Jojo no kimyô na bôken
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 unique powers that they possess. The manga is split up into 8 unique parts, each following the story of one member of the Joestar family, who inevitably has a name that can be abbreviated to the titular "JoJo". The first six parts of the series take place within a single continuity, while parts 7 and 8 take place in an alternate continuity.
Part 1 Phantom Blood (ファントムブラッド, Fantomu Buraddo)
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure volumes 1 to 5. In the 1880s in Great Britain, the young Jonathan Joestar meets his new adopted brother Dio Brando, who only wants to usurp Jonathan as heir to the Joestar family. However, his attempts are thwarted and he resorts to using an ancient Stone Mask which transforms him into a vampire. Jonathan, with Italian Hamon master Will A. Zeppeli and former street thug Robert E.O. Speedwagon at his side, must now find a way to stop Dio using his newly found affinity for the Ripple martial arts now that Dio's sights are set on nothing less than world domination.
Part 2 Battle Tendency (戦闘潮流, Sentō Chōryū)
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure volumes 5 to 12. In New York City in 1938, Joseph Joestar, grandson of Jonathan, who has a natural affinity for the Hamon technique, becomes entangled in his grandfather's destiny when the Pillar Men, supernatural beings of impossible power, awaken after failed experiments by Nazi German special forces. Joseph ultimately teams up with Caesar Zeppeli, Will's grandson, and Caesar's teacher Lisa Lisa, a woman mysteriously tied to Joseph, to stop the Pillar Men from obtaining a mystical artifact in Lisa Lisa's possession that will grant them complete immortality and bring about the end of the world at their hands, so long as Joseph can master the Hamon technique to beat the Pillar Men in a rematch for the antidotes to poisons they implanted in his body.
Part 3 Stardust Crusaders (スターダストクルセイダース, Sutādasuto Kuruseidāsu)
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure volumes 12 to 28. In 1989, Jotaro Kujo, a Japanese high school student, places himself in jail because he believes he is possessed by an evil spirit. His mother Holly calls on her father Joseph Joestar to talk sense into Jotaro, and with the help of his ally the Egyptian fortune teller Mohammed Avdol, reveals that Jotaro has in fact developed a supernatural ability known as a Stand that has run through the family due to the revival of their ancestor's foe Dio. After thwarting an assassination attempt by transfer student Noriaki Kakyoin who is under Dio's thrall, Jotaro and Joseph discover that Holly is dying from her own Stand. Jotaro resolves to hunt down Dio, and Joseph leads him, Avdol, and Kakyoin to Egypt, using their Stands to battle more Stand-wielding assassins along the way, gaining allies in the French swordsman Jean Pierre Polnareff who wishes to avenge the death of his sister, and the stray dog Iggy, before 50 days elapse and Holly dies.
Part 4 Diamond Is Unbreakable (ダイヤモンドは砕けない, Daiyamondo wa Kudakenai)
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure volumes 29 to 47. In the fictional Japanese town of Morioh in 1999, Jotaro arrives to reveal to Josuke Higashikata (the kanji 助 in his name is read in the on'yomi form as jo) that he is the illegitimate son of Joseph Joestar and to warn him that Morioh is beginning to be filled with Stand users due to a mystical Bow and Arrow that bestows Stands on those struck by the arrowheads. After Josuke takes revenge on a Stand user who killed his grandfather, he agrees to help Jotaro hunt down the holder of the Bow and Arrow, gaining allies in Josuke's friend Koichi Hirose, who is hit by the arrow, Okuyasu Nijimura, whose brother was using the Arrow until it was stolen from him, the famous manga artist Rohan Kishibe, and even his estranged father Joseph Joestar. Along the way, the group deals with the various new Stand users throughout Morioh, including several of Josuke, Koichi, and Okuyasu's classmates, until the death of one of their friends leads to the discovery that one of the new Stand users is the serial killer, Yoshikage Kira.
Part 5 Vento Aureo (黄金の風, Ōgon no Kaze)
Le Bizzarre Avventure di GioGio volumes 47 to 63. In 2001, Koichi Hirose is sent by Jotaro to Naples to investigate Giorno Giovanna, whom Jotaro has discovered is Dio's son fathered before his defeat in Cairo 12 years earlier, to see if the boy has a Stand and if he is evil. Koichi ultimately discovers the boy's Stand and his pure goals for reforming the mafia from the inside out, and Jotaro lets him live his life. Giorno ultimately joins a squad of Passione, a Stand-using mafia, led by Bruno Bucciarati, who leads Giorno, Leone Abbacchio, Guido Mista, Narancia Ghirga, and Pannacotta Fugo on a mission to Capri to retrieve his former superior's riches, being attacked by rival mafioso along the way, and then are tasked by Passione's boss to escort his daughter Trish Una throughout Italy and protect her from others in the gang who wish to use her to find out his identity.
Part 6 Stone Ocean (ストーンオーシャン, Sutōn Ōshan)
Stone Ocean volumes 1 to 17 (JoJo volumes 64 to 80). In 2011 near Port St. Lucie, Florida, Jolyne Cujoh is arrested and sent to the Green Dolphin St. Prison for murder. Her estranged father Jotaro visits her and reveals that she has been set up in order for one of Dio's disciples to kill her within the prison. After revealing that a gift he gave her has awoken her latent Stand powers to protect her, he is attacked, and his Stand is stolen from him by the prison chaplain Enrico Pucci, Dio's disciple. Jolyne works with fellow inmate Ermes Costello, who has also had a Stand awoken in her, to retrieve her father's Stand, gaining allies in the boy Emporio Alniño, other inmates Narciso Anasui and Weather Report, and the sentient Stand-using plankton Foo Fighters to save her father and stop Pucci before he can use his Stand to recreate the universe in Dio's image.
Part 7 Steel Ball Run (スティール・ボール・ラン, Sutīru Bōru Ran)
Steel Ball Run volumes 1 to 24 (JoJo volumes 81 to 104). In an alternate timeline in 1890, Gyro Zeppeli travels to the United States to take part in a cross-country horse race known as the Steel Ball Run. His skill in a mystical martial art known as Spin, which he controls with steel balls, garners the interest of former jockey turned paraplegic Johnny Joestar, particularly after a Spin-infused ball briefly restores Johnny's ability to walk. Johnny travels with Gyro on the race to learn the art of Spin from him in hopes he can be cured, but they soon discover that the race is a ploy set up by Funny Valentine, the President of the United States, to search the country for the scattered parts of a holy corpse that imbue their holders with a Stand, so the President can use the entire corpse to his own patriotic ends, even if it means the disruption of other dimensions with his Stand's ability. Gyro and Johnny work together, along with fellow racers Mountain Tim and Hot Pants and race organizer Stephen Steel and his wife Lucy, to stop the President from his plans, as they threaten the very world, all while dealing with Valentine's hired assassins in the race, including the charismatic racer Diego Brando.
Part 8 JoJolion (ジョジョリオン, Jojorion)
JoJolion is currently being published, beginning with the 105th overall volume of JoJo. In 2012, in the same universe as Steel Ball Run, the town of Morioh has been devastated by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which has caused mysterious faults colloquially known as the "Wall Eyes" to appear in town. Local college student Yasuho Hirose is near one of the Wall Eyes when she discovers a young man buried in the rubble, and a strange bite mark on him. She nicknames him "Josuke", as he cannot remember his own name, and after following a lead that he may be "Yoshikage Kira", an attack by a Stand user leads them to find the real Yoshikage Kira's corpse. Josuke is put in the care of the Higashikata family, whose patriarch Norisuke IV seems to know more about Josuke than he initially lets on, but Josuke himself discovers that the Higashikata family and Yoshikage Kira's family are linked due to Johnny Joestar's marriage to Rina Higashikata in the late 19th century. Josuke and Yasuho ultimately discover that Josuke is in fact Yoshikage Kira, mysteriously fused with another person, and Yoshikage Kira possessed the knowledge to cure a curse that has plagued the Higashikata family for centuries. Norisuke IV wants that knowledge back to save his grandchild from the same fate he and his family has suffered, but a mysterious race of rock men and Norisuke IV's own son Jobin seem to be conspiring against them to both prevent Josuke from regaining his memories and from lifting the curse on the Higashikata family.
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