set in Japan and characterized by a well-balanced plot and characters, although it does contain a few filler episodes. The fifth and most recent part, set in Italy (Golden Wind), has some of the most bizarre battles yet, but unfortunately, its villain is the least interesting one so far. Each part has its strengths and weaknesses, but as a whole, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is an eccentric and captivating show, with the adjective "bizarre" taking on new meanings with each new, even more muscular character and reference to the Euro-American rock scene. Overall, I would give it 4 stars. (08/02/2021)

[Season 1] After watching the first season and reading some of the comments, I can see why the ratings are so far apart. JoJo is a bible of macho shōnen that takes its mainstays to absolute extremes: Eccentrically (un)dressed posing upstarts, WTF absurd twists and turns (where the other side is totally surprised, only to quickly figure out how it all happened), pathos-infused battle monologues par excellence where pride and friendship as qualities basically tower above all others. Like believing lies the bigger they get, I often had trouble distinguishing (especially in the first half) when we were going for level 100 seriousness or making the biggest joke and totally satirizing the genre. I came to the conclusion that the first storyline with the boring, morally uptight Jonathan Joestar is just that, an attempt at epicness mixed with seriousness, a style that not only clearly rubbed me the wrong way but was even painful. Sure, it laid the necessary groundwork for the JoJo saga, and we witnessed the birth of one of the most iconic shōnen bastards, but playing it off as anything more without a shred of gray matter never works. I was downright irritated by the dusty, constantly incompetently addled Speedwagon character, who was only there in order to constantly call out radio-announcer style "JoJoooo!". The spasmodic first half was more than made up to me by the arrival of the new generation of JoJos, Joseph Joestar. Unlike the principled Jonathan, Joseph is a charming circus clown who is at times duller than lead, only to subsequently pull out comically creative solutions to the most convoluted situations. Adding to the already rather lightweight Indiana Jones mood is Joseph's sympathetic rivalry with his pompous sidekick Caesar and, most importantly, the sublime performance of Joseph's voice actor, Tomokazu Sugita. "OH MY GOD!" is meme-legendary nowadays, and I can't think of a better version of "NANI?!" than from here (all culminating in a hilarious Roman restaurant scene). The joke-filled second half is legitimately more entertaining, and my low threshold of tolerance for the genre has been successfully displaced by the frequent laughs. I won't deny that the lameness of the fights and the frequent shouting has somehow improved, but the story is still as hollow and predictable as an episode of Ulice, although the pompous musical score with its almost disco-like colorization is at least original. It's not worth another installment for my part, but at least I didn't leave as crestfallen as I initially thought. 3 stars (06/02/2020)