First ever anime review, and yes, it deserves a review, and I deserve a distraction lol. One more until I'm done with third year.
I've never read the manga, so I watched the anime without any background knowledge of what the gist was about. Instantly, I was captured. JoJo just pushes all the right buttons for a shounen anime and classic anime fan like me. I grew up with the likes of Dragon Ball, Speed Racer, as well as Western animations like He-Man and Conan the Barbarian, and this anime had it all going at the same time, with the story line and the characters, the art and animation. It was the very essence that I liked about old heroic cartoons that I held dear to my inner child.
In terms of art, the bold lines and bulky men that reminds me of Rambo was something you hardly see in modern animes. Shingeki No Kyojin came close with the bold line style, but its characters were slim and never beefy. And that splash of color seems like a surreal work of art. I've heard that the anime tries to be as true to the mange itself down to the art and panel, even to the narration. I've never read the original manga itself to compare, but all the artistic components work well together. I generally hate overly buff characters (save for Street Fighter cuz that's also another Untouchable Childhood Special Place in My Heart franchise) but heck, all that fabulous posing is so ridiculous that you just buy into it at the end of the day.
Usually with all the bulked up musculature suggests that the character is all brawn and probably wins all his fights with fists alone, and of course, the trope of the dumb jock, but that's not the case, especially for Joseph Joestar, the second JoJo. Though all the explanations for the battle turn outs can get really outlandish and a lot of times defy logic, the fact that he tries to win the battles through tactics and trickery is a different route from contemporary shounen animes, I'm looking at you, Bleach. When I was watching Kill la Kill I readily abandoned reason simply for the unadulterated brainless enjoyment, at the end of the day, the battles ended up being merely shows of power than a combination of power and wits. Also, expect from JoJo a more "bollywood-style" fights where the hero really gets beaten down until he draws his last card to defeat an overpowered but cocky villain.
In terms of plot, JoJo is a saga that spans over generations. It's kind of like how Doctor Who (I've never watched Doctor Who but I know at the very least what the gist is about) gets reincarnated and with different personalities. The JoJo's have very different personalities, and nationalities too. The first JoJo was a gentle giant gentleman. Naive and proper, like the Briton he is. The second JoJo was a wisecracking action guy, kind of like an American action hero you're used to see on Western television. I liked the second JoJo better, well, cuz who likes a goody-two-shoes, I'm looking at you, Captain America. The first arc seemed like an old fashioned soap opera where nothing but misfortune befalls the virtuous hero and you're supposed to sympathize with him, and it's from this first arc where the infamous WRRRYYYYY battle cry comes from too. Despite Dio being really hard to not hate his guts, he's such a fabulous villain. The second arc has more of an Indiana Jones feel with uncovering a mystical race among ruins and travelling the world to learn new tricks and beat the baddies. The villains aren't as delicious as Dio but their quirks make them distinct and memorable.
Next, another endearing aspect of this show is the multitude of cultural aspects melded together like ancient Aztec motives and 1980's rock bands. How can you take a show that names its three villains ACDC, Wham! and Cars seriously ? Its like the mangaka just ran out of names and just happened to be listening to a 1980's playlist while drawing his characters and decides to randomly name them that way.
The soundtrack throughout the anime itself is a little, odd. Sometimes it's just random, but at certain moments, it can get really epic, especially when manly tears were shed, commemorating fallen comrades and even foes (damn, the body count was high too, I didn't expect myself to have that many anguished character death reactions, especially cuz the characters are so quirky they're just so easy to love). As for the OP and the ED, heck, I've been raping the replay button. It's just that catchy.
Lastly, I love this guy :
His name is fricking Speedwagon. There's rarely women spectators of the battles that happens in the first two arcs, but if this guy is around, he serves the purpose of the damsel in captive cheering on for the hero, while giving commentary of the fight. He started off as a street thug, but then sort of became, strangely, in my eyes, the missing feminine touch in a supposedly testosterone-loaded show.
 |
| Sheer fabulousness |
I've never read the manga, so I watched the anime without any background knowledge of what the gist was about. Instantly, I was captured. JoJo just pushes all the right buttons for a shounen anime and classic anime fan like me. I grew up with the likes of Dragon Ball, Speed Racer, as well as Western animations like He-Man and Conan the Barbarian, and this anime had it all going at the same time, with the story line and the characters, the art and animation. It was the very essence that I liked about old heroic cartoons that I held dear to my inner child.
In terms of art, the bold lines and bulky men that reminds me of Rambo was something you hardly see in modern animes. Shingeki No Kyojin came close with the bold line style, but its characters were slim and never beefy. And that splash of color seems like a surreal work of art. I've heard that the anime tries to be as true to the mange itself down to the art and panel, even to the narration. I've never read the original manga itself to compare, but all the artistic components work well together. I generally hate overly buff characters (save for Street Fighter cuz that's also another Untouchable Childhood Special Place in My Heart franchise) but heck, all that fabulous posing is so ridiculous that you just buy into it at the end of the day.
Usually with all the bulked up musculature suggests that the character is all brawn and probably wins all his fights with fists alone, and of course, the trope of the dumb jock, but that's not the case, especially for Joseph Joestar, the second JoJo. Though all the explanations for the battle turn outs can get really outlandish and a lot of times defy logic, the fact that he tries to win the battles through tactics and trickery is a different route from contemporary shounen animes, I'm looking at you, Bleach. When I was watching Kill la Kill I readily abandoned reason simply for the unadulterated brainless enjoyment, at the end of the day, the battles ended up being merely shows of power than a combination of power and wits. Also, expect from JoJo a more "bollywood-style" fights where the hero really gets beaten down until he draws his last card to defeat an overpowered but cocky villain.
In terms of plot, JoJo is a saga that spans over generations. It's kind of like how Doctor Who (I've never watched Doctor Who but I know at the very least what the gist is about) gets reincarnated and with different personalities. The JoJo's have very different personalities, and nationalities too. The first JoJo was a gentle giant gentleman. Naive and proper, like the Briton he is. The second JoJo was a wisecracking action guy, kind of like an American action hero you're used to see on Western television. I liked the second JoJo better, well, cuz who likes a goody-two-shoes, I'm looking at you, Captain America. The first arc seemed like an old fashioned soap opera where nothing but misfortune befalls the virtuous hero and you're supposed to sympathize with him, and it's from this first arc where the infamous WRRRYYYYY battle cry comes from too. Despite Dio being really hard to not hate his guts, he's such a fabulous villain. The second arc has more of an Indiana Jones feel with uncovering a mystical race among ruins and travelling the world to learn new tricks and beat the baddies. The villains aren't as delicious as Dio but their quirks make them distinct and memorable.
Next, another endearing aspect of this show is the multitude of cultural aspects melded together like ancient Aztec motives and 1980's rock bands. How can you take a show that names its three villains ACDC, Wham! and Cars seriously ? Its like the mangaka just ran out of names and just happened to be listening to a 1980's playlist while drawing his characters and decides to randomly name them that way.
 |
| ACDC, Wham! and Cars. Japonized as Esidisi, Wamuu and Kars |
The soundtrack throughout the anime itself is a little, odd. Sometimes it's just random, but at certain moments, it can get really epic, especially when manly tears were shed, commemorating fallen comrades and even foes (damn, the body count was high too, I didn't expect myself to have that many anguished character death reactions, especially cuz the characters are so quirky they're just so easy to love). As for the OP and the ED, heck, I've been raping the replay button. It's just that catchy.
Lastly, I love this guy :
 |
| this guy. must have secretly loved JoJo(s) |
His name is fricking Speedwagon. There's rarely women spectators of the battles that happens in the first two arcs, but if this guy is around, he serves the purpose of the damsel in captive cheering on for the hero, while giving commentary of the fight. He started off as a street thug, but then sort of became, strangely, in my eyes, the missing feminine touch in a supposedly testosterone-loaded show.
 |
| these two. so much. fujoshi bait. |
Currently, the third arc is airing and the third JoJo now is a half-American half-Japanese banchou. Like a samurai, he is a man of few words, compared to the second JoJo who runs his mouth all the while he's fighting. I've heard the third arc was the most popular, but so far I think I like the second JoJo better, but we shall see, because now they're bringing the delicious Dio back in action.
Anyways, in summary, if you're up for flashy male eye candy and fast-paced action fun, JoJo is the thang for you.
Okay, now back to work.
(Becoming more otaku day by day T__T and I thought I'd grown out of animes).
Comments