JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (Japanese:ジョジョの奇妙な冒険,Hepburn:JoJo no Kimyō na Bōken), also known asJoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The Animation, is a Japaneseanime television series produced byDavid Production. An adaptation of the Japanesemangaseries of the same name byHirohiko Araki, the series focuses on the mysterious adventures of the Joestar family across generations, from the end of the 19th century to themodern era. The series was first broadcast onTokyo MX before entering syndication on 4JNN stations,BS11, andAnimax.
Thefirst season, adapting the first two parts,Phantom Blood andBattle Tendency, aired in Japan between October 2012 and April 2013. The series is distributed in North America byWarner Bros. Home Entertainment andViz Media, with the former handling the series on DVD and the latter handling the series on Blu-Ray and the merchandising rights. In the United States, it aired onAdult Swim'sToonami programming block starting in October 2016.
Asecond season adapting the manga's third part,Stardust Crusaders, aired between April and September 2014, with a second part airing between January and June 2015. Athird season covering the fourth part,Diamond Is Unbreakable, aired from April to December 2016. Afourth season covering the fifth part,Golden Wind, aired from October 2018 to July 2019. Afifth season covering the sixth part,Stone Ocean, was released worldwide onNetflix from December 2021 to December 2022. A sixth season covering the seventh part,Steel Ball Run, will be released worldwide on the streaming service in 2026. As of December 2022, the series consists of 190 episodes.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure tells the story of the Joestar family, a family whose various members discover they are destined to take down supernatural foes using powers that they possess. The story is split up into unique parts, each following a member of the Joestar family, who typically have names that can be abbreviated to the titular "JoJo".
On July 5, 2012, at a press conference celebrating the 25th anniversary ofJoJo's Bizarre Adventure and promoting series creatorHirohiko Araki's then-upcoming art exhibition, Araki and his people announced that ananime adaptation ofJoJo's Bizarre Adventure was in production and would premiere in October 2012.[6] In August 2012, it was announced that the series would be produced byDavid Production.[7] Thefirst season ofJoJo's Bizarre Adventure covered the first two parts of the manga,Phantom Blood andBattle Tendency. It aired for 26 episodes onTokyo MX between October 6, 2012 and April 6, 2013.[8][9]
Although teased at in the post-credit scenes of the finale,[9] thesecond season of the anime series, which covered the third part of the manga,Stardust Crusaders, was officially announced in the 47th issue ofWeekly Shōnen Jump and the fifthtankōbon volume ofJoJolion in October 2013.[10][11] It was broadcast on Tokyo MX in two parts for a total of 48 episodes; the first from April 5 to September 13, 2014,[12][13] and the second from January 10 to June 20, 2015.[14] The Japanese broadcast censored scenes of underage characters smoking by overlaying black shadows on them.[15][16]
In October 2015, at the "Last Crusaders" event forStardust Crusaders,a third season and adaptation of the fourth part of the manga,Diamond Is Unbreakable, was announced.[17] It premiered on April 1, 2016 and ended on December 23, 2016. Anoriginal video animation (OVA) adapting theThus Spoke Rohan Kishibe manga spin-offs to people who had purchased all thirteen Japanese DVD or Blu-ray volumes of theDiamond Is Unbreakable anime series.[3][18]
On June 21, 2018, at the "Ripples of Adventure" art exhibition, afourth season and adaptation of the fifth part of the manga,Golden Wind, was announced.[19] The pilot debuted at Anime Expo on July 6, 2018, and formally aired from October 5, 2018 to July 28, 2019 on Tokyo MX.[19]
On April 4, 2021, at theJOESTAR The Inherited Soul, which featured the cast of main characters from each part of the series,[20][21] it was announced afifth season and adaptation of the sixth part of the manga,Stone Ocean.[22] It was streamed worldwide onNetflix from December 1, 2021 to December 1, 2022.
On April 12, 2025, at theJOJODAY promotional event, a sixth season and adaptation of the seventh part of the manga,Steel Ball Run, was announced.[23][24] It will be streamed worldwide on the same streaming service in 2026.[25]
With the 2014 premiere ofStardust Crusaders, American-based websiteCrunchyroll began streaming the anime series for viewers outside Japan an hour after it aired in Japan.[26]Warner Bros. Home Entertainment released Parts 1 and 2 in a DVD set on September 22, 2015, with an English dub.[27] In July 2016, Viz Media announced they acquired the Blu-ray rights to the series and released it with an English dub in July 2017. On October 15, 2016, American cable blockAdult Swim began airing the anime on itsToonami block.[27]
The first DVD release of the TV anime was the fourth best-selling animation DVD in Japan for the week of January 28 to February 3, 2013, with 4,510 copies sold.[28] Its Blu-ray version was the fourth best-selling animation Blu-ray for that same week, with 14,860 copies sold.[29] The second volume ranked sixth in both animation DVDs and Blu-rays for the week of February 18–24, with 2,764 and 12,501 copies sold respectively.[30][31] The anime's third volume was the sixth best-selling animation DVD, with 2,994 copies sold, and the second best-selling animation Blu-ray, with 13,536 copies sold, for the week of March 25–31.[32][33]
TheJoJo's Bizarre Adventure anime television series was named one of the best of 2012 byOtaku USA.[34] It was added to the list by Joseph Luster, however, in his review he cited David Production having a small budget for several of his problems with the series, stating some portions of the animation are a "butt hair above motion comic standards," but that it usually makes up for it in "sheer style."[35] Michael Toole ofAnime News Network had similar views, writing that the show's good writing, art direction, and pacing were "sometimes obscured by grade-Z animation."[36]
Several critics have credited the success of the anime adaptation for bringing about a surge of popularity for theJoJo's Bizarre Adventure franchise amongst Western audiences.[36][37] In 2018, Danni Wilmoth ofCrunchyroll included the series on her list of "The 20 Series Every Anime Fan Needs to Watch".[38] In 2019,Polygon named the series as one of the best anime of the 2010s.[39]
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure – An earlier OVA adaptation, 13 episodes released in two parts. The first 6 episodes were released during 1993–1994 and the later (but narratively earlier) 7 episodes were released during 2000–2002 byStudio APPP. This series was adapted from Part 3:Stardust Crusaders of the original manga, also the basis forthe 2nd season of the 2012 TV series.
^ab"The Mike Toole Show - Jojo's Mojo".Anime News Network. June 1, 2014.Archived from the original on June 3, 2014. RetrievedNovember 21, 2015.[...]the series profile is surging among fans here, and it's a joy to watch factors like the fortuitous timing of the new series and the sheer enthusiasm of the show's fans online lead to things like the Viz reprints.
Anime and manga portal
