⭐ ジョジョの奇妙な冒険・JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Book Club Home Thread ⭐ *Now reading Fire and Ice*

[DIO-Berry]

Welcome!

This is an informal scheduled book club for the manga JoJo’s Bizarre adventure. If you’re not already familiar with it, JoJo follows various members of the Joestar family tree on the adventures that change their lives. Even if you haven’t heard of JoJo, chances are you’ve seen references to it, especially in other anime and manga and even in some media originating outside of Japan.

Schedule

The plan is to start on New Years of 2024 and read 1 chapter per week, which was the original publishing rate of JoJo. You’re welcome to drop in and out whenever you want though. Each week I’ll do my best to include comprehension questions to help check for understanding. You’re welcome to suggest questions as well.

If you prefer, you can also join the club on Natively

一部：ファントムブラッド Part 1: Phantom Blood
ジョナサン・ジョースター Jonathan Joestar

Arc	Start Date	Link
1: 侵略者ディオ	2024.01.01
2: 過去からの手紙	2024.02.05
3: 石仮面	2024.02.19
4: ディオと青春	2024.03.18
5: DIOの誕生	2024.04.22
6: 切り裂きジャックと奇人ツェペリ	2024.04.29
7: 波紋疾走	2024.06.03
8: タルカスと黒騎士ブラフォード	2024.06.24
9: あしたの勇気・うけ継ぐ者	2024.08.12
10: 遥かな国からの3人	2024.09.02
11: 炎と氷JoJoとDIO	2024.09.23

Each arc will get its own thread. There are many different editions of JoJo- the original tankobon, bunko, conbini special edition, collectors edition, digital, and digital color- and they all have slightly different divisions. By working with chapters and arcs, these differences won’t matter as much. If the same chapter has a different name, the later given name is listed in parentheses. I’ll do my best to keep things beginner friendly. You can see the list of arcs in the second post of this thread.

Guidelines

Please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions, and questions either here or in the relavent thread. If you have a question, chances are that someone else has the same one too.

Please make sure to spoiler any spoilers. Even though JoJo is over 35 years old, it still might be new to many readers joining us. Please make sure to put any spoilers between spoiler tags> [spoiler]your spoiler typed out here[/spoiler]. In addition, to make things easier, please add the Part the spoiler is from before the spoiler. For example, 3a certain someone returns from a previous Part.

Content Warnings

JoJo and the mangaka, Araki sensei, are known for body horror. There are many scenes that may make readers uncomfortable. If you watched the anime on tv or Crunchyroll, these were typically censored. In the Japanese manga, they are not censored. Additionally, some of the fashion and other scenes may be considered nsfw in various countries/workplaces (although they would earn a pg13 rating in American theaters I believe). Does the dog die? Araki sensei often uses animal abuse to show how awful a character is, so chances are yes. If you want to ask about a certain dog/animal, please feel free.

Polls

(All polls public)

Will you join us?

• Of course, it’s great daze
• Maybe later
• Sometimes
• Just for the highlights, yareyare
• I’m just here to click

What’s your previous book club experience?

• This is my first book club
• I’ve participated in the Absolute Beginner Book Club
• I’ve participated in the Beginner Book Club
• I’ve participated in the Pre-Intermediate Book Club
• I’ve participated in the Intermediate Book Club
• I’ve participated in the Advanced Book Club
• I’ve participated in an informal book club
• clicky clicky

Which do you prefer?

• Hamon
• Stands
• Spin
• I guess I’ll find out what these are later?

Which Parts have you read before? (any language)

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• Kishibe Rohan/Other Spinoffs

Which Parts have you watched before? (anime)(any language)

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7 (not yet out 2023)
• 8 (not yet out 2023)
• 9 (not yet out 2023)
• Kishibe Rohan

Which version do you plan to read in Japanese?

• tankobun (purple spine)
• bunko (black spine)
• collectors edition
• conbini editions
• digital (b/w, follows bunko divisions)
• digital (color, mostly follows tankobun divisions)
• Shonen Jump app
• other

Other JoJo on WaniKani’s Forums

JoJo Appreciation Thread (I often post news here)
Original Part 1 Book Club

[DIO-Berry]

Color-coded spreadsheet that gets updated when I have time

JoJo Chapters

Archive

JoJo Arcs by Part

一部(いちぶ) ファントムブラッド

Phantom Blood

Arc Name	English Name	Chapters	Tankobon/Digital Color Volume	Bunko/Digital Volume
侵略者(しんりゃくしゃ)ディオ	Dio the Invader	1-5	1	1
過去(かこ)から手紙(てがみ)	Letter from the Past	6-7	1	1
石仮面(いしかめん)	The Stone Mask	8-11	1&2	1
ディオとの青春(せいしゅん)	Youth with Dio	12-16	2	1&2
ディオの誕生(たんじょう)・懐(なつ)かしい面影(おもかげ)	Birth of Dio/ A Nostalgic Face	17	2	2
切(き)り裂(さ)きジャックと奇人(きじん)ツェペリ	Jack the Ripper and Eccentric Zeppeli	18-22	3	2
波紋(はもん)疾走(オーバードライブ)	Hamon Overdrive	23-25	3	2
タルカスと黒騎士(くろきし)ブラフォード	Tarkus and Dark Knight Bruford	26-29	3-4	2
英雄(えいゆう)として寝(ね)る	Sleep as a Hero	30	4	3
騎士(きし)たちの遺跡(いせき)	The Knights’ Ruins	31-32	4	3
あしたの勇気(ゆうき)・うけ継(つ)ぐ者(もの)	Pluck for Tomorrow and the Successor	33-35	4	3
遥(はる)かな国(くに)から3人(さんにん)	The 3 From a Faraway Land	36-38	4-5	3
炎(ファヤー)と氷(アイス)ジョナサンとディオ	Fire and Ice, Jonathan and Dio	39-44	5	3

二部(にぶ) Battle Tendency

三部(さんぶ) Stardust Crusaders

四部(よんぶ) Diamond is Unbreakable

五部(ごぶ) Golden Wind

六部(ろくぶ) Stone Ocean

七部(ななぶ) STEEL BALL RUN

八部(はちぶ) JoJolion

九部(きゅうぶ) the JoJolands

A link to save my sanity
List of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Chapters - JoJo's Bizarre Encyclopedia | JoJo Wiki

[DIO-Berry]

Differences between versions

Physical

• Tankobon 単行本(たんこうぼん) are the original collected releases. They have the most volumes. There are sometimes minor changes depending on which print you have such as typo fixes or certain illustrations (3 changing a mosque from being destroyed to a generic building)
• Bunko 文庫(ぶんこ) are the condensed versions. You can conveniently buy them in box sets. Parts 1 and 2 are combined. Parts 8 and 9 are not yet released in bunko form.
• Collector’s edition JoJonium 函装版 is a larger form than tankobon and feature limited color pages. Unfortunately this version only contains Parts 1-3. They have new and unique covers. They are A5 and come with a box. These volumes have the highest quality paper of any version of JoJo manga, but the box and spine aren’t very color fast.
• Conbini release (Jump ReMix) are slightly larger than tankobon but smaller than the collectors, about a B6. These are special editions with often unique covers featuring later illustrations by Araki sensei. I don’t recommend buying these unless you have already read or are willing to buy additional volumes physically or digitally. The remixes usually take chronological chunks of JoJo and format them into a single volume. For example, for Part 3, there’s a volume that features just the chapters covering the 3 battle between Dio and Jotaro called Jotaro vs DIO. Since these are named after the content, it can be difficult to know what you’re buying unless you already know the story pretty well.
• Collected Editions 総集編(そうしゅうへん) are even more condensed than the collector’s editions and conbini remixes. They’re the largest print version of the manga as far as I know, so larger than JoJonium. They are B5 size. If you struggle to read the furigana at times, this is the biggest you’ll find it. However, like the conbini editions, the paper is quite thin. As an added bonus, the originally colored pages are printed in color. Here’s Part 1, part 1 of Part 2 and part 2 of Part 2, and Part 4 (set).

Digital

• The black and white digital version follows the chapter order of the bunko version.
• The digital color version mostly follows the tankobon chapter order EXCEPT when a Part starts or ends in a volume. Volume 5 of Phantom Blood only has the Phantom Blood chapters. The rest of the chapters in Volume 5 should be added to the first digital color volume of Battle Tendency. Please see the Google Sheet in the post above for comprehensive details about these different start and end points. As an additional note, the digital color version is NOT colored by the original mangaka and the coloring artists have been confused at various points and made mistakes with character outfits or even scenes, such as showing regular vampires in the daytime.
• The Shonen Jump app may only be available in Japan but is a very budget friendly way to read right now (2023.11.05). You can use the app to buy chapters of JoJo. For Parts 2-8, you can use “bonus coins,” which are free coins you can get through watching ads and other activities. Unfortunately, Part 1 is paid coins only at the moment. Of course, this may change in the future, but for now, it’s a great option. Also, it uses both numbers and the bunko chapter titles.
• Where to buy digital copies other than the Shonen Jump App can be found here on this website. The listings are split into Parts and then each Part shows the color (first) then black and white volumes. Whenever you click an individual volume, it’ll take you to a page that has about 50 links to various legitimate sellers like Bookwalker and Amazon.

[DIO-Berry]

@smellslikerain @Vasebane @Furankurinsan @saibaneko @Ditto20

and
@TrinityBringer and @VikingSchism just in case you’re interested in reading again from the beginning

I’ve probably forgotten a lot of @ s, sorry!

[Akashelia]

Awesome that you are making an informal book club!
I had never heard of JoJo before joining the WK forums but have heard a lot about it since so I am super intrigued and want to try and read it. Not sure I’ll join in January already, but if anything, happy to have the threads if I have questions and to see which book to start with!

[trunklayer]

Was about to tag @DIO-Berry さん here – then I realized @DIO-Berry さん is the one who created this thread

Anyway, best of luck to you all!

[DIO-Berry]

Thank you!

You’ll probably be surprised to see the number of references you’ve seen to it once you start. It’s really in the zeitgiest.

No worries about starting on time! The thread will be here. Or if Tofugu dissolves the forums, then we’ll move to Natively’s forums lol. We’ll be happy to answer and help out with your questions!

[DIO-Berry]

Lol, I appreciate the thought though!

[Ptscan]

Thinking about joining in, it’s a bit above my currently reading level but I might be all caught up when we start in January Looking forward to it!

[Jintor]

What’s the natively rating? Maybe I’ll finally read past part two

[DIO-Berry]

Nothing says you can’t read above your level aside from yourself ;p Please feel free to join us anyway

[DIO-Berry]

Part 1 has a Natively rating of 30

ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 1 | L30

although I suspect that’s a bit inflated due to the narrator bits. All the other rated JoJo Parts so far have lower ratings. Also, Jonathan speaks Japanese textbook Japanese so it’s not like it’s as plagued by dialect variations like some other Parts

[Jintor]

Hmm… Well, by the new year and with the club it should be alright- その血のさだめええええええええええええええええ oops sorry not sure what came over me there

[VikingSchism]

I’ll probably drop in here and there, though my current reading rate (at Part 5 at the moment) is more like a few chapters a day so I’ll probably prioritise that

Though I’m happy to talk about JoJo’s with more people and the experience of reading it in Japanese - it took me a couple of tries before I started to find it comfortable, but I would definitely recommend buying physicals if it’s in your budget. The bunko editions come in boxsets for each Part (with 1 and 2 combined) and it makes it much easier to read the furigana (which often become a bit of a blur in digital editions) and Araki’s art really pops on paper. And the paper in those bunko editions is very nice, it’s not the pulpy sort of paper you’d usually associate with manga. The bunko editions are also small enough to be very portable and the covers aren’t overly garish which makes me feel less self conscious about reading in public or at work

Whichever version people get I hope you enjoy reading through this series as much as I have been so far. It’s a great time, and it’s cool to see Araki develop as an artist and writer

[Akashelia]

@VikingSchism

it makes it much easier to read the furigana (which often become a bit of a blur in digital editions)

Or use Mokuro

[DIO-Berry]

@Jintor

Hmm… Well, by the new year and with the club it should be alright- その血のさだめええええええええええええええええ oops sorry not sure what came over me there

ジョオオオオオオオオジョオオオオオオオオオオオオオオオオ

tbh I was on the fence about possibly having a discord for read alouds, but JoJo karaoke would also be fun

[snowwater]

Might be the motivation I was looking for to finally read it (in japanese, even) from the beginning. Pity it will take a long time for me to see once more my love, Jolyne, at a 1 chapter per week rate (not like I could read it faster anyway)

[DIO-Berry]

Once you get used to reading a chapter a week, nothing says you can’t read ahead

[smellslikerain]

Unfortunately I don’t think my japanese is near good enough :,) I’ve had to take a really long hiatus so I’ve probably forgotten even some basic things. Maybe in the future though!

[Furankurinsan]

Thank so much for this.