JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (90’s OVA) – First Reaction

Everyone remember those days a long, long time ago when anime series came in small collections of DVDs instead of just one collector set? You know when every series of multiple episodes came in DVD sets that had three episodes at max? Yeah, I am harkening to those days once again with this JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure disc. That’s why I called this post a first reaction instead of a full review. I saw the first volume of the 90’s JoJo Bizarre Adventure on rightstuf one day and I had to buy it. I knew that it only had three episodes in it, but it was enough. It was JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Did I need another reason to purchase it? I wish the other sections of this OVA series were there too, but you know. I guess there is pirating…

Anyway, this OVA is the beginning part of Stardust Crusaders. Since I am very obtuse and unorganized in how I write about things, time to actually talk about SC in some ways here. Your fault for following this blog! Anyway, it starts with Jotaro Kujo putting himself in jail because he thinks he’s possessed. Then there is that special appearance of Stands into the world of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. So yeah, he actually is possessed by spirit that he can control that has the name of a rock and roll reference just like all of the stands up to this point. The real adventure starts when Jotaro’s grandfather Joseph to get him out of prison to fight against the curse laid down by the Joestar’s worst enemy, Dio. A vampire that took over the first JoJo ever. It’s a generational battle.

I have watched the two Stardust Crusader series already so I know what happens through the whole story, but in this section we only see the introduction to that great set of characters who venture to take on Dio’s stand users across all of east Asia to now. In the first two episodes, the crew is still in Japan. The first episode still does introduce the conflict at hand and the second one creates the tension in the stakes with Avdol’s appearance in the first episode and then Kakyion’s appearance in the second episode. After everything that occurs, the Joestar crew appear on a mysterious ship where a Frenchman by the name of Polneroff. All good characters that I already know about but not in this contact. They are all much more serious.

The tone of this series is very serious. This OVA is obviously taking the horror aspects of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and just running with it on max level. Yeah, it actually works. The colors in the show are so much more darker then the bright version we are all used to and it works with everything it wants to present. As far as we’ve seen, the silly nature of the series is completely gone despite having all those things being still being silly. Yet, all of those things don’t feel silly when presented under this sort of lens. It’s so well put together in how it explores the tone that the silly aspects are completely gone in ways that make sense. I appreciate that so much. Not every series is put together enough for that to matter.

When it comes done to visuals really do like how this OVA approaches all these fights. I am very used to the 2010’s stiff style of Stardust Crusaders and how David Productions had handled JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has handle everything up to this point. Having the 90’s animation style attached to it all is kind of incredible. I love all of these styles and thoughts put onto it here. There is just something about 90’s designs and styles that makes it so homey and comforting for me. Especially since the stand fights are so fluid and well directed. I just love it. Once again, nothing wrong with the widely available version now because of how well directed they are as well. Just sometimes, a person strives for 90’s styles. Hi, I am that person.

For a first impression of an older series that I am mostly likely to never watch more of, I came out of this one very positively. I didn’t know what I was expecting when I purchased this disc when I just saw JoJo on rightstuf in a capacity that I didn’t know about at all. Having expectations for knowing what the series was didn’t help with what to expect when the material of Stardust Crusaders was done the first time. It is taken under the lens of someone else who obviously had a visual and thought direction then something else. In this sense, something I want to see more of. If I had to get thoughts on what I’ve seen here, then yeah. Give it a watch. I definitely want to as you can tell.