The Genius Of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

one of the biggest boldest and best franchises in all of anime and manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is an absolutely legendary manga series by hirohiko Iraqi running all the way back from the late 1980s to the present day the series consists of nine separate parts different points in time and place with the unifying Factor being the bazaar if you don't like the series that's fine but this is just like my opinion man so without further Ado let's begin [Music] literally never before had anything on this scale ever been done generational storytelling gone mad a character with a lineage which then goes on to detail an entire family tree and then another family tree a chronology that goes in depth whilst also spanning over a hundred years three different Power Systems 250 characters over 20 000 pages in length written by a 60 year old who doesn't age and hasn't even finished writing it yet part one is a humble beginning I've always loved part 1 almost equally to Parts two and three the establishing of different fundamental elements to the series is what I love about it so much above it all part 1 has that element of the Mystique to it it takes inference from Arthur Conan Doyle from Agatha Christie and even occasionally from Jane Austen it's got a tight short structure it almost feels so structured but lengthy that you could put it on the West End or Broadway it's campy but fun and a little tongue-in-cheek from the beginning right until the end the pillars of JoJo's Foundation being Dio Speedwagon the joestar family bloodline and the mystical powers of Herman now of course not all of these things survive throughout the series in fact technically none of them do part 1 acts as a prototype for the rest of the series much in the same way that romance Dawn and berserk had elements that would all come back in the rest of the series and act as a bit of a source material Dio dies but his will carries on for the rest of the series the joestar family name has changed and altered all the way to Cujo a tadeshkata Speedwagon dies but creates a foundation that assists this distant family line and hamon gets forgotten but acts as a springboard for Iraqi which he then takes on board elements for with the creation of Stans and then he also remakes hamon with this new universe where the action of spin is integral to the power of the World Part One Lovato hate it is unskippable for the context of its foundational elements and it's a good ride either way by the end of the story it gets itself together and gives a glimpse into the future of the series with Jonathan joestar transcending the one-dimensional muscle man into someone who sacrifices it all to protect the ones he loves it's a tragic end and for such a short story I think it's perfect for the material at hand thankfully for those struggling the first three parts act as a Trilogy of sorts with the ingredients in the JoJo pie finally Come Together by the end this time putting more effort into the action and the characters as real people with Joseph and his relationship with Lisa Lisa working as a kind of coming-of-age story there's also an escalation of villains in terms of the pillar men that propagators of the flashback at the start of part 1 and the owners of the vampire's mask the setting and atmosphere of this part is entirely riffing off the Golden Age of Hollywood with glamor and Glitz left and right Joseph is an equally colorful protagonist a proper sequential JoJo to the conservatively British Jonathan the premise is a hunt for an old artifact which the entire cast is after it's clearly akin to the post-war movies that Hollywood produced but the graphic nature keeps the manga up to the standard of a gory cheesy 80s B movie of its time where part 1 was more of a template this part sees the beginning of plot lines that Branch out all the way to the end it's a part that plants seeds and Iraqi really makes the most of them here in what most consider to be the first great story arc it's easy to take part 1 and 2 for granted in the grand scheme here when these were pretty Innovative period piece mangas that do ultimately stand the test of time in enjoyment levels anyway now that we see the whole Collective result it really is part of the reason that the whole collective series is as good as it is it's a strong Foundation but also a strong enough part by itself that really does add to the whole now part three is one of the most popular parts of the entire series and that makes sense it's probably the most inspired part that Iraqi ever wrote with the whole Adventure resembling the likes of Around the World in 80 Days and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade scratch that it hadn't actually been made Raiders Of The Last Arc the stands are here with their wacky weird powers the bizarre element is stronger than ever and one of the foundations of the series is a threat to the world itself it's a story that really lives up to the word adventure with the first Posse in the entire series it's a Melancholy feeling when the group splits up and the title of Stardust Crusaders is finally given in part one I was going to say that there was a loss of foreshadowing going on but I don't think that's entirely true I think like the saying history doesn't repeat it Rhymes it rings true for this series in that there really isn't any foreshadowing going on but Iraqi takes effort to remember elements of the story that he's already written and have it come back to retroactively affect the characters like Dio dying on the bridge in much the same way he saw the first vampire die there are some bumpy moments in this part and the pacing does get a little out of control but part 3 itself is like a prototype for the kind of Adventure Iraqi would go on to write about and for that it paves the way quite well transitioning into part 4 is another fascinating step because there is absolutely no source for this but being published in the very early 1990s and being about a killer hit an in-plane sight whilst being set in a small town it simply has to have semi been inspired by Twin Peaks a story about small American Town being shaken by a killer hidden in plain sight it was one of the most Fame show of the time in Western culture something that Iraqi is not shy of checking out and inserting into his manga reeling the story back a bit from the adventure is an incredible change of pace and an extremely welcome one the first half of the series is just a bunch of vignettes like it's a JoJo soap opera looking at the lives of the people in Mario we grow attachment to josuke and his friends before the second half which is more of the murder mystery where lives are at stake if kakiowan was an experiment in killing off a protagonist part 4 evolves that into his tensor manga it can be raising the stakes in a believable way might come easier for something more melodramatic like a town drama but it almost comes naturally with the next part and that of a gangster story that other bloodline I was talking about starts to really appear here with Dio's son jono Giovanna being the protagonist for part 5. we have incredible fights flashbacks to the Stardust Crusaders and even a deep blue for the entire Italian culture with the setting and Cuisine of all things having a really involved role in the naming of the Ark the great thing about 5 is that for the first time Iraqi really leaves his hooks into the law and brings back this connection to Dio polymeraf and the consequences of the Stardust Crusaders and even something as recent as the bow and arrow and all of these are elements that mix to form a really fascinating progression for part 5 and one of the most interesting Stan villains the ability to oversee and overwrite Snippets of reality elements continue to progress from here and even into the next part my personal favorite part 6 is a prison break story Dio's reach is fully delved into with poochie and the Diary of his plans being resurrected once more we have a female protagonist in Jolene the daughter of jotaro and we get a return of him too of Speedwagon of Dio mentions of Joseph joestar and connections to the greater world around these characters that have been building and building all of this time the stakes are something which Iraqi reputedly struggled with and that's why the story ends where it does but I think what we got because of it is a really action-packed constantly moving story which culminates in some of the most mind-bending and shocking moments for Jojo even to the current day as I said before I have an entire video going through that so I'll just say go and watch that as something originally planned to be the end it's a brilliant send-off and works just as intended as you might have surmised I've been going through each Arc of the series to point towards the variety but also the Synergy of it all at the same time Stone ocean was the last part of the original continuity and whilst I know that the reality which Emporio escaped to wasn't the same as the one we go to it's part of the JoJo metaverse in my mind and good luck getting me to think otherwise but anyway steel ball ruin it's probably the best western genre manga of all time sorry Dragon for the first time it feels like Iraqi really Embraces genre-centric tropes where part 5's gangster backdrop could have dived a bit deeper into the more prescient features of what mobs do here we have duels races bounties and gambling partly and thanks to the change in Magazine from Shonen to sainin Steel ball run takes itself a lot more seriously than previous parts and seems to have a bit more freedom in terms of what happens I always say about series growing with its audience but from the simplistic first three parts to the more developed second Trilogy it's really cool to see these current three story arcs embody a really mature version of everything we've already seen steel ball run channels it's a mad mad mad mad world and a Chase for Treasure Across America the duo of Johnny Joe star and Gyro zapelli might be some of the strongest character writing that Iraqis ever done and Gyro is one of his best characters ever written it all comes together in one grand finale that really shows why this part is perhaps the most popular in the whole run despite being the seventh Arc of the series it's also really long and self-contained it's one stretching Adventure that feels like a road while traveled by the end a Hallmark of the best adventure stories Joe Julian is very much a remake of part 4 in that we have josuke higashkata a new one living in the town of Mario and trying to solve the crisis of this rokaka fruit a full muscle Alchemist level power that can Equivalent Exchange practically anything that a person could want done to them it's a spiritual success it's apart for in many ways furthering the characters and Powers but keeping on board what made part 4 so great as this was after all a well-received part originally too we have a more current timeline more real characters through the fact that this is a scene in spin of part 4 and the length to match that of part 7. once again it's that stretch of Journey that makes for the unforgettable moments in fact most endings aren't really the strong points of iraqi's writing part 1 is a great tragic ending but two kind of ends in a stereotypically happy way three has a solemn and great ending but four kind of Fizzles out into the same kind of attempt part 5 ends quickly too with a Reliance on narration to sweep things together into a neat little package six and seven take their time to deliver really big moments that Iraqi was building to but Joe jolian just sort of ends again one thing is for CERN no part tells you what the next might contain Part 9 is JoJo lands and it's not even out yet but impressive all the same in that with everything behind us Iraqi could take us in absolutely any direction the future of this series is unclear and where 1000 chapters in most series would look to tie things up in a pretty little bow it's the fact that this series got where it is through all the randomness that makes this next part such an exciting reality you can almost see the whole series as a Trilogy of trilogies now where the first three parts were the formative years of the series finding its footing the second of the two being the prime of the series as a Shonen action manga and this last Trilogy is literally a more grown-up scene in series that doubles down on the artistic aspects the decision to write in parts and deliver these contrasting evolving ideas with the variety and the chance for an infinite and unpredictable read is a massive part of what makes JoJo so genius foreign [Music] I've already covered the artistic evolution of Jojo but to not mention any of it here would be a bit of a crime to be honest we go from JoJo literally being a contemporary of Dragon Ball with its innocent and jovial art style Jonathan joestar are literally being Sherlock Holmes Joseph resembling Indiana Jones to all the periods of time that passed in the main series 80s Japan 90s Italy America in the early 2000s 2010s Japan JoJo is as much as shown in turn senen as it is a love letter to fashion and film the first cover of the volumes are indicative of just how much color and artistic thought Iraqi puts into his drawings with illustrations Landing in pop art classical surreal and romantic Styles fashion obviously ties into art and I think making a manga out of his passions including making the story about whatever he wants is probably a big reason why this Series has gone on for so long and is so loved inspiration creates the best stories and that's the kind of whim that Iraqi follows from action movies of the 1980s to pop crime investigative series of the 1990s and then everything else that the Aesthetics of the 2000s the 2010s and the 2020s range so wildly helped the series grow with time Mario is the setting of both part 4 and part 8 of fictitious Japanese town in part 4 and an alternate variant of said fictitious talent in part 8. the fun of Jojo and the excitement of Part 9 comes from the variants that it offers almost like even Iraqi doesn't know what to stick with is it an adventure movie no let's go with sci-fi survival is it a Japanese JoJo no it's All Around the World in 80 Days is it a slice of life no it's a murder mystery is it his spiritual success to Dio and part three no it's a gangster film is it a prison break film no it's just Insanity at this point but basically no matter how Parts begin they always turn into something different as it goes along and that variance which ties into the bizarre enriches the manga throughout it all part of the genius of stands is how malleable they are Iraqi solves the age-old problem of superheroes winning out of powers for writers to give them by making a stand for literally anything and everything bubbles mirrors GPS's a monkey with a haunted boat the stands are endless with their powers and instead of fearing what Iraqi will make a stand out of when low on ideas I'm actually more excited to see what insane properties he ends up attributing to the next batch of characters it's like a game of how far can Iraqi push these borders of insanity when you truly embrace the bizarre you can't jump the shark anymore because the shark is the work of an enemy stand people worried about Joe jolian being the end with Iraqi mentioning retiring in his 60s once but jojoian ended up being the longest part by a country mile and that's kind of proof in a way that shows he's purely in it for the fun let's also not dismiss how great of a character writer hirohiko Iraqi can be eight distinctive personalities one of them being a well-written female character all of these people have their own circle of friends and allies and it's crazy that so much of the time none of them blend together and all stand separately in a really unique way that takes a crazy amount of skill it also takes a crazy amount of time but even going back to the 1980s writing a genuine Ensemble of 5 is impressive when you also factor in characters like Whole Horse and the World building like Joseph's dad having his own adventure that transpired off-screen the current popularity of the series is really elevated by the anime adaptation from Studio David an adaptation which really leans into a stylistic approach which makes the work of Iraqi pop into life taking into account the tastes of Iraqi at the time when writing these parts the music and the endings being tracks that he listened to whilst creating these parts they also develop their own personal touches to stamp their Mark onto the series with a CGI intro and visuality which stands almost independent of the manga at times I firmly believe that when you let something run its course for decades it will naturally turn into something really special just from the lack of precedent might be weird to open up the conclusion with a kind of diminishing point but it's true I think the appeal of sticking with something for such an extensive length of time is most of the time a seven-fold payoff and investment eventually if you think about the kind of Storytelling that a short story can do you pretty much jump straight to the limitations of the format but when you think of Jojo or anything that runs for a really long time whether it's a suspension of disbelief the possibilities really are endless to tell different stories and also to gratify the attention span of its reader I genuinely think overall JoJo is one of the best series ever made for the reasons I listed and more individual little things that you take away from watching such a substantial series over the course of years of both your life and the mangakas it's an investment in time for the reader for the viewer but also for the writer in such a way that underlines the point of the whole story here going through the different styles the clearly different decades there's so much appreciation for pop culture over the last 40 years and it translates directly into so much that the reader can appreciate straight from the page it's a unique experience in that running this long is something offered here and not really anywhere else in terms of narratives like this JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is quite simply genius thank you for watching that one was a fairly short Genius of video I promised that next year's will be over an hour it's been one that I've been planning for over a year actually I'll get to that one when I get to it I hope you enjoyed this one too though what do you think part 9 is going to be about comment your thoughts down below leave a like And subscribe for more content just like this thanks to my patrons for supporting this video and every video thanks for watching and have a good night

Channel: AlexEnterprises

Views: 96,969

Keywords: Anime

Id: jKwL5Q7mtno

Length: 17min 0sec (1020 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 29 2022