For over three decades, Hirohiko Araki’s exploration into the Joestar family in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has enthralled audiences. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure applies a creative and unconventional take to the standard shonen anime structure with how each season shifts its perspective to look at another piece of the overarching and highly intricate narrative. Created by Hirohiko Araki, it's notable for its flamboyant designs and detailed artwork.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure features some of anime's most thrilling action sequences and lovable characters. More importantly, the worldbuilding is some of the finest seen in anime. That said, the anime series can be overwhelming for an outsider who doesn’t know how to break into the long-running series' many Parts, especially when it comes to the JoJo watch order. Luckily, watching JoJo's Bizarre Adventure in order isn't as much of an uphill task as it seems.

Updated by Timothy Blake Donohoo on March 6, 2024: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has remained a key and popular presence in the anime/manga industries, with the series finally finding mainstream success in the West during the 2010s. This has seen several newcomers become fans of the franchise, all the while arousing numerous questions. These include the proper JoJo watch order, how many seasons the show has and other burning queries. The answers are now more relevant than ever, with more of the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga and anime adaptations being made available for international audiences than ever before.

13 What's The Best Order To Watch JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure In?

The Series Begins With Phantom Blood

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What’s particularly interesting about JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is that each major chapter in the series’ saga is broken down into different arcs, rather than a standard approach numbering each progressive season. As a result, the anime's start may be unclear to some, especially for those wanting the correct JoJo watch order. The best viewing order for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is to start with the Phantom Blood arc before watching Battle Tendency, Stardust Crusaders (which has two seasons), Diamond is Unbreakable, Golden Wind, and the most recent season, Stone Ocean. Stone Ocean functions as an end of sorts to JoJo's "original" timeline, but there are even more adventures in the manga with Steel Ball Run and beyond. This somewhat complicates the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure order, but not every arc has been adapted into an anime.

12 Where To Start JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure?

Phantom Blood, Steel Ball Run, Or JoJolion

Josuke and the rest of the cast of JoJolion from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is a unique series in the sense that several points in the franchise become suitable moments for newcomers to jump in. Part 1: Phantom Blood is the most natural beginning since it’s when the series commences. However, a reset universe begins in Part 7, Steel Ball Run, which is quite understandable to any JoJo beginners getting their start in the JoJo watch order. The same is true for the following story, JoJolion, which makes references to the past, but is largely a new narrative that’s been continued in the events of Part 9. Fans can start here if they don't want to watch all 8 seasons as all of these are fitting places to watch JoJo in order.

11 What Anime Genre Is JJBA?

JoJo's Begins As A Shonen Series

Dio's Stand, The World, launches an attack in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure fits into the overcrowded shonen genre, but its classification as Shonen undersells the originality on display. JoJo does appeal to a younger male demographic and is filled with fights, like other shonen anime, but it approaches it in an unconventional way that tells a generational story across the Joestar lineage. Each season of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has its own distinct flavor, which indulges other genres. For instance, Diamond is Unbreakable features a lot of smaller slice-of-life drama and storytelling, while Steel Ball Run turns the narrative into a racing Seinen.

10 How Many Episodes Does JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Have?

190 Episodes, As Of Stone Ocean

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Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency accumulate 26 episodes together in the JoJo watch order, Stardust Crusaders is 48, while Diamond is Unbreakable and Golden Wind are 39 episodes apiece. Stone Ocean, the latest anime season released in three batches, totals 38. Altogether, that's 190 episodes, which is still quite digestible for anime fans with limited time on their hands. Stone Ocean features Jolyne Cujoh, the only daughter of Jotaro Kujo and the protagonist of Stardust Crusaders. That said, fans can only hope that Steel Ball Run and JoJolion also obtain their respective anime adaptations, even if they have nothing to do with the Joestar lineage.

9 Where Can You Watch JoJo's Bizarre Adventure?

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Can Be Streamed On Netflix, Tubi, Hulu, Adult Swim, And More

Koichi is greeted by his friends in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable

It’s frustrating to get excited over an anime series and then learn that it’s not available to stream anywhere. There has been a great boom in anime streaming options, however, and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is one of the shows available in many different places. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure can be comfortably streamed in its entirety on Netflix, which also became the exclusive destination for its Stone Ocean season. However, the bulk of JoJo can also be watched on streaming services such as Crunchyroll, Hulu, Tubi, Amazon Prime Video, and Pluto TV. Additionally, select JoJo seasons like Golden Wind have aired on Adult Swim’s Toonami block, which means it can be watched on broadcast television, too.

8 Does JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Have A Dub?

Yes, Every Season Has Been Dubbed

Giorno and Gold Experience glare down the enemy in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind

Dubs are not an essential viewing experience for an anime, but they can be helpful for more reluctant audiences. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure doesn’t have a mediocre dub — on the contrary, it's a very high-quality product that absolutely does the material justice. Bang Zoom Entertainment has dubbed the entirety of JoJo’s anime, rewarding longtime fans with consistency across all six of its separate anime installments. Although fans should listen to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure in its original language with subtitles, a well-produced dub never hurts, especially if that's their preferred format in their JoJo watch order.

7 What’s The Most Recently Finished Manga Part?

Part 8, JoJolion, Is The Latest Finished Manga Part

Josuke and Yasuho with their Stands in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: JoJolion
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The JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure manga started in 1987, and the series is still going strong. JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is broken into different subseries, and JoJolion, the eighth installment, is the most recently finished manga story. Curiously, JoJolion produced 110 chapters over the course of a decade, which is longer than all the previous installments combined. JoJolion speaks to how each new story arc seems to grow bigger and more out of control. That being said, Part 9: The JOJOLands, has recently started in the wake of JoJolion’s conclusion. These two stories feed into each other, but it’s going to be quite some time until The JOJOLands concludes.

6 Which Animation Studio Is Responsible For JoJo's Bizarre Adventure?

David Production Animates JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

Mista and Narancia perform their torture dance in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind

It’s always exciting when it’s announced that a popular manga will be turned into an anime series, but what’s become an increasingly crucial factor in the adaptation process is a responsible anime studio. An inexperienced studio or one spread too thin can ruin a promising series. Fortunately, David Production has done exceptional work with JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and they’ve been with the anime since the very start. David Production has also been able to properly capture how Araki’s art style and character models have progressively changed over time. There’s an evident love for the source material.

5 Does JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Have Any Movies, Spin-Offs, Or OVAs?

Yes, There Are Multiple OVAs & Spin-Offs

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure OVAs

Title

Release Date

Episodes

Streaming

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

November 19, 1993 - November 18, 1994

6

N/A

Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe

2017 - March 25, 2020

4

Tubi TV, Netflix, Sling TV

Interestingly enough, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure was first adapted as an OVA that adapts Stardust Crusaders, but the proper anime has remained fairly focused and hasn’t resorted to extraneous material to sum up the anime's events. This series has since become rare, however, as it's been essentially disowned by the production studio due to controversies involving a scene where Dio Brando read from the Korean. This also saw scenes from the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga redrawn that depicted Islamic mosques being destroyed.

The one exception to this is that Diamond is Unbreakable has several episodes of an OVA series, Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe, that are isolated stories starring the titular fan-favorite manga artist and Stand user. There was even a live-action adaptation of Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan, and Hirohirko Araki has also announced additional manga chapters. Likewise, there are even more supplemental side stories in the form of light novels and non-canonical JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga, though these have yet to receive OVA adaptations set in the JoJo watch order.

4 Are There Any Filler Episodes?

No, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Has No Filler

Iggy with his Fool Stand get ready for battle in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders
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A major problem that plagues a lot of Shonen anime is that they need to create a ton of anime-exclusive filler material to allow the manga to get further ahead. So much of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure was finished before the anime started that this isn’t a problem. As a result, JoJo is an impressively filler-less anime. Some episodes may seem less important or could possibly be skipped without consequence, but none are designed to be throwaway installments. The fact that the Stardust Crusaders arc has two seasons to itself feels a little gratuitous, but none of it is an anime-exclusive creation. As a result, each JoJo part feels tight and focused.

3 Is The JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Anime Or Manga Finished?

No, The Manga Is Still Running, And There Are More Parts To Adapt

Gyro Zeppeli gets caught in the rain in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run

All of JoJo’s current anime Parts are complete, and while a Steel Ball Run season hasn’t been confirmed, many fans remain optimistic. The most recent Part in the JoJo manga, JoJolion concluded its run in 2021, and there were rumors that Part 8 would act as the series' swan song. Fortunately, this is not the case, and Hirohiko Araki's Part 9, The JOJOLands, has finally arrived. It's unclear if Part 9 will take a decade to tell its story like JoJolion, but it's possible. In the meantime, there's a sense of finality felt in the endings of the Stone Ocean anime and the Steel Ball Run manga.

2 Is There Going To Be A Steel Ball Run Anime?

Not Necessarily

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure fans recently got to enjoy the masterful adaptation of Part 6’s Stone Ocean, but the anime’s future isn’t as secure as some may think. David Production has become increasingly busy and any Steel Ball Run adaptation would need to be several years away from premiering at the earliest. Additionally, Netflix’s batch drop release schedule killed most of Stone Ocean’s momentum. Steel Ball Run is one of the most popular JoJo parts, but the plot revolves around a cross-country horse race, and running horses are very expensive to do right in animation. Stone Ocean also wraps up the “original” JoJo timeline and functions as a satisfying conclusion if David Productions choose not to pursue a Steel Ball Run series.

1 What Is Part 9, The JOJOLands, About?

A Boy’s Journey To Become A Millionaire

Josefumi Kujo carrying Yoshikage Kira in Part 8 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, JoJolands
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Part 8 of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, JoJolion, released its final chapter back in August of 2021. Fans have waited for a year-and-a-half for Hirohiko Araki to put together the next saga in the series, The JOJOLands. The JOJOLands began publication in February 2023, and Araki has revealed that it will follow a descendant of the Joseph Joestar who's teased during JoJolion’s ending. Araki has shown off imagery evocative of boat voyages, implying a ton of seafaring adventures. This is certainly unexplored territory for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and a Joestar who's a pirate or intrepid explorer would be a lot of fun.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure with Joseph Joestar in front pointing
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
TV-14
Animation
Action
Adcenture

The story of the Joestar family, who are possessed with intense psychic strength, and the adventures each member encounters throughout their lives.

Release Date
October 4, 2012
Cast
David Vincent , Matthew Mercer , Daisuke Ono , Unshô Ishizuka , Tôru Ohkawa
Main Genre
Animation
Seasons
5
Creator
Hirohiko Araki