Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is not your typical manga/anime series. It doesn't follow a single narrative, instead, it's broken up into separate parts each with its own set of characters, villains, setting, story, and even its own Jojo. It's a unique way to set up a series and it's proved to stand (no pun intended) the test time as the series is over 30 years old.
The way Jojo's is formatted means that it never feels stale. Each part is constantly reinventing itself and while there's no Jojo's part that's bad, some parts are more popular than others. Here's how they stack up.
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8 Phantom Blood
Phantom Blood was the very first part of Jojo's. Telling the story of the gentlemanly Jonathan Joestar as he grows and matures into a warrior to combat the scheming and ruthless Dio Brando, his adopted brother. There was drama and betrayal, a gothic setting, and even vampires, but it still ends up being the weakest part in the series.
It's not that this arc was bad, per se, it was just that when series creator Hirohiko Araki was writing this part, he was still finding his voice and confidence as a writer so it didn't quite feel like the Jojo's people know today.
7 Stone Ocean
Framed for a crime she did not commit, Jolyne Cujoh, the main protagonist of Stone Ocean, is sent to Green Dolphin Street Prison to serve her sentence, where she develops a Stand and investigates a mystery surrounding the prison's priest, Father Enrico Pucci.
This part featured some of the strangest Stands in the series, as well as a mostly female cast of characters and the return of Jotaro Kujo, but it still suffered because of its setting. Since most of this part takes place within the prison walls, it wasn't long before things started to feel stagnant.
6 Diamond Is Unbreakable
The Jojo's Bizarre Adventure series had always been fabulous but it was with Diamond is Unbreakable that the series went from fabulously buff guys to fabulously fabulous guys. This part centers around Joskuke Higashikata, the illegitimate son of part 2's Joseph Joestar, as he investigates a series of murders in his home town.
Any story involving a murder mystery centering on a David Bowie look-a-like serial killer (and somehow manages to include a scene of the protagonist punching a plate of spaghetti and have it make sense) is sure to stick in people's minds, and Diamond is Unbreakable still remains many fans' favorite part.
5 Battle Tendency
Phantom Blood had some pretty bizarre happenings but part 2, Battle Tendency, is when the series began to come into its own. Battle Tendency focused on Jonathan Joestar's grandson, Joseph Joestar, and continues the story of the mysterious Stone Masks that turn people into vampires. Joseph is in almost every way the polar opposite of his grandfather but they both have the same spirit for justice.
This was also the final part of Jojo's before Stands made an appearance and it's this part that is the singular reason why there are still people who prefer the Ripple to Stands. In short, Battle Tendency took everything people thought they knew about Jojo's after Phantom Blood and turned it on its head.
4 Jojolion
Jojolion is the most recent and current part of Jojo's, at least as far as the manga is concerned. It takes place in Morioh in the new continuity that was established in part 7. Jojolion follows a different version of Josuke Higashikata as he tries to recover the memory of who he is, until the ghosts of his previous life come to haunt him and he gets tied up in an impending threat.
All of the characters in Jojolion are dripping with psychological depth, from the main players and villains down to the minor, one-off characters. Between that and the focus on strategic Stand battles, it's no wonder that Jojolion has been so well-received.
3 Stardust Crusaders
By and large the most well known of all the Jojo's parts, Stardust Crusaders changed the series formula in some major ways. The biggest shake-up to the series was the introduction of Stands, physical manifestations of a person's fighting spirit, and they've been the main power system in the series since.
Stardust Crusaders was a major hit. It's the part that's referenced the most in other anime, the part that so many cite as their favorite, and the part that draws in people that were on the fence about the series.
2 Golden Wind
The most recent Jojo's part to receive an animated treatment, Golden Wind follows Giorno Giovanna, Dio Brando's illegitimate son, chasing his dream to rise in the ranks within the Neapolitan mafia to rid it of its corruption, and for him to become a "Gang-Star".
Golden Wind was hugely popular in Japan when it was released, but in English speaking countries it wasn't as well-received due to poor fan translations. Thankfully, Golden Wind has since been given much better translations, as well as an anime adaptation, so people can fully appreciate how great the story is.
1 Steel Ball Run
The most major change to Jojo's Bizarre Adventure came with the seventh part of the series, Steel Ball Run. In many ways, this part can be considered a reboot of the series. It technically takes place in an alternate universe where some familiar names crop up. However, the characters with those names are anything but familiar.
Steel Ball Run follows Johnny Joestar, an alternate version of Jonathan Joestar, as he competes in a cross country race across the United States. It begins as a race for $50-million dollars but it soon becomes a race against the president of the United States to collect the mummified body parts of Jesus Christ. It's an absolutely wild adventure that is not only one of the best Jojo's stories, but one of the best stories in the medium period.
