Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Arc 1 by Hirohiko Araki

Synopsis: Dio Brando has just been adopted by the wealthy Joestar family and he plans to get Jonathan Joestar’s (Jojo) inheritance after his father dies. But during a fight Dio ends up wearing a stone mask that turns him into a vampire and with his new powers he tries to destroy Jojo. So Jojo and his friends set out in an adventure to hunt down Dio before he hunts them.

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One of the longest manga series ever (80 volumes in total) is divided in arcs, during this first arc that takes place in the late XIX century we are presented with the characters that started it all. Their hatred to each other is explicit and well based. The protagonist; Jojo, starts as a young boy that we see grow and mature both in spirit and body and represents all that is just. While the antagonist, Dio, grows even more evil as time progresses.

A lot of people are familiar with the art style of Hirohiko Araki, but to those that aren’t you can expect men that would put any professional body builder in shame, there are also a lot of gory scenes too, like people getting their noses torn off, or craniums crushed, you know, the usual. But another cool and interesting characteristic of how the character designs are definitely the clothes. It sounds like a dumb thing but each outfit is brilliant and filled with tiny details after tiny details. And the fact that it is constant through out the entire arc is just amazing

Although some of the secondary roles can’t compete in background or development as Jojo or Dio, they sure make things more enjoyable. Arc 1 of the series was great, having a lot of energy and very well planned action scenes, plus the two main characters that keep you motivated and interested in the story.

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Arc 1 is a great manga by itself and seeing it is already connected to another 5 more arcs it does a splendid job to set the mood and overall background of the entire series. Even if you don’t plan to get all of the 80 volumes of the entire series, you can at least get the 5 that form this Arc up and enjoy a good plot, with great characters and awesome action.