Phantom Blood

This article is about the manga. For the animated TV series adaptation, see JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (season 1).

Phantom Blood
The cover art shows two young men – Dio, a blond man carrying a stone mask and a dagger, and Jonathan, a dark-haired man wearing a scarf – along with a dog named Danny, against a blue nighttime background with the silhouettes of a building and trees in the distance.
Cover of Weekly Shōnen Jump #1–2 of 1987, depicting (left to right) Dio Brando, Jonathan Joestar and his dog Danny
ファントムブラッド
(Fantomu Buraddo)
GenreAdventure, supernatural[1]
Manga
Written byHirohiko Araki
Published byShueisha
English publisher
ImprintJump Comics
MagazineWeekly Shōnen Jump
DemographicShōnen
Original runJanuary 1, 1987 – October 26, 1987
Volumes5
Anime film
Directed byJūnichi Hayama
Written byMitsuhiro Yamada
Music byMarco d' Ambrosio
StudioA.P.P.P.
ReleasedFebruary 17, 2007
Runtime90 minutes
Other media
Chronology

Followed by: Battle Tendency

Phantom Blood (Japanese: ファントムブラッド, Hepburn: Fantomu Buraddo) is a 1987 manga series created by Hirohiko Araki, and the first part of the larger JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series. The manga was originally serialized by Shueisha in Weekly Shōnen Jump under the title JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 1 Jonathan Joestar: His Youth (ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 第一部 ジョナサン·ジョースター ―その青春―, JoJo no Kimyō na Bōken Dai Ichi Bu Jonasan Jōsutā -Sono Seishun) and was collected in five volumes; a three-volume collection was released by Shueisha in Japan in 2002, and by Viz Media in North America in 2014. The arc was serialized for more than 10 months; from January 1, 1987, to October 26 of that same year. It was followed by Battle Tendency.

The story is set in England in the middle-to-late 1880s,[a][b] and follows Jonathan Joestar, the heir of the wealthy Joestar family, and his adoptive brother Dio Brando, who wishes to take the Joestar fortune for himself. Using an ancient stone mask, Dio transforms himself into a vampire, and Jonathan learns the sunlight-based martial arts technique of Hamon[c] to fight him. Araki described the themes of the story as "being alive" and "an affirmation that humanity is wonderful", with characters growing and overcoming problems through their own actions.

The series received reviews ranging from mixed to positive, with critics frequently criticizing the anatomy and character posing in Araki's artwork, and Araki was often told during the serialization that Phantom Blood was the one series that did not fit in with the "best of the best" that were published at the same time, like Dragon Ball and Fist of the North Star. The series has seen two anime adaptations, in the form of a 2007 film by A.P.P.P., and as part of the first season of David Production's 2012 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure TV series. It was also adapted into a 2006 video game by Bandai. A stage musical adaptation debuted in February 2024.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference viz pb1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Araki, Hirohiko (2015) [2013]. "Chapter 1: Prologue". JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 1—Phantom Blood. Vol. 1. Translated by Galloway, Evan. San Francisco: Viz Media. pp. 3–33. ISBN 978-1-4215-7879-8.
  3. ^ Araki, Hirohiko (2015) [2014]. "Chapter 44: Fire and Ice, Jonathan and Dio, Part 6". JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 1—Phantom Blood. Vol. 3. Translated by Galloway, Evan. San Francisco: Viz Media. pp. 319–339. ISBN 978-1-4215-7881-1.


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