Anime and Manga is not really my thing. It has its moments and there are some very amazing stand outs. For me JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has always been one of those said titles. Enter the recent television show, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders. This is going to be good. The year is 1987, off of the African Coast a boat of treasure hunters finally locate something worthwhile and pull a massive treasure chest from out of the ocean. But unfortunately for the crew they got more than they bargained for. When the boat is located, its abandon and the chest is empty.
In Japan, 17-year-old Jotaro Kujo or JoJo is a punk ass kid (though he is the most massive, jacked up, shredded kid that I have ever seen) that doesn’t take kindly in being told what to do, is sitting inside a jail cell. In the distance he can hear his mother, Holly, crying for him as the police officers inform her why her son is being kept here. JoJo tells them that he has an evil ghost like presence that inhabits his body and is making him do such wreck less things.
Holly tries to reason with her son and JoJo explains that he needs to stay in the jail cell due to the “evil spirit” lurking inside him. The cops think that he’s crazy until JoJo proves it by using the spirit to take a gun from one of the cops. He puts the gun to his head and pulls the trigger. Before the bullet can hit JoJo the spirit catches; protecting its host. The cops can’t see the entity by Holly and JoJo can.
At the airport Joseph Joestar, Holly’s father, has arrived. Holly fills in her father on the whole JoJo fiasco while taking her to her son. Joseph reassures her that he’s got an idea about what’s going on it. Because Joseph and his homeboy, Mohammed Avdol have been on a global search for answers. He explains that there is a rise of such occurrences stemming these spiritual powers that they have dubbed “Stands”, basically spirits that physically manifest themselves and can be controlled by its user at will.
So instead of telling JoJo what is going on with his new-found power, Joseph lets Mohammed Avdol (who also possess a Stand) demonstrate. Now a believer, the Grandpa Joestar enlightens the family about DIO (no, not the rock band) a possible decent of the Joestar family that has returned pissed off.
It had been years when I fist saw the OVA of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure which was the third volume of Stardust Crusaders. Ever since then I haven’t been following the series and I know that I’ve missed so much but the first time awesomeness has always stuck with me. The only sad part is that now I know how this particular adventure ends, which sucks but damn it, it’s all about the journey with this one.
The art style might not be for everyone, overly massive dudes eclipsing regular people who wear flashy over the top costumes *cough* superheroes *cough* but the action is pretty cool and the pseudo glam rock on the characters kind of work.
There are weird moments in the show, like when Holly meets her father at the airport, she is so happy to see him that she begins to tickle him profusely. He tries to get her to stop and he lets out this comical scream and everything shifts to a dramatic Manga panel with Japanese characters everywhere. It was odd but very humorous for a mostly dramatic show.
Thanks to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders I’ve opened that fun and mystic door back in to the anime world. Who knows maybe I’ll get deeper and deeper into the world or maybe I’ll just go and get myself glomped.
Score: 4/5
Directed by: Naokatsu Tsuda, Kenichi Suzuki Written by: Yasuko Kobayashi Studio: David Production Release Date: 4/4/14 - Ongoing