JoJo's Bizarre Adventure tells the story of the Joestar family, a family whose various members discover they are destined to take down supernatural foes using unique powers that they possess (powers like Hamon, Stands and Spins). The manga is split up into 9 (8 particularly since the ninth part is upcoming) unique parts, each following the story of one member of the Joestar family, who inevitably has a name that can be abbreviated to the titular "JoJo". The first six parts of the series take place within a single continuity, while parts 7, 8 and 9 take place in an alternate continuity.
Why It's Bizarre (in a Good Way)
The animation is top-notch and exhilarating, courtesy of David Production.
Just like in the manga it was based on, the character designs are very amazing, creative and detailed. It does show that unlike Teen Titans Go!'s "Let's Be Serious", realistic looks can work when you don't do it too hard.
Each part has its' fair share of protagonists with unique traits:
Jonathan Joestar is a kind gentleman.
Joseph Joestar is a cocky and rebellious warrior.
Jotaro Kujo is an angsty teenager with a sense of justice.
Josuke Higashikata is a delinquent who also helps others.
Giorno Giovanna is a gangster with a heart of gold.
Jolyne Cujo is a wild and sassy woman with a heart of gold
Even major allies are just as memorable too, such as Robert E.O. Speedwagon, Caesar Zeppeli, Koichi Hirose, Foo Fighters, Bruno Bucciarati, Noriaki Kakyoin... to name a few.
The parts all offer an interesting plot.
The powers of the stands are very creative.
It faithfully follows the manga, scene by scene, while adding a few new elements not presented originally.
The fight scenes and defeat of the villains are also epic, memorable and are fantastically played well, like Joseph's fight with Kars, Jotaro's fight with Dio, Josuke's fight with Yoshikage Kira (despite Reimi being the one to finish him off for good), the 7-page Muda by Giorno, and Sunlight Yellow Overdrive.
Poignant moments here and there, like the deaths of Kakyoin and Iggy or the deaths of Bruno, Abbacchio and Narancia.
Amazing voice acting in both Japanese and English versions.
Interesting villains, such as: Yoshikage Kira, Dio Brando (later renamed to DIO), Kars, Enrico Pucci and Diavolo who are very solid, intimidating and highly entertaining all at once.
There are also memorable-even respectful secondary/minor antagonists that had well-explained incentives, limited but not limited to: Wamuu, N' Doul, Daniel J. D'Arby, Prosciutto and Risotto Nero.
Memorable openings that would even had variation by the final duel with SONO CHI NO SADAME! being a standout.
A lot of unforgettable dialogue and scenes that spawned memes and other cultural references.
Extremely well composed score that is pleasing to listen to.
Bad Qualities
Despite it following the manga, there is a lot of filler, which feels like a waste of time.
While most of the villains are interesting, some can be very forgettable, such as Alessi, for example.
Some toilet humor such as Kakyoin feeding a baby, who was a stand user, its own poop or Abbacchio urinating on a teapot.
Some cheesy dialogue.
Like in the manga, there are some plot holes.
Despite the "Araki Forgot" becoming a meme, there are a lot of plot points that retcon the previous parts.
The occasional animation error tends to be quite noticeable.
Has lots of unlikable characters (many of which were in the manga too), some being: Jonathan Joestar's bullies (who are by the way, karma houdinis) and friends, Dario Brando (Dio's father), and the unnamed chess player of Dio in Phantom Blood, Two policemen who are arresting Smokey in Battle Tendency, a group of restaurant-goers who laughed at Joseph Joestar , Steely Dan, and Alessi in Stardust Crusaders, the delinquents that Josuke fought in Diamond is Unbreakable (though they got their comeuppances, unlike Part 1), and Giorno Giovanna's stepfather in Golden Wind, to name a few, but most of them are minor characters and are kinda forgettable.
Speaking of which, the JoJo's themselves are a bit flawed at times, being that;
Jonathan can be too gentle at times, unless angered. But, he used to be a weakling in the age of 12. Also he is a bit generic compared to the other protagonists.
Joseph can be rather perverted, as he unknowingly peeked at his own mother and also he cheated his wife Suzi Q with a college student. His antics may come across as annoying.
Jotaro frequently had been disrespectful and nonchalant towards women, even his own mother. He often is aloof and can be easily angered. He also can be rather overpowered as he often wins battles without suffering real damage that would push him into struggling, until Part 4 where he deals with Sheer Heart Attack.
Josuke would lapse in a berserk state every time someone insults his hair, and will attack even his allies. He also can be sometimes nonchalant about his surroundings, only springing into action once his hair is insulted. Though this can be justified by his tragic past.
Giorno can be bland and dull personality-wise, He is often considered the worst part of Golden Wind.
Jolyne Cujo can also be bland and dull personality-wise though to a lesser extent than Giorno.
Some characters have been very underutilized such as Trish Una, Jotaro Kujo (in part 5), Koichi Hirose (in part 5), Dio Brando (in part 3) and Mohammed Avdol.
While Stone Ocean is still a good season and the animation hasn't changed, there are some parts where the CGI is a bit off and uncanny. Watch here.
Trivia
This series is known to spawn tons of memes such as "Kono Dio Da", "ZA WARUDO", the Duwang translations of Part 4, The Part 5 Torture Dance, Mista's tetraphobia, Kakyoin's "Rero Rero", To Be Continued, Hayato, Koichi Pose, Oingo Boingo Brothers theme, "This is the taste of a liar", "SHIZZA!!!", "This is the greatest high!", Yoshikage Kira theme, Pillar Men theme, Kars' leg guitar, "I refuse.", "7 PAGE MUDA", Yukako Yamagishi staring at Koichi from outside the window, Yo Angelo, "I got an erection.", "Even Speedwagon is afraid", "German science is the best in the world.", Jolyne's "Yahoo!" and many, many more.
Despite the number of animals being hurt in the show, particularly dogs, Hirohiko Araki revealed he actually does like dogs and has stated the reason why he does this is so that the viewer can hate the character even more, as he also intentionally draws the villains uglier than the protagonists.
Both Kyle Hebert (Noriaki Kakyoin's English voice actor) and Jon Bailey (Honest Trailers) had made a few guest appearances on Nostalgia Critic's YouTube channel. Also, Kyle Hebert provides the English voice to Ryu in Street Fighter.
Kellen Goff (Diavolo's English voice actor) is also the voice actor of Funtime Freddy in Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location and Glamrock Freddy, Sun and Moon in Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach.
Mick Lauer (Leone Abbacchio's English voice actor) is the voice of Hitmonchan in Starter Squad.
Benjamin Diskin (young Joseph Joestar's English voice actor) also voiced Numbuh One from Codename: Kids Next Door, Haida in Aggretsuko, Jack in Beastars, Shirou Ogami in BNA: Brand New Animal and Keldor/Skeletor from the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe 2021 reboot.
Golden Wind was the last story arc in the series to air on Adult Swim via its Toonami block, and starting with Stone Ocean, all seasons from that point on will be exclusive to Netflix.
Fairouz Ai and Kira Buckland (Jolyne Cujoh's Japanese and English voice actresses respectively) are fans of the franchise and voiced Jolyne in fan videos before being selected to voice her for real.
The former also originally auditioned to voice Foo Fighters before being selected to voice Jolyne instead and has stated in interviews that voicing Jolyne is the biggest honor she has ever received as Jolyne is her favourite JoJo character alongside Foo Fighters.