Jojo's Bizarre Adventure in season 1 follows two characters from the Joestar family, Jonathan and Joseph, who are grandfather and grandson respectively. Both are also called Jojo.
For the first part of season 1, we follow Jonathan who is growing up in a wealthy family in 1800s Europe. When Jonathan was a baby, his father and mother were in a tragic stagecoach accident which took the life of his mother and left his father severely injured. Jonathan's father and himself may have died that day had it not been for a man who sought to plunder the wreckage of its valuables. Mistaking the nature of the thief, Jonathan saw him as a man who saved his life, and therefore, would grant him any request he asked.
Turns out that request ended up being for the Joestar family to take in the thief's son, Dio. Dio is just as evil as his father, but a lot more cunning as he tries to turn everyone in Jonathan's life against him so Dio can gain as much power and wealth as possible, and Jonathan is in his way. Jonathan being a fine, upstanding citizen, cannot stand for such evil, which gives us our conflict. Things escalate as Dio gains power from an ancient mask, giving him superhuman abilities and the ability to turn people into vampires... I told you it was a bizarre adventure.
For the majority of part 1's 9 episode, it's Jonathan versus Dio, but we also meet a cast of interesting character who are mostly named after famous rock musicians or bands. We have Dio himself (Ronnie James Dio), Speedwagon (REO Speedwagon), Master Tom Petty (duh), some Led Zeppelin references, and so on and so forth. Now, naming your characters after famous rock icons would normally be distracting if it weren't for the ridiculous nature and characters. Remember, this is called Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, not Jojo's Mundane Adventure.
Most of the main cast is made up of really buff dudes and terrible English accents who aren't afraid the flex and pose and use their special powers known as 'hamon'. From there, the narrative isn't complex but it does wear its emotions on its sleeves. Similar to the show's characters who are simple, but endearing. All the while, the show is completely aware of how weird it gets, right down to most of the battle dialog consisting of either the combatants talking about all the strategy they used to win, or bystanders narrating the play-by-play for us, so we can hear how ridiculous everything gets along with seeing it. This style of dialog might get irritating after a while, but since the events are so outlandish, hearing it spoken is a good way to reinforce what the heck you just saw.
The show doesn't start off completely bizarre; it gradually builds up to it, and hits a good stride in part 2, which makes up the rest of season 1's 26 episodes.
In part 2, we follow Jonathan's grandson, Joseph, who is quicker to anger but still has that pure heart that makes you want to root for him. He's rougher around the edges but that just means he has to undergo training, which gives us a window into the mechanics of hamon. Since the stakes have to be raised, the story introduces a new set of villains called 'pillar men' (they were discovered encased in stone pillars, so, yeah), and now they're running around with the same power that Dio showed off but much worse since they were the ancient evil that produced the masks, yes plural, thousands of years ago.
As a whole, the show is lovably campy and... bizarre in a charming way. The presentation ranges from decent and can branch out into wonderful when it plays with colors during some of more intense scenes.
It's an easy watch for anyone looking to be entertained; never once did I get bored. In fact, most viewing sessions lasted 3-4 episodes because I had to see what would happen next.
I haven't seen the rest of the series, but many regard season 1 to be the "worst" of the bunch, but I found it thoroughly enjoyable. So if this is the worst it gets, I'm definitely ready for more.
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Season 1 is currently streaming on Netflix and Crunchyroll in the US.
No comments:
Post a Comment