JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (often shortened to JoJo or abbreviated JJBA) is a shonen and seinen manga written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. The first continuity follows an intergenerational feud between the Joestar Family and various forces of evil.
Phantom Blood is the first story arc of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from January to October 1987 for a total of 44 chapters. The story follows Jonathan Joestar as he matures with and eventually combats his adoptive brother, the cunning and merciless Dio Brando.
In Liverpool, England, 1880, the young Jonathan Joestar, known to his friends as JoJo, is peacefully living at his father George's wealthy estate. Another young boy from London, Dio Brando, is adopted by them due to having recently lost his father, Dario. George believed that he and his infant son were rescued by Dario during a stagecoach accident, in which his wife lost her life, when in fact, Dario was trying to loot their corpses.
Jonathan attempts to befriend Dio, unaware of his plan to break his spirit through constant bullying and earn George's trust so that he can become the sole heir to the Joestar fortune. As part of his scheme, Dio torments Jonathan in ways such as "mistaking" his dog for attacking him and proceeding to knee them in the jaw, violently beating him in a boxing match and turns his friends against him, all while presenting himself before Jonathan's father as a better gentleman and student than his adoptive brother. When Jonathan finds solace in a relationship with Erina Pendleton, Dio steals his girlfriend Erina's first kiss.
A little over seven years later, in the year 1888, both Jonathan and Dio have now become more friendly and trustworthy to each other, following Dio's scheme. Jonathan becomes suspicious of Dio's excessive care for his father and is certain that he has ulterior motives. Jonathan discovers Dario's will and in his letter, Dario described his symptoms, which were identical to Lord Joestar's mysterious ailment. Jonathan confronts him about his suspicions, and Dio decides to dispose of Jonathan before he is exposed.
During one of their initial scuffles soon after Dio's arrival at Joestar Estate, a few droplets of blood splattered onto an ancient mesoamerican stone mask Lord Joestar had acquired and left hanging from a wall in his vast mansion.Only Dio and Jonathan witnessed the fact and while the former maintained it to be nothing more than an instrument of torture and death, the young Joestar began pursuing research in the fields of Archaeology and Ethnology to find the history behind the artifact.
However, to be assured of the lethal effect of the mask, Dio experiments with it on a drunken beggar he finds in the dilapidated London boroughs he frequents to replenish his stash of poison. To his horror, the exposure to the mask's bony hooks not only does not kill his test subject but instead rejuvenates and transforms him into a vampire. Dio is saved from the monster's attack when it is bathed in sunlight and dies.
Returning home, with a new plan from the recent events, Dio is surrounded by police constables summoned by Jonathan, who, in a daring investigation in Ogre Street, managed to befriend the honorable criminal Robert E. O. Speedwagon and obtain the address of Chinese merchant Wang Chan, who provided Dio with the poison. Cornered, Dio attempts to stab Jonathan but hits George instead, and dons the Stone Mask, and is then shot down by the policemen.
As George dies and tells Jonathan to forgive Dio, the latter comes back as a vampire and slaughters the policemen. A tense fight between Jonathan and Dio ensues. Jonathan, attempting to find a way to kill the seemingly invulnerable creature, resorts to burning down his whole mansion and trap Dio inside and manages to escape before being consumed by the flames.
After the battle, Jonathan is hospitalized and rekindles his relationship with Erina Pendleton. Meanwhile, Wang Chan tries to steal the Stone Mask, but Dio, who had survived, stops him.
At this time, Jonathan meets Will Anthonio Zeppeli, an Italian baron and with a strange power called Ripple, subsequently revealed to be a martial arts technique that allow the user to focus bodily energy into other kinds of energy via proper breathing (primarily the energy of sunlight, which is effective against vampires). After teaching Jonathan how to use the Ripple, they set out to seek and defeat Dio, accompanied by Speedwagon. The group heads towards Windknight's Lot where they are faced by Dio's minions, Bruford and Tarkus.
Bruford is killed by Jonathan, but not before befriending him and giving him his sword Luck & Pluck. Tarkus then challenges Jonathan. During their flight, Zeppeli explains his tragic past shared by the history of the Stone Mask and how he came to learn the Ripple. Tarkus locks a chain collar around Jonathan and is unable to breathe properly and is in great danger. Zeppeli recognizes a prophecy foretelling his death but sacrifices himself nonetheless, transferring his life force to Jonathan who overpowers and kills Tarkus. Afterward, the Jonathan honors Zeppeli by promising to kill Dio before the Ripple Master dies from his wound.
Jonathan and Speedwagon arrive on the tower where Dio resided. After Jonathan states his hatred for Dio, the clash between the two begins. A close quarter fight ensues, but Dio initially takes the advantage thanks to his blood-freezing ability. However, Jonathan manages to defrost himself with the fires surrounding them and deals a direct hit to Dio, who is sent into a cliff. Dio tears off his own head before the Ripple power could reach it and is saved by Wang Chan, who takes his head and promises to find Dio a new body. Jonathan and company destroy the Stone Mask the next morning, having protected the town.
Shortly after the events in Wind Knight's Lot, Jonathan marries Erina. The couple sees their companions off and board a ship to America for their honeymoon. But in the middle of the ocean, Jonathan suddenly notices Wang Chan and follows him straight into a trap by Dio (now nothing more than a severed head), who had snuck on board the ship within a special coffin. Dio reveals to Jonathan that he plans to kill him and attach his own head to Jonathan's body before arriving in America. Although Dio manages to mortally wound Jonathan in front of Erina, Jonathan uses the last of his Ripple to destroy Wang Chan's head, causing his body to jam the ship's engine and trigger an explosion.
As he urges for Erina to flee, Jonathan is further wounded in the ensuing explosions by shrapnel from the engine. In a final attack, Dio ensnares Jonathan with tendrils from his neck and attempts to decapitate him, only for Jonathan to stab him with the shrapnel and thwart his assault. Jonathan holds Dio's head in his arms, reflecting on their fate as the ship begins to sink. Dio demands to be let free, only to find that Jonathan has already died from his wounds.
Erina escapes in Dio's coffin and later sanks the coffin in honor of Jonathan. It is revealed that Erina was pregnant with Jonathan's child and protecting a surviving infant whose parents were killed in the attack on the ship, thus setting in motion the events of the entire series.
Battle Tendency is the second story arc of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from November 1987 to March 1989. Taking place in 1938-39, the story follows the misadventures of Joseph Joestar, grandson of Jonathan, as he masters his innate Ripple abilities in order to combat hostile, ancient super-beings named the Pillar Men, creators of the Stone Mask that plot to become the ultimate lifeforms.
In the winter of 1938, having became a wealthy businessman, Robert E. O. Speedwagon, and his Speedwagon Foundation has discovered a Mexican pyramid where they found various Stone Masks along with a man integrated into a stone column. Fearing the worst, that the horror he and his old friend Jonathan Joestar have thwarted 49 years ago may resurface, Speedwagon contacted Straizo, a friend of Zeppeli, to meet him in Mexico for his aid in destroying the masks and the mysterious figure before he awakens. But Straizo suddenly kills Speedwagon's associates before badly injuring Speedwagon himself. Fascinated by the youthfulness and vigor the Stone Mask granted Dio, Straizo uses the spilled blood to activate the Mask and transforms into a Vampire while explaining he intends to eliminate any who know of the Masks.
Later after sunset, Joseph is confronted outside a cafe by a vampirized Straizo who intends to kill him before he becomes an actual threat. But Joseph expected the vampire and, after a heated battle, Straizo is defeated. Straizo reveals that after he became a vampire, he was forced to dump Speedwagon and his victims into the river to prevent the spilled blood from reviving the figure in the stone column. The Vampire finally self-destructs by breathing the Ripple into himself.
Disturbed by Straizo's final words, Joseph travels to Mexico and learns from an assassin named Donovan that the Nazis under the command of Rudol von Stroheim have taken Speedwagon prisoner. Stroheim and his forces are revealed to have extracted the Pillar Man and proceed to revive him for research purposes. Once the being, dubbed "Santana" by Stroheim, is awakened, he demonstrates fantastic, super-human abilities as he kills most of those present. But Joseph, having infiltrated the Nazis' base, intervenes.
The battle against the superhuman Santana pushes Joseph to his limits and Stroheim is forced to trigger a grenade against his chest to stop the creature. Nonetheless, Joseph manages to expose Santana to sunlight. Joseph has learned from Stroheim that a trio of Pillar Men are sleeping in Rome, is sent to meet a certain ally.
Once in Rome, Joseph cross paths with Speedwagon's contact in Italy: Caesar Anthonio Zeppeli, grandson of Will A. Zeppeli. The two youths don't get along well as Caesar blames Jonathan for his grandfather's death and called Joseph's win against Santana dumb luck.
Joseph, Speedwagon, and Caesar arrive at the underground cave where the Pillar Men are; however, the Pillar Men, Wamuu, Esidisi and Kars, have already awakened and killed the Germans. Joseph and Caesar confront the three Pillar Men, but the three are already familiar with Ripple users and have developed counters. Both Joseph and Caesar are easily overwhelmed by Wamuu, though as Wamuu prepares to deal a mortal blow to Joseph, the latter promises that with a month of training, he can make a worthy adversary. As Wamuu loves to battle, he accepts Joseph's challenge, but implants a Wedding Ring of Death on Joseph's aorta to keep him from running away. He explains the ring will dissolve into a poison within 33 days while revealing the antidote to be inside his lip ring. Esidisi, also places his own ring around Joseph's wind pipe to seal his death, with the antidote in his own nose piercing. The Pillar Men's leader Kars passes on the game as the trio take their leave to find the Red Stone of Aja. Caesar soon respects Joseph for his heroic resistance.
Wanting to teach Joseph to master his Ripple, Caesar takes him to Venice to meet his mentor: the masterful and beautiful Lisa Lisa. Lisa Lisa, assisted by her servant Loggins and Messina, harshly train Joseph and Caesar and manage to shape them into Ripple masters in three weeks. Near the end of their training, Lisa Lisa reveals to Joseph and Caesar that Kars is the one who created Stone Masks such as the one that caused their grandfathers' deaths. She also reveals that Kars is seeking a flawless Red Stone of Aja, the Super Aja in her possession to perfect the Mask and use it to become the ultimate life-form.
With a week left until the rings inside Joseph dissolve and kill him, Lisa Lisa pits Joseph and Caesar against Loggins and Messina respectively for their final test. However, when Joseph reaches his destination, he finds Loggins has been killed by Esidisi who has learned of the Super Aja's location. Joseph proceeds to battle Esidisi, but the Pillar Man's wits are a match for Joseph's. The Ripple warrior still manages to use sleight of hand and binds Esidisi with rope of woolen strings, dealing a seemingly fatal blow to the Pillar Man and getting rid of Esidisi's ring. In truth, Esidisi has survived and infiltrated Lisa Lisa's island and possessing her servant Suzi Q. The Pillar Man sends the Super Aja to his allies through the postman. Esidisi threatens to kill Suzi Q, but Joseph and Caesar cooperate to finish him off.
The red aja is retrieved by the Nazis who have intercepted the train which was ordered Stroheim, rebuilted as a cyborg. Stroheim and Joseph team up in order to defend against Kars, who falls off a cliff and survives. The next day at St. Moritz, learning the Pillar Men are taking residence in the San Moritz hotel, Caesar wishes to ambush Kars during the day before Wamuu returns. But Joseph objects as it might be a trap. A fight ensues, and an angry Caesar accompanied by Messina decide to go to the hotel without support.
However as Caesar reach the San Mortiz, he and Messina are attacked by Wamuu, who is using streams of moist air to both protect him from the sunlight. Wamuu manages to drag to fight inside the hotel, but Caesar corner the Pillar Man by using bubble lenses to direct the sunlight to him. In a moment of anger, Caesar jumps toward Wamuu to deal the final blow. But Wamuu takes advantage of the split-second of Caesar blotting out the sunlight to counter with a point-blank Divine Sandstorm that fatally injures Caesar. Caesar is defeated but as a last defiant act, steals Wamuu's lip ring for Joseph and secures it before a piece of the ceiling crushes him. Wamuu respects Caesar's last gesture and the basis of his valiant fight, allowing the bubble to remain for Joseph and Lisa Lisa as they eventually arrive and mourn Caesar's death. The two decide to venture further inside the building. Despite having Wamuu's lip ring, Joseph vows not to drink the antidote until he has defeated the Pillar Man and avenged Caesar.