I feel like I don't "get" Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.

[Extra-Ordinary]

I'm all the way up to halfway through Part 3 (of the anime) and I'm not enjoying it as much as everyone else seems too.

I really want to though, maybe I went into it for the wrong reasons or it was a serious victim of overhype but I think I might have expected the wrong things from it. I recognize that it's a cultural phenomenon, I think it's well thought-out and well made, but I just don't get it.
One person will tell you it's hilarious and someone else will tell you it's awesome and they're both right depending on exactly which spot you're watching but most people describe it as super hype and here I am not really loving it.

Real quick, for clarity, 'cause this is only text and some of you might not be able to read my tone: I know this sounds like the most condescending "People told me this was gonna be good and it isn't" holier-than-thou sermon but I'm completely for real here. I'm thinkin' it's probably overhype for me, that's happened before. When I get hyped about things, I get hyped and knowing nothing about Jojo, I guess I just expected it to meet these grand expectations and that probably wasn't a good idea.

So how exactly do I appreciate Jojo? Is there some sort of feeling like "It's the same feeling as [blank]" or does expectation kind of go against the point? It's not Jojo's Expected Adventure after all.

 

[Revnak_v1legacy]

JoJo's is kinda hard to explain the appeal of because it's kinda the anime equivalent of a good open world game. It appeals to people in every way it can manage at once, and because of that even when it's good it's a bit of a tonal train wreck that you just enjoy anyway.

It's really weird and dumb but also bizzarely well thought out. Fights follow a clear logic even when a dude's power is some bullshit like being covered in jello. Sometimes the jokes are just stupid, sometimes they're bad memes, sometimes it's genuinely clever. It's a whole bunch of contradictory stuff that should not work but does anyway. Also, it's super 80's which is a massive turn on for some anime fans who think everything made after Akira is just a step backwards.

 

[darkcalling]

I just got into the series recently after finding it online and I have to say I'm enjoying it but I don't quite see how it became such a phenomenon. I feel like a large part of the appeal is seeing what bizarre powers the next villain will have and how the heroes will find a loophole in it in order to escape and turn the fight around.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

People use the term "super hype" to describe quality now? This displeases my word buds.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Just don't take the show too seriously?

I enjoyed the show for its outlandish characters and stand abilities and it's the over the top anime I have seen before and enjoyed. Also I appriciate the style it has and those over the dramtic poses the characters can make at time. Lastly I find it original that each series star a different characters are under the same family or at least surname.

 

[Kinokohatake]

You aren't the only one. I only was able to get through a handful of episodes before giving up. It's just not a fun show.

 

[Saelune]

Its an action anime with whacky designs. People just like that. Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Naruto, Dragonball Z, especially as time went on. I dont like any of it.

 

[Blitsie]

I just got into the series recently after finding it online and I have to say I'm enjoying it but I don't quite see how it became such a phenomenon. I feel like a large part of the appeal is seeing what bizarre powers the next villain will have and how the heroes will find a loophole in it in order to escape and turn the fight around.

That is indeed a large part of the series, but I think what makes it gel so damn well with lots of people is just how the show has so many elements to it that just shouldn't work, yet it all does! And the whole show is also so utterly bombastic and loud in this crazy presentation that somehow works you just can't help but be charmed (if even only slightly).

I mean look at Battle Tendency, it has immortal, hella jacked up vampires named after popular rock bands throwing fabulous poses while in skimpy undergarments, a hella jacked up cyborg nazi, and hella jacked up main characters who basically weaponize liquid through life energy through breathing, and it all makes perfect sense somehow!

That's the beauty of the show for me anyway. That and how it looks so deceptively shonen, yet can't be further from it. And Joseph's engrish.

Ultimately, the series is really, really damn bizarre and you either love it or don't like it. Nothing wrong if you don't like it of course haha.

 

[TheMysteriousGX]

It's Fist of the North Star, except it doesn't take itself seriously. Hell, Jonathan and Dio basically cosplay Kenshiro and Shin, respectively.

Spoiler

Basically, it's a homage to pre-Dragonball fighting anime.

Alternatively, it's what you'd get if you created an anime based on nothing but comic book splash pages.

I mean, I love it, but you need to like an anime that's 45% poses and 54% pontification. There's a reason the market moved to the Dragonball/Naruto/One Piece style fighting anime.

EDIT: It can also be ridiculously ultra violent, which probably led to getting a fair amount of black fuzz spread around for its TV showings, which would also account for said fuzz on the Crunchyroll version. (I suspect CR has the rights to the censored broadcast version for now. Dunno if they're gonna pony up for the more expensive Blu-ray version, but I doubt it.)

 

[RaikuFA]

Sorry you don't like it. No one can or should have the right to force you to like it. Not everyone's gonna like the same things. Just don't worry about it and put on whatever you like.

 

[axlryder]

Most people say the manga really start to get good around part 4. Part 3 is popular in a frieza saga kind of way, as it's where the series really starts to come into its own and has some great moments, but part 4 takes that to the next level, and the writing feels a bit stronger too.

It may also help to try and appreciate it from the perspective that it did a lot of things that were really out there and creative when many of these parts were written. Some of this stuff might feel pedestrian now, but for the time a lot of these story beats weren't super common, and the way its particular brand of oddness is blended with the aesthetic makes for something that feels pretty unique even today.

 

[The Wykydtron]

I guess the appeal of Jojo is that it's just really... fun? Y'know? You've got an immortal vampire going ZA WARUDO at the top of his lungs, breathing magic, guys with jacked up Personas on steroids, a cyborg nazi who is actually one of the good guys and so much dumb bullshit that actually works somehow. Also the random colour changes from scene to scene are really good.

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

Thanks for the replies, I'd say it helped, at least a little, I just finished Stardust Crusaders and I think I got it now.

Without going too much into detail, the main problem I was having was having the wrong expectations. I had looked up a few clips and done a little reading online before I started the show and that set up an idea in my head that was inaccurate from the show.

And the "Bizarre" part of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, I thought that meant, like, incoherent, I was thinking Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo (which I freaking love, as long as I'm here) levels of weird and it almost is when you describe it with words

Spoiler

So Jotaro gets like, a hundred knives thrown at him while he's flying (with no explanation) but it's fine 'cause he stuffed hiw clothes full of newspapers, presumably for that specific scenario, and he stops his own heart with Star Platinum to convince the bad guy that he's dead, it's great, boss.

And while the events are depicted somewhat exaggeratedly, they're delivered so... I'm gonna say "sincerely", that you can't help but believe and enjoy it when it happens.

So I think I got it, at least in a way that suits me fine, that's what matters, right? I still don't know if it's the greatest thing but who cares?
And as long as I'm here, the turning point came somewhere around Jotaro vs D'Arby Elder, that was really awesome.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I remember reading the manga back in the mid/late 2000's and I really liked those. I don't think Dio ever showed up in the manga I was reading but I did like the fights and the powers and the characters and whatnot. I loved the introduction a whole lot too: Jotaro stealing a gun and attempting to shoot himself while laying in a jail cell was a pretty cool demonstration of the power whose name I can't remember.

Then I watched the first episode of The Anime and I was completely put off. I don't know what that was but it wasn't what I understand to be Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. I do know that it's not for me though.

 

[spartenX]

Then I watched the first episode of The Anime and I was completely put off. I don't know what that was but it wasn't what I understand to be Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. I do know that it's not for me though.

yeah, unfortunately the earliest parts of the manga aren't quite as good as the rest. especially the first chapters for part 1 since they start off with normal life before the stuff starts in. I will say that the series gets much better as it goes along, especially once you get to episode 10 and the adaptation of part 2.

it sounds from your post that you started the manga at part 3 (stardust crusaders), so I'd recommend at least looking for the anime's second season which adapts that part (I believe that the anime catches you up on any of the stuff you'd miss in the earlier parts that are important in this part).

 

[hermes]

One thing to take into account is that the series started in the 90s as a outrageous take on Fist of the North Star, of sorts... that is why the first arc feels a lot different than the following ones. Up to the first half, it is a pretty standard 80s shonen. I would say the series starts having a soul of its own in the second arc, and gets its identity cemented in the third.

Not that I am suggesting you skip those (specially the second one, which has some of the best moments), but it might give you the wrong impression if you jump in expecting a comedy series from the beginning.