JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is an American TV series and a live-action adaptation of the Japanese manga of the same name.

Phantom Blood
In 19th-century England, a youth born into poverty named Dio Brando is adopted by the wealthy George Joestar to repay a family debt to Dio's father Dario, who died in 1880. George's son Jonathan, who aspires to become a gentleman, is shunned by his family and friends, whom Dio manipulates as part of his plot to take the Joestar fortune for himself. After Jonathan overpowers Dio in a fistfight, Dio gets revenge by murdering Jonathan's pet dog Danny, before biding his time to adulthood. Jonathan and Dio develop an interest in a mysterious stone mask that reacted to Dio's blood being spilt in the battle. Jonathan learns that the mask was used by the Aztecs to bring the wearer immortality.

In 1888, after becoming old enough to inherit the Joestar fortune, Dio deliberately poisons Jonathan's father, George. Jonathan's search for an antidote takes him to Ogre Street, a dangerous street in London, where he befriends a thug named Robert E. O. Speedwagon. At the same time, Dio intends to arrange a freak accident to kill Jonathan with the stone mask and tests the mask on a drunkard. The mask instead turns the drunkard into a powerful vampire who nearly kills Dio before being destroyed by sunlight. Jonathan and Speedwagon return to the mansion with an antidote and expose Dio's scheme. Dio attempts to kill Jonathan with a knife but George sacrifices his life to save Jonathan. Dio uses the blood spilt by George and the mask to become a vampire. Jonathan sets the Joestar family's mansion on fire and impales Dio on a statue in the burning mansion, but Dio survives.

While Jonathan walks with Erina Pendleton, his girlfriend, they meet Will A. Zeppeli, a man who intends to destroy the stone mask after it caused his father's death. Zeppeli teaches Jonathan how to use a supernatural energy produced by controlled breathing called Hamon. Then, on November 30, 1888, Jonathan, Speedwagon, and Zeppeli travel to Wind Knights Lot, where Dio is creating an army of zombies. Zeppeli is mortally wounded by one of these zombies, Tarkus, and passes the last of his Hamon energy on to Jonathan before dying. Joined by Zeppeli's fellow Hamon users, on December 1, 1888, Jonathan destroys Dio's body by sending Hamon directly through him. Dio decapitates his head to survive the Hamon attack. Speedwagon destroys the stone mask. On February 2, 1889, Jonathan marries Erina. The next day, they leave on a ship to America on their honeymoon. Dio sneaks aboard the ship, intending to transplant his head onto Jonathan's body.

On February 7, 1889, Dio mortally wounds Jonathan. Jonathan uses the last of his Hamon to manipulate the body of Dio's servant Wang Chan into obstructing the ship's paddle wheel, setting it to explode. Jonathan dies with Dio's head in his arms while Erina escapes in the coffin that Dio hid in with a dead passenger's baby girl. Rescued near the Canary Islands two days later, Erina vows to pass on the truth of Jonathan's life to her unborn child and the generations to follow.

Battle Tendency
In the series' backstory, 102,000 years ago in a place that would be modern-day Mexico, it started with a mysterious but powerful race with incredibly long lifespans and the ability to absorb life forces from plants and animals, although they had the disadvantage of being easily disintegrated if exposed to sunlight and thus lived underground instead. Kars, an underground-dwelling humanoid being known as a Pillar Man, created a stone mask which grants immortality by absorbing life energy to conquer the sun (which kills his kind). He slaughtered all but four of the tribe. As the Pillar Men's bodies were already immortal, they required more power for them to become ultimate beings. In 39 AD, three of the Pillar Men, Kars, Wamuu, and Esidisi, came to the Roman Empire to find a perfectly cut Red Stone of Aja known as the Super Aja. Kars, Wamuu, and Esidisi developed fighting styles to counter Hamon, an energy with the same properties as the energy from sunlight, and nearly wiped out the Hamon tribe, but the stone narrowly escaped them. Following this, the Pillar Men went into a 2,000-year sleep.

In 1889, Erina Joestar's husband Jonathan was killed by Dio Brando on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Erina survived and saved the life of a baby girl, whose parents were killed by the stone mask. The girl, Elizabeth, was raised by the Hamon master Straizo, who taught her to use Hamon and gave her the Super Aja. Elizabeth married Erina's son George and they had a son called Joseph. When Joseph was a baby, George was killed by a zombie that blended in as a commander of the Royal Flying Corps and his death was covered up. Upon killing the zombie in an act of revenge, a warrant for Elizabeth's arrest was sent out. She went into hiding and adopted the alias Lisa Lisa. Joseph was raised by Erina. He inherited Hamon abilities from Jonathan.

At the start of the series, in the fall of 1938, as the World War II looms, Joseph and Erina move from London to New York. Meanwhile, former thug turned oil baron Robert E. O. Speedwagon invites Straizo to Mexico to destroy a sleeping Pillar Man with Hamon. Straizo instead wounds Speedwagon, and uses a stone mask near the Pillar Man and Speedwagon's blood to become an immortal vampire. Straizo goes to New York to destroy Joseph and Erina, believed to be the last people who know about the stone mask. When Joseph defeats Straizo, Straizo tells him that the Pillar Man is about to awaken and he will meet the Pillar Man soon. Straizo then commits suicide by channeling Hamon through himself, destroying his vampire body. Intrigued, Joseph goes to Mexico and is informed that Speedwagon was taken to detention by the Nazis, who also hold the ambition to study the Pillar Men to serve Adolf Hitler's world conquest. Joseph saves Speedwagon, who survived, from the awakened Pillar Man named Santana, and with the help of Rudol von Stroheim, the Nazi Major wounded by Santana, tricks Santana into being turned to stone by the sunlight reflected from a well.

Joseph and Speedwagon travel to Rome, where they meet Caesar Zeppeli, a man who trained in Hamon to continue the legacy of his father Mario and grandfather Will. However, the group arrives too late to prevent Kars, Wamuu, and Esidisi from awakening. Joseph plays on Wamuu's pride and convinces Wamuu to let him live to be a more worthy opponent. Both Wamuu and Esidisi implant poison-filled rings in his aorta and windpipe, giving Joseph 33 days to get the antidotes from each of them.

Joseph and Caesar train in Hamon under Lisa Lisa on Air Suplena Island off the coast of Venice. Esidisi raids the island and is challenged by Joseph. Joseph destroys Esidisi's body and takes his antidote, but Esidisi's brain is able to possess Lisa Lisa's handmaid, Suzi Q, to steal the Super Aja and ship it off to Kars and Wammu. Joseph and Caeser work together to purge Esidisi's influence on Suzi Q and destroy him for good. The group tracks down Kars and Wamuu to Switzerland. Caesar is killed fighting Wamuu one-on-one, and takes the antidote for Joseph before dying. Joseph and Lisa Lisa then confront Kars and Wamuu for the Super Aja, Lisa Lisa bluffing that she has a timed explosive that will destroy the stone. Joseph kills Wamuu in battle. On February 28, 1939, Kars acquires the Super Aja and uses it along with the stone mask to become the ultimate being, despite efforts by Joseph and his newfound allies von Stroheim to prevent it. Now immune to the sun and able to use Hamon, Kars's only desire is to kill Joseph. Joseph steals a Nazi plane and tries to crash it and Kars into the volcanic island of Vulcano. Joseph and Kars escape, but the shock of the plane crash causes a volcanic eruption. Kars attempts to kill Joseph with Hamon, but Joseph instinctively holds up the Super Aja, which causes the energy to prompt an eruption climax, sending Joseph and Kars flying into the sky on a large rock. Kars is knocked into space by volcanic debris. He tries to return to Earth, but his body freezes over and turns to stone. Unable to perish even though he desperately wants to, he drifts through space for eternity, eventually ceasing to think. Returning to Earth, Joseph is nursed to health by Lisa Lisa's assistant Suzi Q, whom he marries. In the epilogue, set in 1987, an aged Joseph takes a flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Los Angeles, where his daughter and grandson live.

Stardust Crusaders
In Japan, 1987, Jimmy Olsen Joestar, grandson of Joseph Joestar, has been arrested for stealing a Game Boy, and refuses to leave his cell, believing he is possessed by an evil spirit. After being called by Holy, Joseph's daughter and Jimmy's mother, Joseph arrives with an associate, Mohammed Avdol. They explain that Jimmy's "evil spirit" is actually a manifestation of his fighting spirit, called a Stand, and reveal that they possess Stands as well. Joseph explains that the sudden appearance of their Stands is caused by the nemesis of his grandfather, Jonathan Joestar: Dio Brando, now referred to simply as Dio. Dio has survived his final battle with Jonathan by decapitating his nemesis's corpse and attaching his own head to it. Now preparing for global conquest, Dio has awoken his own Stand (which awakens the Stands of the rest of the Joestar bloodline due to his use of Jonathan's body) and recruited Stand-using assassins to kill Jonathan's remaining descendants. Soon after, Jimmy uses his Stand, which is later named Star Platinum, to defeat the first of these assassins, a transfer student named Noriaki Kakyoin, before freeing Kakyoin from Dio's control by removing a parasitic flesh bud from him. Holy soon becomes gravely ill due to a Stand manifesting in her, which is slowly killing her due to her reserved personality. With little hesitation, Jimmy, Joseph, Avdol, and Kakyoin begin a journey to Egypt to kill Dio and save Holy's life. On the way, they defeat another brainwashed assassin named Jean Pierre Polnareff who later joins the quest to kill Dio and avenge the death of his sister, whose murderer is among Dio's forces.

Forced to travel on foot after Dio's assassins manage to foil their travel by plane and ship, the group encounter Hol Horse and the murderer of Polnareff's sister, J. Geil, in Calcutta, with Avdol seemingly killed during the confrontation. Polnareff kills J. Geil with Kakyoin's help, and the remaining group travels further into Pakistan. After defeating Geil's mother, a Dio loyalist named Enya, the group reach the Red Sea, where Polnareff learns Avdol faked his death to acquire a submarine that allows them to reach Egypt.

Upon arriving in Abu Simbel, the heroes are joined by Iggy, a Boston Terrier with a Stand of his own, while facing the first of nine Stands named after Egyptian deities (rather than the tarot theme of before). Kakyoin is wounded in the fight, and is taken to a hospital to recuperate. After the group defeats several more Stand users while reaching Cairo, Iggy discovers and leads them to Dio's mansion, with Kakyoin rejoining them. At the mansion's entrance, the party is split up--Jimmy, Joseph, and Kakyoin fight the last of the nine Egyptian god Stands, while Polnareff, Avdol, and Iggy make their way through the mansion. However, one of Dio's servants, Vanilla Ice, kills Avdol and Iggy, both of whom separately sacrifice themselves to save Polnareff. An enraged Polnareff battles Vanilla Ice and discovers that Vanilla Ice has been transformed into a vampire like Dio, a fact that Vanilla Ice himself was unaware of. Polnareff floods the room with light, disintegrating Vanilla Ice and avenging his friends.

Jimmy, Joseph, Kakyoin, and Polnareff ultimately encounter Dio, and escape his mansion. A chase across Cairo follows, leading to Kakyoin confronting Dio and his Stand, The World, whose power Dio has taken great lengths to keep secret (having previously assassinated Enya to keep her from telling the heroes). Though fatally wounded by The World, Kakyoin manages to deduce the Stand's ability to stop time for five seconds and covertly relays it to Joseph in his final moments. Joseph is able to pass it on to Jimmy, but is swiftly killed by Dio, who uses his blood to increase the duration of his ability to nine seconds. With most of his allies dead and Polnareff unconscious, Jimmy is left to fight Dio alone. During the fight, both sides discover that their respective Stands are similar in both range, power, and ability, meaning that Jimmy is able to use The World's time-stopping powers as well. Jimmy first uses this ability to briefly move around while Dio has stopped time, but he learns how to stop time directly when Dio tries to crush him with a road roller. Dio attempts to kill Jimmy with one final kick, but a counterattack from Jimmy splits The World in two, killing it and Dio. Jimmy transfuses Dio's blood back into Joseph and uses Star Platinum to restart his stopped heart (an ability he'd previously used on himself while playing dead during the fight with Dio), reviving him. The two Joestars then expose Dio's corpse to the sun, destroying the vampire for good. Jimmy and Joseph bid Polnareff farewell before returning to L.A., as Holy has made a full recovery.

Phantom Blood

 * Adams
 * Bornnam
 * Bruford
 * Caineghis
 * Danny
 * Dario Brando
 * Dio Brando
 * Dire
 * Doobie
 * Eijkman
 * Elizabeth I
 * Elizabeth "Lisa Lisa" Joestar
 * Erina Pendleton
 * Father Styx
 * George Joestar I
 * Iron Maiden
 * Jack the Ripper
 * Jonathan Joestar
 * Jones
 * Judas Priest
 * Led Zeppeli
 * Mary Joestar
 * Mary Stuart
 * Page
 * Plant
 * Poco
 * Precious
 * "Ribbit!" Frog
 * Robert E. O. Speedwagon
 * Straizo
 * Tarkus
 * Tattoo
 * Tonpetty
 * Wang Chan
 * Will Anthonio Zeppeli
 * Tianguis Cultural "El Chopo" del Chopo
 * Winzaleo

Battle Tendency

 * Caeser Anthonio Zeppeli
 * Donovan
 * Elizabeth "Lisa Lisa" Joestar
 * Esidisi
 * Erina Pendleton
 * George A. Romero
 * George Joestar II
 * Joseph Joestar
 * Kars
 * Loggins
 * Mario Zeppeli
 * Mark
 * Messina
 * Robert E. O. Speedwagon
 * Rudol von Stroheim
 * Santana
 * Smokey Brown
 * Straizo
 * Suzi Q
 * Wamuu
 * Wired Beck

Stardust Crusaders

 * Alessi
 * Sethan
 * Anubis
 * Arabia Fats
 * Sun
 * Boingo
 * Tohth
 * Cameo
 * Judgement
 * Chaka
 * Anubis
 * Daniel J. D'Arby
 * Osiris
 * Devo the Curse
 * Ebony Devil
 * DIO
 * The World
 * Enya "the Hag" Geil
 * Justice
 * Forever
 * Strength
 * Gray Fly
 * Tower of Gray
 * Hol Horse
 * Emperor
 * Holy Joestar
 * Rebel Girl
 * Iggy
 * The Fool
 * Imposter Captain Tennille
 * Dark Blue Moon
 * J. Geil
 * Hanged Man
 * Jean Pierre Polnareff
 * Silver Chariot
 * Jonathan Joestar
 * Hybrid Theory
 * Jimmy Olsen Joestar
 * Star Platinum
 * Joseph Joestar
 * Hermit Purple
 * Kenny G.
 * Tenore Sax
 * Khan
 * Anubis
 * Malèna
 * Mannish Boy
 * Death Thirteen
 * Mariah
 * Bastet
 * Merlai Ann
 * Midler
 * High Priestess
 * Muhammed Advol
 * Magician's Red
 * N'Doul
 * Geb
 * Nena
 * Empress
 * Noriaki Kakyoin
 * Hierophant Green
 * Nukesaku
 * Oingo
 * Khnum
 * Pet Shop
 * Horus
 * Roses
 * Rubber Soul
 * Yellow Temperance
 * Sam Jackson
 * Sherry Polnareff
 * Steely Dan
 * Lovers
 * Suzi Q Joestar
 * Telence T. D'Arby
 * Atum
 * Vanilla Ice
 * Cream
 * Wilson Phillips
 * ZZ
 * Wheel of Fortune

Trivia

 * Each season is based on each individual part of the manga:
 * Phantom Blood
 * Battle Tendency
 * Stardust Crusaders
 * As with the manga, each protagonist is nicknamed "JoJo" based on the letters of their names:
 * Jonathan Joestar
 * Joseph Joestar
 * Jimmy Olsen Joestar
 * All unnamed character/stands are given actual names, and just like the manga, many of them have namesakes:
 * Aztec Chief: Tianguis Cultural "El Chopo" del Chopo
 * Named after the Saturday flea market (tianguis in Mexican Spanish) near Mexico City downtown, known locally as El Chopo.
 * Holy's Stand: Rebel Girl
 * Named after the song by punk rock band Bikini Kill.
 * Jonathan's Stand: Hybrid Theory
 * Named the debut studio album by nu-metal band Linkin Park
 * Kempo Fighter: Iron Maiden
 * Named after the English metal band.
 * "Memetaa!" Frog: "Ribbit!" Frog
 * Named after the actual "Ribbit!" sound that frogs make.
 * Poco's Sister: Precious
 * Named after the protagonist of the 1996 Sapphire novel Push, as well as its 2009 film adaptation Precious.
 * Scotland Yard Inspector: Judas Priest
 * Named after the English metal band.
 * Will's Father: Led Zeppeli
 * More fully named after the English rock band Led Zeppelin.
 * Zombie Commander: George A. Romero
 * Named after the late director.
 * Some characters have their names changed:
 * Holy Kujo: Holy Joestar
 * Changed to match her son's maiden name.
 * Holy never married her boyfriend Sam Jackson, Jimmy's father, who abandoned them when Jimmy was ten years old.
 * Jotaro Kujo: Jimmy Olsen Joestar
 * Jotaro's counterpart was changed to an African American gangster living in Los Angeles with his mother.
 * Named after:
 * Jimmy Olsen, Superman's best friend and Daily Planet co-worker.
 * The Olsen twins Mary-Kate and Ashley, as well their younger sister Elizabeth.
 * Sadao Kujo: Sam Jackson
 * Sam never married Holy and abandoned her and their son ten years after the latter's birth.
 * Named after Samuel L Jackson.
 * Named after Samuel L Jackson.