Darkside55
The Freeman
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2009
- Messages
- 12,083
- Reaction score
- 90
To begin with, let me start by saying I don't care if you don't like manga. I don't care if you don't like comic books. I don't care if you don't like any kind of sequential drawings with words at all. Because what I'm recommending to you is the greatest thing you will ever have the pleasure of reading in your life and if you choose not to read it because of some arbitrary reason like its format or country of origin, you should just end your life right now, because if you don't read JJBA you aren't enjoying life. You might think you are, but if you were to start reading JoJo right now, you would look at your life previously and say, "I have never lived until this moment."
To expand on that, a lot of times when I hear people recommend manga or comics to someone, they say, "You just haven't been reading the right things," and then they go on to recommend some bullshit to you. The fact of the matter is everything else completely sucks compared to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. No, I don't want to hear about how great your favorite series is, it's crap. Shut up and read JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
The story begins in England at the end of the 18th century. In 1868, a thief named Dario Brando happens upon an overturned carriage on the road. The driver is dead, a woman inside the carriage died clutching her baby to her breast, and her husband is also presumed dead by Dario Brando. When this thief tries to rob the belongings of the man, and even take his teeth to sell, he wakes up and mistakes Dario for trying to help him! Dario tells him that his wife did not survive, but their son did. The man thanks Dario for coming to his and his child's aide; "My family name is Joestar," he tells Dario. "I will reward your kindness accordingly!"
In 1880, on Dario's deathbed, he tells his only son, Dio Brando, to visit the Joestar household. "That fool thinks I saved his child, so he will not refuse you! Dio, you have the brains to become a rich man!" Dio, who hated his father and was evil to the core, visits the Joestar mansion and instantly becomes adopted by Jorge Joestar, the man Dario 'saved' years before. Jorge also has a son Dio's age: Jonathan Joestar. Jonathan is kind and looks to Dio as a friend, but Dio's only thoughts are to drive Jonathan to insanity and inherit the entire Joestar fortune himself. Thus begins a battle between two bloodlines that will span the next 200 years!
While the story is initially about Dio trying to destroy Jonathan, it is called JoJo's Bizarre Adventure because of an artifact called the Stone Mask. The Stone Mask was in Jorge Joestar's possession, a curio piece purchased by his wife, which contains a supernatural secret: those who place the mask on their heads and spill blood on it will gain eternal life. They will become a vampire, drinking blood to absorb the lifeforce of others to sustain themselves. No one in the Joestar household knows about this, but through the story's events Dio learns the secret and rejects his humanity in order to become a being greater than a human. Jonathan, who is responsible for the Stone Mask falling into Dio's hands, must travel across England and stop him using the mysterious power of "ripple."
JJBA travels down the lives of the Joestar lineage, from the late 1800s to the 2010s. Part 2 deals with Jonathan's grandson, Joseph Joestar, and goes even more indepth into the mystery of the Stone Mask.
Part 3 is the most popular part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and focuses on Joseph's own grandson, Jotaro Kujo. In this part of the manga the characters have a power called "Stands;" these are manifestations of their spirit that "stand" beside them. Each Stand has a unique ability, and in this part Jotaro, an aging Joseph, and their companions must travel around the world to confront an enemy whose acquisition of a Stand threatens Jotaro's mother, and the world itself.
Part 4 is about Joseph's illegitimate son, Josuke Higashikata. Part 5 is about a youth named Giorno Giovanna, who desires to be the greatest gangster in Italy. Part 6 is the end of the series with Jolyne Kujo, Jotaro's daughter. There is a seventh part called Steel Ball Run, which is related to the series, but not directly...
"So, Darkside, what makes this story so great?"
Great characters, great pacing, and a smart story. Yeah, smart. If you look at your typical shonen manga (boys' comics), they're all power-creep BS. Your standard shonen formula looks like this:
"I'm stronger than you!"
"No, now I have trained and I am stronger than you!"
"I've trained even harder and now I am even stronger than I was previously!"
"I've transcended your level and now I pull out a ridiculously powered ability!"
"IMPOSSIBLE!"
This is crap. This is how JJBA is:
"This is my power. It can do a well-defined set of things, and only those things."
"Your ability is weak, because I can do these kinds of things!"
"Through an understanding of my ability and my surroundings, I have placed you in checkmate."
"IMPOSSIBLE!"
This is smart writing. There's never any bullshit pulled out of thin air, no special technique that comes from nowhere, no DBZ powering up; you have what you're given, and the only way to win is to think 20 moves ahead of your opponent and outsmart him. The way this is done over the course of the series is nothing short of brilliant. Each encounter will have you turning the pages to see how the protagonists will escape their situation.
What else can I say about JJBA? Beautiful art, a story that shifts from adventure to action to tear-jerkingly moving. It's slick, it's cool, and it's by far the greatest serialized comic series I have ever read. For me to even try and describe it to you as I have I feel as if I might have done it a disservice, because I simply cannot put down in words how great this series is. You might read my synopsis and think, "Doesn't sound good," or "He's hyping it up too much, it can't be as great as he makes it out to be," or "I bet it's going to be more of the same shit with people fighting each other." Well you're WRONG. JJBA is the epitome of comic books. It is the pure essence of "awesome," liquefied and turned into ink, then splashed onto paper that was made from the fiber of "cool."
Read JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
To expand on that, a lot of times when I hear people recommend manga or comics to someone, they say, "You just haven't been reading the right things," and then they go on to recommend some bullshit to you. The fact of the matter is everything else completely sucks compared to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. No, I don't want to hear about how great your favorite series is, it's crap. Shut up and read JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
The story begins in England at the end of the 18th century. In 1868, a thief named Dario Brando happens upon an overturned carriage on the road. The driver is dead, a woman inside the carriage died clutching her baby to her breast, and her husband is also presumed dead by Dario Brando. When this thief tries to rob the belongings of the man, and even take his teeth to sell, he wakes up and mistakes Dario for trying to help him! Dario tells him that his wife did not survive, but their son did. The man thanks Dario for coming to his and his child's aide; "My family name is Joestar," he tells Dario. "I will reward your kindness accordingly!"
In 1880, on Dario's deathbed, he tells his only son, Dio Brando, to visit the Joestar household. "That fool thinks I saved his child, so he will not refuse you! Dio, you have the brains to become a rich man!" Dio, who hated his father and was evil to the core, visits the Joestar mansion and instantly becomes adopted by Jorge Joestar, the man Dario 'saved' years before. Jorge also has a son Dio's age: Jonathan Joestar. Jonathan is kind and looks to Dio as a friend, but Dio's only thoughts are to drive Jonathan to insanity and inherit the entire Joestar fortune himself. Thus begins a battle between two bloodlines that will span the next 200 years!
While the story is initially about Dio trying to destroy Jonathan, it is called JoJo's Bizarre Adventure because of an artifact called the Stone Mask. The Stone Mask was in Jorge Joestar's possession, a curio piece purchased by his wife, which contains a supernatural secret: those who place the mask on their heads and spill blood on it will gain eternal life. They will become a vampire, drinking blood to absorb the lifeforce of others to sustain themselves. No one in the Joestar household knows about this, but through the story's events Dio learns the secret and rejects his humanity in order to become a being greater than a human. Jonathan, who is responsible for the Stone Mask falling into Dio's hands, must travel across England and stop him using the mysterious power of "ripple."
JJBA travels down the lives of the Joestar lineage, from the late 1800s to the 2010s. Part 2 deals with Jonathan's grandson, Joseph Joestar, and goes even more indepth into the mystery of the Stone Mask.
Part 3 is the most popular part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and focuses on Joseph's own grandson, Jotaro Kujo. In this part of the manga the characters have a power called "Stands;" these are manifestations of their spirit that "stand" beside them. Each Stand has a unique ability, and in this part Jotaro, an aging Joseph, and their companions must travel around the world to confront an enemy whose acquisition of a Stand threatens Jotaro's mother, and the world itself.
Part 4 is about Joseph's illegitimate son, Josuke Higashikata. Part 5 is about a youth named Giorno Giovanna, who desires to be the greatest gangster in Italy. Part 6 is the end of the series with Jolyne Kujo, Jotaro's daughter. There is a seventh part called Steel Ball Run, which is related to the series, but not directly...
"So, Darkside, what makes this story so great?"
Great characters, great pacing, and a smart story. Yeah, smart. If you look at your typical shonen manga (boys' comics), they're all power-creep BS. Your standard shonen formula looks like this:
"I'm stronger than you!"
"No, now I have trained and I am stronger than you!"
"I've trained even harder and now I am even stronger than I was previously!"
"I've transcended your level and now I pull out a ridiculously powered ability!"
"IMPOSSIBLE!"
This is crap. This is how JJBA is:
"This is my power. It can do a well-defined set of things, and only those things."
"Your ability is weak, because I can do these kinds of things!"
"Through an understanding of my ability and my surroundings, I have placed you in checkmate."
"IMPOSSIBLE!"
This is smart writing. There's never any bullshit pulled out of thin air, no special technique that comes from nowhere, no DBZ powering up; you have what you're given, and the only way to win is to think 20 moves ahead of your opponent and outsmart him. The way this is done over the course of the series is nothing short of brilliant. Each encounter will have you turning the pages to see how the protagonists will escape their situation.
What else can I say about JJBA? Beautiful art, a story that shifts from adventure to action to tear-jerkingly moving. It's slick, it's cool, and it's by far the greatest serialized comic series I have ever read. For me to even try and describe it to you as I have I feel as if I might have done it a disservice, because I simply cannot put down in words how great this series is. You might read my synopsis and think, "Doesn't sound good," or "He's hyping it up too much, it can't be as great as he makes it out to be," or "I bet it's going to be more of the same shit with people fighting each other." Well you're WRONG. JJBA is the epitome of comic books. It is the pure essence of "awesome," liquefied and turned into ink, then splashed onto paper that was made from the fiber of "cool."
Read JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
