Sometimes, even when you write extensively about a medium, certain series can fly under your radar. I have friends who love Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, buying up figures, limited editions and art books. It’s a huge smash both in the West and its native Japan, but the aesthetic never really appealed to me (a dandy Fist of the North Star) and I’ve always had other things to be watching. However, I’ve now taken the plunge, fired up the first episode and resigned myself to the fact that nobody can escape Jojo forever. It was a good run.
Let’s get the story out of the way first, as it’s the most vanilla thing about the first episode. A scoundrel happens upon the scene of a carriage crash - the Joestar family are the victims, with the father, George, gravely injured, his wife dead and their baby boy within the carriage. Mistaking the scoundrel (who planned to rob the corpses) for a concerned passer by, he gratefully promises to grant the man a favour. Fast forward a few years, and the scoundrel, now on his deathbed, hands his son a letter. Though he may be finished, his son, Dio, can call in the favour owed by the prestigious Joestars and live a life of luxury as their adopted son. (Let’s not ask why an opportunist crook held out this long).
Subsequently the crafty Dio sets about ruining the young Jonathan Joestars life in a bid to take his inheritance. Once he has moved in, he proceeds to undermine young Jojo at every opportunity - spreading rumours, disgracing him in front of his father and alienating him from his friends. Even the temporary respite of Jojo’s crush on a young girl, Erina, is under threat as Dio steals her first kiss and causes a rift between them. Thus the scene is set for a multi-generational rivalry between the two. And what’s the secret behind the stone mask that the family keeps as an heirloom? It has springy leg things!
Two things struck me about this first episode. Firstly, it’s actually quite aesthetically subdued - for all the flamboyance of the later character designs, this origin tale keeps things stylish but historically quite accurate. Aside from the muscular physiques and posing on display, there’s little here to hint at just how bizarre things are going to get.
Secondly, lets talk about that dub. Oh, mother of mercy, what an effort! With everyone seemingly a graduate of the Dick van Dyke school of British accents, the dialogue may be the most bizarre thing the series has to offer. It’s gloriously bad, at once cockney and ridiculously aristocratic, the scriptwriter was either on acid or trying to see how much they could get away with. What a gift this is to any voice actor taking part, just the hammiest, scenery chewingist delivery of the most contrived dialogue ever invented by all involved. I love it.
Dio makes for a fabulous antagonist - not content with being a manipulative bastard, he genuinely delights in causing chaos. And just in case you had any thoughts that the handsome rogue might be some kind of anti-hero, he forces himself on a woman and kills a dog, the one-two combo that earns him a ticket to dandy-bastard-hell! Get him Jojo, just... get him! Argh, that Dio! I hates him I do guv’nor!
How can one not love the show? It looks beautiful - unlike BNA: Brand New Animal which I covered last week, the beauty of this show lies not in lively animation, but in the lovingly accurate recreation of Hirohiko Araki’s distinctive art style. Chiselled young men with fluttering eyelashes and bulging muscles is a hell of a combination, and coupled with the historical stylings, it really is one-of-a-kind. It’s daft as all hell, but it won me over with its (probably misplaced) sincerity. Bizarre is an apt a description as any show has ever received.
I have some inkling for what I’m in for as the series progresses (just google it for the insane fashions) and despite my initial reluctance, I fully understand now why the series has such a strong fanbase. Every journey begins with a first step, and this is mine. As per the demands of the First Thoughts format, I must reveal whether or not I’m going back for more; if that’s even a question by this stage, you haven’t been paying attention (no you haven’t mister and no mistake I reckons, truly!)
Send help.
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