Quite possibly the most interesting thing to me about the long running and very popular Doctor Who
is what is sometimes misconstrued as being the core concept of the
series - the idea of the protagonist ocasionally changing, whilst being
roughly the same character with the same trappings. It's a brilliant
idea for a long series, allowing you to vary up your protagonist. The
way Doctor Who uses the concept is somewhat limited though.
Rather than allowing the series to be dictated by its protagonist, it
simply throws its protagonist into whatever kind of adventure they want
to write at the time - be it the more historical fiction of William
Hartnell's era, Colin Baker's darker and edgier sci fi, or the more
grounded (literaly and figuratively) adventures of Jon Pertwee's Doctor.
This isn't to take away from Doctor Who's use of changing Doctors. Each individual Doctor is different enough to give the show a new jolt of energy whenever a change happens, and the different focus in each era has consistently kept the show fresh. What I mean by saying its use of the concept being limited is that the show doesn't completely reinvent itself with each Doctor. It's more the flow of time and changing societal attitudes (especially when it comes to what kind of fiction is popular) that dictated the show's spirit. The Doctor at each time was one that fit into these stories, rather than one that shaped what kind of stories he would be in.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure puts this dynamic on its head. Every time a new JoJo is introduced, the style of story the show is telling is dramatically changed. Jonathan's straight-forward good guy attitude is better fitted to the very personal gothic horror tale of its first arc. His succesor, the trickster rogue Joseph can not only take on less dislikeable opponents, but can move into far more ridiculous and over-the-top action sequences without feeling out of place, whilst no-nonsense tough guy Jotaro fits in what is essentially a tournament arc disguised as a journey. This results in a show that changes much more radically and much faster than Doctor Who. Whilst it makes JoJo's Bizarre Adventure feel slightly schizophrenic, it also turns it into a show that's uniquely varied for a running story.
After that excessively overlong prologue, let's move on to reviewing the first part of the series, Phantom Blood. I feels it's important to mention that I've not read the manga, and have no intention to. All of the below is based entirely on the anime. I'm about halfway through the first season of Stardust Crusaders at the time of writing.
There's a certain mythical, epic feel to Phantom Blood. It's hard to tell how much of this is due to the series' eventual monumental popularity and influence, but I believe much of it is in the story itself. It's easy to notice that, compared to both Battle Tendency and Stardust Crusaders, Phantom Blood takes a lot longer to get started. The first episode is a fairly regular (and extremely well told!) story about Dio appearing in Jonathan's life as his adoptive brother and making it a living hell, only to eventually be pushed back by Jonathan's pluck and courage. It takes a couple episodes of mundane house politics and evolving of relationships between the two until we arrive at the series' trademark weird and over-the-top action.
This feels like the beginning of a saga, Dio's appearence thrusting Jonathan out of his comfort zone and into a spiral of strange shit. We can contrast this to Joseph and Jotaro at the start of their arcs: Joseph starts his arc with a good grasp on Hamon and knowledge of vampire lore, whereas Jotaro begins having already taken control of his Stand, with the antagonist revealed basically as soon as the first episode starts.
The same can be said for the setting of Phantom Blood. It opts for a dark, gothic horror aesthetic, with small tinges of cosmic horror. Dio's powers put him somewhere between Dracula (through his charisma and the obvious vampire influence) and an incomprehensibly powerful Lovecraftian Old God (though this emanates more from the mask than Dio himself). The following arcs are all much lighter and less moody in their atmospheres, even when dealing with the much more powerful and dangerous Pillar Men in Battle Tendency. This gives Phantom Blood the feeling of a dark origin story: the battle of an ancient and legendary hero against an overwhelming darkness. The jump between the atmospheres of Phantom Blood and future arcs makes us feel like Jonathan's sacrifice banished this darkness, and, though greater threats than Dio eventually arise, nothing ever feels as apocalyptically unstoppable as Dio's takeover of Wind Knights' Lot.
This is why Jonathan is the perfect hero for Phantom Blood. As much as it was meant to tell its own self-contained story, Phantom Blood sets up the stage for the future JoJo's adventures. Jonathan may not be the most entertaining or likeable JoJo, but he is undeniably the most admirable. There's a feeling that he is far from as powerful as future JoJos. Joseph dispatches vampires with much more ease than Jonathan's desperate struggle against Dio, and future JoJos have Stands, which provide them with much more battle prowess than Jonathan and Joseph's Hamon.
Despite this, Jonathan is consistently the most honorable and steadfast of the JoJos. He only ever gets in fair fights and is straightforward in his battlestyle. The combination of his very gentlemanly "goody two shoes" attitude and how much weaker he seems to be than the other JoJos makes him a truly heroic figure. Of course, a truly heroic figure is exactly the kind of person you want at the basis of your family burdened with the duty of protecting the earth against all kinds of supernatural bullshit. The descendants of the noble knight having to grudgingly pick up his sword and fight his fight is a classic trope, and for good reason. It allows you to use characters that don't seem to fit the mold in the role, which leads to plenty of interesting growth. This is part of what makes future JoJos so interesting.
The other elements that make up Phantom Blood's quality are fairly uninteresting to talk about. Dio is a fantastic villain, one who can bounce between utterly hateable, magnificently entertaining, and completely terrifying with surprising ease. The story itself feels somewhat rushed, and is over surprisingly quickly. Despite that, it's satisfying, and though Jonathan is a bit bland, he works largely due to his fascinating relationship with Dio. The fights are very entertaining, even if the battle against Tarkus and Blueford takes up way too much of the arc. Unfortunately, they don't have nearly as many ridiculously silly moments as Battle Tendency, but there's a fair share of entertaining stupid in there anyway. Most of the supporting cast is forgettable with the exception of Speedwagon, who is more memorable for how ridiculous a role he plays (ie explaining every move in every fight) than his actual character. The arc is very unique and decently enjoyable, but not really all that special outside of being the first part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
6/10
It really is its connection to the rest of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure that makes Phantom Blood interesting. Taken on its own, it's a unique enough piece of fun, silly action anime, but as the first chapter of this insane saga it's great: the foundation it builds for the rest of JoJo's to stand on is about as solid as it gets. Unfortunately, you won't really know that watching it, thinking that you're simply getting a slightly above average bit of silly fun.
Until Battle Tendency rolls around, anyway.
This isn't to take away from Doctor Who's use of changing Doctors. Each individual Doctor is different enough to give the show a new jolt of energy whenever a change happens, and the different focus in each era has consistently kept the show fresh. What I mean by saying its use of the concept being limited is that the show doesn't completely reinvent itself with each Doctor. It's more the flow of time and changing societal attitudes (especially when it comes to what kind of fiction is popular) that dictated the show's spirit. The Doctor at each time was one that fit into these stories, rather than one that shaped what kind of stories he would be in.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure puts this dynamic on its head. Every time a new JoJo is introduced, the style of story the show is telling is dramatically changed. Jonathan's straight-forward good guy attitude is better fitted to the very personal gothic horror tale of its first arc. His succesor, the trickster rogue Joseph can not only take on less dislikeable opponents, but can move into far more ridiculous and over-the-top action sequences without feeling out of place, whilst no-nonsense tough guy Jotaro fits in what is essentially a tournament arc disguised as a journey. This results in a show that changes much more radically and much faster than Doctor Who. Whilst it makes JoJo's Bizarre Adventure feel slightly schizophrenic, it also turns it into a show that's uniquely varied for a running story.
After that excessively overlong prologue, let's move on to reviewing the first part of the series, Phantom Blood. I feels it's important to mention that I've not read the manga, and have no intention to. All of the below is based entirely on the anime. I'm about halfway through the first season of Stardust Crusaders at the time of writing.
There's a certain mythical, epic feel to Phantom Blood. It's hard to tell how much of this is due to the series' eventual monumental popularity and influence, but I believe much of it is in the story itself. It's easy to notice that, compared to both Battle Tendency and Stardust Crusaders, Phantom Blood takes a lot longer to get started. The first episode is a fairly regular (and extremely well told!) story about Dio appearing in Jonathan's life as his adoptive brother and making it a living hell, only to eventually be pushed back by Jonathan's pluck and courage. It takes a couple episodes of mundane house politics and evolving of relationships between the two until we arrive at the series' trademark weird and over-the-top action.
This feels like the beginning of a saga, Dio's appearence thrusting Jonathan out of his comfort zone and into a spiral of strange shit. We can contrast this to Joseph and Jotaro at the start of their arcs: Joseph starts his arc with a good grasp on Hamon and knowledge of vampire lore, whereas Jotaro begins having already taken control of his Stand, with the antagonist revealed basically as soon as the first episode starts.
The same can be said for the setting of Phantom Blood. It opts for a dark, gothic horror aesthetic, with small tinges of cosmic horror. Dio's powers put him somewhere between Dracula (through his charisma and the obvious vampire influence) and an incomprehensibly powerful Lovecraftian Old God (though this emanates more from the mask than Dio himself). The following arcs are all much lighter and less moody in their atmospheres, even when dealing with the much more powerful and dangerous Pillar Men in Battle Tendency. This gives Phantom Blood the feeling of a dark origin story: the battle of an ancient and legendary hero against an overwhelming darkness. The jump between the atmospheres of Phantom Blood and future arcs makes us feel like Jonathan's sacrifice banished this darkness, and, though greater threats than Dio eventually arise, nothing ever feels as apocalyptically unstoppable as Dio's takeover of Wind Knights' Lot.
This is why Jonathan is the perfect hero for Phantom Blood. As much as it was meant to tell its own self-contained story, Phantom Blood sets up the stage for the future JoJo's adventures. Jonathan may not be the most entertaining or likeable JoJo, but he is undeniably the most admirable. There's a feeling that he is far from as powerful as future JoJos. Joseph dispatches vampires with much more ease than Jonathan's desperate struggle against Dio, and future JoJos have Stands, which provide them with much more battle prowess than Jonathan and Joseph's Hamon.
Despite this, Jonathan is consistently the most honorable and steadfast of the JoJos. He only ever gets in fair fights and is straightforward in his battlestyle. The combination of his very gentlemanly "goody two shoes" attitude and how much weaker he seems to be than the other JoJos makes him a truly heroic figure. Of course, a truly heroic figure is exactly the kind of person you want at the basis of your family burdened with the duty of protecting the earth against all kinds of supernatural bullshit. The descendants of the noble knight having to grudgingly pick up his sword and fight his fight is a classic trope, and for good reason. It allows you to use characters that don't seem to fit the mold in the role, which leads to plenty of interesting growth. This is part of what makes future JoJos so interesting.
The other elements that make up Phantom Blood's quality are fairly uninteresting to talk about. Dio is a fantastic villain, one who can bounce between utterly hateable, magnificently entertaining, and completely terrifying with surprising ease. The story itself feels somewhat rushed, and is over surprisingly quickly. Despite that, it's satisfying, and though Jonathan is a bit bland, he works largely due to his fascinating relationship with Dio. The fights are very entertaining, even if the battle against Tarkus and Blueford takes up way too much of the arc. Unfortunately, they don't have nearly as many ridiculously silly moments as Battle Tendency, but there's a fair share of entertaining stupid in there anyway. Most of the supporting cast is forgettable with the exception of Speedwagon, who is more memorable for how ridiculous a role he plays (ie explaining every move in every fight) than his actual character. The arc is very unique and decently enjoyable, but not really all that special outside of being the first part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
6/10
It really is its connection to the rest of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure that makes Phantom Blood interesting. Taken on its own, it's a unique enough piece of fun, silly action anime, but as the first chapter of this insane saga it's great: the foundation it builds for the rest of JoJo's to stand on is about as solid as it gets. Unfortunately, you won't really know that watching it, thinking that you're simply getting a slightly above average bit of silly fun.
Until Battle Tendency rolls around, anyway.
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