Jojo’s Bizarre Adventureis easily one of the most unique manga/anime franchises ever made. Series creator Hirohiko Araki is a rather bizarre man himself, and he constantly takes the series to places its peers don’t even think of. The series’ unique sense of style and aesthetics is already worthy of note, but even narratively it continues to be different. Instead of following a singular plot and protagonist,Jojois divided into ‘parts’ which all feature new characters, a new story, and a new Jojo.
As if this wasn’t already unique enough, Araki also chose to surprise fans by shifting the series to a completely different timeline part way through. This is an extremely unorthodox move, and can often leave outsiders confused as to how everything in the series relates to each other. Thankfully, the existence of the alternate universe is not too complicated to understand.
RELATED:All JoJo Parts, Ranked From Worst to Best
What Is The Alternate Universe?
Starting withJojopart 1, the series followed the lineage of the Joestar family, who were all descendants of Jonathan Joestar. This includedJonathan’s grandson Josephin part 2, Joseph’s grandson Jotaro in part 3, and so on. This went on until part 6, which starredJotaro’s daughter, Jolyne.
While fans expected a typical climactic ending for part 6, Araki actually chose to end it with a universal reset, which forever changed the lives and fates of everyJojocharacter up to that point. This even included Jolyne’s name changing to Irene and her possibly no longer has a stand.
Due to this, starting in part 7, the series moved to a new universe and a new continuity, making the last 6 parts of lineage and conflict irrelevant to the events that would play out in parts 7, 8 and nowpart 9. Since it still exists in the same series however, the new universe still shares Araki’s creative vision, including his art style, writing sensibilities, and the series’ iconic power system; stands. It might be different, but is ostensibly stillJojo.
How It Differs From The Original Universe
The way the 3 parts in the new universe are crafted, they pay homage to aspects from the first 6 parts, while telling their own fresh stories. For example, part 7’s protagonist is named Jonathan Joestar(aka Johnny), just like part 1’s, and has a similar upbringing to him. However, that is where their similarities stop. Johnny ends up being extremely different to Jonathan personality-wise. He adopts many aspects of Joseph into his personality, making him quite rash and prone to anger and violence.
This is only a small taste of how part 7 blends together aspects of both parts 1 and 2, including reusing character names, concepts, and rough time periods. Part 8 continues this trend by marrying aspects of parts 3 and 4, and part 9’s first chapter has already shown aspects borrowed from parts 5 and 6.
RELATED:What Role Might Josuke Play in JOJOLands?
Despite these similarities though, the new universe has plenty of new features. Instead of ‘hamon’, the AU uses ‘the spin’ as an alternative power system tostands, and stand arrows are nowhere to be found. Vampires and ‘pillar men’ are also swapped out for ‘rock humans’ who function completely differently. Stands in general also function a bit differently than they used to, and are much more tied to forces of nature like calamity and rotation, and have increasingly more strange designs and abilities.
The Joestar family tree also ends up looking much different. For example, instead of Jotaro Kujo being Joseph’s only grandchild, AU Joseph ends up having 4 grandchildren; Yoshikage Kira, Kei Nijimura, Jodio Joestar and Dragona Joestar.
Why It Exists
Despite whatpart 6’s endingmight imply, the AU wasn’t actually born from Pucci’s reset of the universe. Araki has been sure to clarify that it is an entirely new universe with no direct connections to what came before.
It’s understood that Araki wanted to expand his creative options after the end of part 6, and felt like he needed a clean slate to build upon. This is why he ended part 6 the way he did, so there would be no chance of continuing the story ofJojoin the original universe. It’s fortunate then, that part 7 ended up being a huge breath of fresh air for the series, and is commonly considered the best part ofJojoby fans.
What Does It Mean For The Series?
In a way, the universe swap dividesJojocleanly in two, making parts 1-6 their own mini-series of sorts while parts 7 and beyond are their own. For Araki of course, this meant he could try out new ideas, but it is also a beneficial move for newJojofans who might find the series’ length somewhat intimidating.
Just asthe part structurebreaks the series into easier-to-consume pieces, the 2 universes provide the same utility on a bigger scale. While not advised, new readers could easily jump into part 7 if they wanted to, as it requires no knowledge of parts 1-6 to enjoy, and could better get new fans invested than parts 1 or 2 would.
MORE:JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Hamon and Stands, Explained
