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YMMV / JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

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YMMV pages for individual Parts:

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    A-D 
  • Alternative Character Interpretation:
    • Jotaro's difficulty in expressing his emotions or comprehending that others can't read them and his later tendency to wear odd marine-themed clothes has led to the popular interpretation that he is somewhere in the autism spectrum, complete with Memetic Mutation about what kinds of unexpressed emotions might be running through his head. A related interpretation shows him as a typical teenage boy who tries really hard to be cool and constantly thinks about awesome one-liners to say. Some fans enjoy reading him this way a lot more than just taking him at face value.
    • A theory that's gaining traction is that Jotaro may be afflicted with PTSD after his battle with Dio, thanks to the way the anime has him react to certain things (like when he heard Dio's name◊ or during his fight with Kira◊.
    • Dio, in regards to his Pet the Dog moments: Did he genuinely see Pucci as a friend, and would he have treated Giorno with love, or did/would he see them as more pawns in his ultimate goal? Eyes of Heaven seems to take the former route, with Dio holding Pucci's hand, placing a hand on his shoulder, and referring to him as "friend" during their DHA together, while he gives a little nod of approval when he teams up with Giorno in their Dual Heat Attack (Giving him a little smile, saying "You did it, kid.")
  • Alternate Self Shipping: Many pairings which involve Stands and their users being shipped together.
  • Angst? What Angst?: When villains target our heroes, it's not uncommon for civilians to perish as collateral damage. Examples can be found in every part, but the most extreme example is probably in Part 5, where Cioccolata appears to kill most of a coastal Italian village's population, plus a good chunk of Rome's, with his Green Day, in an attempt to stop Bucciarati's squad. Yet, heroes rarely seem to express guilt or trauma over the many innocents that they watch die horribly just because they happened to be near them at the wrong time.
  • Archive Panic: The manga has been going strong for over 30 years, with over 900 chapters and counting. However, the fact that it's split up into distinct parts helps make the experience more digestible.
  • Awesome Art:
    • While every part has its fair share, Steel Ball Run shows a noticeable increase in quality after the series was changed from a weekly to a monthly release, to the point that it exhibits some of the most beautiful art in recent manga history. The super-detailed "DIO's World" arc qualifies as well.
    • Opinions on the 1993 OVA are divided, but most fans can agree that the animation during the final fight against Dio is gorgeous.
  • Awesome Ego: Many characters in this series are completely aware of this, with Dio Brando and Joseph Joestar being the two greatest examples.
  • Awesome Music: While Part 5 tends to get praised the most for this, the entire series has memorable music, including the themes for each JoJo and all the OP themes. The villain motifs are also highlights, especially the themes for DIO and Kira.
  • Badass Decay: Joseph in Part 3. It's justified since he's now an old man who neglected his Hamon training during the time gap and is not the main JoJo of Part 3, but it's still frustrating to see the guy that took down Wamuu and Esidisi struggling so much to fight the enemy Stand users. By Part 4, Joseph takes a backseat from the action as he's pushing eighty years old and retired by then.
  • Can't Un-Hear It:
  • Common Knowledge:
    • It's often believed that the reason why Steel Ball Run is a Continuity Reboot is because the previous part ends with the universe being destroyed and recreated, with the resulting universe being the one Parts 7 and 8 take place in. This is wrong, since these parts take place in a completely separate parallel world, not the same universe post-reset.
    • You'll often hear that Hamon was completely dropped once Stands were introduced but it does show up one more time during the Dio fight: Joseph wraps himself in Hermit Purple and imbues it with Hamon as a defense against Dio, nearly tricking the vampire into damaging himself with a melee attack, which is what prompts Dio to use his iconic knife throwing strategy. After that it does disappear from the story, largely because Hamon has already fulfilled its purpose of defeating the Pillar Men and their vampire derivatives.
    • Hamon is sometimes described as a specialist martial art that only works on monsters Weakened by the Light, never mind that its first appearance in Phantom Blood has Zeppeli destroying a rock with Hamon energy. In addition, Hamon can still harm normal people as Battle Tendency shows Joseph slicing apart a cop's fingers with Hamon and Caesar using Hamon to hypnotize a random woman. Even Hamon users are not immune to Hamon techniques as demonstrated in Joseph's bouts against Caesar and Ultimate Kars.
    • It is generally claimed that DIO loses his vampire powers in Stardust Crusaders to explain why DIO primarily relies on his new Stand to fight the protagonists... even though a major plot point in Stardust Crusaders is that DIO can mind control people with his vampire flesh buds. Later, DIO also demonstrates to Hol Horse that his vampire powers still work but are weaker on his body's left side because he hasn't fully adjusted to Jonathan's body. After DIO absorbs Joseph's blood, he regains full control over his vampire powers, which in turn strengthens The World.
  • Creator Worship: The fanbase holds author Hirohiko Araki on a pedestal to say the least.
  • Cult Classic: In the west; prior to the anime beginning in 2012 it was largely unknown with a small but very passionate following. One of the main problems with exporting the series is the copyright issues there since Araki's musical shout-outs are beloved by the fans.
  • Diagnosed by the Audience:
    • Quite a few fans have speculated that Jotaro is autistic, going off of how socially inept he was during his introduction as well as in later parts, as well as his official description pointing out that he acts like The Stoic because he mistakenly assumes everyone else can figure out how he's feeling. Likewise Jotaro's surprising interests in geeky things such as Columbo and his doctorate in marine biology are commonly interpreted as a form of autistic special interest. That his communication issues outright damaged his relationship with his wife and daughter is also seen by fans to be a rather realistic portrayal of the difficulties autistic people face in romantic and familial relationships with non-autistics.
    • There are also some fans who believe that, based on actions taken in later story arcs, Jotaro suffers from noise-induced hearing loss on his right ear as a result of firing a gun at his ear at point blank range, averting the Steel Ear Drums trope.
    • A number of fans speculate that Noriaki Kakyoin from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders is both autistic and depressed. Such readings hinge on his large knowledge of trivia, his high observance, his difficulties with socialization, his self-isolation as a result of his Stand (which is interpreted as allegorical for neurodivergence in this context), and a couple moments which parallel echolalia.
  • Draco in Leather Pants: Some fans tend to think that Dio Brando is less monstrous than he actually is, going so far as to draw him as a caring father to Giorno (sometimes raising him alongside Jonathan as his husband, despite Dio decapitating Jonathan at the end of Phantom Blood). On top of that, he's just so amusing that he's a walking meme factory.

    E-H 
  • Estrogen Brigade: Has a huge female following, no doubt in part due to the large amounts of Ho Yay, fabulousness, and the casts outside of Parts 6 and 8 being 90% male. Each part has its own appeal to fangirls, with the earlier parts being full of Hunky Mr. Fanservice types and the later parts featuring a Cast Full of Pretty Boys. The characters of Part 5 in particular seem to be designed specifically to tap into this demographic.
  • Fandom-Enraging Misconception:
    • Mistaking the Stands for Personas.
    • Calling Parts anything other than Parts. (e.g. seasons, story arcs...) Though this only really took hold after the release of the 2012 anime, as before then, calling them arcs was more common.
    • Thinking that the series is an homage to '80s and '90s anime.
    • Pointing out supposed flaws in the story that were already explained as a case of "Araki forgot" is a good way of annoying more devoted fans of the series.
  • Fandom Heresy: Skipping parts. Even fans that dislike several parts really frown on those who deliberately skip parts to get to later parts, especially when it is about watching the most recent season of the anime adaptation. Skipping straight to Stardust Crusaders, the third part, is especially tempting for newcomers, since it's the part that clears up most of the Early Instalment Weirdness and introduces Stands, but it's also strongly connected to previous parts (the Big Bad, Dio, was introduced in Phantom Blood, and an aged version of Battle Tendency's protagonist Joseph is a major character), so not watching the first two parts is still frowned upon, especially since they're the shortest parts, only taking half an anime season each. Those that advocate skipping are quickly singled out by the fanbase and yelled at for daring to say such a horrible thing, which happened with this video encouraging skipping parts by summarizing the first four parts so that people could jump into Golden Wind. It started an outcry and many voices were raised to criticize the mere idea of skipping. Those against skipping parts argue that the best way to enjoy the series is in order and that those who won't give a part a fair chance should not even touch the series at all, being quick to accuse a part skipper of only being in for the memes and not the actual qualities of the series. However, Araki did make his parts rather self-contained so it isn't like you'd miss out on much (though you do miss on callbacks and plot points established earlier), and Araki himself said that it was okay to read the series out of order.
  • Fanfic Fuel: Due to the series' naming conventions, many fans are able to come up with their own Stands based on tarot cards or popular music. It helps that it's possible to be born with one's Stand rather than being shot with the Bow and Arrow, making these Stands a real possibility.
  • Fan Myopia: There's a very vocal section of the fandom that can be somewhat overzealous about JoJo, to the point of seeing most other works through the lens of its relation to JoJo. For example, if you look into the YouTube comments section of a song/band that the manga references, there's a decent chance it'll be peppered with JoJo references that barely mention the song/band itself, even if the video itself never invites those references. The fandom has a meme referencing this tendency to label the most unrelated things as a Shout-Out to JoJo.
  • Fan Nickname:
    • Stands are often referred to as "punch ghosts" for reasons that should be fairly obvious.
    • The companions are occasionally referred to as "Jobros" for their close relationship to their part's Joestar, in particular whichever given character in a part had the closest friendship with the associated JoJo (ie Speedwagon, Gyro).
    • Fans sometimes call the color scans "JoJo's Colored Adventure".
    • Jotaro's post-Stardust Crusaders appearances in parts 4-6 are known as "Ocean Man" due to him having studied and gotten a degree in marine biology.
    • Due to his name being unrevealed prior to the release of the first issue, the protagonist of Part Nine was given the nickname of "John JoJoLands".
  • Fan-Preferred Couple: Due to the nature of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, fans tend to prefer the JoJos with their Heterosexual Life Partners or Rivals instead of their canon love interests.
    • While most fans take kindly to Jonathan's relationship with Erina, he is more often paired up with Dio due to the strong Foe Romance Subtext between the two, both acting as Foils to each other, and their final moments together where Jonathan is still shown to care about Dio, and the latter being visibly shocked by the former's death.
    • Although Joseph/Suzi Q is still a generally well-liked couple, Joseph/Caesar is one of the fandom's most popular pairings due to the two's well-developed Friendly Rivalry which is tragically cut short by Caesar's death.
    • Despite Jolyne getting together with Anasui post-reset, many fans prefer to ship Jolyne/Ermes as the two's Bash Brother relationship parallel the previous Parts' "BroJo" pairings such as Joseph/Caesar and Josuke/Okuyasu.
    • Continuing the trend of each Part, Johnny/Gyro is the one of the most popular pairings from Part 7 due to the strong friendship the two form over the course of the story, their humorous dynamic with other, and Johnny's devastating reaction to Gyro's death. Even after Johnny is shown to have gotten into a loving marriage after the Part's events, this is still his most popular ship.
  • Fanon:
    • There's no real 100% agreed upon color/style for any character in further parts, but in fan coloration and fanart it's very common to see many characters wearing lipstick, especially if they're fluorescent-colored, even though the manga didn't start portraying characters this way until part 6.
    • With some exceptions, Stands are just mindless automatons. Fans love to give them a personality, like Killer Queen acting like a cat, or The World being Jonathan's mindless spirit. In fact, some fans even like to portray King Crimson as the true villain of Part 5, being a Stand that gained control of its user, like Anubis. It helps that Diavolo's backstory is pretty ambiguous.
    • As mentioned in Never Live It Down Kakyoin is often portrayed in Fanon as a Milf-Hunter who has a thing for Holly.
    • It's often theorized that Jotaro met his future wife in college (possibly in Florida, before he decided to settle down there), and that she's a fellow marine biologist.
    • DIO is sometimes depicted as a bumbling dad who raised Giorno and being a Sitcom Archnemesis with Jotaro and baby Jolyne even when circumstances did not allow the two to meet at all in the main story. Sometimes Giorno is depicted with his current hairstyle as an infant even though he only got it as a teenager with his Stand.
    • In an attempt to explain what would otherwise be Fridge Logic or Early-Installment Weirdness, it's commonly accepted that the reason Giorno didn't obtain Gold Experience Requiem when Black Sabbath stabbed Gold Experience with an Arrow is because only the Arrow Polnareff found is able to create a Requiem Stand. This, of course, creates its own Fridge Logic when one remembers that the Arrows were all made from the same meteor, so it wouldn't make sense for one to have abilities that the others don't. The other is that the Stand Arrow only gives Requiem Stands to those it deems "worthy", which has some basis in the story, but otherwise doesn't outright match up or explain it.
    • To explain why Yoshikage Kira received a new power instead of a Requiem Stand (ignoring just the fact that the concept didn't exist in Part 4), fans often believe that how a Stand User is pierced by the arrow will determine what ability they receive. Kira himself was stabbed with the arrow, thus gaining Bites the Dust, while Giorno pierced Gold Experience with it, evolving it into a Requiem Stand. The series never outright confirms this, but its consistent with what happens to make it more likely.
  • Fanon Discontinuity: Due to Araki’s tendency to kill off a lot of fan-favorite characters, fans tend to ignore those deaths. Caesar in Part 2 and Kakyoin in Part 3 are especially affected by this.
  • Fountain of Memes: From "KONO DIO DA!" to "ZA WARUDO!" and "ROAD ROLLER DA!", Dio is generally considered the most quotable and memorable character.
    • Joseph Joestar is also full of meme-worthy lines, mainly in Part 2, specially the "your next line is..." and the Engrish moments.
  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
    • Italy remains the only western country where the manga has been fully released and has significant popularity. The series has a strong cult following around the world though. 1/5 of the cast is Italian, one of the 8 parts takes place in Italy and all parts with the exception of 3 references Italy to an extent. Italians love JoJo, and JoJo returns the favor.
    • Meanwhile, the French are big fans of the series as a whole, despite the first translation being by editor J'ai Lu (who was notoriously bad with its manga imprint, not only having usually borderline blind idiot translations, but also using extremely cheap paper and ink). Araki was even invited to do a fine arts exhibition in 2009 at the Louvre (which houses the Mona Lisa as well as countless other priceless works of art).
  • Growing the Beard:
    • Phantom Blood generally came across as being a typical melodrama told in manga form, with nothing particularly "bizarre" about the titular adventure other than Speedwagon's somewhat anachronistic name and his buzzsaw-hat. Then Dio turned into a vampire, and at that point all bets were off. The beard-growing continued with the introduction of the Hamon fighting style, which led to some particularly clever and out-there battles. The art style also shows noticeable improvement at that point-faces are less cartoony and actually fit the detailed muscular bodies most of the cast have.
    • Battle Tendency was where the series went from unintentionally over-the-top, to not only embracing it, but cranking it up to eleven. It's also where the series' penchant for fights based more on intelligence and clever tricks truly started. Granted, there were a few moments like that in the previous part, usually revolving around Dio, but the sequel went full bore on it by turning the protagonist into a full-on Guile Hero and making almost everyone he goes up against not just Nigh-Invulnerable, but extremely clever as well. In an interesting parallel, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The Animation also got noticeably better during this part of the adaptation due to an increase in budget, allowing for more character movement, and a larger number of episodes dedicated to it, allowing for better pacing. It allowed the viewer to feel more emotionally invested in the characters.
    • Stardust Crusaders, when Stands were introduced and replaced the Hokuto Shinken-esque style of martial arts used in the previous parts, is considered by many to be the point when the series really got interesting with Puzzle Boss fights becoming the conflict of choice. Within Part 3, it's often said that the point where Araki really got the hang of writing interesting and unique Stand battles is around the time the heroes land in Egypt.
    • A lot of people who read Diamond Is Unbreakable find that Yoshikage Kira's introduction halfway through the story arc allowed that part of the series to really come into its own. This is particularly because of the later battles in the arc, which are cited as some of the best in the manga.
    • Since Diamond is Unbreakable, the manga became increasingly more focused on the characterization and drama as well as the battles. In Steel Ball Run, this transition was firmly solidified, with the Shōnen-to-Seinen shift resulting in pronounced Art Evolution and a definitive move from fun action stories with occasional heavy moments to a serious character-driven and plot-heavy drama.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • In Part 1, Erina Pendleton has her Sacred First Kiss stolen by Dio Brando and is beaten mercilessly by him. She can't do much to avenge herself. In Part 7, Lucy Steel, the former Lucy Pendleton, personally causes (alternate universe) Diego Brando's head to explode. The best part is, she's not all that much better in the fighting department.
    • During Jonathan and Dio's fight in Windknight's Lot in Phantom Blood, Dio claims that Jonathan's efforts are useless, comparing it to a monkey fighting a man. This becomes quite funny come Stardust Crusaders, when one of the Stand users that Dio sends after the cast is an orangutan.
    • During the fight with Hanged Man in Part 3, Polnareff thinks that it attacks from "a world inside the mirror". Kakyoin dismisses it, saying that there is no such thing as a world inside a mirror. Cut to Part 5 where Illuso and his Stand, Man in the Mirror, attacks by dragging people into a world inside a mirror. Then the series gets adapted into anime, with Yasuko Kobayashi writing the script - which might not sound that funny at first, but then you remember she wrote Kamen Rider Ryuki, which has a mirror world as a plot point.
    • During his initial fight with Wamuu, Ceasar criticizes Joseph's fighting abilities, stating "All you did was throw some metal balls." And then comes Steel Ball Run, where not only are metal balls used as weapons, but they're used mainly by Caesar's Alternate Self.
    • The infamous 1994 CLAMP doujinshi where Kakyoin gives birth to a baby whose stand is a mixture of his and Jotaro, with the ability to unravel its body into tentacles and Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs. 6 years later, Stone Ocean stars Jotaro's daughter, Jolyne, and she has the ability to unravel her stand into string, has Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs, and even a battle cry of "Ora ora ora!". This is lampshaded in a fan video. In both the doujinshi and canon, Jotaro's kids have a rocky relationship with him while they adore their mother, so take what you will from that.
    • One wonders how Kakyoin would have reacted to Shizuka, given that she's another BABY STAND user.
  • Hype Backlash: As of the end of The New '10s and the start of The New '20s, the fanbase seems to be approaching critical mass to the same extent as the Doctor Who, Sonic the Hedgehog, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, and Undertale fandoms before it. Most of this stems from the constant pushing of the same stale meme formats for years, far longer than what's considered an acceptable lifespan of memes in modern meme culture before the inevitable refresh/replacement has to appear. The rest comes from a really, really loud subset of the fandom that really overblows Jojo's story as the best in all of manga/anime while constantly taking potshots at the other fandoms.

    I-R 
  • Incest Yay Shipping: A popular one involving the Joestar bloodline with family members that never interacted is Jolyne/Giorno. While they never met, their ages are relatively close to each other, they're the children of Jotaro and DIO, and based on the family tree, their lineages are separated enough to legally be considered no longer blood-related. In crossover art done starting with JoJolion, Araki seems to be a bit of a Ship Teaser, as Jolyne◊ and Giorno◊ in these pieces are often seen embracing each other, sometimes provocatively.
  • It Was His Sled: Everything about Dio in Part 1 and Part 3 is common knowledge to most people with a casual awareness of the series. You'd have to live under a rock in another universe to not know that he was reduced to just a head, then kills Jonathan and steals his body. Also, he's the Big Bad of Stardust Crusaders and can also stop time. (For many Western internet dwellers from a much older era of the internet, the fanmade Mudah.swf animation — which showcased Dio's powers and the infamous steamroller drop — posted on flash-supporting sites like Albino Black Sheep was their first exposure to the series.) It sort of makes all the buildup leading to the reveal for naught. However, due to the series' longtime Cult Classic status there are some newer JoJo fans that only discovered the series thanks to the Animated Adaptation that began in 2012. By some miracle, these fans are just now learning about those aforementioned facts concerning Dio as they're revealed in the anime.
  • Launcher of a Thousand Ships:
  • LGBT Fanbase: Unsurprising since the entire series is utterly drenched in Ho Yay and Camp, and appeals to a wide spectrum of queer audiences. The first parts are filled with Tom of Finland-esque manly designs popular with Bara Genre fans, while later ones appeal to fans of Bishōnen. On the female side of things there's Part 6 which takes place in Girls Behind Bars and includes strong, sometimes even Butch Lesbian looking women and the ambiguously transgender Anasui in its cast, as well as Scarlet Valentine in Part 7 who is openly bisexual. Part 9 introduces Jodio Joestar and his older brother Dragona, a proud otokonoko who has the adoration of many transgender and gender-nonconforming fans.
  • Love to Hate: Dio Brando. He is an evil son-of-a-bitch, and he comes with a convenient Freudian Excuse for apologists to latch onto (which is eventually outright stated to not justify any of his actions at all), but he's so damn cool that he is easily the series' most popular character precisely because of it rather than in spite of it.
  • Memetic Badass:
    • It's become something of a joke among fans that series author, Hirohiko Araki, is an ageless immortal◊ (or an immortal fairy).
    • Speedwagon, despite being a Badass Normal, has a massive following within the fandom who like to portray him as all-powerful god who can defeat any character in and out of the franchise.
    • Joseph "OH MY GOD" Joestar, espeically when he says "Your Next Line is" which he used even on the Ultimate Life Form. In Battle Tendency with no Stand, posing and plenty of bullshit, he wrecked four Aztec superbeings who were 10 times more powerful than Dio was in Phantom Blood and he's the only JoJo who got to live until old age. Even as a 69 year old man in Stardust Crusaders he still generates Perverse Sexual Lust in and out of universe and it's pretty much confirmed had Alessi used his Fountain of Youth Stand on Joseph (returning him to his prime) the adventure would've been over in no time at all, because peak Joseph is just that badass.
    • Jotaro Kujo, the stoic, no-nonsense tough guy that would make Clint Eastwood proud. Whenever you hear his theme, be prepared to see someone get ORA ORA'd into oblivion in the coolest way possible.
  • Misblamed: Many instances in which characters' official names are My Nayme Is variants of real-world musicians or brands, such as Straizo, Esidisi, and Ermes are accused of being the results of translators Writing Around Trademarks when they are in fact more accurate reflections of the original Japanesenote  than the direct references many fans are used to, which are actually the result of fan translations. While the official English translations do use Writing Around Trademarks out of necessity, actual instances of this tend to be more overt (e.g. "Oingo" and "Boingo" becoming "Zenyatta" and "Mondatta", "J. Geil" becoming "Centerfold", and "Santana" becoming "Santviento"), which makes sense since such lawsuits often account for name variations anyway.
  • Misaimed Marketing: "Bizarre Adventure" sounds like the title of a work that's totally harmless, right? That's probably what an employee of the French store chain "Fnac" thought when they decided to put the DVD of the first season of the anime in the category "Youth, Children." It gets better: if you go to the bottom of the article's page, you'll see that it's in the 3-6 years category! Seems that seeing Dio get shot by 5 bullets at the beginning of each episode is totally appropriate for children that young...
  • Moe: Speedwagon, for his exuberant supportiveness towards Jonathan (and the fact that he continues supporting the Joestars financially and emotionally by following Joseph on his adventures, and then financially through the Speedwagon Foundation after Speedwagon himself passes on).
  • Narm Charm: All the Rule of Cool makes the ridiculous names somehow great instead of pure corn. The manga and anime are full of constant grit and Gorn. However, take that, throw in some of Japan's and the West's best voice actors, as well as bright colors, strong art direction, and acting and narrative that is so over-the-top it's awesome, and you can see why so many are hooked. What other series could make you take a villain dressed in hearts named Vanilla Ice with his Stand named Cream seriously?
  • Not-So-Cheap Imitation: The manga was heavily influenced by Fist of the North Star, especially in its early arcs. While JoJo was a niche series for a while, it exploded in popularity in America with the start of the 2012 anime, whereas Fist of the North Star is at best a Cult Classic in America.
  • Once Original, Now Common: This is the seventh-longest-running manga, ever, and it seems tired at points (but no less awesome) by today's standards, seeing as it invented most of the current shonen tropes. This ironically played in the 2012 anime's favor, since in these days of deeply flawed heroes, sympathetic villains and many played and subverted shonen fighter tropes, Part 1 Phantom Blood's by the book Ideal Hero Jonathan, unambiguously and Obviously Evil (yet still having some degree of complexity) Dio and many played seriously straight shonen tropes actually look fresh.
  • One True Threesome:
  • Play-Along Meme: As Stands are Invisible to Normals, cue comments joking about why anyone is so excited over a bunch of idiots just standing and walking around yelling at each other.
  • Portmanteau Couple Name: Just for about every ship, to start with:
    • Part 1 has JonaDio for Dio/Jonathan and JonaEri for Jonathan/Erina
    • Part 2 has CaeJose for Joseph/Caesar.
    • Part 3 has JotaKak (JoKa for the Japanese fandom) for Jotaro/Kakyoin, PolDul/AvPol for Polnareff/Abdul, and KakPol for Kakyoin/Polnareff.
    • Part 4 has Josuyasu for Josuke/Okuyasu and JosuHan (JoRo for the Japanese fandom) for Josuke/Rohan.
    • Part 5 has GioMis for Giorno/Mista, BruAbba for Abbacchio/Bucellati and FugoNara for Narancia/Fugo.
    • Part 6 has Jolymes for Jolyne/Ermes and Foolyne for Jolyne/Foo Fighters.
    • Part 7 has GyJo for Gyro/Johnny, DieJo for Diego/Johnny, played with for Diego/Hot Pants however, where it's DinoPants.
    • Part 8 has Josuho for Josuke/Yasuho and KiraFumi for Kira/Josefumi.
  • Recurring Fanon Character:
    • Jouta Kujo is the son of Jotaro and Kakyoin who hatched from an egg laid by Kakyoin. He first appeared in a CLAMP doujin and became widely memed due to the absurdity of his birth and character.
    • Haruno Higashikata is an original character for JoJolion based off of what would have happened if the other half of the Kira/Josefumi exchange survived. He became incredibly prolific, with people claiming that he had always existed, editing him into shots and claiming that if you didn't know him you were faking even reading Part 8 in the first place.
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Part 4 for Jotaro, who was divisive outside Japan. The Jerkass and '90s Anti-Hero aspects that make him The Scrappy for a lot of Part 3 fans are heavily dialed down, positive traits like his nerdy animal-loving side become a lot more prominent, his stepping down from the protagonist role makes him less overly perfect, and his reticence makes him Adorkable rather than hard to empathize with this time around. It also helps that he serves as a Big Brother Mentor to both Josuke and Koichi. Further rescued in Part 6, which deconstructs the character traits used to try to make him seem "cool" in Part 3, acknowledging them as character flaws which have damaged his relationship with his daughter.

    S-W 
  • Sacred Cow: Speedwagon is such a beloved character in the fandom that it is considered unthinkable to criticize him. However, if you trash him and certain users know where you live, it's best to move out of the country.
  • Sequel Displacement: Of a sort. Even after the 2012 anime, when you mention JoJo's Bizarre Adventure to most people, it's Stardust Crusaders that'll come to mind first. SC was when the series' popularity really caught on.
  • Ships That Pass in the Night: Giorno/Jolyne has a fair degree of popularity even though they've never met (despite some teasing of a cameo in Stone Ocean) and he's technically her great-great-great-uncle. Even Araki's drawn art of them getting frisky.
  • Ship-to-Ship Combat: The JoJo shipping fandom is a surprisingly friendly one considering all the possible Ho Yay and ship combinations that are out there, but it does exist. Mostly between Josuke/Okuyasu and Josuke/Rohan shippers, with particularly heated debates about how the latter, which has a lot of fans due to perceived Belligerent Sexual Tension, is ephebophilia because of how Josuke is 16 and Rohan is 20.
  • Shocking Moments: Due to the author's don't-show-everything-at-the-start storytelling style and... imagination... the series continually throws ever more crazy abilities at the reader.
  • Signature Song: There are two choices for the songs most strongly associated with this series: Yes' "Roundabout", the Real Song Theme Tune for the first season, and "il vento d'oro", the Theme Music Power-Up from Part 5. Both became huge memes, making them extremely memorable to anyone with any amount of familiarity with JoJo.
  • Song Association:
    • The Beatles' "Get Back" is associated with the series due to the song being about a man named Jojo, despite Araki confirming that it wasn't necessarily the actual series' namesake. Battle Tendency ends with Joseph listening to a cassette by the Beatles that is implied to be of this song.
    • Thanks to the new anime series, many an anime fan automatically correlates the various licensed songs used in the show's credits sequences with JoJo. So far, we've got Yes' classic prog-rock song "Roundabout", the Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian", Pat Metheny Group's "Last Train Home", Savage Garden's "I Want You", Jodeci's "Freek'n You", and Enigma's "Modern Crusaders". Humorously enough, when "I Want You" was revealed to be Part 4's ending theme, one of the first JoJo-related comments on Savage Garden VEVO's upload of the song's music video read "KNOCK KNOCK IT'S THE JOJO FANDOM." The same thing happened to "Freekn' You". When you search these music videos, JoJo-related comments and references will definitely be commonplace.
    • And it seems that it doesn't have to be used as the ending just to be associated with JoJo. The song "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio was very requested by fans to be the ED for Vento Aureo and there was massive disappointment when it was revealed that "Freekn' You" was used insteadnote . The YouTube comments for "Gangsta's Paradise" are full of JoJo fans.
    • The theme song for the Phantom Blood film "VOODOO KINGDOM" caused fans to associate the series with the Japanese hip-hop band Soul'd Out as well. It helps that Wekapipo and Magent Magent from Steel Ball Run are named after said band's songs, and Araki did design one of their album covers.
    • A common gag variation of this trope is associating Jotaro with Ween's Ocean Man, due to the fandom's portrayal of his flanderized love of sea life.
    • "Ok 2 B Gay" by Tomboy, of all songs, happens to be associated with the series as well, specifically the character Josuke Higashikata.
    • DIO and his Stand, The World, are associated with "Holy Diver" due to how it looks like a pharaoh with scuba tanks on its back.
    • To a lesser extent, any song referenced in the series will get this from fans.
  • Squick: Well, when you have a series that has several... unique ways of showing bodily trauma and harm, it's best to carry a paper bag whenever you're watching this.
    • The Pillar Men's Body Horror powers, Esidisi's Fingore and Santana's abilities stand out the most.
    • Death 13 gagging Kakyoin by filling his mouth with eyeballs. Nightmares, man. The wielder of said stand ends up being forced to eat his own poop.
    • Yoshikage Kira takes hand fetishism to the extreme: he likes to sever the hands of the women he kills and treat them as girlfriends, buying them gifts of jewelry and taking them on dates before they rot away. Just...ew.◊
    • The Cold-Blooded Torture in Part 5 is... Not for the weak of heart.
    • Just try to look at how Pesci uses Beach Boy on Mista without cringing.
    • In the same vein, Risotto uses Metallica to turn the iron in your blood into sharp, painful blades, making you cough them up.
    • The way Jolyne uses Stone Free to unravel herself is really unsettling to look at especially for readers who have trypophobia.
    • The effects of the Green Baby's stand, which turns people close by into human trees.
    • Heavy Weather may be the most infamous example of this in the entire series. It sends subliminal messages that cause people to perceive everything around them turning into snails.
    • Dio lying in bed shirtless with Pucci, talking about things like "gravity". Pucci was 15 at the time.
    • Melone's interrogation techniques for choosing the next host for Baby Face is more than a little predatory.
  • Starboarding:
    • Speedwagon → Jonathan. Speedwagon's extraordinary devotion to Jonathan is obviously very commonly interpreted as Ho Yay, but Jonathan ends up in an Official Couple with Erina, and gets killed by Dio on the first night of their honeymoon, so there's no way that a relationship between the two can fit in canon. Because of this, fans commonly interpret Speedwagon as having a one-sided crush on Jonathan, supporting his relationship with Erina despite the heartbreak. This is further supported by Battle Tendency's epilogue, which states that Speedwagon died of a heart attack at an old age, while having never married ("he never married" was used in England as an euphemism for homosexuality), implying that Speedwagon was never able to move on from his feelings for Jonathan.
    • Caesar → Joseph. While they make for the Fan-Preferred Couple of this part, it's also quite common to portray their dynamic as a case of conventional Heterosexual Life-Partners but with one-sided attraction from Caesar towards Joseph (itself lampshaded in-universe by Messina, who thinks Caesar has a crush on him), with Joseph being oblivious until it's too late.
  • Star Trek Movie Curse:
    • At least in the west, the odd-numbered parts of the original continuity tend to be more contentious than the even-numbered ones. Phantom Blood is notably shorter than its successors (to the point where it doesn't even occupy half of the anime adaptation's first season) and hardly feels like JJBA while Stardust Crusaders and Golden Wind are criticized for being an endless string of repetitive Monster of the Week fights. Their respective protagonists tend to be divisive and less well-regarded by fans, with Jonathan being seen as a likeable-enough Ideal Hero but also bland and uncompelling, Jotaro being a '90s Anti-Hero whose Jerkass traits have significant portions of the Western audience outright despising him, and Giorno being considered a boring lead who is overshadowed by everyone else. Battle Tendency and Diamond Is Unbreakable, meanwhile, are almost universally regarded by western fans as the best parts in the original series for their ability to refine their direct predecessors' formulas, and while Stone Ocean tends to be overlooked compared to other parts, Western fans tend to respond to it with general praise as well for its efforts at tackling deeper themes and character development (though its ending sees more mixed reception). All three protagonists in these even-numbered parts (Joseph, Josuke, and Jolyne, respectively) also frequently butt heads among fans for the distinction of the series' best protagonist, with each one of them being praised for their in-depth and memorable characterization.
    • The Continuity Reboot of the series, meanwhile, inverts this. Steel Ball Run is near-universally regarded as the greatest work in the entire franchise for its emotional depth, morally complex characters, gorgeous artwork, and ability to consolidate an action-heavy series with heavily introspective and metaphysical themes. Meanwhile, JoJolion is incredibly divisive for its slow-burning and convoluted plot, with many accusing series author Hirohiko Araki of making everything up on the fly even more than usual, and for having artwork that sometimes suffers from Only Six Faces and Dull Surprise. Conversely The JOJOLands is already praised for having a story that immediately jumps into the thick of the action from the first two chapters and a cast who manages to be much more expressive and varied in design right off the bat.
  • Stoic Woobie: Jotaro's had a pretty rough life. His mother falls victim to DIO, most of his friends and nearly his grandfather are killed by him and his men, he spends the rest of his life hunting other Stand users, which lost him the love of his daughter, and he gives his life trying to save her. And yet he hardly displays any outward sadness over any of these things.
  • Subbing Versus Dubbing: While the dub is still praised by many, several fans prefer to listen to the original language due to the hamminess of the Japanese voice actors and the retaining of the original Stand names.
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
    • According to Hirohiko Araki, many fans were not on-board with the shift from Hamon to Stands when the latter were first introduced. It goes without saying that this changed quickly in subsequent years, as the element is known to be one of the features of JoJo that help it stand out from other action manga. However, thanks in part to Battle Tendency anime adaptation there are new fans who are angry once again by the battle-dynamic Hamon being replaced.
    • The art style after Stardust Crusaders where the characters would no longer be buff macho characters in design hasn't been well received by some fans, especially 80's anime aficionados.
    • The Stardust Crusaders OVAs sometimes get this reaction for altering all battles except one, being much more serious in tone, and having grittier character designs. On the other hand, it's pretty much universally agreed that the D'Arby the Gambler episode, which was perfectly faithful to the manga (it even changed the art style to Araki's) save for one plot detail at the very end, is awesome. David Production even made a homage to it by casting Banjo Ginga as D'Arby as a replacement for the late Kenji Utsumi (both are famous for playing Fist of the North Star villains Souther and Raoh).
    • Among the changes made to the script for the English dub of Parts 1 and 2, the removal of Dio's "Wryyyyy!", all but one instance in which Joseph cries "OH NO!", and the change of the German soldiers' painful cry of "Tacos!" to "Ouchies!" was met with derision.
  • Too Cool to Live: In parts 1, 2, and 7, this is the ultimate fate of anyone in the Zeppeli family. Part 3's Spiritual Successor to Will and Caesar, Kakyoin, counts for the same reasons.
  • Vindicated by History: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has always been popular in Japan, but it took a while for it to catch on in the West. While it was never hated in Western countries, it was always pushed aside by other Shonen Jump series and remained a Cult Classic at best, thanks to a lack of localization (primarily due to the character names creating a gigantic mess of legal issues), although Memetic Mutation caused a bump in popularity in the early 2000's. Then it gained a proper anime (as opposed to 13 short OVAs) in 2012, and because it came nearly 25 years after the manga started, it has no filler and it doesn't have to worry about taking a different path in the story. Because of this and the tie-in game, JoJo became exponentially more popular in The New '10s.
  • Watch It for the Meme: JoJo has attracted a lot of casual fans simply because they want to find the origin of many popular memes.
  • What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: Ranks up there with Fist of the North Star and Apocalypse Zero as the top candidate for this trope. The sheer frank homoeroticism and casual brutality of this franchise, tolerable to teenage boys in Japan. Vento Aureo is probably the worst in this regard, occurring before the shift to a more mature seinen magazine—each and every arc in the series (which is to each of the dozen conflicts with stand users) centers around some aspect of bloody, gory, painful body horror. The next part, Stone Ocean, is also pretty bad with the gore. And has prostitutes, vibrators as currency and people exploding into snails.

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