page_title: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure / Production
context_page_description: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. It was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1987 to 2004, and was transferred to the monthly seinen manga magazine Ultra Jump in 2005. The series is divided into eight story arcs, each following the adventures of a new protagonist bearing the "JoJo" nickname; the eighth, JoJolion, began its ongoing serialization in May 2011. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is Shueisha's second largest manga by volume count, with its chapters collected in 127 tankōbon volumes as of April 2020.
  A 13-episode original video animation series adapting the manga's third part, Stardust Crusaders, was produced by A.P.P.P. and released from 1993 to 2002. The studio later produced an anime film adapting the first part, Phantom Blood, which was released in theaters in Japan in 2007. In October 2012, an anime television series produced by David Production adapting Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency began broadcast on Tokyo MX. As of July 2019, the studio has produced four seasons adapting through the manga's fifth part, Golden Wind.
context_section_description: For JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Araki wanted to use a classical method as a base before introducing modern elements. As an example, he often draws in a realistic style but uses surreal colors. Araki has been aiming to draw real spirits in JoJo resulting in him going to the Kappa River in Tōno, Iwate, to get a better understanding of the concept. Araki claims to be inspired from the art of the 1980s, shading techniques in Western art, and classical paintings; the manga coloring is based on calculations rather than consistency, with Araki citing artists like Paul Gauguin as inspiration. He also claims mystery is the central theme of the manga, as he was fascinated by it as a child. Furthermore, Araki wanted to explore superpowers and energy in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure resulting in various concepts such as the Hamon and the Stands. He said that the supernatural basis of the fights in his series evened the battlefield for women and children to match up against strong men. For Stardust Crusaders in particular, Araki was influenced by role-playing games in designing the characters' skills.
  The characters had no models, except Jotaro Kujo, who was based on Clint Eastwood. Araki stated that he wanted to try a different type of main character for every part; for example, Part 1's Jonathan Joestar was a serious and honest person, whereas Part 2's Joseph Joestar was a trickster that liked to mess with people. Although their personalities are different, the two share a physical resemblance in order to have some continuity because it was unheard of in the 1980s for a main character to die in a Weekly Shōnen Jump series. Araki's consistent focus on the Joestar family was intended to give a feeling of pride as well as the wonder and mystery surrounding the lineage.
  Araki originally planned the series as a trilogy, with the final confrontation taking place in present-day Japan. However, did not want Part 3 to be a tournament affair, which was popular in Weekly Shōnen Jump at the time, and therefore decided to make it a "road movie" inspired by Around the World in Eighty Days. With Part 4, Araki said that he moved away from "muscle men" as they fell out of popularity with readers and he wanted to focus more on fashion. When designing his characters' outfits, Araki considers both everyday fashion and "cartoonish, bizarre clothing that would be impractical in real life". For Part 6, Araki wrote a female protagonist for the first time which he found complicated, but also interesting due to the humanity she could possess. He later described Part 2's much earlier supporting character Lisa Lisa as fresh and "unheard of" in both manga and society in general for its time, and said it was exciting to challenge people's expectations with the female warrior-type. Having not specifically set out on creating a disabled character, Araki explained that Part 7's paraplegic Johnny Joestar was a natural result of wanting to show a character who could grow, both physically and mentally, during a race where "he would be forced not only to rely on other people, but horses as well."
  Araki uses unique onomatopoeia and poses in the series, which he attributes to his love for heavy metal and horror films. The poses, which are known in Japan as JoJo-dachi (ジョジョ立ち, lit. "JoJo standing"), are iconic on his book covers and panels, and were inspired by Araki's trip to Italy in his 20s and his studies of Michelangelo's sculptures. The poses are so popular that fans often reenact them in homage to JoJo. A reporter for Rocket News attempted to shop at the special 25th anniversary JoJo-themed Lawson in Sendai in a JoJo-dachi in 2012, and in 2014, singer Shoko Nakagawa remarked that she accidentally broke her coccyx after performing a JoJo-dachi during a concert in Nagoya.
caption: Araki is inspired by western art, such as this piece by Paul Gauguin which inspired him to use unusual colors in his own art.[2][3]
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