JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood

Retold
By Mistorica Andrei Alexandru
Enache Mario Stefan
 I. What is JoJo’s
• JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is a manga series, beloved by critics and
fans alike written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki, which started in
1987 and is still ongoing to this day.
• In this presentation we will be focusing on the first part, Phantom
Blood, more specifically the anime adaptation by the studio David
Productions.
 II. Meet our main characters
• Our protagonist is the titular character of this part, Jonathan Joestar AKA JoJo. He is the
sole heir to a wealthy semi noble English family, son to George Joestar I and Mary
Joestar. While JoJo was just a baby, he survived a carriage accident in which his mother
gave her own life to protect him. Him and his father were rescued by a man who wanted
to scavenge their remains, named Dario Brando.

• The main villain of this part is the son of Dario Brando, Dio. He grew up very poor and had to fend for himself, beating local
people in gambling and chess to earn money, after his father drove his mother to suicide. He was adopted by George Joestar
soon after Dio poisoned Dario in revenge for him being an abusive drunk.
III. Early life of the two brothers
• Shortly before Dio getting adopted, Jonathan tried to save a local girl named Erina Pendleton from a couple of bullies,
getting beaten up in the process because he aspired to be a true gentleman, and he took it as his duty to protect those
in need. Later, he would meet Erina again and again, the two developing romantic feelings towards eachother.
• The day he was adopted by the Joestars, Dio swore to himself that he would take his fortune for himself and become
what his father never could, a rich man.
• When Dio arrived, Jonathan enthusiastically came out to greet him, along with his faithful companion, Danny the
dog, who was promptly kicked by Dio, who lied about being scared by him.
• Soon, Dio would start outclassing Jonathan in most everything, including but not limited to boxing and table manners,
and spreading rumors about him, in an effort to destroy him in every way imaginable.
• With his reputation tainted by the lying Dio, the only one Jonathan could turn to was the ever cheerful Erina
Pendleton. Soon enough the two would enter a romantic relationship that would last until the end of their lives.
• Dio’s efforts to destroy Jonathan would culminate in him finding Erina and dishonoring her by kissing her (forcefully)
so that her first kiss would not be Jonathan, but rather him, Dio.
• When Jonathan learned of this, He would come back home and beat Dio fair and square, until they were stopped by
their father, and being punished for fighting.
• Soon after this fight, Danny would be found in a furnace, on the grounds of the Joestar mansion, burnt to a crisp by
Dio. The Joestars never found out who killed Danny.
IV. Dio’s sinister plan
• Time passes and the two brothers enter early adulthood, becoming closer and maybe even friends. During this time,
JoJo’s name was cleared up and he became a giant of a man.
• JoJo and Dio, both studied a lot, JoJo becoming an archaeologist and studying an ancient mask in his family’s
possession that reacts to blood by sending out spikes into the wearer’s brain and Dio becoming a lawyer.
• George Joestar mysteriously falls very ill, and JoJo discovers a letter from Dario that described the same symptoms
and Dio poisoning him and begins to think that Dio is poisoning his father.
• When confronted about this, Dio says that if they truly were friends, Jonathan would abandon such outlandish
claims, but nonetheless JoJo would investigate the medicine Dio was giving George, arriving in London, on Ogre
street, where he would confront and ally himself with a gangster called R.E.O. Speedwagon, finding the source of
the medicine to be a man who sells Asian poisons named Wang Chan.
• While JoJo is heading to ogre street, Dio goes on a pub crawl and plans to kill him with the stone mask. He decides
to try out his plan on a random drunk, putting the mask on him and using his friends blood to activate it. The drunk
stumbled back and fell on the floor, and Dio picked the mask back up, happy with his victory, just before he was
thrown against a fence by the drunk who was turned into a vampire. The vampire starts sapping Dio’s life force, but
Dio is saved by the sun, coming up with an even more dastardly plan.
 V. Standoff at the mansion
• Jonathan heads towards the mansion with Speedwagon and Wang Chan in tow,
along with the police and an antidote for his father.
• When the police closes in on Dio he puts on the stone mask and goes to stab
Jonathan, stabbing George who put himself between the two brothers, using his
father’s blood to reject his own humanity.
• He is shot dead by the police and falls out the window, while JoJo clutches his
dying father in his arms. Just before dying, George tells Jonathan not to hold a
grudge against Dio and that he was too strict on Jonathan.
• A policeman’s head flies off his body, falling to ground revealing the now
vampire Dio to be killing all of the police officers with his new vampire
powers.

Jonathan decides to end Dio here and now, hiding away in the house and rigging it to be set ablaze.

Everybody else escapes while Jonathan sets fire to the house, grabs a giant spear from a set of armor and goes to fight Dio. Dio impales
Jonathan with his own spear and starts going down the wall to the first floor.

After a grueling battle, Jonathan manages to overpower Dio and escape from the burning house.

Afterwards, Jonathan is nursed back to health by Erina and Speedwagon sticks around with him as friend.
VI. Ancient sun warriors
• On a walk with Erina, Jonathan encounters the Baron Will A. Zeppelli, who tells Jonathan that Dio is still alive and it’s
their duty to end using an ancient martial art used by warriors of old to channel the power of the sun in order to end
vampires, zombies and some even more dangerous foes.
• Learning of his brother’s undeath, JoJo sets off along with the Baron and Speedwagon to find and end Dio.
• Along the way Jonathan is trained by will in the ancient martial art of Hamon and defeats several zombies, including the
infamous Jack the Ripper
VII. Death of a Baron
• JoJo and company track down Dio in the now taken over Windknight’s lot, a once peaceful coastal rural town.
• While there, they find Dio on a cliff, under a graveyard. He uses his powers to raise the dead, making the crew fight
two legendary knights of old, Tarkus and Bruford.
• JoJo defeats Bruford underwater, returning him to his old and righteous self, and earning his respect and his “Luck”
sword.
• They try to reason with Tarkus, as they did with Bruford to no avail, running away and finding their way to an old
dueling dungeon in a clifface.
• Jonathan gets locked in with Tarkus, unable to win against his might. Will manages to get in with the help of a boy
he saved from drowning who stuck around with them, giving up his own life to help Jonathan defeat Tarkus and
giving him the last of his Hamon and branding his sword “Pluck”.
VIII. Final Showdown
• Jonathan travel on to the castle where Dio took refuge, but on the way Poco, the boy who helped Will enter the
dueling chamber is berated by a man for being up so late, saying that his sister is worried sick. After turning away
the man turns into a vampire and attacks them, being swiftly defeated by Jonathan.
• After defeating the man, Jonathan is attacked by a man with an “unbeatable technique”, the thunder cross split
attack, who is headbutted by JoJo and falls down.
• The man is a Hamon warrior, summoned by Zeppelli’s last letter, who came along with a fellow student, Straizo and
their master, Tonpetty.
• Together they go in to confront Dio.
• Together they storm Dio’s castle, quickly dispatching his minions and rescuing Poco’s sister.
• Dire goes to kill Dio with the Thunder Cross Split Attack, but is frozen and killed by him.
• Dire’s still living head imbues a rose with Hamon and pierces Dio with it.
• Jonathan has another heated battle with Dio, being frozen multiple times, but ultimately slicing his head off with
“Pluck”.
IX. A sinking evil
• After his victory, Jonathan marries the now pregnant Erina Pendleton, and goes with her on a honeymoon
cruise to America.
• Their honeymoon is cut short when a now vampirised Wang Chan turns the passengers of the ship into
zombies and lures Jonathan into the engine room.
• There he is greeted by Dio’s head in a jar and his vampire henchman.
• Jonathan sacrifices his own life, killing Wang Chan and setting the ship to blow, while setting Erina off to sea
in Dio’s coffin, along with a still human baby.
• Jonathan dies with Dio’s head in his arms, with no regrets and a smile
on his face.
• Erina would give birth to Jorge Joestar, the father of the next part’s
protagonist, Joseph Joestar.
• Jonathan dies with Dio’s head in his arms, with no regrets and a smile
on his face.
• Erina would give birth to George Joestar II, the father of the next part’s
protagonist, Joseph Joestar.
Sources:
https://jojowiki.com/Phantom_Blood
https://jojowiki.com/JoJo%27s_Bizarre_Adventure:_The_Animation
https://jojo.fandom.com/wiki/Phantom_Blood?so=search
https://jojo.fandom.com/wiki/Jonathan_Joestar