“JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure” (“JoJo’s”) is a manga written and drawn by Hirohiko Araki (commonly called just Araki), which also has an anime. The manga is split into nine parts, with seven of them being in English. The series typically follows a different person from the Joestar family in each part, going through different adventures. Parts 7-9 follow a completely different timeline from parts 1-6. From what I heard, each part of “JoJo’s” (or at least parts 1-6) is a different genre (while keeping the same story). Part 7, “Steel Ball Run”, follows a race of the same name across the United States and follows two main characters, Gyro Zeppeli and Johnny “JoJo” Joestar.
Manga
I enjoyed the manga. I’m glad I read it, and I will most definitely read it again (I kind of have to since I have the six English volumes currently). In general, I liked the story. Honestly, I didn’t have much knowledge about “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure”, learning what I do know from a friend of mine. I loved the story, and was on the edge of my seat while reading it to find out what would happen next. I recommend learning a very small amount of “JoJo’s” before actually reading this (mostly past characters from parts 1-6), but I’d say that’s not that much required. But, I recommend learning what Stands are. The first two English volumes of the manga actually combine the first two Japanese volumes, which is why it’s 11 chapters long, and the combining of two Japanese volumes seems to happen with all English volumes. The entire first volume covers the first stage of the Steel Ball Run Race. I must warn that there is some more inappropriate content in here, as well as violence. There is more inappropriate stuff much later in the series (past Volume 2 in English), so be careful after that point.
I highly recommend reading this and would recommend reading the current releases. I rate the first manga volume a 5/5 stars, with it available on Amazon for roughly like $25 each physically or about $17 on Amazon Kindle.
Anime (First Episode)
The anime was good. I enjoyed the animation and the music. I liked what they did with the animation for the anime. I find it unfortunate that there is no confirmation for when the next episode will release, but at least the entire second stage will be weekly. I liked the action and the end credits song “Dance with STEEL BALL RUN”, which is a good song, and I think it sounds good. The anime actually adapts the entirety of the first English volume of the manga. I must warn that this, like the manga, has more mature themes and violence, which readers will notice is missing from the text.
I think the anime is good, but I wish it had a more exact release date for the second episode. I don’t plan to continue to watch it since I have more English manga and can get through more of the story quicker, but I do recommend it. I rate it 4/5 stars, and it’s available to watch on Netflix.
Comparison
I noticed a big difference between the anime and manga, and that is the changes they made between the manga and anime. They made a story change from the manga, but what the change was would be a spoiler. I would understand if it wasn’t a more major change to the story. It thankfully isn’t the levels of 4Kids dubs from the early days of anime in the US, and this affected the original Japanese version as well, but I feel like they could’ve done a better job at it.
