Phantom blood

The action takes place in the UK in the second half of the XIX century . An alcoholic thief finds a broken cart of a rich man and pretends to be a savior. As a token of gratitude, George Jostar later accepts the family of the son of a thief - Dio Brando , who from the first meeting disliked Jonathan , George's son, and decides to ruin his life by all means, for which he resorts to the meanest methods. However, Jonathan does not lose heart. It takes 8 years; father fatally falls ill, but it turns out that in fact Dio, who wants to receive an inheritance, sprinkled poison on his stepfather. Jonathan uncovers the crime and attacks Dio. He decides to try on a mysterious mask that turns him into a vampire. The estate burned to the ground, Jonathan goes on a journey and meets with Will Zeppeli , who teaches the main character of the technique of "Jamon" ( Jap. 波紋 Jamon ) , with which you can defeat the undead, as well as Robert Speedwagon, a former robber. So Jonathan, finding new allies, begins to fight against Dio and his new dead servants. Dio first draws Jack the Ripper, and then the long-dead knights of Tarkus and Bruford.

Jonathan Jostar ( j . ジ з ナ サ главный ・ ・ ジ ョ ー ス ー Jonasan Jo: suta:) is the protagonist of the first part of the manga. Originally from the noble family of Jostar. At first he lived in the same mansion with Dio Brando, but after he became a vampire, Jonathan began to fight against him using the Jamon technique. In the end, he dies, and Dio takes possession of his body. According to the IGN information site , in March 2011, Jonathan became the character of the week ^[1] . According to the critic of the site Kotaku.com , Jonathan turned out to be a very boring character - a pure and cultured gentleman who always did the right things for the right reasons ^[2] .

Saiyu : Kajuyuki Okitsu

Dio Brando ( Jap. デ ィ オ ・ ブ ラ ン ド ー Dio Burando :) is the main antagonist . In his youth, he got into the estate of Jostarov and became a foster son. Later he tried to poison Jonathan's father, but his plan failed. With the help of a mask, he turned into a vampire and began to fight against Jonathan. In one of the episodes, he loses his body and takes it from the dead Jonathan. During the struggle, a characteristic cry is published: “MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDAAAA !!!” ^[3] , which translates as “pitiful” or “useless”.

Sayyu: Takehito Koyasu

Robert E. O. Speedwagon ( ロ バ ー ー ト ・ E ・ O ス ピ ー ワ ゴ ゴ ン Rob: This E Oh Supi: Dovagon ) is Jonathan's loyal ally. Appears for the first time in London as the head of a robber gang from Ogre Street, but, seeing the power of Jonathan, quickly changes his mind about him and decides to become a faithful companion. However, he cannot use supernatural power and acts as an observer during battles.

Sayyu: Youji Ueda

Will Antonio Zeppeli ( Jap. ・ ィ ル ・ A ・ ェ ペ リ Weir A Zepperi ) - an ally of Jonathan, who taught him to own Jamon. His main goal is to destroy the mask of the vampire that caused Zeppeli's father to die. Subsequently sacrifices his life to save Jonathan.

Prerequisites

Before the creation of the manga, Araki was inspired by the films " Rambo " and " Terminator ", which were very popular in Japan in the 1980s ^[4] . Araki wanted to create a story involving questions of justice, life and immortality, along with the search for an answer to the question of who the strongest man in the world is ^[5] . The first prerequisites for creating manga appeared in the 1980s , when Hirohiko Araki left Miyagi Pedagogical University and wrote a short chapter of Buso Poker ( Jap. 武装 武装 ー カ ー Buso Po: ka:) , where the action takes place in the Wild West ^[6] . Mangaka admitted that he was always fond of Western stories, where heroes travel through the desert ^[7] . The work was highly appreciated by the public and won the Tezuka Prize ^{[6] [8]} . In the following works, Araki decided to touch on the topic related to the physical body, so the author began to portray his characters with more muscular bodies. This style change can be traced in Baoh ( Jap. Bao ー オ ー 来訪 Рай : Raicho: Xia ) ^[9] , according to the plot of which the main character, infected by a mysterious parasite, gains super power and enters into a struggle with an organization that tries to kill him. However, this story was not popular, and Araki finished working on it, creating only two volumes. The final image of muscular characters is fixed in the next manga The Gorgeous Irene ( Jap. ゴ ー ジ ャ ス ★ ア イ リ ン Go: jyasu ★ Irene ) ^[6] .

Even before the work on the manga JoJo began, the author created a pilot version, which was very similar in style to Hisashi Eguchi, an artist known for his sketches of female characters ^[10] . Ryabuk Kabashima, editor of Araki, was extremely dissatisfied with the work and demanded that the manga be redrawn manga. So the first chapter of Phantom Blood ^{[11] appeared} .

Character poses of the characters, which in the future will become the hallmark of the Jojo franchise, were created by Araki under the inspiration of sculpture in Italy, shortly before starting work on the manga. The young mangaka visited the Borghese Gallery in Rome, and he was particularly impressed by the statue of Apollo and Daphne , which the mangaka called incredibly "beautiful and rich" as opposed to the "dry and strict statues" found in Japan ^[12] .

Story

Working on the plot, the manga adhered to the traditional formula for the development of the history of seinen-manga - “ki-syo-ten-ketsu”, or introduction-development-rotation-setting. When creating the following parts of the Araki manga, creating the main character, always adhered to the rule of sunrise, according to which the hero must develop, starting from the starting point at the beginning of the story, but not regress in the opposite direction. Mangan made this mistake when creating the first heads of the Phantom Blood manga, where the main character Jonathan “fell”, which was expressed in the invasion of Dio Brando, who in every way spoiled the life of the hero, humiliating him, remaining only in an advantageous position, as a result Araki began to receive complaints from friends reading Phantom Blood , that it is unpleasant for them to watch the hero - "the eternal loser." This forced mangaku to quickly rewrite the plot, where the hero begins to rise and develop directly ^[13] . Despite the desire to follow the established canons, in particular the "ever-developing hero," Araki decided to kill Jonathan; Mangaka admitted that it was extremely difficult for him to go for such an act, since it sounds unthinkable for seynen works, however, the mangaka explained this by the need to be able to create sequels to the manga ^[14] .

Araki was interested in stories that have been going on for many generations, such as, for example, “ East of Paradise ” or the franchise of The Godfather , which shows the interaction of several generations. Araki subsequently realized that his work turned out to be a typical product of the Jump brand with a dead end ^[15] . Having previously coordinated this issue with the publishers, Araki decides to “kill” the main character in order to pass on the baton to his descendants, but at the same time partially leave Dio alive so that he can return in an uncertain future. To do this, Araki decided to initially create a trilogy with the return of Dio in the third part ^[16] .

Araki believes that the message of the plot lies in the "opportunity to live" ^[17] , and the proof of "how beautiful humanity is." In particular, a person, despite his weakness and short life, is able to develop and overcome various difficulties with the help of his strength and spirit. The same values ​​will accompany JoJo's Bizarre Adventure franchise in the following parts, where people, overcoming their own weaknesses, are able to fight on their own and go forward, "not relying on cars and gods." ^[11] . The idea that Joseph passes the baton to his descendants was also created under the impression of the recent death of grandfather Araki, after which the mangaka thought for a long time about how people pass on a piece of themselves to the next generations before dying ^[18] .

Knowing that the mysterious stone mask would be one of the engines of the main plot, Araki decided to start the manga with a short prologue to maintain more interest in it — instead of the Aztec sacrifice scene, instead of immediately entering the main character into the story, as in the seynon-manga ^{[ 19]} . The concept of power Hamon was thought out by Araki, who wants to portray an invisible, but very powerful force. So the mangaka created the scene where the character aims at the frog, but does not hurt her, while destroying the rock on which she sat. From this scene, the mangaka developed the idea further to Hamon ^[20] . Also, mangaka liked to read manga with scenes of karate, where supernatural techniques are used ^[21] .

Characters

The idea to give the manga the name JoJo came during Araki’s communication with the editor at a nightclub located in the Jonathan's store, and then Araki decided to link the name of the new work with the title “Jonathan” to the editor ^[16] . Mangak, when creating the main character, Jonathan Jostar, argued that for a spectacular sound, he deliberately picked up a surname most consonant with the name, like Steven Spielberg's name - “SS” ^[16] . The author also broke a kind of taboo, making the main characters haikokudzinami , that is, non-Japanese ^[16] .

Creating each individual character, Araki invented him a fictional backstory, to later avoid plot mistakes. At the same time, the mangaka decided not to immediately disclose the background of the characters in the plot, but to use a separate character for the development of the storyline ^[22] . Jonathan and Dio embodied the dualism of light and darkness: Jonathan combined only positive qualities in himself, and Dio represented absolute evil. Araki used a similar concept of “absolute contrasts” in his earlier works ^[23] . Jonathan was created as a symbol of history and an important detail for the Jojo universe, references to which will sound in the distant future, when the main characters are his distant descendants ^[11] . Since Araki originally wanted to devote the manga to the Jostar family tree, Jonathan was originally conceived as “the first of the Jostars”, so he had to become a mascot - a symbol of the purity and dignity of the family to the detriment of the character’s personality; Jonathan’s actions are limited and predictable, Araki conceived of him as a passive and slightly boring type, but the plot had to be held on Dio and Jonathan’s comrades ^[21] .

In contrast to Jonathan, Dio initially thought of himself as a “tough guy,” but he decided to embark on the path of evil. Realizing that it would be difficult to create an evil character that readers could sympathize with, Araki decided to create a prehistory for Dio that he was from a poor family and literally survived in the intolerable conditions created by his cruel and immoral father, which made Dio angry at the whole world and moved to the desire to gain unlimited power, even if for the sake of this will have to resort to mean actions. Araki also noted that a character going to act contrary to established rules and morality may cause readers a sense of catharsis , which could also have “nasty thoughts”, but they were never embodied, which makes it easier to penetrate to this character than “Perfectly correct” hero ^[24] . The name Dio was taken from the Italian name of God. Araki believed that Dio sounds good with the name of the main character JoJo ^[25] .

Will Zeppeli , Jonathan's main associate, was created from the archetypal "stupid teacher", which is often found in martial arts films with Jackie Chan and the Karate Guy films, in which mentors who at first glance appear to be frivolous and frivolous people turn out to be wise teachers and strong fighters. Araki drew a mustache to Will, inspired by Salvador Dali , a famous Spanish artist, as well as Yami, a manga character from Osomatsu-kun . Araki wanted to show rebellion in this way: the characters with a mustache in shonen-works are always old men and persons who should not be trusted. Thus, the mangaka was at risk, as there was a chance that the readers could not accept such a character. The character's last name was created under the impression of the Led Zeppelin rock band and was used for “balance of names”, so a large number of characters in the series have the letter “J” in their names; The name Speedwagon was created for the same purpose ^[26] .

Release

Phantom Blood , the first part of the franchise, according to the author, is also considered the weakest. Mangaka admitted that the first heads of manga were produced during the times of such giants as Dragon Pearl , Pole Star Fist , Captain Tsubasa , Kinnikuman , Knights of the Zodiac and many people told Araki that his work looks like “ white crow . " However, the author continued to believe that, learning from his mistakes, sooner or later he will be able to find his “ royal road ” ^[27] . For example, creating each new part of the franchise, Araki sought to make it unlike all the previous parts ^[16] .

The manga began to be published in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump in 1987. The first volume of manga was released by Shueisha on August 10, 1987 ^[28] . In total, the first part of the Phantom Blood manga ( Phantom Buraddo jap. フ ァ ン ト ム ム ブ ラ ド охватывает ) covers only 5 tank species that were produced in 1987 and 1988 ^{[28] [29]} . In 2012, the first chapters of the manga were released in color and digital form for reading on smartphones and tablets.

The manga itself was reprinted and released from December 1, 2013 to January 4, 2014 in hard-cover volumes. Images for the covers painted Hirohiko Araki in accordance with his new artistic style. ^[30] New editions of manga have also been licensed by Viz Media for release in the United States. ^[31]

On July 5, 2012, at a press conference dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the manga, Araki officially announced that the anime series will premiere in October 2012. ^[35] Images of the main characters of Jonathan Jostar and Dio Brando from the future series were published in the August issue of Ultra Jump magazine ^[36] ; it was also reported that the beginning of the anime series will be based on the first part of the manga - Phantom Blood . There is information that the studio David Production is working on the creation of the series, Kenichi Suzuki acts as a director, and the main characters - Jonathan and Dio - will be voiced by Kajuiuki Okitsu and Takehito Koyasu ^[37] . The series began broadcasting on Tokyo Metropolitan Television since October 5, 2012 ^[38] . The last episode was released on April 6, 2013. The plot of Phantom Blood covers the first 8 episodes.

С 30 января по 27 сентября 2013 года сериал выпускался на DVD и Blu-Ray изданиях, где была возможность включить английские субтитры ^[39] . Первый DVD выпуск аниме попал список бестселлеров в Японии по состоянию на 28 января по 3 февраля 2013 года, заняв четвёртое место с проданными 4,510 копиями ^[40] . Blu-ray -версия издания также заняла четвёртое место по продажам в тот же период с 14,860 проданными экземплярами ^[41] . Второе издание, в DVD и Blue Ray форматах заняло 6 место в списке бестселлеров по состоянию на 18-24 февраля с проданными 2,764 и 12,501 проданными копиями ^{[42] [43]} . Третье издание в DVD формате заняло 6 место с 2,994 экземплярами, а Blue Ray версия — второе место с 13,536 по состоянию на 25-31 марта ^{[44] [45]} .

Music

Открывающаяся тема JoJo Sono Chi no Sadame ( яп. ジョジョ～その血の運命（さだめ）～ ДзёДзё Соно Ти но Садамэ ) была выпущена 21 ноября 2012 года и показывается в первой части аниме-сериала, снятой по мотивам манги Phantom Blood . Музыку сочинил Кохэй Танака , а исполняют — Ко Отани ^[46] в сопровождении духовного оркестра. В интервью журнала Billboard певец утверждал, что во время исполнения песни сопоставил себя с главным героем Джонатаном Джостаром, который сражался с Дио Брандо. ^[47] По версии Oricon , сингл во время выпуска занял 14 место в еженедельных топ-чартах. ^[48] Или 52 место в списке хит-парад синглов Японии по версии Billboard ^[49] , а позже поднялся на 19 место. ^[50] Сингл в течение 12 недель держал высокие позиции в топ-чартах Японии. ^[51] .

Первый альбом к аниме-сериалу под названием Phantom Blood (Destiny) ( яп. ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 Vol.1 ) , был выпущен лейблом Warner Bros 30 января 2013 года вместе с ограниченным изданием Blu-Ray -диска с аниме-сериалом. Ограниченное издание включает в себя 24 саундтрека ^[52] . Второй альбом Phantom Blood (Future) ( яп. ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 ) был выпущен тем же лейблом 22 февраля 2013 года вместе со стандартным Blu-Ray -диском, данный альбом включает в себя 25 саундтреков ^[53] . Автором саундтреков является Хаято Мацуо. В обоих альбомах использованы саундтреки из первой части первого сезона аниме-сериала 2013 года, снятого по мотивам первой части манги Phantom Blood ^{[52] [53]}

Сюжет Phantom Blood получил разную оценку, она варьируется от критической, до позитивной ^{[54] [55] [56] [57] [58] [59] [60]} . Сам Араки, во время выпуска первой части признавался, что его работа не может тягаться с такими гигантами сёнэн, как Dragon Ball , Fist of the North Star , Captain Tsubasa , Kinnikuman и Saint Seiya ^[61] . Читатели Weekly Shōnen Jump также отнеслись критично к первым главам манги, отметив, что она создаёт образ главного героя-неудачника, вечно проигрывающего стычки с Дио ^[13] . Одновременно манга признана сайтом Anime News Network одной из лучших и самых запоминающихся произведений 2015 года и получила от сайта премию в категории «WTF Did I Just Read?!» ( рус. Какого чёрта я сейчас прочиталǃ? ) ^[62] .

Джозеф Ластер из Otaku USA назвал Phantom Blood «угощением» для старых и новых фанатов Jojo, однако первая часть выглядит вяло на фоне третьей части Stardust Crusaders . Зиа Грейс и Клейр Нэйпир из ComicsAlliance не оценили сюжет манги, назвав его «бессмысленным барахлом», не достойного аниме-экранизации 2015 года и посоветовали ограничится прочтением текста с общим сюжетом и начать изучать вселенную Jojo с Battle Tendency ^[57] . Критики в частности не оценили сцены с насилием над животными и то, что женщинам уделяется несущественная или негативная роль в сюжете ^[56] . Ребекка Сильверман из Anime News Network похвалила мангу за реализм и появления в ней злодея Дио; в начале он предстаёт, как прекрасно воспитанный юноша даже на фоне Джонатана, но эта воспитанность одновременно сосчитается с крайней жестокостью и садизмом персонажа. Критик оценила, как мангака сочетал мифологию Ацтеков и вампиризм, однако отметила, что некоторые читатели сочтут сюжет слишком жестоким, например за сцены насилия над животными ^[54] . Ребекке понравилось, как история по мере развития становится всё более «яркой и странной», но одновременно раскритиковала сюжет за то, что диалоги в них изобилуют восклицательными знаками и часто заменяют действия ^[54] . Критик сайта The Casual Otaku при обзоре Phantom Blood отметил чрезмерную сжатость сюжета, из-за которой история звучит немного смешно. Сам сюжет он назвал фундаментом для длинной франшизы JoJo , который закладывает основу для остальных частей серий манги ^[63] В другом обзоре отмечается яркая противоположность главных героев — непорочный и чистый джентльмен Джонатан против злодея Дио, которого можно сравнить с дьяволом ^[64] . По мнению критика сайта Out of the box, сюжет Phantom Blood получился не только самым коротким, но и самым слабым из всей франшизы JoJo , однако является важной опорой для остальных частей, без которой франшиза становится неполноценной. К числу достоинств он отнёс драматичность сюжета, а также подробное описание его деталей, а к недостаткам — слабое развитие сюжета и внешнее сходство главного героя Джонатана с Кэнсиро из Fist of the North Star ^[65] .

Ряд критиков раскритиковали художественный стиль Араки за анатомию персонажей и их позы ^{[54] [56] [57]} . Сильверман отметила, как в глаза бросаются кричащие позы персонажей и сильные диспропорции в анатомии персонажей, отметив, что их маленькие головы очень странно смотрятся на фоне огромных и мускулистых тел ^[54] . Из-за стиля рисовки, мангу по мнению Сильверман сложно читать ^[58] . Критики Comics Alliance считают художественный стиль персонажей плагиатом манги Fist of the North Star ^[56] . Такато из Manga-News отметил, что на фоне хорошей проработанности сюжета и персонажей, художественный стиль наоборот халтурен и небрежно нарисован ^[55] . Ластер из Otaku USA хоть и признал, что рисовка персонажей выглядит гораздо хуже, чем более поздние работы Араки, но отметил, что это не убивает в манге и его персонажах некий шарм; рисовка по мнению критика наполненная яркостью и стилизацией ^[57] . Кори Кержак из The Fandom Post наоборот оценил стиль манги, хотя признав, что он выглядит «приветом из 80-х», однако отметив, что читая мангу, можно получить такое же чувство, будто смотришь хороший боевик из 80-х ^[59] .

После перезапуска манги в рамках выпуска томов JoJonium , первый том в течение первой недели после выпуска занял 47 место в списке бестселлеров в Японии с проданными 19,374 копиями по данным компании Oricon ^[66] . Первые тома манги, выпущенные в США, по версии The New York Times , стали бестселлерами в течение первых трёх недель ^{[67] [68] [69]} , первое место досталось первому тому ^[70] , второму и третьему томам досталось второе место после манга адаптации The Legend of Zelda — A Link to the Past и 71 тома манги « Наруто » ^{[71] [72]} .

• Official site (jap.)
• Anime "JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken (2012)" (English) in the encyclopedia site Anime News Network