JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

[gunswordfist]

Makes sense. 

[The Shadow Gentleman]

My name is Emporio...

[LumRanmaYasha]

Part 4 confirmed for the spring 2016 season. No surprise, as that is standard turn around for anime announced during the fall, and part 3 debuted in a spring season as well. I'm more surprised they are not using the same cast as from the video games, but I'm sure the new actors will perform just as well.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Funny how Knuckle from Hunter x Hunter is playing Okuyasu.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well, it's not too uncommon for the same VA to voice multiple similar characters throughout various popular shonen anime.

[VLordGTZ]

I guess I have something to look forward to in April.   

[gunswordfist]

Yes, April Fool's will rock.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I guess I have something to look forward to in April.   

Ushio & Tora 2, My Hero Academia, Phoenix Wright, the Adventures of Sinbad, and Part 4.

That's quite a good bit to keep up with!

[The Shadow Gentleman]

Preview 1

[VLordGTZ]

Josuke and Crazy Diamond are looking great! 

[Spark Of Spirit]

Am I the only person who likes Phantom Blood?

The thing is, I know it's not as over the top or as funny as later material, but it's totally unlike the later series at the same time. You see, Jonathan's life and death sets in motion the wheel of fate around the Joestar family and their duty to fight evil as it comes at them at the cost of their lives. I don't think Battle Tendency would have been as good if you didn't really see the struggles his family came from which adds an extra weight to his quest and the death of some of his other friends (which also benefits from Phantom Blood, I might add) giving it that edge that other series don't have. Even Stardust Crusaders benefits from understanding the Dio conflict from Part 1.

I'm not going to say it's the best part of the series or even that it's better than Battle Tendency, but I don't think that makes it bad at all. Phantom Blood's Dio rivalry in the early part is very dynamic as is the Gothic Horror and Bram Stoker vibe in the latter parts. But, yes, the comedy is not that good. Honestly, I think Part 1 succeeds better when it tries to be serious and some of the over the top parts clash with that. Part of that is Jonathan's personality and how he grew from a wimpy kid into a stoic adult, but also considering how high the stakes are when Jonathan's crew goes after Dio, the humor feels very out of place with the Bram Stoker vibe outside of over the top attacks. The humor should have been saved for the earlier parts and the training instead, I feel. But that final battle with Dio and the final face off on the ship are a suitably dramatic build up building from everything at the beginning.

That's a pretty long way to say that I think Part 1 should get more credit for what it does, but I also think I enjoyed it a lot more than hardcore JJBA fans did. Which is odd for me.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I don't think that anyone (except for Dalek) dislikes Phantom Blood. I just like the later arcs better. No one would argue that PB is not an essential part of the overall story and mythology of the JoJo's Chronology, though.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I understand everyone has their preferences, I've just seen a lot of people going on about not really missing anything by skipping Part 1 and 2 and going straight into Part 3. I mean, that's skipping a lot of stuff.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

While you could read or watch Stardust Crusaders without having viewed the first two arcs, you would undeniably lose a lot of impact from the bigger moments of that arc when you don't know about the rich history surrounding Dio and the Joestar bloodline, so I would personally advise newcomers to start from the beginning.

It's the same situation as with Dragon Ball Z. Many people, including myself started with that show and could understand it just fine. But we lost a lot of valuable payoff by not understanding the extensive history of the characters established in the original Dragon Ball. A big example is learning Goku's true origin. When I first watched DBZ, I knew that Goku was an alien right from the first few episodes, and thought nothing of it. After going back to Dragon Ball and reading the series in chronological order, though, it struck me just how much of a huge revelation it must have been for people reading or watching the series in chronological order and assuming that Goku was a human for years on end.

I feel that JoJo's is no different in that regard. You get more out of seeing the story play out in order, as it was always meant to be seen.

[The Shadow Gentleman]

Am I the only person who likes Phantom Blood?

The thing is, I know it's not as over the top or as funny as later material, but it's totally unlike the later series at the same time. You see, Jonathan's life and death sets in motion the wheel of fate around the Joestar family and their duty to fight evil as it comes at them at the cost of their lives. I don't think Battle Tendency would have been as good if you didn't really see the struggles his family came from which adds an extra weight to his quest and the death of some of his other friends (which also benefits from Phantom Blood, I might add) giving it that edge that other series don't have. Even Stardust Crusaders benefits from understanding the Dio conflict from Part 1.

I'm not going to say it's the best part of the series or even that it's better than Battle Tendency, but I don't think that makes it bad at all. Phantom Blood's Dio rivalry in the early part is very dynamic as is the Gothic Horror and Bram Stoker vibe in the latter parts. But, yes, the comedy is not that good. Honestly, I think Part 1 succeeds better when it tries to be serious and some of the over the top parts clash with that. Part of that is Jonathan's personality and how he grew from a wimpy kid into a stoic adult, but also considering how high the stakes are when Jonathan's crew goes after Dio, the humor feels very out of place with the Bram Stoker vibe outside of over the top attacks. The humor should have been saved for the earlier parts and the training instead, I feel. But that final battle with Dio and the final face off on the ship are a suitably dramatic build up building from everything at the beginning.

That's a pretty long way to say that I think Part 1 should get more credit for what it does, but I also think I enjoyed it a lot more than hardcore JJBA fans did. Which is odd for me.

Nicely put! I also enjoy Part 1 more then most people for a lot of the reasons you discussed. I think most people don't necessarily dislike Part 1, they just prefer other parts more. I'm a little biased, since I do sometimes enjoy a good old fashioned hero story, and PB is also crucial to the legacy ("Destiny of the Blood") element of JoJo, which is one of the main reasons I love the series.