The Best JoJo, According To Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Anime Fans

It’s hard to think of a more formative series than Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. The manga has existed for over three decades now, and it’s anthology-style “Parts” have kept the series fresh with a who’s who of protagonists all bound by contrivances that shorten their name to JoJo.

As fans eagerly anticipate announcement of Part 6’s anime adaptation, who’s everyone’s favorite Anime JoJo? We asked the Anime Daisuki Malaysia Facebook group, who responded in kind with their own takes on the best JoJo to have made it into Anime form.

1.Jotaro Kujo (Part 3: Stardust Crusaders)

It’s not surprise that the number one spot would be taken by Jotaro Kujo. Due to Jojo’s popularity in the meme community, Jotaro’s iconic “Ora ora!” battle cry has become the stuff of legend.

Stardust Crusaders also marked the transition of Jojo into what it’s best known for, with cool Stands that give their users weirdly specific powers like creating zippers or sucking you into a hole if you lose at rock-paper-scissors.

That being said, Part 3 made sure to give Jotaro’s stand the power of “Stronger and faster than you”, with Jotaro’s prowess in a direct fight so deadly that half the series is the villain of the week simply plotting around facing Jotaro directly. It’s almost laughable how desperate they are to put him into situations where it’s not an option, and then having the satisfaction of watching it all go south as he summons Star Platinum to break them.

Of course, that all doesn’t even get into Jotaro’s personality as a character. Jotaro is the archetypal delinquent. His introduction in Part 3 is him in prison, and episode 2 has him give a laughably dramatic monologue about how even before he got Star Platinum he would get into fights and skimp on paying the bills at restaurants if he didn’t like the food.

His rude behavior has famously earned the affection of a lot of real-life women, such as Sorairo Days singer Shoko Nokogawa who proudly proclaimed as much in front of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure author Hirohiko Araki.

Still, at the crux of it all he’s a nice guy. There’s a common fan theory that the rude behavior is all a front, as he’s shown being a decent person when he’s not punching the tar out of baddies. He even somehow manages to get married in the later parts, though that’s a discussion for another time.

2. Jonathan Joestar (Part 1: Phantom Blood)

The original JoJo and Dandy Kenshiro takes the second spot in our poll, and who could blame him. Although Phantom Blood is one of the more contentious entries in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure due to its weird pacing, Jonathan’s story is a lot more personal than the others in the Bizarre Adventure.

Jonathan is the sole child of the Joestar Family, who lives a fairly pleasant life with his dog Danny and his father. This all changes when the father brings home Dio Brando, the child he adopts to pay back his debt to the man he thinks saved his life.

Jonathan’s life is turned upside-down by Dio who kills his dog, tries to steal his girlfriend and then, to top it all off, kills his dad and becomes a freaking vampire.

To fight Dio, Jonathan learns Hamon, or Ripple, a power based on controlling your breathing that allows him to charge his fists with the power of the Sun. His adventure to stop Dio is the catalyst of the first three parts of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, and is definitely a great Battle Manga for its time.

Unlike Jotaro who needs the power of fan theory to be a nice guy, Jonathan is legitimately a nice guy. The early parts of Phantom Blood hurt so much because he is fully prepared to give Dio the benefit of the doubt, up until Dio murders his dog. He’s also nice enough to befriend a man who tried to kill him with a bowler hat, which compared to Dio still doesn’t crack top three worst things to happen to Jonathan.

3. Joseph Joestar (Part 2: Battle Tendency)

It’s not at all surprising that Joseph made the top three JoJos list, it’s more surprising that he’s this low. To a lot of people, Part 2: Battle Tendency is the series at its peak. It’s Indiana Jones meets Fist of the North Star, with a wise-cracking protagonist and a Cyborg Nazi.

Compared to the chivalrous and noble Jonathan, his grandson Joseph is a smooth talking prankster. In his introduction he’s shown to be a prodigy at Hamon, even using it far beyond just magic punch fists. For most of Part 2 he’s fighting off The Pillar Men – you may know them by their iconic theme song- powerful vampires who made the Stone Mask that first turned Dio into one.

Everything about Joseph is lovable, from his constant taunting of enemies to his ability to predict what they’re about to say. To top it all off he gets a great straight man in Caesar Zeppeli, whose more serious nature compliments him well.

To top it all off he’s voiced by Tomokazu Sugita, who plays the charming devil full of charisma. The resulting package is a protagonist you can’t help to love, and love even more when he gets punched in the face for spending too much time running his mouth.

There’s also the fact that like Jotaro, he’s a recurring character, returning in Part 3 as basically Indiana Jones and has more of his adult life exposed in Part 4. But again, those are stories for another time.

These were the top three anime Jojos, as ranked by fans. It’s not surprising that all three characters are from the Stone Mask arc, considering how highly its regarded by fans. Both Giorno (Part 5) and Josuke (Part 4)’s stories are a lot more self-contained, and as such you don’t really see the characters grow like you do Joseph and Jotaro.

Still, here’s hoping that we get some news on the anime adaptation of Part 6 soon, considering it has the most unique JoJo, Jolyne Cujoh, as well as the bookend to Jotaro’s character arc.

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