JoJo's Bizarre Adventure/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Archive Panic: Just try and recount everything from all the arcs in time order.
  • Awesome Art:
    • While every part has its fair share, Steel Ball Run shows a noticeable increase in quality after the series was changed from a weekly to a monthly release, to the point that it exhibits some of the most beautiful art in recent manga history. The super-detailed "DIO's World" arc qualifies as well.
    • Opinions on the 1993 OVA are divided, but most fans can agree that the animation during the final fight against Dio is gorgeous.
  • Awesome Ego: Many characters in this series are completely aware of how Crazy Awesome they are, with Dio Brando and Joseph Joestar being the two greatest examples.
  • Badass Decay: In his prime, Joseph killed the four remaining Pillar Men, but as he got older, he began to struggle against minor enemies.
  • Can't Unhear It: Takehito Koyasu will always be famously remembered as Dio's voice.
  • Complete Monster: Dio's quite an asshole, and tends to recruit minions who are also monstrous. Such as Gray Fly, J.Geil and Alessi.
  • Crazy Awesome: The whole goddamn series. This is a manga that turned Rock-Paper-Scissors into an actual power and made a completely epic battle involving it to boot! Then there was that game of catch in Part 6!
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: Polpo's stand's battle theme in the PS2 Vento Auro game
  • Cult Classic: In the West: prior to the anime beginning in 2012, it was largely unknown with a small but very passionate following. One of the main problems with exporting the series is the copyright issues there since Araki's musical shout-outs are beloved by the fans.
  • Draco in Leather Pants: Dio is an evil son-of-a-bitch, but he's so damn cool that he is easily the series' most popular character.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Quite a few characters, such as Muhammad Avdol and Polnareff. Avdol in particular was so popular that he was spared an early death.
    • Earlier on, there was William A. Zeppelli and Speedwagon, mostly due to their respective Nice Hats, as well as Zeppeli's grandson Caesar.
    • And Dio. The fight with him is considered one of the more memorable moments of the OVAs and the manga.
    • At least in the English-speaking fandom, Ringo Roadagain is the subject of a great deal of awe, respect and adulation.
  • Even Better Sequel: How many fans have come to see Battle Tendency in comparison to Phantom Blood. While Phantom Blood is often considered one of if not the weakest part in the franchise, Battle Tendency is considered one of the best in contrast. In particular, Battle Tendency got a lot of praise for having a protagonist with more personality and having a more interesting cast in general, housing some of the most intense and climatic battles in the series, and being the point where the series began to embrace its own haminess unlike the more serious tone of Phantom Blood.
  • Evil Is Cool:
    • Dio Brando is the poster boy of this trope for all of manga.
    • The Pillar Men for their cool offense abilities, Fashion Victim Villain be damned.
    • Yoshikage Kira's Fan Nickname is "Japanese David Bowie", and "Killer Queen" is one of the most popular Stands due to its design and power.
  • Evil Is Sexy: Dio can't get enough of this because he wants to live evilly and gorgeously forever. He says as much too.
  • Fandom Rivalry: This series got extremely popular in the West almost at the same time as Sword Art Online (The New Tens), and you couldn't pick two series with similar target demographics (young males) but more wildly different art styles and story: Sword Art Online is Sci-Fi, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is an Urban Fantasy, Sword Art Online is focused on women despite the protagonist being a man, and until Part 6, the female characters in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure are mostly supporting characters, abec's art is pretty curvy and make the characters look soft, Araki uses straight, sharp lines. The ending result? A lot of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure fans hate Sword Art Online and say "it's ruining anime." Why specifically Sword Art Online? Because it's pretty popular.
  • Fanfic Fuel: Due to the series' naming conventions, many fans are able to come up with their own Stands based on tarot cards or popular music. It helps that it's possible to be born with one's Stand rather than being shot with the Bow and Arrow, making these Stands a real possibility.
  • Fashion Victim Villain:
    • Dio and Vanilla Ice in Part 3.
    • All of the Pillar Men could count for this, but Esidisi's manages to probably be the most awkward of them all. In his first appearance in the manga, he wears a backless loincloth that reveals his buttocks (censored with a thong in the anime), and in subsequent appearances, his outfit appears to be a series of leatherwork patches sewed directly onto his skin.
    • Diavolo in Part 5.
  • Faux Symbolism: Some chapters of Steel Ball Run take this to the extreme, what with all the Biblical references and what not.
  • First Installment Wins: Averted: thanks to Memetic Mutation and the Fighting Game, everyone knows the third part best. In fact, Phantom Blood is generally considered to be one of the weaker parts, mainly due to Sequel Escalation enforced by the other parts.
  • Foe Yay: Occasionally overpowering.
    • In Part 1, Dio wants Jonathan's body. Literally. In order to "live gorgeously forever".
    • In Part 2, two of the column men actually become engaged to Joseph, with rings and everything. It's an engagement of Death, with Engagement Rings of Death, but an engagement nonetheless.
  • Freud Was Right:
    • Quite a few examples, but the most egregious probably being the overwhelming subtext in Pucci's flashbacks of Dio.

"Do you believe in gravity, Enrico?"

  • Fountain of Memes: If Dio doesn't inspire this, nobody does.
  • Game Breaker: Pet Shop in the fighting game. He can freely fly around the screen, shoot tons of ice projectiles like it's nothing, and is overall a terribly cheap character to use. Fortunately he takes more damage than most.
    • Once Gio's Gold Experience gets bumped up to Gold Experience Requiem, its new power is pretty much a one hit kill except you keep on dying. Not to mention you have absolutely no chance of hurting him no matter WHAT you do....
  • Growing the Beard: Part 3, when Stands were introduced and replaced the Hokuto Shinken-esque style of martial arts used in the previous parts, is considered by many to be the point when the series really came into its own.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • The villain of Episode 4: a Bishonen Serial Killer looking to make the world adapt to his will. His name: Kira. Just as planned...
    • During the fight with Hanged Man in Part 3, Polneraff thinks that it attacks from "A world inside the mirror." Kakyoin dismisses it, saying that there is no such thing as a world inside a mirror. Cut to Part 5 where Illuso and his Stand, Man in the Mirror, attacks by dragging people into a world inside a mirror.
    • Terence Trent D'Arby's Stand... named Atum, which is all about different sorts of games?
  • HSQ: Due to the author's don't-show-everything-at-the-start storytelling style and... imagination... the series continually throws ever more crazy abilities at the reader.
    • From Nazis pulling a Heel Face Turn to a guy who can open your head like it was a CD player and take out CDs containing either your Psychic Powers or your soul. They can also bring physical memories of the Miami Dolphins to attack you.
    • Part 2 near the ending: Nazi-eating, Vampire Squirrels grown out of the shoulder of Cars.
    • Start from chapter one of Stone Ocean... and you'll still go "WTF???!!!!" trying to figure out the freaky basis of the latest enemy Stand!
  • Iron Woobie: Just look at all the shit Jolyne goes through at the beginning of Stone Ocean. It makes her determination to save her father all the more heartwarming.
  • Just Here for Godzilla: In Part 3, people most remember the Jotaro vs. Dio, fight as it is very unique and epic. Especially true for the 1993 OVA: while people's opinions vary on whether it's a good adaptation as a whole, nearly everybody agrees that the final episode of Jotaro and Dio's fight was pulled off near-flawlessly and a must-see.
  • Love to Hate:
    • Dio Brando. He is an evil son-of-a-bitch, and he comes with a convenient Freudian Excuse for apologists to latch onto (which he himself eventually denies is the case), but he's so damn cool that he is easily the series' most popular character precisely because of it rather than in spite of it.
    • Kira Yoshikage. As one of the most popular JoJo villains, he actively and unrepentantly serial-kills for 15 years, and after his initial defeat, runs circles around the protagonists without even trying. And when he does try...
  • Magnificent Bastard: Dio in Parts 1 and 3.
  • Memetic Molester: Tusk ACT 4. No matter what doors or walls you put up to protect yourself, it will break them down trying to get you while crying "chumimi~in".
  • Memetic Mutation: Thanks to a Capcom Fighting Game, plus a certain Flash video, Dio is one of the most infamous anime villains of all time.
  • Moe:
    • Speedwagon, for his exuberant supportiveness towards Jonathan (and the fact that he continues supporting the Joestars financially and emotionally by following Joseph on his adventures, and then financially through the Speedwagon Foundation after Speedwagon himself passes on).
    • Koichi Hirose, a genuinely Nice Guy who at times shows signs of being a Nervous Wreck, especially in the anime. The anime adaptation ended up endearing him even to fans who had felt neutral or even negative towards him when reading the original manga.
  • Moral Event Horizon:
    • Dio. In the first volume, to avenge himself from Jonathan giving him a much-deserved ass-whupping (in a fair fight, no less), he retaliates by tying up Jojo's beloved pet dog in steel wire, putting him in a wooden box, and putting the box in the Joestar estate's incinerator, so that when the butler lights it up... Plus, there's the business of the captive mother who lets herself be turned into a zombie by Dio if he will spare her baby's life...
    • Angelo when he killed Josuke's grandfather.
  • Most Annoying Sound: It doesn't come across very well in English, but Magenta Magenta's voice is supposed to be incredibly whiny and nasal.
  • Narm : Johnny Joestar's scream of "I MUST KNOW THE SECRET OF THE BAAAAALLLLSSSS" is more hilarious (or ridiculous... take your pick) than the serious and emotionally impacting line it's supposed to be.
  • Narm Charm: All the Crazy Awesome makes the ridiculous names somehow great instead of pure corn. The manga and anime are full of constant grit and Gorn. However, take that, throw in some of Japan's best voice actors, as well as bright colors, strong art direction, and acting and narrative that is so over-the-top it's awesome, and you can see why so many are hooked.
    • What other series could make you take a villain dressed in hearts named Vanilla Ice with his stand Cream seriously?
  • Needs More Love: One of the most influential manga of all time, with series ranging from Street Fighter, King of Fighters, Castlevania and Heroes either referencing or taking ideas from it... but outside of Japan, it's still relatively unknown, even with all the Memetic Mutation surrounding Stardust Crusaders.
  • Non Sequitur Scene: Gyro's cheese song and the "Seven Days in a Week".
    • Really, anytime Gyro comes up with a gag, odds are it's gonna be one of these.
  • No Yay: The real traction of some of Diavolo's quotes have this going with him and Doppio, calling his other personality "My Doppio... Oh, Doppio... My cute little Doppio!". It sounds either endearing or creepy considering how insane he is.
  • Paranoia Fuel:
    • Hanged Man. It can attack from any reflective surface. This includes eyes..
    • Teranosuke Miyamoto: his powers only work on a person if that person gets scared. This is much easier for him to do than you would think.
    • Pray to god that nobody looks at your back if Masazo Kinato's Cheap Trick is attached to you...
    • Polpo's shadow ability. It's to the point where he can come out of the shadows of flying birds.
    • It's Zucchero's sheer effectiveness with his Stand in staying hidden while attacking that makes him paranoia-inducing. It takes Moody Blues to actually find out why the hell the rest of the team is disappearing one by one.
    • Squalo's Stand in the Tizziano/Squalo arc: "There's a shark in the soup!"
  • Seinfeld Is Unfunny: This is the eighth-longest-running manga, ever, and it seems tired (but no less awesome) by today's standards, seeing as it basically invented most of the current shonen tropes.
  • Sequel Displacement: Of a sort. Even after the 2012 anime, when you mention JoJo's Bizarre Adventure to most people, it's Stardust Crusaders that'll come to mind first. Stardust Crusaders was when the series' popularity really caught on.
  • Ship-to-Ship Combat: The JoJo shipping fandom is a surprisingly friendly one considering all the possible Ho Yay and ship combinations that are out there, but it does exist. Mostly between Josuke/Okuyasu and Josuke/Rohan shippers, with particularly heated debates about how the latter, which has a lot of fans due to Foe Yay, is ephebophilia because of how Josuke is 16 and Rohan is 20.
  • Ships That Pass in the Night: Some people ship Giorno/Jolyne even though they've never met and even though he's her great-great-great-uncle.
  • So Bad It's Good: The "DUWANG" Blind Idiot Translation of Part 4 is awesomely bad.
  • Squick: Just try to look at how Pesci uses Beach Boy on Mista without cringing.
  • Superlative Dubbing:
    • In contrast, opinions of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders test dub have been mostly positive, with even non-fans judging it as So Okay, It's Average at worst.
    • The later dub of the first TV series (which seems to be aiming for some level of consistency with the previous Stardust Crusaders test dub, retaining Patrick Seitz as Dio) has gained similar response, though the reaction to the use of accents has been mixed. While there has been some critisicm towards a few voices, generally the dub is seen as fairly good. Notably Patrick Seitz stands out, generally being praised as being on par with Takehito Koyasu, as well as Ben Diskin.
  • Suspiciously Similar Song: Or rather, Leitmotif. Josuke's theme in the Diamond Is Unbreakable anime sounds incredibly similar to Jotaro's Leitmotif.
  • The Unexpected: Midler's a playable character in the Capcom-produced fighting game. In light of the above, Araki had to develop her appearance from elsewhere... namely, the willing victims that Hol Horse found in Dio's mansion.
  • Viewer Gender Confusion: Narancia and Hermes.
  • Watch It for the Meme: Usually it's Dio's MUDA MUDA MUDA, WRYYYYYY and ZA WARUDO.
  • "Weird Al" Effect: To some of the fans, they can't take the "Morioh is a Beatufiul Town" quote seriously due to the infamous "Duwang" translation.
  • What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?:
    • Ranks up there with Fist of the North Star and Apocalypse Zero as the top candidate for this trope. The sheer frank homoeroticism and casual brutality of this franchise, tolerable to teenage boys in Japan, would have Jack Chick doing gymnastics in his grave!
    • Vento Aureo is probably the worst in this regard, occurring before the shift to a more mature seinen magazine: each and every arc in the series (which is to each of the dozen conflicts with stand users) centers around some aspect of bloody, gory, painful body horror. The next part, Stone Ocean, is also pretty bad with the gore. And has prostitutes, vibrators as currency and people exploding into snails.
  • WTH, Costuming Department?: Even in the highly glamorous Part 5, Fugo's outfit is incredibly tacky. It has holes all over it, even on the pants, Fugo isn't wearing any undershirts, just a necktie, and if Word of God is to believed, he even wears a thong so the underwear wouldn't be shown through the holes.


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