You Thought this was a 2018 Anime, but Instead it was this: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (Battle Tendency Arc)

One year after taking a crack at the Joestar family drama, I’m at it again, ladies and gentlemen!  Yeah, I’m not gonna hide it, I’ve been on a Jojo kick and this is the end result. But like I said last year, I feel it’s only to respectfully review this series by arc rather than in its entirty.  So let’s not wait any long and get on with this week’s review on Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, the Battle Tendency arc.

Taking place during the World War II era, Battle Tendency follows Joseph Joestar, the grandson of Jonathan Joestar.  Having the innate ability to control hamon, Joseph (referred to as Jojo like his grandfather) becomes the target of a familiar threat faced by his grandfather.  Now learning that the stone masks similar to the one that transformed Dio Brando into a vampire are possessed by even more powerful forces, Jojo is taken all over the world to hone in on his hamon controlling skills.  This soon leads him to the Pillar Men, ancient immortal beings that not only use the masks to create minions, but also to generate power.  Oh, and there’s Nazi, too.  And that’s about as spoiler free as I can go.

I can definitively say overall this was far better than Phantom Blood.  And this is coming from someone who feels that Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is more often not very over the top and overrated at times.  I give the Battle Tendency arc a 7 out of ten.  Like I said, everything about Battle Tendency was so much better.  The characters were likeable, the story was interesting and not too dramatic, and it had just the right amount of action to be entertaining.  Heck, even Speedwagon (Jonathan Joestar’s companion in the Phantom Blood arc) was good; I ranted in my review on Phantom Blood how Speedwagon did absolutely nothing of significance and was a wasted character in every meaning of the word.  In Battle Tendency, at least he knew when to stay out of things when he knew he couldn’t do anything, which is why he’s seen in the first few episodes and then is never seen again until the last episode.  And yes, even Jojo was awesome!  Even though I haven’t touched Stardust Crusaders and Diamond is Unbreakable yet and both have considerably popular Jojos in their own right, Jojo in Battle Tendency has such a charm and charisma to him that it’s hard not to like him.  Honestly, I think he’s the best Jojo in the franchise (again, that’s going on having not seen Stardust Crusaders or Diamond is Unbreakable).

As far as downsides go, if I really had to nitpick, I would say that Battle Tendency goes on too long.  Being that its part two of season one, you’d think the arc overall would keep it short like Phantom Blood did, but it doesn’t.  But like I said, I’m nitpicking.  Phantom Blood is something of an introduction to Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure and really didn’t need that many episodes to explain its story.  Battle Tendency has more detail and a plot point from Phantom Blood that gets more fleshed out.  Plus, there are also important characters in Battle Tendency that get fleshed out here as well.  Overall, this arc is a bizarre and dazzling continuation in the Joestar’s bizarre family legacy.

So yeah, if you expect a show that is weird and sparkly and full of buff manly men, look no further than this arc of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure!  You can watch this arc as well as the rest of the series on sites like Crunchyroll as well as on DVD wherever anime is sold.  And so that wraps up this week’s post!  As always, stay tuned for more stuff from yours truly, cause I may be doing a special something for Father’s Day this Sunday!

-Hanime on Anime