The first season of the 2012

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

television series by

David Production is a Japanese animation studio founded in September 2007 and is based in Nishitōkyō, Tokyo. Notable works from the studio include ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'', '' Cells at Work!'', and ''Fire Force''. Establishment The company was founded b ...

, also known as ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The Animation'', adapted the first two arcs of

Hirohiko Araki is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for his long-running series ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'', which began publication in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' in 1987 and has over 120 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling ...

's manga of the same name: and . The ''Phantom Blood'' arc, which aired on

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...

between October 6 and December 1, 2012, revolves around the mysterious adventures of the Joestar family, beginning with an encounter involving Jonathan Joestar, his adoptive brother

Dio Brando is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the Japanese manga series ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. He is featured primarily as the main antagonist of the series' first part, '' Phantom Blood'', ...

, and a Stone Mask that transforms people into vampires. The ''Battle Tendency'' arc, which aired on Tokyo MX between December 8, 2012, and April 6, 2013, focuses on Jonathan's grandson, Joseph Joestar, and his fight against the Pillar Men, ancient humanoids which created the Stone Mask. The series was released on a series of nine DVDs and Blu-rays between January 30 and September 27, 2013, with the Blu-ray releases having the option of English subtitles. Crunchyroll began streaming the series in April 2014. The English DVD was released by

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Vide ...

on September 22, 2015 with both English and Japanese audio with

closed captioning Closed captioning (CC) and subtitling are both processes of displaying text on a television, video screen, or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information. Both are typically used as a transcription of the audio po ...

for the English dub only.

Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

released an English Blu-ray set on July 25, 2017 that includes English and Japanese audio with new subtitles for the Japanese . A second season, '' JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders'', based on the series' third arc, began airing from April 5, 2014.

Plot

The first season was split into two parts: part 1 comprised episodes 1–9 covering the '' Phantom Blood'' manga arc, and part 2 comprised episodes 10–26 covering the ''

Battle Tendency is the second story arc of the manga series ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. It was serialized for around years in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from November 2, 1987, to March 27, 1989, for 69 c ...

'' arc. The first part, ''Phantom Blood'', is set in the early-to-late 1880s in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. George Joestar takes in the orphan

to pay off a debt to Dio's late father Dario. Dio's attempts to become the sole heir to the Joestar fortune are thwarted and he resorts to using an ancient Stone Mask which transforms him into a vampire with his sights now set on world domination. With Will A. Zeppeli, a master of a supernatural ability called Hamon, and former street thug Robert E.O. Speedwagon at his side, George's son Jonathan trains in Hamon and stops Dio who is left aboard an exploding ship after he mortally wounds Jonathan. However, Jonathan's wife Erina is pregnant with a child and escapes, continuing the Joestar name. The second part, ''Battle Tendency'', takes place in 1939. Jonathan's grandson Joseph teams up with Will's grandson Caesar Zeppeli to battle ancient humanoids called the Pillar Men, but are overwhelmed by the Pillar Man Wamuu. Joseph and Caesar have a month to defeat the Pillar Men Esidisi and Wamuu to obtain the antidotes for the poisoned rings in Joseph's windpipe and aorta, while also preventing them from gaining a powerful stone called the Super Aja. The two are trained in controlling Hamon by the Hamon coach Lisa Lisa. Joseph defeats Esidisi and Wamuu, but Kars obtains the Super Aja, becoming more powerful. Aided by the German soldier Rudol von Stroheim, Joseph uses the Super Aja against Kars to defeat him. In the epilogue set in the 1980s, a "treasure chest" engraved with the name "DIO" is salvaged from the sea, while an older Joseph is set to meet his daughter in Japan.

Voice cast

See a detailed List of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure characters.

Music

The first season of ''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'' uses three pieces of theme music, two opening themes and one ending theme. The first opening theme is the song performed by Hiroaki "Tommy" Tominaga, vocalist of Japanese "

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...

rock" band Bluff, as the opening theme for the Part 1 episodes. The score for Part 1 was composed by

Hayato Matsuo is a Japanese music composer and orchestrator who primarily does work in video games and anime. He has worked on titles such as '' Front Mission 3'', ''Final Fantasy XII'', the ''Shenmue'' series, '' Magic Knight Rayearth'', and ''Hellsing Ultim ...

, and was released in two parts as ''Destiny'', a bonus disc in the first Blu-ray box set released on January 30, 2013, and ''Future'', a separate CD release on February 22, 2013. ''Future'' debuted at number 95 on the '' Billboard'' Japan Top Albums charts and peaked at 115 on the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in ...

Weekly Album Charts. The opening theme song for the Part 2 episodes is "

Bloody Stream "Bloody Stream" (stylized as "BLOODY STREAM") is the debut single by Japanese artist No Regret Life#Member Profiles, Coda. The song, written by Saori Kodama and composed by Toshiyuki O'mori, is used as the second opening theme for the JoJo's Bizar ...

" by Coda. Its score is composed by

Taku Iwasaki is a Japanese composer and arranger. His hometown is Tokyo, Japan. He is a graduate of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. Works Anime *'' The Irresponsible Captain Tylor'' (OVA series (theme songs composition, etc.); 1995, 19 ...

, and was released in two parts as ''Musik'' (German for "Music"), a standalone CD release on March 29, 2013, and as ''Leicht Verwendbar'' (German for "Light User"), a bonus disc for Blu-ray box set volume 4 on April 26, 2013. ''Musik'' debuted at number 63 on the Japan Top Albums charts and at 89 on the Weekly Album Charts. The ending theme for the whole season is British

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

band Yes' 1972 single " Roundabout".

Episode list

Phantom Blood

Battle Tendency

Notes

References

External links

Official website
* {{JoJo's Bizarre Adventure JoJo's Bizarre Adventure episode lists 2012 Japanese television seasons 2013 Japanese television seasons Television series set in the 1880s Television series set in the 1930s