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Warning This Review Contains Spoilers

I apologize in Advance for any spelling or grammatical errors. If I make any feel free to point them out on my profile page

Intoduction

JoJo,JoJo,JoJo,JoJo. You have probably heard about this show or have seen a meme from this show without knowing it (like "Even Speedwagon is afraid", or "It was me Dio"). I heard about this show from Gigguk, The Quater Guy, and ThatAnimeSnob and they got me interested. After marathoning the series for a couple nights, I realized why this show was awesome and hopefully my review will tell you too. ...

Story

If there was one defining characteristic of JoJo it would be the GAR, manly men doing manly things. What do these men do? They fight, pose, and act dramatically. The show is aware of what it wants to be and executes that brilliantly. Also, alot of the characters are named after old western musicians and groups so there is that(except for Stroheim who is named after an actor and that is the only one as far as I know).

Now on to the premise, JoJo tells the story of generations of the Joestar family fighting against the forces of evil. As a side note, this is the perfect way to do long running Shonen. With this formula the author can can tell different types of stories without the story, character, and setting ever growing stale. This anime adapts the first 2 parts of the Jojo manga Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency. Which will be described bellow.

Phantom Blood (episodes 1-9): The story that started it all and the cause of mostly everything happens later in the other parts. The main character, Johnathan Joestar (the alliteration is where the nickname Jojo comes from), is forced to deal with Dio Brando, his adopted brother, who quickly becomes his archenemy. Along the way a Stone Mask within the Joestar's possession is found with the weird ability to sprout spike whenever blood is put on it (we will get back to this later). The hatred of the two characters grows, culminating in Dio poisoning Johnathan's father and as Johnathan finds the cure (along the way meeting Robert Edward O. Speedwagon who also has a major role over the other parts) Dio realizes the Stone Mask has the ability to transform anyone who wears it with blood on it becomes a vampire. This climaxes when Dio puts on the mask (becoming a vampire), kills Johnathan's father, destroys the Joestar house, and nearly dies. Following the incident, Johnathan meets Will A. Zeppeli who teaches him the ancient art of Hamon, the ability to connect ones energy to the sun by controlled breathing and both of them along with Speedwagon goes after Dio and his newly created zombie army. This entire part has an epic feel to it and I mean literal ancient poem epicness (like Beowulf). Two men who have their destines intertwined and fight locking the protagonist's ancestors to fight against similar evils. I mean how does not that not sound like something the ancient storytellers would come up with. The only flaw with this story that it is rushed, sometimes even narrating over events that happen.

Battle Tendency (episodes 10-26): This takes place 50 years after Phantom Blood and picks up with Johnathan's ancestor, Joseph, who stills has the ability to use Hamon. After a discovery by The Speedwagon Foundation (an organization created because Speedwagon struck oil and got rich) a former ally of Johnathan attacks Joseph and after that Joseph goes to save Speedwagon from the Nazis (since it the 1940s and World War II had started). The Nazis found an ancient humanoid who they intend to use to win the war, but it goes rouge and Joseph kills it. The head Nazi commander, Rudol von Stroheim, tells of three more of the ancient humanoids (called the Pillar Men) and Joseph goes after them. He meets Will's ancestor, Caesar, and they both go after the Pillar Men, but they awaken. The Pillar Men are looking for the Red Stone of Aja, a perfect gemstone which when combined with the stone mask can turn the pillar men into ultimate lifeforms. On top of that, two of the Pillar Men place rings in Joseph's body that will poison him if he does not beat them and take the respective antidotes. Joseph and Caesar vow to kill the Pillar Men and avenge their fallen comrades. With the help of their new teacher, Lisa Lisa, they will train to further master Hamon and take out the pillar men. This ramps up everything in Phantom Blood; even more fights, more poses, and more GAR. On top of that it expands on the mythology present in the Phantom Blood. Like Phantom Blood however it does narrate over the story which is even worse now since their were parts I wanted to see (like cyborg Stroheim fighting the leader of the Pillar Men, Kars).

Characters

Phantom Blood: Johnathan is the archetypal hero. He has kind heart, helps those in need, and is a true gentleman. He is the perfect hero for these episodes, fitting the epic theme. As a side note, Johnathan was interesting since he was of the only foreign main characters created during the time the manga was running in the late 80s (Johnathan was British) and also died at the end. Dio is also the archetypal villain a jerk and a bully who grows more cruel as he gets older. He is a great foil for Johnathan and does get a small bit of character development in the end when he grows to respect Johnathan after he beats him and tries to take over Johnathan's body (he was just a severed head at the time). The thing that makes these characters stand out is how GAR they are as stated before.

As for side characters we have Speedwagon is weird (not the character himself, but his place in the story). He doesn't really do anything except for helping Johnathan in the beginning, but I really like him. I guess he is a useless character done right just a guy who supports Johnathan after seeing how good he was. Will is interesting being a good mentor figure and helping Johnathan. Johnathan also has a love interest, Erina Pendleton, who I would criticize for being a simple love interest, but it actually has a contextual reason for being that way (that reason is because it was the 1800s and women had no rights during the time period), but she does have a bit of impudence and a temper. The final side character I will mention is Bruford, a knight Dio revived as a zombie, who also grew to respect Johnathan after he beat him and gave Johnathan his sword which played a major role in the fight with Dio. The rest are not important, except for Johnathan's father George who was the main catalyst for this plot (for bringing Dio into the Joestar family and dying, giving Johnathan his main motivation).

Battle Tendency: Joseph stands in contrast to Johnathan by being his opposite. He is playful and aggressive. His fighting style also contrasts with Johnathan; whereas Johnathan used Hamon to power up his physical attacks, Joseph uses Hamon in more of a subtle way, utilizing tons of objects and tricks to outsmart his opponents. He still has the good heat, but isn't afraid to violently attack his enemies. He also has this weird ability to predict what his opponents will say and shock them with it. He also invented the ultimate technique, running away when the opportunity present it. The antagonists are not as good as Dio, but still good villains in their own right. Wamuu is an honorable warrior and extends his honor to his enemies (going so far as to give Joseph time to train and beat him and respecting Joseph and Caesar). Esidisi is sly and cunning, using these traits to help Kars. Kars is ruthless and intelligent, doing whatever it takes to complete his goals. He also has a weird respect for nature, except when he becomes the ultimate lifeform and hurts a squirrel (jerk).

As for side characters, Caesar is a good companion for Joseph and they play off of each other very well. For example, they contrast when Caesar tries to carry on his ancestry, despite putting himself at risk and, Joseph who doesn't give a damn, stops his recklessness. Lisa Lisa is also a good mentor, keeping a strict and calm composure in her teaching, except when Caesar dies when she loses it. Stroheim is a weird case like Speedwagon because he is the one of the few Nazis in fiction I like legitimately (and I am Jewish). He has all the characteristics of the Nazis (except the hatred of Jews), but he doesn't take them to fascist extremes. He is nationalistic, but more in a "fuck yeah America" way and actually tries to help Joseph and his allies defeat the Pillar Men. His motivation comes from pride in his country, not from hatred of anyone. Just a good guy with a horrible group of people. Speedwagon is also there, but not for long and Erina played the brief role of the strict grandmother expanding on her inner impudence and a kid named Smokey who Joseph saves. There is also another love interest, Suzie Q, who is more of a ditz, but also still caring and nice.

Art

The art is luscious and beautiful. While some fans (from what I heard) complained about how it lacked the detail of Hirohiko Araki's, the author, artwork I personally liked it. It amplifies the GAR of this show and married it to flamboyancy which sounds like it would clash, but works extremely well together. There is also cool visual tricks like the Japanese word for menacing appearing in dark letters whenever danger approached or everyone's color changing for dramatic effect. On top of that great cgi is used for the openings. The ending animation is good, but not outstanding although the second ending does continue where the first left off animation wise(the first ended with blood reaching the stone mask and the second ending starts with stone mask breaking).

Sound

JoJo's soundtrack is incredibly varied ranging from dramatic pieces with symphonies (I think), to dubstep, synthpop, and rock. The music fits the tone of the story and like the art amplifies it. Some of my favorites include Awaken my Masters and both Theme songs (since there are 2). The first theme is Sono Chi no Sadame which fits the serious, but over the top tone of Phantom Bloodand bloody stream which fits the playful, but in the end serious (along with over the top) tone of battle Tendency. As for the ending its Roundabout. Yes that Roundabout by Yes. Araki as I recall actually requested for this song to be the ending. It fits with JoJo's tie to classic rock music and is one of the only anime to use western music as an ending theme.

Conclusion

Jojo is a breath of fresh air and a great show. With its GAR, beautiful animation, and great music I enjoyed 99% of this show (the other 1% not enjoyed is the narration over some of the story). I definitely recommend JoJo's Bizarre Adventure to all lovers of action and GAR. If you liked this show I would recommend Tengen Toppan Gurren Lagann for its GAR and over the top action.

Warning This Review Contains Spoilers

I apologize in advance for any spelling or grammatical errors. If I make any feel free to point them out on my profile page

Intoduction

There is no question that Dragon Ball Z is one of the most well known animes out there. From its humble beginnings on toonami along with its great action, it was cemented in the minds of many young anime fans. And I was not one of those children. While I did see DBZ playing every so often on cartoon network it never managed to hook me. My cousins managed to get me ... into it and watched kai while it was airing and it was exactly what I expected from the ancestor of the shonen battle genre, it had good fights, but nothing else really. Eventually, I started watching the DBZ movies and they still gave me more of the same. I was initially planning to skip this one, until a youtuber I follow recommended this movie. After I watched this movie I can say with a bit of doubt this is the best DBZ film I have seen (and for reference I have seen both Cooler movies, super android 13, the first two Broly movies, wrath of the dragon, and the one with Janenba).

The Story

The premise is simple, while Goku is training at King Kai's place King Kai senses that the god of destruction, Beerus, has reawakened and come to do what is his title says, destroy, and as a sub-plot it is Bulma's birthday and some familiar faces from Dragon Ball are attempting to steal the dragon balls. Also, Beerus eventually ends up at Bulma's party.

Now this story sounds simple enough, but based on how they describe Beerus it makes his actions not seem evil, but as a simple cycle of the universe. They say destruction has to happen so more planets and species can be born after the ones have been destroyed. This really makes the conflict of this movie stand out compared to the other ones. Goku isn't fighting space Hitler (Frieza) or a doctor with a revenge scheme (Gero and the androids), he is the literal embodiment of a natural force in the universe and life itself. I know this comparison is a bit hyperbolic, Goku is like Ahab in Moby Dick fighting against Moby Dick, an allegory for the force of nature itself, and as such it is portrayed realistically, Goku does not win, even with the god power up (yes it is named that) that appeared in this movie.

Breaking formula like this and applying realism to an already unrealistic world was a great change of pace and a breath of life for this old franchise. Its not perfect there is a stupid and kind of creepy side plot about Trunks falling in love with Pilaf's female minion (who is a kid for eventsI don't know about in Dragon Ball) and the nature of destruction and death is only touched upon briefly, but taking this knowledge into the final fight adds to the struggle. The story is also rather slow with Bulma's party. I didn't mind that, but I know some other will.

Characters

You still have your same cast of characters. Most of the characters who aren't saiyans are still useless and most of the characters are there just for background. Goku is still kind of one dimensional blood knight.

I do however want to give special mention to Vegeta because his character was put in a different situation than the others. When Beerus first appeared Vegeta realizes his overwhelming power (because of a flashback) and he is put in a state of fear and paranoia to keep Beerus happy and not angry so he does not destroy the planet. Seeing Vegeta like this is incredibly rare (only acting like this in the first Broly movie) and portrays how Vegeta has gotten more of a heart after reluctantly turning good. We also got a funny scene of Vegeta dancing to entertain Beerus in which everyone said https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_9mRXo-fYE&feature=youtu.be&t=8m26s and Vegeta getting downright pissed when Berrus hit Bulma.

Now on to the two new characters. Beerus is interesting compared to the other DBZ villains and other villains in general. I really don't know how to properly describe him, but I will try. He doesn't inherently show off his power like the other villains and isn't blatantly antagonistic (unless someone pisses him off and I am looking at you Majin Buu). His power is so great when he says he will destroy you it seems like an inevitability and not a threat. Despite that he enjoys himself while he is on Earth and acts like a pretty nice guy. Hell the reason he doesn't destroy the Earth was because he enjoyed his time there (okay technically he delays destroying Earth, but that isn't for a long time). I will also give mention to Whis, Beerus's assistant/tutor, who is calm and collected providing a good contrast for Beerus.

Animation

The art and animation is higher than the DBZ series and the movies which makes the fights in this movie much cooler. Plus, the effects on the god power up was pretty cool.

Sound

The music is pretty good setting the tone and using a wider variety of instruments for each piece (and by that I mean each piece uses different instruments not that there are a lot of instruments in each piece). Nothing spectacular though.

Conclusion

Overall this is a good movie from franchise that needed a bit of life. It is a definite recommendation for Dragon Ball fans and for those who like shonen battle anime, but a solid knowledge in DBZ and Dragon Ball would be nice to fully appreciate this movie (since I haven't seen Dragon Ball, but I bet if you did have knowledge of Dragon Ball you would have liked the touches I missed).

Self portrait is a simple short film. Its definitely not something you will regret seeing, but it doesn't really leave much of an impact. The story is simple, a sculptor creates a demon that comes to life and the demon attempts to become the creator by sculpting the creator. That is really it, no real characterization or story (granted it is a short film).

On the other hand the stop motion animation looks great. As someone who tried stop motion animation and knows at least what goes into it, it was great seeing a complex piece of art . ... Its also rare to see stop motion animation and actually seeing it is rather cool (even if it is rather old). The music itself is okay sets the mood I guess.

Overall, its a decent piece of animation that hopefully you will not regret seeing if you do decide to see it.